I would probably put Pat Rothfuss' work at the top of the list of anything I've read recently. He is tremendously talented, and creates some beautiful, beautiful things with his words.

The epilogue to The Name of the Wind - "The third silence" - is some of my favorite writing, ever.

I keep wanting to give Joe Abercombie a shot. Heard nothing but excellent things about it.

I read The Name of the Wind, the First Law Trilogy (Abercombie), and the Lies of Locke Lamora at roughly the same time. All three were good, but The First Law Trilogy was by far my favorite. The first time you meet the Bloody Nine is fantastic.

Has anyone read Katharine Kerr's Deverry series? They are Celtic fantasy that follows several characters through their various incarnations over the centuries. They are an interesting, enjoyable read but the series is really stretched out. I just finished the 9th book with 6 more to go for the conclusion!

Gotta recommend Fritz Leiber's Swords series. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are an iconic pair.

I continue to view Stranger in a Strange Land as his seminal work.

If you liked the movie, the books will blow you away, far FAR superior works. It creates a dense, credible world of religion, politics, and warfare tactics.

Anyone else read Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant?

It's pretty old but probably the last sci fi I read, and I really enjoyed it.

I lean more towards fantasy. Reading the Hungering Saga right now.

He said that he didn't care for it himself, and I don't consider it his best work.

I did. It's one of his best. A rare series where he dealt with mature themes without bogging down in symbology.

The best scifi novel nobody seems to have read:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ig_artwork.jpg

(by alan dean foster, not the one Buck posted)

Nope. I've heard it's the Mass Effect 3 of Fantasy Series.

Seems like a lot more fantasy in this thread than Sci-Fi. Great recommendations though. I guess Fantasy is probably a more written about genre, so that makes sense.

GoChiefs, what is your The Dig about?

I hated to read Dune. Why did he always have to include those inner monologues?

People may argue strongly about this, but speaking only for myself, I have to say that I find it very difficult to find good new science fiction. It generally tends to be harder, meaning there's of a focus on science rather than story, and often characterization and plot is the cost. Which can lead to some very dry prose and novels that read too much like textbooks. To me, while the science is important, it is science faction after all, it should be an ancillary facet; good stories are about people, in the end, and overcoming the problems they face. And I think for that reason - the style of writing - the genre faces an uphill battle when it comes to finding an audience. Which is unfortunate, because it's actually the genre I prefer; the only reason I read so much fantasy these days is because there just seems to be so much more of it at a high level of quality.

If you do want to try some science fiction, you can't really go wrong with names like Neal Stephenson or Dan Simmons or Alastair Reynolds or Robert Charles Wilson (Spin, in particular) or Peter F. Hamilton or even Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels.

Oh, and a name I left off previously that I shouldn't have is Gene Wolfe. He sort of walks a line between fantasy and science fiction.

I can't disagree with you on the hard sci-fi trend of current sci-fi.

All of my favorites were written in the 90s or earlier. A lot of those classics hold up very well today.

I Am Legend was written in the 70s I think. I'm currently reading it. It should take me one more day at most to finish. I think its great and it's not hard sci-fi at all.

Then again maybe some people don't include post-apoc in sci-fi, but I do.

I do have a little bit of me that wants some hard sci-fi, but I will always enjoy character-driven pieces more.