Locus Poll of Best Novels

[nwhyte]

Locus have published the results of their online poll of the best sf and fantasy novels of the 20th and 21st centuries, and as ever with these things they are a mixture of the expected and the facepalm. I give the lists below, with the usual bold if I've read it, italic if I started but did not finish, and struck through if I did not like the book.

Comments

[stormsewer]

The Last Unicorn is very charming and definitely a classic. The Hunger Games is a quick and absorbing read and, in my opinion, definitely worth the relatively small time investment required to get through it (though I've heard the rest of the books in the series aren't as good, so I haven't bothered to read them). I've heard very good things about The Lies of Locke Lamora, though I haven't read it.

Didn't like Neuromancer, huh? I have to admit it didn't quite live up to its reputation for me, but I wouldn't say I disliked it.

[lizbee]

I really enjoyed The Hunger Games. It was a taut, well-constructed sci-fi thriller. I liked the sequels, too, but they weren't as good. I believe Collins took several years to write the first book, and then had to knock out the sequels in 12 months.

[drplokta]

I would recommend The Name of the Wind, while noting that only 2/3 of the story has yet been published. But since you didn't like Little, Big or Blindsight, it's clear that our tastes are somewhat divergent.

[londonkds]

The Iron Dragon's Daughter is an exceptionally grim and nihilistic deconstruction of fairyland fantasy. I enjoyed it, but it may be too nasty for your taste. It may come across as misogynistic in the fury of its attack on female-coded fantasies of being sooperspeshul if you don't also read its thematic sequel Jack Faust, which has no plot or worldbuilding connection but is equally nasty about male-coded fantasies about being a Heinleinian Competent Man.

[girfan]

Beagle, Peter S.: The Last Unicorn
Bradbury, Ray: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Howard, Robert E.: Conan the Barbarian
King, Stephen: The Shining
Collins, Suzanne: The Hunger Games
Lynch, Scott: The Lies of Locke Lamora

I have read all of the above, and liked all of them for various reasons.

We read Something Wicked this way Comes for our book club recently and I was surprised to realise how my point of view changed due to age. I first read it as a teenager (I lived near Waukegan where Bradbury based his Green Town stories) and then more than 40 years later and went from identifying with the 2 boys to identifying with the father.

I was pleasantly surprised to like The Hunger Games and The Shining is one of King's best books. Love the topiary garden segment (not seen in the film)!