# Suggestions for Sci-Fi/Fantasy I should read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2008, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841 "2008-11-15T10:53:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841/21 "2009-01-06T16:53:45Z")
_Metaplanetary_ by Tony Daniel is pretty good space opera, if you don’t mind an implausible setting. Good writing and strong characters, lots of suspense and action, full of marvels. It’s out of print but it wasn’t hard to find a copy on Amazon. _The Space Opera Renaissance_ has a lot of short adventure stories which might lead you to writers you like. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841/22 "2009-01-06T16:59:31Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > Liked: > The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson has a [new novel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem) out. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841/23 "2009-01-06T21:12:48Z")
Raymond Feist writes good fantasy. Start with Magician which is now divided into part 1 and part 2. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841/24 "2009-01-06T21:31:03Z")
If you like humorous space opera, the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold rocks. I also like the Honor Harrington books, if you like long, space tech space opera. But the later books get verbose. Mixed recommendation for The War Against the Chtorr series by David Gerrold. I really love this series, but the “hero” is a bit of a whiner, and their are lots of twisted bits going on. Essentially the Earth goes to hell as an alien ecology is invading and Earth life is losing. Primary reason it is a mixed recommendation is that the series is stalled and incomplete. Gerrold had creative differences with the IIRC publisher who has the rights to publish, and he won’t work with them again, so no more books in the series - ever. Sucks because the story is incomplete. I also enjoyed the Mage World books by Debra Doyle and James D. McDonald (_The Price of the Stars_, etc). More space opera with some mystical elements thrown in. Second the recommendation for _Tuf Voyaging_. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841/25 "2009-01-06T21:39:06Z")
John C. Wright’s _Golden Age_ trilogy is a fantastically inventive far-future society. He really thinks through the social implications of advanced technology, including the meaning of liberty in a world without privacy, and the economics of a society managed by powerful AI computers. It’s also a lively and often comic adventure story, although the protagonist is pompous and occasionally long-winded. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841/26 "2009-01-06T22:27:44Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > I like both those, and I feel like a broken record about it, but John Varley. > > Definitely the Titan Trilogy. (Titan, Demon and Wizard.) About a planet that is also a god, and not the nicest god in the universe. Are you me? Because I think I’ve also recommend this in enough of these threads that I qualify for “broken record” status. 😉 However, if you read this trilogy, be sure to read it in the correct order: Titan, Wizard, Demon. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841/27 "2009-01-06T22:40:56Z")
I just got done reading _John Dies at the End_ by David Wong. I took the book on vacation with me and was the perfect page turner on the beach. For some reason, it’s being sold for [very high prices on Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978970764/ref=s9wishf_r1_at-rfc_p?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3UF20LLYEAO5A&colid=21CTZ10DN11J8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-1&pf_rd_r=1MPM73WMASDDBBCPFWEW&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=451858801&pf_rd_i=507846) because it’s out of print, but I walked right into a Borders store 2 weeks ago and found two copies on the shelf. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841/28 "2009-01-06T23:40:16Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Mixed recommendation for The War Against the Chtorr series by David Gerrold. I really love this series, but the “hero” is a bit of a whiner, and their are lots of twisted bits going on. Essentially the Earth goes to hell as an alien ecology is invading and Earth life is losing. Primary reason it is a mixed recommendation is that the series is stalled and incomplete. Gerrold had creative differences with the IIRC publisher who has the rights to publish, and he won’t work with them again, so no more books in the series - ever. Sucks because the story is incomplete. What? The deuce you say! I paid good money to be a named corpse in the next book! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-sci-fi-fantasy-i-should-read/472841.md?page=1)