Fantasy and SF Recommendations: Stand-Alone Books

[ants]

A few in the Urban Fantasy genre:

Sunshine - Robin McKinley - Story about a war-ravaged future where a young girl slowly comes to terms with her own powers and family past, as she is thrust into the vampire side of life. One of the best characterisations seen, with the main character dealing with this stuff realistically for once - with a good dose of humour. Bloody wish she would write a sequel.

Bareback - Kit Whitfield - A modern world where everyone are werewolves, with a few exceptions called barebacks. A really gritty but enthralling tale that combines a mystery set against a backdrop of discrimination and poverty, and the desire to love. Really good.

Enchantment Emporium - Tanya Huff - Although the similarities between this and her Keeper series are large, that's a series while this is a one off. Frankly hilarious book set around a very ecentric family, with the main mystery being about what happenned to the central character's grand mother. A great example of Huff's work. strike that - there is now a sequel.

Other:

Thief with no Shadow - Emily Gee - A nice little book which is fundamentally a romance I suppose, but set in a fantasy world (although not heavy on this). Very good characterization, really draws you in. Lot of funny moments. If you want something not as fluffy as most romances with a fantasy/historical bent, its worth an afternoon.

The Thief - Megan Whalen Turner - quite short book that follows the adventures on a theif who is pulled out of the king's dungeon to help a quest. Short, to the point, good fun. Very nice story.

[Bronson]

The Lost Continent by C. J. Cutcliff Hyne written in 1900. It was the first fantasy novel about the fabled Kingdom of Atlantis. It's a very good read and in terms of style and story its very modern. It could just as well have been written today as opposed to 1900. :)

[Planetary]

I would like to recommend two standalone Iain Banks SF novels that are not part of Culture series/universe.

Algebraist by Iain Banks is a great stand-alone SF space opera, not part of Culture, that I had rarely seen recommended. It takes a while to get started, but once it starts, its pretty amazing romp through the galaxy.. The villain character is a bit caricaturely over the top, but taken as a whole pretty amazing book, universe,concepts and execution, up there with the best of of his Culture books in scale/wow factor.

Against the Dark Background is set on a single solar system in the middle of the empty pocket of space, such as that nearest stars are millions of light years away, thus making life stuck in a single system for ages.. The book starts with a bang and has a great pace, but kind of wimpers down towards the end, and most people agree that ending is kind of left to be desired, and it suffers from Banks typical "over the top villain" syndrome. But overall its a good change of pace from your typical Culture novel.

Against A Dark Background was #$%ing art. If anyone ever claims that genre fiction is not literature, or SF is somehow a grade below because it's genre fiction, show them this book and let them eat their words.

First of all, it's an amazing book. Second, the prose absolutely shimmers. It's rare, even in high lit circles, to find a novelist with the kind of mastery of language Banks has.

And third...the dialogue, the wit, the sly little nods to the reader...wow. I can still remember the absolute hilariousness of King Tard the Seventeenth... Lord of Despite, Seventy-fourth of the Useless Kings, Lord Protector and Master of Pharpech, its Dominions, Citizens, Lower Classes, Animals and Women, Prime Detester of God The Infernal Wizard, Exchequer of the Mean and Guardian of the Imperial Charter.

I mean, come on! Brilliant.

Any SF fan who does not check out this book is really missing out. I can say a million things about how stylistically fantastic it was, or how absolutely hilarious it was in parts, but most of all it's epic space opera.

[FallenAng3l]

Shadows On The Moon by Zoe Marriott. It's a really awesome fantasy book, providing a unique view of the main character's thoughts and feelings, especially when her mind and heart long to do opposite things. There's an unexpected twist at the end. It also strongly emphasises on Japanese culture and traditions.

[peterbound]

The Madness Season by Friedman. Hot shit, this books has fucking vampires vs. aliens. How can you not like that?

[namtose]

But also read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susannah Clarke -set during the Napoleonic Wars it concerns the revival of English magic and is one of my favourite books, it creates a huge backstory and well thought out world of magic and mixes it with the norms of that period of English society and features various historical figures like the Duke of Wellington and Lord Byron

I found this book to be utterly amazing. Clarke's developement and 'history' of the rebirth of magic in 19th centuray England is amazing. This book is not for everyone but to the historically minded it's a great read.

I'd like to add one of the great classics of SF, A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller. First published in 1960 (and never out of publication since) it's the story of the rebirth of civilization after an apocalypic nuclear war. the monks of the Albertian order of Leibowitz attempt to guide the process of rebirth over a 1,000 years. Truely a masterpiece of science fiction writing.

[TyrionWhoreSlayer]

The Hungry City Chronicles, or the Mortal Cities Quartet, by Phillip Reeve. I guess it's steam punk, but it is fairly good. Basically about a world where cities devour each other, as well as the rebel forces which refuse the tractor cities, choosing to take to the air. Interesting series.

[Lan the Clever]

The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin- One of the best books I ever read. It tells the story of two worlds separated by ideology. When a scientist goes visit the other world, he learns all the differences and similarities between his world and the one he's visiting.

[Ylva]

Ursula K LeGuin The Left Hand of Darkness - LeGuin's brilliant SciFi novel featuring our preconceptions of gender, and what this does to the way we interact, think of people and how difficult it is when gender as we know it doesn't apply. Very clever and beautifully written, plus on top of this a very entertaining novel with a solid plot.

I LOVE The Left Hand of Darkness. Not only because the story is great and the way she plays with gender preconceptions, but also because her prose is absolutely beautiful! Also, I love the title.

Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere. An unsuspecting office-worker saves a young girl and stumbles into a parallel world underneath of London. Driven by the wish to go home, but he is also fascinated by the Lady Door.

Not only is Neil Gaiman a great storyteller (as the recommendations for some of his other books in this thread show), but I also love the way he plays with language (Knight's Bridge --> Night's Bridge).

[Watson]

'Subterfuge in Heart' by Tobias Troy

A boy is born into a strange and surreal existence. He cannot comprehend his own name, whether he hears it or sees it, and he finds himself able to travel to other worlds in his dreams. As he grows up and attempts to better understand why his life is so bizarre, he meets David, a boy with an extraorindary ability to manipulate the flow of space and time. Crushed by his own unrealistic desire to better David, our nameless protagonist will stop at no length to become the better man... even if it means going face to face with his creator.

It explores the fruitlessness of attempting to achieve perfection, and the weaknesses of the human condition. For an indie author's first published piece, Troy has done extremely well for himself.

[russjass]

I strongly recommend Snare by Katharine Kerr,

it is a sci-fi novel, with a very different feel to her Deverry series, set in the far future. It is well written, with engaging characters and a simple plot that keeps you interested.

[Sabby]

So far this list has a lot of serious books. I thought I'd add some that I found funny.

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold A mystery of who stole the shipment of reproductive material from a males-only planet.

Uncharted Territory by Connie Willis Panetary surveyors causing trouble.

Good Omens has been suggested all over. I agree. If you haven't read it, do it.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline I'm not sure if this book is supposed to be funny, but I did giggle through most of it. The characters are playing a big videogame and making money doing it. And the references were hilarious.

[Catastrophy]

Weaveworld by Clive Barker.

Although Clive Barker is known mostly for his horror stories, this book is categorized as Dark fantasy. It is the book about Magic and Fairy-tail world meeting modern day world (world of '80s). I have read it as teenage and it was first fantasy novel I have ever read.

From Wiki: The novel revolves around the world of the Fugue, a magical world which lies woven within a rug.Many decades ago the Seerkind (creatures of magical abilities) decided to hide themselves through a spell or "Rapture" in a safe haven after being hunted down and eradicated by humans for centuries (with humans most commonly depicting them as demons and fairies in their mythological tales) as well as being decimated by a destructive being known as The Scourge.

"...You do get the impression in Weaveworld that the Seerkind fornicate, fart - they're very far from pure. That makes them more entertaining and obscures the artificial division between the morally pure and the heroic on one side, and the completely damned, blasphemous and unholy on the other..."

[Catastrophy]

Planet of Exile by Ursula LeGuin.

What can I say of this novel but Winter is coming.

The story is set on Werel, the third planet of the Gamma Draconis system. The planet has an orbital period of 60 Earth years, and is approaching its correspondingly long winter.

[RedEyedGhost]

All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Shakurazaka: Earth has been invaded by seemingly mindless creatures called Mimics that are eating soil and shitting out poison - ecoforming our planet for what will follow. Keiji Kiriya dies in his first battle with the Mimics, but wakes up 30 hours prior to his death only to relive it again. This book takes all the awesomeness of Groundhog Day mixes in what great stuff there was in Starship Troopers the movie and creates one hell of an amazing ride.

[deadphoenix]

Just read these two and can recommend both:

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman - SF novel about a modern day MIT research assistant who accidentally creates a time machine that travels exponentially 12x every time it is used. A very easy read with interesting concepts of what future years might look like.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - This one is actually pretty old and probably well read by people on this forum already. It is about a criminal named Shadow who ends up working for, and encountering, many gods of ancient and modern mythology. I think HBO is also developing a show based on this book as well due to the success of GoT.

[peterbound]

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - This one is actually pretty old and probably well read by people on this forum already. It is about a criminal named Shadow who ends up working for, and encountering, many gods of ancient and modern mythology. I think HBO is also developing a show based on this book as well due to the success of GoT.

Not a stand alone.

[SkynJay]

Bah. American Gods is a stand alone. Anasi Boys has one common character, and both can be read without any knowledge of the other book.

[peterbound]

Bah. American Gods is a stand alone. Anasi Boys has one common character, and both can be read without any knowledge of the other book.

Same could be said for some disc world novels, should they be stand alone?

[RhymesWithChic]

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. It’s one of those fully-realized, original fantasy worlds that completely pulls you in. His more recent The City and the City is less fantastical but an equally great choice (in fact I liked it even better than Perdido Street).

Seconding everyone who recommended Neil Gaiman, in particular American Gods and his Terry Pratchett collaboration Good Omens, which ranks as one of my top-3 favorite novels of all time.