Mar 21, 2011
I'm out of new books to read and looking for some new recommendations in the fantasy and sci fi genres. Along the lines of Jacqueline Carey, Anne Bishop, Neil Gaiman... I've tried to read Small Gods by Pratchett but kind of hated it and never finished it but I'm not opposed to trying something else of his.
Anyone?
I really liked Asimov's classic _Foundation_ series. Simple writing style and incredibly engrossing.
A former user commented on Mar 21
I read "Going Postal" by Pratchett and rather enjoyed it. Oh! Brandon Sanderson is good too, either Elantris or his Trilogy (the title of which escapes me at the moment) are quite good! Care to give any recommendations? I'm always looking for good sci fi and fantasy to read!
w commented on Mar 21
@W Hands down, my favorite is Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series which includes two separate but related trilogies. Epic fantasy story. Thank you both for your suggestions.
DMFlorida commented on Mar 21
You can never go wrong reading or re-reading Octavia Butler.
Personally, I think Murakami is horribly over-rated, but he's a current literary darling, so Kafka on the Shore or Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World might be worth a look.
One big recommendation: China Miéville is the most thrilling voice to hit fantasy in years and years. Brilliant stylist; his prose easily equals Chip Delany or Ursula Le Guin, surpasses (imho) George Martin or Gene Wolfe.
But not for everyone. Not Tolkienesque elves & hobbits, no kinda-like-rural Englands, no monolithic all-bad Dark Lords. You're more likely to find characters derived from Egyptian myth (like the Khepri--a race of artists with human bodies and the heads of scarabs), Hindu epics, even a version of the cactuars from Final Fantasy video games.
The core setting of his best known novels-- Perdido Street Station; The Iron Council; The Scar--is the immense, relentlessly magical city of New Crobuzon. This is a steampunk world--more intense than, but similar to, the setting of Fullmetal Alchemist.
And Miéville's very political. His paradigm (again, like Fullmetal) is that magic will inevitably be co-opted by oligarchs, militarized, and used against the masses; while artists, scientists & outlaws invent new magics to fight back.
Result: in New Crobuzon, class warfare is at once wondrous, gorgeous, psychedelic, and dripping with eldritch horror...
Bottom line: if you like Moorcock, Tim Powers, Thomas Disch, M. John Harrison, J.G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss, Michael de Larrabeiti, Emma Bull, or Kelly Link, you might love Miéville. commented on Mar 21
Personally, I think Murakami is horribly over-rated, but he's a current literary darling, so Kafka on the Shore or Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World might be worth a look.
One big recommendation: China Miéville is the most thrilling voice to hit fantasy in years and years. Brilliant stylist; his prose easily equals Chip Delany or Ursula Le Guin, surpasses (imho) George Martin or Gene Wolfe.
But not for everyone. Not Tolkienesque elves & hobbits, no kinda-like-rural Englands, no monolithic all-bad Dark Lords. You're more likely to find characters derived from Egyptian myth (like the Khepri--a race of artists with human bodies and the heads of scarabs), Hindu epics, even a version of the cactuars from Final Fantasy video games.
The core setting of his best known novels-- Perdido Street Station; The Iron Council; The Scar--is the immense, relentlessly magical city of New Crobuzon. This is a steampunk world--more intense than, but similar to, the setting of Fullmetal Alchemist.
And Miéville's very political. His paradigm (again, like Fullmetal) is that magic will inevitably be co-opted by oligarchs, militarized, and used against the masses; while artists, scientists & outlaws invent new magics to fight back.
Result: in New Crobuzon, class warfare is at once wondrous, gorgeous, psychedelic, and dripping with eldritch horror...
Bottom line: if you like Moorcock, Tim Powers, Thomas Disch, M. John Harrison, J.G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss, Michael de Larrabeiti, Emma Bull, or Kelly Link, you might love Miéville. commented on Mar 21
Come to think of it, one more author.
This will seem odd at first, for Lady Dorothy Dunnett didn't write sf/f. She wrote a hugely epic and epically romantic historical series: the six-volume Lymond Chronicles and an eight-volume prequel, The House of Niccolò
This isn't a personal recommendation: I could never get into them. But that's true of much romance.
What I can say is this: every female fantasy author and editor whom I've known even slightly has been absolutely madly in love with Dunnett's novels. Given that her hardcore fans have included writers like Marion Zimmer Bradley and Anne McCaffrey, it's likely that Dunnett may be (directly or by one degree of separation) the single greatest influence on romantic fantasy in the past half century. For that reason alone... commented on Mar 21
This will seem odd at first, for Lady Dorothy Dunnett didn't write sf/f. She wrote a hugely epic and epically romantic historical series: the six-volume Lymond Chronicles and an eight-volume prequel, The House of Niccolò
This isn't a personal recommendation: I could never get into them. But that's true of much romance.
What I can say is this: every female fantasy author and editor whom I've known even slightly has been absolutely madly in love with Dunnett's novels. Given that her hardcore fans have included writers like Marion Zimmer Bradley and Anne McCaffrey, it's likely that Dunnett may be (directly or by one degree of separation) the single greatest influence on romantic fantasy in the past half century. For that reason alone... commented on Mar 21
I have purchased China Miéville's Perdido Street Station and the first of Asimov's Foundation series. I will eenie meenie minee mo to see who gets read first :) After reading about Pratchett's Going Postal and it mentioning it was aimed to young readers, turned me off. I'm not at all a "young adult" book reader. Thanks again for all your suggestions.
DMFlorida commented on Mar 22
Disclaimer - I am not a geek - I read a lot of Asimov in high school. The foundation stuff along with his Robot novels are some of the best sci fi ever written. In my opinion Asimov, Heinlein, and Clark are the big daddies of classic sci fi, all their stuff is good.
g commented on Mar 22
I'm sure you've probably read it already, but my hands-down favorite is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I didn't much care for the rest of the books in that series, but that one I've read more than a few times. Another series I think you might consider is Joel Rosenberg's "Guardians of the Flame" series. 80's sci-fi / fantasy FTW!
S commented on Mar 25
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