Favourite Science Fiction/Fantasy books

My son is really into fantasy books. Loved the Belgariad. I find it tricky to find stuff without sex or other adult themes for him to read. Which makes the genre sound awful, I know.

Well, there’s no sex at all in Tolkien. Nor much in The Name of the Wind - which is excellent.

Maybe Lois McMaster Bujold, both her scifi and Five Gods books.

If he liked the Belgariad then perhaps Kate Elliot? There are a lot of them, with endless battle scenes.

Brandon Sanderson is excellent.

Raymond Feist - more battle scenes, not much sex, if any.

Mark Lawrence perhaps, his Prince of Thorns series.

Robin Hobb - I’m not a big fan, but lots of people are.

Barbara Hambly’s Time of the Dark books and the Sun Wolf books. Old school, but she’s a terrific writer.

Joe Abercrombie and Brent Weeks - I can’t remember the sex quotient of those.

Ann Leckie's Ancillary trilogy is some of the best sci-fi I've ever read
NK Jemisin, Becky Chambers, Kage Baker are all good, as are Dana Stabenow's Star Svensdottir books
For urban fantasy, you can't beat Patricia Briggs!

If you like time travelling historians, try Connie Willis. Particularly The Doomsday Book.

For fantasy I love Robin Hobb.

Babysharkdoodoodood very true! Unless I can get a bargain box set he might not get if anyway.

Kage Baker and The Company series - really excellent and on kindle. Love these

Some great books on here.

My son is really into fantasy books. Loved the Belgariad. I find it tricky to find stuff without sex or other adult themes for him to read. Which makes the genre sound awful, I know.

I thought Tad Williams would be ok, until I got to the dubious consent scenes.

He doesn't like teen fantasy books, likes the adult stuff. If anyone can recommend a safe series I would really appreciate it.

Is WofT clean? It's been ages since I read it. Not sure I want to re read it all to check!

PKD often wrote “pulp” novels at speed, to support his 5 ex wives' alimony payments! that's why his novels were sometimes not all they could be.

But no one had the wild whirligig of ideas that he did.
A shedload of SF films emanate from PKD's ideas...

Philip K Dick's short stories. I don't think he was a good enough writer to carry something the length of a novel, but the concepts that he had make for fantastic shorter length pieces.

Anything by Jack McDevitt-Deepsix is probably one of my favourite books.
Saga of the Exiles by Julian May
The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
Oryx And Crake series by Margaret Atwood
Coldfire Trilogy by C.S Friedman
The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman

John Wyndham's The Chrysalids and Midwich Cuckoos, Orwell's 1984, LOVED John Christopher's Death if Grass and the Tripod series.

Just finished The Lies Of Locke Lamora today (Gentleman Bastards book1) and it was a rollicking take. Really fun, highly recommended.

Loved Katherine Arden’s trilogy, Naomi Novik, obviously the mighty Robin Hobb, Becky Chambers.

Do Zombie audible books count? I’ve read a lot of the ones mentioned, and live St Mary’s (there is a new Time Police series started - two books at the moment) but my recent favorite is The Mountain Man audible books, Keith C Blackmore, read by RC Bray (who has a perfect voice for this). Also Zombie Fallout by Mark Tufo ready by Sean Runnette.

I did try Adrian Tchaikovsky but was unable to overcome my atavistic aversion to the subject matter.
🕷️🕸️

Kelley Armstrong is probably my favourite fantasy author (she writes a good thriller too). The weekly chapters of Cursed Luck she did in the early months of lockdown helped me keep going, I'm really looking to the final product coming out.

Current (rather than classic) stuff - YY to Adrian Tchaikovsky - Children of Time & Dogs of war, but I also really enjoyed Cage of Souls (think Heart of Darkness at the end of time).

Rather more marmite, but I'm loving the Ada Palmer Terra Ignota series, first one is Too Like the Lightning, currently waiting for book no. 4.

Did like the Becky Chambers books, particularly the second one A Closed and Common Orbit - again currently waiting for book no. 4 & a bit disappointed it won't be out for Christmas.

I could do with a new series though!

I have just been reading A Natural History of Dragons which I have enjoyed - imagine if Elizabeth Bennett gave up on Mr Darcy and decided to travel the world researching dragons to the scandal of all those around her!

Wait, what? Is for Robert jordan in TV. Is that happening!?

Wait, what?
Also how could I forget Pratchett

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett and Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner

Another WoT fan here, can’t wait for the series. The casting for Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve is so spot on. I love Discworld, THHGTTG and the Red Dwarf books too.

I’ve just started Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, and have just bought Consider Phlebas so glad to see them popping up in other people’s lists

I loved Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (#teamspider!) (and Dogs of War by the same author was also superb) then on the fantasy side, Ken Liu’s short story collections are amazing.

Yes, love St Mary's!

Anything by Philip K Dick
Iain M Banks' the Culture series.
The Ender series by Orson Scott Card
The People by Zenna Henderson
The Uplift books by David Brin
Dune series by Frank Herbert

And I'd put the Discworld books in.

Cast in series by Michelle Sagara
Another vote for PAtrick Rothfuss
Anything by Brandon Sanderson
N K Jensin
Sarah J Maas