r/printSF•
BlenderSecrets

Looking for some space sci-fi recommendations to get out of a DNF slump

Hello dear fellow scifi readers! I'm looking for some recommendations, as the last few books I've read, I did not finish.

To give you some idea of what I really like and am looking for:

I've already read and enjoyed:

Forge of God (and a lot of other books by Greg Bear)

Blindsight (and everything else by Peter Watts)

A world out of time (Larry Niven)

Actually pretty much everything by Larry Niven

Rendezvous with Rama (Clarke)

Childhoods End (Clarke)

3 Body Problem (and the other books by Liu Cixin)

Children of Time & sequels (Adrian Tchaikovsky)

Bobiverse books (Dennis Taylor)

Heechee Saga (Frederic Pohl)

A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep (Vernor Vinge)

The Expanse

Almost everything by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Disposessed (Ursula Le Guin)

The Great Ship (Robert Reed)

The Spin books (Charles Robert Wilson)

Boat of a Million Years (Poul Anderson)

Galactic Center (Gregory Benford) (although I couldn't finish part 3)

Dragon's Egg (Robert L Forward)

The Killing Star (Charles Pellegrino)

What I didn't enjoy: military space sci-fi really isn't my jam.

- I liked Old Man War and it's first sequel well enough, but the rest was very dull to me. I don't think I'd want to read anything else by that author.

- Tried to read Expeditionary Force as it's always recommended after the Bobiverse, but it's also very dull

- The Uplift Saga (David Brin). I feel like I should really love this, and maybe I'll go back to it later. But I couldn't finish the first book.

- Adrian Tchaikovsky is very hit or miss for me, I didn't really enjoy and DNF most of his books other than the Of Time books.

- Before you recommend the usual: Alastair Reynolds, The Culture books and Hyperion, I keep trying to read and enjoy these books but so far have not succeeded. Some day!

TLDR: Overall, I enjoyed the Expanse, Larry Niven's Known Space books and Vernor Vinge's books the most. Military space sci-fi is not my thing.

Hoping for some recommendations to break this cycle of not finishing books... thanks in advance!

Posted Jul 8, 2026, 12:02 PM UTC

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