Inspired by John Aspden and now by RP (too), here are my sci-fi and fantasy reviews, arranged in order of favouritism (for other reviews, see here). 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. As I add more you should take the ordering less seriously, the discrepancies grow larger. 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).The top, but unrankable: The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, The Deep.
* Beasts and Engine Summer, John Crowley
* Foundation, Isaac Asimov
* Icehenge, Kim Stanley Robinson
* The Anome / The Brave Free Men / The Asutra, Jack Vance
* 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 and Children of 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
* Northern Lights, Philip Pullman
* The Mote in God's Eye, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
(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 Forever War, Joe Haldeman
* 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
* Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Silver Chair, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Magician's Nephew, C S Lewis
* Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
* Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne
* The Crucible of Time, John Brunner
(those above this marker are "worth reading")
* Mickey 7, Edward Ashton
* The Long Tomorrow, Leigh Brackett
* Red Sister, Mark Lawrence
* Blindsight, Peter Watts
* 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
* Space, Time and Nathaniel and The Canopy of Time, Brian Aldiss
* The Undercover Aliens, A E Van Vogt
* A World Out Of Time, Larry Niven
* Eversion, Alistair Reynolds
* The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card
* Neptune's Brood, Charles Stross
* The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay
* Rosewater, Tade Thompson
* Star King, Jack Vance
* Involution Ocean, Bruce Sterling
* Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
* Fifth Planet, Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle
* Dark Light, Ken McLeod
* Tenth Planet, Edmund Cooper
* Sabriel / Lirael / Abhorsen, Garth Nix
* Shikasta, Doris Lessing
* H G Wells anthology; The War of the Worlds
* The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, Mark Lawrence
* 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
* Revolt in 2100, Robert Heinlein
* The Witches of Karres, James Schmitz
* All the Colors of Darkness, Lloyd Biggle
(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
* The Alchemaster's Apprentice, Walter "Captain Bluebear" Moers
* Daughter of smoke and bone, Laini Taylor
* Transition, Iain Banks
* The Brightness Reef trilogy, David Brin
* Artemis, Andy Weir
* Nemesis, Isaac Asimov
* The Narrow Land, Jack Vance
* The Forge of God, Greg Bear
* Something Coming Through, Paul McAuley
* The Moat Around Murcheson's Eye, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
* Ringworld, Larry Niven
* The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
* I, Robot
* With a Strange Device, Eric Frank Russell
* The Centauri Device M. John Harrison
(those below this marker are "you should not read")
* In Ascension, Martin MacInnes
* The Atlantic Abomination, John Brunner
* The Million Year Hunt, Kenneth Bulmer
* The Martian Missile, David Grinnell
* Raising the Stones, Sherri S Tepper
* Wherever Seeds May Fall, by Peter Cawdron
* Three Body Problem Cixin Liu
* Light, John Harrison
* 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
* Fractal Noise, Christopher Paolini
No comments:
Post a Comment