This is a list of all the fantasy/sci-fi books i own and have read during the last couple years (since i stopped reading german books).
It should mainly serve as a list with recommendations, since IMHO every book in this list is well worth reading (the books i read and didn't like are not in this list), so if you are looking for a good book to read then browse my list, perhaps you'll find something here you'll like that doesn't turn up on the usual fantasy-book lists.
And if You're one of my friends or fellow students: just ask me if you want to borrow a book, they're just sitting idle in my bookshelf anyway :)
Please note that the synopsis below each book comes either from amazon or the back of the book, so no creative part from my side there :)
And finally, if you want to see what books i intend to read sooner or later, or if you're really cool and even want to buy me one, here is my amazon wishlist :)
It should mainly serve as a list with recommendations, since IMHO every book in this list is well worth reading (the books i read and didn't like are not in this list), so if you are looking for a good book to read then browse my list, perhaps you'll find something here you'll like that doesn't turn up on the usual fantasy-book lists.
And if You're one of my friends or fellow students: just ask me if you want to borrow a book, they're just sitting idle in my bookshelf anyway :)
Please note that the synopsis below each book comes either from amazon or the back of the book, so no creative part from my side there :)
And finally, if you want to see what books i intend to read sooner or later, or if you're really cool and even want to buy me one, here is my amazon wishlist :)
book's title | author's name | author's first name
 | Barbara Erskine: On The Edge Of Darkness My rating: 9/10 Very interesting plot...i enjoyed it alot |
This novel tells the story of a woman trapped in the wrong time. Abandoned by her twentieth century lover, she plots a terrible revenge on him and his family. Adam Craig is fourteen when, near an isolated Celtic stone in the wild Scottish Highlands, he meets Brid, whose exotic, gypsy-like dress and strange attitudes fascinate him. They become friends, then, in time, passionate lovers. Brid leads him, unsuspecting, into the sixth century, where training as a Druid priestess she has mastered their ancient mysteries and powerful magic. In her obsession with Adam she is seen as a traitor by her people and only escapes death by following Adam through time to Edinburgh, where he goes to study medicine. As the years pass he makes new friends, and finds new love, causing Brid to be consumed by a violent rage that knows no bounds. For fifty years, from Scotland to England to Wales, Brid will haunt Adam like an evil shadow. It is finally Adam's granddaughter, Beth, who helps discover the secret that will free them from the terror of Brid's curse. | |
 | Bram Stoker: Dracula My rating: 7/10 a classic - well worth the read, athough a bit dated :) |
Jonathan Harker, incarcerated in a Transylvanian castle, has an alluring but terrifying dream of three women, eager to prey upon him. His host and jailer is none other than Count Dracula, or Nosferatu, the Un-Dead, controller of the wolves. | |
 | Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy My rating: 9/10 A must-read book! Abolute cult! One of the funniest books ever |
Chronicles the off-beat and occasionally extraterrestrial journeys, notions, and acquaintences of galactic traveler Arthur Dent. | |
 | Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Tales My rating: 8/10 Many of Poe's most popular tales. I especially like 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. Gothic horror stories rule :) |
This is a title in an inexpensive range of classics in the "Penguin Popular Classics" series. | |
 | Edgar Allan Poe: Spirits Of The Dead My rating: 8/10 collection of some of Poe's best poems and horror stories |
A selection of tales and poems written by Edgar Allan Poe, from the macabre and horrifying to the humorous or purely descriptive. Entries include "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", "The Mystery of Marie Roget", "The Purloined Letter" and "The Raven". | |
 | Greg Egan: Distress My rating: 9/10 very interesting story with a few unexpected twists |
After developing a lengthy expose on "frankenscience," SeeNet reporter Andrew Worth is burnt out. So burnt that he passes up a plum assignment covering the new disease "Distress." Instead, he asks for a lower-key job profiling Violet Mosala, a scientist who earned a Nobel Prize at the age of 25 and who is about to announce her version of the Theory of Everything. The TOE is an attempt to explain how all scientific theories fit together, but it may actually be the catalyst that created the universe, making Violet the "Keystone" of the universe. So much for the quiet assignment ... | |
 | H. P. Lovecraft: At The Mountains Of Madness ( and other Tales of Terror ) My rating: 8/10 finest gothic horror |
At The Mountains Of Madness: The Barren, windswept interior of the Antarctic Plateau was lifeless - or so the expedition from Miskatonic University thought...until they found the strange fossils of unheard-of creatures...and the carved stones tens of millions of years old...and, finally, the mind-blasting terror of the City of the Old Ones... | |
 | J. R. R. Tolkien: The Lord Of The Rings ( includes 'The Fellowship Of The Ring', 'The Two Towers' and 'The Return Of The King' ) My rating: 5/10 well i only read the first book so far, and honestly i wasn't that impressed... |
Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him the Rings of Power - the means by which he will be able to rule the world. All he lacks in his plan for dominion is the Ruling Ring, which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as the Ring is entrusted to his care. He must leave his home and make a perilous journey across the realms of Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, deep inside the territories of the Dark Lord. There he must destroy the Ring forever and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose... | |
 | Martha Wells: City Of Bones My rating: 9/10 very cool book...quite a new approach to a post-apocalyptic story. Has interesting characters, some sci-fi and many fantasy-aspects. Sad thing it seems to be out-of-print. |
Wells's second novel (after The Element of Fire) is a delight: an SF adventure with complex characters, archeological puzzles, a dash of mental magic and a lot of fast-paced action. Khat and his partner, Sagai, make their living finding relics that survived the destruction of the Ancients and selling them to the highest bidders. Khat is a Krisman (a bioengineered human whose race was designed for the grueling desert environment most of his world has become), which places him even lower on the social scale than his foreign-born partner. The two are coerced into working with the Patrician Warder, Elen, who is searching out a specific relic for her mentor, the Master Warder. Warders have certain mental powers, although overusing these powers can cause them to go mad. The Master Warder believes that this particular relic will enhance his powers without causing insanity, but Khat and Elen discover that there is a terrible price to be paid for using the artifact, one that may bring about the final destruction of their already ailing planet. This finely crafted novel expertly combines several genres?SF, fantasy, horror?and, perhaps most impressive of all, even manages to avoid an overly sentimental ending. | |
 | Martha Wells: The Death Of The Necromancer My rating: 10/10 Wow! This book was really good. It seems to be out of print, but try to get it somewhere, it's really worth reading! The main character of the book is definitely one of the best(-written) protagonists ever. |
Nicholas Valiarde is both a nobleman and a thief, perhaps the greatest thief in the kingdom of Ile-Rien, where magic is a part of everyday life. Around him he has gathered an unparalleled band of criminals, including a well-known actress, an ex-military officer, a hardened killer, and a sorcerer with a bad drug habit. Valiarde, in the guise of criminal overlord Donatien, is amassing a small fortune in gold and jewels with one purpose in mind: to take his revenge on Count Montesq, the man who leveled false charges of necromancy against Nicholas's beloved godfather Edouard, leading to Edouard's execution. But Nicholas's band of ne'er-do-wells isn't the only force stalking the dark streets of Vienne, and Nicholas is about to face a real necromancer in a battle whose outcome will affect all of Ile-Rien. Wells has created a fast-paced action-adventure story with a wonderful cast of characters and a twisting, turning plot that will keep you flipping pages well into the evening hours. | |
 | Matthew Woodring Stover: Heroes Die My rating: 10/10 very good book, finest New Wave fantasy. Dark and gory, so it's nothing for the faint-hearted, but everyone who seeks fantasy apart from the classic good against evil scheme will like it. The book got magic, high-tech, vicious fights, betrayal, a love story, a god-emperor and more! I liked it very much |
Our world has developed a hyper-rigid, occupation-based caste system in which the reading of freedom-based philosophy, from John Locke to Robert A. Heinlein, is punished. For entertainment, people participate vicariously in recorded Adventures from the Overworld, an other-dimensional realm of sword and sorcery with its own repressive government. On Earth, Hari Michaelson is the most popular Actor in Adventures; in Ankhana, with its rich palaces and criminal slums, he is known as Caine, the Blade of Tyshalle, famous assassin and warrior. Tired of killing, Hari agrees to return to the Overworld, driven to save his estranged wife, Pallas Ril?Actor and sorceress, unable to return to Earth due to a powerful spell?and ordered by the Studio to kill the tyrant Ma'elKoth. | |
 | Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon My rating: 10/10 My favourite book. Read it. If you have only the slightest interest in computers, programming, maths, crypto, technology or something, you must read this book. If you don't have--read it anyway! |
Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods- -World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, cryptanalyst extraordinaire, and gung ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. They're part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unit's strange workings to Waterhouse. "When we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane first. Of course, to observe is not its real duty--we already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observed. Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious." All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day story line, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroes--inimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoe--team up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties. Cryptonomicon is vintage Stephenson from start to finish: short on plot, but long on detail and so precise it's exhausting. Every page has a math problem, a quotable in-joke, an amazing idea or a bit of sharp prose. Cryptonomicon is also packed with truly weird characters, funky tech, and crypto--all the crypto you'll ever need, in fact, not to mention all the computer jargon of the moment. A word to the wise: if you read this book in one sitting, you may die of information overload (and starvation). | |
 | Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash My rating: 9/10 cool sci-fi novel...very interesting vision of the future of the internet :) |
From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city-states, and the Internet--incarnate as the Metaverse--looks something like last year's hype would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist--hacker, samurai swordsman, and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fries his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilization on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible. | |
 | Neal Stephenson: Zodiac My rating: 9/10 Stephenson at it again...this time it's an Eco-thriller..well worth reading as is everything from Stephenson :) |
Zodiac is set in Boston, and hero Sangamon Taylor (S. T.) ironically describes his hilarious exploits in the first person. S. T. is a modern superhero, a self-proclaimed Toxic Spiderman. With stealth, spunk, and the backing of GEE (a non-profit environmental group) as his weapons, S. T. chases down the bad guys with James Bond-like Zen. Cruising Boston Harbor with lab tests and scuba gear, S. T. rides in with the ecosystem cavalry on his 40-horsepower Zodiac raft. His job of tracking down poisonous runoff and embarrassing the powerful corporations who caused them becomes more sticky than usual; run-ins with a gang of satanic rock fans, a deranged geneticist, and a mysterious PCB contamination that may or may not be man-made--plus a falling-out with his competent ("I adore stress") girlfriend--all complicate his mission. | |
 | Patricia A. McKillip: Riddle-Master: The Complete Trilogy ( Special Collector's Edition, includes 'The Riddle-Master of Hed', 'Heir Of Sea And Fire' and 'Harpist In The Wind' ) My rating: 8,5/10 i admit that the first 100 pages were a bit boring, but then it just became getting better and better :) |
In a land where wizards have long since vanished, Morgon, Prince of Hed, is confronted with a challenge much different from that faced by Hed's land-bound rulers before him. Although he wants only to rule and work the land of his birth, Morgon must search out a very different destiny - given to him by the stars imprinted on his forehead since he was born. He must wander strange, foreign lands full of untamed magic in the form of riddling wraiths, mysterious harpists, a lost crown, a magical sword, and an all-knowing High One who rules over all. But in his quest for a new life for himself and his people, he must face great dangers - not only to himself, but to his promised bride, his land, and his very way of life... | |
 | Piers Anthony: On a Pale Horse ( Book One of 'Incarnations Of Immortality' ) My rating: 9/10 A future world in which high-tech and magic coexist, and a man who doesn't really want to die and shoots death himself when he comes to take him only to take over his job...one cool book! |
Shooting Death was a mistake, as Zane soon discovered. For the man who killed the Incarnation of Death was immediately forced to assume the vacant position! Thereafter, he must speed over the world, riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others. Zane was forced to accept his unwelcome task, despite the rules that seemed woefully unfair. But then he found himself being drawn into an evil plot of Satan. Already the Prince of Evil was forging a trap in which Zane must act to destroy Luna, the woman he loved. He could see only one possible way to defeat the Father of Lies. It was unthinkable - but he had no other solution! | |
 | R. A. Salvatore: Exile ( Book Two of 'The Dark Elf Trilogy' ) My rating: 10/10 The second book..introducing Guenhwyvar, the coolest 'cat' ever :) |
Hostile in ways that a surface-dweller could never know, the tunnel-mazes of the Underdark challenge all who tread there. Among these souls are Drizzt Do'Urden and his magical cat, Guenhwyvar Exiled from his drow homeland, Drizzt must fight for a new home in the boundless labyrinth. Meanwhile, he must watch for signs of pursuit - for the dark elves are not a forgiving race. | |
 | R. A. Salvatore: Homeland ( Book One of 'The Dark Elf Trilogy' ) My rating: 10/10 Written after the Icewind Dale Trilogy, but chronologically precedes it, so begin with this book. What i say now counts for all of Salvatore's books in the Forgotten Realms setting: READ THEM!!!!!!!! Drizzt is the best and coolest character _ever_, you will love him! |
Travel back to strange and exotic Menzoberranzan, the vast city of the drow and homeland to Icewind Dale hero Drizzt Do'Urden. The young prince of a royal house, Drizzt grows to maturity in the vile world of his dark kin. Possessing honor beyond the scope of his unprincipled society, young Drizzt faces an inevitable dilemma. Can he live in a world that rejects integrity? | |
 | R. A. Salvatore: Legacy Of The Drow ( Collector's Edition, includes 'The Legacy', 'Starless Night', Siege Of Dakness' and 'Passage To Dawn' ) My rating: 10/10 The pride of my bookshelf :) 4 fantastic Forgotten Realms novels with Drizzt in the main role...the chronologic continuation of the Icewind Dale trilogy. I loved reading this! :) |
The Legacy: Drizzt Do'Urden has finally found peace. Bruenor has reclaimed his throne, Wulfgar and Cattie-Brie are to be wed in the spring, and the halfling Regis has returned. All are united in the safe confines of Mithril Hall. In the shadows creeps an enemy who cannot forget the wrongs done her. The Spider Queen Lloth has vowed revenge on the dark elf and seeks to ruin his plans for peace and contentment. Starless Night: Propelled by guilt and grief at the loss of his dear friend, Drizzt Do'Urden leaves Mithril Hall and travels to the Underdark to discover what enemies seek to do his friends harm He searches for old friends in the gnome city of Blingdenstone and draws ever closer to the drow city of Menzoberranzan. Enemies arise from all sides, determined to rid the world of the renegade drow. Siege Of Darkness: Lloth wants revenge. The drow of the Underdark flow out of Menzoberranzan, determined to fight their way trough Mithril Hall to the surface of Faerun. Drizzt and his allies mount a defense against the darkness, determined to defy the incredible odds against them. Mithril Hall just might survive. But how? Passage To Dawn: Aboard the patrol ship sea Sprite, Drizzt and Cattie-Brie taste adventure, battling the scourge of pirates along the Sword Coast. During one such escapade, Drizzt uncovers a devastating truth. The demon Errtu holds a loved one in the Abyss, one whose release must come at a great price. | |
 | R. A. Salvatore: Sojourn ( Book Three of 'The Dark Elf Trilogy' ) My rating: 10/10 Drizzt comes to the surface! |
Far above the merciles Underdark, Drizzt Do'Urden fights to survive the elements of Toril's harsh surface. The young drow begins a sojourn trough a world entirely unlike his own - even as he evades the dark elves of his past. He begins to understand his new home and his inhabitants, but acceptance among the surface-dwellers doesn't come easily. | |
 | R. A. Salvatore: Streams Of Silver ( Book Two of 'The Icewind Dale Trilogy' ) My rating: 10/10 The Drizzt-hype goes on! :) |
"Yer eyes'll shine when ye see the the rivers runnin' silver in Mithrill Hall!" Bruenor the dwarf, Wulfgar the barbarian, Regis the halfling, and Drizzt the dark elf fight monsters and magic on their way to Mithril Hall, centuries-old birthplace of Bruenor and his dwarven ancestors. Faced with racism, Drizzt contemplates returning to the lightless underworld city and murderous lifestyle he abandoned. Wulfgar begins to overcome his tribe's aversion for magic. And Regis runs from a deadly assassin, who, allied with evil wizards, is bent on the companions' destruction. All of Bruenor's dreams, and the survival of his party, hinge upon the actions of one brave young woman. | |
 | R. A. Salvatore: The Crystal Shard ( Book One of 'The Icewind Dale Trilogy' ) My rating: 10/10 The book that started it all... |
Akar Kessel, a weak-willed apprentice mage sets in motion events leading to the rediscovery of the magical device, the crystal shard. But is it merely an inanimate device...or is it capable of directing the defeat of Ten-Towns? Or have the barbarians already arranged for that themselves? Their brutal attack on the villages of Ten-Towns seals their fate, and that of the young barbarian Wulfgar. Left for dead, Wulfgar is rescued by the dwarf, Bruenor, in exchange for five years of service...and friendship. With the help of the dark elf, Drizzt, Bruenor reshapes Wulfgar into a warrior with both brawn and brains. But is Wulfgar strong enough the reunite the barbarian tribes? Can an unorthodox dwarf and renegade dark elf persuade the people of Ten-Towns to put aside their petty differences in time to stave off the forces of the crystal shard? | |
 | R. A. Salvatore: The Halfling's Gem ( Book Three of 'The Icewind Dale Trilogy' ) My rating: 10/10 If you finish this, and with it the trilogy, it won't take you long until you pick up more Drizzt books :) |
Assassin Artemis Entreri whisks his kidnapped victim, Regis the halfling, south to Calimport and into Pasha Pook's vengeful hands. If Pook can control the magical panther Guenwhyvar, Regis will die in a real game of cat and mouse. Using an enchanted mask, dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden hides his heritage and races with the barbarian Wulfgar to save their light-fingered friend. An unexpected ally arrives just as Entreri springs a trap. But can Regis survive unscathed? The companions from Icewind Dale battle pirates on the famed Sword Coast, brave the deserts of Calimshan, and fight monsters from other planes to rescue their friend...and themselves. | |
 | R. A. Salvatore: The Silent Blade My rating: 10/10 the saga continues...and as it goes on it gets better! Read this book once you read the previous 10 ones :) And i actually came to like Entreri in this book! |
Wulfgar returns from the Abyss to find there are demons a hammer cannot crush. Entreri has used his dagger to carve an empire in the back streets of Calimport, as he seaks the head of his oldest foe. Drizzt learns that not all wounds bleed. And not all blades kill. | |
 | Robert Jordan: The Dragon Reborn ( Book Three of 'The Wheel Of Time' ) My rating: - another book i can't await to start reading :) |
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and go. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Rand Al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn - able to touch the One Power, but unable to control it. Rand knows only that he must face the Dark One in a battle to the death. Ahead of him lies the next great test for...THE DRAGON REBORN | |
 | Robert Jordan: The Eye Of The World ( Book One of 'The Wheel Of Time' ) My rating: 10/10 First book in one of the greatest fantasy-sagas ever! If you want to start reading a story that unfolds over about 10000 pages, start with this book :) |
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. | |
 | Robert Jordan: The Great Hunt ( Book Two of 'The Wheel Of Time' ) My rating: 10/10 Fantastic second part of a fantastic series. I really loved it. |
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. For centuries, gleemen have told of the Great Hunt of the Horn. Now the Horn itself is found: the Horn of Valere long thought only legend, the Horn which will raise the dead heroes of the ages. | |
 | Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson: The Illuminatus! trilogy ( includes 'The Eye In The Pyramid', 'The Golden Apple' and 'Leviathan' ) My rating: 9/10 wow..a serious mindfuck. Religious people will hate this book though..Hail Eris, Hail Eris, All Hail Discordia! ;) |
It was a deadly mistake, Joseph Malik, editor of a radical magazine, has snooped into rumours about an ancient secret society that turned out to be still alive and kicking. Now his offices have been bombed, he's gone missing, and the case has landed in the lap of a tough, cynical, streetwise New York detective. Saul Goodman knows he's stumbled onto something big - but even he can't guess how far into the pinnacles of power this conspiracy of evil has penetrated. Filled with sex and violence - in and out of time and space - the three books in this trilogy are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle the cover-ups of our time - from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill - and suggest a mind-blowing truth. | |
 | Stel Pavlou: Decipher My rating: 10/10 One great book...filled with scientifical facts and an extraordinary storyline...and from an author who really cares about his readers and even posts in their guestbooks ;) |
Ten thousand years before Christ, there was the flood... Now, twelve thousand years later, a confluence of events affecting both the Sun and the Earth point towards a repeat performance. A small group of scientists must decipher an unknown language discovered in Antarctica to make sense of the sudden awakening of ancient sites (Atlantis!) if humanity - and it's home - is to survive the ultimate catastrophe. They have one week left... | |
 | Tad Williams: City Of Golden Shadow ( Book One of 'Otherland' ) My rating: 9/10 The beginning of an extraordinary sci-fi story depicting a future that is ruled by Virtual Reality...i really liked it and want to read all 4 parts of the series. |
Otherland... Surrounded by secrecy, it is home to the wildest dreams and darkest nightmares. Incredible amounts of money have been lavished on it. The best minds of two generations have labored to build it. And somehow, bit by bit, it is claiming the Earth's most valuable resource - it's children. | |
 | Tad Williams: River Of Blue Fire ( Book Two of 'Otherland' ) My rating: 9/10 even better then the first part of the series...our heroes are trapped in a VR world...without any idea how to get out.. :) |
Otherland In many ways it is humankind's most stunning achievement: a private, multidimensional universe built over two generations by the greatest minds of the twenty-first century. But this most exclusive of places is also one of the world's best kept secrets, created and controlled by a private cartel known - to those who know of their existance at all - a the The Grail Brotherhood. Though their purpose in creating Otherland is a mystery, they have exacted a terrible price from humanity in the process, and even their highly organized global conspiracy cannot hide the nature of their crimes forever. And now a small band of adventurers have penetrated the veil of secrecy that prevents the uninitiated from entering Otherland. But having broken into the amazing worlds within worlds that make up this universe, they are trapped, unable to escape back to their own flesh-and-blood bodies in the real world. And as dangers and circumstances split their party into small, widely scattered groups, their only hope of reuniting lies in returning again and again to the River that flows - in one form or another - trough all the worlds. | |
 | Terry Pratchett: Carpe Jugulum My rating: 7/10 One of Pratchett's cool Discworld stories(of which i read about two dozens, but this one is the only english one i own)...but Rincewind isn't in it, thus it is not as good as other Discworld stories, but very funny nonetheless :) |
In this latest satiric triumph, King Verence, in a fit of enlightened democracy and ebullient goodwill, unthinkingly invites Uberwald's undead, the Magpyrs, into Lancre to celebrate the birth of his daughter. But everyone knows you don't invite a vampire into your home - unless, of course, you want a permanent guest. Once ensconced within the castle, these wine-drinking, garlic-eating, sun-loving modern vampires have no intention of leaving. Ever. As the Lancre living are about to discover, there's only one way to fight. Go for the throat, or as the vampyres themselves say...CARPE JUGULUM! | |
 | William Gibson: Neuromancer My rating: 10/10 a must-read for our generation...this book created a whole genre! |
Here is the novel that started it all, launching the cyberpunk generation, and the first novel to win the holy trinity of science fiction: the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. With Neuromancer, William Gibson introduced the world to cyberspace--and science fiction has never been the same. Case was the hottest computer cowboy cruising the information superhighway--jacking his consciousness into cyberspace, soaring through tactile lattices of data and logic, rustling encoded secrets for anyone with the money to buy his skills. Then he double-crossed the wrong people, who caught up with him in a big way--and burned the talent out of his brain, micron by micron. Banished from cyberspace, trapped in the meat of his physical body, Case courted death in the high-tech underworld. Until a shadowy conspiracy offered him a second chance--and a cure--for a price.... | |