I’d have to say China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station.
I’ve been trying to get into the first Gormenghast book and finding it difficult to get into the swing of. Does it get any easier as you go?
I wouldn’t say it gets easier but if you’re like me and love fantasy settings but hate magic as a cure-all, it gets more engaging and interesting as you start to realize that maybe the castle itself is a central character and the fantasy comes from the fantastical massiveness of it all, when so few people live in it.
Also, the third book is where it really takes off in my opinion, and also where the sci-fi elements come in.
Someone else suggested N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series, which is also an unusual take on the post-apocalyptic and survivalism stuff that a lot of people are into these days.
Honestly, Discworld is both sci-fi and fantasy.
I know this is answer is overdone at this point, but a pretty good chunk of Brandon Sanderson’s books are this.
- The City We Became and The Broken Earth series by N.K. Jemisin.
- Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
- Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
Wait, Gormenghast has Science fiction? When does that show up? I only read the first book so far and don’t remember a lot.
Third book is all scifi.
The Black Ocean series
- The Captain by Will Wight
- The Shadows of Dust by Alec Hutson
- Portal to Nova Roma by J.R. Mathews
- Starship’s Mage by Glynn Stewart
Just finished The Captain. It’s so good. I love both Will Wight and Alec Hutson and it seems we have similar taste (good taste 😀)
Any other book recommendations?
Some of favorite fantasy books:
- Cradle by Will Wight
- Mage Errant by John Bierce
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
- Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
- The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis
- Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater
- The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan
- Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
- The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss
- The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang
Some of my favorite sci-fi:
- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
- The Martian by Andy Weir
- Sourdough by Robin Sloan
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Foundation by Isaac Asimov
- Red Rising by Pierce Brown
- Dim Stars: A Novel of Outer-Space Shenanigans by Brian P. Rubin
- Daros by Dave Dobson
- The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
I also started a blog couple of years back for reviews: https://learnbyexample.github.io/escapist-reviews/
Mark Lawrence’s “Book of the Ancestor” and “Book of the Ice” series.
The Broken Earth series is really original and well written.
Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Mix of cyberpunk post-apocalyptic parallel universes with science so deep it’s magic.
(Trying not to give away too many spoilers!)
As a bonus, there’s an extended reading list which ties the Dark Tower into books and short stories from King’s universe.
