Just finished Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Bit of slow going at first, and the story jumps around from different perspectives (and decades, what with cryosleep and cybernetic/nano enhancements being common) but it all comes together nicely. It’s got an interesting answer to the Fermi Paradox. You could just read the summary on Wikipedia if you’d like to know what that is, but it’s not the same experience as reading the book.
And in the same universe, there’s the novella Diamond Dogs. You can read this as a stand-alone without reading Revelation Space. Basically there’s a planet with nothing on it except a huge alien tower, and each room has a puzzle. If you solve it, you move on. If you don’t...you die. Kinda like Cube. What’s the prize for beating the game? Nobody knows, but it’s gotta be pretty good right?