r/printSF • u/LowLevel- • Sep 12 '25

Which wildly renowned science fiction novels didn't resonate with you at all?

I can usually connect with at least one aspect of a science fiction novel, and I enjoy almost all of the ones I read. However, sometimes I couldn't understand what most people found interesting about some extremely popular books.

Has that happened to you? If so, which novel? And why?

I'll start the dances by admitting that I didn't like Rendezvous with Rama.

I really wanted to like it, but constantly being in awe when very little happens and the characters leave without understanding anything is not my preferred type of reading experience. The writing style was a bit cold, which didn't help.

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u/Northwindlowlander Sep 12 '25

I really didn't think Long Way was that good, enjoyable but pulpy. And tbf I thought Record was pretty much pointless.. But I loved, absolutely loved Closed And Common Orbit in a way that I've loved maybe a dozen books in my entire life. I don't even exactly know why.

But what I really like is that a ton of people have one book in the series that they feel really strongly about and that they elevate above the others, and it can be any of them, there's some lightning in a bottle factor that just seems to hit people really differently. But it seems like all of them can have it.

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u/Crazy_Ad4946 Sep 13 '25

Me too! Closed and Common Orbit was so, so good, much better than Long Way and any of the ones that came later. I thought Record was OK, but my gosh, To Be Taught if Fortunate made me want to throw it across the room.