It looks like we have similar tastes. I agree with PKD right into S-tier, Solaris C tier (it was a slog for me), and your excitement over There is No Anti-Memetic Division. You got a new sub, cheers!

Great video It's reminding me how much I love the book

Hi everyone, Thanks so much for checking out our on-going read along. We are reading an average of 100 pages a fortnight, the next video, covering Part 4 is a short one so it's a great time to catch up if you want! See everyone on the 6th of August for Part 4!

Great list!

Thanks so much for watching everyone! I don't like being negative, but clearly this one got to me, only because of how amazing the rest of the book and series are.

Just finished this morning. WOW. so many twists. This book covered so much ground too.

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Love your list.... Others worth a go are : Ringworld - Larry Niven; Riverworld series - Philip Jose Farmer; Dayworld - Philip Jose Farmer;Gatewway series - Frederick Pohl; Lucifer's Hammer - Jerry Pournelle & Larry Niven; The Mote in Gods Eye - Jerry Pournelle & Larry Niven; Hothouse - Brian Aldiss; Wool Trilogy - Hugh Howey; Nexus trilogy - Ramez Naam.... I could go on....

Nice, I really need to get into Red rising saga some time! Propably will get the whole series when it's finished.

crazy I just finished this book, as well! Might make a post or short vid with my thoughts - then I'll come back and hear what you had to say!

I do agree with you on the Bobiverse books or at least the first one. I had it as an audiobook and it was just plain boring. The fact that we agree on that makes me more interested in the ghost station book which will be released in january in my country. Love some good sci-fi horror :)

Thanks for ANOTHER shout out Benjamin! I haven’t been able to make a video in weeks since my wife and I just recently had our first baby, but if I do manage to carve out some time I think this would be a great video back. Also I will totally bully you until you read The Wheel of Time

I have watched movies dune 1 and 2,from which part in the books can I start reading for rest of the story?

Altered Carbon was good,

Congrats to hit that many great reads! Sixteen 5 stars? That is fantastic.

Thanks for shouting me out. 😊Sounds like you are having a great reading year so far.☺

So glad you are having a great year so far! Was hoping to see more horror on your list! 😂Oh well, I hope the rest of your year is as fantastic. Digger Dan is cool!

Do you recommend the first S. A. Barnes' book (Dead Silence)? I have heard mixed reviews about it (great beginning and uninteresting ending after catastrophic plot-twists).

What a 1/2 year! Quit while you’re ahead jk 😂 Sazed is the best

Yessssss Golden Son is the bomb, and glad you enjoyed Well of Ascension. Fun tag vid!

And thanks for starting the channel! It's been a lot of fun. Best book: Inverted World (Priest) Need to Read New Release: Mercy of Gods (Corey) Most Disappointing: Cat Craddle (Vonnegut) Biggest Surpise: Core of the Sun (Sinisalo)

Do add A Maze of Death, by PKD, and Bad Brains, by Kathe Koja, to your TBR.

Sensitive sausage 😂 Looks like a great start to the year!

I've read Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune multiple times since I've been 13. I'm in my mid 50's. I usually alternate every other year with LOTR.

I hate to be that guy but book one of Mistborn is called The Final Empire 😬 Also your favourite character from that series is one of the worst written characters I’ve ever read, and I love the series, sorry 😅 Still love your opinions 🫡

Hey there, just released my first video and would appreciate your feedback if you have the time. I know I'm a long way from perfect but hopefully I can shape my videos to be as slick as yours

Dan Abnett just doesn't miss

Thanks!

IMHO Stranger in a Strange Land and most of Heinlein's later works are much worse. For me, Moon IAHM is the best of all of them.

For a long time, Mistress was my favorite Science Fiction story, until it was superseded by another book.

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". It's got humor and also very poignant and based upon what you've recommended, I think you'd like it.

Amazing rundown. I've got friends who play Warhammer. I won't be going down that road. For obvious reasons. But have add most of your list to my kindle shopping list. Night Lords and the taking of armor. Sounds like the start of Genesis of the Daleks.

It's unusual to see a top ten science fiction book list that omits Dune., I would also include Ender's Game, and the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but I am a lot older.

Agree. This is an excellent book. God Emperor is my favourite, but this is a great addition. I have always loved it.

I was waiting to see this review after commenting on your RR review! Knew you'd love it! Morning Star is just as good, if not better, then Golden Son. In regards to the second set of books ill just say this...Iron Gold gets mixed reviews but personally i love it. Its jarring at first because we get introduced to multiple POVs and the pacing is much slower, but it sets up Dark Age masterfully. Dark Age is what i consider the best book in the entire saga. Just be prepared for emotional trauma moving forward 😅

I know you likely won't see this comment but thank you, I am in the midst of reading this and was struggling a bit, you clarified some things and also verified I do understand what's going on. I really enjoy Reynolds, having read Chasm City, Terminal World ( my favorite so far) and Pushing Ice which I greatly enjoyed. I just think this man is a genius.

I love that you included summaries, thank you!

Good video! I love the beserker series.

Enjoying your channel a lot. I've been meaning to get to Greg Egan for a long time now. Seems like he'd be right up my alley. I think I'm in the extreme minority who think Golden Son is just OK. I think just good enough for me to want to read Morning Star at some point. It just felt like it was trying so hard to be epic in every scene that it really took me out of it pretty often. Sort of how I feel about Zack Snider movies too.

Red Mars is one of my favorite books of all time. Glad to see you guys reading through it. I think it has some of the most believable character work of any novel I've ever read. That doesn't always mean likable characters or even a central protagonist to root for. But they feel like real people who act in ways real people would actually act. The dry prose is just KSR's style and just be prepared for it to stay like that throughout. Somehow it can, at times, feel mytho-poetic while still being dry and technical. I'm very tempted to join in on the read-a-long but maybe I'll just wait until you get to Blue Mars which I've not read yet.

Good summary so far, Benjamin.Spacing this out by two weeks may be too long for me, as I read Parts 1 & 2 in one sitting, but I understand that everyone reads differently. A couple of thoughts that I have so far. I'm not usually a fan of the flashback type of story, but I actually enjoyed the way Robinson introduced the (main?) characters to us the way he did. At first I thought that maybe there was going to be a love -triangle between Frank, John and Maya, but now I'm wondering if getting together with Maya was all a power play? Especially when Maya describes their first encounter as Frank's "kind of triumph, as if he had won something and she had lost." I think Frank will turn out to be an even worse character than we already suspect he is. I also suspect that religion is going to play a big part in this story as it unfolds. The fact that John was so aggressive with Phyllis about her Christian beliefs and John's supposed dislike of the Arabs (and Islam)... I suspect that there is more to this that will be revealed. And there was Frank again, "sowing discord between Phyllis and John." Like you, I hope the book spends more time exploring the first few years of the Martian development then jumping right back into the present day. Anyway, I'm enjoying the book so far. Not sure if I will read part 3 now or wait until just before your next video so that it's fresh in my mind.. guess we'll see. Take care.

I can recommend "The Underdwelling" by Tim Curran.

I chased up how many books I'd read in June and it surprised me. Twelve. Blame the rainy weather. I keep track of reading on Hardcover and would not have been able to list them all otherwise. Mostly Sun Eater series, catching up on the short stories and novellas. Kingdoms of Death was the only main novel from the series and it's the first time that I can remember where a book has brought me to tears. The later elements of that book are extraordinarily moving. Three were Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild Built and A Prayer for the Crown Shy are Monk and Robot books that explore identity, relationships, family, A Closed and Common Orbit is second in her Wayfarer series, exploring acceptance (or otherwise) of difference. Fun reads were How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying (Wexler), and Free Wrench (Lallo). And two Vonnegut novels, always fun but in a twisted Vonnegut manner.

Cool wrap-up. 😊 I also like mass market paperbacks. They're easer to hold but not the prettiest covers. ☺

Hell yeah, to the five stars

Reaper! The Red Rising trilogy is one of my favorite trilogies and makes me happy to hear you enjoyed them as much as you did. I really need to reread them so I can do a proper review for them. Also you need to pick up Eye of the World!

My favorite series of all time! Ya gotta get all caught up before book 7 comes out! I hope to see reviews of the rest of the series...the writing gets progressively better with each book, especially when you get to the second set of books in the saga (Iron Gold, Dark Age and Light Bringer). Ya got a new sub here!

I loved 'Rama' but book 2+ 3 had very disturbing moments.

I haven’t read a single one of these books but still loved the video! I’m already excited to see your tier list for next year!

Quite a few parallels in our reading last year: Ubik was a top three book for me last year. Moon is a Harsh Mistress was interesting plotwise, but the political talk really weighs it down and many of the side characters were unbelievably dumb, imo. Ninefox Gambit was brillant! I rarely read series, but I made the exception for this. I like both Raven Stratagem and Reverent Gun but neither of them come close to Ninefox. Solaris was good, not great. In my limited experience, it feels like Soviet Bloc sf has Advanced Philosophy courses tucked into the narratives and they really overstay their welcome, souring an otherwise magical experience. I took a huge break between the Murderbot novels and I actually DNF'd the newest one, though maybe I should try it again. :)