Here's a list of books in the video: S Tier - Palace of Eternity by Bob Shaw - Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg - King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany - Black Easter by James Blish - Burning Chrome by William Gibson - Electric Forest by Tanith Lee - Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg - Overlay by Barry N. Malzberg - We Who Are About To... by Joanna Russ - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick - Instrumentality of Mankind by Cordwainer Smith - Doomed City by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - Bad Brains by Kathy Koja A Tier - A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne - High-Rise by J.G. Ballard - Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny - Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick - The Invincible by Stanisław Lem - The Last Castle by Jack Vance - Disaster Area by J.G. Ballard - Heliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss - The Doomsters by Ross Macdonald - Haunting on Hill House by Shirley Jackson - The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson - Kindred by Octavia Butler - Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg - Village of the Damned (The Midwich Cuckoos) by John Wyndham - God's Demon by Wayne Barlowe B Tier - Peace War by Vernor Vinge - Marooned in Real Time by Vernor Vinge - Eon by Greg Bear - Isle of the Dead by Roger Zelazny - Ancient, My Enemy by Gordon R. Dickson - Highway of Eternity by Clifford D. Simak - Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - Rialto the Marvelous by Jack Vance - Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton - Capricorn Games by Robert Silverberg - 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke - Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien - God's Themselves by Isaac Asimov - Other Days, Other Eyes by Bob Shaw - Dawn by Octavia Butler - Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany - Final Circle of Paradise by the Strugatsky Brothers - Other Eyes by D.G. Compton - The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - Virtual Unrealities by Alfred Bester - Universe 5 (Anthology) - Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert - Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe - The Gamesman by Barry N. Malzberg - Vore by James Blish - Overlords of War by Gerard Klein C Tier - Galactic Patrol by E.E. "Doc" Smith - Weeping May Terry - Highway of Eternity by Clifford D. Simak - Voyager in Night by C.J. Cherryh - Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber - Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke - I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany - Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. van Vogt - On the Beach by Nevil Shute - The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard - Roor by A.A.M. Davidson - Titans Daughter by James Blish D Tier - Best of Robert Bloch - Can You Feel Anything When I Do This? by Robert Sheckley - Goat Without Horns by Thomas Burnett Swann - Gray Prince by Jack Vance F Tier - The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin
Subscribed. Thanks for not being a book tuber who just discusses the same dozen modern series over and over as if they are clothes the emperor is wearing.
You dropped 'Roadside Picnic', 'The King of Elfland's Daughter', and 'Nine Princes in Amber' right where I would place them - this gives me motivation to read some of your other 'S' and 'A' tier selections. Thanks!
These tier videos on this channel have made me want to read more. I subscribed and liked many videos recently on this channel and will continue to look forward to seeing more (and reading more).
Really appreciate your reviews. Thoughtful and honest. We have pretty different tastes (I find Malzberg unreadable and insipid, which probably says more about me than him or you) but I still love hearing your thoughts.
I picked up Brian Aldiss' *Hothouse* on your recommendation and I agree with your critique (though I can't, for the life of me, find the video where you discuss it). Excellent world-building. Sufficiently alien yet understandable because it's all vegetables. Nature's brutal, interesting ideas, somewhat flat characters. The plague of SciFi writers. If our book preferences align, probably B-tier in your list here. Moving onto *A Fire upon the Deep* to see if our S-tier aligns (I agree with *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?*). Thank you kindly for reading the obscurities of the past to dig up those that shouldn't be forgotten! Jacques Barzun perhaps single-handedly saved the music of Berlioz from falling into the fog of time; you're fighting the good fight for SciFi literature and for that, 🖖
Thanks man! Just helped me to identify some blank spots in my SiFi reading... Happy to see that Roadside Picnic had such a great personal influence on yourself, that's indeed a trully outstanding piece of not just SiFi literature but literature in general... Snail on the Slope is also amaizing. Cheers
This is a very good list. I like how I do not agree 100% with your placements (we're all different), but I particularly like your S-Tier recommendations. They have all been good reads for me, not necessarily all S-Tier for me but certainly very good and some of them I concur with.
@Bookpilled - could you please share more detailed reasoning regarding your ranking of 3 Body Problem in F Tier? Also - while I definitely feel that Pandora's Star could've been 1/4th of its length, don't you find the basic premise and some of the technologies described to be fascinating enough to merit a higher tier? Look forward to hearing from you. Love your videos
Dune is my favorite sci fi novel. My problem with "Messiah" was that nothing really happens in it. I actually kept wishing the Baron would make a surprise appearance from the grave. Great video. Wish I could read as fast as you.
Dune Messiah is basically an overgrown short story but its essential reading to understand Children of Dune which is a fitting sequel to the original that I am guessing you have not read but definitely should based on your comment.
Bit late to the comments here -- on your next top fifteen, you might consider including other books by an author in their slot. I know you like to keep it to exactly fifteen--and if you want to keep absolutely to that, I don't blame you; that's your prerogative--but speaking as a viewer, I'm never upset at more great recommendations. If you had a 'further reading' section on, say, the Strugatsky brothers, that's where you could put (presumably) Final Circle of Paradise, Doomed City, etcetera, etcetera. Just an idea! Thanks for all the recommendations! I'm more of a modern fantasy guy myself, but since finding your channel I've found myself more and more excited to reach into vintage Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Tanith Lee is one author I'm especially excited at picking up.
It would be interesting for you to have/maintain this rating system essentially for all the books you have reviewed; in say an ongoing spreadsheet/database. That way we could see if/how your views have changed over time and also where a book you read (in this case) more than 1.5 years ago would fall into the chart amongst your more recent reads.
5:17 - "Sorry, sorry" 😀 It _is_ allowed to say that not everything that Aunty Ursula wrote is S tier. It didn't quite work for me, either, (And I agree with 24:25, too; too simple, almost formulaic, in the vein of "revisionist Westerns" - noble, mysterious "savages", cavalry fort, eveil (and/or stupid) colonel, good lieutenant. Lightyears from _Left Hand of Darkness,_ _The Dispossessed_ or _Four Ways to Forgiveness_ ) 10:49 - Yes, _Nightfall_ (story, not novel" is great.
I wonder if you would be willing to read any Steven Erikson. It’s fantasy and not in your usual wheel house but when it comes to prose he just has my number in a way other fantasy writers don’t.
Awesome, gives me a list to peruse, many of which I have never heard of! Great! I am glad you liked The Two Towers. I too, found The Fellowship to be hard going and not to my taste. A bit "twee" and weird, for me. But, The Two Towers carried me away, as does The Return of The King. I always tell people, who like LotR but struggle with Fellowship, to "push on through", as the tale does indeed accelerate and carries one away into the imagination and contemplation of modernity. I agree with your evaluation of Asimov's stuff, too. I found the content of his works to be more fun to think about and consider afterwards, than when I was reading them!
This is one video I'll keep saved and refer to it in the future. What's surprising is that after decades of reading sci-fi and fantasy I've read only 13 or so of these, none of them "S Tier". I got much more to do. Overall I agree. A few quibbles: Rendezvous with Rama is one of my favorites and I would put that S Tier. (It's what I love about sci-fi: first contact with aliens. Big object to explore and figure out. Mystery around every corner. Granted the characters are forgettable, but who cares? Sci-fi is not about daddy issues or marriage problems. Give me big ideas!) Book of the New Sun I would put at C Tier, even D. Roadside Picnic I would also drop to C Tier. There's not much there. I agree with Canticle for Liebowitz. I just don't get the praise that book gets. It's C Tier at best. I loved reading Isaac Asimov when I was a teenager, he was mandatory for sci-fi fans back in the 70s and 80s. I would still rate his Foundation books and Robot books among the best series I've read. If I read them today... I dunno.
Have been enjoying your challenge and am definitely going to be targetting your S&A tiers. Sorry that you didn't get on with Hamilton. Find him to be fun, big-screen escapism with a goodly amount of "future" thrown in. But then completely concur re Heinlein - whom I loathe (btw Asimov's best with his Robot series. Foundation is portentious dreary tosh failing to hide what's actually a really shite story). That all said, you and the Outlaw are two of the best SF/"Sci-Fi" critics on UA-cam. Keep at it!
I love that you loved The Doomed city, probably my favourit Strugatskij book, just as dissapoited I am over you not liking Three body problem. Ive noticed from the scifi book groups Im in that some really hate this book, I do not get it, I loved it from the start, and the other two books are even better! I just loved how not European or anglosaxon it was.
I know the Three-Body Problem is not remotely well-written. It's the antithesis of literary. But I feel like the scifi is interesting enough to make it at least D-tier
I read Atrocity Exhibition by Ballard recently and I have to be honest, this book really has me convinced that non-structured books are basically dead on arrival no matter what -- The writing line by line is incredibly good and yet the book as a whole is bordering on dogshit. It was like reading "Schizophrenia: The Book" and (and I can't emphasize this enough) not in a good way whatsoever.
love chiang and he has top shelf ideas, but like a lot of scifi writers he is very poor at interpersonal interactions. they are usually rather geekily stilted and just to front his big ideas. still would highly rec him.
I usually find tier lists droll, but this is a bang up job. Plus its a succinct way for me to build a reading list off of all the great books that we've heard you talk about. Cheers for trimming the fat/separating the wheat from the chaff for us
Many moons ago, Matt, I thought A Canticle For Leibowitz was a superlative must-read but have subsequently discovered so many more great books I now relegate it to exactly where you put it. When it was being widely touted in the 60's & 70's it had few peers. Not so in this day and age. Great post, really enjoyed this top-100, I hope it gets a zillion views.
Just happened upon this channel and it's inspired me to read a few of these novels you've brought up. So I hopped on the interwebs and grabbed a copy of Hothouse, A fire Upon The Deep and Neuromancer not to mention just finishing up the audio book of Solaris. Thanks for the inspiration, enjoying these videos.
@@tokenblack7983 Wait 'til you get to Burning Chrome... that prose is SUPER DENSE. I ran into that first and when I could see Neuromancer was the novel to read, I was hesitant and thought, "I don't think I can handle a whole novel with writing THAT dense!" Thankfully, it wasn't, and was much more readable. Just can't imagine the tangle the neurons in Gibson's head have gotten themselves into. I can just see the day of Gibson autopsy... doc removes the skull cap and gasps, "WTF happened here?"... inside... just graphene and nanotubes.
@@cydonical Haha that’s great that’s probably what is in Gibsons head But seriously you think Nueromancer is a breeze compared to Burning Chrome? Dang I might have to so training just to read it Gibson’s prose is like finding a puzzle and unlocking it feels like you won something…like your are part of a rare society
@@kitlawless398 it’s a line delivered by Steve Carrell in his movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The guys were playing cards (if I remember correctly) and reminiscing about how good it felt to be with a woman, and “like bags of sand” was Steve’s character’s innocent giveaway that he had zero practical experience feeling one (or a pair, in this case.)
Love to see all 100 in one video, been seeing you talk about 3 books at a time of these hundred for ages and its really interesting to see the big picture of where they all fit in comparison to eachother. Love your channel!
Have you read any China Miéville? For example, 'Perdido Street Station' (which leans more towards steampunk fantasy) is very unique in its writing and in the teeming aspect of world-building. I'm curious what a native English speaker thinks of the writing; the French translation was wonderful and distinct from anything else.
@@Bookpilled When you feel the need for deep world-building, like you did with HotHouse, but more coherent and detailed, with a flavor from alchemy to steampunk, and baroque prose, then it will be the right time. :)
Have you ever considered writing science fiction yourself ? I suppose you have read more then enough to have a good idea what the strong and weak points in the literature are. And by being conscious of your influences you can hide and tweak them beyond recognition to avoid plagiarism. I heard the tweak idea in an interview with the jazz musician Michael Brecker when he was asked how he developped his own style : copy other players and then tweak the hell out of it.
i agree its the best scifi novela, but it didnt leave me shook, nor did the tarkovsky stalker movie. its that it is beautifully written (and filmed), interesting plot and it leaves you different and with a few things to think about. nothing overly frightening in it though or anything like that. maybe a little unsettling at most? i dont need to be shook because i can give no greater praise than that.
Really didn't like Annihilation, though I liked the movie. The worst kind of Lovecraftian "trust me bro it was crazy" storytelling. The sequel is worse. Didn't read the third.
On Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings … it took 4 or 5 attempts for me to get out of the shire. The rest of The Fellowship of Ring was a slog. But once I read through those early chapters the other volumes clicked with my adolescent mind. I think it helped that I read an edition that included all three volumes so I was able to read it as one epic narrative.
My friend just as I was thinking about how great this ranking is, you got to God’s Demon which I am reading right now (on your recommendation) and you absolutely put into a succinct 15 seconds of words EXACTLY how I feel about it but would have struggled to describe. Thank you so much for all the books you’ve led me to read. Love your channel. All the best.
There must be something that can be done to convince you to read The Dark Forest and Death's End. There has to be. You can't just leave this story hanging!
woof. The Sparrow is one of my all-time favorites and I love how it explores language and ethics of meeting a new alien race. Was pretty much with you until then.
That looks like a handy bit of software, i did this manually last month and it was a pain in the arse. Great summary Matt, love your work. 👍 *Edit post watching the whole thing: i think you just have to kiss a bunch of frogs to find your prince(s), the books the float your boat. Great video Matt, I envy your ability to give such pithy summaries, seemingly on the fly.
My list, S tier: The Culture series by Iain M. Banks. B tier: Revelation Space series. Seriously man, you are missing out on some incredible authors. You haven't read the Culture series you haven't read, IMO.
Also Sheckley is my favorite science fiction short story writer and I love his novels, too. He deserves more exposure. I completely disagree that his stories are bad weird. I find him similar to O. Henry and very humanistic and funny. Of his short story collections "Is That W What People Do" is one of the best.
Nice. I'm actually in the middle of a "Canticle" reread and having the same response. But definitely well written. A little harsh on Pandora's Star, I thought, but I would say no writer in the genre needs a better, more assertive editor than Peter Hamilton. All of his books would benefit from one more draft and excision of at least 50% of unnecessary text. I always feel like I'm on a cruise that's two days too long with his stuff.
The first three books in the Flat Earth Series by Tanith Lee are worth reading; +Nights Master +Death's Master +Delusions Master Delusions Master is my favourite
I really disliked 3 Body Problem and never understood the hype, the writing was poor, the characters were stock, the story gave me an impression of counterfeit importance, and the emotional beats were far too dislodged (likely from a cultural difference). What makes it even worse is I unfortunately have this needling issue where If a book/series is both finished and short enough I'll almost always finish it out, so I read the other two. I was surprised by how much my opinion changed, at least from the pacing and concepts of the story. Somehow it bore a tumor of rationalized cosmic horror into me making it a great horror novel. That being said, the writing still sucked, the characters still sucked (save 2 or 3), and though the concepts stretch into a level of scope and scale that make it without peer in some regard, the author's sophomoric character writing erodes any chance of a fluid appreciation. His view of women is so comically dated, *spoiler* that he makes a woman not only become responsible for humanity's extinction but for every species in the universe simply because she "has a woman's pure heart and can't make the tough decisions." Don't get me wrong, the books are nowhere near the level shit tier storytelling and writing that we saw with The Kingkiller Chronicle, but they're up there arguing about what to eat together. That being said, I'm happy I read all three, but it's only because of that lingering haunt it barbed in so firmly, which horror novels never seem to nail, at least over the long term.
there is no way sparrow is F, but then again you did not like canticle for leibowitz either, those 2 books have the religion background as a commonality which is something I really enjoy reading about in SF
I, Robot is S tier to me. Putting aside how influential the robot series is, there are incredible stories in there that that I found both compelling and stimulating. Robot Dreams is another fantastic book.
Such an amazing accomplishment! Thank you for sharing the journey. I've definitely picked up some previously unknown (to me) authors from your reviews. I really appreciate that your reviews give us a clear idea of whether it will speak to us or not, regardless of your opinions. That said... "two bags of sand"... gold!!!!
I've just discovered your channel and am really impressed by the way you evaluate your reads. I'm just coming back to sci-fi after having read lots of classics then largely staying away for 2-3 decades. You've given me a lot to look forward to reading. I hope to return the favor. You speak of how you are drawn to fine writing, which leads me to wonder if you've read Doris Lessing or John Crowley. Lessing isn't thought of primarily as a sci-fi writer, and I think that has caused her contributions to the field to be largely ignored. What I'm referring to is her Shikasta series. My favorites among the five books are the first - Shikasta, and the third - The Sirian Experiments. Crowley is most known for his fantasy output: Little, Big and the Aegypt series, which I recommend highly. I'd also like to call your attention to what I consider the best time travel work I've ever read, "Great Work of Time". I don't think either of these authors is capable of writing a bad sentence, and each has several other great titles. I hope you'll explore. They deserve your readership. Thrive!
Thanks for doing the work to crank out these 98 nano-reviews, it gave me a few ideas. Since I loved 3-Body and hated High Rise there is an unslim chance I will be disappointed, but I'm still glad to have a peak into so many books.
I probably watched this video in early August 2024. I picked 3 of the S Tier rated books, that were all somewhat to entirely new on my radar, and read and sincerely enjoyed all three books. So much so, that I wrote goodreads reviews on all three: The Palace of Eternity, Burning Chrome and The Instrumentality of Mankind. It is likely that I will try more books that you gave S and A Tier ratings to, in the near future. Thanks Bookpilled.
Hahaha I don't know how your channel is my favorite book channel. I feel like you being super honest and very much a fan of reading obscure books makes it all the better. Glad you exist, dude.
An impressive feat! Its been great watching you work through this over the last few months and I've definitely read some books I never would have picked up otherwise. Cheers!
Watching this series has inspired me to pick up unheard of titles from the bargin bin over the last year, and its really expanded my view of what science fiction can offer, and there are so much really phenomial strangeness out there This was a great wrap up, thanks for the attention you put into it
Have a question for you, since apparently you share a political perspective with me. What do you think of militant right-wing politics in modern military sci-fi? Ringo, Correia, Kratman, and others who escape me now (perhaps Heinlein as a granddaddy of them all) have really almost ruined the sub-genre for me. And because perhaps you have read more fantasy books than I ever will (total for me hovers around a dozen if I consider series as a single book), have you detected this rightwingery in fantasy as well? Thanks in case you have the time and disposition to answer. Great videos, btw.
@@Bookpilled Thanks for the response. Yes, those are all Baen authors. I think Baen leans very much to the right. The few fantasy authors I've read did not seem extreme right-wingers, but I have not read much fantasy. If you ever read Ringo or Kratman, however, be ready for some unadulterated Fascism and, in Ringo's "Troy" series, add a generous dose of naked racism, as in the total extermination of humanity's darker races and the repopulation of the planet by blonde people. Really, that's what that trilogy is all about. I've never approached another book by Ringo after that and I destroyed the other books by him that I owned.
![Is This Really the Best Sci-Fi Book Ever Written? [100 Book Challenge #100]](/img/n.gif)
Here's a list of books in the video:
S Tier
- Palace of Eternity by Bob Shaw
- Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
- Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg
- King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
- Black Easter by James Blish
- Burning Chrome by William Gibson
- Electric Forest by Tanith Lee
- Beyond Apollo by Barry N. Malzberg
- Overlay by Barry N. Malzberg
- We Who Are About To... by Joanna Russ
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
- Instrumentality of Mankind by Cordwainer Smith
- Doomed City by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
- Bad Brains by Kathy Koja
A Tier
- A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
- High-Rise by J.G. Ballard
- Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
- Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
- The Invincible by Stanisław Lem
- The Last Castle by Jack Vance
- Disaster Area by J.G. Ballard
- Heliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss
- The Doomsters by Ross Macdonald
- Haunting on Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson
- Kindred by Octavia Butler
- Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg
- Village of the Damned (The Midwich Cuckoos) by John Wyndham
- God's Demon by Wayne Barlowe
B Tier
- Peace War by Vernor Vinge
- Marooned in Real Time by Vernor Vinge
- Eon by Greg Bear
- Isle of the Dead by Roger Zelazny
- Ancient, My Enemy by Gordon R. Dickson
- Highway of Eternity by Clifford D. Simak
- Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
- Rialto the Marvelous by Jack Vance
- Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton
- Capricorn Games by Robert Silverberg
- 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
- Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
- God's Themselves by Isaac Asimov
- Other Days, Other Eyes by Bob Shaw
- Dawn by Octavia Butler
- Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany
- Final Circle of Paradise by the Strugatsky Brothers
- Other Eyes by D.G. Compton
- The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
- Virtual Unrealities by Alfred Bester
- Universe 5 (Anthology)
- Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
- Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
- The Gamesman by Barry N. Malzberg
- Vore by James Blish
- Overlords of War by Gerard Klein
C Tier
- Galactic Patrol by E.E. "Doc" Smith
- Weeping May Terry
- Highway of Eternity by Clifford D. Simak
- Voyager in Night by C.J. Cherryh
- Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
- Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
- I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
- Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
- Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. van Vogt
- On the Beach by Nevil Shute
- The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
- Roor by A.A.M. Davidson
- Titans Daughter by James Blish
D Tier
- Best of Robert Bloch
- Can You Feel Anything When I Do This? by Robert Sheckley
- Goat Without Horns by Thomas Burnett Swann
- Gray Prince by Jack Vance
F Tier
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
- Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin
Bad Brains was in the “S” tier. Thanks though! Really appreciate the hard work!
2001 was in B tier
@@benmorgan9748 Yes. Corrected. Thank you so much 🥰
@@dogcreekproject6872 Thank you. Corrected now.
Martian Chronicles was in A Tier, I believe
Subscribed. Thanks for not being a book tuber who just discusses the same dozen modern series over and over as if they are clothes the emperor is wearing.
I've really enjoyed following you on your 100 book challenge journey. Thank you.
I loved following your 100-Book Challenge! You got me back into reading sci-fi after a long hiatus. Thanks for the recs!
You dropped 'Roadside Picnic', 'The King of Elfland's Daughter', and 'Nine Princes in Amber' right where I would place them - this gives me motivation to read some of your other 'S' and 'A' tier selections. Thanks!
I didn’t realize the last tier was “pass” until late in the video, so it makes Hamilton and Heinlein even more hilarious being in the Fail tier.
These tier videos on this channel have made me want to read more. I subscribed and liked many videos recently on this channel and will continue to look forward to seeing more (and reading more).
Really appreciate your reviews. Thoughtful and honest. We have pretty different tastes (I find Malzberg unreadable and insipid, which probably says more about me than him or you) but I still love hearing your thoughts.
I picked up Brian Aldiss' *Hothouse* on your recommendation and I agree with your critique (though I can't, for the life of me, find the video where you discuss it).
Excellent world-building. Sufficiently alien yet understandable because it's all vegetables. Nature's brutal, interesting ideas, somewhat flat characters. The plague of SciFi writers.
If our book preferences align, probably B-tier in your list here.
Moving onto *A Fire upon the Deep* to see if our S-tier aligns (I agree with *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?*).
Thank you kindly for reading the obscurities of the past to dig up those that shouldn't be forgotten!
Jacques Barzun perhaps single-handedly saved the music of Berlioz from falling into the fog of time; you're fighting the good fight for SciFi literature and for that, 🖖
Thanks man! Just helped me to identify some blank spots in my SiFi reading... Happy to see that Roadside Picnic had such a great personal influence on yourself, that's indeed a trully outstanding piece of not just SiFi literature but literature in general... Snail on the Slope is also amaizing. Cheers
This is a very good list. I like how I do not agree 100% with your placements (we're all different), but I particularly like your S-Tier recommendations. They have all been good reads for me, not necessarily all S-Tier for me but certainly very good and some of them I concur with.
@Bookpilled - could you please share more detailed reasoning regarding your ranking of 3 Body Problem in F Tier? Also - while I definitely feel that Pandora's Star could've been 1/4th of its length, don't you find the basic premise and some of the technologies described to be fascinating enough to merit a higher tier? Look forward to hearing from you. Love your videos
Dune is my favorite sci fi novel. My problem with "Messiah" was that nothing really happens in it. I actually kept wishing the Baron would make a surprise appearance from the grave. Great video. Wish I could read as fast as you.
Dune Messiah is basically an overgrown short story but its essential reading to understand Children of Dune which is a fitting sequel to the original that I am guessing you have not read but definitely should based on your comment.
Gonna watch after work 🖖
Perfect format for this- out of curiosity, what program are you using to do this in real time? Worked great.
Bit late to the comments here -- on your next top fifteen, you might consider including other books by an author in their slot. I know you like to keep it to exactly fifteen--and if you want to keep absolutely to that, I don't blame you; that's your prerogative--but speaking as a viewer, I'm never upset at more great recommendations. If you had a 'further reading' section on, say, the Strugatsky brothers, that's where you could put (presumably) Final Circle of Paradise, Doomed City, etcetera, etcetera. Just an idea!
Thanks for all the recommendations! I'm more of a modern fantasy guy myself, but since finding your channel I've found myself more and more excited to reach into vintage Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Tanith Lee is one author I'm especially excited at picking up.
It would be interesting for you to have/maintain this rating system essentially for all the books you have reviewed; in say an ongoing spreadsheet/database. That way we could see if/how your views have changed over time and also where a book you read (in this case) more than 1.5 years ago would fall into the chart amongst your more recent reads.
A bravura capstone for your wonderful survey! FYI, another "Heart of Darkness" in space you might consider is Paul Park's Celestis
5:17 - "Sorry, sorry" 😀 It _is_ allowed to say that not everything that Aunty Ursula wrote is S tier. It didn't quite work for me, either, (And I agree with 24:25, too; too simple, almost formulaic, in the vein of "revisionist Westerns" - noble, mysterious "savages", cavalry fort, eveil (and/or stupid) colonel, good lieutenant. Lightyears from _Left Hand of Darkness,_ _The Dispossessed_ or _Four Ways to Forgiveness_ )
10:49 - Yes, _Nightfall_ (story, not novel" is great.
I wonder if you would be willing to read any Steven Erikson. It’s fantasy and not in your usual wheel house but when it comes to prose he just has my number in a way other fantasy writers don’t.
9:19 The one story about the shaman was... The Funnel of God
What did you not like about Pandora’s star?
Awesome, gives me a list to peruse, many of which I have never heard of! Great!
I am glad you liked The Two Towers. I too, found The Fellowship to be hard going and not to my taste. A bit "twee" and weird, for me.
But, The Two Towers carried me away, as does The Return of The King. I always tell people, who like LotR but struggle with Fellowship, to "push on through", as the tale does indeed accelerate and carries one away into the imagination and contemplation of modernity.
I agree with your evaluation of Asimov's stuff, too. I found the content of his works to be more fun to think about and consider afterwards, than when I was reading them!
Kathe Koja's The Cypher is one of my favourite horror books. I must try Bad Brains.
This is one video I'll keep saved and refer to it in the future.
What's surprising is that after decades of reading sci-fi and fantasy I've read only 13 or so of these, none of them "S Tier". I got much more to do.
Overall I agree. A few quibbles: Rendezvous with Rama is one of my favorites and I would put that S Tier. (It's what I love about sci-fi: first contact with aliens. Big object to explore and figure out. Mystery around every corner. Granted the characters are forgettable, but who cares? Sci-fi is not about daddy issues or marriage problems. Give me big ideas!) Book of the New Sun I would put at C Tier, even D. Roadside Picnic I would also drop to C Tier. There's not much there.
I agree with Canticle for Liebowitz. I just don't get the praise that book gets. It's C Tier at best.
I loved reading Isaac Asimov when I was a teenager, he was mandatory for sci-fi fans back in the 70s and 80s. I would still rate his Foundation books and Robot books among the best series I've read. If I read them today... I dunno.
If you have not read "Wool" by Hugh Howey, I think you would like it. Great to the point video by the way. Nice.
That was fun, Matt.
Have been enjoying your challenge and am definitely going to be targetting your S&A tiers. Sorry that you didn't get on with Hamilton. Find him to be fun, big-screen escapism with a goodly amount of "future" thrown in. But then completely concur re Heinlein - whom I loathe (btw Asimov's best with his Robot series. Foundation is portentious dreary tosh failing to hide what's actually a really shite story). That all said, you and the Outlaw are two of the best SF/"Sci-Fi" critics on UA-cam. Keep at it!
Great video, is there a link to the tier lis?
Have you read Octavia Butler's "Earthseed" books? Anything by Norman Spinrad or Spider Robinson?
He read Spinrad for sure, you can find the review in the channel . The iron dream
Am I the only one that loves this channel but wonders why 90% of the reviewed books are pre 1980?
Why do we as a species crave rankings so much?
I gave a thumbs-up before I even watched just cuz I know. You know..?
hair cut is looking fresh, Matt.
I love that you loved The Doomed city, probably my favourit Strugatskij book, just as dissapoited I am over you not liking Three body problem. Ive noticed from the scifi book groups Im in that some really hate this book, I do not get it, I loved it from the start, and the other two books are even better! I just loved how not European or anglosaxon it was.
Thanks Matt 🖖
How long did it take to get all those images into this thing to drag around?
One month
I know the Three-Body Problem is not remotely well-written. It's the antithesis of literary. But I feel like the scifi is interesting enough to make it at least D-tier
The Three Body Problem is the most overrated/hyped book of the last 10 years.
id like more of a description than right wing
I read Atrocity Exhibition by Ballard recently and I have to be honest, this book really has me convinced that non-structured books are basically dead on arrival no matter what -- The writing line by line is incredibly good and yet the book as a whole is bordering on dogshit. It was like reading "Schizophrenia: The Book" and (and I can't emphasize this enough) not in a good way whatsoever.
Bro you're missing out so much not reading dark forest and deaths end
Maybe now you can move beyond genre fic and read real books
What would constitute a ‘real’ book in your opinion?
Maybe now you can climb down that mountain of snobbery you're on top of and start reading books you actually enjoy.
I’d love to see your reviews of Ted Chiang’s collections. Not to get overly writerly and technical in my praise, but he FUCKS
love chiang and he has top shelf ideas, but like a lot of scifi writers he is very poor at interpersonal interactions. they are usually rather geekily stilted and just to front his big ideas. still would highly rec him.
I usually find tier lists droll, but this is a bang up job. Plus its a succinct way for me to build a reading list off of all the great books that we've heard you talk about. Cheers for trimming the fat/separating the wheat from the chaff for us
Many moons ago, Matt, I thought A Canticle For Leibowitz was a superlative must-read but have subsequently discovered so many more great books I now relegate it to exactly where you put it. When it was being widely touted in the 60's & 70's it had few peers. Not so in this day and age. Great post, really enjoyed this top-100, I hope it gets a zillion views.
Just happened upon this channel and it's inspired me to read a few of these novels you've brought up. So I hopped on the interwebs and grabbed a copy of Hothouse, A fire Upon The Deep and Neuromancer not to mention just finishing up the audio book of Solaris. Thanks for the inspiration, enjoying these videos.
We have the same first name
Neuromancer’s prose a like nothing else. IT’s demanding. Can’t read it when you’re sleepy but it so worth it
@@tokenblack7983 Wait 'til you get to Burning Chrome... that prose is SUPER DENSE. I ran into that first and when I could see Neuromancer was the novel to read, I was hesitant and thought, "I don't think I can handle a whole novel with writing THAT dense!" Thankfully, it wasn't, and was much more readable. Just can't imagine the tangle the neurons in Gibson's head have gotten themselves into. I can just see the day of Gibson autopsy... doc removes the skull cap and gasps, "WTF happened here?"... inside... just graphene and nanotubes.
@@cydonical Haha that’s great that’s probably what is in Gibsons head
But seriously you think Nueromancer is a breeze compared to Burning Chrome? Dang I might have to so training just to read it
Gibson’s prose is like finding a puzzle and unlocking it feels like you won something…like your are part of a rare society
Your throw-away reference to “bags of sand” is why I respect your channel so much - because you respect the intelligence and hipness of your audience.
I didn’t get it, can you explain?
@@kitlawless398 it’s a line delivered by Steve Carrell in his movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The guys were playing cards (if I remember correctly) and reminiscing about how good it felt to be with a woman, and “like bags of sand” was Steve’s character’s innocent giveaway that he had zero practical experience feeling one (or a pair, in this case.)
@@BooksForever oh right haha, thanks for explaining. His comment makes more sense now
Love to see all 100 in one video, been seeing you talk about 3 books at a time of these hundred for ages and its really interesting to see the big picture of where they all fit in comparison to eachother. Love your channel!
Have you read any China Miéville? For example, 'Perdido Street Station' (which leans more towards steampunk fantasy) is very unique in its writing and in the teeming aspect of world-building. I'm curious what a native English speaker thinks of the writing; the French translation was wonderful and distinct from anything else.
Will read Perdido at some point.
@@Bookpilled When you feel the need for deep world-building, like you did with HotHouse, but more coherent and detailed, with a flavor from alchemy to steampunk, and baroque prose, then it will be the right time. :)
Book of the new sun is amazing sorry you didn’t like it a lot😢
Read Embassytown by China Mieville, you won't regret it
I love these videos. Of all the ranking tier videos that I have watched, this is the one that I have the least disagreement with. Thanks for posting.
Have you ever considered writing science fiction yourself ? I suppose you have read more then enough to have a good idea what the strong and weak points in the literature are. And by being conscious of your influences you can hide and tweak them beyond recognition to avoid plagiarism. I heard the tweak idea in an interview with the jazz musician Michael Brecker when he was asked how he developped his own style : copy other players and then tweak the hell out of it.
I love these. I have started down the rabbit hole because of you. Roadside left me shook.
i agree its the best scifi novela, but it didnt leave me shook, nor did the tarkovsky stalker movie. its that it is beautifully written (and filmed), interesting plot and it leaves you different and with a few things to think about. nothing overly frightening in it though or anything like that. maybe a little unsettling at most? i dont need to be shook because i can give no greater praise than that.
I like how it made a Gaussian distribution
Your 3BP opinion resonates with mine
Thanks for filming this - am loving diving into many of these books!
Really didn't like Annihilation, though I liked the movie. The worst kind of Lovecraftian "trust me bro it was crazy" storytelling. The sequel is worse. Didn't read the third.
another great one, i appreciates ya for slogging through some of these on our behalf
On Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings … it took 4 or 5 attempts for me to get out of the shire. The rest of The Fellowship of Ring was a slog. But once I read through those early chapters the other volumes clicked with my adolescent mind. I think it helped that I read an edition that included all three volumes so I was able to read it as one epic narrative.
My friend just as I was thinking about how great this ranking is, you got to God’s Demon which I am reading right now (on your recommendation) and you absolutely put into a succinct 15 seconds of words EXACTLY how I feel about it but would have struggled to describe. Thank you so much for all the books you’ve led me to read. Love your channel. All the best.
There must be something that can be done to convince you to read The Dark Forest and Death's End. There has to be. You can't just leave this story hanging!
The author does
@@waltera13 No?
Or just read wikipedia's recap. Then aat least you'll see how extreme the ending is.
woof. The Sparrow is one of my all-time favorites and I love how it explores language and ethics of meeting a new alien race. Was pretty much with you until then.
That looks like a handy bit of software, i did this manually last month and it was a pain in the arse. Great summary Matt, love your work. 👍
*Edit post watching the whole thing: i think you just have to kiss a bunch of frogs to find your prince(s), the books the float your boat. Great video Matt, I envy your ability to give such pithy summaries, seemingly on the fly.
My list, S tier: The Culture series by Iain M. Banks.
B tier: Revelation Space series.
Seriously man, you are missing out on some incredible authors. You haven't read the Culture series you haven't read, IMO.
Also Sheckley is my favorite science fiction short story writer and I love his novels, too. He deserves more exposure. I completely disagree that his stories are bad weird. I find him similar to O. Henry and very humanistic and funny. Of his short story collections "Is That W What People Do" is one of the best.
This channel is amazing! So much literature that was unknown to me. Thanks
did my boy peter Hamilton dirty lol
Nice. I'm actually in the middle of a "Canticle" reread and having the same response. But definitely well written. A little harsh on Pandora's Star, I thought, but I would say no writer in the genre needs a better, more assertive editor than Peter Hamilton. All of his books would benefit from one more draft and excision of at least 50% of unnecessary text. I always feel like I'm on a cruise that's two days too long with his stuff.
FWIW, as a believer I had high hopes for A Canticle for Leibowitz. Didn't vibe with it at all.
The first three books in the Flat Earth Series by Tanith Lee are worth reading;
+Nights Master
+Death's Master
+Delusions Master
Delusions Master is my favourite
I really disliked 3 Body Problem and never understood the hype, the writing was poor, the characters were stock, the story gave me an impression of counterfeit importance, and the emotional beats were far too dislodged (likely from a cultural difference). What makes it even worse is I unfortunately have this needling issue where If a book/series is both finished and short enough I'll almost always finish it out, so I read the other two. I was surprised by how much my opinion changed, at least from the pacing and concepts of the story. Somehow it bore a tumor of rationalized cosmic horror into me making it a great horror novel. That being said, the writing still sucked, the characters still sucked (save 2 or 3), and though the concepts stretch into a level of scope and scale that make it without peer in some regard, the author's sophomoric character writing erodes any chance of a fluid appreciation. His view of women is so comically dated, *spoiler* that he makes a woman not only become responsible for humanity's extinction but for every species in the universe simply because she "has a woman's pure heart and can't make the tough decisions."
Don't get me wrong, the books are nowhere near the level shit tier storytelling and writing that we saw with The Kingkiller Chronicle, but they're up there arguing about what to eat together. That being said, I'm happy I read all three, but it's only because of that lingering haunt it barbed in so firmly, which horror novels never seem to nail, at least over the long term.
there is no way sparrow is F, but then again you did not like canticle for leibowitz either, those 2 books have the religion background as a commonality which is something I really enjoy reading about in SF
I, Robot is S tier to me. Putting aside how influential the robot series is, there are incredible stories in there that that I found both compelling and stimulating. Robot Dreams is another fantastic book.
I'm glad burning chrome got S tier. I especially loved Hinterlands and Dogfight
Such an amazing accomplishment! Thank you for sharing the journey. I've definitely picked up some previously unknown (to me) authors from your reviews. I really appreciate that your reviews give us a clear idea of whether it will speak to us or not, regardless of your opinions. That said... "two bags of sand"... gold!!!!
What's with the Heinlein hate? Not even a quick comment about why the book ends up in F tier?
I've just discovered your channel and am really impressed by the way you evaluate your reads. I'm just coming back to sci-fi after having read lots of classics then largely staying away for 2-3 decades. You've given me a lot to look forward to reading.
I hope to return the favor.
You speak of how you are drawn to fine writing, which leads me to wonder if you've read Doris Lessing or John Crowley.
Lessing isn't thought of primarily as a sci-fi writer, and I think that has caused her contributions to the field to be largely ignored. What I'm referring to is her Shikasta series. My favorites among the five books are the first - Shikasta, and the third - The Sirian Experiments.
Crowley is most known for his fantasy output: Little, Big and the Aegypt series, which I recommend highly. I'd also like to call your attention to what I consider the best time travel work I've ever read, "Great Work of Time".
I don't think either of these authors is capable of writing a bad sentence, and each has several other great titles. I hope you'll explore. They deserve your readership.
Thrive!
Thank you for your great, spoiler free, close to essence, reviews 🔥🔥🔥
A Wizard of Earthsea at a "C" level? No wonder I don't take you seriously.
Just finished "Roadside Picnic" and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the solid recommendation.
I will go to my grave singing Sparrow’s praises. Still luv ya
Thanks for doing the work to crank out these 98 nano-reviews, it gave me a few ideas. Since I loved 3-Body and hated High Rise there is an unslim chance I will be disappointed, but I'm still glad to have a peak into so many books.
I'm curious to see where Paxwax will end up in the next 100 ranking.
I probably watched this video in early August 2024. I picked 3 of the S Tier rated books, that were all somewhat to entirely new on my radar, and read and sincerely enjoyed all three books. So much so, that I wrote goodreads reviews on all three: The Palace of Eternity, Burning Chrome and The Instrumentality of Mankind. It is likely that I will try more books that you gave S and A Tier ratings to, in the near future. Thanks Bookpilled.
You love to hear it
Concise and straight to the point, as always. Thanks Matt!
Great vid! Added a bunch to my TBR
I absolutely adore you! (No offense) =^,,^=
Great video BP! Love this format for rating books. Fantastic!
Hahaha I don't know how your channel is my favorite book channel. I feel like you being super honest and very much a fan of reading obscure books makes it all the better. Glad you exist, dude.
I can see where you storing all that knowledge
An impressive feat! Its been great watching you work through this over the last few months and I've definitely read some books I never would have picked up otherwise. Cheers!
Watching this series has inspired me to pick up unheard of titles from the bargin bin over the last year, and its really expanded my view of what science fiction can offer, and there are so much really phenomial strangeness out there
This was a great wrap up, thanks for the attention you put into it
Would love a list of the S and maybe A tier books and their authors
From Stanislaw Lem i would recommend: "Fiasco"
From Stanislaw Lem I would recommend almost anything he wrote ;)
But I do agree Fiasco is amazing, that ending has stayed with me for decades.
Have you read The Suneater series yet?
I desagree with some but I like to be able to find someone with his own opinion. I like your channel.
This was thoroughly enjoyable, thanks a lot!
Have a question for you, since apparently you share a political perspective with me. What do you think of militant right-wing politics in modern military sci-fi? Ringo, Correia, Kratman, and others who escape me now (perhaps Heinlein as a granddaddy of them all) have really almost ruined the sub-genre for me. And because perhaps you have read more fantasy books than I ever will (total for me hovers around a dozen if I consider series as a single book), have you detected this rightwingery in fantasy as well? Thanks in case you have the time and disposition to answer. Great videos, btw.
I haven’t really read the Baenlords, sort of turned off from afar. I probably will eventually. Fantasy does skew more right than SF.
@@Bookpilled Thanks for the response. Yes, those are all Baen authors. I think Baen leans very much to the right. The few fantasy authors I've read did not seem extreme right-wingers, but I have not read much fantasy. If you ever read Ringo or Kratman, however, be ready for some unadulterated Fascism and, in Ringo's "Troy" series, add a generous dose of naked racism, as in the total extermination of humanity's darker races and the repopulation of the planet by blonde people. Really, that's what that trilogy is all about. I've never approached another book by Ringo after that and I destroyed the other books by him that I owned.