Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library discussion

Hi, everyone! I'm new to this group and I'm looking for some good sci-fi/fantasy novels. Some Fantasy I like:
1. The Belgariad by David Eddings
2. Aliens by Steve Perry
3. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
4. Eragon by Christopher Poalini
Those are some of my favorites. I was thinking of reading this other series by terry goodkind. Is that any good? Any other suggestions? Thanks! :D

Surviving Serendipity, by Jacquelyn Sylvan.
The Codex Alera series, by Jim Butcher.
The Curse of Chalion and its sequels, by Lois McMaster Bujold.
The Confederation of Valor books, by Tanya Huff.
The Miles Vorkosigan saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold.
The Shadows of Justice series, by Regan Black.

I thought the Goodkind books looked good too, until I started reading them.

I write fantasy too, just check out my profile.

My take on Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series: The first book is very good. The second is ok. From there it goes downhill. I think what bothers me about them is there's no resolution. It's like if you read Lord of the Rings, and then after the defeat of Sauron there emerged another, more terrible evil...the defeat of which leads to the development of a subtle yet pervasive evil, which may or may not be somehow linked to the first evil...and Frodo was somehow the one who had to face each new evil. It just starts to get tedious after a while.


Having said all of that, i DID get to the fifth book before i decided not to read anymore, so the books do have their merits... just don't hesitate to stop when they begin to get old.

More series' to look at are

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, by Tad Williams.

and

Song of Ice and Fire, by George RR Martin

Goodness gracious i feel so strongly about Goodkind!!! The first time i tried i might have made it to the third book- the second time i[because i my brother read all of them] i couldn't even get through the first one! This coming from someone who has not completed maybe 5 book in my life. The writing was like nails on chalkboard! EEEEK!

Some more sci-fi:

Consider Phlebas, by Iain M Banks. Anything by Iain M Banks, really. :)

Glasshouse, Charlie Stross. AWESOME read.

Polity Agent, Neal Asher.

Fantasy:

George RR Martin cannot be recommended strongly enough. Ditto Jim Butcher.

Carmen, your reaction to Goodkind sounds very much like mine to Brooks. If it wasn't for Mr Pratchett (all hail, etc) I'd be starting to believe it has something to do with the name "Terry"! :)

Try Modessit's Recluse series or Soprano Sorceress series. Very entertaining.

I feel about the same as the others about Goodkind's series. I think Tom's comparison to LOTR is perfect.

Zelazny's original Amber series is great.

Feist's Riftwar series is good. I also liked the Otherworld series, but after that he beats the idea into the ground.

Brust's Vlad Taltos series is excellent, too.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber

I'll also second Steven Brust, Rodger Zelazny, George RR Martin, and Lois McMaster Bujold as recommendations.

I really liked the Fafhrd & Grey Mouser books, too. A.E. Van Vogt's Isher stories were good too. They intersect Leiber's in one story, as I recall.

I'll have to look up the others.

I'd like to ask a question. Although I'm an avid reader, the only sci-fi books I've ever read are The Tripods series as a kid, and "Stranger in a Strange Land" years ago. Could someone recommend a couple of sci-fi classics that are *engaging*? If it's hard to get into, I'll never get past the first 10 pages. And if there are any fantasy readers lurking in this sci-fi group, I'd like to ask the same question for the fantasy genre. The "Lord of the Rings" is all I have under my belt. Thanks for any advice.

Cynthia, see message #6 here for fantasy. If you like Modessit, he writes similarly good SF, too.

Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series is good SF.
Heinlein's pre 1970 books are excellent SF.
Zelazny writes both very well, although he has some odd styles that aren't for everyone.

Cynthia...

Try "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke. It's an engrossing read and was the inspiration for "The Midwich Cuckoos", a novel that was turned into "The Village of the Damned" classic sci-fi movie of the fifties. You might also want to try "The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. The "Dune" series, by Frank Herbert is also good, as long as you stop at the third novel, "Children of Dune". "God Emperor of Dune" is a snooze.

Stephen H. Turner
The Last Voyage of the Cassiopeia
Almagest: The Adventures of MarsShield
3700
The Avedon Question

I raed both sci and fantasy.I have read a lot of the forgotten realms series.Each one is by different authors or some are the same.There are all different topics.elves,magic,drow.
I also have started reading a new author cl wilson and have really liked her books.A man who can turn into a flying cat falls for a woman who can do magic.The first book is Lord of the fading lands. I also liked Trudi canavan and her High lord series. As some one mentioned Lois Mcmaster Bujold is very good .her miles series and the sharing knife series.

I am also reading Karen Marie Moning right now and find her series good.More modern day mixed with fae and bad guys.
I also check out the y/a section at our library,there are a lot of y/a books that are really good reads.
Linda

Hi Cynthia --

For fantasy, I definitely recommend Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books -- I think there are four or five plus some short stories -- and anything by Guy Gavriel Kay except Ysabel (a sad disappointment). For "urban fantasy" I suggest Charles de Lint.

For SF classics, Stephen's given you some great ones. I'd add Isaac Asimov's Foundation series as well as his short stories, also Ted Chiang's collection, Stories of Your Life and Others. For cheesy "space opera" fun it's hard to beat Piers Anthony's Cluster series.

Actually, if you go back to the beginning of this thread and read through, there have been a ton of good suggestions :)

...And among Asimov's short stories...the one you ABSOLUTELY have to read is "The Last Question", perhaps the most fantastic sci-fi short story ever!! You can find it anywhere! Enjoy!!

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Lots of great choices above.
Sci-fi: Nightfall by Asimov, anything by Asimov.
Fantasy: Marion Zimmer Bradley is another great author. I'll read anything by either of these authors and have never been let down.

'Course, Jackie, she could also groove on my "Cassiopeia" series....

That's:

The Last Voyage of the Cassiopeia
Almagest: The Adventures of MarsShield
3700
The Avedon Question

She can't go wrong! ;-)
Stephen H. Turner

Nightfall, is an absolute must even if you don't like short stories. It is the best Sci-Fi short story ever written and one of the best short stories ever written.

Do NOT read the novel of the same name by Asimov unless you have already read the short story.

Forget the movie starring Michael Praed (Robin of Sherwood, for Brit members)— 'orrible movie!

Kernos,
I watched a movie version with David Carradine, is it the same one? It was AWFUL.
I've read the novel and I don't recall reading the short story, have I missed something?
I loved the Nightfall novel. Definitely a Must Read.

Opps, you're right is was Carridine (I was thinking of Nightflyers with Praed- also awful). There is also a 1988 version with David Birney (awful too).

I enjoyed the novel which is a fleshed out version of the 1941 short story, which is exceptional. I would certainly read it. There is a good article about it on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfal....

The full text is here: http://www.wattpad.com/1032

Bill

A few authors spring to mind that you might like:
Anne McCaffery
Patricia McKillip
R A MacEvoy
Robin Hobb
Christopher Stasheff
try also CJ Cherryh's stuff.

Depends how deep and/or dark you like your fantasy. You can try out the first three chapters of mine Cloak of Magic by S.A. Rule by downloading them free from my website http://www.shehaios.co.uk

Andre Norton is another good author.

Cloak of Magic was an exceptionally good book, I recommend it highly.

Andre Norton and Piers Anthony should have been on my list of recommended authors too.

I'm looking for a good fantasy romance.... anyone got anything? Or at least something that makes me feel good at the end.

Cassandra
I read c.l. wilson"s Lord of the fading lands.It was so god.Romance and fantasy all in one book.He is a tairen who lost his mate and killed thousands of people in his agony.His land is fading so he touches a eye and the eye tells him there is a mate for him who can heal his land.The storty has romance,magic and evil mages.also he can turn himself into a flying cat.There are 2 more stories after the first and she has the last installment coming in the spring i think.

Linda

Cassandra,
The Highlander series by Karen Moning.
I've read these two and will undoubtedly read the rest:
The Immortal Highlander this was my favorite, Adam is uncommonly sexy. I had a crush on him while reading this, LOL
Kiss of the Highlander
I'm not too big on romance, but these were very good, incredibly romantic in a fantasy setting.

That wouldn't by any chance be Christopher Lambert's "Highlander", would it...?

Stephen H. Turner

Oh no! Nothing like it at all!
I did enjoy the Highlander movies and the TV series, this is a completely different set of characters. Nothing in common with the movie or TV series.

Ah so. Thanks for clearing that up.

Steve

I don't think it's book a man would want to read. Maybe. But I doubt it.

Whoops! Gotcha!

(Too much "Gone With The Wind" or something....?)

Steve

Cassandra wrote: "I'm looking for a good fantasy romance.... anyone got anything? Or at least something that makes me feel good at the end."

The first main story, Theseme and the Ghayrog in the book Majipoor Chronicles by Robert Silverberg. Heck, the whole book is great.

Majipoor Chronicles

Jackie
have you read Dark fever,blood fever, and fae fever by Karen Moning.Oh they were so good.Now i want to read her Highlander series.
Linda

5eregon,
No, but I want to! I found The Immortal Highlander at a library book sale. I never heard of her before that, but at 50 cents a paperback, I buy a lot of books. If I don't like them, no big deal, it's only 50 cents.
These aren't the kind of books I'd go out and pay full price for, but I will borrow them from the library at some point.

I am so excited about Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin in September. It is so long awaited. I absolutely love this series. It is def. a must read

Judging by the list of books you've posted, I'd say that you would probably enjoy Terry Goodkind's work, if you haven't checked it out already. I enjoyed the first three books a lot.

You might also want to check out Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Again, the first three books come very highly recommended by Jordan's fans. From the fourth book on, though, they begin to argue of the quality.

I would also suggest, as some here already have, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. This series is less on magic (although there is a magic system), and more on battle realism and corruption. ASoIaF is my favorite series, and I bet it will continue to be so for many years to come. Nothing compares to it!

I also cannot wait for Dance of Dragons. Hell, I'm excited just to reread the series to catch up again.