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It's a little sad that 1984 still sits near the top of the list for sci-fi favorite reads of the year in 2023. Not that it's a bad book by any means, but just because the genre feels neglected.

On the plus side, this is the first I am learning of Project Hail Mary, and definitely plan to give it a read. Thank you for compiling this list!


Project Hail Mary was also my favorite book of 2023, and probably the best sci-fi I've read in a decade. You're in for a real treat!
Is it much better than the martian? Everyone said this about that book and it frankly sucked. It was probably still true though because for a lot of people it was the only sci fi they read in years?
I'd say they're about even, it has some things I enjoy more and some places I think The Martian was better, they're very similar in how they read though, if you didn't like The Martian you almost certainly won't enjoy Project Hail Mary.
I agree with this 100%. They are very similar in idea -- I can understand why some people might feel some kinda way about Weir pushing out a samey book. I adore both though.
Ditto here, it was my favorite of 2022, and I loved it. I can't wait for what he writes next.
Deffo my pick for 2022. Movie in production now...
For great sci-fi, definitely review The Hugo Awards (and previous awards) https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2023-hugo-awards/ and the Arthur C Clarke awards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke_Award . I found many great authors and series there.

I highly recommend anything by Adrian Tchaikovsky. His themes and ideas are deep and fascinating. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Adrian-Tchaikovsky/author/B002... (Children of Time Series, Dogs of War and City of Last Chances are great). Him and Dan Simmons are my favorite new(ish) authors. If you haven't read the Hyperion quadrilogy, it's my favorite sci-fi series ever.

I hate to be that guy, but I find Andy Weir's books to be very simple and 'light' sci-fi. Fun reads but usually suffers from the protagonist being a genius and smart aleck. No deep themes or characters. I never understood the crazy appeal after reading all of Asimov and Arthur C Clarke. Personally I want giant themes, huge space operas, complex characters and long storylines!

Thanks for the suggestions. I read the first book in the Children of Time series and really enjoyed it. I don't think the next two books had been released yet when I read it, so I definitely will go and follow up on those. I will give the Hyperion quadrilogy a look, too.

I agree with your take that Andy Weir's writing can feel a bit lacking - at least in the Martian. But I was willing to give him a bit of a pass based on how the story was originally self-published in serial form. My hope is that Project Hail Mary will be a bit more refined - but even if it reads just like the Martian, I am definitely interested to give it a read.

I enjoyed Children of Time, but I also was frustrated as the characters are a bit flat, they don't have any type of arc or change or learn in any way. The main character was interesting but the rest just kinda there. I loved the world though.
PHM is amazing! I'd highly recommend consuming it via Audio Book though, because of reasons :)

The Red Rising series is also very good.

This is my first year to do this, so I was very curious how many people read the classics versus new books within genres like sci-fi. I've been surprised how widely authors read, but that was my hope as I think they naturally read a lot wider than most readers.

So my hope is that as I keep growing this every year that we get a very wide selection even if a lot of classics also popup :).

Project Hail Mary is absolutely worth a read, it’s in my top books recently.

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