Reddit reviews Children of God: A Novel (The Sparrow Series)

If you liked the Ender universe, try the offshoot series for Ender and Bean. Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind are more philosophical and deal with Ender coming to terms with killing all the Formics. Everything after Ender's Shadow follows Bean and the other Battle School kids as the world superpowers try to achieve global domination after the Formic War, it's more about military and political strategy. They're both great, but very different.

For something new, check out Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and its sequel, Children of God. Here's the Publishers Weekly description of The Sparrow:

An enigma wrapped inside a mystery sets up expectations that prove difficult to fulfill in Russell's first novel, which is about first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. The enigma is Father Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit linguist whose messianic virtues hide his occasional doubt about his calling. The mystery is the climactic turn of events that has left him the sole survivor of a secret Jesuit expedition to the planet Rakhat and, upon his return, made him a disgrace to his faith. Suspense escalates as the narrative ping-pongs between the years 2016, when Sandoz begins assembling the team that first detects signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and 2060, when a Vatican inquest is convened to coax an explanation from the physically mutilated and emotionally devastated priest. A vibrant cast of characters who come to life through their intense scientific and philosophical debates help distract attention from the space-opera elements necessary to get them off the Earth.

Oh, and I almost forget, the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin is so freaking amazing. If you want a new fictional universe to explore, this is it. Well written, ridiculous plot twists, tons of interesting and unique characters that you hate with a passion until you read the chapter written from their point of view, then you fall in love with them. I watched the first two episodes of Game of Thrones before deciding I wanted to read the books first. I stayed up way later than I planned to because I just had to read the next chapter, then the next, then the next book, until I'd read all five in no time and might read them again because I'm addicted to the characters and universe. It's just such rich content that you'll find yourself flipping back and forth to re-read different parts. You won't regret it.

Not my own work, but if you like this prompt then you'll like this book

And the sequel