House of Suns
by Alastair Reynolds, John Lee · first published 2008
74% recommend26% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Standalone galaxy-spanning space opera with big-scale world building: starship chases lasting millennia and 200,000-year galactic circuits. Suits Culture fans and anyone wanting a good first Reynolds novel.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Six million years ago, at the dawn of the star-faring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones, which she called shatterlings. She sent them out into the galaxy to observe and document the rise and fall of countless human empires. Since then, every two hundred thousand years, they gather to exchange news and memories of their travels.Only this millennium there is no gathering. Someone is eliminating the Gentian line. And Campion and Purslane—two shatterlings who have fallen in love and shared forbidden experiences— must determine exactly who, or what, their
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If you liked this, you may like "House of Suns" by Alastair Reynolds. There's one chase scene that takes about 60,000 years.
on “The Long Chase” ↗…Stephenson, but I've heard good things) * Children of Time / Children of Ruin (both really good) * Remembrance of Earth's Past (even the fan fiction one is good) * A lot of stuff from Alastair Reynolds (House of Suns being my favorite) * Classics like Tau Zero, The Forever War etc. * A Deepness in the Sky / A Fire Upon the Deep Although not all of these are strictly considered hard scifi, I guess. Btw, I love…
on “The Realism of Our Times: Kim Stanley Robinson on how science fiction works” ↗Alastair Reynolds "Revelation Space" series is fantastic. He also writes some great stand alone pieces (House of Suns for example). He is also quite strict about being hard sci-fi (no faster than light travel for example). Also The Culture series by Iain M. Banks is pretty amazing but tends to be multiple independent…
on “Ask HN: Do you know any amazing space epics?” ↗…with a few other smart scientists. And you'll have a lot better luck with said collaboration if you give up your "take back the word nazi" campaign. Also, off-topic, but you should check out the book House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. It's got a lot of your ideas as plot elements: A human replicating herself, and then following all the copies as they diverge because of experiences, and another human who gradually…
on “Oppenheimer's recommendation letter for Richard Feynman” ↗Anything by Alastair Reynolds - his Revelation Space series is great, and House of Suns is a fantastic one-off. He's probably the closest to Ian Banks in creating galaxy-spanning civilisations across eons of time. Ian MacDonald is another good one. My favourite of his is The Dervish House,…
on “What are your favourite sci-fi books?” ↗Absolutely amazing, changed the way I look at the society, will re-read: - George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying Loved: - Alastair Reynolds, House of Suns - Andy Weir, The Martian - Neal Stephenson, Seveneves - Greg Egan, Teranesia Liked: - Arthur C. Clarke, 3001: The Final Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke, 2061: Odyssey Three - Richard Feynman, The Character…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗…and the gp), and I agree with them, I want to add my two cents (in not special order): "Recursion" by Tony Ballantine, "Counting Heads" by David Marusek, "In the mouth of the whale" by Paul McAuley, "House of Suns" by Alistair Reynolds, "Diaspora" by Greg Egan,"The Collapsium" by Will McCarthy, "Signal to noise" by Eric S. Nylund, "Stations of the tide" by Michael Swanwick, "Schismatrix" by Bruce Sterling
on “The Culture War: Iain M. Banks’s Billionaire Fans” ↗…series but it can be read alone without problem. Also the short story by Vinge, "The cookie monster" is very good (recommended going blind for this one, not spoilers) By Reynolds, my favorite, it's "House of Suns", I get a 50's Science Fiction vibe from it, and, at the same time, it's modern Science Fiction. (1) - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/167847.Marooned_in_Realt...
on “The Culture War: Iain M. Banks’s Billionaire Fans” ↗…because it's timely. A friend recommended me the above book, and it reminded me of this book that I have yet to recommend to him... The Fifth Science by Exurb1a Other good ones in no particular order. House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds -- probably my favorite starting point for his work as it's a standalone novel, but I've read everything he's written and enjoyed most of it. This is a story told over the course…
on “The Intelligent Forest” ↗I’d recommend House of Suns. I also love his short story collections - Beyond the Aquila Rift for example. What would be your recommendations?
on “Science Fiction Books Everyone Should Read” ↗…fiction. There's an abundance of high quality titles to choose from even (compared to the previous millennium). Highlights include Leviathan Wakes/The Expanse, The Three-Body Problem, Children of Time, House of Suns, a dozen other titles by Alastair Reynolds, Interstellar (debatable, but it's good), Project Hail Mary, For All Mankind, and many more.
on “Where did all the starships go?” ↗Science fiction: - House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds - A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge All of which were recommended here on HN and I really love them, especially House of Suns.
on “Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction” ↗I quite liked his book House of Suns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Suns There might be a few aspects that of the story that push it out of the "Hard Sci-Fi" category; but most of it seems to obey the laws of physics as we understand…
on “Ask HN: Best hard scifi AI novels?” ↗I absolutely recommend all of these. And of course Reynolds's "House of Suns", which sort of takes the "lighthugger" concept up to eleven.
on “Ways to travel at nearly the speed of light” ↗Finished the first last year, stalled halfway through the second. I’ll finish it sooner or later. The series is entitled ‘Zones of Thought’ IIRC. Also check out Alistair Reynolds. House of Suns is probably my favorite, which is a pity because it’s a standalone not a series. The whole Revelation Space series is good too. Lately it’s been the new ‘Expanse’ book, and ‘The Culture’ series.
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗