OT- Favorite Novel - Sci-Fi and Fantasy

[zooklandrox-migration]

Try the first fantasy book to ever be on the New York Times bestseller list:

The Sword of Shannara-by Terry Brooks. Followed by his second and third books, The Elfstones of Shanarra and the Wishsong of Shannara. These three books are The reason that I read a novel a week. Absolutely the best books ever written!

[MikeS]

Let's see, not sure what my favorite would be, but I just finished the Seer King, Demon King, and Warrior King by Chris Bunch. Pretty good, IMO. Definitely R rated though - just to warn you.

 

Right now I'm reading Gaiman's American Gods - yes, I'm pretty far behind on the current stuff.

 

I've also enjoyed the alternative history novels by Harry Turtledove. I've also read the Terry Goodkind series (not the most recent ones though - still behind) and I'll second the Raymond Feist Magician series - enjoyed them all.

 

I liked Piers Anthony Xanth series, but got burnt out on the puns after the first four or so books. Read the first ones though if you haven't already.

 

Zelzany's Amber series is also pretty good.

 

Man....I've read a lot of books

[delekkerste]

Conan the Conqueror (originally published as "The Hour of the Dragon") by Robert E. Howard. REH's only novel-length Conan epic set when Conan has claimed his destiny and has become King of Aquilonia. Outstanding pulp fiction.

 

Gene

[rob_react]

I could go on with a list like this for about a month. I won't Here are some favorites that spring to mind...

 

Tolkien, duh. Anyone that was around for the Tolkien geek-out we had a while back, will have already penciled me in for that one.

 

Dune, God Emperor of Dune; Frank Herbert. Leto II is one of my favorite characters in all of literature.

 

Everything William Gibson has ever done; especially his first, Neuromancer, and last, Pattern Recognition.

 

Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. Like Pattern Recognition this book barely counts as Sc-Fi, but who cares, call it cypherpunk and get to reading...

 

Quicksilver, Stephenson's latest is also amazing although that's DEFINITELY not sci-fi, being a scientific/ historical/ mathematics/ political novel set in the time of Isaac Newton.

 

Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein.

 

Jack Womack, the Ambient series, especially Random Acts of Senseless Violence, Elvissey and Going, Going, Gone.

 

Ender's Game + the rest of the series; Orson Scott Card. I LOVED that book when I was a kid. I've read through to the most recent, "Bean" story books and I don't think I've been disappointed yet. The one with the OCD princess was a little on the strange side, but other than that

 

I loved Gaiman's Neverwhere and American Gods.

 

One of the most enjoyable things I've ever done is read the Robot/ Empire/ Foundation series from start to finish. The Foundation books were especially cool.

 

Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series is still the funniest thing I've ever read.

 

Words and no pictures can be cool too!

[nearmint]

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis...

[musicmeta]

Alfred Bester's - "The Stars My Destination" was great as well as

the "Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelanzy.

 

Anybody ever hear of "Casca the Eternal Mercenary" by the late Barry Sadler?

Those were great books to read! Put out about 20 or so books

[s-man]

For all you Enders Game fans...

 

link

[namisgr]

I think I'm a little older than most on the board, so my preferences for Sci-Fi go back a ways. Can't argue against "Dune". Among others not mentioned yet, I loved:

 

"Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula LeGuinn

"The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman

 

and I think Orwell's "1984" remains important and topical today.

[rob_react]

1984, which I love, reminds me of another book that I should mention, Yevgeny Zamyatin's We.

 

Orwell's other stuff is great, by the way- I just re-read Down and Out in Paris and London and Homage To Catalonia.

 

Lathe of Heaven is excellent. I read that when I was something like 11 and just re-read it recently. It held up pretty well.

[ArAich]

I think I'm a little older than most on the board, so my preferences for Sci-Fi go back a ways. Can't argue against "Dune". Among others not mentioned yet, I loved:

 

"Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula LeGuinn

"The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman

 

and I think Orwell's "1984" remains important and topical today.

 

 

That reminds me..."The Earthsea Trilogy" by LeGuinn was an easy yet satisfying read...

 

And if your into dragons then "The Dragonriders of Pern" and other Dragon stories by Anne McCaffrey are worth reading....

[rob_react]

Two more popped into my head: Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange and The Wanting Seed.

 

I also recommend his Nothing Like the Sun heartily. That too fails the "Sci-Fi" test, being about William Shakespeare and all.

[tth2]

Quicksilver sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out.

 

Definitely agree with Foundation and Robot books, although the original trilogy of each series was definitely the best, particularly Foundation. To Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, I would add "Moon is a Harsh Mistress".

[tth2]

I think I'm a little older than most on the board, so my preferences for Sci-Fi go back a ways. Can't argue against "Dune". Among others not mentioned yet, I loved:

 

"Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula LeGuinn

"The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman

 

and I think Orwell's "1984" remains important and topical today.

 

I think I'm amongst the older crowd too, as my leanings definitely go towards pre-1980s sci fi/fantasy. "Lathe of Heaven" from LeGuinn is great, and I would add "Left Hand of Darkness". One surprising omission thus far has been Larry Niven's "Ringworld".

 

Post-1970s, there is of course "Neuromancer". And I would add some of the stuff by David Brin and Gregory Benford. Brin's "Uplift" books would be in my Top 10 All-Time Sci-Fi, and Benford's "Great Sky River" and "Across the Sea of Suns" series were fantastic.

[thecomicsheet]

The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings. - I read these at least once every 5 years.

Dune

Watership Down

Dragonriders of Pern

The Compleat Enchanter (L. Sprague DeCamp and Fletcher Pratt)

The Forever War

Last Stand on Zanzibar

[lighthouse]

Hmmm... where to begin... the last time we moved I think the Fantasy/Sci-Fi section of our library was around 800lbs of books...

 

A few personal favorites:

[*]Time Enough For Love - Robert Heinlein (my favorite of the Lazarus Long books)[*]Chess With a Dragon - David Gerrold (this book looks more and more prophetic with each passing year, it's absolute genius)[*]Wielding a Red Sword - Piers Anthony (the best of the Incarnations books)[*]Book of Swords - Fred Saberhagen (the 4th Book of Lost Swords is actually my favorite in the 11-book series, but I have reread the entire series more times than I can count. My van is named for one of the Swords, Farslayer)[*]Job: A Comedy Of Justice - Robert Heinlein (I lived in Texas for 13 years, Nuff Said...)[*]Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov (the best of the Foundation books, but I can't really imagine reading it on its own)

 

I'm also a big fan of several other books already mentioned, including Ender's Game and Dune, although I personally found Tolkien to be almost unreadable. In many cases I felt he was writing just to see more words on the page and I think the six books of the LOTR could have easily been cut to four, maybe even three. But it is hard to criticize someone who was inventing a new genre for not being as polished as he should have been. I have nothing against long novels, I enjoy Frank Herbert, Stephen King and JK Rowling, but I found too often Tolkien's writing failed to advance the plot or the characterization and was instead a geography lecture that we would all be tested upon...

 

And I realize her work is "too new" to really merit a place on this list, but the Harry Potter books stand with most any "great" fantasy and I expect to see them on bookshelves for a very long time.

[BachelorOfComix]

Try the first fantasy book to ever be on the New York Times bestseller list:

The Sword of Shannara-by Terry Brooks. Followed by his second and third books, The Elfstones of Shanarra and the Wishsong of Shannara. These three books are The reason that I read a novel a week. Absolutely the best books ever written!

Good call, I've got the 2nd trilogy too.

[tth2]

Try the first fantasy book to ever be on the New York Times bestseller list:

The Sword of Shannara-by Terry Brooks. Followed by his second and third books, The Elfstones of Shanarra and the Wishsong of Shannara. These three books are The reason that I read a novel a week. Absolutely the best books ever written!

Good call, I've got the 2nd trilogy too.

 

I still can't figure out why the Tolkien estate hasn't sued Terry Brooks for either copyright infringement or plagiarism...

[Apotheosis]

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. One of the best stories I've ever read. I cannot recommend it highly enough for fans of epic fantasy. I have turned about a dozen people on to this series and every last one of them (including my girlfriend, who doesn't typically like fantasy novels) is hooked.

 

 

I absolutely love this series, but I swear that good ole George has been hanging out with the folks over at Image. Where the hell is the 4th book?!!

 

Waiting sucks...

[BachelorOfComix]

I still can't figure out why the Tolkien estate hasn't sued Terry Brooks for either copyright infringement or plagiarism...

[rob_react]

Quicksilver sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out.

 

Definitely agree with Foundation and Robot books, although the original trilogy of each series was definitely the best, particularly Foundation. To Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, I would add "Moon is a Harsh Mistress".

 

I loved Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

 

Quicksilver is book one in the three part "Baroque Cycle." The second book is due out next month and the third is due in September of this year. It's massive. Quicksilver was 944 pages the Confusion will be 832 and The System of the World will be in the same range. You almost can't blame him based on the time, place and people he's writing about, but it probably merits a mention. Personally I would have been happy if it had been twice as long, but a few reviewers felt it was a little loose.

 

Here's the blurb, in case anyone else is interested:

 

"Baroque Cycle Volume 1:

Quicksilver

In this wonderfully inventive follow-up to his bestseller Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson brings to life a cast of unforgettable characters in a time of breathtaking genius and discovery, men and women whose exploits defined an age known as the Baroque.

 

Daniel Waterhouse possesses a brilliant scientific mind -- and yet knows that his genius is dwarfed by that of his friends Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Robert Hooke. He rejects the arcane tradition of alchemy, even as it is giving birth to new ways of understanding the world.

 

Jack Shaftoe began his life as a London street urchin and is now a reckless wanderer in search of great fortune. The intrepid exploits of Half-Cocked Jack, King of the Vagabonds, are quickly becoming the stuff of legend throughout Europe.

 

Eliza is a young woman whose ingenuity is all that keeps her alive after being set adrift from the Turkish harem in which she has been imprisoned since she was a child.

 

Daniel, Jack, and Eliza will traverse a landscape populated by mad alchemists, Barbary pirates, and bawdy courtiers, as well as historical figures including Samuel Pepys, Ben Franklin, and other great minds of the age. Traveling from the infant American colonies to the Tower of London to the glittering courts of Louis XIV, and all manner of places in between, this magnificent historical epic brings to vivid life a time like no other, and establishes its author as one of the preeminent talents of our own age."