SciFi & Redemption Stories

[sbuchler]

The older I get the more I gravitate to the books about redemption. Don’t get me wrong, I still like a nice coming of age tale - which is good, since that’s 90% of what SciFi/Fantasy is filled with. But I find now that it doesn’t resonate with me the way it used to. The books I find myself rereading (and emotionally clinging to) are the ones where

Comments

[unclrashid]

Those are some of my favorites. Especially Sunshine, which is due for a re-reading. Will have to ponder your question.

[unclrashid]

Magister Trilogy, by C S Friedman Definitly redemptive themes

Madness Season, by C S Friedman might be in that range

Anything by Guy Gavriel Kay Not always redemptive, but always features complex characters dealing with complex moral and political/cultural situations for which there is no easy answer. I can sometimes get a little teary-eyed with novels of this ilk, but a couple of his books have literally made me weep. "Fionovar Tapesty Trilogy" is his first and IMO, weakest work. Try "Song for Arbonne" and "Lions of Al-Rassan"

Some of C J Cherryh's works, though they can be drearily "russian" in their bleakness.

Some of Sheri Tepper's works

[sbuchler]

It's been a really long time since I read Madness Season... I think I read it when it first came out, which means I was... well, less then 20. Mostly I remember being really impressed that it managed to not use the word vampire for half the book ;-)

I've been waiting for the third Magister book to be published before starting... but now maybe I'll skip the wait and start any way. Thanks!

I haven't read Sheri Tepper before, I'll look into her work. :-D

I've liked the Cherryh stuff I've read more recently (I tried her in high school and just couldn't deal with it at all) but I liked Cyteen, 20,000 at Ghenna, and Downbelow Station (ok, the last one I liked but got too bleak for me to finish at the time) - but I don't think I'd characterize any of these as redemptive... Are you talking about other works or just seeing more there then I did?

I should probably give Guy Gavriel Kay another chance. I read The Lions of Al-Rassan in high school and was not impressed... the climax was soooooo foreshadowed from the moment the two male

[unclrashid]

The third book of the Magister trilogy is out in hardback.

Re: C J CHerryh... perhaps her themes tend more to dealing with adversity through personal sacrifice rather than redemption... I'm retro-analyzing this from a 15-year distance!

[ladysybylgrey]

Tad Williams. Pretty much anything by him, but I would most strongly direct you to the Otherland books: City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass & Sea of Silver Light. The four book long story really reads as a single story, not as four individual but linked stories as in most series, so I suggest that you pick up at least the first two to start, because you won't want to stop in between. The story features a very large cast who are of varying ages, races, genders, cultures and backgrounds, so you see many themes developed and expanded in the story, from plot-based philosophical/ethical themes to character-driven themes ranging from coming-of-age to redemption to experiential maturation of adult characters confronted with new realities. (sorry, couldn't think of a word for that

[sbuchler]

Thanks! I haven't read either - I'll look into them! :-D

[reasie]

Faded Sun by Cherryh might have some redemption-ish stuff in it... but mostly because it's very long so the characters have lots of time to screw up and atone. It's the book that made me a Cherryh fan.

Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuine has a tiny bit of redemptionishness, I think, as does The Dispossessed - though that's almost as "Bleakly Russian" as Cherryh.

Thanks for this post... I'm getting a lot of reading recommendations from it. I love a redemptive story, too!

[sbuchler]

Faded Sun is the one I tried to read in high school and utterly failed to "get"... maybe I should try it again...

LeGuine... I couldn't even get though The Wizard of EarthSea when I was supposedly the right age for it...nothing happened... but The Left Hand of Darkness got such rave reviews that it's been on my to read list for quite awhile... I just haven't gotten around to it yet ;-)

[charismitaine]

I didn't truly love The Wizard of Earthsea until I read it as an adult a year ago (I read it once before as a teenager, then in college for a class, and my response was 'meh' both times. This past year I re-read it because my friend really wanted me to read the second book, and I was head over heels for both of them. So it might be worth another attempt?)

[reasie]

Looking over the lists of books suggested - are female authors more likely to write redemptive SF, or are we more likely to have read female authors? :)

[sbuchler]

I am more likely to have read female authors, so there is certainly a selection bias going on... but that doesn't mean there isn't a writing bias as well...