What is the best science fiction book, ever?

[Bkeela]

Delta Search: Quest for Tomorrow by William Shatner is by far the greatest sci-fi book ever published.

[Carolus Rex]

Originally posted by Verto

"Mainstream" Sci-Fi : the story told takes place in space, in the future, etc; advanced technology is present, but mainly used as tools to advance the storyline of the main characters. Ex: Star Wars

Well... Some claim that Star Wars are not science fiction...

Carolus

[Bkeela]

Originally posted by Carolus Rex


Well... Some claim that Star Wars are not science fiction...

Carolus

What a silly idea. The inevitable result of being too assiduous with categorising things is to have as many genres as their are authors.

Anything set in space and which employs futuristic technology is sci-fi by default in my opinion. Categories such as 'space opera' is a pure work of pedantism. Pretentious nerds.

[Imran Siddiqui]

[MrFun]

Maybe Star Wars is nothing but a Western with lightsabers and starships in place of Colt guns and horses.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Bkeela


What a silly idea. The inevitable result of being too assiduous with categorising things is to have as many genres as their are authors.

Anything set in space and which employs futuristic technology is sci-fi by default in my opinion. Categories such as 'space opera' is a pure work of pedantism. Pretentious nerds.

But there is a major difference between Hitchhiker's Guide.. and Ender's Game, or I, Robot, or The Time Machine, which doesn't involve space at all.

All perhaps under science fiction, but to varying degrees and different types.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well he was using the Star Wars example. You notice he doesn't say it is an exhaustive list, BUT if you do have future tech and space you're in.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
I'm surprised that AE van vogt wasn't mentioned yet.

He's an amazing space opera/adventure author from the dark ages (pre 50's)!

I did mention van Vogt's The World of Ā, just couldn't remember who wrote it. I found it in my boxes, and as I look it over I think it may be a first edition. The front of the hard cover is imprinted "&#256EvV" emanating rays over a stylized Earth-Moon image.


There's also a sequel, The Pawns of &#256. When I read the first it ended in a Deus-Ex-Machina that I didn't like. But then the sequel resoundingly closed the plot hole. Gotta get the trilogizing Null-A 3 he published in '84.

[Ecthy]

Just finished Ender's Game.

Disturbing, in a way.

[Lefty Scaevola]

My favorite SF 'books' have always been compnedium of the best short stories.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Lefty Scaevola
My favorite SF 'books' have always been compnedium of the best short stories.

Yea, some great stuff in those. My favorite was Moon Moth or something like that. Frickin' hilarious.

[Ecthy]

I haven't read much science fiction before, just Cosm, as mentioned earlier in one of these threads. So I can't compare Ender's Game to any other science ficiton book. All by itself it was a good read, intriguing and easy to put yourself into the main actor's point of view. This seems to be a downpoint of some, it being too easy to read, I really don't know what's your point. Was it a short read? It took a few days, and I've been through books of this size quicker before.

I find the concept of children that age acting like that highly unrealistic. There can be no argument about this; they might be overly intelligent, but their acting is not only characterised by their intelligence, but also implies certain physical developments that just aren't there at that age. For example, the author always emphasizes how zthey always walk around naked, lay on their beds naked etc. That's not an attitude to nudeness I would expect fo 6-10 year olds, more of 16+, and not by maturity or anything, but by awareness of physical development that a 10 year old simply cannot claim. They might just be acting adult you might say, but no no....

It wasn't too easy to emphasize with Ender as an isolated being, not only my social manipulation on the teachers' behalf but also by natural inability. I mean the guy isn't a cleevr geek wearing glasses, he exercises, has leadership ability and all that, yet no friends? Hard to accept. I can see though how this part makes it easy for some of you to understand this book

And yes, when it comes to the end, the pattern begins to become clear. I mean that old man TELLS him the ships would arrive at enemy worlds within days, and about how the farther away they are, they older and more outdated they'd be too. So when he fights that last battle and uses very obsolete ships, it's about clear. I already had my suspicion during much earlier phases too, not about him already fighting, but with fighting being exactly the same kind of environment for him.

All in all it was quite nice. "Disturbing" because of all the issues Ender has and how they are portrayed. He should just kick his brother in the nuts if he's so srong. Oh yeah, that part of the 2 siblings taking over it all is quite unreal, but that's a book from the mid 80s, he couldn't know the nets wouldbe loaded with millions of clever kids like those. And how unimportant a single writer on the net really is.

The book offers enough hints if not cliffhangers about how the story could be continued, with parts of the story being told from different points of view: Valentine, Bean, even Anderson and Graff... So why do you all hate Bean so much after reading those sequels? Not planningto do so myself, I wasn't quite sucked into the matter enough. A good standalone read.

[Ecthy]

Good post, Ecth

[Ecthy]

Indeed. I'm not going to have all that typed for no reason. Debate.

[Richelieu]

I agree with everything you posted.