science fiction fantasy suggestions

[Silly Green Monkey]

Hammerfall and Forge of Heaven for a good look at regular humans in a fantastic world (want to go there!) and Dark Ship is one I've been pushing (and really should read again).

 

[TragicMonkey]

Just cannot make it through this one. I'm partway through Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire right now and I don't seem to be getting any closer to finishing it no matter how much I read. People have told me it gets better, but I can't see continuing with this series...

Tastes differ. I have friends who like the books for different reasons. One is bored by political intrigue and only cares about the magic zombies and dragons. Another managed to forget about all the magical elements because she's more interested in untangling the ridiculously complicated personal lives of the aristocracy. But if you don't like either of those things, it's probably not for you. I like both, and that most of the characters seem very multidimensional. One of the best things about the series is that the villain you hate in one book becomes totally understandable and sympathetic once you see the world from his point of view. I find that a welcome change from the Entirely Good vs Absolutely Evil endemic to most fantasy.

 

[SpitfireIX]

Tastes differ. I have friends who like the books for different reasons. One is bored by political intrigue and only cares about the magic zombies and dragons. Another managed to forget about all the magical elements because she's more interested in untangling the ridiculously complicated personal lives of the aristocracy. But if you don't like either of those things, it's probably not for you. I like both, and that most of the characters seem very multidimensional. One of the best things about the series is that the villain you hate in one book becomes totally understandable and sympathetic once you see the world from his point of view. I find that a welcome change from the Entirely Good vs Absolutely Evil endemic to most fantasy.

I saw GRRM at a con a few years ago and he said something to the effect that "fantasy stories where the heroes have to find the magic sword of [some made-up name] are important, but that's not the kind of story I wanted to tell."

 

[Piscivore]

Oft said by people who saw the movie and never read the book.

I read the book (Battlefield Earth) and found it really juvenile, like a young teenager trying to write what he thinks the the adult world looks like.

Contrariwise, the movie was kinda fun, mostly for the overacting and the ridiculousness of the whole thing. It's no "Battle Beyond the Stars", but it was worth a DVD rental back in the day.

 

[Piscivore]

...untangling the ridiculously complicated personal lives of the aristocracy.

My daughter hasn't been able to shut up about the books, but I've avoided them because this is pretty much the least interesting thing to me ever. Reading some of the summaries felt like hearing a pitch for a reality show.

One of the best things about the series is that the villain you hate in one book becomes totally understandable and sympathetic once you see the world from his point of view. I find that a welcome change from the Entirely Good vs Absolutely Evil endemic to most fantasy.

This I like, very much.

 

[IDB87]

If you like dark fantasy stuff, I'd also suggest Glen Cook's Black Company series. Or "The Dragon Never Sleeps," which despite the title is SF rather than fantasy.

I'd suggest everyone avoid it. The first one is the only one with any redeeming qualities, and even then it's a bland, boring read where nothing is shown and everything is told.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

I'd heartily recommend CS Friedman's Coldfire trilogy. They're the most logical fantasy books I've encountered so far. Despite being very high fantasy (one of the protagonists is basically Dracula), all of the magic and spells and such are explained in a very empirical and verisimilitudinous manner.

Niven's great for his settings, his characters and plots not so much. They tend to be a little Mary Sueish, but the love he puts into worldbuilding more than compensates.

Greg Bear's even more so. Hard as rock science fiction, but his characters are just plain terrible: most of his heroes are two-dimensional ethnic stereotypes, and most of his villains are whiny megalomaniacs without the slightest shred of moral fibre. Still, one of the better hard SF authors out there.

 

[SpitfireIX]

Niven's great for his settings, his characters and plots not so much. They tend to be a little Mary Sueish, but the love he puts into worldbuilding more than compensates.

+1

I've read all of his Known Space stories, except I need to finish The Ringworld Throne (keep getting sidetracked). Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers are my favorites, along with The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton. Along those lines, I'd say Louis Wu, Speaker-to-Animals/Chmeee, and Gil Hamilton are my favorite characters, and possibly Niven's most well developed.

Humorous side note: When I was in high school our cat had kittens; my mother decided to keep a couple of them, and she let me name one. I named the kitten Chmeee, to annoy my mother, because she couldn't pronounce it or spell it.

 

[Wudang]

Robin Hobb's "Farseer trilogy" has probably the best realized character in fantasy and a satisfying story.

 

[Moss]

The Laundry books by Charles Stross? Start with the Atrocity Archive.

I second that. What's not to love about the bastard child of Lovecraft and every other conspiracy theory ever?
I try not to sniff haughtily at Rose's mention of "Urban fantasy" novels. While I love Butcher to death (if you like him, read Ben Aaronivitch!) a lot of them seem to be Fantasy Harlequin Romances. (Don't ask why I know that...)
Did someone mention Codex Alera yet? Jim Butcher on Romans and magic. Not high culture but a fun read.

 

[Bram Kaandorp]

I'd recommend the Cycle of Fire series by Janny Wurts.

i don't know if it's good in English (I read a Dutch translation), but the story itself was fascinating.

 

[Morrigan]

A Song of Ice and Fire, by George RR Martin, is pretty much mandatory fantasy. So far nothing else comes close. Book 1 is A Game of Thrones.

The First Law, by Joe Abercrombie. A finished trilogy, and a great one at that. Very bleak and cynical, with a lot of dark humour. Highly recommended. Book 1 is The Blade Itself. There are also a few excellent standalone novels in the same world.

Realms of the Elderlings, by Robin Hobb, is an excellent series, and a "finished" story (though there are sequels of sorts, later books set in the same world, but they are not "necessary" to have a conclusion, if you know what I mean -- I haven't even read them yet). I recommend reading the 3 trilogies in this order: Farseer, Liveship Traders, and Tawny Man. Book 1 of Farseer is Assassin's Apprentice.

Gentlemen Bastard, by Scott Lynch. Unfinished series, vol. 3 hopefully coming out this year, but still worth reading, some of the finest caper/fantasy hybrid stories in there.

The Black Company (books of the North) by Glen Cook. Grimdark fantasy done right. It took me a while to get into it, but I was glad I read the entire trilogy. I haven't read his other trilogies and volumes (books of the South etc.) yet though. Book 1 is The Black Company.

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams. Out of all the "traditional epic fantasy" kind of stories (with various "fantasy" races, low-class boy turning hero, dark lords etc.), it's one of the best-written, and more unpredictable than expected considering the style. It's also a finished series, which is a plus. Book 1 is The Dragonbone Chair.

Avoid: Sword of Truth, anything by Feist, Wheel of Time (d'oh... too late?), Dragonlance, Prince of Nothing* (unless you like pretentious pseudo-philosophy and lots of gratuitous sex), anything by Piers Anthony.

* To be fair, it's not nearly on the same level of epically bad as the rest of that list... but it's still not something I would recommend and I find it greatly overrated.

 

[fuelair]

Throw in a ridiculous vocabulary (take a shot every time he uses "incarnadine" to mean "red" or throws out "condign", you'll die of alcohol poisoning pretty damn quick) and a ponderous insistence on being very, very significant and deep and you have a recipe for a "I can't believe they published this!" set of books right there.

Andy Offutt took a shot at this type of tripe-writing a goodly time back in which he used pretty much every synonym for black he coulld come up with: called "The Black Sorcerer of the Black Tower". Much funner that the type it satirized. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/o/andrew-j-offutt/black-sorcerer-of-black-castle.htm for cover of the chapbook version.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Have you read Orson Scott Card's books? Incredible stuff. Enders series is top notch, especially the first two books.

 

[fuelair]

Oh, for the heart of the SF/Fantasy meeting place it is close to impossible to beat Poul Anderson - my favorite being 3 Hearts and 3 Lions...The hero is an engineer and applies engineering/scientific ideas to the medieval legend peoblems he runs across in his adventure. Gordy Dickson is not bad at that either (The Dragon and the George per ex though the Dorsai are my favorites from Gordy). These are not series - and I have no problem with that personally. TMMV

 

[Toke]

Reminds me of "the practice effect" by David Brinn
An entertaining mix of SF and fantasy.

 

[AvalonXQ]

Lois McMaster Bujold is my favorite author. Her Vorkosigan books are my favorite, but if you like Robert Jordan you may find The Curse of Chalion and its sequels to be more to your liking.

The Sharing Knife tetralogy is also an excellent blend of unique world-building, excellent action, and deep romance.

 

[SpitfireIX]

Oh, for the heart of the SF/Fantasy meeting place it is close to impossible to beat Poul Anderson - my favorite being 3 Hearts and 3 Lions...The hero is an engineer and applies engineering/scientific ideas to the medieval legend peoblems he runs across in his adventure.

I read that when I was in high school, because I saw something about it in Dragon Magazine and Holger Carlsen (the protagonist) sounded interesting, for the reasons you mention. This is possibly the first fantasy (but not SF) novel I ever read; maybe even before The Hobbit. I'd forgotten all about it. I recall now that I noticed that several ideas from it appear to have influenced Dungeons & Dragons, including the idea of alignment.

 

[Piscivore]

Have you read Orson Scott Card's books? Incredible stuff. Enders series is top notch, especially the first two books.

I liked "Ender's Game" as a short story. I thought the novel was padded. I didn't care for the sequels.

His fantasy work "Hart's Hope" is abominable. Starts with the publically sanctioned and publically commited rape of a twelve-year-old girl and that's as far as I got. Did I mention he's Mormon?

 

[Damien Evans]

Obligatory Lord Of The Rings plug.


And have you read His Dark Materials?