8 Sci-fi/Fantasy Books you might enjoy
Is SF/F still the cool word? Or did speculative fiction take over? Ah, anyway. Here’s a bunch of books (or series) that I think are particularly well worth reading - there’s nothing overly controversial here, if you’re the sort of person who’s reading this blog there’s a pretty good chance you’ve read all or most of these already. But just in case, I’m the kind of guy that likes to be safe, you know? Why 8, you ask? Well, don’t you know? 8’s a lucky number. So here goes, in no particular order.
· Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny
Really, I mean the whole series of 5. It’s an amazingly imaginative series, I guess you’d call it fantasy because it has fantastic elements rather than science. But don’t think you’re getting elves and trolls and thee’s and thou’s. It creates a new world view of infinite alternate realities with a privileged few politicking and battling over the one true reality. The series is inspiring, Zelazny followed it up with a second series of 5, which was also good and well worth a read, but mostly because the world he built is so fascinating that you really want to go back.
You’ve read this already, right? If Neuromancer was the book that brought cyberpunk as a genre into people’s minds (it wasn’t the first, but it was certainly the break through), Snow Crash ended it. After Neuromancer you could barely walk into the sci fi section without tripping over cyberpunk books, I know because I read most of them. Then Snowcrash hit the scene, synthesized all the threads that were running through the genre and re-imagined them in such a way that, apparently, there was no point in continuing, you just couldn’t top it. This book brings forth a stunning number of ideas on technology and society with such clever writing that you don’t feel preached too, as you do in many sci fi writings. This is definitely my favourite sci-fi.
Here we step into an underworld dimension layered right on top of ours, well, ours if we lived in London. Great writing, wonderful plot and characters and a world that is just so cool. Really, I love all of Neil’s books (I admit it, I’m one of those people) but this one keeps coming to the top of my list, if you haven’t read his work yet, definitely give it a try.
Here’s a long running series of books that brings magic, assassins and swashbuckling joy to a few hours of your life, everytime you pick up the book. It’s a long running series, although the books in it tend to skip around chronologically. I’ve been reading these since my high school days and they’re still great. Occassionally his marxism creeps in a bit too much (I’m looking at you Teckla) and there was a slow period (around Orca) but this is just a world of great fun.
· Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
The book that is perpetually rumored to be being made into a movie. Read this book, I don’t know how to describe it… I guess you could call it military science fiction, but don’t go thinking you’re getting David Drake. In the future it pits the brightest and most promising children against each other in a mildly lord of the flies like competition to rise to the top of a military training regimen. All this because of an impending war with an implaccable alien foe. None of that, though, describes what the book is like. I don’t know how to sum it up, just read the book if you haven’t. I liked the trilogy, but the second two books have really very little to do with Ender’s Game. And Card’s most recent foray into a true sequel to the books are decent, fun to read, but lack any insight or originality that the first had.
· A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K LeGuin
Another book that works with a young student, but instead of being in future military academy, he’s in fantasy magic academy. I know you’re thinking Harry Potter, but this is much darker and more sophisticated. It’s an introspective book that was butchered by the Sci-fi channel’s miniseries. There were two sequels to it that were great, but not on the same level as this one. This book also passed the wife test - read an thoroughly enjoyed by a non-sf/f reader.
· Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
This book isn’t quite like the others. I guess this might fall into the “magic realism” camp, although I’m not sure why that’s different. I guess it’s hoity toity speak for book critics who can’t wrap their heads around the fact that sci-fi or fantasy can actually be good writing. Anyhow, this book and a Wild Sheep Chase were my introduction to Murakami (and easily remain as my favourite of his books). This one definitely defies explanation so I won’t even try.
· Sleeping in Flame, Jonathan Carroll
Another “magic realist”, he’s pretty prolific, I think this is probably my favourite of his books. You start out in the regular world but slowly things start to layer on top of that that just aren’t quite right. His work is parts “literature”, parts fantasy and parts horror and well worth your time.
I’m probably dating myself with this selection of books, but what can I say. They are all great books and they’ve withstood the test of time. Some I’ve re-read more recently than others, but I’ve read them all multiple times and found them just as enjoyable. Many other books that I read and really enjoyed, when I picked up some years later just didn’t hold up.
