The Fantasy Review’s list of 8 Hard Science Fiction Books with Amazing Characters.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
From the blurb:
In The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, America’s preeminent storyteller, imagines a place of hope, dreams, and metaphor— of crystal pillars and fossil seas—where a fine dust settles on the great empty cities of a vanished, devastated civilization. Earthmen conquer Mars and then are conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race. In this classic work of fiction, Bradbury exposes our ambitions, weaknesses, and ignorance in a strange and breathtaking world where man does not belong.
Timescape by Gregory Benford
From the blurb:
The year is 1998, the world is a growing nightmare of desperation, of uncontrollable pollution and increasing social unrest. In Cambridge, two scientists experiment with tachyons – subatomic particles that travel faster than the speed of light and, therefore, according to the Theory of Relativity, may move backwards in time. Their plan is to signal a warning to the previous generation…
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) by Martha Wells
From the blurb:
“As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.”
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.
But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern…
The Forever War (The Forever War, #1) by Joe Haldeman
From the blurb:
The Earth’s leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand–despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But “home” may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries…
A New Eden (The Betaverse, #1) by Menilik Henry Dyer
From the blurb:
Earth has fallen under the influence of the Fermion Party, whose members believe humanity’s future lies in the metaverse, a simulated environment to which people can upload their consciousness to become immortal. As a simulant, one cannot get sick, grow old, or die. Human beings have no business risking their lives in the betaverse, where injury and illness can kill them. And those who wish to explore beyond the solar system blaspheme what the Fermions believe is the natural order…
The Forge of God (Forge of God, #1) by Greg Bear
From the blurb:
The disappearance of one of Jupiter’s moons, the appearance of “little green men” in Australia and the American Southwest, and the sudden presence of unidentifiable objects on a collision course inside the Earth’s core add up to the inescapable conclusion that the Earth has been invaded by an enemy it cannot fight.
Revelation Space (Revelation Space, #1) by Alastair Reynolds
From the blurb:
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him. Because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason, and if that reason is uncovered, the universe and reality itself could be irrevocably altered . . .
Voice (Ceti Conflict, #1) by William Gee
From the blurb:
Adam is one of the few remaining pilots with real-world combat flight experience. Raised under a ruthless authoritarian regime having been abducted as a child, he harbors a hidden disloyalty that would condemn him to death if discovered. To escape this fate, he accepts the charge of piloting mankind’s first ever space vessel to a new solar system: Tau Ceti. Tasked with preserving him on the eighteen-year voyage is Voice, a prototype artificial intelligence…
