I'm quite getting into Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series. I'm on book one of the series, which can be classified as military sf, and alternate/parallel earth genre. The plot is basically two WWII American destroyers find themselves in a fierce naval battle against The Japanese in spring of 1942 when they try to outrun the Imperial navy, and hide out in a mysterious squall. Both ships are transported to an alternate earth where the dinosaurs were never wiped out by the asteroid, humans failed to evolve past small mammals and two other intelligent species rise to fill the intelligence void: The Lemurians and The Grik. Picture the Lemurians as bipedal Lemur like creatures, with catlike faces and the Grik as intelligent dinosaur like creatures who are enemies of the Lemurians. Both species have navies but more akin to Ships of the line type sailing vessels with ancient cannons. The two American destroyers are lightyears ahead of them in technology, making them the most powerful warships in the world. Whatever species they ally themselves with can tip the balance of power in the war to that species. There's 15 books in the series and it has spawned a spinoff series called the Artillerymen series of which there are so far 4 books. I recommend giving this series a try.

Dungeon Crawler Carl - it’s basically an rpg written as a novel. I don’t think I can describe it well so if you’re at al interested I would recommend checking out the first few pages (I think k you can preview on something like kindle).  I will admit that I was highly skeptical when Amazon recommended me this book a few years ago but I was in need of something new and it surprisingly hooked me.  I think it’s in the genre or litrpg, which also could possibly have a more catchy name

fallen dragon by Peter Hamilton would be more standard sci fi but it’s is something I really enjoyed (and don’t see in your list).  I felt it was tighter than many of his other books (but I also read it about a decade ago so it may get a higher ranking in my mind due to having read federal sci-fi books)

 

 

A few of my all-time favorites

Isaac Asimov - The Galactic Empire series

Isaac Asimov - The Robot series

Isaac Asimov - The Foundation series

Orson Scott Card - The First Formic War series

Orson Scott Card - The Second Formic War series

Orson Scott Card - The Ender series

Orson Scott Card - The Shadow series

Wesley Chu - Time Salvager

Wesley Chu - Time Siege

James S. A. Corey - The Expanse series

Edgar Rice Burroughs - The Barsoom Series

Hugh Howey - The Silo series

Joseph R. Lallo - Free Wrench series

Scott Nicholson - After series

Scott Nicholson - Nest series

Andy Weir - The Martian

Love seeing Bobiverse mentioned—it’s one of the few series that made me laugh, think, and root for AI all at once. I’ve read and enjoyed The Expanse too, which totally scratched that space-politics-meets-action itch.

I also liked Ready Player One for its fast pacing and fun tech nostalgia, even if it’s a bit more pop-culture heavy than the others listed. And while it's more YA, I did read Divergent back in the day—definitely fun if you're in the mood for dystopia with a punch.

If you liked Bobiverse, I’d recommend checking out:

• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – Feels like Bob meets The Martian with high-stakes problem solving and great twists.

• Old Man’s War by John Scalzi – More military than Bob, but same balance of humor, science, and heart.

• The Quantum Magician by Derek Künsken – A smart space heist with cool genetic tech and worldbuilding.

• Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells – Short reads from the perspective of a grumpy AI who just wants to be left alone (but can’t stop saving people).

• Wool by Hugh Howey – If you’re in the mood for something dystopian and grounded but still mysterious.

Glad to see The Library at Mount Char and Children of Time on the tier list too—those are on my TBR next. Open to other clever, character-driven sci-fi recs if anyone has a sleeper hit to share!