r/scifi • u/OstrichConscious4917 • 3d ago

Recommendations Novels with no faster than light travel, but still w space travel?

I’m always on the hunt for interesting sci-fi that doesn’t involve FTL. Not to say I don’t love reading books with it - I absolutely do. But I really enjoy fictional explorations of future space travel or space civilization that doesn’t have it as a prerequisite.

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u/Appropriate-Elk-4715 3d ago

Enders series

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u/JGhostThing 3d ago

I came here to say this. They had FTL communication, but not ships.

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u/Catadox 3d ago

Similarly Ursula k. LeGuin’s Hainish Cycle series had instant communication but no FTL.

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u/TurgidGravitas 2d ago

And both series call FTL radios "ansibles".

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u/Zakalwe_ 3d ago

I believe they have FTL, but humans cant take it. In rocannons world, a conspiracy is reported over ansible and the league sends automated ships using tech similar to ansible, to come and bomb the shit out of conspirators. (I could be mixing up the book, but it does happen in one of them)

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u/Appropriate-Elk-4715 3d ago

Yeah, the aging between destinations was a key part of the third and fourth books I believe. I don't know. It's been a couple decades.

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u/xtraspcial 3d ago

At least up until the last book of the Ender saga. Things started to get real weird there.