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Top 25 Best Fantasy Books ?

#61
i_got_a_mohawk said:
True that, Douglas Adams was a truly special character.
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A one-off. Sadly missed here.

I loved his own description of the first Dirk Gently book as "a thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic".

That still makes me laugh to this day. Typical Adams, you could never tell when he was bragging or when he was sending himself up.
 
#63
Somone mentioned C S Lewis - anybody like the Cosmic Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet/Perelandra/That Hideous Strength)? I really enjoyed the first one and all three are beautifully written, but the allegory in the second and third is laid on with a flippin' trowel.
 
#64
aborgman said:
They seem pretty much fantasy by the normal definition to me -
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Yeah, well, they're obviously not hyper-realistic. But I tend to think of "fantasy" as more of the sword and sorcery stuff.

There's not a lot of magic or supernatural stuff in the first Dirk Gently book (unless you call time travel supernatural, but in the context of the story I don't think that was the intention). Oh, and there's the ghost of Gordon Way. :D

The second book does have more supernatural stuff in it, based on Norse mythology.

The third book never got finished, unfortunately. What there is of it is very funny. I'm sad that I'll never get to read the rest of it.
 
#65
bassybill said:
Somone mentioned C S Lewis - anybody like the Cosmic Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet/Perelandra/That Hideous Strength)? I really enjoyed the first one and all three are beautifully written, but the allegory in the second and third is laid on with a flippin' trowel.
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I read the Cosmic Trilogy. They weren't my favorite. I like my older Sci-Fi more along the lines of Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. I know what you mean about the allegory. Tolkien didn't like allegory and that was an ongoing disupte between him and Lewis. I think I agree with Tolkien.
Have you read "Until We Have Faces" by Lewis?
 
#66
Haven't read that one.

You say "classic" sci-fi - do you like obvious choices like Verne and Wells? How about John Wyndham? E E Doc Smith? All brilliant, if in very different ways.

I love anything by Clarke. I prefer Asimov's short stories to his longer works. Have you read the anthology "Nightfall", named for one of his best short stories?
 
#67
bassybill said:
Haven't read that one.

You say "classic" sci-fi - do you like obvious choices like Verne and Wells? How about John Wyndham? E E Doc Smith? All brilliant, if in very different ways.

I love anything by Clarke. I prefer Asimov's short stories to his longer works. Have you read the anthology "Nightfall", named for one of his best short stories?
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Haven't read the nightfall anthology yet. I like Asimov's robot series but I did get bored with the Foundation series. I grew up reading Verne and Wells. Read every book by them I could lay my hands on. I liked Doc Smith's "Lensman" series when I was a kid. I tried to re-read them as an adult and remember thinking "Yeesh what a right wing jerk." I couldn't be through the fist book.
I'm not familiar with John Wyndham. I also used to read a lot of Robert Siverberg but that was later.
 
#69
slobake said:
Haven't read the nightfall anthology yet. I like Asimov's robot series but I did get bored with the Foundation series. I grew up reading Verne and Wells. Read every book by them I could lay my hands on. I liked Doc Smith's "Lensman" series when I was a kid. I tried to re-read them as an adult and remember thinking "Yeesh what a right wing jerk." I couldn't be through the fist book.
I'm not familiar with John Wyndham. I also used to read a lot of Robert Siverberg but that was later.
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slobake - you absolutely one million per cent HAVE to read some John Wyndham. No sci-fi fan's reading is complete wiithout dipping in there. Try "The Kraken Wakes" to start you off.

EDIT - I just found out that this story was published as "Out Of The Deeps" in the US. You have a PM.
 
#73
bassybill said:
If Terry Pratchett's Discworld could be considered for inclusion,then how about Douglas Adams' HHGG? Just curious. I'm a huge fan of both.




A one-off. Sadly missed here.

I loved his own description of the first Dirk Gently book as "a thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic".

That still makes me laugh to this day. Typical Adams, you could never tell when he was bragging or when he was sending himself up.
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His Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series is one of my most favorite reads. Not sure how to classify it, though. It isn't really science fiction. I guess comedic space fantasy might apply.
 
#76
...and Don't Panic

I'm still working my way through the hitchhiker novels (i think I'm on the fourth book in the trilogy), but I love them. I also have the british miniseries, which is pretty low budget, but still pretty great and I've watched it several times. I'd love to get ahold of the old radio show too, so if anyone has a link, please post it.

There's a fine line between fantasy and sci fi, but most people I've met who are fans are fans of both. I personally loved fantasy books when I was a kid, but only got into sci fi in my mid twenties (bout 12 years ago now). I really do prefer works like those of Arthur C. Clarke, where the extrapolations of science take centre stage, rather than the characters, but I guess that's what they call "hard sf". I think it was bassybill who mentioned above that he tends to think of fantasy more swords and sorcery type stuff and I kind of think along the same lines. I tend to think of anything that involves space travel, aliens, or time travel as sci fi. Ultimately, it's just semantics/classification systems though, and I'm generally happy to nerd out on either genre.
 
#80
Webtroll said:
Not sure where the hatred of Game of Thrones is coming from, maybe because it's been successful? I suppose it's all opinion based as I've seen things suggested I regretted reading.
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I happen to love Game of Thrones & the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but for readers looking for typical "good guy/bad guy" characters and/or happy endings, look elsewhere.
 

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