12-31-2014, 12:09 PM | #16 |
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The Belgarian and Mallorean seried by David Eddings.
RiddleMaster by Patricia McKillip. Demon Breed by James Schmitz. Honor Harrington series by David Weber. If you don't dislike military SF. The Vorkosigan series by Lois Bujold. The Uplift War by David Brin. The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. They all have likeable characters. Last edited by crossi; 12-31-2014 at 12:17 PM. |
12-31-2014, 02:59 PM | #17 |
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It sounds like Andre Norton is right up your alley. Interesting and likeable outsider characters, large conflicts and the fundamental questions of life are what she does best.
Her Witch World series is either sci-fi or fantasy depending on which books you're reading, which I thought was neat. I think you'd especially like the first part of the Estcarp Cycle, the Gryphon trilogy and Year of the Unicorn. Estcarp Cycle: Witch World (1963) Web of the Witch World (1964) Three Against the Witch World (1965) Year of the Unicorn (1965) The Crystal Gryphon (1972) – first book of Gryphon trilogy Gryphon in Glory (1981) – second book of Gryphon trilogy Gryphon's Eyrie (1984), with A. C. Crispin – third book of Gryphon trilogy She also did an excellent sci-fi series called Time Traders about humans who discover time travel technology and an alien invasion. The first few books are out of copyright on Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7021 The Time Traders Galactic Derelict The Defiant Agents Key Out of Time Firehand The Deed of Paksennarion is also a great series. The heroine is a genuinely good woman who rises from a farm girl to - well - you'll see. I loved the thoughtful and intelligent worldbuilding and how very real everything felt - the aliens were truly alien, even different human cultures were distinctive, and the series slowly builds up to kingdom-level conflict in a way that felt very natural. There's other series set in the same world which were also excellent. Baen has the ebooks, including the omnibus, DRM-free. Another one you might like is Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series. It's narrated by a human living in an empire of aliens, and it's a fascinating read. It's got magic and elves, but it's very much got the feel of science fiction because magic is very much simply another technology. The main character doesn't start out likeable, and part of the point of the series is him coming to terms with this and beginning to change. Last edited by Rbneader; 12-31-2014 at 03:08 PM. |
12-31-2014, 03:21 PM | #18 |
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I would say The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson and the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie.
For hard sci-fi, if you haven't read them yet, take a look at Red Mars / Green Mars / Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson |
12-31-2014, 03:24 PM | #19 | |
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12-31-2014, 04:58 PM | #20 |
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There are the books Labrynth and The Dark Crystal. They were written based on the movies (I think). And What of the Princess Bride?
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12-31-2014, 05:25 PM | #21 | |
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12-31-2014, 06:52 PM | #22 |
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12-31-2014, 06:59 PM | #23 |
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12-31-2014, 10:46 PM | #24 |
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The Vorkosigan books are excellent. I didn't suggest them earlier because I wouldn't consider them to have particularly big concepts. And for some reason I thought you were looking for fantasy, but I was probably thinking of a different thread.
GGK is one of my favourite authors (top 5) and The Fionavar Tapestry is where it all starts. It does something unexpected in the second book, which had a big impact on me and the way I thought about fantasy and writing in general. It's essential reading before at least one more recent novel. |
12-31-2014, 11:13 PM | #25 | |
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I'd skip the ones before Miles Vorkosigan is born (badly done relationships, torture/rape, just not good). Also skip the last one, it wasn't good enough to disguise the fact that her characters are often cardboard cutouts. Here are the ones I'd read, taking the political and social commentary with a huge grain of salt: The Warrior's Apprentice The Vor Game The Mountains of Mourning - all the above three are action Cetaganda - detective Brothers in Arms - action Memory - detective Komarr - detective A Civil Campaign - hilarious social comedy Diplomatic Immunity - detective novel Cryoburn - detective I'd characterize Bujold as a high midlister author for when I want to not think. She's not innovative or interested in deep questions but she's generally a good bet for entertainment so long as you don't mind her prejudices. Much like David Drake, David Weber or Jon Scalzi. |
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01-01-2015, 08:13 AM | #26 |
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What kind of prejudices are we talking about? Also I'm 32, so I'm not really worried about suitability for younger audiences.
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01-01-2015, 08:23 AM | #27 | |
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And I completely disagree with the assessment of the first two books (Shards of Honor and Barrayar). I found them excellent. |
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01-01-2015, 08:47 AM | #28 |
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01-02-2015, 01:55 PM | #29 |
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Maybe Perdido Street Station, The Scar or Embassytown by China Mieville would work for you? I would definitely say they fit the "big concepts" qualification.
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01-05-2015, 02:00 PM | #30 |
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Any other ideas?
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