The Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of 2018 (So Far)

Lana wrote: "why don't i see any indie authors amongst the favourites at all? they write amazing fantasy and sci fi books too and they are the only ones i am reading at the moment!!"
Please recommend some! Its often harder for new readers to find good indie authors because of the lack of publicity.

Amber wrote: "Not your fault, Susan, but Dario's question was valid since all the books on the list are in English and the sole foreign novel; The Three Body Problem, is in English translation from Guoyu (one of..."

Wow, thanks for the information Amber. I think your discussion is way over my head. So I'll just read and learn.
Susan

Reflector wrote: "Is Jim Butcher good? I keep getting recommended his books based on what I've read."

Saw "The Dresden Files" on Netflix, and before I watched it, I read ALL his stuff on Dresden. Together, they make a nice body of work that was good to scratch my urban wizard itch. I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars at least.

Reflector wrote: "Is Jim Butcher good? I keep getting recommended his books based on what I've read."

The Dresden Files books are wonderful! I've read them all at least twice.

This Thrawn stuff isn’t good at all. It removes the character from the story that made him who he is. If you want to read about him, read the original Thrawn Trilogy.

I loved Circe. I think it was my favorite of my 2018 reads. So far!

James wrote: "wow, these discussions are funny as hell! why can't people just accept everyone has their opinion about what is good, indie, POC, etc.? and be OK with Amazon owning goodreads, it ain't changing, an..."

I usually end up not liking indie books much - they are very difficult to obtain, and may or may not be of low quality (lack editors), so I understand the frustration at people randomly using this indie label without being specific about what or who they mean and demanding their inclusion.

Indies include white/male books too. So they are not exactly in the same line as the one calling for diversity. Therefore, I object to this comparison.

In addition I do want to point out that a demand for inclusion is not about seeking validation or furthering a cause
A) Marginalised people have every right to demand their work be included in mainstream lists because their writing has been discouraged and ignored for a long long time.
B) I can see half of this list is full of diverse and award winning authors/books, so obviously their writing can be among the best of the best.
C) To all who say they don't care what type of author it is if a book is well written, I want to point out that you cannot have well-written & award winning books with poc or lgbtqia etc authors if you do not allow/encourage them to share the same equal spotlight as the white/male books.
D) They need our special attention for now to achieve recognition because they are still in the minority, when they become part of the majority no one will need to point out the lack of this or that kind of inclusion.

Susan wrote: "I thought mistakenly that this was the purpose of this site - to talk about our published books with each other...."

Susan the purpose of this site is to talk about the books we read with each other. This page in particular is for discussing the best books we read published in 2018. If you want to talk about your own book you can write a blog post, or start a discussion, join groups, etc. there is so much you can try. Good luck!

This is my new Science Fiction book:
Cucaracha (Short Stories- Microbial Fantasies)

It seems that very few authors now are capable of writing a standalone book. Every time I see a book that is part x of the y series I skip over because you cannot guarantee that the author will complete.

If it's going to be a long story, why not make it a big book...or wait until the series is finished before publishing?

Tracy wrote: "I have such a strange, deep fondness for the Murderbot in Martha Wells' novellas. All Systems Red has now received a Nebula, a Locus award, and a Hugo as well! In typical selfish reader mode, I can..."

me too - read it in one swift gulp yesterday. i think 2 of the kids are eyeing it now.

Peter wrote: "It seems that very few authors now are capable of writing a standalone book. Every time I see a book that is part x of the y series I skip over because you cannot guarantee that the author will com..."
Sometimes the publisher has the author break up the book for length. That's what happened to Garth Nix with the Abhorsen series, books 2 and 3 were one book but were divided, because it would originally have been over a thousand pages. And publishers are looking to not scare readers off and save money.

why don’t our indie author champions take that passion and make their own list? I’d like to know more about those writers. I accept that there are great writers I’ve missed because they don’t get the recognition they deserve.

Limit restraintThe Martian Chronicles

Susan wrote: "Amber wrote: "Not your fault, Susan, but Dario's question was valid since all the books on the list are in English and the sole foreign novel; The Three Body Problem, is in English translation from..."

It happens. "Use it or loose it" applies as much to the brain as to any other muscle in the body , which is why my parents always said "Stop learning, start dying."

Gordon: If you liked that series AND you like epic "swords-and-sorcery" style fantasy like Tolkien, try Butcher's Codex Alera series. It's Jim's combined tribute to LOTR, the Roman Empire AND the US military.

Chicagomel: That was the EU Thrawn which has been declared non-canonical. So this series is Zahn's attempt to bring Thrawn more fully into the new canon.

Ali: Please take a long walk off a short pier. You are advertising and that is simply NOT ALLOWED on this thread.

Peter: Because you gotta live while writing. Re: your question about waiting until the series is finished before publishing.

And Juliet's right about publishers sometimes asking the author to separate. Tolkien's original idea for LOTR was to do it as one MASSIVE book of six sub books but that would have made the whole thing well over 3,000 pages! It would not have become nearly as popular as it is if it had been published that way!

Woah a 3000 page book oh my goodness. I think that would be too intimidating even for the most excited readers

I couldn’t help but notice that The Exercise Of Vital Powers is conspicuous by its absence, so I’m mentioning it here for the benefit of all Goodreads’ adult fantasy fans. 😉 😄

Thomas wrote: "Reflector wrote: "Is Jim Butcher good? I keep getting recommended his books based on what I've read."

Jim Buthcer IS good. You will enjoy his characters."

Jim Butcher is fantastic. love the setting; characters and mash up of worlds

Wondering which of these are one-offs? I understand why some people like to get into a serial, but I can’t count myself among them. (I must have been burned by a series at some point!)
Any guidance is appreciated, because I think I will be adding a few of these to my very very long “must check out” list!

Anybody else read Sarah Prineas' Scroll of Kings? It's the first of a new series called The Lost Books that's really quite endearing and hilarious.

Richp wrote: "GR may have been created as a book readers site, but bills need to get paid and it was sold to book sellers (I believe Amazon). While readers supply most of the content, sellers are motivated to go with what is most likely to sell most in the future."

While what you say is true, it implies that Amazon is not making more money from traditional publishers than indies, and I don't think that is true. Given the HUGE number of indie titles vs the relatively small number that can be released by traditional presses...and that fact that many indies are selling even better than the traditional counterparts, it would be in Amazon's best interest to promote indie authors -- which they do. Now in the case of THIS list it was based on shelvings by readers, so they didn't curate it bring in more income. They just looked at the data and went from there.

I should note, that while I have 11 books released through the big-five I have roots in the indie community and I'll be returning to it going forward. Why? Money. Yes, I can earn much more as an indie author than I can as a traditionally published one...so the free market works. Authors, retailers, and publishers are all looking to earn money from what we create, and I'd rather have the bulk of that go to me than the middlemen.

Michelle wrote: "Francisco wrote: "A list with incredible titles! But I think Children of Blood and Bone it should also be there."

Is that a YA title? Could that be why it's not on this list?

Peter wrote: "It seems that very few authors now are capable of writing a standalone book.

It's not that we aren't capable of writing a standalone book, it's because earning a living wage from writing is very difficult and series makes that easier. Publishers expect to lose money on the first book of a series, hope to break even on the third, and expect to get into profitability on the third, this is one of the reasons why trilogies are so common

Peter wrote: "If it's going to be a long story, why not make it a big book...

Making it one big book would significantly cut into the author's income. For instance, say you have a trilogy and the trade paperbacks are $16 each that's $48 worth of sales per reader which nets the author about $3.60. But if was all in one volume selling for say $18 then we would only earn $1.35.


Peter wrote: "k...or wait until the series is finished before publishing?.

Some authors do this. I'm one of them, and I believe Joe Abercrombie is doing that with his current work in progress. Also, Mark Lawrence has done this (I believe). I think it's the best way to (a) ensure the series ends in a satisfying way, (b) makes sure the books come out in a timely manner (c) eliminates deadline pressures that could make a book go to market when it's time is up rather than it's the way the author wants it. But that said, it also is VERY difficult to do and make any money on it. For my first series (which I did this way) it was started in 2004 and the first book was released in 2008 - that's 4 years with no income whatsoever. For my Legends of the First Empire books (which employed this technique), I started writing them in 2012 and the first one was published in 2016.

So, yeah, because of authors like Martin, Rothfuss, and Lynch I can understand why you feel the way you do, but please keep in mind there are authors who take their "covenant" with readers seriously and as such we DO regularly release books and finish out what we start.

I'm a little disappointed that the "Poppy War" is not about the opium wars because that would have been a really good title for something of that nature, though it wouldn't make sense for the genre of books this post features.

Lana wrote: "Lana wrote: "why don't i see any indie authors amongst the favourites at all? they write amazing fantasy and sci fi books too and they are the only ones i am reading at the moment!!"

Lana wrote: "..."

ikr, i had a hard time to not write something bitchy back on your behalf

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