Looking for sci-fi/fantasy recommendations

[OverHaze]

I am through my backlog and looking for some new recommendations. I am yet to find anything to match up to Anathem for me.

Current possibilities are starting out with The Culture, The Vorkosigan Saga, The Mistborn Trilogy. I just finished The Name of the Wind and The Wise Mans Fear. I enjoyed both.

Any suggestions?

Edit: I also have the last three books of the Malazan series but I can't work up any enthusiasm for them. Ericksons love affair with Karsa has ruined that series for me.

[Dngrsone]

I haven't read the Culture series; but I have enjoyed both the Mistborn trilogy and the Vorkosigan saga. I'd go with Mistborn first.

Have you read any C.S. Friedman?

[UKPFC]

Mistborn are good reads. I'd also recommend Robin Hobb The Farseer Trilogy and David Gemmels Lion of Macedon. I just finished Anthony Ryan's Blood song series and loved them.

[OverHaze]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

I haven't read the Culture series; but I have enjoyed both the Mistborn trilogy and the Vorkosigan saga. I'd go with Mistborn first.

Have you read any C.S. Friedman?

I haven't, what would you recommend?

[JwkOKC]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

Current possibilities are starting out with The Culture, The Vorkosigan Saga, The Mistborn Trilogy. I just finished The Name of the Wind and The Wise Mans Fear. I enjoyed both.

Any suggestions?

I just joined here yesterday so had to go through all six pages of this thread to see what others had suggested. I was absolutely stunned to see that nobody had mentioned the Liaden Universe series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller; it combines space opera, civil conflict in several dimensions, and a touch of fantasy in what has come to be my all-time favorite, Currently there are 18 books in print and more promised, not to mention three collections of short pieces that help fill out the backstories.

If Vorkosigan appeals to you, I think you'll like this. Best, I believe, to read them in order of publication; first out was "Agent of Change" and it's in the Baen Free Library last time I looked. The characters change quite a bit over time.

All 18 books bear multiple re-reading, and each time I find things that I missed on earlier trips through...

For more fantasy and less space opera, I like Wen Spencer's Elfhome series. It shares a major concept with 1632, but with some wild twists. Unfortunately there are only four books so far.

The Honorverse has already been mentioned; quality varies widely but lots of the side-threads are tops. The main line seems to be running out of steam, unfortunately.

David Drake's tales of Lt. Leary and the RCN are rollicking good fun but nowhere near as thought-provoking as my other recommendations. And most anything from Baen is worth a look although I've not cared for much of John Ringo's work...

The six volumes of Belisaurus' battle with dark forces, from Drake with Eric Flint, is a bit unique -- part fantasy, part history, and part space-opera via time-travel. I liked it but it's not everyone's meat. Again, the Free Library has a starting point available.

Now I have to go look at some of the suggestions i hadn't heard of previously!

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

Edit: I also have the last three books of the Malazan series but I can't work up any enthusiasm for them. Ericksons love affair with Karsa has ruined that series for me.

If you only have 3 books to go in Malazan, I would finish it out. I really enjoyed them. I just finished reading them (almost in a row) a month or so ago and I can't remember the exact book but Karsa takes a far back seat towards the end so you may be able to get through the last 3 without much of him.

[peterwardgd]

I always liked the slightly more obscure Philip k Dick novels: The game players of Titan and Galactic pot healer.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

I haven't, what would you recommend?

All of them.

Her earliest book I can recall is In Conquest Born, an epic space opera. Seriously, the paperback is dense, but it's not overwhelming, in my opinion. There was a follow up novel set in the same universe called This Alien Shore, but it does not feature the same characters, as I recall, except in passing. I believe The Wilding is also set in this universe...

Then, probably my favorite of the lot, is The Madness Season, a twist on the humans vs. invading aliens trope, which features vampires but not in the 'urban fiction' way which I am pretty intolerant of, personally.

Herr Coldfire trilogy is straight-up fantasy , though it does happen on another planet, colonized by humans in the usual way; another heavy set of books.

Her latest is the recently completed Magister Trilogy, another fantasy which ties magic use to one's lifespan (in other words, every spell costs days, weeks, even months of your life).

... okay, not her latest. Looks like I missed one: Dreamwalker is her latest, published last year... and it seems to be the beginning of another trilogy, and I want to read it right now, but then I will have to wait for the next book, and the one after that...

[OverHaze]

I started book eight of the Malazan series. One of Eriksons tropes that annoys the hell out of me has risen its head yet again; the group of unlikeable character who hate each other (one of whom is tortured by self-loathing) forced into a long journey together.

All we need is a book where Heboric, Udinaas and Nimander get together for a few hundred pages and we can have ourselves a real party!

There are so many things I love about this series but the man just keeps repeating himself.

[kennyc]

Well there's a new Margaret Atwood novel out....that appears to be interesting....
"The Heart goes Last"

http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Goes-Las...sap_bc?ie=UTF8

I've got it on reserve at the library. She rarely disappoints. I loved her Madd Addam trilogy though the last book tried way too hard to tie together all the disparate threads from the earlier books.

[cocopuff]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

I am through my backlog and looking for some new recommendations. I am yet to find anything to match up to Anathem for me.

Current possibilities are starting out with The Culture, The Vorkosigan Saga, The Mistborn Trilogy. I just finished The Name of the Wind and The Wise Mans Fear. I enjoyed both.

Any suggestions?

Edit: I also have the last three books of the Malazan series but I can't work up any enthusiasm for them. Ericksons love affair with Karsa has ruined that series for me.

I just finished the Vorkosigan Saga and loved it. Another series I always recommend is Vlad Taltos by Steven Brust.

[radius]

I think you would enjoy Peter Watts, either his Rifters (https://www.goodreads.com/series/43561-rifters) trilogy(-ish) or Blindsight and its sequel from last year Echopraxia (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22838183-firefall)

The best way to describe Watts is like reading Vinge after getting a punch in the gut.

He leans a bit more literary than Stephenson or Vinge, and I would say does equal or more research to nail the science (every Watts novel I've read so far has been footnoted like a journal paper). He also does more character development than either of them with no less action.

Best of all, his backlist, except for Echopraxia, is available at his website http://www.rifters.com

A lot of people think he writes dystopias or dark stories, but I think he is more extrapolating from current trends and writing about often alienated or even alien perspectives.

[radius]

Now that I think of it, you'd probably like Charles Stross' space opera book too Neptune's Brood, and possibly it's predecessor Saturn's Children. Neptune's Brood is kind of about interstellar banking and bank fraud. It has the kind of nerdy background you'd find in a Stephenson with some of the scope you'd expect in a Vinge.

[OldLincoln]

You can't miss with the "Escape to Earth Series" by Saxon Andrews Book 1 of 5 link here. In fact you can't miss with almost any of his books. Annihilation series, Ashes of the Realm series and all the others are re-readable favorites.

[Dngrsone]

If you like Hard SF, Stephen Euin Cobb is pretty good.