There’s plenty of people on here with a vast knowledge of sci fi so I’ll let them have their fun.
I do find it interesting that they picked Stranger in a Strange Land. Maybe it’s an ‘important’ book. I read back in 8th grade and haven’t really felt compelled to read it again, maybe I will. But surely there’s other Heinlein that belongs over SIASL.
The list has The Color of Magic for Pratchett and has Dhalgren on it. Therefore the list, it is shit.
Not a bad list. They have The Stars My Destination, but there are better choices for Heinlein and Pratchett. Several of them are more for popularity than quality, and it would be too much to expect Andreas Eschbach’s *The Carpet Makers."
Of all the Pratchett books, Colour of Magic is close to the worst.
I noticed the list also has Starship Troopers, so good. But missing The Moon is a Harsh Mistress? That’s odd.
It has the Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, so good.
Only Asimov was I Robot? I think Foundation should have made it.
Ready Player One? Really?
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy well deserving. The Forever War is a great choice, especially with Starship Troopers listed.
Overall the list is pretty good.
I’ve only read 52 of these. “Sword of Shannara”? Hunh.
Like every other list of things you should experience in any art form (books, short stories, movies, TV shows, music, paintings, sculptures, whatever), it’s possible to argue with it. I could count how many of these books I’ve read, but what would be the point? That would prove either that I haven’t read enough of them and am not qualified to judge the list or that I’ve read a whole lot of them and thus have no life. Maybe it would prove both. Like all such lists, use it to find something that someone recommends you experience that you might never otherwise encounter or else just ignore it. Incidentally, there are only 98 books in this list, not 100.
Yep. I demand our two extra books. “Eye of Argon” and “March of the Robots” would fill out the list…
Isn’t book-length (thank Ghu!) but, yes, everyone here really ought to be exposed to it at some point, preferably in a heavy-drinking party where it gets read aloud.
No Book of the New Sun? The list is invalid.
@Wendell_Wagner has a point, but then the list should be 98 books we think are pretty good.
“March of the Robots” (by Lionel Fanthorpe (under a pseudonym)) is of equal quality - see here Fantasy and Science Fiction - Curiosities
I’ve actually met Lionel Fanthorpe and got his signature on one of his books. I went to a talk by him at a convention in the U.K. sometime between 1987 and 1990. The book that he (and his wife Patricia) signed was The Black Lion, which the two of them wrote. It was published in 1979. This was well after the period when he wrote 89 novels in three years. I just checked, and, yes, he’s still alive.
No Banks? No Moorcock? Has Brooks? Fuck. This. Shitlist.
Needs Michael Moorcock, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and E.E. “Doc” Smith.
Maybe Sheckley?
Definitely need Andre Norton.
Whatever happened to putting a list in, well, a list? The format of that page is terrible.
Yet another in the category of “Why did they pick THAT book from the series”, they have The Dark is Rising, but not the far superior Over Sea, Under Stone. Even though the latter is the first book in the series (the criterion they apparently used for Discworld).
I’m not surprised to see books I haven’t read on the list. But I am surprised at how many of them I’ve never even heard of. I don’t have as much time for reading as I’d like, any more, but I’d like to think that I’m still at least somewhat in touch with science fiction and fantasy.
And there are also a fair few that I’ve heard of, and started, and wasn’t able to finish, because they were too boring or otherwise bad. OK, Frankenstein belongs on the list, because even though it’s boring, it’s historically important. But would we really be any poorer for not reading the Thomas Covenant books, for instance?
It’s really odd; r/fantasy almost never mentions her. It’s like she’s vanished from view.
But seriously, where is Witch World on that list?
The problem with ruling out those too bad/boring to finish is no one would agree. I felt that way about Game of Thrones, but clearly my view isn’t universal.
Which book? Is there a specific book by her that stands out?
Whether this is true or not, it’s more of a parody of earlier fantasy (such as Leiber’s Fafhrd & Grey Mouser and McCaffrey’s Dragonriders) than the others, so it’s not going to work as well for readers unfamiliar with the source material.
That’s the problem. Hard to pick just one.
One of her most famous books? Judgement on Janus, The Beast Master, Witch World?
One of my personal favorites? The Crystal Gryphon, Star Man’s Son, Steel Magic?