For me there are two breeds of science fiction, cerebral and phyiscal. An example of cerebral science fiction would be 'Sunshine,' in which your brain can't completely wrap itself around the concepts given, but is stimulated nonetheless. An example of physical science fiction would be something like Aliens where the concept is simple, visceral and engaging on the endorphin level. There's not much to ponder in a physical sci-fi piece other than how hectic the adventure is. My latest read, by Robert Reed is "Beyond the Veil of Stars," and it definitely belongs to the cerebral category. This is not an adventure book at all, the climax is even a bit suspect but my brain actually liked this treat of a novel. It about the emotionally-defunct son of a UFO chaser and his contact with actual alien worlds after a world wide event that changes everything that everyone on earth believes...We are not alone...
This book kinda reminds me of X-Files, in that the concepts of aliens and travel and conciousness are spun completely on their heels. And just wait until you read about life on another world... The cover does nothing to hint at the complexity of existance (or the meaning of the book) and the ending is a bit blase and dry but I really did enjoy this.
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