Good fantasy/sci-fi books?

[yoda291]

dragonlance was excellent right up to the very beginning of the 5th age...then it went down faster than a mod's pants during breeding season...then weis and hickman came back near the end and resurrected it....I'm waiting for the dropoff now.

 

[Mucman]

Blah! I hate these threads! too many authors I don't know and need to find out about The next fantasy author I am working
on is Storm Constantine. I just can't find the first book in the series.

 

[Presence]

George Martin - Ice and Fire series...Awesome..

Of course Robert Jordans Wheel of Time... though starting to drag

David Eddings for good humor.

Raymond Feist stuff is pretty good also.

Terry Goodkind Sword of truth series is pretty good though it has a lot of similarities to Jordans WoT

 

[Kadarin]

I'll second the Lensman series Classic stuff, if a bit dated. (In Doc Smith's world, "computers" are people who compute orbits and trajectories and whatnot..)

Another decent author is Jack L. Chalker. His classic Well World novels are well worth a read (even the newer ones), and I also enjoyed the Flux and Anchor series.

 

[BigJ]

You know...I finish all of the R.A. Salvatore books concerning Drizzt and friends, great series.

Now, through recommendation of friends, I'm on the Dragonlance Chronicles, and so far its a good series (mid-way between Winter Night)

Now, you guys are going to make me go out and get the Song of Ice and Fire books. Geesh.

Thank you ATOT Fantasy fans.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: BigJ
You know...I finish all of the R.A. Salvatore books concerning Drizzt and friends, great series.

Now, through recommendation of friends, I'm on the Dragonlance Chronicles, and so far its a good series (mid-way between Winter Night)

Now, you guys are going to make me go out and get the Song of Ice and Fire books. Geesh.

Thank you ATOT Fantasy fans.

Song of Ice and Fire is in a completely different league than the D&D books... those are children's books compared to GRRM books.

 

[Sunburst]

Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow... two great books

 

[monk3y]

Most things by Terry Brooks are good. Especially the Shannara series.

 

[ROTC1983]

LOL, I was going to suggest Ender's Game and the rest of the series, but then I read your name and post

 

[Siddhartha]

Try anything by:
Brin
Heinlein
Silverberg
Foster
Zelanzy
Niven
Feist
Tolkein
Hogan
Asprin
Pratchett
Douglas Adams
Poul Anderson
Asimov
Ray Bradbury
Arthur C. Clark
Anne McCaffrey
Andre Norton
Stephen King
Tom Clancy

 

[dpm]

Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
Try anything by: Brin Heinlein Silverberg Foster Zelanzy Niven Feist Tolkein Hogan Asprin Pratchett Douglas Adams Poul Anderson Asimov Ray Bradbury Arthur C. Clark Anne McCaffrey Andre Norton Stephen King Tom Clancy

Damn good list! (with a couple of new ones for me to check out)

Let me just add
Iain M. Banks
Ken Macleod

 

[CChaos]

Man I had to read all the way down to Dr. Smooth in a sci-fi thread to see someone mention Robert Heinlein? Crazy. Anyway, read anything and everything he wrote. Don't miss The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and the stories with Lazarus Long. He's officially one of my favorite characters ever.

 

[Majesty]

I would suggest those Sci-Fi books: Rendezvous with Rama, Rama 2, The Man in the High Castle, Ubik, Do Androids Dreams of Electric Sheep, Minority Report. Anyway, read anything from Phillip K. Dick or Arthur C. Clark, you won't be dissapointed.

 

[GroovyAsh]

Anything by R.A. Salvatore.

I'd also recommend my father's recently published Military Science Fiction book, but I don't want to get flamed for promoting it. It's cool though. Kind of like Halo and Aliens on a more serious note.

 

[Argo]

Originally posted by: djheater
Foundation Series.

Interesting you mention that. I was just thinking about buying it. I couldn't figure out the order though (there were over 5 books). Any particular order I should read these books?

 

[wyvrn]

Why is everyone so high on the George RR Martin books? I was disappointed after I finished "A Game of Thrones". The writing was ok, but no magic (unless you count the black art birthing ritual near the end), and the dragons didn't show up until the last chapter. And then they are just sucklings.

This whole book could have been condensed down into half of what is was and been more interesting. The plot dragged on and on and on. I am not going to bother finishing the series. I will either finish the WoT series by Jordan or look for a different author. I don't think it would be that hard to find a better fantasy series than Song of Fire and Ice.

 

[dpm]

Originally posted by: Argo

Originally posted by: djheater Foundation Series.

Interesting you mention that. I was just thinking about buying it. I couldn't figure out the order though (there were over 5 books). Any particular order I should read these books?

well, the foundation series proper was
Foundation, foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth. After that he wrote a prequel (Prelude to Foundation) and an endnote (Forward the Foundation).

But, being as almost all of his scifi is on one huge interconnecting timeline, you should read the whole thing in order... The empire books come before the foundation ones, for example. Being as that would mean reading all 500 books (or whatever it is - the man could certainly write, and write...) its probably best just to read a couple of robot short stories, then the Elijah Baley series (definately read these first.) and then move onto Foundation. Enjoy!

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: dpm

Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
Try anything by: Brin, Heinlein, Silverberg, Foster, Zelanzy, Niven, Feist, Tolkein, Hogan, Asprin, Pratchett, Douglas, Adams, Poul Anderson, Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Stephen King, Tom Clancy

Damn good list! (with a couple of new ones for me to check out)

Let me just add
Iain M. Banks
Ken Macleod

I forgot Frank Herbert.

 

[MaxDepth]

The one book that made me mad (not at the writer, but the storyline for being what it was). I'm not saying it was a bad book - it is a really good book, but it made me engrosed in the story and the ending, well I'll let you find out that one for yourself:
This is the Way the World Ends

Interesting this one author wrote two different fantasy and scifi series, Stephen R. Donaldson.

For fantasy, he wrote the Thomas Covenant series, the first being Lord Foul's Bane. Three books in this series. There is a second series to this story too.

For sci-fi, one of the best series I've ever read. Iwould like to see it get made into a serious movie. I mean if George Clooney can make a serious treatment of Stanislaw's Lem Solaris, then this could be done too. (Maybe I could put in a phone call to Clooney to see if he would bankroll this movie for me?).
The Gap Series
Starting with the Real Story, the series is 5 books long. I hated the bad guy in the first book, but by the end of 5, I started to empathize with him. Wow.



For a one shot deal that later turned out to be two books (the second written like 20 years later):
The Forever War by Joe Halderman.
He wrote this book in memory of the Vietnam War. Read it in that context and you can understand why it won the Hugo and Nebula awards when it came out. Forever Peace was good but it didn't have the power of the first one.

cheers!

 

[Kelemvor]

Well, as I look behind me at my wall of books I'll pick out a few of my favorite series'.

FORGOTTEN REALMS
Cleric Quintet
Dark Elf Trilogy followed by the Icewind Dale Trilogy

DARK SUN - Probably very unknown....
Tribe of One Series

DRAGON LANCE
None really jumping out at me right now... hmmm

OTHER
The Death Gate Cycle is a prety well known series. Takes a while to figure out what the hell is goingon but a very good set of books.

 

[Michael]

I would recommend The Face in the Frost if you're looking for a short but very good fantasy book:

Amazon.com link

If you are looking for other short novels that are in a series, Michael Moorcock's Elric series is good. Most of the books are two or three short stories or novelas so they can be read quite easily in short chunks and they're well written as well:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441048854/qid=1054054459/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/104-3271305-0787168

My final "classic" fantasy recommendation is the Fahfrd and Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber.

Number 2 in the series - you can find the others off of the link

Michael

ps - the anime Lensmen series is based on the Doc Smith books. The books are classic SF.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

Originally posted by: BigJ
You know...I finish all of the R.A. Salvatore books concerning Drizzt and friends, great series.

Now, through recommendation of friends, I'm on the Dragonlance Chronicles, and so far its a good series (mid-way between Winter Night)

Now, you guys are going to make me go out and get the Song of Ice and Fire books. Geesh.

Thank you ATOT Fantasy fans.

Song of Ice and Fire is in a completely different league than the D&D books... those are children's books compared to GRRM books.

Dude, give that sh!t a rest will ya?

Arrived late to this thread so most have been mentioned.

I'll add a few though, in no particular order:
Alan Dean Foster: "Lifeform" Stand alone, sub 500 pages.

Stephen R. Donaldson, 2 trilogies in the same world: Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (Book 1: Lord Foul's Bane) and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Am currently reading the Second Chronicles, book 1 (The Wounded Land).

I feel like the "Farseer Trilogy" by Robin Hobb deserves another mention (Book 1: Assassin's Apprentice). Her "Liveship Traders" series is equally good (Book 1: Ship of Magic). Two trilogies, each book around 600 pages or under. You really should consider upping that limit Ender

David Gemmell writes decent fantasy. Try his Druss books.

Ursula K. Le Guin's "Earthsea" trilogy and Guy Gavriel Kay's "The Fionavar Tapestry" are both worth reading and are within your limit.

Michael Moorcock's Corum series is fantastic: The Oak and the Ram, The Bull and the Spear and The Sword and the Stallion. Also the "Swords" trilogy, The Knight of the Swords, The Queen of the Swords, and the King of the Swords, is very good. Crazy Gods!
I recommend reading the latter first. Haven't read Moorcock's Elric books yet, but I am sure they're good after reading so many glowing reviews.

 

[Malladine]

I'll also include a link to the last Fantasy book thread a few weeks back:

"Best Fantasy Literature Series?"