What is the single best science fiction novel of all time?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I can think of few things less clear in literary genre.

Oh, man, we need to introduce you to magic realism and literary fantasy and ask you to start drawing lines between them, urban fantasy and literature. You will go insane.

 

[Parmandur]

I understand that. I was asking from a more personal perspective. I did not really feel a connection to Dune. It's characters are largely stock and its plot is pretty obviously drawn from non-genre works. It is certainly an influential book, but is it good?

No, it is actually great. I remember one of my undergraduate English Profs selected it out for a Junior Seminar deep dive (though he was mostly an early Novel guy), and it stands up to careful scrutiny. The characters and plot are less stock and tropey than you might assume at first. The prose is top of the line, and every element comes together in a perfect whole. It is simply a work of artistic beauty.

 

[Parmandur]

Oh, man, we need to introduce you to magic realism and literary fantasy and ask you to start drawing lines between them, urban fantasy and literature. You will go insane.

No worries, I'm already insane, and my background is in Medieval literature, so nothing can shock me. But a hard line between "Real Sci-Fi" and "Science Fantasy" is about as arbitrary and artificial as I can imagine.

 

[Reynard]

No, it is actually great. I remember one of my undergraduate English Profs selected it out for a Junior Seminar deep dive (though he was mostly an early Novel guy), and it stands up to careful scrutiny. The characters and plot are less stock and tropey than you might assume at first. The prose is top of the line, and every element comes together in a perfect whole. It is simply a work of artistic beauty.

I will say that I enjoyed the Audible full cast version more than I did reading the novel. It still feels like it is trying to be "Lawrence of Arabia in Space" more than it is trying to talk about how humans will deal with our own future works and out place in the universe. Which, to me, is much more important when talking about "great sci-fi" and I think Clarke delivers on while also giving us truly well rounded human characters.

 

[Parmandur]

I will say that I enjoyed the Audible full cast version more than I did reading the novel. It still feels like it is trying to be "Lawrence of Arabia in Space" more than it is trying to talk about how humans will deal with our own future works and out place in the universe. Which, to me, is much more important when talking about "great sci-fi" and I think Clarke delivers on while also giving us truly well rounded human characters.

I would hesitate to call characters from anything Clarke wrote "round" in shape per se. Childhood's End was somewhat interesting, but C. S. Lewis response was more interesting. At any rate, it is not the novel that Dune is.

Found this pretty good essay that goes over the historical context and literary value of Dune specifically:

"What Accounts for the Lasting Appeal of Dune? Michael Dirda on the Perennial Resonance of Frank Herbert's Masterpiece":

What Accounts for the Lasting Appeal of Dune?

Feature illustration: © Sam Weber for The Folio Society’s edition of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Arrakis, the desert planet sometimes known as Dune, is the only place in the universe where melange can be…

lithub.com

 

[Reynard]

I would hesitate to call characters from anything Clarke wrote "round" in shape per se. Childhood's End was somewhat interesting, but C. S. Lewis response was more interesting. At any rate, it is not the novel that Dune is.

Found this pretty good essay that goes over the historical context and literary value of Dune specifically:

"What Accounts for the Lasting Appeal of Dune? Michael Dirda on the Perennial Resonance of Frank Herbert's Masterpiece":

What Accounts for the Lasting Appeal of Dune?

Feature illustration: © Sam Weber for The Folio Society’s edition of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Arrakis, the desert planet sometimes known as Dune, is the only place in the universe where melange can be…

lithub.com

I disagree on the Clarke bit but I will gladly read the Dune analysis. I am often happy to be proven wrong.

 

[Joshua Randall]

The Stars My Destination (a/k/a Tiger, Tiger in its original U.K. title) by Alfred Bester.

This books has everything: sci-fi retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, inner planets vs. outer planets, personal teleportation, bullet time, an antihero protagonist you love to hate, and a McGuffin that everyone is after.

edited to add: it’s also really well WRITTEN. Bester was a journalist and has the journalist’s gift for punchy prose with few wasted words.

 

[Cadence]

Since no one said no when I asked, I'm changing my pick to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's "Watchmen".

 

[Clint_L]

Sure, and if you take all the meat out of a steak dinner it'll be vegetarian.

Y'all can spend as much time as you want arguing if a hot dog is a taco, and vise versa. The only lesson you'll teach me is not to go over to your house for a meal.

My point is that in science fantasy, the science words aren't the meat. They are just incidental pieces of setting. They are the napkins on the table.

What is the meat of Dune? The heart of that text is the orphaned Chosen One's battle for redemption and ultimately to become the new emperor of a feudal heirarchy. The key elements are battles, which ultimately boil down to sword fights (more or less) or attacking while riding giant sand worms, witches and prophesies, and rallying a nomadic people to fight the corrupt Empire.

That is straight fantasy. You can do away with all the quasi-science words and just call stuff like the prophesies magic, and nothing changes. That is, in fact, almost exactly what George R.R. Martin did.

Edit: I'm overstating. The Dune film is pretty much straight hero's journey fantasy. The Dune novel does spend a lot more time setting up its galactic civilization and exploring the implications of interstellar trade etc., so could equally be characterized as soft sci-fi with a fantasy plot.

 

[Clint_L]

Since no one said no when I asked, I'm changing my pick to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's "Watchmen".

Soft sci-fi. Dr. Manhattan essentially becomes God, but there is an attempt to hand wave some science at it. The plot structure and themes are extremely sci-fi, though.