I grew up watching 80s Saturday morning cartoons, playing RPGs such as Final Fantasy. Those cartoons and games didn’t care about genre, they cared about telling a story, about making you care about the characters. Hence you could have wizards driving space cars, or knights battling giant robots and so on. They were proof of how wonderfully crazy our imagination can go when we threw labels away and just create stories. The books in this list allow themselves to do that and go bigger, go bolder, showing us the readers what’s possible if we let loose. I hope this list takes others on such wonderful rides, like they did with me.
This is a classic that even inspired art from the great Jack Kirby (New Gods, Fantastic 4). It’s written in such way that works both as a SF or a Fantasy novel, but I say that it’s one of the best examples of science fantasy.
Take a mythological/religious tale like the Rig Veda and the quest of Buddha for illumination and use it as the backbone for a story about a lost colony, deities of human origin, oppressive rulers vs. a rebel group and the original inhabitants of a faraway planet, and a generational struggle between immortal beings that affect the technological progression of a society.
It’s an action-packed philosophical mind trip. No wonder why this book won a Hugo and was nominated for a Nebula.
Imagine a distant world where gods walk as men, but wield vast and hidden powers. Here they have made the stage on which they build a subtle pattern of alliance, love, and deadly enmity. Are they truly immortal? Who are these gods who rule the destiny of a teeming world?
Their names include Brahma, Kali, Krishna and also he who was called Buddha, the Lord of Light, but who now prefers to be known simply as Sam. The gradual unfolding of the story - how the colonization of another planet became a re-enactment of Eastern mythology - is one of…
How hard would it be to solve a crime in a society where, systemic inequalities aside, you can get away literally with murder thanks to magic? Well this is the question that Constable Reva Lunaria and her new partner Ansee will have to answer, while cutting through a lot of red tape, politics, an elusive killer, and the very foundations of their elven society.
This book (the first of a series) takes the old buddy cop /odd couple comedy set up, mixes with political intrigue, a whodunit thriller, and places it in a fantasy setting, where tensions run high, time runs short, criminals run away, and you are left with a pressing side question: will Reva ever manage to finish her freshly baked sweet roll?
The brutal murder of Lavale fey Avecath, the King's First Magistrate and advisor, interrupts Constable Inspector Reva Lunaria's day off. The victim's status makes this a high-profile investigation, bringing with it unwanted attention from Senior Inquisitor Ailan Malvacea of the Sucra, the King's secret police. The manner of the victim's death makes this case even more intriguing. A body cut perfectly in half - from top to bottom - is a rare occurrence, even in a city filled with all manner of magic weapons. All of this would be challenging enough, but Inspector Lunaria must also deal with a new…
A historical thriller set in south London just after World War II, as Britain returns to civilian life and the men return home from the fight, causing the women to leave their wartime roles. The South London Hospital for Women and Children is a hospital, (based on a real place)…
Take one of Dicken’s most famous characters, give him a timey wimey mcguffin straight from Doctor Who, a ghost girl with a knack to design wonderful gadgets, a dash of snark, the good looks of John Boyega, and the personality of a young Bruce Wayne looking over the downtrodden of a steampunk London, and you get one of the most peculiar and freshest depictions of Oliver Twist committed to paper in recent years.
I love this book because it has a lot of heart, and takes an old classic, giving it a continuation that is not afraid of going bigger and crazier adding elements from different genres, be it superhero, steampunk, mystery, and fantasy. It should be made into a movie.
I know this one is kinda cheating because it’s not a novel, but rather a single tome (a large one at that) manga.
But first, it’s by the master Masamune Shirow, of Ghost in the Shell fame. Second, this is one massive epic science fantasy adventure where magic and technology run with Clarke’s Third Law, where a side effect of the quest is one of the crucial events in evolution of life on Earth. Where gods and supercomputers and androids can cast spells while in a flying car chase in a cyberpunk city.
This story is not afraid of putting together seemingly opposite concepts and makes them work in order to tell a story about free will, and the fate of ‘humanity’. It’s so bonkers that it has to be read.
It`s a time in the future -- a time where the creation of life itself has evolved to include biodroids named after the ancient Greeks and cyborg warriors programmed to destroy. The power struggle between the various synthetic life-forms and the humans could mean the end of all life. But there is one, named Typhon, who may be able to prevent that. This collection is the first-ever-published work of the genius behind Ghost in the Shell -- Masamune Shirow.
In 1939, on a remote Pacific island, botanical researcher Irene Greer plunged off a waterfall to her death, leaving behind a legacy shrouded in secrets. Her great-niece Julia, a struggling journalist recovering from a divorce, seeks answers decades later.
Tasked with retrieving Dr. Greer’s discovery–a flower that could have world-changing…
Cosmic horror and fantasy have shared a close relationship since the times of Robert E. Howard. But historical fantasy and cosmic horror? Now that’s different.
If you are a fan of series such as The Last Kingdom, or enjoy a bit of cosmic horror in the vein of the Cthulhu Mythos, this is for you. Written by Gary Whitta, who also wrote the script for Rogue One. Set during Alfred the Great’s rule, this is a story about a knight that saves his kingdom at great personal cost thanks to the dabbling in dark magic from a deranged monk.
The tension and trepidation grow with every page. And that’s just half the story. Don’t let the body horror distract you, this is at its core a story about family love.
"Whitta is a master of suspense. Abomination grabs you and doesn't let go." ―Hugh Howey, New York Times-Bestselling Author of Wool
He is England's greatest knight, the man who saved the life of Alfred the Great and an entire kingdom from a Viking invasion. But when he is called back into service to combat a plague of monstrous beasts known as abominations, he meets a fate worse than death and is condemned to a life of anguish, solitude, and remorse.
She is a fierce young warrior, raised among an elite order of knights. Driven by a dark secret from her…
Fionn is the wielder of a legendary Tempest Blade, and he's blessed – or cursed – by the Gift. Though his days as a warrior are long over, his past leaves him full of guilt and regret. Life has other plans for him when he agrees to help a friend locate a missing person.
Gaby and Alex never expected to become heroes…until they met Fionn. As an ancient evil arises and consumes the land, Fionn must help them to master their own Gifts and Tempest Blades. Together the three of them, and their friends, will chart a course aboard the flying ship Figaro to save the planet. Will Fionn's past be an anchor, or will he overcome the one failure from his former life before time runs out?
The Festival of Sin is a three-story light sci-fi arc about a young boy rescued in 6000 BCE and taken to the home planet of the Hudra. Parts two and three are exploratory excursions. It's a fish-out-of-water series. More than fish-out-of-water. Fish-on-another-planet.
Fall 2028. Mickey Cooper, an elderly homeless man, receives an incredible proposition from a rogue pharmaceutical company: “Be our secret guinea pig for our new drug, and we’ll pay you life-changing money, which you’ll be able to enjoy because if (cough) when the treatment works, two months from now your…
