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Top 25 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books/Series

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

GENTLEMAN-GUSTAF-FUCK-YEAH

Today’s post is a bit on the light side, but I’ve had a few requests for this, so here goes: my favorite science-fiction and fantasy series. Oh, and there’s actually 26, plus some at the end I haven’t read yet but want to. I’ve only put a brief blurb for each, or this would take 400 pages, but don’t worry, I’ll review most of these in the future. And sorry if I left X series you love off, I’m sure it’s fantastic, but I own too many books to go thoroughly through them all.

Fantasy

  1. Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin
    Game of Thrones is a masterpiece of genre-defying. If you read this in reverse order, you’ll know that I said that most fantasy is derivative of Tolkien to some degree. Well, Game of Thrones is one of the series that doesn’t stand a chance of having that accusation placed. Gritty? Check. Humans only? Sort of. Fantasy almost doesn’t feel like the right genre for Game of Thrones. I think the right genre is medieval politics with a dash of ‘man, life really sucks’.
  2. Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan
    Everything LotR wanted to do: establish a mythos and a history and build a huge world, Robert Jordan has done a hundred fold, and with a better writing style, to boot (although it falters around books 9-11). LotR follows more PoVs than you’ll ever be able to keep track of, names every character and expects you to remember them when they return, and is all-around THE example for all-encompassing world-building. This series is SO EPIC that I made my first post on Fistful of Wits about it.
  3. Stormlight Archives – Brandon Sanderson
    1 book out and it gets my #3 slot. I can’t begin to express how much this book is the beginning of an epic series. The first book is well over a thousand pages, and there are a supposed 9 more coming. So all of you who just got over your epic fantasy addiction when you wrapped up Wheel of Time? Let’s get ready for some more pain and suffering as we wait painstakingly for a series to finish before the author dies.
  4. Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
    Dude. It’s LotR. I only didn’t put this in the #1 spot so I wouldn’t be accused of being old-fashioned and biased. Everything most fantasy series have done since? Copied from LotR. Elves? Dwarves? All given vastly diferent representations in TOlkien than in previous literature, and it influences all fantasy that will follow. World of Warcraft might as well be called ‘World of We-All-Really-Wanted-To-Play-A-LotR-Fanfic’. If you’re reading non-gritty fantasy with non-human races? It probably has Tolkienian influences.
  5. Runelords – David Farland
    I almost put this above LotR. The magic system is a fascinating metaphor for the feudal system, and the series plays very well, until the author either ran out of ideas or decided on a new direction, and it derails a bit (book 4 or 5).
  6. Mistborn – Brandon Sanderson
    Mistborn is a pretty cool trilogy with an extra random book and two more trilogies planned. Basically bad shit has happened to the world, with a tyrant Emperor and maybe a tyrant God, and somebody’s got to overthrow them. As with all Brandon Sanderson, expect a Deus ex Machina ending.
  7. Kingkiller Chronicles – Patrick Rothfuss
    Only two books and I’m hooked. The premise isn’t all that interesting: boy goes off to magician college and becomes the most badassingest boy ever to study magic. The character is one giant Gary Stu who will irritate you consistently, and the world is populated with characters who are made more annoying to make it easy for you to side with him. He’s then given unstoppable obstacles and tricks his way around all of them in a way that is explained away by his being the most connivingest boy ever to connive. His character motivations all go on the backburner constantly, until they come up suddenly and they are EVERYTHING to him. And yet none of that matters because Patrick Rothfuss has a writing style that sucks you in and won’t let go.
  8. Saga of Recluse – L.E. Modesitt Jr.
    Every time I lend the first 4 books of this series to a friend, they come back a week later and say “MORE”. You will get more of the same, unfortunately, as there are really only 3 or 4 plots that L.E. Modesitt uses in this series. His books tend to stress balance, rather than good and evil, and feature interesting combinations of magic and technology.
  9. Codex Alara – Jim Butcher
    I hate Jim Butcher. DESPISE him. I think his pulpy writing style lacks substance, and I always feel like I’ve just wasted time reading his books. And yet I couldn’t help myself with these books. The premise of the series? He contested he could make anything interesting, and the challenge presented was to combine ‘lost legion of Rome’ with ‘Pokemon’. Somehow, he delivers.
  10. Coldfire Trilogy – C.S. Friedman
    Friedman presents an incredible view of a type of magic that is very unique and a history that is very interesting, along with a surprisingly diverse cast of characters. Her views on magic have influenced my own writing more than any other author.
  11. Oath of Empire – Thomas Harlan
    This is your typical ‘ancient Roman epic with magic thrown in for good measure’. If by typical, you mean fantastic.
  12. Night Angel Trilogy – Brent Weeks
    Boy trains to become assassin to get revenge and finds himself part of so much more.
  13. Engineer Trilogy – K.J. Parker
    I’ve only read the first one; the character was a bit of a Gary Stu, and the writing style was occasionally dry, but it showed promise, so I’m putting it on here

Sci-Fi

  1. Deathstalker – Simon R. Green
    I’ve talked at length about Deathstalker, and I think it epitomizes (and parodies) Space Opera to a degree that makes it undeniably the most self-aware science fiction I’ve ever read (something you might miss if you mistake the sheer amount of over-the-top it possess as serious).
  2. Hyperion – Dan Simmons
    Space Opera at its finest, drawing back to historical earth, with Keats as a character. What’s not to like? One of those Sci-Fi novels that says ‘to hell with combat, I want to do exposition and describe a universe’.
  3. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
    It’s hard for me not to put this at #1. When you think ‘boy growing up to save the world, you tend to think Fantasy, but this sci-fi novel takes a much grittier approach, where ‘growing up’ doesn’t mean ‘getting magical powers and learning to fight’, it means ‘learning the hard facts about life’. The series has some stumbles in later books, but the first two books are just straight up fantastic.
  4. The Unincorporated Future – Kollin Brothers
    I see this book less as sci-fi and more of that weird brand of political fiction that Ayn Rand was trying to write when she projectile vomited her objectivist crap out. Except well written. And interesting. And nuanced. And worth reading.
  5. Foundation – Isaac Asimov
    Sort of a classic of science-fiction.
  6. Hitchhiker’s Trilogy – Douglas Adams
    More on the comedy end of sci-fi, but very enjoyable
  7. Dune – Frank Herbert
    Defined the space opera genre. If every book but he first hadn’t made me want to curl up in a ball and cry from boredom, this series may be hire up.
  8. Star of the Guardians – Margaret Weis
    You know those series’ Deathstalker is parodying? This is one of them. Worth reading just for the context.

Young Adult

  1. His Dark Materials – Phillip Pullman
    I could put this not in Young Adult and it would still stand up with the best sci-fi/fantasy books of all time. A war against god tears the fabric of the universe, sending people into other universes to try and fix the damage that has been done.
  2. Leviathan – Scott Westerfeld
    WWI re-imagined with a technological Austria (walkers and tanks) and a Darwinian UK (genetically modified whale zeppelins)? Try not to like this
  3. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
    The movie couldn’t even do the sheer emotional impact of this book justice. Expect to cry.
  4. Redwall – Brian Jacques
    Woodland critters with weapons and religion! It’s exciting!

 

Intending to Read

  1. The Miles Vorkosigan books – Lois McMaster Bujold
  2. Felix Castor Novels – Mike Carey
  3. The Baroque Cycle – Neal Stephenson
    I tried to start these books, but then I went off to college and never got back to it.
  4. Everything else L.E. Modesitt Jr.
    A lot of his series’ are hinted to take place in the same universe, and that attention to detail intrigues me.
  5. First Law Trilogy – Joe Abercrombie
  6. Malazan Book of the Fallen – Steven Erikson
    I’ve tried to read these like 10 times and failed halfway through book 1 each time. But Henry assures me they’re good. One day. One day.
  7. The Dresden Files – Jim Butcher
    Fine, I’ll read it! I’ve actually read book one, and enjoyed it a lot. But in the same way that one might enjoy eating 5 bags of skittles.
  8. Sword of Shadows – JV Jones
  9. Everything by Raymond E. Feist

 

 

Somebody like my friend Mattias

Posted on by Henry

Many of you will by now have read Mattias’ excellent post talking about his experience growing up.

As I was talking with him about it afterwards, we hit on another related topic: what happens when people with that experience of falling in-between society’s accepted definitions are in your gaming group?  Is there anything in particular that you should do?  I have a pretty definite agenda here, so I’ll ask some leading questions; how can you make your games and gaming group more inclusive, and how can you do that while including potentially uncomfortable topics in your games?

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An Apartment and Fruit Flies

Posted on by Jason "Zeeblee" Leonard

Zeeblee

This article is not actually an article.  It’s an excuse as well as a minor insight into the dude-being who is Jason (or Zeeblee if you prefer).  There is no real article because I have been busy.  I have been busy dealing with an apartment and fruit flies.

The real cause for the lack of article is the apartment.  I am in the process of moving out of my old one, and that process is nearly complete.  My stuff is boxed in the worst way possible (I am awful at packing) and piled away Tetris style (I’m good at that part).  Unfortunately, because I am so awful at packing almost all of my clothes are tucked away in a mysterious place, and I only managed to keep a day or two’s worth out of the boxes (laundry all the time!).  There really isn’t anything entertaining in this story except for the part where after attending dinner with a friend I decided to walk from my apartment to my new residence carrying my motorized-bike bag containing a gas can late at night.  Nefarious.

The other venture keeping me busy is my neuroscience fellowship researching octopamine in fruit flies.  Over the last month I have been learning my way around the lab and gaining more and more fly colonies to manage as well as getting more and more brain dissections to perform as well as getting more and more behavior assays to run.  The dissections seem to be going well despite how slow I am.  The behavior assays have barely gotten off the ground, and have the potential to come to a screeching halt due to complications (death).  Colony management has gotten a bit crazy compared to when I started as I am now monitoring the status of at least eight genetic crosses, each of which have multiple vials in multiple stages of development, of which the residents need to be sorted in various ways to match the part of the experiment which they are for.  Good news on that front:  I’m getting damn good at spotting male pupae, and I’m now an expert at putting small dots of paint on the backs of fruit flies.

Next week the lab should calm down and I will be all settled in, so I can successfully post something fun/cool.  Until then, just imagine me smooshing fly brains together until they are the size of a human brain, and then placing said brain within the cranium of a human subject to create the ultimate multi-brained flyman.

How to Craft a Good Setting

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

For me, the most interesting part of a creative body of work is the setting. Many people will talk about the characters, and how interesting they are, or the growth they exhibit. Others will point to the plot. But for me, the setting is the foundation; it sets the grounds for any ‘what if’s that the body of work is asking. Now, there are two general qualities of settings.

The first is the obvious: the familiar. By ‘familiar’, I mean that the setting corresponds to our notions of how it typically is. Familiarity is the reason that elves are tall and willowy and removed from the world, dwarves are short and stocky and miners who love alcohol, and halflings/hobbits are playful but possessed of personal hardiness. Familiarity is why protagonists are young and leave their village with mysterious outsiders, and why young people from small towns are protagonists at all. Familiarity is how we know sons kill fathers and hand-loss will show up in half of sci-fi and fantasy, and everything comes in threes. Familiarity is the stuff on which tropes are built.

In this, a good setting is a lot like a good joke. A good joke is all about establishing expectations, building up a story that we all know and understand, and then, in comes the second element: deviation. I agonized over that word for awhile: ‘deviation’. At first, I thought ‘surprise’. But surprise wasn’t quite the word I was looking for. Surprise indicates that you didn’t really see what was coming; didn’t have an inkling. And while there is room for genuine surprise in stories, for the most part, the spectator — the reader, the watcher, the listener — should see the punchline coming. They might not exactly know what that punchline is, but when it does come it should be followed with ‘of course!’ Whether that ‘of course!’ is followed with an ‘I knew it!’ or a ‘How did I not see that coming?’ is largely irrelevant, although it should fall somewhere on that spectrum. That is to say, the context (the setting) should lead up to the punchline.

In a sense, the conclusion — the end of the book, the punchline, the moral — should feel INEVITABLE, even if it wasn’t predictable. When you hear the ending, it should immediately ring true as the ending, or the setting wasn’t established properly. It certainly isn’t impossible that Frodo could simply take the ring at the end of The Lord of the Rings, but it wouldn’t fit in with the tropes of the book: that hobbits are strong of heart and will, that all ages must come to an age, including the age of The Ring and Sauron (much as the age of the Elves is coming to an end even as the books begin), that the thing that distinguished Gollum from Frodo was his close friendship with even just one remaining entity (whereas Smeagol had killed Deagol). Essentially, the plot should live up to the promises that the setting makes, establishing a strong unifying theme.

Now, I’m playing a little fast and loose with ‘setting’, because I’m starting to include parts of the story. But in this case, I don’t mean the plot. I mean the tropes, the imagery, and so on. Sure, discovering the tree elves of Lothlorien happens as a part of the plot, but it is itself not plot; it is a revelation of setting to the spectator. inverting that story in ways we don’t expect but can still clearly see. Reading about a character losing his hand, or being seen surrounded by ravens, or dying and coming back to life is plot, yes. How it happens is plot. But it is also setting, because it serves to establish what tropes the author finds important, and how he chooses to invert them.

If I can walk you through a few examples, I think this will be made clear, but as always, I must warn you of spoilers. In A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones, on TV), Ned Stark is established as the protagonist quite early on. However, he is killed off before the first book in the series ends. Yes, this is a plot point, but also acts to establish the setting that George R. R. Martin is writing in: in A Song of Ice and Fire, life is short, brutal, and ugly, and you can trust nobody. In a sense, this helps to establish the context of the story. And when the punchline finally comes, that context will be important.

So ultimately, a good setting uses tropes and setting devices to establish the tone of what is expected to happen in the plot.

As such, I’m going to try a new project for my new posts; I’ll be posting a setting I’ve designed, according to these principles, talking about the tropes it exhibits, and how those tropes are inverted, and what those inversions mean!

Rolling with the Punches

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

gentleman-gustaf-figure

For me, as somebody who GMs far more than he plays, roleplaying is all about rolling with the punches. You obviously can’t predict 100% what your players will do, and you can’t predict die rolls, or whatever random element is important in your system. Basically, shit happens, and you’ll have to deal with it. Here are a few tips I’ve found to make that easier:

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Spoilers

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

Sorry, illness delayed today’s post. It’ll go up Saturday, but I can promise you that the delay will be worthwhile (for one, I’ll have a voice to record the accompanying videos). So instead, spoilers!

What do Final Fantasy VIII, Chrono Chross, and Chrono Trigger all have in common?

  1. Plot
  2. Music

And does Doctor Who Series 11 share any of those things?

What does Dave Brubeck have in common with a feathered beast of burden?

Am I the only one who hears this Dave Brubeck song and thinks of this Final Fantasy song?

And let’s not even talk about this song.

If you’re a music nerd, you may think you already know what my next post is going to be about.

But actually, it’s about the contrast between episodic and serial media, using the topic alluded to above as an analogy of sorts.

Any thoughts?

Let the Heroes be Strong

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

gentleman-gustaf-figure

Ultimately, campaigns, much like movies, are about your protagonists. Much as Henry said in his previous article on Screen Time, “by running a game you are agreeing to give the PCs the stage”. Of course, by ‘the stage’, he meant something akin to ‘camera time’. But not only should the camera follow them (mostly), but they should also be the movers and shakers of the universe. Of course, there are some exceptions: villains will often be stronger than PCs, especially in games with elements of horror. And there may be campaigns in which the PCs have limited agency (or are a part of events bigger than themselves). But in those cases, they should still, ultimately, be the agents of the events they ARE privy to.

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What Makes a Good Game?

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

gentleman-gustaf-figure

It may seem strange to hit this topic now; I haven’t even defined what I think a game is! For now, I’m going to put that question off, but say that there are three types of games:

  1. Puzzles – These games involve one (or more players) trying to solve some system. These games can be played with some goal: ‘how do I solve the puzzle?’ or in a more exploratory manner: ‘what exactly can I do?” Games that are puzzles include:
    • Computer Games: Platformers, Adventure Games, Simulations (Civilization/Sim City)
    • Physical Games: Rubik’s Cube, Mind-Benders, Logic Puzzles
  2. Competitive Games – These games involve multiple players competing against each other within the constraints of some rule system with defined victory conditions. Some of the players CAN be AI simulated; as such, these games can be played as puzzles.
    • Computer Games: Starcraft, League of Legends, Street Fighter, HALO, Simulations (Civilization/Sim City).
    • Physical Games: Chess, Basketball
  3. Collaborative Games – These games involve multiple players working together (potentially somewhat competitively) to create something.
    • Roleplaying Games
    • Team-building games?

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Delays

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

I thought I’d give a quick update; our weekend adventure proved to be more excitement than we could handle!

I ended up succumbing to the heat with a fever and earning a wounded knee, while Jason lies stranded in Spokane, Washington. We will return to regular posting shortly.

Plans and Celebrations

Posted on by Mattias Lehman

Hello readers!

This post is under my name, but really, it comes from all of us here at Fistful of Wits! How can I say that? Because Henry and Jason are in town! We’re here to help some old college friends celebrate the completion of their theses and their imminent graduation, but while we’re here, it’s time for a little bit of collaboration! So here’s a sneak preview of what you can expect to see next week!

Next week, we’re going to be focusing a lot on the idea of games as cinematography, through discussions of narrative tools such as ‘cameras’, ‘focus’, schticks, and more. I also hope to put out my first short story! There also might be a first recorded RPG going up; if not, maybe just snippets of one. And finally, select clips from our first few planning sessions (over Skype)!

But expect next week to be spotty as we recover from our revelry.