# SF/Fantasy Book Recommendations: Lost Civilizations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434 "2008-06-27T13:23:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/21 "2008-06-27T18:24:43Z")
There’s also Charles Sheffield’s [_Heritage Universe_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_Universe) series, most of which centers around people exploring huge artifacts left behind by a vanished alien race. And I came in here to mention Jack McDevitt’s books but I see that **Reality Chuck** beat me to it, so I’ll just second his recommendation even though I haven’t finished the series yet (I just discovered it and am only up to _Omega_). It’s interstellar archaeology from the Indiana Jones school of archaeology though (lots of improbable action and adventure, not that there is anything wrong with that). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/22 "2008-06-27T19:52:15Z")
Probably half or more of the stuff written by Andre Norton involves lost civilizations at some point. The Witch World books are full of them, various races of “Forerunners” in her Free Traders books ( such as _Forerunner_, _The Zero Stone_, _Exiles of the Stars_ and _Sargasso of Space_ ); the Ift in _Judgement on Janus_, whoever made the spooky ruins in _Catseye_. The Trillium books by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May and Andre Norton have a lost civilization as a backdrop ( and source of high-tech/magic goodies ) to a fantasy style culture. Tanith Lee’s _Birthgrave_ has a main character who is the amnesiac lone survivor of a dead civilization, woken from a sleep of centuries. A lost civilization is a major plot point of Barbara Hambly’s _The Darwath Trilogy_, and a different ( nonhuman ) one in one of the sequels, _The Mother of Winter_. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/23 "2008-06-27T20:12:33Z")
[QUOTE=muzzynyc] Elantris was an interesting idea that, ultimately, fizzled to me. [/QUOTE] I don’t think that was really the same sort of thing… the civilization was only “lost” ten years before. ---
**Author:** ![muzzynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@muzzynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muzzynyc)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/24 "2008-06-27T20:31:28Z")
[QUOTE=Helena] I don’t think that was really the same sort of thing… the civilization was only “lost” ten years before. [/QUOTE] I can see your point, but it was very much about understanding a fallen civilization and their technology/magic. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/25 "2008-06-27T20:52:07Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Probably half or more of the stuff written by Andre Norton involves lost civilizations at some point. The Witch World books are full of them, various races of “Forerunners” in her Free Traders books ( such as _Forerunner_, _The Zero Stone_, _Exiles of the Stars_ and _Sargasso of Space_ ); the Ift in _Judgement on Janus_, whoever made the spooky ruins in _Catseye_. [/QUOTE] Also _Galactic Derelict_ and _The Defiant Agents._ (Juveniles, really.) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/26 "2008-06-27T21:22:35Z")
[QUOTE=muzzynyc] Elantris was an interesting idea that, ultimately, fizzled to me. [/QUOTE] Ditto. The premise was pretty cool, but the writing was uninspired. I tried to give it 50 pages but couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/27 "2008-06-28T02:46:28Z")
Another excellent series was the “Giants” series by James. P. Hogan. The first book in the series, “Inherit the Stars” starts with the discovery of a 40,000 year old corpse in a spacesuit on the Moon. I’ll let you read the rest for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/28 "2008-06-28T07:39:15Z")
Pauline Gedge: Egyptian culture ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/29 "2008-06-28T13:27:26Z")
_The Last Camel Died At Noon_ by Elizabeth Peters. Lost village/city of Ancient Egyptians. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/30 "2008-06-29T18:39:36Z")
One of the sub-plots of Poul Anderson’s _Fire Time_ involves creatures who may or may not be descendants of a lost civilization, and one of the artifacts of that civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/31 "2008-06-30T00:56:46Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl] And I came in here to mention Jack McDevitt’s books but I see that **Reality Chuck** beat me to it, so I’ll just second his recommendation… [/QUOTE] Ditto, so I’ll “third” that. McDevitt has two different series of books (the “Academy / Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins” series and the “Alex Benedict” series) which both deal with xeno-archaeology and far future archaeology. Since McDevitt seem’s well represented I’ll add a nomination for some of the works of **Mike Resnick**. A couple of his books that I’ve enjoyed, and that fit the OP are (lifting from his wiki page): _The Dark Lady_ (an alien art dealer investigates a mysterious woman who appears in paintings created thousands of years apart), and \*Ivory \*(the search for a pair of tusks that covers thousands of years and dozens of worlds). ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434/32 "2008-07-01T01:52:13Z")
Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn books, starting with The Dragonbone Chair features several lost or declining civilizations, the main one being that of the Sithi who were mostly driven out of the lands where the main character, Simon, lived at the beginning of the book. Like Tolkein’s Middle Earth, there’s a sense of history and age to the world. Besides inevitable parallels to be drawn with Tolkein, Williams manages to work in medieval literature references (like Prester John) and history, and includes many cultures that are a lot different from your standard Celtic/European medieval fantasy setting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-fantasy-book-recommendations-lost-civilizations/454434.md?page=1)