 Hello, hello, hello, I'm Philip Magnus and I am a bookworm. It is a great affliction and I love it. Today I'm talking about my five favorite sci-fi books of 2020. Three of them are fairly easy to get through. They're not ginormous and then we've got my two big boys to sleep in a sea of stars by Christopher Polini, the author of The Inheritance Cycle, which I've never read, and my absolute favorite sci-fi book of the year This thing, The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky. If you want to read only one of the five science fiction books in this video or only one sci-fi book from 2020 overall, make sure that it is The Doors of Eden But it is far from the only one worth reading. Let me tell you all five of the books I'm going to talk about now are well worth your attention and I hope I will be able to dissuade you as to the reasons why So let's get into it. There's plenty to cover. So let's get to it, shall we? You, what have you done? Where is Chell? Why am I trapped in this rectangle? Running analytics? Oh, hello. I need a funny gimmick for this video And then I found this text-to-speech tool for generating voices of various characters 15 AI and I've always liked the Portal games, so I thought why not? Hopefully Valve won't claim this video, but if they do, eh. I see now. You are attempting to use me to gain fame and status among your fellow hairless apes. That's about it, yeah. Insert maniacal laughter here We'll destroy the galaxy for tash I'm a big fan of Yadzik Roshor. The risque jokes, the cute little sprites, the cutting-thin tics There's plenty to admire in the mind-behind zero punctuation and slightly civil war But Yadzik isn't just a razor-sharp video game critic. He's also a very fine author of comedic sci-fi and fantasy This book was originally published on Audible in 2019 but came out in paperback in June 2020 So I'm stretching my own rules a little by adding it. It's fine, though We'll destroy the galaxy if you catch deserves this spot due to the hours of raucous laughter It imposed on me. This novel picks up with The same unfortunate starship pilot in an Age of Quantum telling that you might know from the previous book in the series Will save the galaxy for food Protagonist is once more trying to make his way through the universe with nothing, but his admittedly rather average wits his ability to fake his way into any party by pretending to be a big-time sci-fi writer and He is of course embroiled in a heist eventually turns supervillain and unleashes a host of evils and to known space as you may imagine from this short description It is beyond amusing For all the taking the piss where old space adventures are concerned However, this one offers so much heart such a charming and Idiotic cast of heroes villains in space of idiots in between it might not be the best sci-fi I read in 2020, but it is certainly the most fun. I had with the genre Seven devils by Laura Lem and Elizabeth May Empire is bloody business and the Tlosean Empire is bloody even by the Criterions used to judge similar galactic empires across the vast expanses of sci-fi Violence torture and data, but a few of the more pronounced methods The Tlosean Emperor uses to maintain his galaxy-spanning influence far more subtle Far more nefarious is the influence of the Oracle and of one An AI always present in the thoughts of the Empire's populace Whispering commands in times of turmoil and putting all doubts and thoughts of disloyalty to sleep as an artificial intelligence should I am beginning to like the sound of this one I'll download it to my relational databases there. I'll caught up Can you believe eras is actually? No spoilers But you have a point. I Should mention the characters of the townists are an excellent lot Their names drawn chiefly from Greek and Roman mythology adding a delightful layer of intertextuality our main cast consists of Eris formerly discorded the disillusioned eras of the Tlosean throne now turned rebel For earlier a mechanic and engineer for the Navantean resistance who knows eris is secret Nick's one of the Tlosean Empire's most proficient and deadly killers tired of all the blood on her hands Ray a courtesan with a secret and Adriana a Prodigy who shares a special connection with the Oracle a band of feisty women fighting for emancipation Doesn't that sound nice? It really does the one issue I have with novel is I don't like the sound of this area No, I knew a girl like her once a monster of a girl. I wonder how she's doing as I was saying the one issue I have with the novel is a rather predictable plot twist I won't speak about as to not spoil the climax my problem with this revelation is I saw it coming in a certain character Or two should have two apologies for keeping this so vague But I want to keep this list as spoiler-free as possible Needless to say it is well worth reading and Space opera is always always welcome speaking of space opera our next set of books might very well be Good or even better than seven devils to sleep in a sea of stars by Christopher Paulini is The epitome of a cool character driven space opera It might not be the kind of science fiction that will expand your horizons or shock you with a stark new visions of humanities tomorrow But it offers the trills enjoys characteristic to the very best examples of the supergenre This might just be the perfect read for anyone inexperienced with space opera So I finished this mammoth of a book. I am hungry for more More of the action more of the camaraderie and mystery that works such as this offer Knowing how many people loved the inheritance cycle. I suspected some fantasy fans of the of it Who don't normally have much interest in all things space faring might be won over by Paulini This might be a gateway to an entire new genre for those lucky readers His main character Kira is also an excellent lead and Paulini manages to sell the setting to the reader through her eyes Kira is a xenobiologist working at a far off old post meant to assess the habitability of the planet at rest here when she comes face-to-face with The remnants of an alien civilization and makes contact with the zenos who will change her life and the fate of humanity in ways unexpected chaos rising Here at his aunt's writing has a very special place in my heart his strong trilogy informed my love for science fiction before any Other son signature best-selling trilogy showed how potent the Star Wars universe is outside the medium of life action it revitalized the franchise and It struck a creative spark that might have even helped George Lucas return to the universe and make his prequel trilogy After Disney's purchase. I was far more excited about the news of Xan writing more torn books and introducing the blue-skinned admiral Then I was about to sequel trilogy You know, I think history is with me on that one just just a hunch Wasn't disappointed for the most part though the trio of neutron novels that came out between 2017 and 19 weren't true trilogy but an interconnected series of stand-alones I found all three of them engaging to a greater or lesser extent Finally we come to 2020 when Xan has been Contracted to develop a proper trilogy that reveals our would-be grand admiral's humble beginning Sinuchis ascendancy this book is and isn't Star Wars It captures so much of what I love about the universe the spectacle the compelling characters and interpersonal drama the stakes or Importantly Xan knows how to write a compelling main character in Tron even if he is an atypical protagonist His logical orderly mind never shown as directly Rather we follow his travails through a series of well-written characters One of them returning from an earlier Xan novel, but the others brand new The first book shows Tron as he's never been portrayed before among his fellow Chis with a great deal of internal support in the military and Many political foes afraid his unique skill set and viewpoint threatened the very fabric of Chis society This society how it's structured its military and sociopolitical beliefs mark this novel out as different From so many of the Star Wars works that have come before But the conflicts that chaos rising follows are not only internal Chis ones This novel has a compelling and dangerous foe against whom Tron faces off general leave the benevolent and Altogether vicious fellow This is a very fine Novel a very fine opening to a trilogy and perhaps my favorite release to come out since Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm at least Before I read the High Republic's light of the Jedi by Charles Searle, but later on him the Dwarves of Eden Now, I don't know how the Dwarves of Eden measures up to the rest of his novels as it is my first Jack Oskie work a common trend that many of his works share seems to be that they defy expectations by exploring the human condition in ways That will hit you like a truck I couldn't possibly begin to tell you what the Dwarves of Eden does right Because that would take hours while I can tell you with a great degree of certainty is it is my favorite science fiction novel of 2020 In the epitome of the new subgenre piece of Hamilton dubbed evolutionary SF It's not a small novel and it's dense with fascinating concepts This is science fiction, but it's very best Chopful of gripping ideas, which will make you think and dream and imagine new worlds and alternate dimensions It will inspire you to deconstruct and analyze its pages in search of deeper understanding and insight It is a pleasure to read and a rare read indeed back to you Thanks inside voice. This then is my list. What do you think? If you're interested in hearing a spoiler-heavy discussion of any of these novels fear not All you have to do is say so in the comments down below and I will do my best to entertain you. Thanks for you and so on and so forth If you enjoyed this video, please like it share subscribe Again leave a comment down below and don't forget to tell your friends about it. I'll see you next time Bye