Top Five Books That Will Make You Love The Sci-Fi/Fantasy Genre That Aren’t A Game Of Thrones.

You should read more books. And those books should be these books. Give Sci-fi/Fantasy a chance! Come on...you know you want to.

1. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

This is the book that hooked me into the Sci Fi/Fantasy genre. The story revolves around the plight of a brilliant little boy Ender Wiggin, who is thrown into advanced military training with a bunch of other children on a distant space station. Think Lord of the Flies meets 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s up to children to save the human race from a hive-mind alien culture. The movie is coming out this Fall. Read this book before you see the movie. Please…I’m begging you.

2. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

This book follows the adventures of Kvothe – a young boy from a family of traveling performers who’s entire family is killed by the Chandrian – a group of magical, terrible beings everyone but Kvothe believes are only children’s stories. Kvothe survives the streets of Tarbean as a beggar child and eventually gains entry into the famed Arcanum – a university where her can learn “magic” and hopefully find the truth about the Chandrian. There are currently two books in the series. Follow this up with the sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear and then find out what it’s like to wait with quiet, nail-biting desperation for the third book to come out.

3. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

You can’t go wrong with any of the books in this excellent series but I suggest starting at the beginning (Storm Front) and tucking in for the long haul. The series (currently 14 books) tells the tale of Harry Dresden, a wizard living and working for hire in Chicago. Sure – everybody thinks magic isn’t real – but it is and Harry is there to fight against all those things that go bump in the night. Get the first book…you can thank me later.

4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I am not going to lie to you. This book (conveniently split into three parts to make it seem less intimidating) is not for the faint of heart. You will have to wade through at least a hundred pages of hobbits you will never hear from again and how much they like to eat and re-gift presents. You will have to endure the boring chapter about Tom Bombadil, who we also never hear or see again and is only there to save the hapless hobbits from the Barrow Downs. But then…man, is it worth it. Welcome to Middle Earth – chock full of: orcs, giant spider monsters, epic battles, wizards, walking trees, sad kings, mad kings, and traitors. It is epic and if the end doesn’t leave you in tears, cheering, and yes, slightly relieved that it is finally over…well then, we have nothing to talk about.

5. Dune by Frank Herbert

I think you can split the world up between those that picked up this book, read a chapter and said “What is this crap?” and threw it violently away, and those that picked it up read a chapter and said: What is this most amazing book ever written?”…and then spent the next day reading it cover to cover. I am in the latter category, and have read and re-read the book because the world Frank Herbert has created is so intricate and detailed there is always something new to find. The plot revolves around the planet Arrakis and the mining of Spice – a mind altering drug that facilitates fast interstellar travel for the Human Empire. Yes – in the future humans have forsaken democracy in favor of a feudal society. If you love the enmity between the Lannisters and the Starks you’ll love the Atreides/Harkonnen rift. Oh, and there are giant killer sandworms.