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December book club canceled. Short stories instead!
We are a community for discussing all things Science Fiction. We want this to be a place for members to discuss and share everything they love about Science Fiction, whether that be books, movies, TV shows and more. Please feel free to take part and help our community grow.
Several books in the League of Peoples series (start with Expendable) have this. Festina Ramos is competent AF without going into Mary Sue territory.
The Sten series (Allan Cole & Chris Bunch, military-ish sci-fi) has a fantastically competent lead.
I don't know of any other good books in this genre, but I will say that the Martian is probably my favorite book of all time. I read it several times a year just because I enjoy it that much and actually just got done reading it again for the first time in 2025 a couple of days ago.
Keep an eye on this post then, you might find something else to love as well :)
I'll throw out a couple more of my favs along these lines. Rendezvous with Rama (be aware there's no sequel to it), most of the Culture series for happy utopian vibes, Schlock Mercenary for humor, Dahak series for fun mindless popcorn.
The Fountains of Paradise It's literally an SF love letter to engineering.
Also there are two (or three?) sequels to Rendezvous with Rama.
Greg Bear's Eon/Eternity and The Forge of God/Anvil of Stars are all engineering delight.
2001, 2010, 2051, 3001 are great classics.
"Planetfall" by Emma Newman might fit your preferences judging by the things you said about books you've read! it's a 4 book series (i think) and mostly deals with the inner psychology of the main character of each book. also has a bunch of engineering in it, mostly hard sci-fi!
Recently, I've been reading the Interdependency series by John Scalzi. It starts with The Collapsing Empire, featuring an unlikely heir to the throne, a time of trouble and strife, and the likely impending doom of all mankind. A lot of the story focuses on the unlikely heir grappling with how to hold things together against the catastrophe that most people don't really believe is coming.
Nathan Lowell's Trader's Tales From the Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper series is pure competence porn. There's very little action or intrigue, just some guy working his way up from the bottom in interstellar travel and trade via, well, competence. Haha!