So this post is kind of two in one.
Fantasy: I'm actually looking for older fantasy works. I read a lot of modern fantasy stuff (so past 20-30 years). What are some non-Tolkien seminal fantasy works that any fantasy enthusiast should read? LotR and The Hobbit are already on my list. In terms of my tastes, I'm usually more of a middle-grade fantasy reader or an epic fantasy reader. There's no real in-between for me. So I'm usually either reading shorter books (300ish pages) or long books (700ish page door stops).
Some of my favorite series:
- The Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan
- Brandon Mull's works
- The Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville
- Green Rider series by Kristen Britain
- Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger
- Harry Potter (don't come @ me over JKR and her views, it was just one of my favorites growing up)
- The OG Dragonlance series before it became a massive, sprawling universe with tons of different writers in the space
- I enjoyed The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth but haven't reread in some years
- Warriors (Warrior cats) by Erin Hunter
- World Whisperer series by Rachel Ford
- The Crone Wars by Lydia M Hawke
Sci-fi: I'm not actually a really avid sci-fi fan. When I think sci-fi, I think hard sci-fi full of technobabble that explains BS scientific nonsense. I'm really not into the whole space travel aspect that comes with a lot of sci-fi. However, I know sci-fi isn't all technobabble and space travel. As I'm an epic fantasy reader, I'm 100% okay with long books. So offer me some non-space travel books! They can be classic reads like HG Wells or more modern books.
by Kiki-Y
11 Comments
Dune by Frank Herbert maybe, it’s technically Si-fi but use elements often present in Fantasy stories
For Fantasy I can always recommend Brandon Sanderson’s books. The best start imo would be Mistborn. If you enjoyed that you could check out his other books maybe.
Another suggestion is the Shadow and Bone series. It’s a fast read and the books are on the shorter side.
If you wanna go more classic you could try the Earth Sea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin.
LotR and The Hobbit are my favourites so I would have suggested them if you didn’t mention them 😀
For Sci-Fi I’m myself pretty new to that genre in case of reading. But a fun read would be Ender’s Game.
I recently read The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu which might not be for everyone and I’ve heard mix reviews, but I fairly enjoyed it.
Another good one is Dune by Frank Herbert. I heard some people say it’s like Song of Ice and Fire in Space due to some focus on politics (it should be the other way around tho, so song of ice and fire is dune in a fantasy setting) but if you don’t mind the politic aspect it would be a good pick.
If we’re talking about old and influential fantasy, HP Lovecraft is old enough to be out of copyright and influential enough that he probably can’t be untangled from the genre.
https://arkhamarchivist.com/free-epub-complete-works-lovecraft-nook/
*The Thief of Always* by Clive Barker
*The Books of Swords* by Fred Saberhagen
*The Sandman* by Neil Gaiman
>I’m really not into the whole space travel aspect that comes with a lot of sci-fi.
Here’s some sci fi either without space travel, or without a lot of technobabble.
* We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker. I think this author has an easily readable writing style, and this book is set in the near future so there isn’t any intensive jargon or technobabble. I also recommend [And Then There Were N-1](https://escapepod.org/2018/11/01/escape-pod-652-and-then-there-were-n-one-part-1/), a novella by Sarah Pinsker available free online.
* I personally found Dune very hard to get into. It has a lot of intense made-up vocabulary that is never explained, which the reader is expected to gradually pick up through context clues. Dune is definitely a classic for a reason, though, so I recommend reading it if you can. A similar, slightly easier to read series is The Snow Queen trilogy by Joan D. Vinge.
* Redsight by Meredith Mooring. Sci fi fantasy. The space travel works through magic.
* The Otherland series by Tad Williams. Sci fi written in the style of epic fantasy.
Gormenghast – Meryvn Peake – If someone told me they hated this book, my reply would be, fair, valid. Liking is not a sentiment that I would apply to it. You either find it compelling and have it pop into your head at odd moments for twenty years or you are repelled by it.
For sci-fi, [Pale Grey Dot](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/PaleGreyDot) by Don Miasek. Spycraft and cyberpunk wrapped up in a solar system-wide thriller. You’d probably dig the lack of technobabble, despite it being (mostly) accurate science.
Roger Zelazny. Start with The Chronicles of Amber
Yahtzee Croshaw, funny author with great characters.
Differently Morphus and Existentially Challenged – Governmental agency involved in the regulation of magic and extra dimensional beings.
Mogworld – Main character is undead. Hijinks insue.
The Jacques McKeown series – An unemployed star pilot tries to get by in a universe where transporters are a thing. The first book in the series is Will save the galaxy for food.
The Traveler’s Gate Trilogy by Will Wight. Magic is used by calling energy and creatures from other worlds called territories. People who can draw from their territories are called travelers. The first book in the series is House of Blades.
Check out Andre Norton, she was the Grande Dame of SFF for decades. The vast *Witch World* series, *Catseye*, *Wraiths of Time*, *Breed to Come*, *Dread Companion*, *All Cats Are Grey*, the Five Senses series, the Magic Sequence series.
The Last Unicorn