What book sci-fi/fantasy book do you think is underrated? Reply with a recommendation and I’ll boost you!

@bookstodon #books #bookreview #bookrecommendation #scifi #fantasy #genrefiction #writingcommunity

@la_marteau @bookstodon WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF TIME, by Marge Piercy
@ChrisAintMarchin @la_marteau Thanks ! Added to my reading list 😊

@la_marteau @bookstodon

Folks really seemed to dislike Stephenson's "Fall or Dodge in Hell" - I'll admit I did on first read (I also did not like its sorta-prequel, Reamde). But the second time through, I really admired Fall for its scope and originality. Yes - the ending kind of sucked, but the journey was very engrossing.

@bookstodon @djvanness I really enjoyed REAMDE, I’m a sucker for a gratuitous action movie and that felt like a book version of one. I liked all the random philosophical tangents too! I’ll have to pick up “Fall” sometime.
@la_marteau @bookstodon I mean, I still read REAMDE twice - so, even though I didn't like it much - well, it was still Stephenson so incredibly entertaining and thought-provoking. I just kind of bristle at the whole billionaire genius trope.
@bookstodon @djvanness that is super valid, it’s a tired trope.
@bookstodon @djvanness @la_marteau Reamde was a good read! I like a gratuitous action movie too, even though I couldn’t see “Arnie” in it. Anathem is another favourite of mine. Some thought provoking ideas in there too.
@la_marteau @djvanness @bookstodon I found “Fall or Dodge in Hell” a difficult read to begin with. Got sucked right I as it went on! The ending was always going to be difficult, I think.

@djvanness @la_marteau @bookstodon

Frankly I didn't think either was very good but seveneves was. It may be time to re-read Cryptonomicron.

@jesseliberty @la_marteau @bookstodon I just couldn't get into SeveneveS. The whole geopolitical reaction to the impending apocalypse was too unrealistic for me to be able to suspend disbelief. And Part 3 was interesting, but pretty underdeveloped.

On the other hand, it's never a bad time to re-read Cryptonomicon!

@la_marteau @bookstodon pretty much anything Sarah Douglass wrote. I know some of them are pretty popular, but of them all, I don't think The Troy Game series gets enough love.

@la_marteau @bookstodon

idk about "underrated" but i am always always ALWAYS shouting about Jan Morris's HAV, Maureen F. McHugh's CHINA MOUNTAIN ZHANG, Kai Ashante Wilson's SORCERER OF THE WILDEEPS, Jo Walton's MY REAL CHILDREN, Ada Palmer's TOO LIKE THE LIGHTNING, Lavie Tidhar's UNHOLY LAND—

@la_marteau @bookstodon I am OBSESSED with Baoshu's "What Has Passed Will In Kinder Light Appear", in Ken Liu's BROKEN STARS.
@louisevans @la_marteau @bookstodon Immediately thought of McHugh but couldn't pin down which one. I'm maybe more partial to "After the Apocalypse" for the... oblique? moodiness of each story.
@la_marteau @bookstodon Everyone loves Martha Wells' Murderbot (with good reason) but I would love for people to discover her other series, especially her Raksura series, starting with the Cloud Roads.
@la_marteau @bookstodon Underrated is a difficult quality to assign, but I've only ever found one other person on social media sites over the years who's read the Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove, and they're a fairly regular re-read by me because of their sheer scale of world-building.

@la_marteau @bookstodon

Krista D. Ball's Ladies Occult Society

M C Burnell's Foreign Sorcerer

James Beamon's Pendulum Heroes

Jenny Schwartz's Xeno-archeaologist series

... uh. Sorry. Got carried away. :D

@la_marteau @bookstodon

- The Innsmouth Legacy series by Ruthanna Emyrs
- The Inconvenient God and Lagoonfire by Francesca Forrest
- Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renée Thomas
- The Factory Witches of Lowell by C.S. Malerich
- Defekt by Nino Cipri
- Chilling effect series by Valerie Valdes

@la_marteau @bookstodon
Eliezer Yudkowsky‘s awesome Harry Potter fanfic deserves a mention. Should go mainstream.

This Harry is much better 🦹
https://www.hpmor.com/

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

Petunia married a professor, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

@la_marteau @bookstodon People snooze on the #StevenBrust series about #VladTaltos. Massive ongoing series, since the 80's. Start with #Jhereg and just read them in chronological published order. Third book is very dark, but push through, you'll be very pleased.

So well written, and the interlocking stories get told from various viewpoints and in various styles. Lots of humor and lots of serious stuff. Moves back and forth in time. Some things take 10+ books to pay off.

There's a secondary prequel series that is an homage to Dumas' Three Musketeers, and has characters from the original series (some characters live for centuries.)

Reads like fantasy, but is actually sci-fi. Takes a long time to realize it, though, as a reader. It's romantic, sardonic, devastating and fun.

<Shut up, Loiosh.>

@la_marteau @bookstodon Nightfall by Asimov. Love the interplay of forces like religion, science, and politics in it.