ISO Something SIFI or Fantasy

[nerdfinite]

I read the Twilight saga recently and I was searching the internet for something else that I could get into now that I've finished. My first thought was to stick with the same author and try The Host but I thought I would look around a little first and see if I could find any recommendations.

Just to be clear, there were parts of Twilight that I thought were a bit "meh" such as the first halves of the first two books. But, overall, I thought they were very good and I thought the first 12 chapters of Midnight Sun were excellent.

The rest of my reading history is also a little iffy, but here's a quick rundown:

Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon - I liked the first two books but thought they were a little depressing at the time (i was in middle school) and I remember giving up about half way through the third

Lord of the Rings - The first book was boring and I gave up about half way

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - I Really liked it

Dune - Liked the first book, not as big of a fan on the second, House Harkonnen was good but it was the last one I read

Harry Potter - Read them, loved them

And that's about it.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[sparkchaser]

Have you checked out the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card?

 

[jleigh23]

My husband really likes The Dragon Lance series-- it's worth checking out.

Have you ever read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell, by Susanna Clarke? She's a British author and writes with lots of wit and style... kind of similar to the Harry Potter books, but in my opinion much better.

 

[LinRobinson]

William Gibson is pretty amazing, sort of the the "Steely Dan of SF literature". The Neuromancer series is tremendous.
His most recent (far as I know), "Pattern Recognition" is actually not technically SF, could have happened last month. But is so seamlessly the same type of book that it bolsters the whole "5 minutes into the future" thing aboug Gibson.

Sort of inbetween is "Virtual Light", inappropriate named (maybe) but an extremely cool tale with bike messengers and high-tech rent-a-cops and "cute dot-alt girlfriend" in the near or possibly tomorrow future.

 

[sparkchaser]

William Gibson is pretty amazing, sort of the the "Steely Dan of SF literature". The Neuromancer series is tremendous.
His most recent (far as I know), "Pattern Recognition" is actually not technically SF, could have happened last month. But is so seamlessly the same type of book that it bolsters the whole "5 minutes into the future" thing aboug Gibson.

Sort of inbetween is "Virtual Light", inappropriate named (maybe) but an extremely cool tale with bike messengers and high-tech rent-a-cops and "cute dot-alt girlfriend" in the near or possibly tomorrow future.

His latest is Spook Country and IMO, it's better than Pattern Recognition.

 

[scooter13]

William Gibson is pretty amazing, sort of the the "Steely Dan of SF literature".

NO, NO, NO!!! Please don't use one of my favorite bands to compare a sci-fi writer that I very much dislike! (And though I honestly feel this way, this should not be taken as me being seriously offended. I laughed when I read your post.)

I would second the idea of Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell". Really enjoyed that book. I know a few fans of Harry Potter that enjoyed it as well.

On the sci-fi side I would recommend Alastair Reynolds and Iain M. Banks' work. I felt the same way you do about "Dune" and it's following books. I think Reynolds and Banks take that space opera feel of "Dune" and do their own with it. Just a warning though about Reynolds: he was a real scientist by day before becoming a full-time writer, and some of his explanations get deep into the sciences around it.

On the fantasy side, I would recommend the "Monarchies of God" series by Paul Kearney. Five books in all, though short by fantasy standards. (The five books combined total 1100 pages.) Traditional fantasy settings with great characters and great story lines. Underrated series in my opinion.

Mixing both sci-fi and fantasy is China Mieville's books. I thought both "Perdido Street Station" and "The Scar" were very good.

 

[beer good]

If you liked Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, my standard recommendation: Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels and Jasper Fforde's novels about Thursday Next.

If you liked Harry Potter, you might like Pullman's His Dark Materials.

And you should definitely try William Gibson. (Then again, I can't stand Steely Dan. ) And then continue with Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.

 

[LinRobinson]

Oh, yeah... Snow Crash is DEFINITELY a lot of fun and evinces a nice scope.