It’s occurred to me lately that I might be missing out on a lot due to my dislike of sci-fi and fantasy, and I’m hoping to find kind of a “soft” inroads.
Fantasy I have tried to read: Song of Ice and Fire, LOTR/The Hobbit, some YA stuff with an alternate royalty world (don’t remember the name). Couldn’t make it through any of them. Narnia (the first 2 books only) is I think the only fantasy I’ve ever finished reading.
Sci-fi, I liked Old Man’s War and Hitchhikers Guide, and Ender’s Game (first one only). Did not finish The Martian, and about 10 others that I also can’t remember the names of lol.
Limitation- I don’t prefer anything with heavy romance (and not asking for those recs cuz I have no interest in starting to read in that genre). Romance sub plots are okay.
I’d prefer something shortish, just because I assume that would make it easier to get into, but that’s not a hard limit.
So… what are some entry level books you’d suggest? TIA!
by GoodKid_MaadSity
13 Comments
For sci-fi, Pale Grey Dot by Don Miasek. Accessible sci-fi space opera with some cyberpunk. Zero romance.
Sirens of Titan By Kurt Vonnegut
Post apocalyptic. Station 11 and The Road. Sci-fi Children of Time. And not to forget the time traveler’s wife
since you mention fantasy books, maybe Chronicles of The One trilogy by Nora Roberts?
Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells 🙂 SecUnit is very much against romance. Lots of friends and found family stuff though!
I also dislike sci-fi and fantasy for the most part. These are the books that have worked for me:
Shady Hollow – Juneau Black
Hearts in Atlantis – Stephen King
Annie Bot – Sierra Greer
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig (A lot of people do not like this book but I found the concept really interesting and reading it introduced me to other books that I enjoyed)
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
It’s a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and litRPG.
The Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor. Sci-fi.
Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
I loved Hitchhikers Guide, The Hobbit, and Ender’s Game (only that one!). Not really a fan of litRPG, but absolutely love DCC!
What are some books from other genres you’ve enjoyed?
Based on what you’ve said so far:
On the Fantasy Side:
You might enjoy Terry Pritchett since you enjoyed Hitchhikers Guide. The Fifth Elephant is a fun one, but lots of his Discworld stuff is fun in a way similar to Hitchhikers Guide is.
The Lies of Locke Lamora might be one you’d enjoy too.
On the Sci-Fi Side:
You might enjoy Starship Troopers, it’s an old Robert Heinlein Book that is similar, maybe even the inspiration for Old Man’s War.
You might like Altered Carbon, it’s a bit like Old Man’s War.
I, Robot by Asimov is a classic for a reason and is a short easy read.
Also, since you like Time Travellers Wife: This is How You Lose the Time War, short, complex but really good.
Since you liked The Road, perhaps NK Jamison’s Broken Earth trilogy, but it is three books…
With more about other books you’ve enjoyed in other genres I can give you more recs.
Brandon Sanderson is great entry level fantasy. Check out Mistborn for a shortish book or The Way of Kings for an amazing but ridiculously long book, possibly best enjoyed on Audiobook.
Some of my favorite sci-fi is dystopian. The Red Rising series by Pierce Brown is a personal favorite of mine. Some of the grittiest, most gripping and entertaining books of all time.
Also, if you are a gamer and in to litRPG, Dungeon Crawler Carl is an ultimately entertaining series, although he won’t be winning any literary awards.
Time Shifters by Shanna Lauffey might appeal.
Jurassic Park, it’s even better than the movie. The book is about 450 pages but I find it really easy to read compared to something older like The Hobbit/LOTR.
Sci Fi try the stainless steel rat series by Harry Harrison, he is a criminal when they aren’t supposed to be.
None of my recommendations are going to fit perfectly into either category, because I also don’t like Sci-Fi or Fantasy, but here are some adjacent literary genre fiction recommendations (all of them were 4-5 stars for me):
**Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko** (first book in a series about Light vs Dark. Also a great movie)
**Improbable by Adam Fawer** (interesting kind of sort of time travel or predictions or what is actually happening?)
**Sphere by Michael Crichton** (actually, all of Michael Crichton)
**The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall** (my all-time favorite book. read it 8 times and there’s still so many things to find and understand)
**Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh** (hit man, has to do something with a matrix-like internet thing?)
**Catchpenny by Charlie Huston** (magic)
**Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey** (hitman from hell, kind of?)
**Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow** is a novel-length epic poem about werewolves and is awesome
**The Sea Came In At Midnight by Steve Erickson** (I actually have no idea what this was about, but I read it twice and it was great)
**Time Travel:**
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (much better than I anticipated)
**Zombies:**
Fiend by Peter Stenson
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
**Invisible Men who don’t really use their invisibleness for anything particularly good:**
The Visible Man by Chuck Klosterman
The Fermata by Nicholson Baker (NSFW)
**Apocalyptic:**
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler
Sleepless by Charlie Huston
**Vampires:**
**Already Dead by Charlie Huston** (first book in a 5 book series, and is another one of my favorites)
**Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore** (first in a trilogy…Christopher Moore has a lot of hilarious, fantastical novels that are worth reading.)