Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Only Thread
 

There is a great thread in the lounge about Books in general, but to be honest, all I really want to read is Sci-Fi (including post-apocalyptic), and Fantasy.

In this OP I will compile every poster's top 3 Fantasy/SciFi suggestions if they give me them. I will try to keep the posters in alphabetical order in case you want to find someone's suggestions easier.

CP POSTER SUGGESTIONS

Baby Lee
1. Fritz Lieber's Swords Against series.
2. George R.R. Martin's SoIaF series [no brainer that will probably make tons of other lists]
3. Umberto Eco, Foucalt's Pendulum [a little more obscure/forgotten to make up for GRRM]

Frosty
1.Raymond Feist - Riftwar Saga
2.Terry Brooks - Shannara series (starting with the Knight of the Word books)
3.Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn

Huffmeister
(1) Dune - Frank Herbert
(2) The Stand - Stephen King (1000+ page unabridged)
(3) Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein (checkout the song by Yes, too. lots of great bass)

Jawshco
1. "Book of the Long Sun" by Gene Wolfe
2. "Paradise War" by Stephen R Lawhead
3. "The Dragonbone Chair" by Tad Williams

listopencil
1. Edgar Rice Burroughs, any series
2. Robert Heinlein, everything he has written in chronological order (but read Starship Troopers first)
3. Doc Smith's Lensman series

vailpass
1. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1, 2A & 2B books are a gold mine for sampling the evolution of sci-fi. (below)
2.The Nebula Awards and Hugo Awards (selected yearly, pick a year)
3. Years Best SF Annual publication, pick any volume from 1 to the current volume 17
See Post 142

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card (they are making a movie about it and I am ****ing pumped)

Recommendations...
Wool series by Hugh Howey (post apocalyptic)
Renewal series by JF Perkins (PA)
Sisters of Glass by DW St John (sci-fi)
Enders Game + series by Orson Scott Card (sci-fi)
Temporary Duty by Ric Locke (sci-fi)

These are just a few from my recent Kindle list. 90% of what I read comes from these two categories.

Ender's Game is one of my favorite Sci-Fi books, shit, who doesn't have that in the list of their top sci-fi books.

Anyways, here are some ones that I've read recently, or am reading that I want to recommend, and I'd also like some recommendations given to me based on this.

Recent Favorites:
-Cat's Cradle / Breakfast of Champions (sorta sci-fi) / Slapstick - All by Kurt Vonnegut
-Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
-Rendevous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke

Currently Reading:
-World War Z - Max Brooks
-I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

Upcoming Reads (books I have recently purchased to read):
-Magician: Apprentice - Raymond E. Feist
-Wool - Hugh Howey
-The Road - Cormac McCarthy
-American Gods - Neil Gaiman
-The Stand - Stephen King
-John Dies at the End - David Wong (this one is more horror I think)

Next Up (books I plan on purchasing soon):
-Magician: Master / Silverthorn / A Darkness at Sethanon - Raymond E. Feist (that's the rest of the Riftwar Saga after Magician: Apprentice Above)
-Mistborn Series: The Final Empire / The Well of Ascension / The Hero of Ages - Brandon Sanderson
-On the Beach - Nevil Shute

Some I've Heard about, but don't know yet:
-A Game of Thrones Series - George R.R. Martin
-I, Robot - Isaac Asimov (never read any of his stuff)
-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
-11/22/63 - Stephen King

I think that this list gives a pretty clear indication of stuff I like, and the kind of stuff I want to read. There are many more books I've heard about, but don't know yet, there's just not enough room to fill them all out.

I'm ready for suggestions.

Robopocalypse is similar to World War Z
The Renewal series would fit in with The Road and Wool

I forgot that my friend literally just lent me Robopocalypse. I was really digging World War Z in the beginning, but it's gotten boring. When they were talking about the actual breakout and the "War" it was cool, but once I hit about 30% in they started talking about Zombie, National, and Foreign Policy, it's started to get boring.

I hope it picks back up. I don't really care about the movie star who used his celebrity to film the last major Zombie battle to raise the moral of the people.

Anyways, some others that I have picked up recently, but I don't know how soon I'll read them.

-The Dig - Michael Siemsen
-Rex Rising - Chrystalla Thoma

Also I guess I actually bought The Stand. I shouldn't operate my kindle late at night. I'm buying shit that I don't even know about lol. I almost bought the paperback today, not even knowing that I bought it on Kindle last night.

I used to read a lot, but now just never seem to have time (outside of the crapper anyway).

Some of those suggestions look pretty good, Buck. Maybe I should post less and read a book...lol.


BTW, you'll love The Stand. One of my all time favorites.

Does anyone have a suggestion on which Asimov book I should read first, if I were to read one?

A lot of what I find is recommended by my Kindle. I don't know what I would do without it.

I wouldn't know about Wool, Rex Rising, The Dig, I Am Legend, I, Robot, etc if it weren't for my kindle. ****ing love this thing.

Which one do you have?

I have the 3rd generation one with the free 3G.

Last sci-fi/fantasy books I read were the first two hunger games books. Pretty mediocre, but I'll probably finish the trilogy and I think the movie might be a decent one to see with the family.

I highly recommend a couple of books by "the dean of science fiction", Robert A. Heinlein: Methuselah's Children and Starship Troopers. If you decide you like Heinlein, there are many more.

For Asimov star with "I, Robot". Then I'd move on to the Elijah Bailey detective novels ("Caves of Steel", "Naked Sun", "Robots of Dawn"). I hear the Foundation series is also good but haven't read it.

I'm a big fan of Anne McCaffrey's world of Pern, which starts with "Dragonflight", "Dragonquest", and "The White Dragon".

I also like Terry Brooks and his watered-down Tolkienish post-apocalyptic earth in the Shannara series (Sword, Elfstones, Wishsong, and then more) and his Magic Kingdom of Landover series.

Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" and "Stone of Tears" are excellent, but then his series bogs town for me.

Not terribly into Sci Fi, but my obvious favorite along with just about everyone else is the LOTR series and I did enjoy Kings Gunslinger series.

I would highly recommend:

Ender's Game (and ensuing sequels). Some of the best stuff I've ever read, as a few have noted.

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (the first two books are slow, but they are quick reads and if you get past them, the series REALLY pays off).

The first trilogy of S.M. Stirling's "Dies the Fire" series. Pretty cool post-apocalyptic stuff.

I can confirm that these are indeed fantastic choices.
How much interest do you have in straight horror?

i haven't read many in this genre, but this was really good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_Earth_(novel))1050 pages

I also liked Dune and the 7 books that kinda round out the series

-I Am Legend - Richard Matheson: i thought this was very good. the most recent movie version did a horrible job

Plague of the Dead and Thunder and Ashes by Z.A. Recht. They're a part of the Morningstar Saga, basically about a zombie outbreak. It's been a couple years since I read them but they were pretty entertaining from what I remember.

Day by Day Armageddon - J.L. Bourne

I thought this book and its sequel were better than WWZ and The Walking Dead.

I like Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. I've read them all except for the newest book, the Omen Machine. There are some slow books in that series, but the first two books and Faith of the Fallen are amazing. I also found the last 3 Chainfire books pretty entertaining.

I don't read much SciFi beyond Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who books. But I love all if Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently books. I'm a tepid fan of Asimov - I liked I, Robot; but got bored with the foundation series. Anything by Bradbury is great. Gene Wolfe is a fun writer to read- the dude writes in his own odd language-the Book of the Long Sun is a good one to try.

I read Battlefield Earth before that crap movie came out, and before I knew about L Ron Hubbard's bizarre religion, but I thought that book kicked anus when I first read it.

I have a ton of favorite Fantasy books. I'll just list the first few I can think of :

Albion Song series- Stephen R. Lawhead.

Dark Tower Series, The Talisman, The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon- Stephen King.

Light Fantastic (Discworld series) - Terry Pratchett

Song of Ice and Fire series - George RR Martin.

Memory, Sword, and Sorrow series - Tad Williams

The Lies of Locke Lamora- Scott Lynch

Wheel of Time series - Robert Jordan

The Dresdin Files series - Jim Butcher

Oh, I forgot about Dune. I read the first 3 and they were great. I read those books and The Planet of the Apes at the same time and remember thinking how awful the movies were of those fantastic books.

I thought that World War Z started slowly, but got really great by the end. If you're only 30% in, you haven't got to the really good stuff.

Dune is on my must read list, I forgot to mention it.

Great recommendations guys.

Quikies, I'm somewhat interested in horror. Do you have a short horror novel you could recommend?

Sci-Fi horror would be cool. Something like that movie Sunshine.

Jaws, I'm over 50% in.

The Stand.


Jizz.

The Stand, definitely. Just be sure to get the unabridged 1000+ page version.

Game of Thrones is pretty damn good but Hitchhikers Guide is freaking incredible. One of my favorite reads ever.

I'd recommend "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress", and "Time Enough For Love" rather than "Methuselah's Children". And then I'd recommend that you read every book he wrote anyway.

Dune chronicles by Frank Herber, havn't ever read them but I thought Dune was a good movie so the books should be good too.

I haven't read I, Robot, but Asimov's Foundation series was pretty great, you might throw those in somewhere.

And when you read the Dune series..just..forget there's a 7th one.

This.

And don't buy the Gary Sinese/Molly Ringwald covered version. The first time I saw it I though it was a romance novel. LMAO

I liked the Stand right up until the end. Pretty much like most Stephen King books.

The Riftwar Saga from Feist was the first fantasy series I ever read, still on my top favorite list. Once you are done with it, read the companion series from Janny Wurtz(or something like that). The individual books after the Riftwar Saga are pretty good too.

I'll also second Battlefield Earth. I read that, thought it was good, then watched the movie. Oh my, what the heck was that?

I really liked a series from Harry Harrison called The Hammer and the Cross, highly recommend it.

Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series is great.

I'm in need of a new book to read right now anyway, so I'll be taking some of the suggestions from this thread.

Has anyone read the latest from the Enderverse? Shadows in Flight?

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Flight...=3U5CI5U8DCOHD

I find it odd that it's not coming to Kindle until next February.

I have the original with 3G.

I also have a Fire that I rooted and installed CM7 on. I do most of my reading on the old Kindle though. The fire is good for surfing and gaming and when I travel.

I've been reading just tons and tons of fantasy the last few years, I'll try to work up something by the end of the week. I've probably read stuff that nobody else has even heard of, all of it pretty good.

Haven't you dabbled in writing?

Yes, but I wouldn't punish anybody with that.

If you are going to read the Shannara series, start with Brooks' Knight of the Word trilogy. He is currently bridging the two series (the KotW series sets up the apocalypse that creates the Shannara world).

One of my all time favorite fantasy series. His recent Shadowmarch series is a good read, too, though not as good as Memory, Sword and Shadow.

Yeah, that's always been my biggest critique of him. He comes up with incredible characters and concepts, and knows how to use them to create good suspense and tension. But it's like half the time he just doesn't know how to end stories.

The exception, of course, is Needful Things. That's just a well crafted story from beginning to end.

I really, really like Heinlein, but I just could not get into Stranger In A Strange Land. When I finished it, I couldn't figure out why it's widely regarded as his masterpiece.

Neverwhere is another good one by Gaiman. Cool characters and clever humor, all set in a "hidden world within our own".

Have you read any cyberpunk, Buck? William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive) is very good.

There's a lot of good series in here. I also have enjoyed books written by Turtledove. He writes alternative history novels.

You just don't grok it, eh?

Gaiman may be my favorite writer. I just love American Gods to death.

Okay, here's a few, mostly fantasy:

Joe Abercrombie: First Law Trilogy, Best Served Cold, The Heroes, A Red Country (forthcoming). Dark, gritty epic fantasy. The trilogy is told primarily from the standpoint of a torturer, an asshole of a nobleman and a barbarian warrior. The standalone books involve a few recurring characters, but are...standalone. The Heroes in particular is pretty awesome, about a 3-day battle. Some of my favorite books of all time, all written in the last decade and there's more to come.

Jim Butcher: Dresden Files and Codex Alera. He's best known for the Dresden books, which is some of the best urban fantasy going (about a wizard who works as a detective in Chicago), but he also wrote a more traditional epic fantasy series called Codex Alera, which began, as I recall, when he was challenged to create fantasy based on Pokemon. It's pretty hilarious, but it turned out well.

Glen Cook: The Black Company. It's a 10-volume dark epic fantasy series about a mercenary company told primarily in first person, initially by Croaker, the company doctor and annalist and later by Murgen, who takes over the annalist duties. Fantastic series written from the mid-80s through the late 90s.

Larry Correia: Monster Hunter and Grimnoir series. The Monster Hunter books are present-day urban fantasy about, you guessed it, monster hunters, and the Grimnoir series is historical fantasy set in the early 1930s, sort of a mash-up of film noir and fantasy. Love both series.

Lev Grossman: The Magicians and The Magician King. Basically a wonderfully dark mashup of CS Lewis and JK Rowling, written for adults. Came out fairly recently. Really excellent.

Richard K. Morgan: Takeshi Kovacs series and A Land Fit for Heroes. This stuff is adult. With a capital 'A'. The Kovacs series is science fiction, basically hard boiled detective stuff set in the future, filled with sex and violence. A Land Fit for Heroes, which he's currently writing, is the fantasy equivalent, but some people may have trouble getting through it because it features some graphic depiction of homosexual acts. Fantastic writer and fantastic stories if you can get past that.

Patrick Rothfuss: The Kingkiller Chronicle. An epic fantasy trilogy (2 novels currently finished) which autobiographically tells the story of a musician/mage/adventurer by the name of Kvothe. Extremely well done.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch: The Diving Universe. She's an extremely prolific author who's written everything from romance to mystery to fantasy, but what I know her for is her Diving series, which is science fiction centered around an antisocial wreck diver named Boss. Just a fantastic series, what I've read of it (there are currently 3 novels, I've read the first 2).

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Shadows of the Apt. A multi-volume epic fantasy series set in a world where different groups of people (called kinden) take on aspects of insects. So you have people who are like ants and people who are like dragonflies and people who are like flies and beetles and all sorts of things. Some of them show physical attributes of this association, some have special magical abilities like wasp stings or fly wings. Further, there's an ongoing conflict between people who use magic (the inapt) and who use technology (the apt). So you end up with a relatively unfamiliar fantasy world that's to me reminiscent of steampunk in some pretty cool ways. There are guns (that aren't really guns) and blimps and trains and all kinds of cool stuff, but there's also magic, which the apt refuse to believe in. It creates some really interesting conflicts. Tchaikovsky does a fantastic job at telling his stories and is great at characterization, and he's not afraid to have characters fail or even die. One of my favorite currently ongoing series.

Heh, I guess I don't :)

Shortest one I can recommend would be either The Mist by Stephen King or The Gunslinger graphic novels -- both are prettaahhhh prettahhhh good.

I am a big fan of alt history, not really Sci Fi / Fantasy but it gets lumped in at most book stores.

Completed the full Harry Turtledove 11 book series that starts after the civil war where the Confederacy successfully secedes from the Union. In order;

How Few Remain

The Great War Trilogy
- American Front
- Walk in Hell
- Breakthroughs

The American Empire Trilogy
- Blood and Iron
- The Center Cannot Hold
- The Victorious Opposition

The Settling Accounts
- Return Engagement
- Drive to the East
- The Grapple
- In at the Death

In more of his sci fi vein I have also read all but on book of Turtledove's Worldwar & Colonization (aliens invade Earth at the start of WWII) series. In order;

Worldwar
- In the Balance
- Tilting the Balance
- Upsetting the Balance
- Striking the Balance

Colonization
- Second Contact
- Down to Earth
- Aftershocks

Still need to read Homeward Bound which is the final book in the series.

Worldwar was great, Colonization a let down.

I won't disagree with you. Turtledove seems to skip over plot lines between books that would be compelling but only get one or two paragraphs. For example; when the wife of the character that raises two aliens as humans dies the whole alien reaction is passed over.

He's not the greatest writer (repeats lines over and over, blunt as a 2 X 4 at times) but I think he puts more thought into the "what if" aspect of the storylines and takes them further than other writers in the genre.

There are a couple of older series that I like.

The first is David Eddings Belgariad and Malloreon series (each are five books long). These are of the "peasant finds out he is actually a key part of saving the world" genre but I found them very entertaining, with fun character interaction. The problem with Eddings, though, is that everything he has done since has basically recycled these characters into different plots, even down to the same banter between characters. The Sparhawk series is okay but derivative.

Another is Barbara Hambly's Darwath books or the Winterlands series. Actually, I enjoyed all of her fantasy novels that I have read (she also writes historical fiction and mysteries).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hambly

David Duncan has written several series that I have really enjoyed. The Seventh Sword is about a dying young man (in our time) who finds himself transported to a different world in the body of a master swordsman.

The Pandemia books are good too. I didn't really care for his King's Blades books, though.

http://www.fantasyliterature.com/duncandave.html

Forgot to include one of my favorites, The Lathe Of Heven by Ursula Le Guin.

Brian Keene is good, with shorter novels. Ghoul is really good, as is The Conquering Worm.

You might want to try some H.P. Lovecraft. He's considered one of the grandfathers of modern horror. He's the guy that came up with Cthulhu and the Elder Gods (you've probably run across references to them). And he mostly wrote short stories, so they're usually quick reads. The only issue you may have is that he wrote most of them in the 20s and 30s, so the writing style can be a bit archaic at times, which some people love and some people hate. I enjoy reading his stories.

You haven't read A Song of Ice and Fire yet? WTF MAN???

Good call.. I'd recommend At the Mountains of Madness.

The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons. These books really pulled me in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos

Great idea for a thread. :thumb: I love sci-fi and tend to pick those types of books to read.

Those are really good, although much like Dune, I find myself losing interest with the later books.

David Eddings Belgaraid series

I would probably put Pat Rothfuss' work at the top of the list of anything I've read recently. He is tremendously talented, and creates some beautiful, beautiful things with his words.

The epilogue to The Name of the Wind - "The third silence" - is some of my favorite writing, ever.

I keep wanting to give Joe Abercombie a shot. Heard nothing but excellent things about it.

I read The Name of the Wind, the First Law Trilogy (Abercombie), and the Lies of Locke Lamora at roughly the same time. All three were good, but The First Law Trilogy was by far my favorite. The first time you meet the Bloody Nine is fantastic.

Has anyone read Katharine Kerr's Deverry series? They are Celtic fantasy that follows several characters through their various incarnations over the centuries. They are an interesting, enjoyable read but the series is really stretched out. I just finished the 9th book with 6 more to go for the conclusion!

Gotta recommend Fritz Leiber's Swords series. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are an iconic pair.

I continue to view Stranger in a Strange Land as his seminal work.

If you liked the movie, the books will blow you away, far FAR superior works. It creates a dense, credible world of religion, politics, and warfare tactics.

Anyone else read Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant?

It's pretty old but probably the last sci fi I read, and I really enjoyed it.

I lean more towards fantasy. Reading the Hungering Saga right now.

He said that he didn't care for it himself, and I don't consider it his best work.

I did. It's one of his best. A rare series where he dealt with mature themes without bogging down in symbology.

The best scifi novel nobody seems to have read:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ig_artwork.jpg

(by alan dean foster, not the one Buck posted)

Nope. I've heard it's the Mass Effect 3 of Fantasy Series.

Seems like a lot more fantasy in this thread than Sci-Fi. Great recommendations though. I guess Fantasy is probably a more written about genre, so that makes sense.

GoChiefs, what is your The Dig about?

I hated to read Dune. Why did he always have to include those inner monologues?

People may argue strongly about this, but speaking only for myself, I have to say that I find it very difficult to find good new science fiction. It generally tends to be harder, meaning there's of a focus on science rather than story, and often characterization and plot is the cost. Which can lead to some very dry prose and novels that read too much like textbooks. To me, while the science is important, it is science faction after all, it should be an ancillary facet; good stories are about people, in the end, and overcoming the problems they face. And I think for that reason - the style of writing - the genre faces an uphill battle when it comes to finding an audience. Which is unfortunate, because it's actually the genre I prefer; the only reason I read so much fantasy these days is because there just seems to be so much more of it at a high level of quality.

If you do want to try some science fiction, you can't really go wrong with names like Neal Stephenson or Dan Simmons or Alastair Reynolds or Robert Charles Wilson (Spin, in particular) or Peter F. Hamilton or even Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels.

Oh, and a name I left off previously that I shouldn't have is Gene Wolfe. He sort of walks a line between fantasy and science fiction.

I can't disagree with you on the hard sci-fi trend of current sci-fi.

All of my favorites were written in the 90s or earlier. A lot of those classics hold up very well today.

I Am Legend was written in the 70s I think. I'm currently reading it. It should take me one more day at most to finish. I think its great and it's not hard sci-fi at all.

Then again maybe some people don't include post-apoc in sci-fi, but I do.

I do have a little bit of me that wants some hard sci-fi, but I will always enjoy character-driven pieces more.

The Number of The Beast is good.

I used to read more science fiction, but the last 25 years or so have only read fantasy.

Best of the field David and Leigh Eddings.

The Belgariad series
Pawn of Prophecy (1982)
Queen of Sorcery (1982)
Magician's Gambit (1983)
Castle of Wizardry (1984)
Enchanters' End Game (1984)
The Malloreon series
Guardians of the West (1987)
King of the Murgos (1988)
Demon Lord of Karanda (1988)
Sorceress of Darshiva (1989)
The Seeress of Kell (1991)
[edit] Books related to The Belgariad and The Malloreon
Belgarath the Sorcerer (1995) (Prequel) with Leigh Eddings
Polgara the Sorceress (1997) (Prequel) with Leigh Eddings

The Elenium series
The Diamond Throne (1989)
The Ruby Knight (1990)
The Sapphire Rose (1991)
The Tamuli series
Domes of Fire (1992)
The Shining Ones (1993)
The Hidden City (1994)

Since "Time Enough For Love" is a sequel to "Methuselah's Children", I thought it made more sense to recommend the book that came first. However, I agree that both of the books you mentioned are excellent.

I've read every book Heinlein wrote, most of them several times. It's too bad he went senile in his old age and published such crap right before he died. Based upon his obsession with incest and the way he insisted upon justifying it in several of his later books, I think it's a very good thing he didn't have any daughters.

That's funny. I thought that was one of the worst books he ever wrote, and that's one of the few Heinlein books that I only read one time. It started out very good, but it seemed like about two-thirds of the way through it he forgot what the story was about, so he decided to just abruptly end the book with a party in which the guests were the characters from his earlier books.

I thought the guy had gone senile, and I couldn't believe any publisher would publish it.

Yeah maybe you're correct. I DO remember liking the book but being confused by the ending.