As the summer holidays are fast upon us, the time left to decide what books you’ll be packing for the travels is slowly running out. With so much choice out there nowadays, Abel has managed to narrow down his top 3 Sci-Fi / Fantasy book series suggestions, which you may soon wonder how you’ve ever lived without.
The Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch
Scott Lynch began this series in 2006 with The Lies of Locke Lamora. In it he introduced us to the titular character, the leader of a band of thieves that call themselves The Gentlemen Bastards. The Bastards rob the nobility of the city of Camorr, a city that resembles the Venice of the Renaissance, something that’s supposed to be forbidden but they play by their own set of rules. Their existence gets threatened by the appearance of a mysterious figure taking over the underworld who calls himself the Gray King, while also going back to the past, detailing Locke’s training and how became part of the Gentleman Bastards.
So far all the novels follow a back and forth structure with plenty of flashbacks to help us understand what makes Locke tick. This first novel is more of a heist novel and even though the second one, called Red Skies Under Red Seas, involves another heist it’s more of a swasbuckling adventure. The third novel, The Republic of Thieves is more of a political thriller mixed with a love story.
The next novel of the series, The Thorn of Emberlain is due to be released soon and Lynch projects the series as being 7 novels long, with some novellas complementing it.
The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
If there’s something that could be considered the next Battlestar Galactica it’s The Expanse, and not just because of the excellent SyFy series that premiered last year. It follows James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante as they stumble upon one of the biggest conspiracies in the galaxy.
The world bulding and characterisation in this series makes it stand out from other space operas. Imagine Game of Thrones mixed with the world-building of Mass Effect (minus aliens) and you’ll get The Expanse. Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (the people hiding under the James S.A.Corey pen name) have written up to date five novels (Leviathan Wakes, Caliban’s War, Abbadon’s Gate, Cibola Burn and Nemesis Games) and several novellas expanding on some backstory aspects. The next novel of the series, Babylon’s Ashes, is due out this year and the authors predict they will wrap the series up with 9 novels on 2019
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
I’ll admit I’m very biased at including this here. Some people have a thing, they’re fans of Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, you name it. The Dark Tower is my thing and it has been for more than half my life and considering that a film is finally happening it’s a good time to catch up on this series. The Dark Tower begins with Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger (a King Arthur figure of sorts crossed with Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name) chasing the Man in Black. Roland is searching for the mythical Dark Tower, a lynchpin holding all the worlds, not just to save his own world, but to save all worlds.
The series has seven novels (The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard & Glass, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower) and a novel acting as a bridge between books 4 and 5 (The Wind Through the Keyhole) along with several mini-series by Marvel (overseen by King himself but written by Peter David and Robin Furth). However that’s the low figures, The Dark Tower just happens to be connected to everything that Stephen King has ever written in one way or the other
– Words by Abel G.C.
