Any really emotional books anyone could recommend?

[alexhurry]

I've been reading mostly comedy fantasy such as Terry Pratchett lately. Are there any really good emotional fantasy or sci-fi books?

thanks!

 

[Thadlerian]

See if you can get your hands on Orsinian Tales by Ursula Le Guin. It's not strictly fantasy or science fiction, but alternative history. It's a short story collection set in an imaginary Eastern European country, and it's frankly impossible to keep your eyes dry all the way through it. Especially the stories Conversations at Night and Brothers and Sisters.

 

[Teir]

I'd recommend Robin Hobb if you haven't tried her already. The Farseer trilogy and the Tawny Man Trilogy especially (in that order. The Liveship Trader set goes inbetween them). If thats not emotional, nothing is. It'll rip your heart out your chest dude

 

[Leto]

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes

 

[dwndrgn]

At the risk of sounding flip, any good scifi or fantasy will have to tease one emotion or another - even the humor you've been reading does that.

It would be much easier to recommend some titles with a bit more information on what you are looking for. What type of emotions are you looking for? The heroic battle? The quiet struggle? The joyous romance? Do you want all these emotions and a bit of humor too?
Just to throw something out there, you could try:
Grunts, Mary Gentle
Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
Path of Fate, Diana Pharoah Francis
and the books that make me cry every time I read them, the Callahan Chronicles by Spider Robinson

 

[Brys]

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller - IMO, nothing in science fiction comes close to being as emotional as this (though it is occasionally humorous, unlike Pratchett, it's role is in alleviating comedy)
Guy Gavriel Kay's the Lions of Al-Rassan

If you're looking for some more literary fantasy/science fiction:
Both Gloriana by Michael Moorcock and the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake have some pretty emotional bits - they aren't easy going, but definitely worth reading. Also, I found the Trial by Franz Kafka to be pretty emotional at the end. But the hardest out of these three.

In epic fantasy, it's a little easier, but you need to read the whole series:
1) Steven Erikson's Malazan book of the Fallen (admittedly, the first book is nothing like as emotional as the latter books - you may want to start with Deadhouse Gates, the second book, then read the first book - you'd probably enjoy it more that way). Incomplete series, but plotlines tie up at the end of each novel - a series, not a multipart novel
2) George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire - has some very emotional parts in, but again is incomplete, and the books can't standalone at all.
3) R Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing

 

[nixie]

Juliette Marriller's [spelt wrong I know]Sevenwater trilogy is quite emotional,its a bit fluffy as well but still not a bad read.

 

[Syn]

well it is not sci fi or fantasy but of a different genre...i found it emotional to read
The Girl With The Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Isn't that based on a painting by Vermeer of Delft or something similar?

 

[Leto]

it is. Recently adapted to movie.

 

[Syn]

however the movie cuts and pastes a lot of the book in places. I found the book to be far better than that of the movie

 

[Brian G Turner]

And I'll move this to the general books and literature section.

 

[ravenus]

I found John Harrison's Viriconium very emotional, then Mieville's Perdido...

But really if you haven't already, get out of the SF/Fant rut for once and read stuff by George Orwell...Coming up for air, Keep the aspidistra flying, Nineteen eighty four, Burmese days...I doubt you can get more much emotionally affecting stuff than that.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I'd especially second Coming Up For Air.

 

[polymorphikos]

I've always found Under Plum Lake by Lionel Davidson rather moving, even if it is (ostensibly) for children. I'm not sure if it's ever been reprinted, but it's simply amazing.

And whilst it's not all affecting, some chapters of Wind In The Willows, especially the one about the sailor rat, are extremely good.

 

[Mark Robson]

I would say that Anne McCaffrey wrote some 'emotional' fantasy. I always found 'Dragonsong', 'Dragonsinger' and also, 'The Crystal Singer' to contain a lot of nerve-touching emotion. Perhaps it was because I identified with the drive of the personalities in the stories.

 

[Brys]

A few I can think of right now:
the Malazan book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson (admittedly the first book isn't particularly emotional, but the other 4 have been hugely moving)
A Song of Ice and Fire - very moving in parts
Sword of Shadows series by JVJones - particularly moving at the beginning.

All the above are unfinished, these below are standalones or completed series:

The Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay
City of Saints and Madmen - Jeff Vandermeer (not all of the stories are emotional, but there's a huge variety between some very sad, moving emotional stories and some very comic stories)
Perdido Street Station, the Scar, Iron Council - China Mieville
Viriconium - M John Harrison
The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe

In Science Fiction:
Dune - Frank Herbert
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
The Centauri Device - M John Harrison

 

[Elenilsa]

I find Orson Scott Card's Ender books pretty emotional. I just finished teaching Ender's Game to my accelerated ninth graders, and was moved to reread the other three books in the series. I consider these full of complex emotions

And I want to second the recommendationof the Robin Hobb books in the Liveship Traders, Farseer, and Tawny Man series.

 

[Culhwch]

I thought Neil Gaiman's Stardust was quite emotional. And also, not fantasy but historical, Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles also had some very moving moments.

 

[Paul Darcy]

I would suggest most novels by Robert Silverberg

Or maybe "Night Of The Ripper" by Robert Bloch.