Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Only Thread

[Buck]

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

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I'm about halfway through Toll the Hounds. I think you are absolutely right about the difficulty. And initially the constantly changing landscape of characters was off-putting, but I've grown used to it.

Yes. Once you absorb the cast, it really starts to improve as a reading experience.

Eriksen is also a weaver of incredibly intricate, intense and twisty plot points. And there's so much going on, you don't spend enough consistent time with any one character to get a great feel for the coming twists.

Some brutal and impactful moments in the series, though.

Spoiler!

Whiskeyjack's death was just crushing. I could see problems with that leg coming, but still... effing Kallor.

I also find myself most sympathetic to poor Toc the Younger, who is constantly getting screwed.

Love the play between Tehol and Bugg... really very interesting.

[Braincase]

Finished the Dresden Files. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Did two books in the Monster Hunter International series. They're OK. Great if you love guys describing weaponry for half the book.

Currently into the 4th book of the Iron Druid series. After you listen to the audiobooks, you'll hear Oberron's voice everytime you look at a dog. Best. Pet. Ever.

[keg in kc]

Sorry you didn't like the Monster Hunter books more, I'm a big fan of those.

I don't think I mentioned it at the time, but another good urban fantasy series (also military based, but quite a bit different from MHI) is the Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry, which began in '09 with Patient Zero. Up to 6 novels now, and it's really good stuff. It's much more akin to horror and it's almost like the game of thrones in that anybody in the cast can drop at any point (excluding, obviously, Joe Ledger himself...).

Really enjoy the Audible versions, Ray Porter does a great job with them. Good enough that I dropped everything else I was listening to a couple of weeks ago when I realized the newest one had just been released.

Maberry covers a wide variety of stuff, from genetic engineering (including bioengineered zombies) to vampires to aliens. And he somehow makes it all...well, believable is the wrong word, but it all works.

[Buck]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Direct sequels. As in each one continues the story from the previous book. No giant leaps forward in time or anything like that that (related to your previous mention of Foundation in the other thread). There are recurring characters and points of view, etc. Part of the reason I think it's going to translate so well to TV...

Three books currently: Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War and Abbadon's Gate, with a fourth, Cibola Burn coming in June.

Weird. In the "extras" section at the end, the author states the next two books are titled, "Caliban's War" and "Dandelion Sky." Wonder why the name was changed.

Pretty fun book. Never though that splicing a noir-detective storyline with a hardish scifi storyline could work so well.

I'm assuming that the sequels don't do that, but I could be wrong. I already ordered the 2nd book.

I hope the show turns out good. Seems a lot more grandiose than SyFy's budget allows.

[Rausch]

Finally read The Man In The High Castle.

Very, very underwhelmed. There was a ton of interwebs talk about how innovative and great it was and it was just...very stiff, very hard to care about the characters.

[unlurking]

Originally Posted by Buck

Weird. In the "extras" section at the end, the author states the next two books are titled, "Caliban's War" and "Dandelion Sky." Wonder why the name was changed.

Pretty fun book. Never though that splicing a noir-detective storyline with a hardish scifi storyline could work so well.

I'm assuming that the sequels don't do that, but I could be wrong. I already ordered the 2nd book.

I hope the show turns out good. Seems a lot more grandiose than SyFy's budget allows.

I read these last weekend. Pretty enjoyable, but I actually liked the first one best. Was a little more personable, less expansive. The characters seemed more open and available. I thought the Julie / Miller duo was a great way to describe Miller. He became my favorite character of the series.

I was put off originally by the detective story descriptions as I'm not a fan of that genre. Decided to read based on the TV show announcement thread. Didn't get the detective vibe when reading though. Just a typical sci-fi/fantasy, me against the universe quest for truth kinda thing.

[unlurking]

I didn't see these listed, so if Q, my apologies. Anyway, two trilogies I've read over the last 5 or 6 years have really stuck with him, even though I've read hundreds of other books (thanks to Baen for the awesome free library and cheap bundles).

Apparently these are "hard scifi", although I had never heard that term until recently. Either way, they are some of the best character driven stories I have ever read. They are both near future stories that focus on the people and relationships, building up slowly but engagingly. They both start out with almost a post-apocalyptic colony vibe, the characters building a society/culture of their own. These were books that I just couldn't put down.

Rather than try and describe them, I'll just add links to the Amazon pages/reviews. The Rifters series is available free from Feedbooks, which was actually the only reason I gave it a shot.


The Rifters by Peter Watts (Starfish, Maelstrom, Behemoth)
http://www.amazon.com/Starfish-Peter.../dp/0765315963
(Available free at http://www.feedbooks.com/book/974/starfish)

Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars)
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Mars-Trilo.../dp/0553560735

[keg in kc]

It's been twenty years since I read them, but as I recall I found the Mars Trilogy to be dry and pretty poorly/stereotypically characterized. I thought it like a lot of hard science fiction was too nuts and bolts for my taste, too much about ideas and tech and not enough about the people and what was going on.

It's similar to some epic fantasy, where you might have pages and pages of description of shit I don't care about, like food and clothing, sometimes even long descriptions of scenery makes me start to skim read until something happens. Same way with hard science fiction, i find myself starting to tune out during the technical and scientific jargon and discussions.

[unlurking]

I hear ya. Steven King got like that for me. Could skip ahead a few pages and find out he was still describing the weather. But with the tech stuff, I just feel that much more drawn into the story. Make me believe it's possible, and it's easier to suspend my disbelief. Tried reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons and couldn't get past the beginning of chapter 2. If you want me to believe you're in a space-faring tree that is powered by black holes in the trunk, you really ought to try and explain a little. Was like the author was just trying to list all the sci-fi cliches on one page. One sentence after the other was quantum leap this, whisker-carbon tubes that. I was rolling my eyes every other sentence and just couldn't get into it.

As far as the characters went, I liked the dry presentation. You learned who they were through their actions and less through their dialogue or author descriptions. You got insights into their personality through the way they viewed the world around them. Much like Miller is described by how he relates to his "idea" of Julie in Leviathan Wakes. I thought that was really well done. I know a lot of people didn't particularly like the politics either, but I may have actually enjoyed that part the most. Kind of like a fantasy version of the American colonies in space.

Give Starfish a try. More action based than the Mars Trilogy, and the tech is different and described in less detail. Also it's free! The psycho/socio "trash" of society being thrown together in the deep and interacting kept a constant edge of suspense as well, at least for me.

[keg in kc]

Hyperion is one of the best novels I've ever read. You should really give it more than a single chapter and a few pages. Simmons received the Hugo award for it (same as Robinson got for Green and Blue Mars as I recall).

[Easy 6]

I used to be waaay into the "Drizzt" the Dark Elf books, by RA Salvatore.

Anyone heard of it?

[keg in kc]

I read the Icewind Dale trilogy probably 15 years ago, inspired by Drizzt's appearance in the original Baldur's Gate. It was pretty entertaining fluff.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Hyperion is one of the best novels I've ever read. You should really give it more than a single chapter and a few pages.

^

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I read the Icewind Dale trilogy probably 15 years ago, inspired by Drizzt's appearance in the original Baldur's Gate. It was pretty entertaining fluff.

Glad I'm not the only one.

[unlurking]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Hyperion is one of the best novels I've ever read. You should really give it more than a single chapter and a few pages. Simmons received the Hugo award for it (same as Robinson got for Green and Blue Mars as I recall).

I probably should, but I've got a long list of stuff I'm going after currently. Just went and checked the Amazon look inside, and it was actually only a few pages into the first chapter that I gave up. The prologue was OK, although the external balcony with a piano on a spaceship had me scanning forward and back for some sort of explanation. Page 11 just felt like a joke. Talk about "jargon", and completely unexplained jargon at that. Had me going WTF so often I just couldn't continue.

Maybe a few shots would help me get past that page. I'm told the stories are fantastic, but much like William Gibson's works I just have trouble getting past the writing.