Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books

David Weber's Honor Harrington books should be there IMO. Ender's Game, while I'm ok with it being on the list, is ranked way too high. The same with the Dune books. For that matter, I didn't like the Lord of the Rings books all that much....but I understand and approve of their placement because of the profound influence they have had on the genre.

I'm sure there are others I would like to see added or removed, but I only did a cursory look at the list. It's all so subjective, of course, that everyone will have a different list. :)
 
Looks like they missed this one:

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David Weber's Honor Harrington books should be there IMO. Ender's Game, while I'm ok with it being on the list, is ranked way too high. The same with the Dune books. For that matter, I didn't like the Lord of the Rings books all that much....but I understand and approve of their placement because of the profound influence they have had on the genre.

I'm sure there are others I would like to see added or removed, but I only did a cursory look at the list. It's all so subjective, of course, that everyone will have a different list. :)

I was really quite surprised to only see Codex Alectra from JB, and not his more well-known and much-beloved Dresden Files.
 
I'm surprised that I've actually read 6 of the top 10. And I like reading about as much as Herman Cain.
 
I'm surprised that I've actually read 6 of the top 10. And I like reading about as much as Herman Cain.

I love to read, and fantasy is my genre of choice. So you can imagine my surprise when I found that at maximum, I have read 25% of the list.

I have read 21 of them, and a few were so long ago I don't remember them at all. There are some on the list that I simply haven't gotten around to, but quite a few I either haven't heard of or don't have much interest in reading.

I also tend to re-read books that I've enjoyed before rather than start a complete unknown, I hate wasting good reading time on crap. :lol: Still, I've come upon a number of good books through random selection before!

Oh, and I'd have liked to see Greg Bear's Eon on the list.
 
Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books : NPR

You see any missing, or on here that you don't feel should be?

I agree with the LOTR in the number 1 spot. I read the first box set when I was 13, and it was so real and vivid to me that I can still picture me walking with Bilbo Baggins in Middle earth.

There is one though that is not mentioned on the list that I think should be. Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. I think that anyone that has read this one would agree it should be on the list. If you have not read it than I highly recommend that you do.
 
IMNSHO and of those I know about, you can remove the following from the list:

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore (It's a graphic novel aka comic, not a book. Belongs on a different list)

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King (and I LIKE King, but this isn't groundbreaking or Top anything)

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman (comicbook series... see Watchman)

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin (God she sucks with nothing original to say)

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Too many 'sexy' picks like 5 works by Neil Gaiman? I mean he's good, but that good? Besides, "Good Omens" was pretty damn innovative for fantasy-comedy.

Ones I was happy to see:

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson (Dude, he Created Cyberpunk)
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (Invented Science Fiction AND horror in one book)
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood (politically, whatever. But an awesome read)
25. The Stand, by Stephen King (A top 5 book for me)
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams (Extremely happy another top five book for me)
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury (The movie is good too)
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

Omissions I wish I could have seen:

"On Basilisk Station." David Weber did a phenomenal job in telling hard sci fi space combat in a new way.

"Bloom" by Wil McCarthy. Outstanding view of a nano-pocalypse. His Queendom series is phenomenal too. How many duplicates of you do you really need or should have before trouble sets in?

"Jurassic Park" Michael Crichton. Come on... think about it. Theme Parks plus Dinosaurs equals PROFIIIIIIT! Oh wait I mean DISASTERRRRRR!!!!

"Hammers Slammers" David Drake. Sci fi tanks and soldiers would never be the same. I suppose you could also include Keith Laumer's "Bolo" series in this, but I've never read it. Another good one by him is "Redliners" where a burnt out military unit must protect colonists from an ecology turned weapon.

"Software" Rudy Rucker. Cybersurrealism???? Oh yeah... and mathematically wild. What is reality anyway and why is it mandatory?

and a few from Alan Dean Foster

"Nor Crystal Tears". First contact from the point of view of the alien.
"Sentenced to Prism" A look at a silicon and solar based life form world

The "War against the Chtorr" series by David Gerrold. What if it wasn't one species invading Earth but an entire ecosystem? This should be a top 25 instead of Urpsila K. LeCrap.

Oh and where the FUCK is the "Chronicles of Narnia"??? Top 20 easy. Remove a fanboy Neil Gaiman book, and bump all the others down from American Gods and slot that bad boy in at #10 and be done with it. Far more important and popular. Not to mention "The Screwtape Letters" and "The Great Divorce". I'd consider both of those FAR more important and innovative fantasy than even C.S. Lewis's Space trilogy. what'd they do? Dock points for Christianity???

And where is Harry Potter (regardless of the fact I'll never read it.)?
 
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The Chronicles of Solace trilogy


  • The Depths of Time
  • The Ocean of Years
  • The Shores of Tomorrow



By Roger MacBride Allen

The Chronicles of Solace series by Roger MacBride Allen






The Forever War

by Joe Haldeman

EDIT - this is on the list, number 56 :thup:

The Forever War (The Forever War, #1) by Joe Haldeman - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists





The Academy Series


  • The Engines of God
  • Deepsix
  • Chindi
  • Omega
  • Odyssey

By Jack McDevitt

The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists




 
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Elizabeth Hayden Symphony of ages series and RA Salvatore's the crystal shard series are also excellent.David Gemmell's Druss the legend is also great!!:cool:
 
Number 88 shouldn't be on the list...it's a Star Wars continuation.

It's good, but not top 100, especially as the author was not the originator of the conceptualization of the setting, back story or characters.

Replace 99 with a better Piers Anthony series, the Incarnations of Immortality.

EDIT - And while I love Discworld, one Terry Pratchett pretty much covers it.
 
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A lot of good reading. I recommend this, 58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson, for those who have not read them. The only thing I about fantasy books that I have a problem with is the maps. They should put them in the book with perforated edges or in a pocket so a person can have them laying beside you when you read so you can glance at it to see where the characters are. By the time you learn where ever everything is at the adventure is almost one.
 
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A lot of good reading. I recommend this, 58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson, for those who have not read them. The only thing I about fantasy books that I have a problem with is the maps. They should put them in the book with perforated edges or in a pocket so a person can have them laying beside you when you read so you can glance at it to see where the characters are. By the time you learn where ever everything is at the adventure is almost one.

That is one of the series I did not read all of. Lost interest. Glad now I did not buy all the books like I was gonna.
 
Suprised not to see any Dragonlance series. Raistlin Majere is a must read character, The story of the Majere family is outstanding.

Piers Anthony - Incantations of immortality - great read.
 
Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books : NPR

You see any missing, or on here that you don't feel should be?
Too much on that list is Fantasy (which I mock as a p--s poor substitute for SF), not really Science Fiction as I read and collected in the 50's and 60's. That why I don't read much of it these days.

Two missing
The Skylark of Space by E.E. Smith
One of the earliest novels of interstellar travel

The Humanoids by Jack Williamson
One of first (if not the first) novel of robotics and psi abilities
 
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