Entertaining sci-fi and fantasy

[notjosh]

Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat

Was going to recommend this as well after reading it recently. Like a Donald Westlake story in an Isaac Asimov universe, lots of fun. Going to grab the sequels when I see them.

[13 schoolyards]

From what I remember from reading them as a teen, there's two periods of Stainless Steel Rat books - the first couple (which were great), and then I think Harrison came back to the characters years (decades?) later and those ones weren't as good.

Harrison's Bill the Galactic Hero was a great read as well - it wasn't until years later I realised he was making fun of pretty much everyone else in the Golden Age of Science Fiction

[Alberon]

The Stainless Steel Rat series up to 'for President' is fine, and the prequel series is okay. Do not touch anything after that though.

[13 schoolyards]

If you like your entertaining sci-fi with pictures, the 2000AD adaptations of three of the early Stainless Steel Rat books are pretty entertaining, though if you want a physical copy it's not as cheap as it used to be: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9781906735517&n=100121503&cm_sp=mbc-_-ISBN-_-used

[earl_sleek]

I liked all of them up to and including Snuff, which was the last one I read and where Pratchett's deterioration was actually noticeable to me, but I really enjoyed Unseen Academicals, as minor as it was. Thud was probably the last of the second Peak Pratchett era though (first peak being Reaper Man to Hogfather, and second being Fifth Elephant to Thud!).

God, I want to stab Alzheimer's disease in the dick.

Yep, Snuff is fine and works well as the last Vimes book. Raising Steam on the other hand - it hurt to read it. Probably the only truly awful Discworld novel (the first two or three are a bit slight but succeed in doing what they aim to, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed them m on a re-read a few years ago), it doesn't even feel like Pratchett. Fortunately while The Shepherd's Crown is far from his best either, it's OK.

On topic, I like Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books and find they're often a fun read, but it's another one where it can be hard to know where to start - Mistborn (formerly titled The Final Empire) is probably the best, then if you like it carry on with the rest of the first Mistborn trilogy. Wouldn't recommend Elantris as the first to read even though it's the earliest set so far and the first published as is a little janky. Warbreaker could also be a good start, and it's a prequel of sorts to the Stormlight Archive books, which I think work better when you have some understanding of the wider setting.

[earl_sleek]

Oh, and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books - following a wizard private investigator's cases in Chicago - are snappy, twist-filled page turners. If the idea of hardboiled detective meets urban fantasy appeals to you then they're worth a try.

[Mister Six]

Harrison's Bill the Galactic Hero was a great read as well - it wasn't until years later I realised he was making fun of pretty much everyone else in the Golden Age of Science Fiction

I got Bill the Galactic Hero from (IIRC) a Scholastic book club, thinking it would be a bit of HHGG-type silliness, and wasn't at all prepared for a dark and cynical depiction of a naive kid becoming a hardened war veteran. The ending

Spoiler alert

where he doesn't even recognise his mother when he returns to his home planet, then takes away her other son to war really bummed me out.

[close]

I'd probably appreciate it more as an adult.

[touchingcloth]

Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake trilogy is dead good. Especially if you like freaky humanoids with massive wangers.

[Alberon]

China Mieville's fiction has been really good, especially Perdido Street Station, The Scar and The City and the City. After a couple of non-fiction books about communism he seems to be back to fiction again so it'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.

And his new novel seems to be based on the work of Keanu Reeves?!?

Canadian actor Keanu Reeves will publish his first novel this year in collaboration with British author China Miéville.

Their joint novel is titled The Book of Elsewhere and is set in the world of the BRZRKR comic book series created by Reeves, first published in 2021. It follows an immortal warrior on a millennia-long journey to understand his immortality.

The novel is due to be published on 23 July by Penguin. Reeves, who is best known for his roles in The Matrix and John Wick franchises, said it was "extraordinary" to work with Miéville. "China did exactly what I was hoping for – he came in with a clear architecture for the story and how he wanted to play with the world of BRZRKR, a world that I love so much. I was thrilled with his vision and feel honoured to be a part of this collaborative process."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/10/keanu-reeves-and-china-mieville-to-release-collaborative-novel-the-book-of-elsewhere

[13 schoolyards]

Having read a couple of BRZRKR comics, I'm not entirely sure why Reeves bothers - they mostly seem to be the usual tales of a guy who's excellent at killing but who its a really bad idea to hire / get close to. He also looks exactly like Keanu Reeves.

I guess he's immortal so they can be set anywhere in time (and the current lot seem to be in more fantasy-style settings), but if he's looking for his next movie project you'd think he could just buy one of the many similar stories from off the shelf rather than go to all this trouble.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I've read more Brandon Sanderson than I should have and generally I would say he's not very entertaining. There's good stuff in there but you do need to wade through him explaining how magic works. It's like reading a design document for a video game. The last Stormlight book was mostly just someone doing boring science experiments. Exhausting. The first two Stormlight books were good though.

It's been mentioned in the other thread I think but Christopher Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief is really entertaining. Fast moving, full of ideas, a great narrator.

[touchingcloth]

Has anyone ever read the comics written by him from off of Coheed & Cambria? I really like the band, but I'm not really a lyrics persons and so I'm only vaguely aware of what the apparent arc through stuff is, and I'm not aware of whether his comics are considered decent or not.

Coheed & Cambria as a band are entertaining sci-fi, if that's not verboten to say in Shelf Abuse. Shelf Abuse abuse.

[Neville Chamberlain]

And his new novel seems to be based on the work of Keanu Reeves?!?



https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/10/keanu-reeves-and-china-mieville-to-release-collaborative-novel-the-book-of-elsewhere

As an avid reader of the novels (and non-fiction) of China Miéville, I'm not sure how I feel about this. The only comics I've ever read are Asterix, Tintin, Beano and Viz.

[ASFTSN]

In terms of sci-fi/fantasy that has actually made me laugh:

Bob Shaw - Who Goes Here
Jack Vance - The Eyes of the Overworld/Cugel's Saga (and everything else, but this is the funniest)

[horse_renoir]

If you can handle some cyberpunk I heartily recommend Jeff Noons books - maybe start with 'Vurt'

If you want a fantastic space-opera Arkady Martine's 'A memory called Empire' is one of the best scifi books I've ever read, and the only thing for me that has ever come close to The Culture series in terms of world building.

[Schlippy]

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge is an absolute rollercoaster, stuffed full of mad ideas and rattles along at a fine pace, not so much a page-turner as a slave driver.

Blindsight by Peter Watts is metaphysical horror masquerading as a hard sci-fi first contact story. Lots of diversions into psychology and evolutionary biology and the nature of consciousness, lovely stuff.

[Milo]

For science fiction the Expanse books do the same job.

I enjoyed the tv show of these and have started reading the first book. Really is entertaining writing, thanks for the rec!

[bgmnts]

Are those Gor books worth a read just out of ghoulish curiosity? I've read that they're quite rancid, but they sound intriguing.

[Imperator Helvetica]

To answer the OP - for entertaining scifi and fantasy beyond what has been recommended already:

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - about a thief and conartist in a world like fantasy rennaissance Venice. No orcs or goblins, just people being people in a lush world. The audiobook is very good.

Another one with a great audiobook is Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke - set in an Austen era world where magic and faeries were a known quantity, but magic as a study has faded into a dry historical subject. Until the emergence of Mr Norrell - a paractical magician, and his pupil Jonathan Strange. It has shades of an academic text, with footnotes and references and is a delight to read.The audiobook is my gold standard for audiobook production.

She also wrote Piranesei which has a far more Gormenghast theme.

If you like cyberpunk then Jason Pargin's Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is an entertaining read - though it has the pessimistic assumption that humanity will devote far more time and energy to improving the lives of the 1% and working out how to put animated porn ads on your burrito packaging than feeding and housing the needy.

If you like Iain Banks and Claire North then you might enjoy The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (No, not that one.) but it's more Iain Banks than Iain M. Banks - time manipulation and body thieves and general weirdness.

If you like Aaronovitch's Rivers of London books then check out Paul Cornell's London Falling series. It's a similar Urban fantasy/Police Procedural idea but darker and grittier - Cracker compared to the Bill.

I've just started Dune by Frank Herbert and it's been pretty compelling and moves at a brisk pace if that counts as a recommendation.

[Senior Baiano]

though it has the pessimistic assumptionacknowledges the proven fact that humanity will devote far more time and energy to improving the lives of the 1% and working out how to put animated porn ads on your burrito packaging than feeding and housing the needy.