Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

We’ve got 15 books and series here, so there should be something to love for almost every reader (although we need some traditional fantasy page turners – send us some recommendations in the comments please)! Plus, at the end of the episode we each rank our personal top 3.

We intentionally excluded YA and military sci-fi books, although those are often also page-turners - look out for episodes about each of those soon!

Brent’s brother, Alex, joined us for this episode, and brought us a whole new batch of books (and frankly a couple new subgenres) to enjoy. LitRPG / progression fantasy just keep getting more popular, and we can see why – the books we’ve picked up have all been so, so fun to read (although it probably helps we’ve been reading Alex’s recommendations so far, the best of the best from the hundreds of LitRPG books he’s read).

No spoilers anywhere in this episode.

Join the Hugonauts book club on discord

Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video

This episode is sponsored by Quinto’s Challenge by Peter McChesney

All the books we recommend, plus timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:48 Sponsor – Quinto’s Challenge by Peter McChesney

03:26 Silo by Hugh Howey

5:06 Mother of Learning by Domagoj Kurmaic

7:19 Murderbot by Martha Wells

9:10 Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer

12:26 Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

14:49 Mark of the Fool by J.M. Clarke

18:18 Project Hail Mary and The Martian by Andy Weir

19:40 Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor

22:33 Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

24:04 He Who Fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon

28:47 Daemon by Daniel Suarez

31:07 The Perfect Run by Maxime J. Durand

33:39 The Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor

36:24 Eight by Samer Rabadi

38:37 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

46:18 Rankings: Top 3 page turners

We've got 18 books and series we highly recommend, so there's something here for all kinds of readers - and at the end of the episode we rank our top 3 to bring you the best of the best. 
What is space opera? Books with big characters and a bigger world - they usually even come with big 'ol wordcounts. Space opera is often multi-pov, with interstellar travel and the fate of the galaxy at stake. 
No spoilers anywhere in this episode.
Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video
This episode is sponsored by indie sci-fi publisher Lil' Factory
All the books we recommend, plus timestamps:
00:00 Intro 
00:36 Sponsor - Lil' Factory 
1:24 What is a space opera? 
2:58 The Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold 
4:45 The Expanse - James S.A. Corey 
6:38 Hyperion - Dan Simmons 
9:51 House of Suns - Alistair Reynolds 
11:32 Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky 
13:11 Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge 
15:04 The Culture - Iain M. Banks 
17:17 Peter F. Hamilton's whole discography 
20:19 Embassytown - China Mieville 
21:45 A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine 
23:34 Dune - Are you happy now? 
24:47 Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie 
26:34 Downbelow Station - C.J. Cherryh 
26:05 The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle 
29:24 Startide Rising - David Brin 
31:16 The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers 
33:01 Foundation - Isaac Asimov 
35:22 Rankings: 3rd best Space Opera 
37:27 Rankings: 2nd best Space Opera 
38:50 Rankings: 1st best Space Opera

This might be the best sci-fi book out there about nanotechnology. But Stephenson has so many good ones that this one isn't his best book - some of the characters lose their way, and it drags in the middle. 
Oh, and one more good recommendation we forgot while we were recording - check out Blood Music by Greg Bear if you want a biological twist on nanotech!
Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video
As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion.
Similar books we recommend: 
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Cory Doctorow
Prey by Michael Crichton
This episode is sponsored by Har Megiddon by Ron Bennett.
If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for the episode:   
00:00 Intro
00:47 Book setup
1:49 Sponsor - Har Megiddon
2:22 Our review 3.25/5
3:53 Great sections - and stinkers
4:47 Incredible technology
7:33 Hard to visualize?
9:38 Dances with Wolves
10:17 Labor saving devices
13:59 Neal's infodumps
19:25 Book structure
25:47 Sponsor - Har Megiddon
26:08 Similar books we recommend
28:40 Spoilers section - book summary
31:30 Spoilers section - discussion

From Sumeria, to Greece, to India, to the depths of the dark ages we explore the stories that have inspired everything that came later with a professor of mythology and medieval literature. This particular professor also happens to be Cody's mom, so this is also a great episode to explore Cody's psyche, for those brave enough to explore a dark and twisted place. 
Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video
If you want to do some reading, here are our suggestions on the best translations of these myths (and even a couple great graphic novels): 
Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. Andrew George, Penguin Classics
The Odyssey, trans. Robert Fagles
The Odyssey, Gareth Hinds graphic novel
The Iliad, Penguin Classics
The Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles Penguin Classics
Age of Bronze Series, Eric Shanower (series of graphic novels on Trojan War)
Hercules, Fred Van Lente
Monkey, trans. Arthur Waley
Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney
The Popul Vuh, trans. Michael Bazzett, Milkweed Editions
The Nibelungenlied, trans. AT Hatto, Penguin
Chretien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, trans. William W. Kibler, Penguin
Le Morte D’Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory, Penguin Classics
Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, trans. N.J. Dawood, Penguin Classics
Sindbad and Other Stories from Arabian Nights, trans Husain Haddowy
Sinbad the Sailor, Penguin Classics
The Ramayana, Abridged and Translated by Arshia Sattar, Penguin Classics OR any children’s/YA book to get started. There are hundreds
If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for all the books we talked about: 
0:00 - Intro
1:45 - The Epic of Gilgamesh
6:35 - The Odyssey
10:12 - The Iliad
12:09 - The Aeneid
14:12 - Hercules
15:53 - Monkey (Excerpts from Journey to the West)
21:00 - Beowulf
25:25 - The Popul Vuh
28:23 - The Nibelungenlied
33:21 - King Arthur Myths (Malory, De Troyes)
36:56 - Tales From the Thousand and One Nights
41:40 - Sinbad the Sailor
45:10 - The Ramayana
49:55 - Our Top 3 favorite myths

Whether you like ripping page turners, incredible characters, books that make you laugh out loud, exploring unforgettable new worlds, or literary books that will make you see the world in a new way, there's a great intro to scifi out there for everyone!
Join the Hugonauts book club on discord to tell us about your favorite time travel books
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video
If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for all the books we talked about: 
00:00 Intro 
00:38 Incredible Characters - Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold 
3:07 A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 
4:04 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 
4:52 Unforgettable Worlds - The Expanse by James S.A. Corey 
6:58 Hyperion by Dan Simmons 
8:24 House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds 
9:20 Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
10:56 The Forever War by Joe Haldeman 
12:22 Funny SF - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 
13:36 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson 
14:50 Old Man's War by John Scalzi 
16:01 Page turners - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 
17:43 Dark Matter or Recursion by Blake Crouch 
18:52 All Systems Red by Martha Wells 
20:01 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card 
21:35 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 
22:34 Literary SciFi - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin 
24:55 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 
26:26 The Road by Cormac McCarthy 
27:49 Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut 
28:40 Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein