'Clean' Sci Fi, Fantasy, or Classic Recommendations

[Pilgrim86]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Narnia does have a lot of Christian symbolism in it. It's very religious.

Surely does, but syncretism always contains some good... the man's fascination with the occult, mixed with his religious convictions, makes me disinterested.

[arjaybe]

Aren't there any American Christian organisations with recommended book lists? You'd think they'd be safe.

[Calenorn]

You know, the wizards are always evil in all those Conan stories.

[Pilgrim86]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Aren't there any American Christian organisations with recommended book lists? You'd think they'd be safe.

Well, yea, I can obtain book reading lists from various sources. However, there lists are largely going to be comprised of theology books, or fictional tales which are designed to send a certain evangelical or apologetic nature. These works have their place, but, I am well read in theological works and know where to go for reading in that area, and I figure fictional tales don't have to be overtly written from a Christian vantage point for them to be enjoyable...
I am looking for quality (from a Christian perspective or not) that is simply not offensive. Charles Dickens comes to mind, maybe some of his stuff I could read. Hoping though for Sci Fi or Fantasy. Thanks.

[Pilgrim86]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

You know, the wizards are always evil in all those Conan stories.

Really?

[Calenorn]

Absolutely. R. E. Howard also wrote about a witch-hunting pilgrim called Solomon Kane.

It's all very dark and violent, though.

[hildea]

I can't remember reading any books with magic which portray it in a bad light, so my recommendations will have to be non-magical.

I thought of a few more:

Naomi Novik: Temeraire (a series of eight or ten books or so). Napoleonic war with dragons. The dragons are sentient, but treated as something between slaves and valued servants, so in addition to war drama there's a lot of plot around human rights for dragons

Ellen Kushner: The Tremontaine books, starting with Swordspoint. Feels a bit like Three Musketeers - duels and intrigues and politics and love.
Um, nope, I checked this, and there's some sex. The sex isn't explicit, though. If you like, you can check this scene and let us know if that's something you're OK with, or if you'd prefer to avoid it.

Spoiler:

Alec breathed out in a feathery sigh as Richard sought out his pleasure, always careful not to startle him with anything sudden or unexpected. Sometimes finding it was like stalking prey, or coaxing a wild creature to his hand. Alec stopped speaking, let his eyelids fall thin over his bright eyes, and Richard felt his body coursing fluid like water, as though he held the power of a river in his arms.

[JSWolf]

I can also recommend the Hyperion Series by Dan Simmons.

Hyperion
1. Hyperion (1989)
2. The Fall of Hyperion (1990)
3. Endymion (1996)
4. The Rise of Endymion (1997)

Also, I'll recommend The Princess bride by William Goldman.

And another series is His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.


His Dark Materials
0.5. Once Upon a Time in the North (2008)
0.6. The Collectors (2015)
1. The Golden Compass (1995)
2. The Subtle Knife (1997)
3. The Amber Spyglass (1999)
3.5. Lyra's Oxford (2003)
3.75. Serpentine (2020)

[DiapDealer]

Wow! You're really struggling with meeting the criteria here, aren't you?

[Dazrin]

Jon's just trolling at this point.

Small Gods? Yeah, not for this request.
His Dark Materials for someone requesting Christian aligned books? Uh huh, right.
From what I've seen of the Wayfarers series that's also not a good fit (although I haven't read it.)

[crossi]

The Deryni series by Kurtz. They do use magic but it's more like a inherited psychic ability of one race. The spells they use use a lot of Christian symbolism and some of the practitioners are priests.

RiddleMaster of Hed by Patricia McKillip. Sort of magic but not spells or witchcraft.

Hero and the Crown By Robin Mckinley

Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon

A wrinkle in time by Madelaine L'Engle

James White Hospital Station books.

Any by James Schmitz

Crystal Singer and The Ship Who Sang by McCaffrey.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Jon's just trolling at this point.

Small Gods? Yeah, not for this request.
His Dark Materials for someone requesting Christian aligned books? Uh huh, right.
From what I've seen of the Wayfarers series that's also not a good fit (although I haven't read it.)

I don't get the big deal about Small Gods. Discworld is an excellent series.

As for Wayfarers, I've read the first two books and it does fit. No sex, no magic, good characters.

His Dark Materials is a stretch, but I think overall it can fit.

Besides, Narnia was mentioned and it's not a good fit.

[drofgnal]

Another one to mention is the Wizard of Earthsea series by Ursala Le Guin. I've not read all of it but the first book was 'clean'.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't get the big deal about Small Gods. Discworld is an excellent series.

As for Wayfarers, I've read the first two books and it does fit. No sex, no magic, good characters.

His Dark Materials is a stretch, but I think overall it can fit.

Besides, Narnia was mentioned and it's not a good fit.

Becky Chambers definitely has sex in it - one scene in particular was in public. It was painted as a cultural ritual, but it was there nonetheless.

As to whoever said Ann Leckie above, I would think she would fit the bill quite nicely. No magic or sex there, but a really fun space trilogy.

[fathead]

John Scalzi: anything (yes, I'm a fan) - minimal sex, no magic, possibly swearies?
Daniel Abraham: Dagger and the Coin series - minimal sex, some magic but only by the baddies so that's ok then.
James SA Corey: The Expanse series - no magic, didn't notice much sex.
Jack Campbell: The Lost Fleet series - squeaky clean military sci-fi, good fun but be prepared to skim through a LOT of meticulously detailed space battles!