'Clean' Sci Fi, Fantasy, or Classic Recommendations

[Pilgrim86]

Howdy. I am looking at enjoying reading for pleasure again and would like to get wrapped up into a fantastic series, maybe just one book even, that is not pressing sexuality or blasphemous language, and that does not present magic in a positive or neutral light.

Is that a stretch for a fantasy book? When I was a kid I immersed myself into Piers Anthony series/books, pretty sure that is not an option now, but would like to relive the fun of being a kid with wonderful books.

As far as Sci F-When I was young, I read the Ender's Game stuff and liked it, I don't know if I still would. Just to pass time, I occasionally read Star Trek books, they are just kinda ok to me. Started Hyperion but the anticipated sex scenes found out about had me close the book, and, I wasn't thrilled with Foundations by Assimov. I started a Christian Sci Fi series called Lamb Among the Stars by Chris Walley and thought it was ok, but maybe for a younger audience. On the subject of Christian books, while I am a Christian and need to be working with something which is not offensive, I don't necessarily need to read evangelistic novels either.

As for classics, I did finish War and Peace recently and thought it was ok, but it did not cause me to want to read more Russian novels; Dostoevsky was read once too and it was enough. While I appreciate the thought provoking and what not that went with these, they were a bit slow placed. Basically, I want something entertaining, relatively faster paced than the Russian novels mentioned, but not a young adult book that will not cause me to think much.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[JSWolf]

Here are some really good books by David Eddings.

Belgariad
1. Pawn of Prophecy (1982)
2. Queen of Sorcery (1982)
3. Magician's Gambit (1981)
4. Castle of Wizardry (1984)
5. Enchanters' End Game (1984)

I'm also going to highly recommend the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett

[poohbear_nc]

Jules Verne's Extraordinary Voyages/Amazing Journeys collection - 54 novels, whose purpose was to "to outline all the geographical, geological, physical, historical and astronomical knowledge amassed by modern science and to recount, in an entertaining and picturesque format ... the history of the universe." No magic, sex, or blasphemy -- good clean fun and lots of real science . Here is a list - most are PD. Most are available in the MobileRead library.

Dated in content, but quite fun reads

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I remember really enjoying these books by Stephen R. Donaldson

Thomas Covenant
1. Lord Foul's Bane (1977)
...

Really? In a thread asking for "clean" sci-fi and fantasy you post this one?

Only a couple days ago you were ranting about a book you hadn't even read being sexist and having rape in it because of one review:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is a seriously AWFUL book. DO NOT BUY! DO NOT READ!

Now you're promoting a book where the main character, the hero of the stories, rapes another character in the first 1/4 of the first book? I really don't get you.

Personally, I would not recommend this as a clean book although I do admit I only made it about 1/4 into the first book. For the reason stated above.

[DiapDealer]

I actually like the Thomas Covenant books (except for the Last Chronicles), but given the parameters specified by the OP, I can't really imagine a more inappropriate recommendation.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I actually like the Thomas Covenant books, but given the parameters specified by the OP, I can't really imagine a more inappropriate recommendation.

But, given the source of the recommendation, are you surprised?

[Dazrin]

Yeah, I've heard good things about the series but no way is this a "clean" book. That scene was too much for me, especially at the time, and even 20+ years later I have no inclination to try these again.

[Pilgrim86]

Thanks for the recommendations, folks. Please keep them coming in.

[Dazrin]

What do you want as far as "clean"? I've tried to recommend items that have relatively little cursing and at least glossed over sex scenes. Some of these have a fair bit of violence though, although I've tried to stay away from ones with graphic violence as much as I can remember.

There are some good fantasy classics that fit this bill:
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Narnia books by CS Lewis (and his other fiction.)

All of the Discworld books are good and while there is some innuendo there's nothing more than that. Some of these are just candy but many of them have much more to say about modern times than appears on first glance for such a humorous and playful series.I'd try the City Guard (starting with Guards! Guards!) or Moist Von Lipwig books (starting with Going Postal) from Discworld. Personally, I think a lot of the Witches sub-series is the best but it doesn't cast magic in a "less than bad light". Same with the DEATH sub-series. The City Guard and MVL series pretty much ignore it although it is around.

A more recent series is The Paper Magician series by Charlie Holmberg, although it's YA.

For more science fiction titles:
The Wool Series by Hugh Howey is very good. Some violence but I don't remember it being graphic.
The Murderbot series by Martha Wells (more language and violence in this one but very good.)
The Martian and Project Hail Mary (which just came out) by Andy Weir have some language but not the violence or sex. Two of my favorites.

Brandon Sanderson's books are generally clean; I'd start with the Mistborn series (or just skip to the Wax and Wayne books - Alloy of Law - unless you are very spoiler prone; these are a sequel series to the Mistborn books. They have a very different feel however.) He also has YA science fiction and super-hero series and a mega series called the Stormlight Archive. The Stormlight Archive is already over 5,000 pages and only the first 4 books have been published, out of 10 planned.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is fun; there are 5 (or 6?) books in this "trilogy". The often zany humor is not for everyone though.

For something more serious, I really enjoy a lot of Ursula LeGuin's works as well. Some of her works are very accessible (Earthsea) and others are much deeper (Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed) but I've enjoyed all the ones I've read.

If you are ok with short stories, this is a good one: The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu
http://io9.com/5958919/read-ken-lius...fantasy-awards

[Pilgrim86]

[QUOTE=Dazrin;4128454]What do you want as far as "clean"? I've tried to recommend items that have relatively little cursing and at least glossed over sex scenes. Some of these have a fair bit of violence though, although I've tried to stay away from ones with graphic violence as much as I can remember.

There are some good fantasy classics that fit this bill:
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Narnia books by CS Lewis (and his other fiction.)


Thanks for the willingness to help. In regards to the question of 'clean' I would say primary concern is that I avoid books with blasphemous language, content which is obviously hostile to or meant to deride Christianity, sexual content, and magic being presented in less than a bad light. Violence I am ok with provided it is not too intense, like horror or gore. Cursing is not desirable but occasional strong language can be appropriate in circumstances and I wouldn't be put off by some of it. For the magic reason, I would be uncomfortable with Tolkien stuff. The Sci Fi books by Lewis were decent and did not have objectionable content, his Narnia stuff doesn't fit the bill.

[Dazrin]

Ok, I've edited my post to strike out a few of them then and provided a couple recommended starting points for Discworld if you want to avoid the "magic" books. I think you're going to have a much easier time with science fiction in general than fantasy if the Narnia books are too much. I would also skip the Belgariad books by David Eddings due to the magic there.

Given how much the Narnia books are allegory for Christianity I am a bit surprised they're too much. Magic, other than 1 character, is not generally portrayed in a good light. And that one character, given the allegory, is reasonable.

[gmw]

I do not think the Discworld books (nor anything much by Pratchett) are good recommendations here. Can anyone seriously consider recommending Small Gods to a devout Christian that does not want to read text that means to deride religion? Pratchett's other books may not be so full of it, but most carry at least some of the same inferences. Of course, by the same argument, the assumptions inherent in most science fiction and fantasy present problems in this regard.

Prilgrim86, you've already mentioned C.S. Lewis. By much the same token, a lot of even older science fiction tends to be mostly free bad language and sexual content, and a lot of it is quite careful around the subject of religion. So most books by H.G. Wells or Jules Verne (for example) I think would satisfy your criteria. Edgar Rice Burroughs' science fiction works have moistly implied rather than explicit sexual content, but might have more violence than you like.

[hildea]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

The Murderbot series by Martha Wells (more language and violence in this one but very good.)

These are great, and should fit your criteria well. (I've only read the two first ones so far, am saving them )

I also suggest Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series: Science fiction, space opera-ish in all the best ways, where flawed people do heroic things, mess up badly and fix things dramatically, with war and peace between multi planet space empires, space mafia, and more). In some cases, the reader is aware that people have had sex (someone gets pregnant, someone talks about a past lover or past infidelity, someone gossips about someone elses's sexual orientation) but there are no sex scenes spelled out. In the prequel ("Shards of Honor", part of the omnibus "Cordelia's Honor") there's an attempted rape which gets interrupted. You could drop the prequel (though it's good), or if you like I can quote that scene so you can decide if you want to read the books despite it.

She has written two fantasy series which have magic in an ambivalent light -- there's some very destructive, dangerous magic, but it can be harnessed (with care, and some potentially destructive side effects) and serve good purposes, so that's probably not for you. "Sharing Knife" also has a sex scene (though it's a lot more about emotions and communication than about which body parts touch where).


Does anyone remember if there's any sex in Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice series? I can't remember any, but may not have noticed. That's another space opera-ish one, with a huge sprawling space empire, politics, war, and individual heroics.


For classics, if you're interested in interpersonal relations, shrewd insight in people's flaws, and dry humour, I suggest Jane Austen.

[hildea]

And another one, fantasy without any magic. There are made up religions, but they are described mostly as background/part of world building.

Marie Brennan: The Memoirs of Lady Trent. 5 books, starting with "A Natural History of Dragons".

The books take place in a world where dragons are animals that exist, and which culturally and technologically feels like the 1800s. Lady Trent is a Charles Darwin-ish character, a brilliant scientist who's a pioneer in her field, but in a society where women aren't supposed to do science. She travels the world to study dragons, while occasionally stumbling into adventures and political plots.

I love the language, though it's probably one of those things you either like a lot or crash hard against. It's written in first person, in lady Trent's voice:

Originally Posted by Preface to A Natural History of Dragons

Be warned, then: the collected volumes of this series will contain frozen mountains, foetid swamps, hostile foreigners, hostile fellow countrymen, the occasional hostile family member, bad decisions, misadventures in orienteering, diseases of an unromantic sort, and a plenitude of mud. You continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart - no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments - even at the risk of one's life - is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. If my humble words convey even a fraction of that wonder, I will rest content.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by hildea

Does anyone remember if there's any sex in Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice series? I can't remember any, but may not have noticed. That's another space opera-ish one, with a huge sprawling space empire, politics, war, and individual heroics.

I don't remember any but I haven't read the 2nd or 3rd yet so didn't want to suggest this one. The first is excellent though.