Recommend some scifi/fantasy books

[Angel4576]

Well shit. I was going to recommend the works of Brin, Bear, Hamilton, KSR etc, but I can see that you've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt already!

Alternate-history-wise, perhaps Harry Turtledove?

As a fan of Alfred Bester, I'd also recommend The Demolished Man and The Stars my Destination.

Also, perhaps Ben Bova?

 

[Skywalker]

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Starts with Storm Front.

You're welcome.

 

[Iasius]

Thanks for the additional suggestions, again.

Iasius, you can read 1632 and 1633 at Baens Bar also.

I guess I'll have to boot Windows XP again at some point ... point being that a TV tuner card I have has a remote that I've used to read books online in the past. I switched the font to a pretty large size and used the remote to flip pages.
Unfortunately, the IR receiver's drivers don't work under Vista anymore.

Of course, if I can get these books cheaply, I'll prefer that. A couple of the ones I've bought so far were 0.01€ plus shipping. I like the feeling of having a solid book in my hand.
Maybe a future version of the Kindle etc. will entice me, but so far, I prefer the dead tree version.

Well shit. I was going to recommend the works of Brin, Bear, Hamilton, KSR etc, but I can see that you've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt already!

Alternate-history-wise, perhaps Harry Turtledove?

As a fan of Alfred Bester, I'd also recommend The Demolished Man and The Stars my Destination.

Also, perhaps Ben Bova?

The authors you were going to mention are indeed among my favorites. This thread is in a way an endeavor to broaden the scope of scifi/fantasy authors I read. I particularly think I've been missing out on some good fantasy novels. I'm not too sure whether I'll like alt.history novels, but I suppose there's not much downside in trying a few.

PS: That said, if you want to receive some feedback from me on your recommendations as I read them, that'll have to wait since I now have a good-sized pile of books ready to be read.

 

[Skywalker]

And I haven't read any of them myself (yet), but I've heard very good things about Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

 

[Maestro]

I'll echo those who recommended Scalzi and The Dresden Files. I also recommend Dune by Frank Herbert, and F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack series. Starts with The Tomb. Stephen Lawhead's King Raven Trilogy is worth looking at, as well as his Byzantium.

Although not really SFF, I highly recommend the original Fleming James Bond books, in the reading order recommended by some smart guy on Wikipedia.

Sandra McDonald's Outback books are good, The Outback Stars and The Stars Down Under. Looking forward to her last book in the trilogy.

Forever War by Joe Haldeman is good, but it, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, and Scalzi's Old Man's War are all similar takes on the same idea.

 

[Angel4576]

The authors you were going to mention are indeed among my favorites. This thread is in a way an endeavor to broaden the scope of scifi/fantasy authors I read. I particularly think I've been missing out on some good fantasy novels. I'm not too sure whether I'll like alt.history novels, but I suppose there's not much downside in trying a few.

PS: That said, if you want to receive some feedback from me on your recommendations as I read them, that'll have to wait since I now have a good-sized pile of books ready to be read.

I've only just finished re-reading Anvil of Stars, I absolutely adore that book. The scope of complexity that Bear manages to bring to such simple themes is astonishing. I had intended re-reading Forge of God beforehand but I seem to have mislaid it somewhere so I've had to re-order it.

I enjoyed Bear's 'Way' series as well, but Eon was far superior to the novels that followed. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Eternity or Legacy.

Thinking about it, you might want to give Stephen Baxter's 'Manifold' series a try. Time, Space and Origin are three fantastic novels, and the series overall is a cracking read. His Nasa trilogy is pretty good as well.

 

[Shawnster]

I've decided that I've been reading too few (science fiction/fantasy) books lately. To that end, I've just ordered:
Hyperion - Dan Simmons

You'll want to read the rest of the series. It's Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and Rise of Endymion.

If you enjoy these you may also like Simmons Illium and Olympos two book series.

I especially like long books. The longer, the better. Preferably long books in a series.

I'd recommend Neal Stephenson. He's written a lot of thick books. Anatham (I've not read), his Baroque Cycle series, Cryptonomicon, and Diamond Age. He's written a few others that are just as good (in my opinion) but aren't as long. He's also written Interface and The Cobweb under the pen name Stephen Bury.

 

[Bri]

Magician by Raymond E Feist, and there are a ton of sequels, but that first book alone tells a very complete fantasy story that completely kills.

I'm also looking forward to the HBO series of Martin's books.

Bri

 

[TEH BABA]

Windows 95 service pack 42.

 

[DarkHelmet]

If you're into "epic fantasy" in the vein of LotR, then I would highly suggest the Wheel of Time series.

 

[Bisz]

I do intent to order the other novels if I like the first one. This also goes for any of the other series mentioned so far, unless someone here insists that the series got much better later on, in that case, please say so.

If you don't like On Basilisk Station, I would still recommend ordering The Honor of the Queen and The Short Victorious War. I fell in love with the series based on OBS, but I can see how some people wouldn't. It really is an excellent series, very rich and diverse, I highly recommend it.

 

[Maestro]

And very, very, very, very detailed. Unfortunately, to top it off, Weber is the master of the info-dump.

 

[Bisz]

You mean you don't enjoy knowing the precise distances, down to the meter even when talking about tens of millions of kilometers, and the precise times, down to the second even when talking about days, of when and where things are happening or how long they will take?

 

[Maestro]

You mean you don't enjoy knowing the precise distances, down to the meter even when talking about tens of millions of kilometers, and the precise times, down to the second even when talking about days, of when and where things are happening or how long they will take?

I don't mind this as much as I mind having to read through the calculations for how we got to the precise times, and the total history behind the math, both pre-Diaspora and post-Diaspora.

 

[coolghoul]

Thanks everyone. So far I've also ordered the Memory, Sorrow & Thorn series and the first novel in the Otherland series.

I really hope you enjoy this fantasy series as much as I enjoyed it.

Just a couple of words tho' - The book seemingly takes a long time to "take off" - it's about a 100 pages plus (from memory) before the adventure really begins for the main character. However, the 100 pages setup great atmosphere with several "dark happenings" being hinted at.

Another point - the way the books present the material to the reader, it's like viewing the world from behind a glass prism - the material is presented from the pov of whoever is the focus of the story in that particular chapter - so the reader has to piece things together. Tad Williams' style is kinda like creating a picture from a giant jigsaw puzzle and while you kinda get indications of what is going to happen, the whole picture only becomes apparent towards the end. Also, there are lots of story threads with a chapter each devoted to following one thread and so on... So the story continues on multiple fronts...

I hope when you finish, you like it enough to recommend to others too! And then go about picking up Shadowmarch....

 

[Loupjo]

I second everyone else who mentioned A song of ice and fire. It's a great fantasy series. The most frustating thing about A song of ice and fire are the endless waits for the new book to be published. It's worth the wait though.

I would also recommed Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker. It's a trilogy which is published in full. Currently a second trilogy is also in works (continuing the story) of which the first part has been published. Bakker writes faster then Martin which is a huge blessing. It's also a very good series. It took me some 100 pages to get into it but now I love it. It's dark, gritty, interesting and very compelling.

I would also recommend anything by Robin Hobb. The Farseer trilogy is the best place to start. However if you don't like it chances are you would like the second trilogy (Live ship traders) as it has a very different feel to it. The story is also told very differently.

As for the Wheel of Time series by Jordan. It's very long and it's not my favorite. However it is a very well known and much read fantasy series. Most readers would argue that the first few books are good and then the quality drops down in later books before slowly picking up again. It also has the disadvantage that the author never got to finish the series as he died last year. The closing books (another three volumes marketed as a trilogy to trick us into believing it is actually one book) will be written by another author (Brandon Sanderson). So it's a bit of guess what sort of ending the series will get and whether the new author can pick up the threads left by Jordan well enough to finish the story in a way that won't dissapoint the readers.
WOT is an interesting world though. The world building is very complete and it's a huge work. However IMHO there's a lot of deadwood in the series and it would have been a far better read if it had been told in half the words.

 

[Bisz]

You mean you don't enjoy knowing the precise distances, down to the meter even when talking about tens of millions of kilometers, and the precise times, down to the second even when talking about days, of when and where things are happening or how long they will take?

I don't mind this as much as I mind having to read through the calculations for how we got to the precise times, and the total history behind the math, both pre-Diaspora and post-Diaspora.

I don't mind any of that stuff, as long as you learn to start skimming instead of reading as soon as the numbers start rolling its not that bad.

 

[Iasius]

I just finished reading "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge. I must say it was a bit hard to get into that book at first, but it quickly became very engrossing. *
I knew there was a prequel written a few years ago, but I must say I was surprised in a nice way when I just read on the relevant wikipedia page that as of this year Vernor Vinge is working in a sequel.


I often don't like prequels all that much, so for the time being random lot has chosen that I'll read Hyperion next. I hope it's not too good because I'll have to wait at least until Wednesday to get the sequels (I expect to finish this book tomorrow evening and Monday is a public holiday here).


* I'm not someone who writes unprompted lengthy reviews, as you might be able to tell. But if someone wants to discuss this book, having read it or not, I'd be happy to oblige.

 

[Osiris Aten]

Personally, one of my favorite scifi book series is the Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert, which was continued by his son, Brian Herbert and co-author Kevin J. Anderson. It has science fiction, politics, ecology, and religion / mysticism all mixed in the plot. Its a great book series.

Another would be Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. It is about a man who lived on Mars and returns changed by the environment. It has religion and scifi aspects too.

In regards to fantasy, I'd recommend Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth book series, which the syndicated tv show, Legend of the Seeker is based upon.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Another vote for Dresden Files.

Let's spread out a bit:

funny fantasy:
the "Myth" series by Robert Lynn Asprin

cyberpunk/fantasy x-over:
any of the early "Shadowrun" novels

urban fantasy:
"Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" & "Summoned to Tourney" (aka "Bedlam's Bard") by Mercedes Lackey,

"Dead Witch Walking" by Kim Harrison

"Children of the Night", "Burning Water", & "Jinx High" (the Diana Tregarde trilogy

fantasy noir:
"The Garrett Files" series by Glen Cook

sci fi:
the "Pern" serieses by Anne McCaffrey

the "Young Wizards" by Diane Duane (yes, it's about wizards, but the magic rules are set up such that it reads more like a sci-fi than a fantasy