Looking for standalone sci-fi/fantasy recommendation

[Brian]

I'm trying to find something new to read on Kindle, but looking through their science fiction & fantasy pages, everything seems to be part of a series. Not being familiar with many of the authors, I'm unwilling to sink money into someone who's trying to be the next George R R Martin by equating quantity with quality.

Could someone recommend good standalone books in either genre, preferably something with a bit of action?

Certain pulp style novels with recurring characters but that can be read on their own also fit the bill (similar to Conan or Tarzan where each story is self contained).

Mostly this will be read during my daily commute, so just looking for something that can be picked up and put down and offer a spot of escapism for an hour or so.

[[deleted user]]

As a first-pass reference, check out

Stand-Alone Fantasy List

Favorite Stand-alone Scifi List

[Saul the Heir of Isauldur]

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber is kind of pulpy sword and sorcery.
Any H.P. Lovecraft story is good too.
Solomon Kane stories also by R. E. Howard

The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville (kind of a steampunk science fantasy)
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (more urban fantasy)
Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (written as a standalone, he later came back and gave it sequels because the publisher asked him to)

[Jim]

Lord of Light, This Immortal, Lord Demon, Roadmarks, Doorways in the Sand, Damnation Alley, Today We Choose Faces are all standalones by Roger Zelazny. He tends to blend SF & fantasy to some extent.

[Jeff]

Lord of Light and Period Street Station were both amazing books

[Randy]

Brian wrote: "I'm unwilling to sink money into someone who's trying to be the next George R R Martin by equating quantity with quality."

Why sink money into someone unknown? There are so many free Kindle books available. I've found a lot of great writers. Some terrible ones as well. But if the book is free, it's a lot easier to just abandon a bad writer and go on to the next.

[Allison]

Dark Matter so far is action packed, quick and fun. Claire North may be a good fit. I recently read Touch and it was very exciting but also a strong "what if" fantasy scenario. The Girl With All the Gifts was an amazingly well told story, and I absolutely loved the audiobook. It says it's a series, but it's a full story by itself.

[Randy]

P.S. I just updated my free Kindle book lists for today. See:

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

[Brian]

Thanks for all the replies so far. I'm definitely going to be giving some of these a try (there's a few in G33z3r threads that I've already read).
Randy's list is helpful as most are free book 1's, so am going to try a few and see if any make me want to continue with that series.

[V.W.]

King Kobold

Both SF and fantasy.

[Jim]

V.W. wrote: " King Kobold
Both SF and fantasy."

The Warlock in Spite of Himself is an old favorite. My wife & I wound up with 2 copies when we merged libraries 35+ years ago. It stands alone just fine. I don't know about the other books in the series, though. I tried reading a couple, but didn't like them. I don't think I finished any.

Stasheff did the same with Her Majesty's Wizard. It was a lot of fun & stood alone well. The second book was fairly awful, IIRC. Might have been the the third. No reason to read beyond the first. I recommend the first of both series as standalones.

[Andy]

The Golden Key - written by a triumvirate comprised of Rawn, Elliot, & Roberson. Never met anyone else who’s read it, but I really enjoyed it.