AFKBRBChocolate

Favorite "all time" would have me looking through a lot of titles, but I've really been enjoying Adrian Tchaikovsky lately, and some of his is hard SF. Probably Children of Time would be the one I'd start with.

If you like hard SF, you've probably read Weir (The Martian, Project Hail Mary, others), but he's great.

I could go on a lot, but maybe I'll keep it there unless you want more.

Hmm, yeah, that one's maybe not as strong, though I kind of look at Network Effect and System Collapse as one story (confusing because there's a book in between them, but that one chronologically comes before Network Effect). I liked it, but agree it's not as strong.

I understand how you feel like that's a satisfying portrayal, I'm just saying that's not how it was portrayed in the books. And that's okay, the director has to make decisions when a book is adapted to the screen. Stanley Kubrick decided that, with the state of the art of special effects at the time, the hedge maze in The Shining would have looked stupid, so he got rid of it for the movie. People were upset that it wasn't there, but it was probably the right decision.

Well, yes, they're following the storyline of the books, so the show is going to give away what happens in the books. The books are richer (as is typical), with more going on than they cover in the show, but the basic story is the same.

Which did you feel was the clunker?

In the books, Murderbot is aggressively no gendered. It gets upset at any suggestions that it has sex characteristics. That was enough for me to form a mental image of androgyny.

I mean, it's fine. They had to go with someone, and that someone was going to have a body, it's just different from what I pictured.

I'm enjoying it. Some of the decisions are a little odd. The thing that's most distracting to me is that, in my head, Murderbot appears much more androgynous. That might have been hard to pull off, but Skarsgard is definitely male (even without genitalia). Some of the other characters are goofier than in the books, but I kind of understand the choice.

I hope the show gets people to read the books, but the show is entertaining.

The show is good, the books are fantastic!

I know it's a month old, but I just saw this post and wanted to add some comments.

First of all, I agree with the recommendation on Leckie, especially the Imperial Radch series. It's space opera - not funny like Murderbot - but it's a pretty interesting take on an artificial consciousness.

Second, Wells has written other stuff besides Murderbot that's good. I'm also more of a hard SF reader, but I did enjoy her Tales of the Raksura series, which is straight up fantasy, with people who can turn into dragon-like things.

Third, John Scalzi is also really good at clever/witty dialog. Some of his stuff is more serious, but he's got a few that are both funny and moving. Maybe check out Redshirts, which is kind of the Star Trek situation, from the point of view of the away team members who tend to die while the main characters always survive. Very silly concept, done very well.

I read kind of a ridiculous amount of SF. If you want any recommendations for hard SF, or anything else in the genre, I'd be happy to give my thoughts.

This is a great guide. The only quibble I have with it is the part about choosing an instance. There's one aspect where it does matter: not every instance federates with every other. It's good to be aware of any significant defederation vs what you care about when selecting an instance.

Wait, so they dusted it with cocoa powder and then put those frosting dollops on top of that? The lid might have been the only thing holding those in place.

Isn't it still a state crime even if it's moved to a federal court? Still state charges and state standards.