Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature Wishlist

[Techno-Druid]

Anyone have a list of science-fantasy or fantasy novels they eventually plan to read?

1. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
3. Metro Series by Dmitry Glukhovsky
4. Fut.ure by Dmitry Glukhovsky
5. Dark Tower Series by Stephen King

[Roship]

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is hands down the best fantasy series ever written. I'd suggest checking it out.

[Puupi]

Frank Herbert's Dune and Dan Simmons' Hyperion are on my current to-do list.

[Deleted]

I just read the gunslinger from the dark tower series, it is awful, one of the worst books I have ever read.

I would honestly remove that series and add Malazan - book of the fallen.

I mean I am going to read the rest but because I told a mate I would and need to at least seem like I am giving it a go before I throw it in the bin

[Techno-Druid]

I just read the gunslinger from the dark tower series, it is awful, one of the worst books I have ever read.

Really? I thought the Dark Tower was Stephen King's magnum opus.

[Ryme]

I've finally sated my desire for epic fantasy, for those who are looking to start, here's my all time list:

1) The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (Unfinished) - without question the best fantasy writer to grace this plane in some time, even if he is a bit of a dick in real life.
2) Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - the nicest Fantasy writer, his books in the Cosmere are essentially an epic written through distinct epics.
3) Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch
4) The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson - widely viewed to be his best work, I just disagree
5) Lightbringer series by Brent Weeds (Unfinished)

[Saladbar]

I thought Dark Tower was OK. I enjoyed the first few books, but didn't care for the last few. I don't regret reading the series, but I won't ever reread them.

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I've finally sated my desire for epic fantasy, for those who are looking to start, here's my all time list:

1) The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (Unfinished) - without question the best fantasy writer to grace this plane in some time, even if he is a bit of a dick in real life.
2) Lightbringer by Brandon Sanderson - the nicest Fantasy writer, his books in the Cosmere are essentially an epic written through distinct epics.
3) Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch
4) The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson - widely viewed to be his best work, I just disagree
5) Lightbringer series by Brent Weeds (Unfinished)

I've become a fan of Brent Weeks. Liked the Night Angel series, and can't wait for the next Lightbringer book. I was looking at Kingkiller Chronicles just yesterday. I told my wife I refused the read the 2nd book until he wrote the 3rd (assuming it's a trilogy). I'm not convinced he will ever finish. It's been 11 years since The Name of the Wind, and 7 since The Wise Man's Fear.

[Ryme]

I've become a fan of Brent Weeks. Liked the Night Angel series, and can't wait for the next Lightbringer book. I was looking at Kingkiller Chronicles just yesterday. I told my wife I refused the read the 2nd book until he wrote the 3rd (assuming it's a trilogy). I'm not convinced he will ever finish. It's been 11 years since The Name of the Wind, and 7 since The Wise Man's Fear.

I'm so excited for the conclusion of Lightbringer too, hopefully just a few more months!

For Kingkiller I will say that, unless you're the sort of person who cannot bear unfinished stories, it's still worth reading; The Name of the Wind is an absolute triumph of fantasy writing.

[Deleted]

Really? I thought the Dark Tower was Stephen King's magnum opus.

Yeah, just looked over at my GoodReads buddyread thread and this is the very slimmed down reasoning

The character isn't likeable, he is repetitive in his writing style, there is a lot of filler in the book and it is only 250 pages, the ending is really poor and the 10 page explanation of the DT was explained in a 30 second Men in Black scene.

If this was the first king book I read and I had no outside influence (my mates) I would not read any more King, it made me think of Mcdonalds - they sell they most burgers in the world but they are nowhere near the best.

when I have explained this to people, a couple have not took it well and seem to mistake the gunslinger for the dark tower series others have said he wrote this book when he was young and published it later but this isn't an excuse, is he going to release books he originally wrote in crayon?

as things stand, I am reading the first 3 books (1 down) of the 'expanded read' then deciding what to do, the expanded read includes books like the stand which, as far as I can tell, basically give characters in the next DT books background stories.

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I agree with the stormlight archive, the third book is just dire, I had to put it down and I wanted to like it so much after reading 3k pages

[Daedius]

More Discworld books...

RIP Terry Pratchett... I miss you.

[BloodyAngel12]

The Scarlet Gospels - Clive Barker
Midian Unmade - Clive Barker
Southern Reach Trilogy - Jeff Vandermeer
Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror - Steve Alten

[Endus]

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is hands down the best fantasy series ever written. I'd suggest checking it out.

Argh, no. There's some good bits in there, but there's a metric fuckton of absolute garbage, too.

I'm not going to tell anyone "don't read it", it's not aggressively stupid in the same sense that the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind is. But bear in mind the following;
1> Jordan pretends to be unique by renaming things pointlessly. He doesn't have "ogres". He has "ogier". No golems, gholams. The demonic big bad isn't Satan, it's Shaitan (which is Arabic for "Satan", so it's not even a unique renaming).
2> He can't write women. At all. Nearly every female character acts nearly exactly the same. There will be much stamping of feet, pouting, and tugging of braids in anger/frustration.
3> Hope you're ready for the fanservice "the hero gets not one girlfriend, not two girlfriends, but three girlfriends. Who all sit down and decide he's so awesome that they can share him." nonsense.
4> Sometimes, nothing happens, for pages and pages. There's one entire novel where basically nothing actually happens.

There's still good stuff in there. But most of the gems come out with secondary characters, and it can be a bit of a slog to get through. Certainly not the "best fantasy series ever written", and not something I'd suggest for a newcomer to fantasy either, just because I'd be worried it'll turn them off.

And understand that I really wanted to love this series. When I went backpacking through Europe, the first 5 or 6 novels were the reading material I packed with me. The first few are reasonably okay, but things start to stall out around Book 4 or 5. I've heard Sanderson capped it off well, but I haven't honestly gone back to finish it, and I can't laud Jordan for Sanderson's finale anyway.


I tend to read a lot, so I don't really have much of a list of stuff I want to get around to, but my suggestions to folks looking to for something to read in fantasy are as follows;

1> Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. It's not done, but it's REALLY good, and if Rothfuss sticks the landing, will probably lead the pack for ages.
2> Gentlemen Bastards Sequence by Scott Lynch. Less heroic fantasy, and more a couple of con-men in a fantasy setting, but think more "Oceans Eleven" than petty nonsense. Amazing writing, characters, and world-building.
3> Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. If you're interested in modern fantasy, this is the series to start with. Often imitated, but still the best. They start good but get way better.
4> If you're new to fantasy, David Eddings is a fun entry point. The first two series, the Belgariad and the Mallorean, are probably his best-known, and the most standard heroic fantasy. I'm a bigger fan of his next two, the Elenium and the Tamuli. The first two are 5-book series, the latter are two trilogies.