Navigating NPR's top 100 sci-fi/fantasy books

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whoa, that looks like the decision trees of some of my dysfunctional former employers.

Be warned: This tree has demons in it.

This is great. Any recommendations? I'm finishing up ASOIAF/George R.R. Martin right now. Need something to fill, oh, the next seven years of my life until book 6. x.x

I just finished David Brin's Earth and Jack McDevitt's Firebird. Both were excellent science-fiction.

jeffrey said:

Be warned: This tree has demons in it.

I've taken on tree demons and NYC bureaucracy before.

I ain't afraid of no ghosts.

I loved Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Nevermore. If you liked Game of Thrones, I'd suggest Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series or his Harry Dresden books (which don't appear on this list but are really funny good reads).

Agreed on the Gaiman books, they're very good. Speaking of Gaiman, I just finished re-reading (for the upteenth time) a book he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. Funniest book about the Apocalypse ever. Finally, Neal Stephenson is a fantastic author, look for Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and his most recent, Reamde. The latter two are more based in reality, but definitely contain genre elements.

I feel like you've gotta lay a foundation in sci-fi. Read some of the classics that are still as relevent as ever. LeGuin is still one of my favorite authors and, I gotta say, if you haven't read her, you can't say that you're well-read in sci-fi. Joe Halderman's The Forever War, in addition to being a trend-setter, is another one of those books that's taken on new meaning given the times.

Oh, and I almost forgot Lucifer's Hammer (Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle). I'll be the first to admit that some of their work is strictly for the sci-fi fanboy crowd, but this one really is a classic.

If you're going to read Niven and Pournelle, I'd start with The Mote in God's Eye. It was one of the best science fiction books I've ever read (and I've read thousands of science fiction novels over the years, so I suppose I qualify as something of a fanboy).