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Originally Posted by hobnail
An interesting topic. At some point in my early adulthood I transitioned from science fiction to fantasy. Years later I theorized that it was because as I got older I was more knowledgeable about technology and was therefore less impressed by the ideas they were exploring. And then years after that I've come to the conclusion that it was due to wanting stories that were character centric rather than idea or plot centric. That's probably also why I read almost exclusively science fiction short stories rather than novels; you often don't need a whole novel to explore an idea, and then short stories tend to be weak on character development which is also probably why I transitioned to fantasy.
This topic makes me wonder what science fiction books I've read that had good character development and made me care about the character(s). At the moment all I can think of is Dune, by Frank Herbert; I should try rereading that. I remember really loving Zelazny's Jack of Shadows and I tried re-reading it recently but found it weak on making me care about the character. Likewise with World of Tiers by Farmer.
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Zelazny was part of a group of authors from the 60's who had what I would call more of a metaphysical focus, rather than a character focus. Moorcock was much the same way. It's kind of like watching some of the early James Bond movies. Characters smoked and drank a lot, were somewhat detached, ironic and were much more interested in abstract speculation than they were in what they were feeling. It was a style of writing popular back then. You weren't suppose to care all that much about the character. There was little likable about Jack of Shadows, which was kind of the point.