Good Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books?

Hey all! I'm at a loss here. I want to buy my fiance some books for Christmas and sci-fi/fantasy is his fav. I like them too, but I'm a little out of touch, I guess. Can anyone recommend some good ones too me? Here's what I know he's read....

- Dune (whole series)
- Ender's Game (whole series)
- Most anything Forgotten Realms
- Terry Brook's Shannara (whole series)
- Lord of the Rings
- Harry Potter (whole series)
- All of Alan Dean Foster's stuff
- All of Anne McCaffrey

We also have the following which he hasn't read yet:

- Wheel of Time
- Feast for Crows, etc.
- Dresden Files
- Terry Goodkind's series

Thanks in advance!!!! <3

Original Post by santonacci:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Everyone has overlooked Asimov and Clarke.

A curse on all of you.

I was just thinking that as well.

I've also noticed no mention of Robert Heinlein yet - for shame.

Heinlein is awesome.  The Cat Who Walks Through Walls still counts as a fav.  Along with Starship Troopers (so different than the movie).  Also in the vein of military sci-fi is William Dietz' books, particularly his Legion series.

Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber are a must as well.  So amazing.

David Brin and Vernor Vinge for SciFi. Now Vernor Vinge's stuff has a bit more hard science going for it, but it does create a good and interesting universe with interesting characterization.

Do enjoy the Dresden Files. I devoured the series earlier this year in the space of a week. It's just good entertainment.

I loved Heinlein when I was a kid, but after growing up a bit, I'm afraid that I get too hung up on some of his sexism. It's not even that he meant to be sexist, his writing is just indicative of his age and the changing mores when he was writing.

Kurt Vonnegut:  Cat's Cradle.

*leaves a vial of ice-nine in the thread*

You know who is also pretty cool?  P.K. Dick.  I actually quite enjoy his writing style, and you can get one of his short-story collections for an easy read.

And, for fun, don't forget Robert Asprin!  Yes, he writes for juveniles, but he's so witty.  Check out his Myth series.  Piers Anthony is kind of iffy, but if you get the right book, you'll fall in love.  I relished /most/ of his earlier Xanth books.

I kinda concur about the Orson Scott Card thing.  He's so darned political, and I can't agree with everything he says.  However, Enchantment is pure genius, and it ventures into the Fantasy realm if you want to deviate from Sci-Fi a bit. =)

Original Post by dnrothx:

Kurt Vonnegut:  Cat's Cradle.

*leaves a vial of ice-nine in the thread*

With his middle finger pointed to the sky.

David Drake

he has a series out that I cna't remember the name of, along the lines of goodkind/jordan

and also writes a lot of military type fantasy/sci-fi.  I hgihly recommend the NorthWorld trilogy!

ZAHN. Timothy Zahn.

I looooove Zahn's work. He writes lots of Star Wars based fiction which my BF loves, but I've read the following, and loved them all.

• The Icarus Hunt (1999)
• Manta's Gift (2002)
• Dragon and Thief (2003)
• Green and the Gray (2004)
• Night Train to Rigel (2005)

Also love The Tripods trilogy

• The White Mountains (1967)
• The City of Gold and Lead (1967)
• The Pool of Fire (1968)

Loved Marion Zimmer Bradley'

•  The Firebrand (1987)

The Xanth series by Piers Anthony is countless hours of hilarity.

Arthur C. Clarke is another must have.

• Rendezvous with Rama

Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice is just great.

That should be enough for now :D

I thought you were looking for something more modern from your OP, however, if you are looking for classic Sci-Fi, then as others have mentioned, Isaac Asimov is a must - especially the Robots and Foundation series, Arthur C Clarke and Piers Anthony are also worth looking at.

Some classic Fantasy would be Stephen Donaldson, David Eddings or DragonLance (can't remember if this is part of the Forgotten Realms??)

I adore David Webber's Honor Harrington books - space opera at it's best, IMO.  I read through that series so fast when I found them in high school.  I kind of thought the author was trying to make a statement on society in the background of fantastic space battles and psychic six legged cats who love celery.  He's excellent at the space battles, politics, and technology.  He also develops his characters really well - there are several of the 'villains' that I loved as much as the main character.  I thought it was probably the most compelling series I've read, with R.A.'s Dark Elf Trilogy (and following books) as the second.

I see that Terry Prachett and Robert Asprin already have nods, I'd like to throw mine in too.  Disk world rocks (especially the Luggage), and the myth books were entertaining.  

Now if you were to ask me what BAD scifi books to recommend, I could give you lots of them. ;)

Original Post by nasuoni:

Also love The Tripods trilogy

• The White Mountains (1967)
• The City of Gold and Lead (1967)
• The Pool of Fire (1968)

Blech.  Loved it when I was in 4th Grade.  Revisited it a year or two ago and found them quite dull and poorly written and paced.

Original Post by moonikins:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Kurt Vonnegut:  Cat's Cradle.

*leaves a vial of ice-nine in the thread*

With his middle finger pointed to the sky.

 Actually, he thumbed his nose.

satyrswoman, I remember Armor completely blew me away when I read it! I'd forgotten about it. *goes off to Amazon*

Heinlein is an absolute genious some of the time, and absolutely unreadable some of the time. P.K. Dick is always brilliant, and always disturbing.

tincognito, you've brought all the SF geeks out the woodwork!

Original Post by dnrothx:

Original Post by moonikins:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Kurt Vonnegut:  Cat's Cradle.

*leaves a vial of ice-nine in the thread*

With his middle finger pointed to the sky.

 Actually, he thumbed his nose.

 Darn it, I must have remembered what I wanted to remember instead.

I haven't read any sci-fi for quite some time. I took time out to finish the Stephen King Dark Tower Series a couple of years ago. I caught up with my favorite detective series from John Sanford, the Lucas Davenport series last year.

Now that I've been on this thread I want to reread the Foundation Series, Ringworld, and Cat's Cradle.

Calling all sci-fi geeks. - I'm trying to remember the name of a series of books. A group of aliens visit Earth and recruited people to fight their enemies. Earthlings were the best fighters in the universe because our planet had the most violent culture. The other aliens they were fighting used mind control to assimilate all other creatures to their culture. These aliens eventually discovered that if they altered a portion of the humans' brains then they could use their mind control on the humans. Before they did this if they tried to use mind control on the humans it would hurt or kill the creature who tried to use it.

There were at least 5 or 6 books in this series. I last read them when my son was a toddler and I'd love to revisit the series.

Can anyone help?

Original Post by das1988:

"Crown of Stars Series" by American author Alis A. Ramussen, under the pen-name Kate Elliott

This series was very engaging.  The author crafts an extremely believable world by using Historical Parallels in order to craft the different civilizations within.  It also has excellent character development.  The characters continue to develop and change over the course of the entire 7 books, rather than becoming stagnant and predictable.

The series is very original for a fantasy series, at least for the first 5 books.  Indeed it is one of the very few series of which I've read more than 2 before becoming bored.

I think I actually read the first one of these. I believe it had a woman with dogs on the cover. I actually liked it but for some reason dropped it...? Anyway, thanks for reminding me of it!!!

And I appreciate a more specific opinion on Asimov. =)

Original Post by dnrothx:

Kurt Vonnegut:  Cat's Cradle.

*leaves a vial of ice-nine in the thread*

LOL! I luuuuuuurve me some Vonnegut but I can't imagine it's his style. =/ I def. have Cat's Cradle though. And Slaughterhouse Five... Galapagos... Slapstick........ etc.....

Original Post by kazanoodle:

 

And, for fun, don't forget Robert Asprin!  Yes, he writes for juveniles, but he's so witty.  Check out his Myth series.  Piers Anthony is kind of iffy, but if you get the right book, you'll fall in love.  I relished /most/ of his earlier Xanth books.

 

I read this Myth series as a kid and thought it excellent!!! (I think RA Salvatore might write for juveniles... but I haven't cracked open one to check! XD)

I totally forgot about Piers Anthony though...

Original Post by linden:

tincognito, you've brought all the SF geeks out the woodwork!

I know, I'm stoked!!! I'm excited to see that a lot of other women are into them, too. I get really alienated from chicks currently because I'm going to an engineering college with a ratio of only 2 out of every 10 students being female. (And I think 1 out of every 2 girls is a Chinese foreign exchange student.)

So when I hang out with girls from other universities or other places, I'm typically the biggest nerd and I can't relate to them at all. D: So I'm glad I'm not alone!

Rob Thurman's books, Nightlife, Moonshine, and Madhouse.  One of my favorite authors.

A. Lee Martinez: In the Company of Ogres, A Nameless Witch, Gil's All Fright Diner.

Asimov's Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) = Excellent.  Foundation's Edge, too.  Foundation and Earth, Prelude to Foundation...not so much.  Robot series (Caves of Steel, et al.) also enjoyable.

I also liked his Norby books for kids. :D

Arthur C. Clarke:  Stay away from 3001 like the Plague.  Worst book ever, no matter the genre.