It would seem that I've hit a brick wall when it comes to new fantasy/sci-fi books to read. I've read pretty much everything that catches my eye or sounds interesting from the library and bookstores in town. I've read all the classics, from Tolkein to Heinlinn, and everything inbetween from Ursula Le Guin (Thanks to her for the Ansible...) to Tad Williams and Anne McAffrey. Anybody got any suggestions of gems that i might otherwise pass over? Would greatly appreciate a reading list!
EDIT: Apologies - could have sworn i posted this on the other forum.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Try Dan Simmons' Hyperion series.
Also, you can move this topic to the other side. Click the edit button and you'll have a 'move' option.
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
Some of this is science fiction, and some of it is fantasy. None of it is hard science fiction, but you didn't say what kind of stuff you were looking for.
Posted by Kent (Member # 7850) on :
George RR Martin! He is excellent.
Posted by tern (Member # 7429) on :
Guy Gavriel Kay's The Fionvar Tapestry.
Anything by Simon Green. The Deathstalker books, despite the ridiculous title, are brilliant!
Michael Stackpole is also enjoyable to read, as is Robin McKinley, Raymond Feist, and Alan Dean Foster.
Posted by Lord Jono (Member # 8575) on :
Hehe, excellent, cheers. Some definate new ones there. Tern - read everything by Feist except the few latest ones. Need to take a break then come back to it. Thanks folks!
Posted by Zarex (Member # 8504) on :
Not exactly Sci-fi, even if you consider them children's books, I will always love Brian Jacues Redwall series. Mice with swords, fun.
Posted by Superprime (Member # 8555) on :
Ah, Michael A. Stackpole...I forgot about him. One of my favorites is Timothy Zahn's Conquerors Trilogy. The Dune series by Frank Herbert is a classic, and the new series by his son Brian and co-author Kevin J. Anderson are not quite as good, but worth reading anyway.
Posted by DemonGarik (Member # 7793) on :
RA Salvatore's Drizzt tales or his Demon Wars Saga, both are aesome
Posted by Dread Pendragon (Member # 7239) on :
There's this really obscure book few people have heard of, but it really isn't bad. It is called "Ender's Game" and is written by an Orvid Smit Card or something like that, if my memory serves me correctly. Remember, you heard it from me first!
Posted by Crotalus (Member # 7339) on :
I second the "Replay" recommendation. Found out the other day that the author, Ken Grimwood, died back in 03, of all things a heart attack. Bummer. Also second the GRR Martin reccomendation. Come on book 4!
Posted by Dread Pendragon (Member # 7239) on :
I read (er, I mean listened to the audiobook) Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East, and was surprised at how good it was. It is pretty comparable to Lord of the Rings.
[ September 09, 2005, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Dread Pendragon ]
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
The most underrated F/SF writer: Jack Vance. He's won Hugo and Nebula; most people haven't heard of him. For fantasy, start with Lyonesse. For SF, either the easy The Grey Prince, or maybe To Live Forever.
Connie Willis is da bomb, too. For humor: To Say Nothing of the Dog. For pathos and some humor: The Doomsday Book.
I'll assume you've done The Riddle-Master of Hed (McKillip), The Mote in God's Eye (Niven & Pournelle), but you may have overlooked Foundation's Fear (Benford), or A Million Open Doors (Barnes). Those are some of my favorites.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
I second DemonGarik's RA Salvatore recommendation. The Drizzt books are great. Also read the Canticle Quintet.
It's a Drizzit!
Posted by Lord Jono (Member # 8575) on :
Wow, thanks folks. Good few new doors opened up there, this should keep me going for a while! Hehe, Some of my favourites are already in the list Posted by SpEeDMaSTeR (Member # 7568) on :
quote:Originally posted by DemonGarik: RA Salvatore's Drizzt tales or his Demon Wars Saga, both are aesome
Second on the above, all of the books by Salvatore are equally amazing to Card's work with character development, in my humble opinion. Though he does over-use a few literary techniques...(oh no, we think Drizzt is dead for the fourth time!)
Also a good series to look at is the Shannara books by Terry Brooks.
The best book that I have read recently is Card's Pastwatch, however. It uses the same idea as in the movie "The Butterfly Effect" but puts it to a whole 'nother level with historical details and twists.
Posted by dropofTapioca (Member # 7867) on :
Hmm....may I recommend Mr. Card's recommendations? There are the weekly reviews, and also a LOT of SF/F reviews in the "OSC Library", the Reviews Section
Posted by 0range7Penguin (Member # 7337) on :
I like the "Dark Tower" series by Stephen King. Its not horror even though thats where you usually find it. Its more fantasy adventure.
Posted by Ramdac99 (Member # 7264) on :
quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: Try Dan Simmons' Hyperion series.
Hell yes!!!
Posted by Joshua Newberry (Member # 7864) on :
I'm assuming you've done so already, but if not...Anything you can find by Delany. Especially if you end up burning out on the recent writers (styles have changed...) and need a short trip to the classic sci fi world.
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
Michael Moorcock?
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
Anything by Philip K. Dick.
Posted by skippyboy (Member # 7600) on :
John Varley George R.R. Martin
You can't go wrong with either of them.
Posted by Oliver Dale (Member # 8398) on :
"Talyn" by Holly Lisle.
Posted by MagusFire (Member # 6780) on :
Thanks to OSC's review last week, I've started reading 'Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell'. Seems really good so far, it's kept my attention at least. It seems like one of those books that, in a few years, everyone will be reading it.
Posted by genius00345 (Member # 8206) on :
Here's a fantasy -- "Elantris" by Brandon Sanderson
Posted by Oliver Dale (Member # 8398) on :
quote:Originally posted by MagusFire: Thanks to OSC's review last week, I've started reading 'Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell'. Seems really good so far, it's kept my attention at least. It seems like one of those books that, in a few years, everyone will be reading it.
Have you seen its sales numbers? Everyone seems to be reading it right now.
Posted by 0range7Penguin (Member # 7337) on :
A stranger in a strange land.
Posted by odouls268 (Member # 2145) on :
Robert Heinlen's "Expanded Universe" Daniel Quinn's "Ishmael"
Posted by DreganOTreform (Member # 8733) on :
go with Terry Goodkind and the Sword of Truth series it is rather very good read most especially Wizard's First Rule I liked it not sure if you will but it is pretty good
also David Farland and the Runelord series is rather nice oh and the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
George R R Martin - he takes forever to write the stuff but it's worth the wait Stephen King (Dark Tower series) Julian May (The Intergalactic Milieu + Many Colored Land series, interconnected and FASCINATING!!!!!! Hmmmm, time to reread, I think...) Terry Goodkind starts off brilliantly but fades badly. Ditto Robert Jordan, whose made a living out of his books going nowhere.
Posted by syipress (Member # 7569) on :
Hmmm, anything by George R.R. Martin is great (as has been said). I would reccomend C.J. Cherryh for science fiction or fantasy. Any of her books are excellent, I am current reading "The Deep Beyond", which is a omnibus of two of her novels, Cuckoo's Egg and Serpent's Reach. Also the Faded Sun Trilogy is excellent as well.
Posted by Somnium (Member # 8482) on :
Here are some more :
Louis L'Amour's - The Walking Drum The Uprising Trilogies by David Brin The Religion War by Douglas Adams Vamped by David Sosnowski (one of the most unique imo plot settings I have seen in a while) Tom Godwin's short stories/novels (basically all of them are collected into one book, "The Cold Equations & other stories" or something similar)
Posted by tern (Member # 7429) on :
The Walking Drum was great! I had heard that he was working on a sequel but I guess he never finished it at the time of his death.
Posted by ballantrae (Member # 6731) on :
go to the blacklibrary.com
buy anything you see there.
My recomendation would be to start with the Blood of Gilead by Dan Abnett, and/or Trollslayer by William King
Blood of Gilead is a sad story though. Trollslayer and Skavenslayer (and all the other slayers for that matter!) are a riot. Grudge Bearer is probably my favorite, cause I love dwarves in general. And the folks at Games Workshop have dwarves down better than Tolkein did.
I think they did a book called the Travels of Orfeo or something along those lines, that was also pretty freaky. hmmmm, you might want to stay away from anything that has dark elves in it, or anything from the Warhammer 40k stuff at first. It's really a bit much to take in at first. You have to get into the dark grim atmosphere before you can dive into those novels.
Or you can take your pick, anything there is amazing. They've never let me down yet.
Posted by beanelricyr (Member # 8793) on :
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