I’m not sure when it was written, but I ran across this list of the best science fiction and fantasy books this century, and I resonated with the ones I’ve read, so I thought I’d see what others thought of it. Have you read many of them?
As far as “best” go, I’m non plussed. Some of these I really liked, some… not so much.
Personal positive votes:
Perdido Street Station - absolutely loved it, great social commentary undertones while the story goes its own way in an incredibly vivid world
Fifth Season - great first book of a good series, good writing and good tension points
Saga - great art to match a great retelling of Romeo and Juliet in space, where all tropes are out the window
Personal “good but not great”: All Systems Red - fun light read, nothing more
Personal negative votes:
The Name of the Wind - it’s the archetypal fantasy story, with a lot of world building and little else, a Marie Sue as a main character and a love story with many many problems. I guess it’s there because it’s famous thus essential?
The Three Boby Problem - the writing is dry, the math is wrong, I can’t stand this book
American Goods - talking about dry writing style. And keeping the reader in the dark about completely arbitrary world rules. I did not enjoy it, often it feels Neil Gaiman writes to show you how much smarter he is than you. I will admit that Gaiman has been extremely influential, so I support it being on the list
Mistborn - page turner with little else to its name. The characters drop their life long ideals so easily to facilitate the plot, they are hardly believable
The other books in the list I haven’t read nor were on my reading list, most I hadn’t heard about before.
Uprooted is a legitimately fantastic fantasy book but it is absolutely not even remotely sci-fi. Annihilation is…fine. Honestly I was kind of let down after the movie generated all the (brief) hype and it left me not caring about the next books enough to bother. American Gods is American Gods, if you know you know. I think I read one of two others on the list but forgot what they are.
Kind of surprised piranesi didn’t make the list tbh. Legitimately terrific blend of sci-fi fantasy and mystery. Not a hard/long read but well worth the time!
I have no faith in anyone who lumps sci-fi and fantasy into the same genre.
@AFKBRBChocolate Mmm. Got a long way through the list thinking “where are the women authors”? They did eventually appear, but not enough. No Aliette de Bodard? Several of the books on the list I’ve read and really don’t rate. All Systems Red and The Long Way are books I return to again and again.
