Must read Science Fiction/Fantasy books?

[Axolotl]

Well it's certainly good to see such a large response. There's a few I've alreay read, Neuromancer (I've avoided the sequels on the advice of a friend), American Gods (are his other works as good?), Lovecraft (to date I've bought 6 books of his including two seperate books that claimed to contain all his works) and The Once and Future King (which I gave up on because of how depressing it got).

There's a few others I've heard of and have been looking for like Snow Crash. Others I'll look into like Heinlein (the Starship Troopers movie deterred me from his work but I'll look more into it). A note on A Game of Thrones, the main rason I don't like long multi-book series is fear of the author dieing and being left with an unfinished work, I was trying to avoid buying it but I needed something to read on a plane home from Canada the other day, and while I like the book it isn't my normal cup of tea as far as fantasy goes.

 

[alzwded]

Oh, I see Vernor Vinge's 'A Fire Upon the Deep' hasn't been mentioned. The thing which makes that book bad ass are the aliens which take the form of A PACK OF WOLVES! No kidding, the aliens are packs of wolves. As in one alien is a pack of wolves. It's nice when it's described how they reproduce. I mean it's not as easy as mummy-pack-of-wolves and daddy-pack-of-wolves talk a lot, have a romantic dinner and sleep together. Worth checking if only for the wolf aliens (the Tines).

 

[Nvv]

I guess i'l say it first, if it counts... H.P Lovecraft has a brilliant selection of Sci-Fi Fantasy. You should just buy the commerative edition which includes a ton of his stories, its called The Necronomicon.

I got that! I greatly recommend it for people curious of H.P Lovecraft's works and fans as well.

EDIT: As for original topic. I don't really have anything to add, everything I can think of has already been recommended.

 

[spookydom]

The Dark Tower Books By Stephen King
The Dune Books by Frank Herbert
World War Z by Max Brooks
Legend by David Gemmell
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller.Jr
The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfee
The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Magician by Raymond E. Feist
The Elric books by Micheal Moorcock

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton yet:

 

[psycoturkey]

Keep at the Song of Ice and Fire series, and you are a made man =)

That series is so good and keeps getting better.

 

[blankedboy]

If you haven't read the Ender Saga, do so.
Also, the Pendragon series is awesome, but it might be hard to find a copy... Amazon should help you out there.

 

[Burningsok]

The Dresden Files series is an absolute must for a fantasy reader. I'll let the picture do the talking:

Dang! How did I forget that? Love the Dresden Files!

Although the picture is wrong, he was riding on its back, not its head. The book is fairly clear on that.

Yeah, but continuity vs awesomeness, I let awesomeness excuse it.

Dresden reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughter House Five. It's a great story that is a bit confusing at times, but if you pay attention well enough it shouldn't be to hard to follow.

Oh and don't forget about Ray Bradbury.

 

[Alakaizer]

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling (The Nightrunner series)

This was good, but I'd recommend starting with the Tamir triad first(The Bone Doll's Twin, Hidden Warrior, and The Oracle's Queen). Then the Nightrunner series answers a couple of questions the Tamir series brings up.

Another author I really enjoyed was Robin Hobb. Start with Assassin's Apprentice and go from there.

I have to throw in an anti-vote for the Wheel of Time series. I was a fan a decade ago, but after the fifth book the series took a nosedive in quality, and has become nearly unreadable for me.

Final note, try to not hate the idea of reading series. A lot of the food stuff can't be pinned down into one book, and for the really good ones, it's worth picking up the next installment.

 

[Aquilla]

Another vote for Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series - even as stand alone books they're fantastic.
Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen by Garth Nix are an amazing trilogy of fantasy work, even if they're aimed at a younger audience, as is his Keys to the Kingdom series.
Anything by David Gemmell - his work doesn't often have sequals, but a lot of the books take place in the same world, so the more you read the more indepth it becomes, again, all of these are fantastic stand alone books.

 

[KRbertsproduck5]

Deltora Quest is a so so fantasy series. Its like Lord of the Rings but incredibly short. Halo Fall of Reach, Rise of the Flood, and Ghost of Onyx are really good si fi books. Skip over First Strike and Contact Harvest. First Strike is pretty much an anti halo game plot device and Contact is boring.

 

[AgesMcCoor]

Ender's Game is a great book even if Orson Scott Card is a douche

 

[lomylithruldor]

No one here will know off it but i couldn't reccomend this author more:

Bernard Werber, the best sci fi author to have come out of france period (cue anti french jokes). Seriously, the guy not only writes like a god but the themes of his books are just mind blowing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Werber for a bio

I particularly reccomend the Thanotaunautes series, it follows a team of scientists trying to pierce the mysteries of the afterlife in the first book, and as the series progresses....
Well let's just say the main character goes from being a human to an angel in the afterlife to being a student god participating in a rl version of civilization All whilst on a quest to find out what lies beyond the next mystery and "who made us?". The ending will make you :O

I've read all the Thanatonauts' books, but being a french canadian, it may not be that surprising. These are really good books.

American Gods (are his other works as good?),

Yeah, they are. I think that Anansi boys is better than American Gods, but both are really good. Good Omens, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is also pretty good.

Others mentioned Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. Those are really good books, so I think they should be mentioned again.

You talked about buying Dune. Go get that.

I, Robot from Asimov just to cleanse your memory of the horrible movie and replace it with a really good book of short stories centered about a main theme.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

David Edding's The Belgariad.

One of the best fantasy series I've ever read.

I too really enjoyed that series. Fantastic from beginning to end.

OT: For science fiction (I've probably been ninja'd 200 times) try reading the Dune series, by Frank Herbert. I just started and it is quite an engrossing read. I read Man Of Two Worlds by the same guy and thought it was good as well.

There is another book, I'll have to find it and post it here under edit, about an interstellar thief that I found pretty well done. I'll post it here if I remember or chance upon it.

Fantasy, well obviously what Hub suggested. The Harry Potter books aren't terrible but they are overrated. The Dark Sword Trilogy is pretty good.

 

[Wolfram23]

Hello everyone. I'm currently in the mood to read more Sci-Fi and Fantasy to try and become more of a fan of the genre. Now I've already read a decent ammount but I'm looking to get a handle on the classic and sort of "must-read" books of the genre.

For Science Fiction I'm fairly unfamilar with what to get, I've read Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Chrysalids and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep other than that all Ive read have been tie-in books (Red Dwarf, Warhammer 40k)and turn of the centuary affairs like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. So any help here would be apprciated. I've bought and am planning to read Dune and Ringword before anyone suggests them. I'm mainly looking for the sort of all time classics here.

With Fantasy I'm a bit more knowledgeable having read Tolkein, Pratchett and Moorcock as well as books by other notable writers. I'm also mid way through reading The Dark Tower, Princess of Mars and A Game of Thrones. I'm always looking out for things from the old greats (Leiber, Howard, Vance) but they're hard to find, so here I'm looking for modern greats. Just note I dislike multi-book series in general, I'll read them but I dislike the idea.

If you've read this far then thank you, I look forward to seeing what people suggest.

I loved Princess of Mars!! And the sequel too, Gods of Mars was great (and what a cliffhanger ending!) You say you read HG Wells, did you read The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau? Those were really good IMO, and actually fairly short.

I know it's not sci-fi, or even really fantasy, but Captain Blood is a fan-fricken-tastic pirate book (Rafael Sabatini).

Anyway, for a little more modern stuff, Apocalypse Troll is a really interesting book about AI vs humans and time travel.

I hear Metro 2033 is a great book. I loved the game, so that's one I'm looking to pick up.

 

[oktalist]

Isaac Asimov - Foundation
Boris & Arkady Strugastky - Roadside Picnic

 

[Nouw]

Starship Troopers.

It practically began Space Marines

 

[lokun489]

most things by peirs anthony are brilliant but the later in his carrer the more sex

 

[TylerC]

Also, Metro 2033 is a great book, although it is more post-apocalyptic fiction than sci-fi.

This. And I'm looking forward to Metro 2034, but I don't believe it's been translated into English yet.

I have over 25 Star Wars books, so you could say I like those. I really enjoyed the Thrawn Trilogy and The Hand of Thrawn series by Timothy Zahn.

 

[2fish]

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling (The Nightrunner series)

This was good, but I'd recommend starting with the Tamir triad first(The Bone Doll's Twin, Hidden Warrior, and The Oracle's Queen). Then the Nightrunner series answers a couple of questions the Tamir series brings up.

Another author I really enjoyed was Robin Hobb. Start with Assassin's Apprentice and go from there.

Yay someone else knows that Tamir exists!

However I must now declare war on you for The assassin's apprentice being listed here. The story was fun, but the main character made me want to vomit. It seemed too much like he just happened to do what was needed rather than actually doing it of free will. I dragged myself through the book and couldn't read the next. He was the kinda guy who would trip and while falling hit the button that launched the death ray at the bad guys.