Sci Fi for Beginners to Advanced Readers | Book Recommendations

[@jamesmitchell2114]

You are my favorite reviewer on KZbin. Thank you so much.

[@ChantaalReads]

Great video, Rachel! I love that there are still recommendations I can check out in every level; I’d consider myself an advanced reader, but I still have many many sci-fi books to discover.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Thanks

[@paulallison6418]

Loved the video Rachel, I like your premise of recommending stuff for beginners, intermediate, etc. I have read Planet of the Apes (great book), Noumenon (loved this), 20,000 leagues (classic), I will def check out REFRACTION, CRASHING HEAVEN, and SCHILDS LADDER - Scott Westerfields books look interesting too! Thank you.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy some of these

[@TuftyMcTavish]

I classify myself as an advanced SciFi reader, having been reading it for decades - but I do have both “Stolen Earth” and “Noumenon” on my shelves. You put “Stolen Earth” into my library last year as it happens! However, I’ve not read either yet. But I have read both your Intermediate picks, and also “The Risen Empire” duology, which was a 4 ⭐️ read for me in 2015, when I wrote, “I did struggle a bit at first to separate the various groups and factions, but I'm very glad I persevered.”

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Glad you also liked the Risen Empire Duology

[@thiadesg]

For beginners, I would recommend Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi. It's fun and quick to read, has a limited set of important characters and cute aliens!

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Oh yes that's a good one!

[@myrarucker7953]

Good ideas and explanations!!😊

[@maartens9933]

Nice video yet again! Can i just say that I just like listening to you, such an articulate and clear way of speaking, wish I spoke like that xD

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Thanks but trust me ... I flub my words plenty

[@maartens9933]

@@TheShadesofOrange don’t notice it a bit ;D

[@marilynstout5118]

Thank you for the recommendations! Since I am a beginner, I am going to try the three books you recommended. They all sounded really good. I am intimidated by science fiction. I don't know why, because I think I will love it. I am going to try your recommendations and let you know what I think. Again thank you, your enthusiasm for science fiction has definitely made me want to start. Happy Reading!

[@chrisconnors7418]

I hope you enjoy sci-fi. I think once you start you’ll find it more accessible than you suspect.

[@marilynstout5118]

@@chrisconnors7418 Thank you!

[@TheShadesofOrange]

I hope you enjoy some of them! Just try some and see which ones grab you

[@Nina_chitchat]

Love the recommendations .. will def check out beginners and intermediate! and soo many i don't know. thank you for the video

[@LauraW6]

Thanks for the recommendations! I think I am between beginner and advanced at this point and so I am choosing Refraction :) sounds very interesting and something I may enjoy a lot!

[@TheShadesofOrange]

I hope you enjoy it

[@splifftachyon4420]

Thanks for the recommendations! Although I am an advanced sci-fi reader, Stolen Earth piqued my interest. I haven't read the Greg Egan book you mentioned, but read Quarantine by him and loved it, so I might try out Schild's Ladder. Way back in my high school daze I wrote an essay for English class called Planet of the Apes As Social Satire (got an A+ on it). I'd been a big fan of PotA, the movies, the TV series, the cartoon series, the comic books, the magazines, etc so reading the original book was a bit jarring but also fascinating to me and I really enjoyed it. My copy was translated as Monkey Planet.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

I definitely want to read more Egan this year

[@JohnG225]

Schild's Ladder is definitely near the top of my TBR. Permutation City by Greg Egan was amazing.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

I've heard good things about that one

[@JohnG225]

@@TheShadesofOrange given how much I loved Permutation City I'm not sure why I've yet to read any more Egan. I have loads of his books on the TBR shelves.

[@vintagesf]

Rereading Planet of the Apes right now (or as the copy I first read was titled Monkey Planet). Skipped over that review but will check out when I finish. Monkey Planet is one of the first SF novels I read (almost 50 years ago). Very different from the movies. Monkey Planet was first published in 1963. Refraction sounds interesting. Definitely like Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Oo great timing!

[@RosLanta]

This is an interesting one for me. I've been reading scifi for at least 20 years (longer if you count children's scifi), but in all honesty I just don't read very many of the more "difficult" books, or at least books I consider to fit that definition. I pick them up very occasionally when I'm in the mood but I read for enjoyment and books that are very dense or challenging don't often appeal - so I feel like intermediate is my preferred place. That said, what counts as advanced may differ from person to person? For some of my friends who are purely fantasy readers, some of the hard SF books I read are too advanced because of the science, but to me they don't seem that way because the plots aren't too complex or the writing style is easy to read (while some fantasy books seem very challenging and complex!).

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Yes I fully admit this is a very subjective topic. Mostly just the "advanced" books are ones I personally think might Intimidate people getting into science fiction for the first time

[@RosLanta]

@@TheShadesofOrange This is very fair

[@Iggystar71]

I think I’d consider myself a intermediate sci-if reader. I’m sure I could handle more dense sci-fi stories but I like a more casual reading experience.

[@khomo12]

Great list!! 🚀🤖👍👍Noumenon, refraction, crashing heaven are going on my tbr📚 Happy Easter weekend!😊

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Happy Easter!

[@zkinak2107]

Noumenon reminds me of Kate Wilhelm’s “Where late the sweet birds sang” except not set on a post apocalyptic earth. Wilhelm’s book also has clones of characters that you meet early on and then go about following their subsequent generations. I’ll have to give Noumenon a try!

[@TheBookHerm]

This is a fab video! this was a great place to start my research for a video project.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Oh yay! Let me know when you post your video project

[@TheBookHerm]

@@TheShadesofOrange thanks Rachel! I’ll be tagging my sources 🥰

[@sarafairchild2588]

I feel like I am an advanced reader, but I will say an advanced book has to be something I am SO interested in for me to spend the time with it. I don’t know if that’s considered lazy, but I go back and forth in levels. Thanks so much for your reviews! 👾🍕

[@TheShadesofOrange]

No that makes sense. Just because you can follow a complicated book... doesn't necessarily make it enjoyable

[@anuragd948_2]

Loved the recommendations I would request you to make couple of other videos for fantasy and horror genres. Also I really liked the fact that you were speaking bit slowly in this video. Usually you speak quite fast. Comparatively this is much more pleasant as voice feels much calmer.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Thanks. I think my reading speed depends on my level of tiredness 😅

[@macrograms]

I'm rereading ""Star Shroud" [book 1 of Ascension series] by Ken Lozito. The setup, premise, plot and some of the characters are interesting. I'm not saying it is better than those on your list. But I've enjoyed the series if only for the "what if" ideas that come with the series. :)

[@TheShadesofOrange]

That sounds good

[@starpilotsix]

Crashing Heaven's one of those books I sometimes feel like I'm the only one who's read, because I never hear it talked about but I really liked it. Good to know I wasn't alone. The sequel, Waking Hell is also pretty good, though a different story (more of a 'second book in the same universe that continues some of the same societal themes') - I suspect the mere presence of a second book ALSO technically proves that I wasn't the only one who read, but still, I rarely hear either book mentioned.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Well I feel the same way! You might be the only subscriber who has mentioned reading it. My library doesn't have the sequel so I never continued

[@cindywingetbooks]

I am probably somewhere between beginning and intermediary, not sure. The only two space opera books I have read is Dune and Ender's Game, so whatever you think those are rated 😉. Outside of that I have read The Martian, Project Hail Mary, Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, Sea of Rust, Gravity by Tess Gerritson and then mostly YA books.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

You've got some good ones on your list!

[@tamerlaaane]

Was expecting Machineries of Empire here, in the advanced category i guess? Was a really tough read for me (book 1, havent read the sequels). Anyway, nice video!

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Yeah it'll show up on another list but I didn't want to be too repetitive after just recommending it in my audiobook video

[@tamerlaaane]

@@TheShadesofOrange ah i dont do audiobooks so i skipped that video :p

[@evasbuchereckchen9864]

I have to read Refraction soon! I think I remember that you once recommended a middle grade horror (the Black Slide?). Do you read any middle grade SciFi? I wondered because I recently read The Last Cuentista by DB Higuera and Orion Lost by A. Chisholm and really enjoyed them. Maybe those would be books you might enjoy to read with your child in a few years ;)

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Yes I'd like to work on a video of Middle Grade sci fi but I need to do more reading first. I do have a video of MG Horror coming very soon

[@RosLanta]

​@@TheShadesofOrangeI highly, highly recommend The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day by Christopher Edge. Proper hard SF in middle grade form. I've read a fair bit of middle grade scifi and I consider Christopher Edge and Alastair Chisholm to be the two best authors writing it at the moment, they've both written multiple SF novels. (I do have other recommendations too should you ever want them!)

[@RosLanta]

I need to read The Last Cuentista, I do have a copy!

[@evasbuchereckchen9864]

​@@TheShadesofOrangeCool! I'm really looking forward to that one! (A very popular older classic middle grade on the edge of YA horror novel by a German author is "Krabat" by Otfried Preussler. I read that one when I was about 13 years old and have loved it ever since although it really scared me and it was very dark.)

[@evasbuchereckchen9864]

@@RosLanta THank you - I'm always looking for MG recommendations. I haven't read a ton of MG SciFi so far but I must say that I liked Orion lost even better than The last Cuentista although both were very good. I liked the Tripod Series by John Christopher when I was in middle grade myself (which was 30 years ago...) and Under Plum Lake by Lionel Davidson and I was very disappointed back in those days that I could not find anny other SciFi for kids. So I am very happy there is a lot more out there now :)

[@JasonsWeirdReads]

I’d say that I’m an intermediate sci if reader. I want to read The Risen Empire and also Crashing Heaven. I have yet to read a cyberpunk novel that I like yet so Crashing Heaven might do it.

[@TheShadesofOrange]

I hope you enjoy them

[@fraterahava]

Can you upload a video about your top 10 favorite authors ?

[@TheShadesofOrange]

I'd like to film that at some point

[@Nixx0912]

I think advanced, I got to some hard sf already, but all depends on my concentration level. Still getting round to Stevenson, I think I'm a bit intimidated by all I've heard.

[@lisaevans2848]

📚📚

[@FrankOdonnell-ej3hd]

the first one sounded really interesting esp like it's clearly written and stand-alone saw planet of the apes movie when I was twelve years old blew my mind revolutionary for its time also a real hoot as satire boulle's bridge over river kwai also great film but much closer to the book no longer read generational starship books though did read a good one by frank robinson years back can't recall title trying to read egan's diaspora now at fit2Bread's repeated urging just hope I don't stroke out stephen baxter's manifold: time has same destruction of the universe theme as shielder's ladder but much more fun and thrilling to read

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Yes Fit2BRead is the one who got me on the Egan band wagen

[@MrBlueregard]

Intermediate Sci-fi

[@forwalaka]

❤

[@flippydippy3054]

😁😁

[@factualopinion4275]

Would the expanse be in the beggininer category

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Yeah I think so. The length is intimidating but the story is easy to follow

[@faldor]

I've been meaning to get around to reading Planet Of The Apes for about twenty years 🤣

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Hopefully it happens in the next 20 years

[@faldor]

@@TheShadesofOrange so many books, so little time!

[@zubaerchaudhari8267]

Hello 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊hey 😊😊😊😊😊hey

[@chrisconnors7418]

I’ll read any level of sci-fi (as you know). I started reading a little ship that could book (and eclectic crew). It’s probably a good beginner to intermediate one. Bit tropey, almost got bored first couple chapters (thought it would be an angst-YA novel so was ready to DNF), but started getting pulled in. It’s getting better as it goes. Just under 300 pages. I’m 2/3rds done. I’d tell you the title and author but I can’t remember and I can’t check right now because I have a dog napping next to me as I recline in the couch. Think I’m “stuck” for another hour now while he snores contentedly away.

[@chrisconnors7418]

Stolen Earth by J.T. Nichols is the book I’m 2/3rds of the way through

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Yeah I thought it was good for beginners but didn't leave a strong lasting impression on me

[@codehardr1209]

For beginners I would recommend starting with I, Robot or Foundation by Asimov, because the first book in either series is a collection of short stories, so it is easy to digest for beginners, and then they can advance into the robot series (caves of steel, naked sun, etc.) or foundation series (foundation and empire, second foundation, etc.) and to finish off read the full empire universe. I think it is easy to progress when you have dipped into the universe from the beginning

[@TheShadesofOrange]

Love hearing your beginner plan!