What was the last great sci-fi/fantasy novel you read?

[Questionor]

I can understand that, but I actually read quite a bit of fantasy...which does not always follow those rules. It is sometimes book 1 of this and book 4 of that. Sci-fi does a lot more of the stand alone story. Now that doesn't mean fantasy cannot be a stand alone novel, and I have read many of them. But there are a lot of series out there.

many fantasy writers want to be the next tolkien and write epics.
There are a lot of loosely tied fantasy series though also.
You are definitely right though that Sci-fi does a lot more stand alone story than multiparts.
Seems more sci-fi writers want to make the next star trek than the next star wars.

[Matt Wilson]

Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams was a pretty fun read. "singularity and sword."

Just finished Against the Tide of Years, sequel to Island in the Sea of Time, by SM Stirling. Island of Nantucket is inexplicably thrown back to approximately 1200 BCE. Good times are had by all.

I also enjoyed his novels The Sky People and In the Courts of the Crimson Kings. If you like Barsoom-style pulpy sci fi, check these two out. Eppy, you might dig these, I daresay.

Forced myself to finish Game of Thrones, but that's as far as I think I'll go with that series.

[stormsweeper]

Right now I am reading Pohl's The Planet Merchants.

I think you mean The Space Merchants. Great book.

[staceyinastoria]

I can understand that, but I actually read quite a bit of fantasy...which does not always follow those rules. It is sometimes book 1 of this and book 4 of that. Sci-fi does a lot more of the stand alone story. Now that doesn't mean fantasy cannot be a stand alone novel, and I have read many of them. But there are a lot of series out there.

many fantasy writers want to be the next tolkien and write epics.
There are a lot of loosely tied fantasy series though also.
You are definitely right though that Sci-fi does a lot more stand alone story than multiparts.
Seems more sci-fi writers want to make the next star trek than the next star wars.

Very true. I personally am tired of everyone trying to be the next Tolkien. And even moreso of publishers pushing that line. The reason I struggle with sci-fi sometimes it is more about the science, whereas fantasy is more about the people and the journey. This is my opinion, and yes I know not all sci-fi can be dumped in that. But I have read enough of it in my bookclub to feel like sci-fi can be that way.

[Eppy]

I also enjoyed his novels The Sky People and In the Courts of the Crimson Kings. If you like Barsoom-style pulpy sci fi, check these two out. Eppy, you might dig these, I daresay.

I rather enjoyed the album.

[dorje]

I don't read much SF, but I just finished Ender's Game. I wasn't crazy about it at the start, because it felt so Old Testament, but a few late plot twists made me change my mind. I thought it was a very good read in the end.

I remember reading Starship Troopers in college and detesting it because I found it so shallow. Ender's Game seems to fix everything I hated about Starship Troopers. It's not philosophical (although I get the feeling that the next book in the series, Speaker for the Dead, is), but it is thoughtful, and I thought it explored the consequences of its violent sequences much more fully than Starship Troopers, which was more like YEEHAW LETS KILL US A BUNCH OF BUGS.

I don't know if this is a widely held opinion, but I thought the Ender books after the first took a very serious downturn. As in I wish I hadn't read them, Highlander 2 downturns... Maybe others here can confirm or deny.

[phredd]

Dorje, you are not wrong.

[IngredientX]

I don't know if this is a widely held opinion, but I thought the Ender books after the first took a very serious downturn. As in I wish I hadn't read them, Highlander 2 downturns... Maybe others here can confirm or deny.

I can appreciate that. Two of my friends recommend Speaker for the Dead, but nothing afterwards. One of my friends says that Card wrote Ender's Game in a very open-minded time of his life, and has spent the rest of his career trying to un-write the book.

I know of Card's political views, so I was surprised at how much empathy he gave Ender. But that's probably a discussion for another thread; I wouldn't be surprised if it's already happened on these here Nerd boards.

[phredd]

So, I finished Kraken last night, and the way the story ends makes me look down on Neil Gaimen and American Gods with even less respect. Mieville pwns him.

[TanRu]

Do you need to have read other Mieville to read Kraken?