Basically the entirety of the Discworld by Pratchett, they're all kind of individual masterpieces, but the whole thing taken as a whole is the work of genuinely rare genius.
Woah I did not realize there were so many books in the series! Is it recommended to just start from the first book or is there a better place to start?
[Here's a flowchart](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_(cropped).jpg), because you aren't the first to ask that question.
Huh. It works for me, takes me to a Wikimedia page.
[Try this one](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_%28cropped%29.jpg), it's direct to the image.
Bless this for being the top answer. I saw this question and immediately thought, "NOW I GET TO TALK UP DISCWORLD."
I'm on The Fifth Elephant myself and can honestly say I've never blew through a book series like I have with this one. A lot of them have very captivating characters and are cheeky as all get out.
#teamthelibrarian Ook!
What I love about Discworld especially is how fleshed-out its civil elements are, like the postal service and the night watch. It's so imaginative because so much of it feels real and mundane despite the wild fantasy setting.
the first book that did this for me was Isaac Asimov's foundation series. To imagine a future where there would be multi-galaxy civilisations with differences that were stark and yet somehow there would be a science that could predict things. blew my mind. I was nine. Still does.
Not OP, but this was one of my favorite book series growing up. I thought the tv series was worth watching, but mediocre. All nuance to the characters was gone and they overstated everything. Seems like they do that with a lot of adaptations, but I feel like it takes away the genius of the writing. What was your opinion?
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake has a way of putting into your mind's eye something almost unimaginable. I would just reread passages, and long descriptions of inconceivable architecture. It's pretty mesmerizing.
Anything by Jasper Fforde. The creativity of the worlds he creates always amazes me. Plus the names of the characters are always great too. So many puns
The thing about Patrick Rothfuss is he is really long winded and it seems like not a whole lot happens, but I really don’t care, I will happily read a thousand pages by him. lol
Star-Maker by Olaf Stapledon and Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, respectively the most mentally ascended science fiction and fantasy I’ve read.
Starmaker is just stunning for scope. Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon is a close second to Starmaker. A touch dated at the start now but a solid book even so.
Handmaids Tale and then Crake and Oryx. I remember reading it in the 90s and being in awe at how Atwood could have these worlds in her head in the 80s. I’m older now and I can understand how she created the imagery but back then I walked around in awe for days.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy did something to me too. I was on that road w him and his son and by the time I was done w the book, I was as depressed as the dad.
Story of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, technically its a collection of short stories, but each individual one is so unique/creative. If you've ever seen the film Arrival, its based on one of the stories in this collection. Can't recommend strongly enough!
Seconding this!! Short story collections are super hit-or-miss for me, but this one knocked it out of the park. I think about several of the stories still on a regular basis.
Same! I wish I could memory zap myself and read it for the first time all over again.
You should check out Sea of Tranquility. Finished it recently and it’s the closest I’ve found so far. Couldn’t put it down!
Pretty much anything by Diana Wynne Jones. She's always so clever and imaginative. If you want specifics, I'll say The Homeward Bounders and Archer's Goon, although many folks here on Reddit like Howls Moving Castle.
Also gonna mention Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu) by Moxiang Tongxiu (MXTX). I honestly will never not be impressed by the amount of planning that must've gone into that story. There are so many details you didn't pick up on the first read that the second read is even better than the first. It's honestly the only book I can say that about.
Diana's most impressive achievement to me is the Dalemark series, where she visits different eras of the same magical civilization, all with the same threads of mysticism weaving through it. I can't think of another series that involves prehistoric times, medieval times, 1700s, and more.
I think when wer are talking about a 'sense of awe at the author's imagination' the genres that come to mind are science fiction and speculative fiction. I'd look into the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov. These are authors who have penned worlds of extreme depth and creativity. And often their works have informed the more modern works that come out to this day.
This is what I was going to say. One of the few books (series) I’ve read where I just want to know how someone comes up with this stuff! They’re so good and wild!
Michael Ende. He's a German author. I SO strongly recommend "Momo" (English translation) - it isn't really a children's book. It is so moving, beautiful, and imaginative. 11/10. 15/10. Amazing. Love. Cannot express this in words 😍
He's probably best known for writing "The Neverending Story," which is also wonderful. The book is much more elaborate than the movie, and it is worth reading!
I picked it up in winter of last year, got 1 or 2 chapters in, said, "*What the hell...?*", and tossed it.
Two months later, I picked it up again because I remembered that it was weird, read it through, and was so utterly flabbergasted that I immediately had to read it through again just to make sure I had really read what I read and did it all really hang together and make sense?
Then in November I wanted to read it again, just to see if it was as good as I remembered. It was. And as soon as I finished it I read it again, for the fourth time in one year.
In terms of sheer narrative imagination, no writer, to my mind, surpasses Jorge Luis Borges. All of his stories can be thought of as riddles, philosophical inquiries--koans, even. As Nabokov wrote of him: "How freely one breathes in his marvelous labyrinths! Lucidity of thought, purity of poetry. A man of infinite talent." I would recommend his "Fictions" as a starting point.
Susanne Clarke’s two novels **Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell** and **Piranesi**, for different reasons. The first is over 1000 pages, dense, and detailed — you’re spending a long time in a meticulously crafted world. The second is under 200 — a perfect glimpse of a single fascinating and completely original location.
THANK. YOU. I left both of those books thinking, "Okay, her brain is very different than most of ours," but for completely different reasons. Just the decision to use footnotes to tell an extremely important part of the story was a decision I never would have considered in JSaMN and then in the first part of Piranesi, I felt like I'd entered a world I'd never even conceived of existing and it took a while to even understand what was happening. I can't wait for her next book!
The whole Harry Potter series. I read them every 3 years. I alternate listening to them and watching them. Everytime I am just amazed by this wonderful story telling. The books have so much more story in them than the movies. They are some of my favorite books. I read them as an adult.
My (somewhat reluctant) answer too. I remember finishing Prisoner of Azkaban and closing the book in quiet awe. Granted, I was only 12 or so but that’s when I truly started to appreciate the series’ magic.
I’ve always especially loved how she named things. Dumbledore, Hufflepuff, Floo powder, Muggles and Squibs, Privet Drive, Marauders’ Map, etc etc.
3 body problem stretches so far beyond what you would think of or what you would want to know. Honestly I hated the book. Most of the books could be 6 hours but you get to hear about every. Little. Thing. It blew my mind how much thought the author put into it, but it just wasn't for me.
For me it has to be ‘The Way of Kings’ series.
Honestly I’d love to know what goes on in Brandon Sanderson’s mind. I’m very curious to how he think of things like this? It’s the details for me!
I love how the stories of each character bloomed from the first book to the 4th book. I love how everything seems to connect to the first book.
It’s a bulky read, but it makes you appreciate how barely any word or scene is wasted because it makes sense as you continue reading.
As much as I appreciated other comments, the cosmere is incredible. It's still unfolding, and it's great to see parts and stories of a larger jigsaw come together.
I'm rereading all the Tom Robbins I read in my twenties (I'm in my fifties). Open any book to any page, and the amount of intricate creativity displayed is astonishing.
Ready Player One by Earnest Cline. A lot of the references went over my head since I’ve never been much into video games, but I found myself constantly impressed by where the story was going.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. It’s so so weird (a character named Door? Men-creatures who eat rats?) but somehow still cohesive. I’d say if you haven’t read any Gaiman, start with this one.
Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. I’m almost finished and I wanted to read it before watching the series, but now I don’t think I’ll watch it. I just can’t imagine how you would adequately portray all the craziness onscreen accurately.
I actually watched the Three Body Problem before I read the series. I'm 2.5 books in and I can honestly say the show does a good job holding to the story and visualizing all the crazy stuff. The only thing is that the show takes a lot of liberty with the characters. I enjoyed the show a lot!
I love Walter Moers! So glad to see someone mention this series! I grew watching the show (Die Sendung mit der Maus) that Captain Blaubär originates from. I was so happy to see the books translated into English so other non-German kids could read the stories too. Moers did such an amazing job expanding the Zamonien-universe. I’m behind, though. I believe Book 11 is coming out next year and I’m still on #7 😅
Edit: spelling
The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. On the surface, it's about a man riding an escalator back to work at the end of his lunch break and the things he thinks about during the trip. It's really a meditation on the beauty of the ordinary things in our lives and the value of engaging more deeply with them. I cried at the end and the book was about shoelaces and straws and hot dogs. It's one of the loveliest books I've ever read. Also, it taught me I'd been opening cartons of milk incorrectly my whole life, which was why it had been going wrong about half the time.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Broken Earth series by NK Jemisin
The Earthsea books by Le Guin, especially Tehanu
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
War and Peace by Tolstoy. Written by hand in 1869.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Written in 1818 when she was only 18. This is not your Boris Karloff Frankenstein.
The the Wizard of Oz series was fairly surprising in just how weird it could get in some of the titles. They're a tad inconsistent at times (there are blatant plot holes and contradictory elements) but they also have one of the most unique fantasy settings I've seen.
Any book or series that involves world building. Dune, Lord of the Rings, Foundation, books by Brandon Sanderson or Stephen King (both of whom have created a large number of interconnected books). That said, I'm in awe of any good writer, songwriter, poet, playwright, director, etc who can create something from nothing.
Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (a prophetic novel that predicted so many things).
In such awe of the imagination of each of these writers, truly stunning to behold their bodies of work as a whole. These picks are special stand outs that made me feel extra wonder:
Clive Barker - Imajica, Weaveworld, all short story collections, and check out his massive body of ink drawings and oil paintings
Ray Bradbury - Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes
Richard Brautigan - In Watermelon Sugar, all poetry collections
Philip K. Dick - Valis trilogy
Rikki Ducornet - The Stain, Entering Fire, The Fountains of Neptune, and The Jade Cabinet
(each book corresponds to, and feels like, an element: earth, fire, water, air)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell was an amazing read, after you reach the second narrative jump and it begins dawning on you what the author is up to. Pretty astonishing narrative structure he creates, and manages to pull off both successfully and satisfyingly.
Recently reread The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander. Novelette linking the radium girls and Topsy, the elephant Edisons company electrocuted, in a story of revenge.
A lot of Neil Gaiman, in particular for me, The Sandman, Neverwhere, and American Gods
The Never Ending Story-Michael Ende
Dangerous Angels-Francesca Lia Block
Cannery Row, Steinbeck’s ability to see the saints and angels in the lackadaisical and perpetually foolish individuals of Mac & Co.
Dharma Bums, Kerouac’s schlep up into the mountains to be a fire look out. He super romanticized it, but in a letter to his friend, (I think he’s repped as Japhy in the novels) he said it was one of the loneliest times of his life.
De Sade, also sort of awe worthy but in a truly horrible fashion.
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Brandon Mull.
Fablehaven is imaginative but a bit weaker in storytelling bc of how early in his career he was. It's like a conservation preserve for magical creatures as the baseline, and has spies and treachery and treasure heists built in.
Beyonders is fantastic tho. Not a true spoiler but here's some of the most inventive things; >! a hippos mouth is a portal when it swallows a character. There's a race of people who have seeds on their necks that get planted when they die and grow back into a new body. There's a duel FOUGHT WITH THROWN BILLIARD BALLS. Even the fruits of the world are magical and strange.!<
Samantha Shannon's books are incredible - the world building in The Priory of the Orange Tree blows me away and felt very realistic. Amazing characters too!
**[Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern #1)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61975.Dragonflight) by Anne McCaffrey** ^((Matching 100% ☑️))
^(299 pages | Published: 1968 | 103.1k Goodreads reviews)
> **Summary:** HOW CAN ONE GIRL SAVE AN ENTIRE WORLD? To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise--and take back her stolen birthright. But everything changes when she meets a queen dragon. The bond (...)
> **Themes**: Science-fiction, Dragons, Sci-fi, Fiction, Favorites, Sci-fi-fantasy, Series
> **Top 5 recommended:**
> \- [Forgotten](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12882543-forgotten) by Kailin Gow
> \- [My Heart's True Delight](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53479719-my-heart-s-true-delight) by Grace Burrowes
> \- [His Bride for the Taking](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52217144-his-bride-for-the-taking) by Tessa Dare
> \- [The Girl Who Knew Too Much](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31624980-the-girl-who-knew-too-much) by Amanda Quick
> \- [Permanent Ink](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35263129-permanent-ink) by Avon Gale
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Founders series by Robert Jackson Bennett, Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi, The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, Finna by Nino Cipri, Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, Unclean Jobs for Women & Girls by Alissa Nutting, Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, The Wisteria Society for Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
For me, two authors that come to mind are Richard Powers who intersects science with human nature in Overstory and Bewilderment. More recently to I’ve just been blown away by Lauren Geoff’s writing in Fates and Furies and The Vaster Wilds - she demonstrates tremendous imagination in terms of plot and character development.
“The Eyes and the Impossible,” by Dave Eggers. This has become my favorite (audio)/book of ALL TIME! The audiobook is narrated by the main character; a talking dog. He and his friends, seagulls, racoons, bison, goats, horses, bitds of other kinds, squirrels and other land, sea and air animals and fowl live in a huge parcel of park/forest/ body of water face everyday challenges. One day the dog concocts an almost impossible plan. will he succeed? I’m not telling.
China Melville (Perdido etc), Neal Stephenson, KSR immediately come to mind; in each I remember coming out of my imagination induced trance to pause and wonder at the sheer breadth and depth of their creativity, before diving back in.
Basically the entirety of the Discworld by Pratchett, they're all kind of individual masterpieces, but the whole thing taken as a whole is the work of genuinely rare genius.
Woah I did not realize there were so many books in the series! Is it recommended to just start from the first book or is there a better place to start?
[Here's a flowchart](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_(cropped).jpg), because you aren't the first to ask that question.
link doesnt work
Huh. It works for me, takes me to a Wikimedia page. [Try this one](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_%28cropped%29.jpg), it's direct to the image.
Bless this for being the top answer. I saw this question and immediately thought, "NOW I GET TO TALK UP DISCWORLD." I'm on The Fifth Elephant myself and can honestly say I've never blew through a book series like I have with this one. A lot of them have very captivating characters and are cheeky as all get out. #teamthelibrarian Ook!
Sir Terry is a legend. I am in awe every single time I read one of his books.
What I love about Discworld especially is how fleshed-out its civil elements are, like the postal service and the night watch. It's so imaginative because so much of it feels real and mundane despite the wild fantasy setting.
this
the first book that did this for me was Isaac Asimov's foundation series. To imagine a future where there would be multi-galaxy civilisations with differences that were stark and yet somehow there would be a science that could predict things. blew my mind. I was nine. Still does.
Did you watch the TV adaption of it? and if so, did you like it?
Not OP, but this was one of my favorite book series growing up. I thought the tv series was worth watching, but mediocre. All nuance to the characters was gone and they overstated everything. Seems like they do that with a lot of adaptations, but I feel like it takes away the genius of the writing. What was your opinion?
I agree. The individual characters had too much influence on events. Jared Harris was terrific as Hari Seldon.
Yeah, kinda defeats the point of psychohistory. And I agree on Harris. He’s an excellent actor.
Anything by NK Jemisin and Neil Gaiman.
The Broken Earth trilogy is the best series I've ever read. She crafts words in ways I've never seen before.
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake has a way of putting into your mind's eye something almost unimaginable. I would just reread passages, and long descriptions of inconceivable architecture. It's pretty mesmerizing.
Came to say this.
My man Niel Gaiman.
Neil is awesome!
The Book of The New Sun, A Song of Ice and Fire.
ASOIAF is a great choice, I’m always shocked by how much is packed into those books, even if they probably will never get finished lol
Absolutely, there is so much to them: incredible characters, a lot of history, a lot of interesting places with legends and heroes, etc.
The moment where >!His buddy goes, "Oh, we're on Urth!" and then accesses the device on the wall was so awesome and so weird!!<
YEAH Damn, son!
Anything by Jasper Fforde. The creativity of the worlds he creates always amazes me. Plus the names of the characters are always great too. So many puns
Jasper Fforde is an underrated treasure.
I’ve been seeing his name a lot more recently in the past few weeks! Makes me happy. I read him in high school but def need to reread.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Easily one of my favorite books ever. Hoping that the author is working on another book.
Came to say this. Great book.
I know this sub hates him but I love the imagination of Patrick Rothfuss, specifically the worlds in The Wise Man’s Fear.
The thing about Patrick Rothfuss is he is really long winded and it seems like not a whole lot happens, but I really don’t care, I will happily read a thousand pages by him. lol
So much! I felt like I was reading a modern classic, and I was.
Star-Maker by Olaf Stapledon and Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, respectively the most mentally ascended science fiction and fantasy I’ve read.
Perdido Street Station is just incredible, the thought of the slake moths is just horrifying
I read that book once over 20 years ago, and the slake moths are still very vivid in my mind.
Starmaker is just stunning for scope. Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon is a close second to Starmaker. A touch dated at the start now but a solid book even so.
Came here to say Star-Maker. Also "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts" by Amos Tutuola, which must have been ghostwritten by the DMT elves.
Handmaids Tale and then Crake and Oryx. I remember reading it in the 90s and being in awe at how Atwood could have these worlds in her head in the 80s. I’m older now and I can understand how she created the imagery but back then I walked around in awe for days.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy did something to me too. I was on that road w him and his son and by the time I was done w the book, I was as depressed as the dad.
Currently reading it and it’s fantastic. It’s so descriptive and most of the time fills you with dread but Im hooked.
When I finished the book I thought it would be an amazing movie. Turns out, it IS a movie! 🤣🤣
Shame that they butchered the ending
Crake and Oryx!
Whoops oryx and crake! 🤣🤦♀️
I knew what you meant. I loved the whole Mad Adam trilogy
When I read Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, my overwhelming thought was "How on earth did she think of all this??"
That is one of my favorites!
Story of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, technically its a collection of short stories, but each individual one is so unique/creative. If you've ever seen the film Arrival, its based on one of the stories in this collection. Can't recommend strongly enough!
Seconding this!! Short story collections are super hit-or-miss for me, but this one knocked it out of the park. I think about several of the stories still on a regular basis.
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. Particularly the first book, The Golden Compass.
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
This is one of my all time favorite books. It is exceptional.
Same! I wish I could memory zap myself and read it for the first time all over again. You should check out Sea of Tranquility. Finished it recently and it’s the closest I’ve found so far. Couldn’t put it down!
Thanks for the rec! I’ll definitely put it on my list.
Ficciones by Borges
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius is phenomenal.
Anything written by Laini Taylor
Pretty much anything by Diana Wynne Jones. She's always so clever and imaginative. If you want specifics, I'll say The Homeward Bounders and Archer's Goon, although many folks here on Reddit like Howls Moving Castle. Also gonna mention Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu) by Moxiang Tongxiu (MXTX). I honestly will never not be impressed by the amount of planning that must've gone into that story. There are so many details you didn't pick up on the first read that the second read is even better than the first. It's honestly the only book I can say that about.
I was scrolling the thread looking for DWJ! She’s the type of writer that makes you envious of her ideas.
The Homeward Bounders is just great! I haven’t read it in ages though. Time to dig that sucker out.
Diana's most impressive achievement to me is the Dalemark series, where she visits different eras of the same magical civilization, all with the same threads of mysticism weaving through it. I can't think of another series that involves prehistoric times, medieval times, 1700s, and more.
I think when wer are talking about a 'sense of awe at the author's imagination' the genres that come to mind are science fiction and speculative fiction. I'd look into the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov. These are authors who have penned worlds of extreme depth and creativity. And often their works have informed the more modern works that come out to this day.
I will always be grateful to Ursula Le Guin for creating Gethen.
The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir! First book is Gideon the Ninth.
This is what I was going to say. One of the few books (series) I’ve read where I just want to know how someone comes up with this stuff! They’re so good and wild!
Michael Ende. He's a German author. I SO strongly recommend "Momo" (English translation) - it isn't really a children's book. It is so moving, beautiful, and imaginative. 11/10. 15/10. Amazing. Love. Cannot express this in words 😍 He's probably best known for writing "The Neverending Story," which is also wonderful. The book is much more elaborate than the movie, and it is worth reading!
Broken Earth series by NK Jemisin
Yes! I need to do a re read soon! It’s been long enough that most will feel fresh
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins and The Hike by Drew Magary.
The Library at Mount Char is one of my favorite books!
I picked it up in winter of last year, got 1 or 2 chapters in, said, "*What the hell...?*", and tossed it. Two months later, I picked it up again because I remembered that it was weird, read it through, and was so utterly flabbergasted that I immediately had to read it through again just to make sure I had really read what I read and did it all really hang together and make sense? Then in November I wanted to read it again, just to see if it was as good as I remembered. It was. And as soon as I finished it I read it again, for the fourth time in one year.
In terms of sheer narrative imagination, no writer, to my mind, surpasses Jorge Luis Borges. All of his stories can be thought of as riddles, philosophical inquiries--koans, even. As Nabokov wrote of him: "How freely one breathes in his marvelous labyrinths! Lucidity of thought, purity of poetry. A man of infinite talent." I would recommend his "Fictions" as a starting point.
Dune. Herbert had so many great, unique ideas that I am sure no other person could create and utilize so well.
Susanne Clarke’s two novels **Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell** and **Piranesi**, for different reasons. The first is over 1000 pages, dense, and detailed — you’re spending a long time in a meticulously crafted world. The second is under 200 — a perfect glimpse of a single fascinating and completely original location.
THANK. YOU. I left both of those books thinking, "Okay, her brain is very different than most of ours," but for completely different reasons. Just the decision to use footnotes to tell an extremely important part of the story was a decision I never would have considered in JSaMN and then in the first part of Piranesi, I felt like I'd entered a world I'd never even conceived of existing and it took a while to even understand what was happening. I can't wait for her next book!
The whole Harry Potter series. I read them every 3 years. I alternate listening to them and watching them. Everytime I am just amazed by this wonderful story telling. The books have so much more story in them than the movies. They are some of my favorite books. I read them as an adult.
Agreed! The world building is phenomenal.
My (somewhat reluctant) answer too. I remember finishing Prisoner of Azkaban and closing the book in quiet awe. Granted, I was only 12 or so but that’s when I truly started to appreciate the series’ magic. I’ve always especially loved how she named things. Dumbledore, Hufflepuff, Floo powder, Muggles and Squibs, Privet Drive, Marauders’ Map, etc etc.
3 body problem stretches so far beyond what you would think of or what you would want to know. Honestly I hated the book. Most of the books could be 6 hours but you get to hear about every. Little. Thing. It blew my mind how much thought the author put into it, but it just wasn't for me.
For me it has to be ‘The Way of Kings’ series. Honestly I’d love to know what goes on in Brandon Sanderson’s mind. I’m very curious to how he think of things like this? It’s the details for me! I love how the stories of each character bloomed from the first book to the 4th book. I love how everything seems to connect to the first book. It’s a bulky read, but it makes you appreciate how barely any word or scene is wasted because it makes sense as you continue reading.
Seconded this. Brandon Sanderson is in my top 3 favourite fantasy authours of all time (the other two are Ursula Le Guin and Terry Pratchett)
As much as I appreciated other comments, the cosmere is incredible. It's still unfolding, and it's great to see parts and stories of a larger jigsaw come together.
Garth Nix - the series starting with Sabriel, Lirael & Abhorsen. As a kid I was in complete awe of that world!
Anything by Philip K Dick
Anything by Douglas Adams
I'm rereading all the Tom Robbins I read in my twenties (I'm in my fifties). Open any book to any page, and the amount of intricate creativity displayed is astonishing.
Agreed. His wordplay and metaphors always makes me feel awe
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky blew me away
The Hobbit
Ready Player One by Earnest Cline. A lot of the references went over my head since I’ve never been much into video games, but I found myself constantly impressed by where the story was going. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. It’s so so weird (a character named Door? Men-creatures who eat rats?) but somehow still cohesive. I’d say if you haven’t read any Gaiman, start with this one. Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. I’m almost finished and I wanted to read it before watching the series, but now I don’t think I’ll watch it. I just can’t imagine how you would adequately portray all the craziness onscreen accurately.
I actually watched the Three Body Problem before I read the series. I'm 2.5 books in and I can honestly say the show does a good job holding to the story and visualizing all the crazy stuff. The only thing is that the show takes a lot of liberty with the characters. I enjoyed the show a lot!
Okay good to know!
Twenty thousand leagues under the sea.
Gideon the Ninth or the Locked Tomb series
I have never seen someone mention it but the Zamonia series by Walter Moers. It's just so absurd and adorable
I love Walter Moers! So glad to see someone mention this series! I grew watching the show (Die Sendung mit der Maus) that Captain Blaubär originates from. I was so happy to see the books translated into English so other non-German kids could read the stories too. Moers did such an amazing job expanding the Zamonien-universe. I’m behind, though. I believe Book 11 is coming out next year and I’m still on #7 😅 Edit: spelling
The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. On the surface, it's about a man riding an escalator back to work at the end of his lunch break and the things he thinks about during the trip. It's really a meditation on the beauty of the ordinary things in our lives and the value of engaging more deeply with them. I cried at the end and the book was about shoelaces and straws and hot dogs. It's one of the loveliest books I've ever read. Also, it taught me I'd been opening cartons of milk incorrectly my whole life, which was why it had been going wrong about half the time.
Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness.
I’ll do three- * Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift * A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess * The City & the City, China Miéville
Ubik by Philip K Dick
Shutter island.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman The Broken Earth series by NK Jemisin The Earthsea books by Le Guin, especially Tehanu Life of Pi by Yann Martel Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Dawn by Octavia Butler. Scifi where humans come in contact with aliens and we have to relearn some basic interactions. Can't say more than that.
War and Peace by Tolstoy. Written by hand in 1869. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Written in 1818 when she was only 18. This is not your Boris Karloff Frankenstein.
Anything by Erin Morgenstern but especially The Starless Sea
The Life of Pi - comes to mind
You are so right. That is a brilliant story. I still think about the end and wonder...
The Shining left me in dumbstruck at how King is able to make pure terror out of something so mundane as a firehose lying on the floor.
The island of missing trees by Elif Shafak (the fig treeeeeee🥹)
anything by mieville or lovecraft
UBIK by Philip K.Dick, to name but one of his many mind-bending novels and stories.
The the Wizard of Oz series was fairly surprising in just how weird it could get in some of the titles. They're a tad inconsistent at times (there are blatant plot holes and contradictory elements) but they also have one of the most unique fantasy settings I've seen.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Piranesi
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan or its sequel The Candy House.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin
Imajica by Clive Barker. Surreal and beautiful
**Basic take, but The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.**
Piranesi by Susannah Clarke.
Imagica by Clive Barker.
Any book or series that involves world building. Dune, Lord of the Rings, Foundation, books by Brandon Sanderson or Stephen King (both of whom have created a large number of interconnected books). That said, I'm in awe of any good writer, songwriter, poet, playwright, director, etc who can create something from nothing.
Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, Maus by Art Spiegelman, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (a prophetic novel that predicted so many things).
Dune by Frank Herbert. I cannot believe the level of imagination and intricacies of science fiction that too written in the 60s.
In such awe of the imagination of each of these writers, truly stunning to behold their bodies of work as a whole. These picks are special stand outs that made me feel extra wonder: Clive Barker - Imajica, Weaveworld, all short story collections, and check out his massive body of ink drawings and oil paintings Ray Bradbury - Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes Richard Brautigan - In Watermelon Sugar, all poetry collections Philip K. Dick - Valis trilogy Rikki Ducornet - The Stain, Entering Fire, The Fountains of Neptune, and The Jade Cabinet (each book corresponds to, and feels like, an element: earth, fire, water, air)
The three body problem trilogy by Cixin Liu. The scope, the concepts, and especially that mind-bending last book.
Yep Discworld. All day long.
Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive
ASOIAF
This was my first impulse too. As much as there were jokes about the show getting bloated, the books *still* have more complexity to them.
Arthur c Clarke. Rama is mind blowing. Iain Bank's is incredible at describing the incredible. William gay. Yoram Kaniuk. The Night Land, Hodgson.
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
The Malazan Book of the Fallen, really rich and deftly written. And for sheer imaginative complexity, both Dune and Foundation series are up there.
Currently reading Hardboiled Wonderland and End of the world by Murakami - and I constantly wonder how he was able to come up with these stories
The Caraval series by Stephanie Garber
anything from Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne jones and Ursula le guin
if on a winter's night a traveler by italo calvino
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell was an amazing read, after you reach the second narrative jump and it begins dawning on you what the author is up to. Pretty astonishing narrative structure he creates, and manages to pull off both successfully and satisfyingly.
Recently reread The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander. Novelette linking the radium girls and Topsy, the elephant Edisons company electrocuted, in a story of revenge.
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner. Brazen in its scope. The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie.
ASOIAF
Sophie’s World
In recent memory "Children of time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky blew my mind.
A lot of Neil Gaiman, in particular for me, The Sandman, Neverwhere, and American Gods The Never Ending Story-Michael Ende Dangerous Angels-Francesca Lia Block Cannery Row, Steinbeck’s ability to see the saints and angels in the lackadaisical and perpetually foolish individuals of Mac & Co. Dharma Bums, Kerouac’s schlep up into the mountains to be a fire look out. He super romanticized it, but in a letter to his friend, (I think he’s repped as Japhy in the novels) he said it was one of the loneliest times of his life. De Sade, also sort of awe worthy but in a truly horrible fashion.
Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
Haruki Murakami books do it all the time for me
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Samantha Hunt, The Seas
The short stories of Stanley Weinbaum's, particularly A Martian Odyssey. All Tomorrow's by C.M. Koseman also counts.
The Darkness Outside Us and the Children of Time series
The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin.
Ready Player One
Perdido street station by Miéville
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. It’s a sci fi horror about killer mermaids that blew my mind
Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series
Anything by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Lullabies for little criminals
Brandon Mull. Fablehaven is imaginative but a bit weaker in storytelling bc of how early in his career he was. It's like a conservation preserve for magical creatures as the baseline, and has spies and treachery and treasure heists built in. Beyonders is fantastic tho. Not a true spoiler but here's some of the most inventive things; >! a hippos mouth is a portal when it swallows a character. There's a race of people who have seeds on their necks that get planted when they die and grow back into a new body. There's a duel FOUGHT WITH THROWN BILLIARD BALLS. Even the fruits of the world are magical and strange.!<
Anything by Karen Russell, really!
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kasey, narrating the story from a schizophrenic character’s POV makes for a wild read
Samantha Shannon's books are incredible - the world building in The Priory of the Orange Tree blows me away and felt very realistic. Amazing characters too!
One hundred years of solitude
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
The first few chapters of A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine blew me away
Could you suggest books that are neither science fiction nor anticipation?
{{Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey}}
**[Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern #1)](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61975.Dragonflight) by Anne McCaffrey** ^((Matching 100% ☑️)) ^(299 pages | Published: 1968 | 103.1k Goodreads reviews) > **Summary:** HOW CAN ONE GIRL SAVE AN ENTIRE WORLD? To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise--and take back her stolen birthright. But everything changes when she meets a queen dragon. The bond (...) > **Themes**: Science-fiction, Dragons, Sci-fi, Fiction, Favorites, Sci-fi-fantasy, Series > **Top 5 recommended:** > \- [Forgotten](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12882543-forgotten) by Kailin Gow > \- [My Heart's True Delight](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53479719-my-heart-s-true-delight) by Grace Burrowes > \- [His Bride for the Taking](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52217144-his-bride-for-the-taking) by Tessa Dare > \- [The Girl Who Knew Too Much](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31624980-the-girl-who-knew-too-much) by Amanda Quick > \- [Permanent Ink](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35263129-permanent-ink) by Avon Gale ^([Feedback](https://www.reddit.com/user/goodreads-rebot) | [GitHub](https://github.com/sonoff2/goodreads-rebot) | ["The Bot is Back!?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/16qe09p/meta_post_hello_again_humans/) | v1.5 [Dec 23] | )
Anything by Martha Wells.
THE 7 DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE
Founders series by Robert Jackson Bennett, Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi, The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, Finna by Nino Cipri, Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, Unclean Jobs for Women & Girls by Alissa Nutting, Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers, The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, The Wisteria Society for Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
mariana enriquez our share of night
T. Kingfisher. I read Nettle and Bones first then on to the Clockwork the Paladin books. All imaginative and some a bit gory.
Harry Potter Some of Neil Gaiman's works A Song of Ice & Fire series The Witcher series
Tanith Lee is an author I think does this well
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk Beloved by Toni Morrison Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
For me, two authors that come to mind are Richard Powers who intersects science with human nature in Overstory and Bewilderment. More recently to I’ve just been blown away by Lauren Geoff’s writing in Fates and Furies and The Vaster Wilds - she demonstrates tremendous imagination in terms of plot and character development.
Anything by Tom Robbins
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
All Our Wrong Todays by Elam Masrti. Libra by Don Dellio. Almost anything by Paul Auster.
Josiah Bancroft's Books of Babel tetralogy
Andre Norton and Robert E Howard.
For Middle Grade, I’ll add Bruce Coville. The Monsters of Morley Manor is fantastic.
Senlin Ascends is a triumph of imaginative storytelling. Sreampunk fantasy, series, four books, all complete.
“The Eyes and the Impossible,” by Dave Eggers. This has become my favorite (audio)/book of ALL TIME! The audiobook is narrated by the main character; a talking dog. He and his friends, seagulls, racoons, bison, goats, horses, bitds of other kinds, squirrels and other land, sea and air animals and fowl live in a huge parcel of park/forest/ body of water face everyday challenges. One day the dog concocts an almost impossible plan. will he succeed? I’m not telling.
The last house on needless street- one of my recent reads.
Not me getting down voted 😂
China Melville (Perdido etc), Neal Stephenson, KSR immediately come to mind; in each I remember coming out of my imagination induced trance to pause and wonder at the sheer breadth and depth of their creativity, before diving back in.
Night Train to the Stars by Kenji Miyazaki
*Cloud Atlas* and *Ghostwritten* are both excellent, highly imaginative novels by David Mitchell.
What Dreams May Come
The Search for WondLa (i don't remember who its written by) it's a three book series and it blew my mind
Ted Dekker Black, White, Red, and Green.
The Hike by Drew Magary