Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories that Surprised Me

I gather my book recommendations from a variety of sources. The internet is a great place where one can find a whole bunch of people talking about their reading experiences. One can readily find almost everything - synopsis, summary, and reviews - about a book on the internet. There are times when I have received recommendations from my friends, my family, my peers, and sometimes even from strangers whom I have met in bookshops. Upon receiving these suggestions, there are times when I select a book after doing a considerable amount of research - reading the synopsis, reading about the author, and reading multiple reviews of the book. This drill is repeated several times especially when I am picking up an author whose work I have not read before. But then there are also occasions when I have picked books without doing any background research. And when I do that, I start reading the book without any expectations. Obviously, I do expect to enjoy the book, but other than that I try not to raise my hopes very much.

Nonetheless, every once in a while, comes a story that blows my mind away regardless of my own expectations. It entices me with its brilliant characters, narrations, and outstanding storytelling. Stumbling upon these stories is always as delightful and wonderful as finding a last piece of candy when you thought that you have finished them all. The unexpected treat, however small, has its own allure. In this blog, I list, in no particular order of preference, and discuss a few series in the science fiction and fantasy genre, all from authors that I had not read before, that completely took me by surprise and left me utterly impressed.

1. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

It would be untrue if I say that I had never heard of this series before picking it up. I did know that there existed a science fiction series by Isaac Asimov, but other than that, I was mostly clueless. Then one day I heard one of my peers talk about Asimov. He was not talking specifically about this series in particular but about Asimov's works in general. He mentioned to me that the Foundation trilogy is a good place to start reading Asimov. And so I picked up Foundation, the first book in the original Foundation Trilogy. I still did not have much idea about what the series was about but I decided to trust my friend's recommendation and plunged into the series completely blind. And it was an extremely amazing experience. I did struggle with the pacing in the beginning as the story went through sudden time jumps a couple of times but once I got the hang of things, following the story became a piece of cake. So, the story began when a renowned scientist - Mr. Hari Sheldon - predicted the end of the galactic empire based on the norms of "psychohistory", which predicts the behavior of masses based on statistical analysis. To ensure that the empire could begin again smoothly, Sheldon not only established two different foundations at the opposite ends of the galaxy but also predicted the different crises that the people living in these foundations will face. The trilogy then followed the people living at one of these foundations, placed at the edge of the galaxy on a planet named Terminus, and how they dealt with the different crises that arose every now and then. The narration was amazing. It did not drag at all and was quite fast-paced. The characters were nicely done and the plot was very captivating. I could hardly put the book down. The most amazing thing about the narration was that at the beginning of certain chapters, there were excerpts from "Encyclopedia Galactica" and it has been given due citation as if it was an actual book. Another thing that I was skeptical about before I picked the book up was the language and the writing style but I can definitely say that all my doubts were unwarranted. I truly enjoyed every page of this story as it is packed with everything that you would expect in a galactic science fiction series and more.

2. The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

I came across the First Law trilogy, a grimdark fantasy series, a couple of times over on the internet, but I did not pay any specific attention. And then one fine day, while I was browsing my e-commerce website to buy a couple of books, I saw that the e-book of a bind-up of all the three books in the trilogy is available at a huge discount. That was what motivated me to get my hands on this series. And as I began reading the first book, I realized that my money was well-spent. So, the first book in the series had little to no plot. Nothing actually happened other than a bunch of people coming together at a central location - Adua. The first book was all about introducing characters and it did a commendable job of doing so. Almost all the characters were morally grey and had different layers to them. The way different traits of characters were described, I could almost picture them. The pain and discomfort Glotka felt every time he walks, the out-of-place feeling that Logen felt upon coming to Adua, the internal turmoil of Luther - all of them felt quite real. It did take me a while to adjust to the pace of the narration and the writing style because I felt that both the pace and the writing style shifted with the characters. Also, throughout the book, I could never guess where the story was headed. Usually, in such situations, I get quite distracted and have trouble picking the book back up. But not with this book. Something in the narration and the characters kept me engaged and I was pretty absorbed in the tale. I started reading the next book in the series just as I finished the first book, which was saying something, especially for a book that practically did not have a plot. The plot picked up in the second and third books of the series and I got to see the different facets of our characters. Even with the addition of the plot, the series still focused heavily on its characters and that's something that I really admired about the series. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves to read about morally grey characters, but I would also urge them to check the associated trigger warnings as the story is quite gruesome.

3. Shadow of the Fox Trilogy by Julie Kagawa

Another series that I came across purely by happenstance is the Shadow of the Fox trilogy by Julie Kagawa. I decided to pick the first book up because it was a Young Adult (YA) fantasy story and I wanted to read something light. I did not know much about the story except for the fact that it was a quest story where two completely opposite characters journey together. But once I started the book, I realized that this "light" book had heavily gripped me. Yumeko, our main lead, is half-human and half-kitsune and is raised by monks. The first book followed Yumeko as she embarked on her journey with Kage Tatsumi, a samurai with his own demons, and they traveled far and wide through Japan on a magical quest. On her journey, she met a wide variety of characters and left an imprint on every single one of them. The series was based on elements from Asian mythology and was quite a refreshing read. The world-building and the development of characters had been wonderfully done. The interactions between Yumeko and Tatsumi were quite charming to read and one could see the stern Tatsumi softening slowly. Yumeko's innocence and loyalty to her cause could be seen in each one of her interactions with the world. The pace of the first book was moderate but it built up as the characters edged towards the conclusion. And upon reaching the conclusion, one could see that a whole new ballgame awaited our characters. In the second book, Yumeko and Tatsumi split and went on their own quests only to reunite again in the third book. I did miss the interactions between our main leads in the second book, but I could see that by giving them a chance to go their separate ways for a while, the story allowed these two characters to grow and develop separately. This made the growth that these characters went through together in the third book worthwhile. I actually binged the whole series one book after the other as the conclusions of both the first and the second books were pretty compelling. I could not resist the urge to pick the next book to find what happened next in the story. I am really glad that I got to experience such a beautiful tale.

Finding enjoyment and love in unexpected locations is the most incredible feeling. These stories that I have mentioned are only a few of the many stories that have touched my heart. I have been pleasantly surprised by these stories, their characters, their world-building, and their plots. I believe that I will continue to stumble upon such unexpected gems every now and then as stories have the power to dazzle us even in the most unexpected spots.