Every few months I get invites from my friends to participate in this meme. Perhaps you’ve seen it – it’s a list of 100 books (or series) attributed to various sources, and which of them have you read?
It’s kind of arbritary, but one thing to note is that scifi/fantasy books are more or less left off, with only a few titles that everyone has heard of making the list (things like Harry Potter, Dune, Lord of the Rings…)
So, I ask you, what books would you put on a list of 100 scifi/fantasy books? Aside from the well-known big ones, which gems do you wish more people knew about and would read?
What Would You Put on a List of the 100 Best Scifi/Fantasy Books?
‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss
That one’s been on my To Read list, but it always seems to be checked out from the library when I go looking for it. Some day, book, some day.
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Firebird by Kathy Tyers
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Fortress in the Eye of Time by CJ Cherryh
Wrinkle in Time by Madelaine L’Engle
First Test by Tamora Pierce
Dark Glory War by Michael Stackpole
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith
Graceling by Kristen Cashore
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
The Grimm Legacy by Polly Schulman
Candor by Pam Bachorz
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Old Magic by Marianne Curley
Name of the Wind for sure, and I like a lot of Sarah’s recommedations, Ender’s Game, Eye of the World, Wrinkle in Time. I’d also add
The Scar, by China Mieville
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Assassin’s Apprentice, by Robin Hobb
Accelerando, by Charles Stross
In Viriconium, by M John Harrison
Oooh, interesting choices.
The Last Herald-Mage trilogy, Mercedes Lackey
Memory, Lois McMaster Bujold (any and all Miles, but especially Memory.)
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (everyone knows LOTR. Some ppl think Hobbit less important.)
The Beastmaster, Andre Norton
The Crystal Gryphon, Andre Norton
On Basilisk Station, David Weber
Rimrunners, C.J. Cherryh
Knight Errant, KD Sarge >_>
<_<
The Council Wars (series 4 books), John Ringo
The Empire of Man (series 4 books, John Ringo
If you are including futuristic space books, The Lost Fleet (6 books), Jack Campbell
forgot my all time favorite sci-fi, Merchanter’s Luck, C.J. Cherryh 🙂
Oh, how did /I/ forget that one? Love that book!
Aw, man! Someone else mentioned Knight Errant by KD Sarge before I could. 😉
Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold is awesome, but I’d also include Cordelia’s Honor and A Civil Campaign. Or just the whole Vorkosigan saga.
Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, also by LMB.
…
I know I’ve read more than 2 good scifi/fantasy authors. I’ll be back when I think of more.
The Hyperion / Endymion quadrology (?) by Dan Simmons
Startide Rising by David Brin (actually, all of the Uplift universe books)
I’ve read tons more sci-fi, but nothing else is coming to mind just now.
From my friend Chris on Facebook:
1) Dune – Frank Herbert
2) Foundation (original 3) – Asimov
3) 2001 – Clarke
4) Neuromancer – Gibson
5) Beggars in Spain – Kress
6) The Lord of the Rings – Tolkien
7) The Hobbit – Tolkien
8) Earthsea – Ursula K. LeGuinn
9) The Belgariad – Eddings
House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
The first trilogy from the Kushiel’s Legacy series (haven’t read the rest) – Jacqueline Carey
Banewreaker and Godslayer (The Sundering duology) – Jacqueline Carey (I particularly like these books. Intentionally blatantly similar to LotR and the Silmarillion, emphasizing how good and evil may be a matter of perspective. Extremely intriguing read.)
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
A Song of Ice and Fire series so far – George R. R. Martin
The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk (OK, so it fits SF/F a bit sketchily…but it kinda is and it’s really good!)
And I was going to leave Goodkind off this list because his series got kinda “meh” and preachy after a while and the dude’s kind of a prick, but those first two books, Wizard’s First Rule and Stone of Tears, were just killer.
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