Book for Christmas for 16 y/o dd - probably sci-fi

[Sadik]

Something along the lines of Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series (Small Angry Planet & sequels) or Ready Player One would be ideal - basically a good fun Christmas read.

Contemporary suggestions please - between me, ex-H and friends we have a large and wide ranging sci-fi/fantasy collection so with older books one of us will probably have them that she can borrow. She's enjoyed Ann Leckie, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Three Body Problem series, Dark Eden series, Gemsigns series etc so a fair mix.

Anyone read any good contemporary sci-fi recently that might fit the bill?

Kathy Reichs Virals series the first being Virals

Tory Brennan, 14 year old niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.

As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent.

Fortunately, they are now more than friends. They're a pack.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here (Patrick Ness)

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (Alex White)

I just read book 2 in John Scalzi's Interdependency series and they're really good fun, especially if she's enjoyed Becky Chambers and Ann Leckie (also favourites of mine). The first book is called The Collapsing Empire. Lots of Scalzi is good actually, eg Lock In or Red shirts.

Christopher Brookmyre's Places in Darkness?

The Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells are brilliant, the first one is All Systems Red.

Has she tried Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee? Also first of a series.

Not space but future sci fi, I really loved Malka Older's Infomocracy. Spy/political thriller set in near future where the future Internet helps to oversee a new version of democracy (much more exciting than this makes it sound)

That list looks right on the nail BookishOwl. Infomocracy sounds like it might be absolutely perfect - she liked the Europe in Autumn series which again is near-future political spy/thriller. I have a feeling her dad has various Scalzi books, but will check with him as they might be a hit too.

Murderbot is a really good call, and I'd actually have bought those except I think they're only e-books. Strangely for a teen, dd really likes paper books (she collects hardbacks of her favourite authors) so they're an ideal present for her.

I should have said - she's definitely a bit sniffy about being given YA novels these days. She does still read plenty of them, & really rates Patrick Ness, but I'm on safer ground with general lit if I'm choosing :)

Has she read Ender's Game? Not exactly contemporary but good sci-go doesn't date.

*sci-fi. I don't know what sci-go is!

Red Rising - Pierce Brown

Also, not sci-fi but maybe of interest - The Passage, Justin Cronin

It's not that it dates, EllenJane - just that it'll be on someone's shelf already!

Glad the list had some useful ideas Sadik! I hadn't realised Murderbot was e only, I tend to read everything on my kindle.

I'd love to know what you go for in the end and hope she likes it

Oh and the Interdependency books by Scalzi are only from the last year so her dad might not have them even if he does have other Scalzi books.

I'll report back! I think I'm definitely going to buy the Brookmyre for somebody (possibly ex-H/dd's dad) - looks like an excellent read. I've also discovered (linked from Infomocracy as a recommendation) that there's a fourth Fractured Europe book out shortly, which I can drop hints about if asked! (Basically, we all buy each other books then all read all of them... )

Excellent plan, buying books for each other you can all read :)

Not so much Sci-Fi as fantasy but has she read Brandyn Sanderson? Or the Windsinger trilogy?
I'm trying to think what mine were reading at that age. Malazan Book of the Fallen. Thomas Covenant. Sword of Truth. Wheel of Time. All that dystopian YA stuff.

So much that I can hardly remember any of it. Will ask 18y/o DD.

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz is recent sci-fi - themes around biotech and AI. Haven't read Infomocracy but reviews compare it to that. However: it's definitely more grim than e.g. Becky Chambers or Leckie. Higher body count. And the main characters' relationships have disturbing power dynamics - intentionally I think, but adds to the grimness. So I'm unsure if it fits the bill.

However, what I wanted to point out is that The Murderbot Diaries are available in print! They came out ebook first, but the first novella is now available in paperback and the rest in hardback at the moment but presumably paperback later:
www.amazon.co.uk/ALL-SYSTEMS-RED-Murderbot-Diaries/dp/0765397536?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Autonomous does look very good and right up her street. Maybe that and Infomocracy - or maybe Ninefox Gambit...

I think I'm just going to buy Murderbot for me then dd can read it given the ebook is so cheap :)

Ooh - what about Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi. Spy thriller set in alternate 1938 - where the discovery of ectotechnology has enabled the British Empire to extend into the afterlife. The plot revolves around the main characters search for a Soviet mole - lots of Cold War spycraft mixed with science fiction.

Published over the summer so pretty recent.

Without wishing to completely hijack Sadik’s thread, would anyone mind guiding me towards any of these that might be suitable for a sci-fi obsessed 11 year old. He’s desperate to read some more
grown up, as opposed to YA stuff, and while I am comparatively relaxed about him reading such books (I know his school library suggests Ready Player One for year 9 and above, but he loved it and I thought it was fine) I don’t want him to come across wildly unsuitable themes without any preparation or - more likely - attempt something that is just completely inaccessible to him. He’s read some classics - Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke - and was keen on Philip K Dick but I steered him elsewhere as that struck me as a bit beyond him at the moment. It’s not a genre I know well.

Just thinking of some recent popular sci-fi 0 Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky is excellent, and I can't think of anything in it that would be unsuitable for an 11 y/o. Similarly I can't think of anything wildly inappropriate in the Ancillary Justice series (Ann Leckie).

If you don't mind the politics, Starship Troopers by Heinlein is another obvious classic to add.

Just noticed that Summerland is on the Kindle Daily Deal today.
(Not suitable for an 11 year old.)

Thanks Cucumber - bought for me!