Epic Science Fiction Books

[sqbr]

I was discussing this with Cam: what are the good (or at least halfway interesting) science fiction epics? By which I mean long, somewhat mythic stories with a sense of history and gravitas. All I could think of was Dune and the Gap series (which I never finished due to Stephen Donaldson reaching my "sympathetic portrayal of rape" limit)

Kind of: The Xeelee Sequence and the Foundation Series and Worthing Saga.

EDIT: I'm rather tired and getting all confused in my definitions, so feel free to ignore my qualifiers and mention anything you think deserves mentioning.

gyges_ring has reminded me of semi-epic books which are painted on a large canvas but aren't very mythic or whatever, more like reading a historical novel set in the future e.g C J Cherryh's Union/Alliance books. I realise this is a very subjective thing, and don't think there's anything wrong with a prosaic tone.

Also: A Fire Upon the Deep (how could I forget?)

And thank heaven for Wikipedia (not all space opera is the sort of epic I'm talking about, mind you). *ponders investigating these authors*

Comments

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

The Gateway books, Frederick Pohl.
The Star Fraction tetralogy, Ken McLeod. Or the Engines of Light series, same.
The series that begins with Revelations Space, Alastair Reynolds.

[alias_sqbr]

I haven't read the last two (though have been pondering Ken McLeod for some time)
I think the first Gateway has the sense of mythos, and the series as a whole has the large scope, but too me it felt too obvious that each was written to be the last, since he kept getting rid of his villains/sources of conflict and having to invent more from scratch.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Not my impression at all on the Gateway books.

McLeod basically writes books that are mostly about left wing politics, set in SF settings, though the Engines of Light books also gets into galactic scale mythos kind of things. May or not be quite what are looking for, but worth checking out.

Reynolds I am somewhat grumpy with, as the final book in the Revelation Space series, Absolution Gap, left me with a very distinct feeling that he intended to write at least two more books when he started out, and then just decided he couldn't be bothered writing them any more. Grr... but the books are individually good, if a little unsatisfying as a series, not least because the 'big villains' never get confronted on screen.
I strongly recommend checking out his standalone book Pushing Ice for that sense of epic scope in a story that finishes nicely in a single book, though.

[alias_sqbr]

Yes, I'm not sure anyone but me sees the books that way :)

Thankyou for your suggestions, they are duly noted. I've been running a bit low on books to read recently.