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

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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

Hmm, I think you are making the argument for the creation of a third thread.

 

[Cadence]

Hmm, I think you are making the argument for the creation of a third thread.

Time magazine had it in their 100 best novel list, so I'd argue it doesn't feel like we need to have it duke it out with very different things like Maus, etc... (if that was the way you were going).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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.

Clarke?

Speaking of overrated…

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I understand that. I was asking from a more personal perspective. I did not really feel a connection to Dune.

You are not intended to. Alienation is one of the themes.

It's characters are largely stock and its plot is pretty obviously drawn from non-genre works.

Which are you thinking of? Lord of the Rings? Religious works? It doesn't merely draw on them, it deconstructs them.

It is certainly an influential book, but is it good?

Yes, it's good.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

My point is that in science fantasy, the science words aren't the meat.

Yeah, this is where your definition =/= everyone else's. Science Fiction does not mean "about science". Science isn't "the meat" of most science fiction. For example, The War of the Worlds is an allegory about imperialism. The science is just window dressing.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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.

Yeah, this is a novel I remember my late mother (who was by no measure a science fiction fan) raving about when I was small. It's great, and should be better known.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think Clarke delivers on while also giving us truly well rounded human characters.

Clarke? Characters!? Clarke was a good writer, but he was interested in ideas, not characters. He tended to not even bother with characterisation (aside from Hal, whose character was the idea).

You want characters, you are better off reading someone writing entertaining space opera, like the aforementioned Becky Chambers.

 

[Zardnaar]

Lack of experience in reading Sci fi but probably Dune. I like reading fantasy and watching Sci fi.

Reading Sci fi watching fantasy not so much and idk why.

 

[dragoner]

Roadside Picnic

 

[Reynard]

Clarke? Characters!? Clarke was a good writer, but he was interested in ideas, not characters. He tended to not even bother with characterisation (aside from Hal, whose character was the idea).

You want characters, you are better off reading someone writing entertaining space opera, like the aforementioned Becky Chambers.

What a weird thing to say. Of course Clarke was interested in big ideas,but he brought them to readers through actual human characters that were recognizably us, allowing us to better experience the wonder of his work from inside it.

By contrast, no one in Dune is recognizably us. They are all the same kind of caricatures that have populated adventure fiction for centuries.