Ursula le Guin has a bunch in the Hainish Cycle I can think of. My favourite of those is Vaster than Empires and More Slow.
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
46 points (100.0% liked)
Books
8180 readers
163 users here now
A community for all things related to Books.
Rules
- Be Nice. No personal attacks or hate speech.
- No spam. All posts should be related to discussion or reviews related to books. (Please avoid posts that are just a link to the book and a generic summary)
- No self promotion.
Official Bingo Posts:
Related Communities
- !books@piefed.world (Piefed Sibling Community)
- !comicbooks@lemmy.world
- !fantasy@lemmy.ml
Community icon by IconsBox (from freepik.com)
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Walking To Aldebaran.
Astronaut finds an artifact orbiting past Saturn...
I love these kinds of books. A few suggestions:
- Randezvouz With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
- Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
- Solaris by Stanisław Lem
- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (not sure about this one, haven't read it yet.)
- Ringworld by Larry Niven
Hope you find something that fits your tastes and looking forward to other suggestions.
I'll second Rendezvous with Rama. It's an excellent book, fitting exactly with the theme. OP is looking for. The first sequel is pretty decent, but the two books in the series after that, while I liked overall, I think they lose the magic that made the original so special.
I'll also say House of Leaves is also fantastic. It's disturbing and confusing and really well written. I'd recommend picking up a physical copy if you can, because for this particular book, there's stuff done with the printing, type setting, font colors, and style that's hard to replicate on an e-reader. Top tier book!
I haven't read the others you mentioned, but they're all on my reading list.
Even the first Rendezvous With Rama sequel (Rama Returns?) is pretty unreadable these days. You can tell distinctly which parts are written by AC Clarke and which by his co-author - Clarke retains the interesting science fiction, his co-author is too busy obsessing over which astronauts his two female characters are going to bang on any given day.
House of leaves gave me nightmares for a week.
Read the physical 'House of Leaves" and gave up.
I think I'd like to see what the e-book version looks like
Here's another vote for Rendezvous with Rama and Ringworld. (I didn't like Solaris much, and I don't know the other two.)
Oh ive actually read randevouz and solaris. dont know why i didnt think of them when making my post. definitly will be checking out your other suggestions.
Annihilation has some freaky/disturbing unknown structure exploration in it.
Good book, but I found its sequels were not disappointingly not worth reading.
Ive always thought of annihilation as a modern version of the color from space. I havent actually read it though. thanks.
Sphere, by Michael Crichton
thanks
The Hyperion series, particularly the first book has some of that. And can be read without reading the other books.
A Deadly Education series is pretty much this to an extent. And a series I love!
The Silo series is adjacent to this, I love all three books.
The Expanse series has a few books that fit the bill but you really can't skip to those books so it may not be what you're looking for.
If you do read Silo, beware that it will spoil the plot of the first season of the show for you in like the first 30 pages
Yes it will!
Thanks
Seconding Hyperion. But adding the caveat you should consider reading the second book in the series too, at least, since the first ends a bit on a "cliffhanger" and has no conclusion really.
Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but There is no Antimemetics Division by QNTM revolves around ideas / beings / structures / civilizations that are literally unknowable.
The synopsis didnt really interest me but maybe ill give it a second look. thanks
Jack McDevitt writes has a series which is basically space archaeology. You may like those. I think Engines of the Gods is thr first one.
Added to my list. Thanks
Yeah, i also recommend this. I read them a while ago, but Engines of the Gods, Deepsix and Chindi were fun
Yeah, I enjoyed them. I can’t remember where I stopped. But definitely enjoyed the first 3
That's a pretty common feature in Alastair Reynolds's works, though it's not always the primary focus.
The "Revelation Space" series of books features that trope pretty heavily, and it's also plot relevant. There's also the "Revenger" series where the main characters' job is to explore ruins from failed "turnover civilizations" and extract valuable loot to sell and fund their expeditions.
I feel like his novella ‘Diamond Dogs’ would fit the OPs request!
Seconding Revenger for Space Pirates.
Reynolds' Pushing Ice is centered around exploring alien structures.
I always forget about that one, but yes! Exploring alien structures is literally the premise of that novel.
The only other books Ive read from him are the Inhibitor cycle and medusa chronicles and while yes inhibitor cycle features archeaology I wasnt aware that he may have more of what Im looking for. Thanks
Iain M. Banks created a whole universal alien system called "The Culture" which are mostly sentient machines. Also woven in is how humans evolved. There are several books of his that exist in the universe of "The Culture". I haven't read his stuff in a while but remember being intrigued while reading them.
Will check them him out. thanks.
I was going to recommend him as well. The book Matter is centered around an impossibly old alien megastructure that various new alien civilizations are now living in.
There's a few authors who carried on the Lovecraftian tradition - August Derleth, Clark Aston Smith, Robert Bloch (although his most notable work is not Lovcraftian - he wrote the book Psycho, later filmed by Hitchcock). Later on Ramsey Campbell and Brian Lumley.
Then there's the kind of post-Lovcraftian stuff - Thomas Ligotti is the big name in that area.
There's also a few modern authors who tried to bring modern sensibilities to Lovecraft's work. Ruthanna Emrys' re-imagining of the Innsmouth based events for example.
II will take a look at your suggestions, though not exclusivly looking for lovecraftian stories. I am more interested in the exploration aspect. Thanks
I'm going to give you a list that may be more on the fringes of what you want.
You might be interested in Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show, and its sequel Everville. It's been a while since I've read them. I think Everville had more of the eldritch stuff, but I don't recall whether it holds up on its own.
Peter Cline's 14 fits what you want, though it has a bit more of a modern tone. The Fold takes place in the same world.
American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennet.
The Way Up Is Death by Dan Hanks
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
Ive read some Clive Barker (Book of blood) and I didnt like most of his stories, but I will check your suggestions out regardless.
14 by Peter Clines is phenomenal and right up your alley. It is the first of a series and I think the second one is best and 3rd one is completely optional to read as far as the over arching plot.
Thanks
dude i got THE PERFECT book for you! Its my favorite book of all time. Its one of those old gaming books type stuff.
Rene Valen - Space Giant - 1993.
Its mindbogglingly cool!
Thanks.