Which do you prefer—sci fi or fantasy?

[CBRetriever]

don't forget they had tablets and ebook readers before they were generally available

[Phillip]

Trike wrote: "I totally forgot about the time portal! I never watched Clone Wars - who bumped jiggly bits?"

A clone deserter and a Twi'lek.

[Silvana]

Trike wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Phillip wrote: "Trike wrote: "Also, I made this: https://www.goodreads.com/photo/user/... "

Cool chart. However, thanks to "Rebels," Star Wars now has time travel. A terrible call,..."

Did not remember the name but there was a clone trooper deserter who married a Twi'lek and have kids.

[Bruce]

I like both, but am probably more familiar with sci fi books than fantasy. Filmwise, still more sci fi, but a bit more fantasy than with books. For books, I’ve mostly read Tolkien, Robin McKinley, CS Lewis, Philip Pullman, and only one book by Martin, A Game of Thrones.

I also love a Star Wars, which mixes sci fi and fantasy, and Doctor Who, which I also think does as well.

[Joseph]

I prefer well told stories told well. Genre tends to be irrelevant. Give me interesting characters in an interesting situation and I'm in.

[Beth]

Gabi wrote: "Yes, definitely. In general I need to exercise more brain aerobic while reading SF than Fantasy. For me Fantasy often stands and falls with the characters, whereas I can gush over a SF novel without caring for any character at all (i.e. Three-Body Problem)"

I'm a character- and world building-centered reader, and prefer fantasy! The ol' brain aerobics does happen now and then, but on the whole I don't read much SF.

[Renee]

I like both but I suppose I prefer fantasy because I am more picky when it comes to sci-fi. I enjoy sci-fi more when it involves space (space operas specifically.)

[K.C.]

Joseph wrote: "I prefer well told stories told well. Genre tends to be irrelevant. Give me interesting characters in an interesting situation and I'm in."

I'm with Joseph!

[Joseph]

K.C. wrote: "Joseph wrote: "I prefer well told stories told well. Genre tends to be irrelevant. Give me interesting characters in an interesting situation and I'm in."

I'm with Joseph!"

K.C. is obviously a wise, wise man.

[P.B.]

I am more of a sci fi kind of guy.

[Black]

Science fiction. I can usually muddle through a sci-fi book even if it's not that great, but fantasy has to be really good in order for me to get into it.

[Maggie]

Although I agree with Joseph, I burned out and if the words apocalypse and space are in the blurb, I skip it. I’m more likely to pay and download a fantasy - even an imperfect one. But, I’ve been completely immersed in escapist fun reads, not indulging in anything that’d promote my grey matter.

[Angel]

I like both scifi and fantasy mostly with the punk fiction genres added with mystery thriller and suspense mixed in. I like multi-genre
fiction something that makes me think and with a lot of diversity, particluarly when it comes to scifi and fantasy. I don't too much engage in the apocalyptic stuff. Space is ok. But not too much. I like it better if its explored on a different level instead of those usually overdone topics like of the apocalypse and space. Sci-fi doesn't always have to be in space or on the verge of an apocalypse. Deeper or very different things can be explored.

[Joseph]

Maggie wrote: "Although I agree with Joseph, I burned out and if the words apocalypse and space are in the blurb, I skip it. I’m more likely to pay and download a fantasy - even an imperfect one. But, I’ve been c..."

What? You're not enthralled by a space apocalypse slasher unearth fantasy?
I think I got most of the buzzwords in there.

[Maggie]

What? You're not enthralled by a space apocalypse slasher unearth fantasy?
I think I got most of the buzzwords in there. .."

:-) Let’s not forget that our Main Character is also the ONLY one who can save humanity and the universe ...

[Mary]

because of being the Chosen One and not for any particular skills or talents. . .

[Kateb]

CBRetriever wrote: "I was reading both at an early age (pre-teen and teenage years):

Sci-Fi = Heinlein, Andre Norton, Clifford Simak, Ray Bradbury
Fantasy = L. Frank Baum, Andre Norton (she wrote in both genres), C.S..."

aaahhh , it looks like we had the same books to open our minds, the only one missing from your list that I read is Asimov.

I can remember by first sci fi book was an Asimov, after that all of the amazing story books that covered lots of short stories. I was 8 and first foundation just impressed me so much.

it was probably why a made a career in science.

I read recently about a club in America that is all about star trek, but you have to have majored in physics in Uni to get in.

[Trike]

Maggie wrote: "What? You're not enthralled by a space apocalypse slasher unearth fantasy?
I think I got most of the buzzwords in there. .."

:-) Let’s not forget that our Main Character is also the ONLY one who c..."

...who wakes up at the beginning without a memory. But can do complicated mathemagics because it “feels right”.

[CBRetriever]

I read Asimov when I was young too, but with the exception of the Robot ones, they were a bit over my head except for the Lucky Starr ones which I never ran across and Foundation (I got into this one in HS)

[Leticia]

I always liked both, can't say which is the favorite. I have to always alternate between one genre and the other, or read a book with both genres and also with YA or NA too. I can't stand Horror though.

[Kateb]

I say again where does fantasy end and sci fi begin. eg just read more of John Conroe's series and everything is explained in terms of science

[Trike]

Kateb wrote: "I say again where does fantasy end and sci fi begin. "

At the border between “impossible” and “possible”.

[Kateb]

ha ha ha

[Mary]

Except that would make ghost stories SF and FTL travel fantasy.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Friends, we have a thread for debating where we think things go from more scientific fantasy to more fantastical science fiction here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The OP asked which you like best, which means you can use your own definitions or say you don't see any real difference and love the whole spectrum!

[Kateb]

Ok I will say it , I love the whole spectrum. I cant decide which genre I love the most, I fluctuate from one to the other. I often find that my idea of sci fi is someone elses idea of fantasy and vice versa.

nearly 70 and I have read this spectrum all my life. It seems to improve but there are still lots to be said for some of the past masters, as long as you account for the time period that they wrote their book in, after all we are all influence by our environment in our attitudes

[Robert]

Fantasy is beyond science as we know it. King Kong can't be simply scaled up by a factor of 10. His weight would be disproportionately high for his bone strength. That's simply science. So, without an altered bone structure, he in the world of fantasy. Interstellar space travel like we see (and enjoy) in Star Wars is also in the world of fantasy. Such visions don't bend the laws of science, they break them.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

How many times does Allison have to point out that this is not the thread for debating what is sci-fi or fantasy?

[Loni]

I too believe that the genres merge into each other. I love that though. In so doing this, many times we get the best of both worlds

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Thanks Colleen!

I'll say that I tend to read more things that are marketed as fantasy, but that's been changing as I get more into Goodreads. I'm still more on the fantasy side than sci fi, but by a narrower margin.

I'm not entirely sure why. I think I've been burned a few times, and find that a lot of things from the '60s and 70s haven't aged well for me, while new sci fi either deep dives into science further than I want to go, or loses the internal consistency.

I think I'm much less forgiving of things in sci fi because it's supposed to be based on reality, which to me means that human behavior has to be accounted for a lot more strictly. I find a lot of authors spend so much time on the idea that they lose the humans or vice versa.

In fantasy, we start off by saying "okay, very little of this is real," and then launch from there, so I'm exploring whole new worlds with different rules and am more lenient about people doing things as I would expect.

But that said, like so many, the real crux for me is enjoyable story, characters I can connect with, a fun setting, and functional-to-great writing.