NPR Reader's Top 100 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books

[Kimavir]

It's as well written as Name, but the storyline isn't as gripping. I found myself rushing through sections that didn't push the story along. That said, it's still better than 90% of what I've read this year.

I'm going to buy it ASAP then. Thank you.

i haven't even read the first one yet, i was going to wait till the third one comes out and buy the trilogy as a set, and read them straight through

I normally have a strict "no incomplete series" rule as well. There's just too much good stuff out there to make myself suffer by reading part of a story. But the excerpt on the back cover of the Name of the Wind was so good I broke my own rule.

 

[J-Man]

I was surprised that I have read 62 of them, but it upset me that Alan Dean Foster was not on the list.

 

[monoxide_child]

I normally have a strict "no incomplete series" rule as well. There's just too much good stuff out there to make myself suffer by reading part of a story. But the excerpt on the back cover of the Name of the Wind was so good I broke my own rule.

when i go to a bookstore, i ususally see a lot of books like the star wars "expanded universe" or the "forgotten realms" books where the cover of a book will say the word "trilogy" or "1 of 6" or something like that on the cover, when i see that, i just wait for the last book, and buy all of them as a set, so i can just read them straight through, it's a lot less frustrating than buying a brand-new book that ends with unanswered questions/cliff-hanger, read the whole book in 2 weeks and then have to wait a whole freaking year or more for the next book in the series

 

[Pellaz]

I counted 47 that I've read. I tend to be a bit more old-school.

Nice to see Jacqueline Carey and Mike Moorcock represented (I wasn't expecting either) but surprised at a few omissions, including Tad Williams. And of course it would have been cool (but shocking) to see Storm Constantine in there.

is there any kind of "people's choice award" for books?

For recently published SF and (occasionally) fantasy, that would be the Hugo Awards. The members of the SF and Fantasy Writers of America also give out their awards, which are the Nebulas.

I've never read Tad Williams. Most of the hardcore readers I know are fairly ambivalent about him, calling him good, but not great. They also mention that he borrows a bit from other authors?

Hmmm, pretty much like every other author out there, mayhaps.

I've read his fantasy series that began with The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, Thorn) and also his big Otherland magnum opus, and both were excellent. The latter was nothing like I expected from reading the first book's back-cover blurb, and I was still impressed.

 

[TheLongshot]

I've read his fantasy series that began with The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, Thorn) and also his big Otherland magnum opus, and both were excellent. The latter was nothing like I expected from reading the first book's back-cover blurb, and I was still impressed.

I first read Otherland (even have the last book signed by Williams), and I'm not sure I'm all that impressed by it. It is a bit too sprawling for my tastes and I was a little underwhelmed by the ending.

While I did try to read The Dragonbone Chair, somehow I mysteriously lost my copy while I was reading it. Not the first time that has happened. (Same thing happened to The Stars My Destination when I was reading it.)

BTW, it looks like Connie Willis has added another one to the mantlepiece, with her winning the Hugo this year.

 

[J. Golden]

The Elric Saga at #90? Come on now. Maybe if it had happy midgets with hairy feet it would fair better. HAHA

 

[jaimek]

I've never read Tad Williams. Most of the hardcore readers I know are fairly ambivalent about him, calling him good, but not great. They also mention that he borrows a bit from other authors?

The only thing I've ever known Tad to "borrow" is mythology from other cultures, which he uses extensively, like the Bushman mythology in Otherland.

The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy generally gets held up as one of the first landmark fantasies that follow the path that Tolkien forged with LOTR without ripping it off - you get the vast countries and languages and cultures, the quests, the magical items, the terrifying supernatural creatures, but you don't hear the dice being rolled every time something happens. GRRM has openly said it was one of his major inspirations to write ASOIAF - that something so long and so epic could be handled so well.

I still prefer Otherland. It's being made into an MMORPG for release next year sometime - be interesting to see how that pans out...

 

[monoxide_child]

For recently published SF and (occasionally) fantasy, that would be the Hugo Awards. The members of the SF and Fantasy Writers of America also give out their awards, which are the Nebulas.

haha, i'm an idiot
i know all of these award-names
but i didn't realize that these were awards that readers had control over who won

 

[Pellaz]

haha, i'm an idiot
i know all of these award-names
but i didn't realize that these were awards that readers had control over who won

Well, sorta.

The Hugos are voted upon by the members of the World Science Fiction Society. This is basically the attendees of the World Science Fiction Convention (buying an attending membership automatically gets you Hugo voting privileges) plus those who buy a non-attending membership, oft-times just to vote for the Hugos and the future site of the WorldCon.

It's actually far more complicated than that. :Spin: After being involved in WorldCon politics years ago and attending several, it's not something I want to delve back into anytime soon.

For the Nebulas, I think only full and associate members of the SF&F Writers of America can vote, so it's basically professional writers with at least one qualifying sale voting for them.

A friend of mine was nominated for the Nebula and the Hugo in 2009 (for Best Novelette). She took home the Nebula, but was denied the Hugo. Needless to say, she was more stoked that the writers had liked her story than the fans.

 

[monoxide_child]

Well, sorta.

The Hugos are voted upon by the members of the World Science Fiction Society. This is basically the attendees of the World Science Fiction Convention (buying an attending membership automatically gets you Hugo voting privileges) plus those who buy a non-attending membership, oft-times just to vote for the Hugos and the future site of the WorldCon.

It's actually far more complicated than that. :Spin: After being involved in WorldCon politics years ago and attending several, it's not something I want to delve back into anytime soon.

For the Nebulas, I think only full and associate members of the SF&F Writers of America can vote, so it's basically professional writers with at least one qualifying sale voting for them.

A friend of mine was nominated for the Nebula and the Hugo in 2009 (for Best Novelette). She took home the Nebula, but was denied the Hugo. Needless to say, she was more stoked that the writers had liked her story than the fans.

there shold be a people's choice awards for books, that would be awesome