Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Discussion/Appreciation Anyone..??

[unowhoandwhy]

One of my favourite set of books, they make be cry when I read them.

Oooh! I love anything by Robin Hobb. Have you read the Liveships trilogy? Or her new Soldier Son trilogy? Books 1 & 2 are out so far.

Let's see, I will pretty much read anything I can get my hands on, but I tend to prefer sword & sorcery over really hard scifi... although not always. Some of my faves over the years are:

Anything by:
Terry Brooks
George R. R. Martin (When, oh when, is the next book coming out?!?!?!)
Anne McCaffrey
Robin McKinley
Robert Jordan
Robert Heinlein
Dean Koontz (although he is technically suspense/horror)


Pretty much anything by:
Isaac Asimov
"Doc" Smith


..I know there are more (I own thousands, including classic stuff from the 50s & 60s that I inherited from my dad), but am drawing a blank at the moment.

[Sgcfreak55]

I've been reading the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher and any Star Wars books I can get my hands on.

[Caldwell's 2IC]

It is supossed to be a series for teen-agers, but I'm 46 years old and I'm half through the first book of James Patterson's "Maximum Ride" and it is a hard-to-put-down book.

[Iffy]

Jaqueline Carey is a favorite onf mine.

[Arga]

I'd like to recommend "Replay" by Ken Grimwood.


It's a story involving time travel, but not in a time machine..
The main character is being sent back 25 years earlier, in the place & body he had at the time, but with his memory of the future intact. (those of you who watched the series Odyssey 5 know what it means).
So this guy understands what's happening, and decide to live his second chance of life to the fullest... until this happens again... and again.. at the exact same time in the future. He cannot control it... But every time, he lives a different kind of life, until something interesting happens....

I particularly like this idea of time travelling. It's in a way more plausible to travel by spirit than by matter. I wish I could do that!
(after memorizing the winning lottery numbers..)

[AvatarIII]

My Faveourite Authors/Books

-Nights Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction/The Neutronium Alchemist/The Naked God plus a Second chance at Eden, a book of short stories and novellas from the universe, there is also a canon encyclopedia called the Confederation Handbook), and the Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained) And Fallen Dragon by Peter F Hamilton.
-The Saga of Seven Suns (only books 1-5 out of 7 released, book 6 Metal Swarm is released early July), by Kevin J Anderson
-Revelation Space series (Revelation Space/Chasm City/Diamond Dogs/Turquiose Days are all i've read so far) by Alastair Reynolds
-Hyperion Quartet (Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion/Endymion/Rise of Endymion) and the Ilium Saga (Ilium/Olympos) by Dan Simmons

[Caldwell's 2IC]

I'd like to recommend "Replay" by Ken Grimwood.


It's a story involving time travel, but not in a time machine..
The main character is being sent back 25 years earlier, in the place & body he had at the time, but with his memory of the future intact. (those of you who watched the series Odyssey 5 know what it means).
So this guy understands what's happening, and decide to live his second chance of life to the fullest... until this happens again... and again.. at the exact same time in the future. He cannot control it... But every time, he lives a different kind of life, until something interesting happens....

I particularly like this idea of time travelling. It's in a way more plausible to travel by spirit than by matter. I wish I could do that!
(after memorizing the winning lottery numbers..)

I'll get that book as soon as I pay back the money I borrowed from my Dad last week. Have you read "Time and Again" by Jack Finney ? Great book too.

[maneth]

Add yet another Anne McCaffrey fan to the mix. I like Pern a lot, especially the dragons, but my favorites are the two Talent series (Pegasus and Tower). I also like the Crystal Singer trilogy and the four Freedom/Catteni series books.

Robin Hobb is great too, and whatever you do, don't skip the Liveship Traders series. No FitzChivalry there, but it's set in the same world as the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies.

Currently I'm very much into reading Pratchett's Discworld, I love that sort of absurd humor. Probably one reason why I like Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books so much.

You can't go far wrong with the old classics Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. For a more modern take on sci-fi, you might like to try Greg Bear. He's great at both characterization and science, and the worlds he builds are very detailed and believable, even if I usually am glad I don't live there by the time I finish a book.

I'm a Harry Potter fan, although I admit that I didn't like the first book very much when I got it, because I found it a bit childish for my taste. However, the books get darker as the main characters grow up, and Rowling writes very believable teenagers. The seventh and final HP book is due out on July 21st. I can't wait!

[Mousie]

[QUOTE=unowhoandwhy;6740149]Oooh! I love anything by Robin Hobb. Have you read the Liveships trilogy? Or her new Soldier Son trilogy? Books 1 & 2 are out so far.

Let's see, I will pretty much read anything I can get my hands on, but I tend to prefer sword & sorcery over really hard scifi... although not always. Some of my faves over the years are:

Anything by:
Terry Brooks
George R. R. Martin (When, oh when, is the next book coming out?!?!?!)
Anne McCaffrey
Robin McKinley
Robert Jordan
Robert Heinlein
Dean Koontz (although he is technically suspense/horror)


QUOTE]

I love Robert Jordan and will miss his series when it finishes. I don't like Anne Mccaffrey as much as I used to but do still enjoy reading her stuff, for me I think the books became a bit samey but the older stuff is brilliant.

I prefer reading Dean Koontz over Stephen King and James Herbert.

[Mousie]

[QUOTE=maneth;6817670]Add yet another Anne McCaffrey fan to the mix. I like Pern a lot, especially the dragons, but my favorites are the two Talent series (Pegasus and Tower). I also like the Crystal Singer trilogy and the four Freedom/Catteni series books.

Robin Hobb is great too, and whatever you do, don't skip the Liveship Traders series. No FitzChivalry there, but it's set in the same world as the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies.

Currently I'm very much into reading Pratchett's Discworld, I love that sort of absurd humor. Probably one reason why I like Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books so much.

QUOTE]

I basically prefer fantasy to sci fi. Whilst I do like the Pern books I agree with you about the Talent and Crystal Singer books. The early ones are a bit dated now but I still love them. I haven't read the Freedom books though.

The Liveship books where OK, but in my opinion nowhere near as good as Farseer/Tawny (very sad). I'm reading the first Soldier Son book at the moment but I'm not too sure about it yet.

Pratchett and Adams are brilliant.

I also love Mary H Herbert's Dark Horse books.

[AvatarIII]

I basically prefer fantasy to sci fi.

i don't understand!

i honestly find it hard to believe how anyone can prefer fantasy to sci-fi, someone please explain!

[MmmmMcKAy]

I read all the Harry Potter books.

I love Ray Bradbury.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein is very good.

Stephen King is a guilty pleasure, especially The Stand and The Dark Tower series.

I've read some Anne Rice.

I'm a manic reader but don't read all that much sci-fi fantasy anymore. I've got too many other books on my shelf to get through.

Has anyone read any Neil Gaiman? Is he good? I've looked at his books in Chapters and been intrigued.

[Trek_Girl42]

Has anyone read any Neil Gaiman? Is he good? I've looked at his books in Chapters and been intrigued.

Neil Gaiman is my favourite author ever. I recommend all of his stuff- his children's book, his adult books, his graphic novels, his short story collections, his pictures books that he's done with Dave McKean, it's all fantastic, and he reads his own stuff for audio books as well (all that I've heard anyway) and it's absolutely wonderful to listen to.

And his book "Stardust" is coming out as a movie this summer, word is the movie is very good.

And he has a wonderful blog that he updates almost every day, though currently his daughter is a special guest blogger for a few weeks which is quite cute:
http://www.neilgaiman.com/



I love getting enthusiastic over an author, that was probably more than you wanted to hear.

[Iffy]

Has anyone read any Neil Gaiman? Is he good? I've looked at his books in Chapters and been intrigued.

I;ve enjoyed what I've read by him.

[xfkirsten]

Has anyone read any Neil Gaiman? Is he good? I've looked at his books in Chapters and been intrigued.

The only one of his that I've read is GOod Omens (which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett)... loved it! I always liken it to "Dogma-meets-Hitchhikers."