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NPR: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books

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D

DrM

Redmond's Baby
Dresden said:
Also, Mieville has fallen off somewhat... Kraken was miserable, and I hear that Embassytown falls apart later on. Not good.
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He needs to revive Bas-Lag.
 
P

Piecake

Member
Brimstone said:
How is this ahead of David Eddings the Belgariad at #41?
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That any good? I got about 30 pages in before I lost interest. It seemed like a typical hero's journey fantasy series that I am completely bored of. Am I mistaken?
 
A

Aselith

Member
Alpha-Bromega said:
okay now everyone seriously, Once and Future King is the best fantasy novel ever and we all agree right!!?!!!?!!!?!!!!!!!!!? All this other stuff is fun but no Wort
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I am with you!

I always thought it was funny that there was quote for ASoFaI that said Martin was the "American Tolkien" because his novels are so much more akin to T.H. White's work and really nothing like the Tolkien stuff. Maybe it was just a snappier quote. The Dark Tower stuff, the Goodkind stuff (I only read the first book so I may be a bit wrong there.) A lot of the books that most people consider the best in the genre owe much more to White than to Tolkien. It should be in the top tier absolutely.


The_Technomancer said:
I've never read it actually, I've got it on order at the local library as a result of this thread.

If I had to come up with what I thought of as my favorite fantasy book/series...even more then Lord of the Rings, even more then The Long Price Quartet....I'd have to go with the City Watch cycle of Discworld. The character of Samuel Vimes and his evolution over seven books is unmatched for me, in addition to the fantastic writing for all the other characters and storylines.
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I think you're going to love it. It's a LONG book but if you liked the Disney version, I think you're going to love the darker-toned and very excellent father version.
 
B

Brimstone

my reputation is Shadowruined
Gonaria said:
That any good? I got about 30 pages in before I lost interest. It seemed like a typical hero's journey fantasy series that I am completely bored of. Am I mistaken?
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It is simple fantasy. I happen to like the storytelling style of David Eddings. His books were very popular appearing on the New York Times best seller list.
 
M

mavs

Member
Gonaria said:
That any good? I got about 30 pages in before I lost interest. It seemed like a typical hero's journey fantasy series that I am completely bored of. Am I mistaken?
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Nope. It would be depressing to see it as high as it is if it weren't for all the truly shitty books on this list.
 
M

More Fun To Compute

Member
Gonaria said:
That any good? I got about 30 pages in before I lost interest. It seemed like a typical hero's journey fantasy series that I am completely bored of. Am I mistaken?
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They are more entry level books but I think that they are good natured and well crafted if not embarrassingly sentimental. Considering some of the trash they compete directly against they are actually pretty amazing.
 
M

mclem

Member
I'm trying to work out why Small Gods and Going Postal specifically. Small Gods is a bit leftfield - I didn't find it very funny when younger, but it's probably one of the most thoughtful Discworld novels. Going Postal? I like it enough, but it seems a bit of an oddball choice. Personally, I'd probably have gone for a Watch one.
 
Z

Zabojnik

Member
If nothing else, this list reminds me that I should finally order Absolute Sandman (and American Gods) by Neil Gaiman. I could never be bothered to get into superhero / american comics, but then I read Watchmen and found it to be fucking amazing. And Sandman is usually the second thing that people in the know recommend me, so ... Ordering right now, unless anyone has an objection. :)

EDIT: Damn, two volumes ... and not cheap at all.

EDIT2: Fuuuck, it's five volumes!!
 
D

dude

dude
ctrl+f "The left ha..."

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
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I leave happy.

If I disregard the order, this is a good list.

EDIT: Hold the fucking phone here. Where's goddamn Earthsea.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
wiggins022 said:
A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin > Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card any day of the damn week.
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Yep.

I'd put it at one if I could, though behind LotR is understandable. Five seems a bit low.

Also, Hyperion and Book of the New Sun should be way higher, while Wheel of Time should be waaay lower.
 
M

mike23

Member
Gonaria said:
That any good? I got about 30 pages in before I lost interest. It seemed like a typical hero's journey fantasy series that I am completely bored of. Am I mistaken?
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I thought it was ok, but the main thing that bugged me was the author's, I don't know, skittishness with the magic system? 90% of the time when something happened I was thinking "Use your fucking magic, idiot!" The author avoided magic at almost all costs through the series.

It was drawn out quite a lot too. Could probably have been much shorter. And you're completely right, it is mostly cookie cutter.
 
Y

Yagharek

Member
Two observations:
Asimov way too low down; Foundation should be the highest Sci fi entry at least.
Secondly, disappointed that Gibsons Sprawl Trilogy isn't listed, only Neuromancer.

Other than that, no complaints. David Brin's Earth would have been nice to see there though.
 
M

Max

I am not Max
Currently I'm reading Neuromancer, and what's on the back-burner from that list are Wizard of Earthsea, The Dispossessed, The Clash of Kings, Hyperion, and Red Mars. And yet there is still so much left that I'm interested in just on this one list ; ;
 
M

Mumei

Member
Zabojnik said:
If nothing else, this list reminds me that I should finally order Absolute Sandman (and American Gods) by Neil Gaiman. I could never be bothered to get into superhero / american comics, but then I read Watchmen and found it to be fucking amazing. And Sandman is usually the second thing that people in the know recommend me, so ... Ordering right now, unless anyone has an objection. :)

EDIT: Damn, two volumes ... and not cheap at all.

EDIT2: Fuuuck, it's five volumes!!
Click to expand...

The main story is four volumes; if you look closer you will see that the fifth volume isn't even out yet. The upcoming fifth volume will have Sandman: Endless Nights (seven stories about each of the Endless) and Sandman: Dream Hunters in two forms (as prose with art by Yoshitaka Amano and a comic version. Those are both side-stories that exist in the same universe / share some characters but are not a part of the story arcs covered in the original 75-issue run.

And I picked up Sandman over the course of six months. I adore it. The only potential snag is that occasionally Amazon doesn't ship it in the best possible way (this white clamshell-ish packaging that protects it and doesn't let it shift around), and I've had to return it. Amazon's been great about that, though - they've sent a new copy free of charge and give thirty days to mail it back, and then reimburse the cost of shipping.
 
T

Truth101

Banned
Just finished reading all the A Song of Fire and Ice books, after seeing how hyped they are. I have to say I was quite disappointed, they were not that great.

Malazan Book of The Fallen should definitely be higher up on the list, an incredible series.
 
D

dead souls

Member
Truth101 said:
Just finished reading all the A Song of Fire and Ice books, after seeing how hyped they are. I have to say I was quite disappointed, they were not that great.

Malazan Book of The Fallen should definitely be higher up on the list, an incredible series.
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I gave up after the second Malazan book, I found them borderline unreadable.

The first 3 ASOIAF books are great, but the last two have been extremely disappointing.
 
Z

ZephyrFate

Banned
Truth101 said:
Just finished reading all the A Song of Fire and Ice books, after seeing how hyped they are. I have to say I was quite disappointed, they were not that great.

Malazan Book of The Fallen should definitely be higher up on the list, an incredible series.
Click to expand...
I find this strange as I read all ten Malazan books and they are honestly pretty bad.
 
S

Salazar

Member
Dresden said:
Malazan is definitely a love it or hate it kinda series.
It sucks.
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You have no manly spirit/persistence/nobility/taste/brain/humane insight/sense of humour/moral clarity.
 
C

Clevinger

Member
ZephyrFate said:
I find this strange as I read all ten Malazan books and they are honestly pretty bad.
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Why the hell would you read 10 bad books in a series, let alone 10 bad books that are gigantic?
 
Z

ZephyrFate

Banned
Dresden said:
Malazan is definitely a love it or hate it kinda series.
It sucks.
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There's cool world design in place. But heaven help you if you try to find any characters you actually like that don't disappear for books on end then come back for some arbitrary rea-- DBZ POWER LEVELS EVERYONE HAS THE POWER OF A GOD

Clevinger: In the hopes that it would get better. And so I'd have more argumentative weight behind my statement that it's a pretty mediocre series.
 
N

Nerevar

they call me "Man Gravy".
wow @ Wheel of Time. I'm sure I'm not the first to say but, just, wow. Couldn't make it past book whatever (Winter's heart or whatever?) Just a series that totally lost itself.

Also laughing at "dune chronicles". I can't be the only person who loved the first Dune but couldn't stand the later books. I distinctly remember comparing the latter Matrix movies to the latter Dune books at some point, not favorably.
 
Z

ZephyrFate

Banned
Nerevar said:
wow @ Wheel of Time. I'm sure I'm not the first to say but, just, wow. Couldn't make it past book whatever (Winter's heart or whatever?) Just a series that totally lost itself.

Also laughing at "dune chronicles". I can't be the only person who loved the first Dune but couldn't stand the later books. I distinctly remember comparing the latter Matrix movies to the latter Dune books at some point, not favorably.
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You aren't, but the later books are arguably way, way better.

Are you sure you aren't confusing them with Frank's son's shitpiles?
 
K

Kilgore Trout

Member
Nerevar said:
Also laughing at "dune chronicles". I can't be the only person who loved the first Dune but couldn't stand the later books. I distinctly remember comparing the latter Matrix movies to the latter Dune books at some point, not favorably.
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I'm with you there. Dune is perfectly enjoyable as a standalone book and I treat it as such.
 
B

billy beane

Banned
So I think I'm going to bookmark this thread for reference as I've only read 1 and 1/3 books on this list. (Watchmen, and the first Lord of the Rings)
 
M

marrec

Banned
Kilgore Trout said:
I do believe the omission of Good Omens is disappointing. And they also missed the best Vonnegut. (Sirens of Titan)
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They also missed your best book, Venus on the Half-Shell.
 
H

harrytang

Member
OuterWorldVoice said:
Not nearly enough iain banks love in this thread. For shame, GAF.
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so true. only ian M. banks books though, im not reading that wasp factory shit. way to dark for me. Excession ftw. i love talking ships.
 
JeTmAn81

JeTmAn81

Member
Going to start filling in my gaps for that list. Got Once and Future King from the library and now listening to Brave New World on audiobook (read by Michael York!) at work.
 
B

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Be prepared for a grueling but ultimately very rewarding read. Don't try to memorize the names.
 
N

nitewulf

Member
Zabojnik said:
If nothing else, this list reminds me that I should finally order Absolute Sandman (and American Gods) by Neil Gaiman. I could never be bothered to get into superhero / american comics, but then I read Watchmen and found it to be fucking amazing. And Sandman is usually the second thing that people in the know recommend me, so ... Ordering right now, unless anyone has an objection. :)

EDIT: Damn, two volumes ... and not cheap at all.

EDIT2: Fuuuck, it's five volumes!!
Click to expand...
you need only buy the first 4, that's the series proper. volume 5 is just DC cashing in with extra stories, you can buy the regular version of "Dreamhunters" seperately for the gorgeous Amano artwork, but I wouldn't pay $60+ for volume 5. Volume 1 - 4 though, are absolute works of art.

and glad to see so many China Mieville fans here. I love his Bas Lag novels. King Rat is brilliant as well. But he fell off somewhat with his recent stuff. The atmosphere in The City and The City was great, but the plot was way too simple.
 
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