Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion
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How many have you read - Goodreads top 100 SF
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Book Nerd wrote: "That's really interesting. Lord of the Rings and Narnia look so tiny up there lol."They should have grouped LotR with The Hobbit, but it probably still wouldn't have beaten Percy Jackson.
The Joy of Erudition wrote: "I think all of those books are relatively small compared to the popular fantasy epics of today! The series aren't quite so daunting if you judge them by word count, I think. But Elric is some of the best fantasy I've ever read."That is very true, just one entry in A Song of Ice and Fire covers the entire first half of the Amber series. Even Lord of the Rings is really just one big book, though it does tend to give off a feeling of great gravitas and massiveness, maybe because the content was so epic even in such a relatively small number of pages, still one of the best worldbuilding out there.
But one thing that daunted me about Wheel of Time is that not only is there a million books in the series, there is also a million pages in each book :) Also daunted by the Malazan series (which has an equally huge spinoff series). Though I did start Outlander, not that many books, but man, I have a hardcover of the first book and I'm using a pillow to prop it up it's so heavy!
Discworld is up there entirely based on number of books since those are short, it's like those manga series with a hundred books in them, quick to read each one but takes up half your bookcase just the same :)
I didn't see Shanara and Sword of Truth, if you take all their spinoff series, while each book is of average length, the total word count must be pretty epic too.
Dune must triple if you count the books written by Herbert's son.
Wheel of Time is definitely an exception! I really wasn't planning to read it at all except that I've been hearing so many people praise it lately, so I'll try the first book, at least. Still, I'd probably rather read 3 or 4 Discworld books than 1 Wheel of Time book (I've read many Discworld, but there are many more to read), since I know I'll like them.For the ones that aren't on the chart, you could check on https://www.readinglength.com but the ones I've looked up there say they're estimates based on the audiobook length. It would be far better to just do a word count of the ebooks if you have them or can borrow them.
If those coloured bars on that chart represent book length (which I think they do) then Sanderson’s saga is going to outstrip everything by the time he’s finished. Stormlight is projected to be 10 tomes, then add on all the other Cosmere books. I don’t mind though - the thicker the book the better!
Out of curiosity, just to see how much the estimate may vary from the actual word count, I looked up Elric of Melniboné on readinglength.com, and it estimates the word count as 47,850. I ran stats on my ebook of the same book, with title page and other matter excluded, and it came out to 48,105. The ebook does not contain the audiobook's introduction by the author, nor the new prelude material that I think was created for the audiobook, so that adds perhaps another 1,000 words to the discrepancy. Maybe more, not sure.
Andy wrote: " the thicker the book the better"My sister picks her books along those lines so she's read Outlander, Malazan, and some Tad Williams stuff that is pretty long too :) Maybe I'll have to point her to Sanderson. Also the advantage if she buys the books I can borrow them when she's done ;)
Ironically, with Outlander I fortunately had my own copy, because she lent hers to a coworker and then Covid hit so no idea when she'll be getting it back! At least if it turns out to be "never" (always a risk when lending books" we'll have my copy to maintain the complete set.
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1876Decided to do a count on the 45 Recent Hits list and got a whole 2, both of which were group reads so why I read them. I clearly don't read the recent stuff all that much :) Not that I have anything against them, but I have so much already, and I don't want to pay out for a hardcode whose content I may not enjoy.
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1877
And then to see what subgenre I read the most of, it was pretty evenly divided between 1 - 3 in each group...but the one that had 3 was the Epic one. Although if I count my "to-read" shelves, there were three groups with 4 in them.
Those free ebooks Tor hands out fill a lot of slots on all the lists, I keep putting them off since most are the start of a series and I'm in the process of trying to deal with the ones I've *already* started!
Andrea wrote: "Decided to do a count on the 45 Recent Hits list and got a whole 2"I've read none of those! But there are a few that I plan to, at some point.
I haven't read any of the 45 recent hits either, but there are several that I will probably get around to at some point.My reading across the subgenres was also fairly evenly scattered, with a few in each of the books listed. I feel that if I were to take the time to go through my library and catalogue my books into subgenres that it may well reveal some preferences, but that's far too big a job for me to be bothered with :)
Tony wrote: "I haven't read any of the 45 recent hits either, but there are several that I will probably get around to at some point...."I read 82 of the top 100 SF & almost half of the top 100 fantasy, but only 4 on this list, although I've read other books by some of the authors. Gibson peaked with Neuromancer, IMO. Ditto for Brown with Red Rising & I've read other books by both with no desire to read more. At least half a dozen other authors on this list fit that bill. I would have read The Collapsing Empire, but I read that it ends on a cliff hanger & he hasn't finished the trilogy last I heard, so it can wait.
There are a few more I plan on reading, but none that I'm in a rush for. Stephen Fry is always good for a laugh. I read a book on Norse gods not too long ago, so haven't been too tempted by Gaiman's book. I've never cared for Star Wars or Star Trek books. For me, they're movies/TV shows & don't do well in print.
The final Collapsing Empire book is out now, in case that makes you interested in reading the trilogy. :-) I always think I should avoid starting series that aren't finished, but I'm way too impatient!
Andrea wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1876Decided to do a count on the 45 Recent Hits list and got a whole 2, both of which were group reads so why I read them. I clearly don't read the recent stuf..."
Of the 45 I've only read Thrawn. I'm always pretty far behind the times.
I have a pretty good spread among the genres though I don't know how well those books represent them. I love space opera with aliens and I'm not crazy about time travel.
Kellie wrote: "The final Collapsing Empire book is out now, in case that makes you interested in reading the trilogy. :-) I always think I should avoid starting series that aren't finished, but I'm way too impati..."Thanks! I won't put off reading for a series, but this was a trilogy, so I figured I could stand the wait. I was right.
:)
Kellie wrote: "The final Collapsing Empire book is out now, in case that makes you interested in reading the trilogy. :-) I always think I should avoid starting series that aren't finished, but I'm way too impati..."I'm with you on that one, especially when some authors take years between books (I won't point fingers this time and some of them have very valid reasons for it, life/health/whatever can get in the way for them just like the rest of us). And cliffhangers are the worst. One thing when it's a TV series and you only had to wait for the summer before it came back in the fall but books rarely come out that fast, so the cliffhanger is stuck for a couple years. I think every book should wrap up it's own threads, though leaving the overall arc going.
On the other hand I guess if there weren't a bunch of people that simply *have* to be one of the first to read a new book, then authors wouldn't get paid and they wouldn't get to finish their series either :) So there are a few where I do run out to get the hardcover for. And one memorably time when I actually did a pre-order of the last Harry Potter (and read it in a couple days) to avoid spoilers!
Only 64 on the SF list and 48 on the fantasy one. Looks like I still have a lot of good books left to read.
I have read 55 on the SF list and am currently reading Provenance by Ann Leckie.I have read 25 on the fantasy list. The next book on the list I plan to read is A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.
https://time.com/collection/100-best-...Another list, put together by an author panel for TIME. As always, these are subjective. I’ve read 30 of this lot.
Andy wrote: "https://time.com/collection/100-best-...Another list, put together by an author panel for TIME. As always, these are subjective. I’ve read 30 of this lot."
I've read 24 on that list with at least another dozen that I have copies of but haven't read yet.
I've read 33, some of which only just this year :) I find it a bit odd to put more than one book of the same series, not that each books shouldn't be treated individually, but LotR is really one long book, not three standalones, and would allow a few more to be added to the list. It did increase my read count though, hehe.Ah, I had The Wandering Unicorn on my to-read list during my unicorn themed year but didn't get around to it since it probably wasn't actually directly unicorn related...but now it shows up on this list! Guess I should have given it a try after all.
I own another 14 that I will get to...eventually...
There's a bunch I'd never heard of before, especially the more recent ones (since I tend not to jump on books right away, my counting slowed down considerably as I went through the list) but there are some old ones I never heard of either.
Nice list though, one of these years I might pick some list like this and make it my reading theme to read as many as possible on it :)
31 of the sci fi; some more on the TBR. I don't like Vonnegut, so those are out.34 of the fantasy and a DNF. Most are on the TBR or No-Thanks shelves. My favorite fantasies are missing; a lot of those were 2 stars for me.
29 each for both Sci Fi and Fantasy, many others on my TBR or Nope lists, or DNFAll I can say though, is that 3.5 is an absurdly low bar to have to clear. Out of thousands of books I only have a couple dozen under that, mostly foreign language books with less than 100 ratings, and only FOUR Sci Fi/Fantasy that qualify.
Finished Dark MatterNon-stop thriller. Jason goes from reality to reality,desperately trying to get home. He is constantly in danger and on the run. It is action packed.
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/187455 for me on the Goodreads pick. I had more at the top 50 than the bottom.
66 SF so far (31 tbr, 3 not interested) 38 Fantasy
Another one done; The PowerWomen have a new electrical power. This leads to fighting and a battle for control. the author realizes what history teaches, when the downtrodden gain power they often turn around and behave just as badly as those who oppressed them.
20 for me. The Collapsing Empire(#97) I just finished a month ago and started it's sequel The Consuming Fire yesterday. Hope it's as good.
Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
Recursion (other topics)The Power (other topics)
Dark Matter (other topics)
A Darker Shade of Magic (other topics)
Provenance (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Blake Crouch (other topics)Ann Leckie (other topics)
V.E. Schwab (other topics)
That's really interesting. Lord of the Rings and Narnia look so tiny up there lol.