re: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Recommendation & Discussion Thread

I thought the riftwar books up through the end of the serpentwar saga were pretty fun, after that they started to get repetitive and I stopped reading. The first trilogy is a quick read.

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is Riftwar legit?

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It is pretty good. I really liked the Empire trilogy, they were the only ones I ever wanted to reread.

Finished the "second" Powder Mage trilogy, and I think I may have liked it better than the first. I may have to actually source all the novellas and other secondary works set in this world.

Curious if anyone has any experience with the RPG? I'm not really playing any tabletop these days, but I do still like to keep up with the games that are out there.

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and I think I may have liked it better than the first.

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I'd say the second trilogy is better than the first simply due to Ben Styke alone. But the fact that all the main character POVs are really good in the second trilogy makes it a decent bit better to me.

I found the shorts stories pretty average overall, but the one short story that involves Taniel fighting with Ben Styke during the Fatrastan revolution is pretty awesome (Ghosts of the Tristan Basin)

Am in the process of moving and left all my books at the new place but had Tigana here and started it last night. Already 1/3 through it and really enjoying. The prose is a bit over the top but i really like the main characters thus far

2020 Nebula nominees announced. Here are the nominees in the novel category:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
The City We Became by NK Jemison
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Midnight Bargain by CL Polk
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Network Effect by Martha Wells

I love finding new Sci-fi/fantasy stuff, so I often read all the Nebula and Hugo nominees. I don't really care how accurately they reflect the best of the genres each year, the selections are usually good. It's similar to the Oscars for me; I love watching them and watching the movies, but it's rare that my personal favorite movies from a given year are nominated for best picture.

I loved Piranesi. I haven't read The City We Became yet, but I loved Jemison's previous series. The only true Sci-fi novel in the noms this year is Network Effect, part of the Murderbot series. I recently read the first Murderbot novella and am itching to read more.

I'd guess that this is the first year in which every nominated novel was authored by a female. It's not much of a surprise given how much of the more popular/visible segment of the sci-fi/fantasy umbrella is currently dominated by female authors. Also, 5 of these women are great writers, so who cares. (Haven't read anything by CL Polk yet.)

Anyone familiar with robert Jackson Bennett? Was just looking at City of Stairs on goodreads and it looks pretty solid

LINK

entire trilogy has over a 4.0 rating - think I'm about to pick these up on abebooks.com - I will report back when I finish it

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Anyone familiar with robert Jackson Bennett?

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Recently listened to and enjoyed Foundryside, the first in a new trilogy of his. I really liked it.

Has anyone read the novella by Daniel Greene? He's another youtuber trying his hand at writing. I enjoy his fantasy content, but a little apprehensive about trying it.

I haven't read Consider Phelbas, but I really enjoyed Use of Weapons and The Player of Games back when I read them. I haven't got around to reading anything else by him. He's definitely not someone where I could just blow through the books back to back.