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What's the last good fantasy or scifi book you've read and could'nt put down?

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arkitech

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So what's the last fantasy/scifi book that you read that was just so good you could'nt put it down until you were done reading it? I need a few recommendations, I'm in the mood for a good book.

For me the last really good scifi book was Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game". For a long time I avoided this book because I thought it was aimed at a younger audience, but after hearing so many people praise it I finally took a chance on it. I literally read the book in 2 hours, it was utterly captivating. I've yet to read the sequels but if they are anything like the first book I'll eventually make my way around to them.

As for fantasy novels, George R.R. Martin's "The Song of Fire and Ice" series are amazing in every sense of the word. Forget what you know about typical fantasy books, this ain't your juvenile fiction about multi-colored dragons and happy dwarves. This book is down right gritty and hard hitting, the imagery is intense and the dialog is written so well you actually believe the events really took place. Without giving too much Martin is also one of the few authors who writes his stories in such a way that they reflect real life, heroes don't always win, villains are'nt always evil. I can't recommend his books enough for people who enjoy a good riveting read. Do yourself a favor and at least check one his books out from the library (preferably the first one in his Song of Fire and Ice series).



So what have you read recently that was good?
 
im not much for sci-fi, but i have read neil stephenson's "snow crash" and "the diamond age", both good quick reads. of course... read the hitchiker's guide if you havent yet.
 
Amazon Bee said:
im not much for sci-fi, but i have read neil stephenson's "snow crash" and "the diamond age", both good quick reads. of course... read the hitchiker's guide if you havent yet.
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Dude I love Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, I read all those books by Douglas Adams at least 3 or 4 times. Great stuff. I'll have to check out Snow Crash, I keep hearing a lot of good things about it.
 
I went through a bit of an Iain Banks thing last year... Excession being one of his best, followed by Use of Weapons, Feersum Enjinn and a couple others.
Also loved Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood... great twist on the post-apocalyptic thing.
 
Either Declare by Tim Powers, or a book of short stories by Charles De Lint.

These were also the last two books I read...
 
Originally posted by nowonmai
I went through a bit of an Iain Banks thing last year... Excession being one of his best, followed by Use of Weapons, Feersum Enjinn and a couple others.

minor pedantic point, when he's writing sci-fi, he goes by iain m banks. when he's just writing regular fucked-up shit like 'the wasp factory', it's just plain iain banks.

alasdair
 
arkitech said:
For me the last really good scifi book was Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game". For a long time I avoided this book because I thought it was aimed at a younger audience, but after hearing so many people praise it I finally took a chance on it. I literally read the book in 2 hours, it was utterly captivating. I've yet to read the sequels but if they are anything like the first book I'll eventually make my way around to them.
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Recommended by Griff, given to me by Crow, I found myself enthralled with this book. And yes, the restof the series is nearly as good (I've read them all). Unfortunately, this is the only sci-fi I've been able to read in the past year - but it was a very good selection I'd recommend to anyone. Not just entertaining, but educational on group dynamics and different personal approaches to situations or relationships. I got a lot more out of them than the 'fun read' I anticipated.
 
Cyberpunk! Check out "Virtual Light" by William Gibson.

Right now i'm reading "Quicksilver", the first HUGE book in a series of 3 HUGE books by Neal Stephenson (mentioned above as the author of "Snow Crash" and "The Diamond Age". "Quicksilver" is some historical fiction, about cryptography and natural philosophy (the beginnings of science) in the 17th century. Sounds weird, but it's utterly gripping. His book "Cryptonomicon" is another huge adventure that is stunningly great.

I used to like Stephen Baxter, but his stuff is pretty depressing, on the whole.
 
I rather like Stephen Baxter, to be honest.
I like his wholistic pov on humanity.

Though I have not read his recent saga - evolution and something else I cant remember the name of was the second book in the series.
Before that I read a collection of his short stories, again based on the multiverse theorem based on the stories first explored in 'space' etc.

I am rereading A song of Ice and Fire preparatory to the release of Book 4 "A feast for crows" in July. Fantastic series as someone has already said.

Otherwise I recommend people read The Otherland series by Tad Williams.
A 4 part series based on the concepts of the Net, Virtual worlds and Reality, and the notion of Consciousness. I have yet to track down Book 4 to complete the read, and book 2 and 3 were hard reading in some parts, but overall, well worth the effort.
 
If, like me, you are not a very `good` reader, ie. I find it hard to become totally engrossed in a story-- then I recommend Arthur C Clarke- he wrote the book upon which 2001 a space odyssey the film was based. His style is very dry- not particularly descriptive, and gets straight to the point, not confusing, but over all very entertaining to read.

As others have mentioned, William Gibson is good, but I didn`t like his endings- just when I was right into the story, it would end with some Hollywood fairy-tale conclusion.

Arthur C Clarke`S Rama series, or any of the Odyssey books are good- they are a series, but you can read any one and it will make sense and give you an idea of how is writing style goes down. I just read 3001 final odyssey, expecting it to be the sequel to 2001, but apparently it is like part 4 or 5. But the beauty of his style is each book can be read independently as he may change facts around to suit the latest scientific research findings, ie. Jupiter`s moons are more likely to sustan life than Saturn so I`ll just chagnge the planet in this story- bad example, but that`s kind of what he does. One of his stories, the Rama series, was very entertaining (straight to the point, good characters) was written with some Nasa scientist- very factual and very realistic. If you dig SCi Fi, I recommend Arthur C CLarke fo sho!
 
Anything with margaret weise and tracy hickman sucks me in like a vortex, just got done with dragons of a summer flame.

I would start with Dragons of Autumn Twilight so you can familiarize yourself with the characters (and what characters they are! Raistlin the mage and tasslehoff the theif are my favorites...) then move onto Dragons of a winter night and Dragons of a spring dawning. After you are finished with those i'm pretty sure you will be as enthralled as I was, and figure out the next step. I especially liked the single books that went back into each characters history, how they meet and where they come from. DRAGONLANCE RULES!

In fact, i'm going to start a dragonlance appreciation thread as soon as I wake up tomarrow. Woot!
 
Hehe, yes, I am a super dork, but some of the stories sucked me in so far that I cried during parts when I was in like 8th grade. :X Don't tell! But, those books rock.....
 
^^ while your going there, may I plug the classic Dr Who series, and also the epitome of high literature- Choose Your OWn Adventure books!! They fucking rocked- you can often find a box full at a garage sale or op shop for a few dollars, well worth the investment.
 
Hey the writing quality stands up, and character development is TOTALLY on par along with plot and everything else! Go read one before you judge them. Unless you are being serious ? Those choose your own adventure books drove me crazy... I can still pick up any of my old dragonlance books and zip right through them. Not many fantasy books are worth reading twice, but I have read the dragonlance series at least twice.

Is the Dr. Who series really that good? Honestly I like easy reads with a fast paced plot, even if it is for kids...
 
"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman (anything by Neil Gaiman, actually), "Spindle's End" by Robin McKinley, and "A Plague of Angels" by Sheri S Tepper. I wish I read as much fantasy as I used to, though. Currently I'm reading "A Game of Thrones" by George R R Martin, it seems pretty good but it's taking me forever to read it, it still hasn't really 'grabbed' me yet :\
 
If you're into sci-fi, in my opinoin, you absolutely have to read "The Reality Dysfunction" by Peter F. Hamilton

This man is a genius and Reality Dysfunction is the first of 3 huge books.... from start to finish, somthing like 5000 pages if i remember properly, I just could not put them down... absolutely the best books I have ever read, no exception. And I have read a lot of books :D

Please do yourself a favour and pick up reality dysfunction, you'll be glad you did :D
 
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