I need recomendations for a good read!

Cafe Society
1

I’d to hear (read) your recomendations for good Science Fiction or Fantasy books.

I’ve recently read Scalzi’s Novels, from Old Man’s War through to Last Colony, which i thought was awesome. Most notable read before that i think was Tad William’s Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, and H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy.

I prefer books that are part of a series, I like to stick with a character and relate to it for longer than just one book. I also like long books that last cos i read so quick. Tad Williams has been perfect for this.

Preferred themes range from spell and sword style ‘olden days’ Fantasy to things like genetic alteration, space travel, advanced technology style stuff. I like Science fiction when it’s further in the future, more advacned kind of theme, rather than a few decades ahead of current times, if that makes sense?

Tend to relate to the progressive journey of adolescence to adulthood in a character which seems to be quite common.

Things i like less;
Mopey lead characters who think whatever their gift is, is some kind of curse. Think Peter Parker (specifically, in the Spiderman movies) for want of a better example. I don’t mind the moral worries etc, but at the end of the day i hate it when this is the focus.

Authors who rehash a series to make another, like Eddings. I like Eddings, but it feels like a waste of time to read more than one, two at most, of his differents series.

Books where you feel like you’re missing out on something, where that information would be really helpful, but you never get it, L.E Modesitt being a key culprit in my experience.

So, any ideas Dopers?

Also posted this in MPSIMS by accident earlier

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I just finished Ghengis: Birth of an Empire and it was an amazingly fun read. It’s not really Sci Fi or Fantasy, but has a lot of the stuff that makes me like those genres so maybe it would catch you as well. Best part is that it’s the first of a series, the second is out, and the third will be out in a couple months.

3

Some SF/fantasy series I’ve enjoyed:

Robin Hobb’s Farseer and Liveships trilogies (I haven’t read Tawny Man yet), beginning with Assassin’s Apprentice

Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, beginning with The Blade Itself. It starts slow – the first book is mostly build-up and character development.

Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun – four books, beginning with Shadow of the Torturer

Dan Simmons’ Hyperion, beginning with Hyperion – there are some slow spots in the third and fourth books, but since you read fast, that shouldn’t be a problem

R. Scott Bakker’s Prince of Nothing series, beginning with The Darkness That Comes Before. You won’t like the main character – you’re not supposed to – and some of the characters are a bit whiney and angst-ridden, but it’s a good read.

I won’t recommend Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire because the series isn’t finished.

4

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Time travel back to Jacobite Scotland, with a feisty heroine, a red-headed Scot, witches, French kings, political intrigue, voodoo, pirates, and a jailbreak, and that’s just the first three books.

I have reread the series probably half a dozen times now and it never fails to make me laugh and cry.

5

Robert E. Howard’s Conan.
Poul Anderson has two particularly interesting series of novels, the Dominic Flandry novels are about an intelligence agent for Imperial Earth, and the novels about the Polesotechnic League.

6

For science fiction, I’d recommend The Foundation books by Isaac Asimov. No mopey characters there.

For fantasy, it’s hard to beat The Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. Epic story, top-notch writing.

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If you haven’t read Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds, go immediately buy it, read it, then come back for more.

Roger Zelazny’s Nine Princes In Amber; not long books, but good stuff.

Also by Gene Wolfe: Soldier of the Mists; there are sequels.

Patricia McKillip’s Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy.

On the sci-fi side of things, CJ Cherry’s Foreigner series is well-written and explores an alien culture through the eyes of one main protagonist through all the books – and she’s on her way to nine by now, I think.

8

I just recently read the Scalzi novels and liked them too.

If you like techy sci-fi, mystery, individual warfare stuff I recommend Richard K Morgan’s Tekeshi Kovachs novels starting with Altered Carbon.

9

Yep. Hobb was the first author I thought of even if a certain assassin can get a leetle bit whiny. :smiley:

10

I recommend ‘The Death Gate Cycle’ by Margaret Weis and Trace Hickman (a seven book series), the Earthsea series by Ursula Le Guin and the Shannara series by Terry Brooks.

11

Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos novels are always fun. A wise-cracking human assassin/witch/sorcerer living in a politically byzantine non-human Empire. (The non-humans are tall, long-lived, and have pointy ears. They’re Elf-ish, but without all the dancing in the woodlands nonsense.) I don’t recall Vlad ever feeling sorry for himself on account of his skills, though he doesn’t seem to realize that he’s essentially an epic-level character in D&D terms. There are over ten novels in the series so far, with plans for a total of 19.

Add to those the Khaavren Romances, a companion series of historical romances originally conceived as a tribute to Alexandre Dumas and the Three Musketeers, and I’m pretty certain the current total is at least 20.

Brust’s an entertaining and sophisticated storyteller who regularly uses unreliable narrators and weaves threads back and forth through all of the Vlad/Khaavren novels.

On edit: Looking back at the OP, I should mention that the Vlad novels tend to be short. You could probably read one in a day or two if you had time on your hands. The Khaavren romances are longer.

12

How about Bujold’s Vorkosigan series? (Miles can be a bit manic-depressive, but he’s interesting enough that I don’t think you’d find him mopey.)

13

One series I liked, and still pick up a book once in a while and re-read it is the Dark Tower series, Stephen King. A little bit of a mish-mash of every bit of sci-fi fantasy stuff you could think of (minus the space stuff). Not anything like his other stuff, though I found the 5th and 6th books to have a lot of the same “tone” of what he was writing at the time.

I’ll also go with Sefton, the Foundation series was interesting, a little dry to start, but got progressively better.

We have a great used bookstore out here, they charge 1/2 cover price on paperbacks. The sci-fi section is pretty big with a huge selection of old old 50’s and 60’s sci fi books, 15 to 35 cents cover price, so for 7-18 cents you get a good read, and if it sucks, who cares, they give 1/4 the cover price if you “sell” them back(store credit only). Go in, pick at random and read away, fill a grocery bag for like $3.

Another good way I’ve found some neat stuff is buying lots(as in bunches, not lots-and-lots) of books on e-bay, you may see 3 or 4 that you are interested in and get 15 more that you never heard about, and some of those turn out to be pretty darn good.

Sorry for the lack of recommendations, I only got into the sci-fi fantasy thing about 3 years ago, and haven’t read all too much in the past year or so, just been too damn busy.

14

Lois McMaster Bujold is excellent. She’s written series in science fiction and fantasy. Her Vorkosigan series has so far followed its main character from when his parents met to the birth of his children.

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The Golden Age by John C. Wright is the start of a trilogy that I quite liked. The last book needed to be edited down by quite a bit, but overall the books are quite good.

Also, the SF from Cordwainer Smith. Look for two volumes from NESFA Press.

16

I reccomend Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series. I have read almost all of them, and they’re fantastic.

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I just finished reading Storm from the Shadows by David Weber. Its the newest edition to the honorverse, and as usual leaves me wanting more.

From starting with On Basilik station, which I thought was a standalone novel at the time back in the eighties, this series spans about twenty years and is modeled on Horation Hornblower but with the protagonist being female instead of male.

Fair warning , if you start the series from the beginning and like it , you will soon note that its bibliocrack.

Do a search on Honor Harrington on the board ,and get a glimpst of what awaits.

Declan

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If you’re easily attached to main characters and their sudden death bothers you, then maybe not…but…

The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin (and please, can he hurry UP with Dance of Dragons already) is absolutely fabulous. Well written adult fantasy. (I don’t mean dirty, I mean not Harry Potter.)

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Cheers guys, just been amazon-ing on a few of your recomendations.
6 books, total item price - £4.24! Great stuff. Delivery price - £16! not so good, but 6 books for £20 is awesome. I love amazon marketplace!

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Thanks for all the help guys! Looks like I’ll be busy Amazon-ing a few in the coming weeks, can’t wait to spend my Xmas pay check! Working Xmas day was shitty but at £11 an hour (for being a waiter) it aint bad at all!

I’d love to have a used bookstore near me, but the closest I can really get is the books in charity shops. It would be ok if they weren’t all romance type drivel that old ladies have read and then donated.
Amazon Marketplace has been a saviour though, 1p a book! It’s just a shame the delivery has to be £2.75…