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

[ThaVirus]

Has anyone happen to have read anything by James Lovegrove? His books have caught my eye during my last two trips to the book store but I'm hesitant to pull the trigger.

They're all Age of [SOMETHING]. Like Age of Odin, Age of Ra, Age of Zeus, etc.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

Third one is even slower. There's a stand alone Mistborn book that's essentially a western that's pretty damn good though.

Having just finished the third book, I have to say I don't agree. I thought the third book was the best of the three.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Frosty

Having just finished the third book, I have to say I don't agree. I thought the third book was the best of the three.

Random tip: If you decide to check out Sanderson's other works, read Warbreaker before you read Words of Radiance.

It's a minor spoiler, but...

Spoiler!

Sanderson's books are all in the same universe (just on different worlds), and it turns out people can move between them.

It's not vital that you are "in the know," but it makes things a bit more fun.

I just finished Words of Radiance last night. I really enjoy his writing, but now begins the excruciating wait for the next one.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Random tip: If you decide to check out Sanderson's other works, read Warbreaker before you read Words of Radiance.

It's a minor spoiler, but...

Spoiler!

Sanderson's books are all in the same universe (just on different worlds), and it turns out people can move between them.

It's not vital that you are "in the know," but it makes things a bit more fun.

I just finished Words of Radiance last night. I really enjoy his writing, but now begins the excruciating wait for the next one.

Good to know. The only other Sanderson book I currently have beside the one that was recently free on Amazon, is Elantris. I'll add Warbreaker to the list.

I also have the standalone Mistborn book but am going to wait a bit to read it. I've had Kristen Britain's Green Rider series sitting on the shelf for a while now and am starting it. I'm just a little ways into the first book but it looks like it will be pretty good.

[hometeam]

ok made it through all 10 vampire chronicles books. Now looking for something else but cant decide.

I have read enders game series, the harry turtledove world war series, WoT series, All of the anne rice vampire chronicles and now im stuck

[hometeam]

Maybe ill read GoT. I have never watched the show

[unlurking]

Originally Posted by DaFace

As more warning then, both the second and third have a decent amount of that. I like it personally, but it's not for everyone.

I promise the endings are good though.

Just read these based on the recommendations here and enjoyed all three, thanks! The first one was a page burner while the 2nd and 3rd got a little slow action-wise, but definitely picked back up with good endings. I also enjoyed the political intrigue aspects, but it definitely is a turn from the fast paced first book. Will have to check out the standalone western referenced.

[unlurking]

Originally Posted by hometeam

Maybe ill read GoT. I have never watched the show

I got sucked into these back when it was "just one more book" to close the series. I have now read the series 3 times. Since every new book seems to take 5+ years I wanted to go back and refresh the characters. I'm done until he finishes or he dies. Great books, but the "excruciating wait" that DaFace mentioned for Sanderson has become frustrating as hell with this "trilogy".

[unlurking]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I'm not sure how I'd define it to be honest. I don't think political is a word I'd use, although there are politics involved. It's about as epic as epic fantasy gets, covering thousands of years and a seemingly endless cast of characters. I'd relate it to Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series (much better than Covenant IMO) and Cook's Black Company series more than to, say, Tolkien or Wheel of Time.

Loved the Covenant series as a teenager. Tried to re-read it a few years ago since the Last Chronicles series came out and just couldn't get into it again. Found and read his Gap Series though and enjoyed it.

Based on recommendations here, added the Magicians series to my public library list and will look at the Mazalan and Broken Empire series as well. Cycling through the 15 Asimov Foundation works (never actually read all of them), but hoping these make a nice break from Asimov. Love his stories, but I was never able to just fly through them like other authors.

[KCUnited]

Dave Eggers The Circle turned what was supposed to be a nice beach vacation into an anxiety-ridden introspect into my own participation in social media.

Smile.

[keg in kc]

Just finished a re-read of the first two magicians book and then basically read The Magician's Land in one sitting. Great trilogy.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Just finished a re-read of the first two magicians book and then basically read The Magician's Land in one sitting. Great trilogy.

It really is. I'm kind of amazed at his ability to make each book stand on its own merit without a lot of dropoff. I kept expecting the next book to be the one that wasn't as good. But each one was excellent.

[Fishpicker]

I've been a big fan of Warhammer 40,000 since 1990. I never got around to reading any of the novels, though. There are 365 of them listed on Wiki. If anyone is familiar with the series, toss out some recommendations.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by unlurking

Just read these based on the recommendations here and enjoyed all three, thanks! The first one was a page burner while the 2nd and 3rd got a little slow action-wise, but definitely picked back up with good endings. I also enjoyed the political intrigue aspects, but it definitely is a turn from the fast paced first book. Will have to check out the standalone western referenced.

Since Mistborn, I've become a bit of a Sanderson fanboy, so if anyone is curious about his other books, let me know. Here's where I went from there:

• Alloy of Law - Quick read to ease you out of the Mistborn series.
• Warbreaker - Standalone book with a ton of political stuff and (of course) another crazy magic system.
• Way of Kings - First in a 10-book epic story (Stormlight Archive). It's incredible, but it'll likely be a decade before this story is done. (He's writing one every other year roughly.)
• Words of Radiance - Second in the series. Also incredible.
• Steelheart - Young adult superhero story where all the superheroes are bad guys. Not sure what I think of it yet, but it's an interesting change of pace.

[keg in kc]

We'll be lucky if he finishes stormlight archive in the next 15 years.

Those books to me mark the best work he's done so far, and I think they're the only thing worth a re-read. I couldn't even make it through the last wheel of time book. The mistborn stuff is okay but he spends too much time with the magic systems and his early fight sequences come across more like tabletop DnD than visceral fight scenes. His character work is also much stronger in the Stormlight books.

I'm a big fan of the writing excuses podcast he does with dan wells, howard taylor and mary robinette kowal. Although they still haven't motived me to actually write after all these years. But that's my failure more than theirs of course.


Along the lines of Sanderson's lighter fare, Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is pretty entertaining. I don't remember the exact story, but he basically wrote the series based on Pokemon and Roman Legions (it was a bet or something along those lines, somebody else set the parameters). Funny way to start, but a good series.