I’m almost finished reading Dune, and I have to say it’s one of the best books of that type I have read in a long time. Really enjoying it.

Recently I seem to have fallen into reading allot of self published type stuff on the Kindle, which by comparison to Dune it turns out is really not that good.

So as per the post title – what would you recommend reading once I’ve finished Dune?

The Culture series.

They are good, but I’ve read most of the Ian M Banks novels and all of the Peter F Hamilton stuff as well. The last books that remind me a bit of Dune was the Hyperion novels. Are the other in the Dune series as good as the first?

Have you read the Endymion novels? They follow on the story after Hyperion.

Ann Leckie’s Ancillary series is good, as is Hugh Howey’s Wool series. They may not be quite as heavy going as Dune though. Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy is great too.

Are the other in the Dune series as good as the first?

The second and third books are worth reading, but it disappears up it’s own arse somewhat after that. I think I got as far as book five before giving up. The first one is the only one I’ve felt compelled to re-read thereafter.

all good offerings above
Love Dune/Cultire/Hyperion/hammilton
Alistair Reynolds revelation space series gotta be next!

The enders game books to are OK, (though i bought s/h so as not to reward the bigot)

Stranger in a Strange Land
Job
Friday
All by Robert A. Heinlein and all excellent books but different in their own way.

Are the other in the Dune series as good as the first?

I became disappointed very quickly – wouldn’t really bother. I guess you’ve read Foundation Trilogy?

Dune, one of my favourite books (if not THE book), TBH I never got on with any of the other Dune series, which is a total shame. Definitely do not try any of the prequels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson… dire is too good a recommendation

I’d add to the recommendations above with David Brin’s Uplift sage

I have read the Ancillary novels and they were enjoyable enough, I thought they got better with each one. I haven’t read any of the other ones though – I’ll check them out. Thanks.
I think I’ve enjoyed Dune so much as it’s all about power and deceit at every level with a bit of the unknown as a backdrop. I like how allot of important things things aren’t explained in any detail so you make your own judgements.

The Left Hand of Darkness.
Neuromancer.
A Clockwork Orange.
Brave New World.
Ready Player One.
Lock In.

Not epic in Dune sense, but each one very much worth a read.

EDIT: Second Foundation, Culture, P.f.Hamilton, and Hyperion, Rev. Space series. All good too.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I never really got on with the Alistair Reynolds stuff, but it has been a long time since I read any so I might dust off a couple on the shelf. I have read Asimov stuff in the distant past but I don’t recall really wanting to go back to them. I do have urge to read a bit more Philip K Dick but I think you’ve got to be in the right frame of mine for that.

I do have urge to read a bit more Philip K Dick but I think you’ve got to be in the right frame of mine for that.

Or rather, completely out of any frame of mind as he often was.

Some great PKD stories to read. Ubik is very good.

Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars is quite marmite I think, for me it’s the best science fiction I’ve ever read. but it does taste very different to Dune (which honestly, I didn’t much like) Old scifi has a pretty different character.

Revelation Space series is, uh. Well, I absolutely love it when it’s good, and that was enough to have me read through endless ****-all happening. Vast and cool and unsympathetic but it does have an imperious style about it.

Foundation? Random leftfield option, Roger Zelazny’s absolutely mental Lord of Light might work for you from what you said about not spelling everything out.

Old William Gibson also has that feeling of a story happening in a world that’s never really explained, you just see it and have to work it out.

Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal and Micromegas by Voltaire are both amazing if a tiny bit shorter than Dune…

Don’t laugh – the Horus Heresy series by Games Workshop (various authors). Very, very grimdark science fiction. And from the same universe, the Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett.

NW Just read the synopsis of Lord of Light and I’m putting that on the list for sure. Quite a few good suggestions. I did work my way through quite a few SF Masterworks a while a go but I missed that one. I’d agree that some old SF that relies too much on tech for its backdrop can age badly and cloud the actual story.

David Brin creates some fascinating worlds, plays with laws of physics a bit, the practise effect is one that stood out.

Robert forwards dragons egg makes you think too….

personally Im still hooked on old school larry niven (the known space/ringworld stuff)

If you like Dune then Julian May’s Saga of the Exiles should appeal.
You might also like The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever

Bobiverse is a good romp as is Expeditionary Force. Fun, brainless sci-fi. Definitely read the Culture novels.

BBSB Saga of the Exiles looks interesting and quite a involved read, Chronicles might be one for another time.

Thanks all.

Neil Asher’s books all fit into the “Polity” universe. I overdid them a few years ago and need to give them a bit of space now, but some are very enjoyable.
I got stuck halfway through Hamilton’s The Reality Disfunction, but the Neutronium Alchemist was good.
For a giggle – Harry Harrison’s Stainless steel Rat series?

Chronicles might be one for another time.

Probably, I’d recommend Saga over Chronicles anyway

I read all of the Polity novels straight before Dune. By the end of them I wasn’t really enjoying them tbh. I thought they were all fairly linear… threat – almost lose to threat – overcome threat…. without much depth outside the single plot. I did like the universe ruled by AI’s idea though.

Any of the early Ken Macloed books, long time since i read them but they were excellent at the time

The Star Fraction (1995; US paperback ISBN 0-7653-0156-3) – Prometheus Award winner, 1996; Clarke Award nominee, 1996[8]
The Stone Canal (1996; US paperback ISBN 0-8125-6864-8) – Prometheus Award winner, 1998; BSFA nominee, 1996[8]

personally Im still hooked on old school larry niven (the known space/ringworld stuff)

Was also going to recommend Larry Niven. My favourite is Lucifers Hammer (written with Jerry Pournelle)

Quicksilver trilogy by Neal Stephenson – historical fiction with a definite cyberpunk feel to it.

Not SciFi but epic reads none the less, Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson: https://brandonsanderson.com/books/the-stormlight-archive/

You certainly get your monies worth as they are all massive. Third one isn’t out yet but I reckon you’d be safe to start now and it’ll be out by the time you get to it.

I like Philip K Dick’s novels for a bit of sci-fi / alternate realities.

* Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
* Total Recall (a bunch of short stories)
* The Man in the High Castle

Isaac Asimov’s I-Robot

Citizen of the Galaxy (I read it two decades ago it may or may not be as good as I remember)

Niven the mathematician, Asimov the chemist, Clark the electrical engineer: I think it showed in their work. Whereas anyone can write ‘soft’ SF. Niven’s known space, which someone mentioned, has a consistent and expanding common content so the series is best read in order. Lucifer’s Hammer is superb, the joint author worked at NASA. And it shows.

Whereas to me the Dune series became a pot-boiler.

became a pot-boiler.

You set fire to it to boil some pasta?

Roadside picnic by Arkady Strugatsky is amazing. Quite short but sticks with you for a long time. SF masterpiece series so can get cheap in places.

Really enjoyed Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and Borne by Jeff Vandermeer recently too. Both very different but easy reading.

Rendezvous with Rama, along with the sequels which are also great. keep meaning to read it again.

The Forever War is good, only short but good.

Pretty much everything Zelazney ever wrote is worth a read, although much is no longer in print, but worth the effort in tracking down.
I’m reading Neil Stephenson’s Interface which is proving remarkably current, as it involves the use of technology to manipulate a presidential election via brain implants and other means, some coming close almost to ‘fake news’…
His earlier books, Zodiac, Snow Crash, and The Diamond Age are all very good reads as well.

Love those last 3- Diamond Age might fit the OP’s bill very nicely actually.

“Interface” – I managed to get a copy of that abut 20 years ago under the Stephen Bury byline. Ig you like it then also try “Cobweb” also published as Stephen Bury – it has down-home good-natured fighting of terrorists and meetings between cultures.

The Emberverse series by SM Stirling – Dies the Fire is the first one.

I’m re-reading this again and enjoying it immensely.