Recommend me sci-fi/fantasy books

[quantum_mechani]

I'm starting to feel like I've exhausted the good books in these genres, but maybe someone could point me to some gems that I have overlooked.

Books/Series that I Liked:
The Uplift War
The Waterborn
A Fire Upon the Deep
A Song of Fire and Ice

Disliked:
Neuromancer
The Wizard's First Rule
Any book based on a TV series/movie (star wars, star trek, etc.)

[Tuberski]

Any book by Lynn Flewelling.

ACK!

[Lancer]

Azimov of course, the Foundation series in particular.

Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars...

[Zkribbler]

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, esp.
Thief of Time, Moving Pictures, Feet of Clay, Going Postal, Wee Free Men and Hatful of Sky.

[quantum_mechani]

Lynn Flewellling: Never heard of her, from the amazon reviews of her books they sound pretty much like standard fantasy fare?

Foundation: Read them all, though it has been a long time.

Mars books: I forgot to add these to my disliked list

Discworld: I've heard a lot of good things about them, but it seems really confusing where to start.

[St Leo]

Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, etc.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

If you don't mind sexual deviance being intrinsic to the plot, give Mary Gentle's 1610 a swing. It's absolutely wonderful.

For Discworld, start with Men-at-Arms or Guards Guards.

[Mordoch]

One fantasy series I'd recommend is L.E. Modesitt's Recluce series. The best point to start off with is probably the "The Magic of Recluce. " While its not chronological, its probably the easiest point to start from, and it was the first of the books written.

The author is actually fairly unusual in that he writes both fairly classic fantasy and science fiction books effectively. Based on the fact you like the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, I suspect you'd like L.E. Modesitt's Recluse series as well since its a significant departure from the typical fantasy novel. A particular strength of the series is that the magical is not simply a matter of waving your hands and things happen, its a rather logical thought out system that pretty much conforms to a set of scientific rules that exist in an alternate dimension otherwise similar to our own.

I certainly recommend giving the series a try.

You might want to try giving us a bit more information about what you likde with previous books in order that we can give you some additional advice on this subject.

[Mordoch]

Discworld: I've heard a lot of good things about them, but it seems really confusing where to start.

My advice is just try to start with one of the earlier ones, to a great degree its not so much about the plot with the books as it is to just laught as you read them. The main problem with starting later in the series is you miss some of the backstory going on with the various characters. Keep in mind that for better or worse this is definately mostly light fantasy that is intended to make you laugh and it lampoons modernity rather blatantly in the process.

The first book in the series in "The Colour of Magic", although you should be aware that the first couple books are a bit different in that they tend to be more story oriented.

[atomant]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, esp.
Thief of Time, Moving Pictures, Feet of Clay, Going Postal, Wee Free Men and Hatful of Sky.

The last continent, pyramiyds

[quantum_mechani]

Gardens of the moon, etc.: Never heard of them, but from the reviews they sound quite good.

Hyperion: I read this, it was... strange. While it was somewhat interesting and very different, I can't say it got me interested in continuing the series.

1610: Also never heard of it, isn't really enough reviews to give me a good idea if I would like it.

The Magic of Recluce: Sounds good, I think I will give this one a try.

Discworld: I've now got 3 separate suggestions about where to start...

As for what I liked about the books I liked, mostly it was about having new ideas, but they are not truly great without some mystery and good characters as well.

[SnowFire]

If you're up for some long epic fantasy just done right, I'd recommend Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams. It's a really excellent trilogy.

For a shorter book with a vaguely "All Quiet on the Western Front" except in a fantasy world feel, I'll recommend The Black Company by Glen Cook.

[Boris Godunov]

What about raymond feist? Anyone read? My boss' husband raves about him.

[Mordoch]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
What about raymond feist? Anyone read? My boss' husband raves about him.

Definately a possibility, and an author I personally generally like. His books are is some ways closer to being "typical" fantasy, but at his best his fantasy world building and plot can be pretty compelling. The only warning is that I found some of the books he's written in the same fantasy world to be hit and miss in quality. (An extremely usual phenomenon to the degree it seemed to occur with him in my opinion.) If you do read his series, I'd strongly suggest starting with Magician: Apprentice, the first two books also come as a two book series in one volume called Magician, book two Magician: Master is basicly a direct conclusion to the first novel that was pretty much split up into two volumes due to publisher pressure.

[Micha]

Larry Niven did make some good science fiction. I can recommend "The Mote in God´s Eye" (L. Niven, J. Pournelle).
It is reasonable, entertaining and quite exciting till the last dozen pages, but it´s quite a big book...

Niven´s most popular work is the "Ringworld", but I haven´t read it yet. Any opinions on that one?

[Qilue]

Piers Anthony.

Here's a list so I can save typing.

http://www.hipiers.com/bibliography.html