Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

Need some help, here. I team-teach reading (aka English) with a person who is averse to sci fi. She is attempting to broaden her range in order to better connect with her students. Her normal reading consists mainly of women's memoirs- stuff like Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and Lena Dunham. And of course she's read Harry Potter.

So she asked me to recommend something that was "not just about the sci fi, more character-driven," which is pretty much the opposite of what I look for. Nine times out of ten, I wish books had less character development.

I offhandedly recommended Parable of the Sower, which I just read, but maybe that's too bleak. I was thinking Red Mars, but I've seen some people say it was too "heavy" for them. Then I thought of Ursula K. LeGuin, but some people complain that her characters are just theme puppets.

Thoughts?

I think you're right about Red Mars. How about Illuminae by Amie Kaufman? It's officially YA, but it's definitely sci fi and character driven. Gemina (book 2) is possibly even better.

I would say that lots of Philip K. Dick novels are character driven in addition to having strong plots and ideas. Time Out of Joint comes to mind.

Solaris by Stanisław Lem is another one.

if she wants scifi that is character driven, you should immediately recommend Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga to her.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu would be a good choice. Another character-driven story I like is The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov.

Brandon wrote: "The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu would be a good choice. Another character-driven story I like is The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov."

I'm a pretty big Asimov fan, Brandon, but I'd hesitate before putting him in the same sentence as "character driven." Although I admit I haven't read End of Eternity yet.

I would not put this book under the label of good character driven too.

How about trying The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood or Grass by Sheri S. Tepper not too tech driven but very strong on the character side of things.