Not YA sci-fi/fantasy books

[msbrightside899]

I was wondering if anyone had some good recommendations for some sci-fi/fantasy novels that are not young adult. I love plenty of YA books but I would prefer not read any right now. I do love Karen Marie Monings Fever series, I love Game of Thrones, love Dean Koontzs books if that helps.

Thank you!

[zachbrown]

ok so I love to read, and am starting to write too, but I love fantasy. it may be because it helps me escape a little. my favorite types of novels lately have been litrpg. I hope that this new topic can give ideas to others like me.

I really need some good books that have a male main character that is in a fantasy setting. also I would love it if it was an adult version book. don't get me wrong, I love the typical book that is for all to read, but I want sex, death, magic and a sense of actual world issues in it. I am bored with the same story but with different characters. I want that gritty realistic feel when I read.

also if the book suggestions are on kindle unlimited that would be a HUGE bonus.

[gali]

Look here for start:

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Recommendations

[zachbrown]

a good forum but not exactly what I needed. thank you though I really do appreciate it.

[lmoses]

Some New Age options for fantasy/sci-fi books that I really enjoy are the Premonition Series by Amy Bartol and the Revelation Series by Randi Cooley Wilson. The Premonition Series is about angels and demons and is a step up from the young adult reading. I personally love the Revelation series with angels, demons, and gargoyles, and is well beyond young adult (graphic and smokin sex scenes). Both are five books long and take you into a new world to be lost in!

[moderntimes]

None of the books I recommend are "kiddie lit" -- they're for adults:

A superb modern fantasy is Neil Gaiman's "American Gods". Highly rated and deservingly so. The old gods (Zeus, Thor, Apollo, etc) are being squeezed out of existence by the modern "gods" of computers, commerce, and greed. So the old gods join forces to fight.

A brilliant SF novel, "Downward to the Earth" by Robert Silverberg. In the future, humans have settled many habitable planets in the galaxy. In a terrible mistake, humans treated the native alien populace badly, similar to the old empires of France, Spain, and England. One man was administrator (dictator actually) on this one planet and he now believes that he sinned greatly. During the 20 intervening years, the earth policy has totally reversed, and control of all the planets have returned to the native creatures. Now this man wishes to return to the planet he ruled harshly and atone for his sins. He undertakes a pilgrimage which has literary parallels to Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". A rare book, exciting and entertaining SF, but also with great intelligence and depth to make the reader think. One of my fave SF novels.

Roger Zelazny's "Lord of Light". In the far future, humans spread out across the galaxy, colonizing planets. Human technology is so advanced that they can "terraform" planets to make them more Earthlike. And they can alter their own genetic bodies to make them stronger or faster as they wish. As a human ages, they can go to regeneration rebirth chambers and be renewed into a new body of their desire, male, female, mixed, part mythical creature, whatever. One large spaceship carried colonists who were mostly from India and had a heritage of Hindu belief. So, settling this planet, they had children and dozens of generations across the planet, many millions over the several thousand years. But growing decadent, the original settlers decide to re-create the Hindi pantheon. So they regenerate themselves into Vishnu, Brahma, Kali, etc. And they rule their offspring with an iron fist by using their "godly" powers. One of the "originals" however cannot abide with this dominance, and so he sets out to revolt and change the system. He decides to become the Buddha. "Lord of Light" is a stunning SF novel, smart, interesting, entertaining, and enlightening. A masterpiece.

[NovelBird]

zachbrown, you might be interested in The Dresden Files series. It's an urban fantasy, so possibly not up your alley, but it has everything you listed, and is definitely not for kids. To give a brief synopses, Harry Dresden is a 'consulting wizard', and takes cases from all sorts of people, including the police. There are fae, werewolves, vampires, demons, and all hosts of various mythological beasts, and people you get attached to actually get seriously hurt, killed, or otherwise maimed in a realistic sort of way. People, in this series, don't just escape terrible things unharmed.

Another series OP might enjoy is the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. It is also an urban fantasy series. The main character, Mercy, is a Volkswagen mechanic who's also a coyote shifter, and has the alpha of the werewolf pack, Adam, as a neighbor. There are fae, werewolves, demons, and Native gods in this series, and is also pretty realistic in the fact that people get hurt when they should and don't escape unharmed.

[moderntimes]

Read the first novel in the Dresden series, found it a bit flippant and unstructured, but perhaps subsequent books in the series are better. We learn by doing. I did enjoy that first book, however.

[NovelBird]

The first book, and one of the books later in the series, are definitely not the greatest. It was a professor of mine who recommended the books to me, and he actually told me that I should skip the first book or two in the series. If you did enjoy it, though, I would recommend reading onward! I personally found it to be a great series that improved as it went on.

[moderntimes]

I'll take that under advisement. Thanks.