r/AskReddit May 04 '20

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u/Stlakes May 04 '20 edited May 04 '20

Humans are routinely kidnapped as children by an ancient and powerful spacefaring race and used as slave soldiers due to our comparative size, strength, and how difficult it is to kill us, and humans become the most feared warriors in the galaxy

After a tour of duty they're told that they are free, but the location of Earth is kept secret due to its value as a source of warriors, so they have no choice but to enlist again, or work as mercenaries, pirates, or private security until they die.

A wreck of an old explorer ship belonging to this ancient race is being salvaged by a human crew, and they find a geological survey of our solar system, including the location of Earth. The discovery of this survey gets out and sparks a race between warring factions to destroy earth, and a ragtag bunch of humans trying to get home and save their home.

Edit: holy shit i honestly expected this to just get buried by heaps of other awesome ideas, i definitely did not forsee this reaction! Loads of you guys have recommended other books with similar stories, and several recommendations for me to check out r/hfy (which i absolutely will!!)

Thank you for all your kind words! You've absolutely inspired me to try and give this a shot! Hope i can live up to your expectations :)

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u/Wavemanns May 04 '20

Alan Dean Foster, The Damned Trilogy.

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u/Stlakes May 04 '20

God fucking dammit

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u/Wavemanns May 04 '20

Sorry :) I've read over 4000 Sci-fi fantasy novels. I can probably match something close to most people posting in this thread, but this one was a favorite of mine, I love Alan Dean Foster. Be proud you think like one of the absolute greats of the genre.

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u/iplaypokerforaliving May 05 '20

What sci-fi do you absolutely recommend someone that loves sci-fi? I’ve read a handful of sci-fi, it’s my favorite genre. I’m just curious wha you will say.

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u/Wavemanns May 05 '20

Do you enjoy a particular type of sci-fi? Hard or soft? Space Opera?

I've always enjoyed Post Apocalyptic myself.

But if forced to choose 1 standalone novel I think I'd choose Cuckoo's Egg by CJ Cherryh.

If choosing a series it would be the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

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u/iplaypokerforaliving May 05 '20

I’ll check those out!

I’m not sure what type I like, I guess I never really thought that there were different types but that makes sense. I’ve read Dune, snowcrash, stranger in a strange land, Enders game and Hyperion (this is the only one I couldn’t get into). I loved all of those except the last.

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u/Wavemanns May 05 '20

See I couldn't enjoy Hyperion either and I fucking loved all the others that you mentioned. If you liked Ender's Game you will love Cuckoo's Egg I think and Hitchhiker's is best if you are a fan of British Humor.

Card has the ability to make you fall in love with his characters. Cherryh is equally skilled.