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Sci-fi for beginners: 5 science fiction books to start with
From space opera to first contact: five science fiction books that are easy to start and hard to forget.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Seven pilgrims tell their stories on the way to a mysterious killer, Canterbury Tales style.
+ Acclaimed worldbuilding and characters; the pilgrims' six tales weave into one rich, cohesive novel.
− Some readers dislike that most of it is flashbacks, leaving little room for the main plot. (summed up from Wikipedia (reception))Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Humanity's last ark meets a planet where uplifted spiders have built a civilisation of their own.
+ Old-school SF on an epic time scale, with likeable, memorable aliens and a genuinely exciting final quarter.
− Builds slowly at first, and not one for arachnophobes. (summed up from SFFWorld)Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
A detective and a ship's officer uncover a solar-system conspiracy; the start of The Expanse.
+ Accessible, action-packed space opera with a lived-in solar system, convincing politics and a noir detective.
− Cartoonish corporate villains and weak female characters. (summed up from SFFWorld)The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
A master gamesman from the Culture is sent to play a game that decides an empire's fate.
+ Seen as solidly crafted and often engrossing, a technically tighter book than Consider Phlebas.
− Critics call it fairly predictable, less imaginative than its predecessor, with some slow patches. (summed up from Wikipedia (reception))The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
A physics mystery that reaches from China's Cultural Revolution to first contact.
+ Breathtaking ideas and a gripping alien-contact puzzle, including the inventive Three Body game.
− Cardboard characters, erratic pacing and long explanations in dialogue keep you at a distance. (summed up from SFF Book Reviews)
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