• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Fantasy and Science Fiction books worth reading?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Recently I started getting back into reading books again.

I recently purchased Ender's Game, Game of Thrones, A Brave New World, and The Hunger Games.

I'm looking for some more recommendations of good books in these genres to read, or maybe just any genre in general if its good.

After looking up some recommendations and hearing some things from friends I asked for the following for Christmas:

American Gods
The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1)
Neverwhere
Dune
The Legend of Drizzt Collector's Edition Book
Neuromancer
Ring World

My one coworker friend recommended The Sword of Truth series, but I think GAF really hates that book lol. My neighbor recommended the Eragon books to me, but from what I've heard they aren't too good either.

Also another coworker friend just informed me that The Legend of Drizzt is mainly female fap material. :S
 
G

Grakl

Member
Um, I'd assume you have read these, but just in case, read The Hobbit (#1 fantasy book!) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
 
M

mAcOdIn

Member
I'd be interested in this thread!

Anyways I have a suggestion for a fun sci-fi book that's fairly under the radar. I wanna stress this is what I consider light sci-fi, there will not be pages upon pages detailing how interstellar navigation works or anything of the sort, it's just a fun little adventure that happens to be set in the future.

Anyways so here's my recomendation:

0743488377.jpg

Blurb stolen from the publisher:
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED . . .

Captain Pausert thought his luck had finally turned—but he did not yet realize it was a turn for the worse. On second thought, make that a turn for the disastrous*.

Unlucky in love, unsuccessful in business, he thought he had finally made good with his battered starship Venture, cruising around the fringes of the Empire and successfully selling off odd-ball cargoes which no one else had been able to sell. He was all set to return home, where his true love was faithfully waiting for him ... he hoped.

But then he made the fatal mistake of freeing three slave children from their masters (who were suspiciously eager to part with them). They were just trying to be helpful, but those three adorable little girls quickly made Pausert the mortal enemy of his fiancee, his home planet, the Empire, warlike Sirians, psychopathic Uldanians, the dread pirate chieftain Laes Yango—and even the Worm World, the darkest threat to mankind in all of space.

And all because those harmless-looking little girls were in fact three of the notorious and universally feared Witches of Karres. A rollicking novel from the master of space adventure.
Click to expand...
Yeah, so it's kinda like Escape From Witch Mountain. In space.

Ebook $5.00 USD in virtually any format.
And
The paperback from Amazon ranging from , well, lots of prices.
 
K

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
Grakl said:
Um, I'd assume you have read these, but just in case, read The Hobbit (#1 fantasy book!) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Click to expand...

blech!

good for their time, but man all the singing and extraneous shit bogged the books down.

few times i'd say the movies were better.

eragon is a ripoff of star wars is what someone once told me.

might be easier to recommend if the OP would suggest what he's looking for in a sf/fantasy novel. characterization? plot? emphasis on dialogue? heavy magic base? heavy swordplay?
 
C

Cyan

Banned
mAcOdIn said:
I'd be interested in this thread!

Anyways I have a suggestion for a fun sci-fi book that's fairly under the radar. I wanna stress this is what I consider light sci-fi, there will not be pages upon pages detailing how interstellar navigation works or anything of the sort, it's just a fun little adventure that happens to be set in the future.

Anyways so here's my recomendation:

https://www.webscription.net/images/Product/medium/0743488377.jpg[IMG][/quote]

<3 Witches of Karres is a classic. Fun space opera type book.
Click to expand...
 
G

Grakl

Member
Kuro Madoushi said:
blech!

good for their time, but man all the singing and extraneous shit bogged the books down.

few times i'd say the movies were better.

eragon is a ripoff of star wars is what someone once told me.

might be easier to recommend if the OP would suggest what he's looking for in a sf/fantasy novel. characterization? plot? emphasis on dialogue? heavy magic base? heavy swordplay?
Click to expand...

Then skip the songs! The Hobbit is my favorite book in the fantasy genre, haha, even with the songs.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Trojita said:
The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1) - This series better have a strong ending or it will end up being a disaster.Dune - stick to the Frank Herbert ones.
Ring World - It gets a bit caught up in Rishathra sexytimes, but it is worth the investment.
Click to expand...


.
 
B

BertramCooper

Banned
The Chronicles of Narnia.

They got a lot of unwarranted hate for the religious allegory, but they're wonderful books. Everyone should read them at least once.
 
J

- J - D -

Member
Amir0x said:
dang didn't expect the first post to nail it.

Anyway, I throw out Altered Carbon as my sci-fi pick. Good shit.
Click to expand...

Fuck yes, I came here to post this.

Perdido Street Station, also wonderful. As is City and the City, also by China Mieville.

I'm currently reading The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. Really good so far.

I'm not really into fantasy, but some of the stuff I've been reading blurs the line a bit between that particular genre and just weird surrealism.

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coehlo,
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World, by Haruki Murakami
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
WonkersTHEWatilla said:
Fuck yes, I came here to post this.

Perdido Street Station, also wonderful. As is City and the City, also by China Mieville.

I'm currently reading The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. Really good so far.

I'm not really into fantasy, but some of the stuff I've been reading blurs the line a bit between that particular genre and just weird surrealism.

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coehlo,
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World, by Haruki Murakami
Click to expand...

sounds like you and I have similar taste, ordering Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World after reading the descript.
 
E

Edmond Dantès

Dantès the White
Rendezvous with Rama,
Childhood's End,
Star Maker,
Lord of Light,
City and the Stars
Forever War,
Ender's Game,
Hyperion,
Time Machine
VALIS,
Ubik,
Flowers for Algernon.
 
S

Switters

Member
Snow Crash-Neal Stepenson

Synopsis: In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous…you’ll recognize it immediately.

Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson

Synopsis: John Percival Hackworth is a nanotech engineer on the rise when he steals a copy of "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" for his daughter Fiona. The primer is actually a super computer built with nanotechnology that was designed to educate Lord Finkle-McGraw's daughter and to teach her how to think for herself in the stifling neo-Victorian society. But Hackworth loses the primer before he can give it to Fiona, and now the "book" has fallen into the hands of young Nell, an underprivileged girl whose life is about to change.

Both of these books, while very very entertaining, also educated me, or at least got me interested in a variety of subjects. I think Stephenson would've like to have been a professor but he was too damn good at writing.
 
D

David Incorporated Esq.

Member
Oh, don't discount the Sword of Truth series out of hand, it really is the best book around for people who really like period blood sex, rape and torture-rape.

Edit: Also, the Drizzt books are like the action-anime of books. Do not expect quality writing or like... anything, really.
 
Z

ZephyrFate

Banned
The Hyperion Cantos. All of them.

you will learn to speak the language of the living, and the dead, and listen to the music of the spheres
 
bloodydrake

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
IF you want some pulpy but fun modern fantasy/urban fantasy(not the paranormal romance kind).
Check out the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and the Monster Hunter international series by Larry Correia.

Off Armageddons Reef by David Weber was pretty good its a hybrid scifi/medieval book ..start of the safehold series
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
Dave Inc. said:
Oh, don't discount the Sword of Truth series out of hand, it really is the best book around for people who really like period blood sex, rape and torture-rape.
Click to expand...

he might never read another book again if he reads this garbage, let alone the fantasy genre.

read that thread where someone points out jokingly the 'highlights' of his latest book and avoid burning your money in a furnace! I know this was a mock suggestion on your part, but you never know who might take it seriously! ;)
 
S

Switters

Member
ZephyrFate said:
The Hyperion Cantos. All of them.

you will learn to speak the language of the living, and the dead, and listen to the music of the spheres
Click to expand...

If not for the Keats persona I don't think I could've gotten through the first two. It does have a good concept, tight world building and generally engaging characters, though.
 
E

Ela Hadrun

Probably plays more games than you
Dave Inc. said:
Oh, don't discount the Sword of Truth series out of hand, it really is the best book around for people who really like period blood sex, rape and torture-rape.
Click to expand...

It kind of lures the unsuspecting fantasy-reading teenager in with a standard-tropey quest for the birthright kind of deal, with only a little weird hair fetishization and old man nudity as real red flags.

Then... a few short books later the dominatrices are arguing about whose hand fits whose boob better.

Then... a few short books after that? Then it gets weird.
 
Z

ZephyrFate

Banned
Switters said:
If not for the Keats persona I don't think I could've gotten through the first two. It does have a good concept, tight world building and generally engaging characters, though.
Click to expand...

The Shrike was what kept me constantly engaged the whole way. The whole series being a love letter to one of the greatest poets in history makes me smile.
 
D

David Incorporated Esq.

Member
Amir0x said:
he might never read another book again if he reads this garbage, let alone the fantasy genre.

read that thread where someone points out jokingly the 'highlights' of his latest book and avoid burning your money in a furnace! I know this was a mock suggestion on your part, but you never know who might take it seriously! ;)
Click to expand...

I was actually genuinely worried someone might take my suggestion seriously. It's that terrible.

I can't remember which book it was (I can't not finish a series, I'm so cursed), but I played a game with it called "How many pages until someone gets raped?" The answer was 40 pages. 40 pages before someone got raped.
 
D

Dresden

Member
Dave Inc. said:
I can't remember which book it was (I can't not finish a series, I'm so cursed), but I played a game with it called "How many pages until someone gets raped?" The answer was 40 pages. 40 pages before someone got raped.
Click to expand...

goodkind sucks so hard, he can't even get the rape thing down. bakker's prince of nothing starts with rape like on the second page.
 
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
foundation-asimov.jpg


Start with the Grand Master.

Also dump:
- The Legend of Drizzt Collector's Edition Book -> this is like pre-teen quality reading
- The Name of the Wind -> second book sucks ass, i'm afraid this is a 1-hit wonder

For fantasy recommendations, obviously Game of Thrones.
I'd also recommend Wheel of Time. Not the greatest writing, but the creativity is through the roof. The hatred comes from the long periods between books, but being that the last book is almost out, you won't have that problem.

My favorite modern sci-fi series is:

pandora_cover.jpeg
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
Dave Inc. said:
I was actually genuinely worried someone might take my suggestion seriously. It's that terrible.

I can't remember which book it was (I can't not finish a series, I'm so cursed), but I played a game with it called "How many pages until someone gets raped?" The answer was 40 pages. 40 pages before someone got raped.
Click to expand...

i like all the times Kahlan almost gets raped before being saved at the last second

some pent up author frustration me thinks
 
G

Grakl

Member
Fuck, I'm forgetful tonight.

Read A Wizard of Earthsea. Le Guin's books are classics, especially this one.
 
H

Husker86

Member
Read Wheel of Time before Sword of Truth. No one will recommend SoT here, I liked it but it was basically the first series of anything I've ever read...ever. I had nothing to compare it to and got enjoyment out of it. Almost done with Wheel of Time now and like it much better, but it can drag on in the middle books.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Hari Seldon said:
foundation-asimov.jpg


Start with the Grand Master.

For fantasy recommendations, obviously Game of Thrones.

My favorite modern sci-fi series is:

pandora_cover.jpeg
Click to expand...

An exact duplicate of what I was gonna post AND it has pictures! My three favorite book series so far.

I really gotta get started on the Void Trilogy.
 
F

frbrr

Member
Scifi
the Old man's war series by John Scalzi
Fuzzy nation by John Scalzi

Fantasy
Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch
the First law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
The Farseer/Tawny man trilogies by Robin Hobb
 
way more

way more

Member
Scullibundo said:
You're idiotic. Speaker for the Dead is one of the best sci fi books of all time.
Click to expand...

I don't see that. The series went from space boy fights in 3-D gladiator arenas to some lame story about a grieving family that lives on a planet of intelligent pigs. And now the space boy is some sort of pastor. What was the point of any of it? The alien species were crafted with disdain given how boring and human like they were. Not human like, actually. The humans of the book behave robotically and with limited thought or emotion.

I just know what I was supposed to care about in that book. The idiots, the lame aliens, or the sexless, autistic, main character.
 
T

Tron 2.0

Member
Jules Verne, absolutely.

Also kind of sad that only one person has mentioned Philip K. Dick. Yes, his prose is sometimes weak but that's because his drug-addled brain was thinking faster than he could type.

I recommend The Man In The High Castle.

EDIT: Missed someone recommending VALIS. Two people, then.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

The State of Literature
49
2K
Fbh replied
The Wonderful World of Books - The Unofficial BookGAF OT
Community 2 3 4
196
11K
NecrosaroIII replied
Read all 14 Wheel of Time Books - Vague Spoilers
16
1K
Hari Seldon replied
Do you think that it would be too risky for triple-A gaming to experiment with fictional settings beyond the predictable sci-fi or fantasy tropes?
2
70
2K
thicc_girls_are_teh_best replied
  • Poll
Granblue Fantasy: Relink | Review Thread
Analysis Review 2 3
122
14K
cash_longfellow replied
Top Bottom