Tuesday 24 May 2022

Scifi and Fantasy reviews

281839557_568185454666409_5760724985706195430_n Inspired by John Aspden and now by RP, here are my sci-fi and fantasy reviews, arranged in order of favouritism. I achieved this order by starting at the most recent and going backwards, inserting into wherever they fit. Books of course cannot be linearly ranked in this fashion; in particular literary quality and fun ideas are hard to inter-rank. Books get points for: quality and fun of reading; novelty; interest of the ideas; worldbuilding; being a classic; "must include something by this author"; and more. Note that points-for-ideas does not imply that I agree with them, merely that there are some; you get more points if I agree, of course. But sadly most SciFi authors tend to pick up crap philosophy (hello Plato, I'm looking at you).

This list only includes stuff I've actually written reviews for, which is most of the recent stuff but very sporadic earlier. Stuff I would add: The Deep (Crowley); more Banks; Blish; more LeGuin; Wolfe; Benford; The Forever War;  etc.

The top, but unrankable: The HobbitLord of the Rings

Beasts and Engine Summer, John Crowley

Foundation, Isaac Asimov

* Icehenge, Kim Stanley Robinson

White Queen, Gwyneth Jones

Neuromancer, William Gibson

Anathem, Neal Stephenson

The Iron Dream, Norman Spinrad

Across Realtime, Vernor Vinge

Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein

* Divine Endurance, Gwyneth Jones

* Dune, Frank Herbert

* City of the Chasch / Servants of the Wankh / Dirdir / Pnume, Jack Vance

Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

* Stations of the Tide / Vacuum Flowers, Michael Swanwick

Consider Phlebas, Iain M Banks

Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C Clarke

(those above this marker are "you should read")

* Emphyrio, Jack Vance

* The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie

* The Dragon Masters, Jack Vance

Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie

* Grass, Sherri S Tepper

Uprooted, Naomi Novik

City of Illusions, Ursula LeGuin

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein

* Look to Windward, Iain M Banks

The Enemy Stars, Poul Anderson

The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn, Isaac Asimov

Out of the Silent Planet / Perelandra / That Hideous Strength, C S Lewis

Heroes and Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie

* Big Planet, Jack Vance

* Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

* The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson

* The Martian, Andy Weir

The White Mountains, John Christopher

* The Cadwal Trilogy: Araminta station; Ecce and Old Earth; Throy, Jack Vance

The Languages of Pao, Jack Vance

The Silver Chair and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C S Lewis

* Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik

(those above this marker are "worth reading")

* The Long Tomorrow, Leigh Brackett

* Blindsight, Peter Watts [2023/01]

* Wyrms, Orson Scott Card

* Ender's game, Orson Scott Card

Confluence: Child of the River / Ancients of Days / Shrine of Stars, Paul McAuley

* Blood Music, Greg Bear [2023/01]

Space, Time and Nathaniel, Brian Aldiss

The Undercover Aliens, A E Van Vogt

* Neptune's Brood, Charles Stross

The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay

* Rosewater, Tade Thompson

* Star King, Jack Vance

Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir

* Fifth Planet, Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle

* Sabriel / Lirael / Abhorsen, Garth Nix

Shikasta, Doris Lessing

H G Wells anthologyThe War of the Worlds

* Redshirts, John Scalzi. 

* Sundiver, David Brin

Blue Remembered Earth, Alastair Reynolds

Rotherweird and Wyntertide, Andrew Caldecott

The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow

* The Owl Service, Alan Garner

Utopia, Thomas More

* Glory Road, Robert Heinlein [2023/04]

Revolt in 2100, Robert Heinlein

(those below this marker are "meh")

Anthem, Ayn Rand

Feersum Endjinn, Iain M Banks

The Gift / The Riddle, Alison Croggon

Daughter of smoke and bone, Laini Taylor

* Toyman, E C Tubb

The Green Odyssey, P J Farmer

* Transition, Iain Banks

* The Brightness Reef trilogy, David Brin

Artemis, Andy Weir

* Nemesis, Isaac Asimov

The Narrow Land, Jack Vance

Something Coming Through, Paul McAuley

Ringworld, Larry Niven

The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan

I, Robot

(those below this marker are "you should not read")

Raising the Stones, Sherri S Tepper

* Wherever Seeds May Fall, by Peter Cawdron

Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu

Ancient Light, Mary Gentle

* Proxima, Stephen Baxter

Bones of the Earth, Michael Swannick

The Exiles Trilogy, Ben Bova

* Heart of the Comet, David Brin and Gregory Benford

On the steel breeze, Poseidon's Wake, Alastair Reynolds

Seveneves, Neal Stephenson

See also

Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010

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