Fellow bookworms, I am glad to announce that I am at the last book of Cosmere (Yumi and the Nightmare Painter). And then, I will have finished it all. So this is where I need your help. Recommend me some awesome Sci-fi and Fantasy books that you believe will blow away my mind, like the impact needs to be huge, cannot believe this happened type of stuff. Preferred genre are Sci-fi and Fantasy, but if you know some awesome book from other genre, don’t hold back, all suggestions are welcome.

Thank you in advance.

UPDATE: Piranesi is currently on lead and I am almost finished with Yumi, so that is the next on my list. But don’t let that stop the recommendations coming. Eventually all of us are going to run out of recommendations ;)

  • red_concrete@lemmy.ml
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    10 days ago

    Going back to the 80s here, but I would recommend the Taltos series by Steven Brust. It’s a very catchy read, great world-building. It starts as pretty much hard-boiled hitman whodunit in a fantasy setting, but escalated to much higher stakes. He’s still writing the series.

    Brusts other stuff is good too.

    I second the other suggestion in this thread of Becky Chambers’, classy stuff that really draws you in, very cozy, but not epic sci fi!

    The other series I’d recommended then is an old one by Greg Bear: The Way series, starting with Eon. It is about an asteroid which appears in orbit when Earth is at the brink of war, and is one of the most mind-bending, far-fetched sci-fi stories I’ve read, that is still arguably hard sci-fi.

  • UncleArthur@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    It’s an old four book series from the '90s but I would recommend The Saga of Pliocene Exile by Julian May. They’re available as ebooks. The first one is called The Many Coloured Land.

    If you enjoy the world-building, Mrs May wrote a companion series which, IMO, is even better! Starting with a link book (Intervention) there is a three book series called The Galactic Milieu series.

    Both series mix fantasy and sci-fi and are truly excellent reads.

  • TheBananaKing@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    The Malazan Book of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson.

    Ten brick-thick volumes that will alternately fill your heart to bursting then stomp on it until you’re wrung out like a rag. It is one HELL of a ride. It does have a steep immersion curve, so be prepared to take a couple of attempts to finish the first one.

    When you find yourself laughing at the tragedy and crying at the jokes, you’ll know.

    Also, the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. Adorkable romance, badass as hell, will break you. Gets increasingly weird as it goes along. Is good, has massive cult following.

    And by no means least, the Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee. Ostensibly weird Korean military space opera, but with a real gut punch; you won’t forget this one.

  • R. Bridger@lemmygrad.ml
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    10 days ago

    Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. A psychologist is sent to a station in orbit around a planet covered by a sentient ocean to determine if research on it should continue. Lem’s work consistently blows my mind, actually–other favorites are His Master’s Voice (memoirs of a mathematician working on a project to decipher what might be a message from extraterrestrials) and Peace on Earth (an adventurer returns from a trip to the moon with his brain bisected, and the half that remembers what happened is both unable and unwilling to communicate it).

  • Lazycog@sopuli.xyz
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    10 days ago

    My absolute all time favourite sci-fi book series is John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War”.

    I can’t recommend this book series enough. Kept me up several nights because I couldn’t stop reading (and suffered for it at work).

    Scalzi added a lot of humor too and it’s brilliant.

  • theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 days ago

    If you like Sanderson then I think you’ll enjoy The Foundryside books by Robert Jackson Bennett, a great trilogy.

    The Infinite timeline series of books by Jeremy Robinson is pretty great. I have 4 books left and in my opinion the first book “Infinite” is the worst so far (although not bad). As a series however it keeps expanding, to begin with there are only small references connecting the books and the universe but as the series goes on there are more and more connections as different stories begin unravelling and connecting with each other. I definitely think it is worth it and as I read each new book it becomes more compelling as you learn more links.

    The Deathstalker books by Simon R Green are a great Sci Fi / Space Opera that takes you on a wild, sometimes outrageous journey but ultimately brings the story back around to an ending that I didn’t really expect and was really fun!

  • MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net
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    10 days ago

    Presuming you’ve already read the standards like Discworld, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Imagica, etc., I’m gonna pick out The Warden/Necrobane/Advocate by Daniel M. Ford from the pile of little-known authors. I can’t guarantee any mind-blowing as the finale is set to be released in a couple of months, but they’re enjoyable enough so far.

    • IsoSpandy@lemm.eeOP
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      10 days ago

      Of all the books you considered standard, I read only hitchhikers (all 5). Tell me more about disc world and Imagica if you can.

  • murmelade@lemmy.ml
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    10 days ago

    I’m usually a SF guy but the most memorable read these past ~2 years was the fantasy books The First Law by Joe Abercrombie. The first book hooked me in and I ended up devouring all 9 books. The audiobook version read by Steven Pacey was superb, that man really breathed life into the characters and I’m glad I listened rather than read them.

    I recall wanting to read more dark fantasy after and tried listening to Stormlight Archives on recommendation from a friend but the readers and writing was so bad in comparison I gave up after 2 hours.

  • papertowels@mander.xyz
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    10 days ago

    It sounds like you’re looking for a mind blowing sander-lanche.

    I’d highly recommend going through Ted Chiang’s book “exhalation”. A more popular example of his work is the movie “arrival”, which was based on one of Ted Chiang’s short stories.

    It’s a collection of short stories, but don’t be misled - these stories have stuck with me for years, and as someone who has also read all of the cosmere, it is these short stories that have the biggest twists, and also the largest impact. A few of my favorites are below:

    I’ve always wondered to myself, "how many of my youngest memories are my own, and how many are in reality, stories told around photos that I’ve seen? The story “The truth of fact, the truth of feeling” makes you think about the role of technology in our memories through one example in the past, and one proposed in our future.

    What’s expected of us”, free on Nature, is a haunting story going over the role of free will that can be read during a bathroom break.

    Finally, “anxiety is the dizziness of freedom” had one of the biggest gut punches I’ve ever read. One best gone in blind, I think.

    • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 days ago

      +1 to Ted Chiang, besides Exhalation there is also his original collection of short stories, Stories of Your Life and Others.

  • w3dd1e@lemm.ee
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    9 days ago

    Some of my favorites! Mostly Sci-fi, but there a bit of fantasy too! The starred items are my absolute favorites; listened to on repeat. Not the most obscure list, but I don’t care.

    The Expanse series is my favorite, but I want to highlight Dungeon Crawler Carl and Redshirts. Sci-fi tends to be serious and depressing, but these books are funny. I genuinely laugh out loud at Dungeon Crawler Carl.

    • Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey*
    • Red Rising by Pierce Brown*
    • Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
    • Redshirts by John Scalzi
    • Hyperion by Dan Simmons
    • Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie*
    • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig*
    • Wool by Hugh Howey
    • Heretical Fishing by Haylock Jobson
    • Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnimon, narrated by Jeff Hays (listen to the audio book. It’s good in its own, but the narrator goes above and beyond anything else I’ve ever heard)*