The Ancients Are Coming (?)

[Mongoose Gar]

Actually, if people have recommendations for books/movies that remind them of the Ancients, shout.

 

[IanBruntlett]

Actually, if people have recommendations for books/movies that remind them of the Ancients, shout.

The novel "Excession" by Iain M. Banks has a "something" that scares the Culture and its AIs. Anything that scares a GSV or Psychopath class space ship has got to be worth looking at

 

[EDG]

"Excession" and "The Algebraist" (by the same author, but set in a different universe) would both work.

Also the Precursor technology from Alastair Reynolds' books.

Greg Bear's Forge of God and Anvil of Stars have some pretty wacky ultratech in them too.

 

[kristof65]

Actually, if people have recommendations for books/movies that remind them of the Ancients, shout.

The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell has a mysterious, unknown alien force that seems to be attempting to manipulate mankind into destroying itself.

Not really Ancients in the book per se (hard to really say, though, because they are so undefined - only the author knows at this point), but seen only by the manipulations they've pulled, the very sketchy evidence they've left and the main characters who are able to piece the data together.

 

[DB]

I'd be tempted to do it like this...

http://www.larryniven.org/stories/downinflames.shtml

 

[EDG]

Roger MacBride Allen's Ring of Charon/Shattered Sphere books are pretty cool too - Earth (as in the whole planet) gets kidnapped after accidentally waking up an ancient artifact buried in the moon, and ends up at a sentient AI that runs a dyson sphere which is scared of what appears to be a sentient black hole coming its way. Meanwhile, the humans left behind in the solar system are trying to get the Earth back.

I wish he'd do the next book in the series, because it's bloody awesome.