Jurassic Park is part of a genre I call “Should have been standalone but wasn’t 😢” I’m so glad you’re reading Crichton though Merphy, I grew up on that guy
@@tejasdeepsingh456 lol yeah that's exactly what I meant. I was thinking about the original post and ended up typing basically the same thing. So I really meant standalones you just can't get enough of and want more from that world.
To people who want another great standalone fantasy rec: 'Good Omens (The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)' by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It's a comedy based on the 1976 horror film 'The Omen' and it is honestly amazing. They also made it into a television series with Michael Sheen and David Tennant last year that I would recommend watching too.
@@marianaamoedo5942 if you haven't tried reading neverwhere, I'd recommend that cos it's fairly easy to read ( in my opinion of course) and has some truly amazing characters.
Also, a lot of people are intimidated by Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series, but in reality, you can just pick up one of those books and start reading and it will work as a standalone. True, there are a lot of subseries and mini-trilogies within the Diskworld universe, and while there are overarching themes, the stories itself are pretty self-contained. It's great that way - I think it doesn't really matter where you start and where you stop. True, there are better and worse places, and you'll get to know and understand the characters and the world better if you read certain books in a certain order, but ultimately you can't go wrong with Pratchett. And within the Discworld series, there is a story you won't even know is a part of that universe if you don't check Goodreads or something, the middle-grade "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", about a talking cat and his band of rodent underlings who run a scam together (btw. it's awesome).
I'm expecting my copy of the book soon and it'll be my first book by him! Do you think I should watch the 1976 movie to get the whole experience? Or should I start with another book of his?
@@marianaamoedo5942 you should try Gaiman’s books for younger audiences like Coraline and The Graveyard book! Coraline is my favorite book that I’ve ever read. They’re both still beautiful stories, but may be a bit easier to grasp if you want to build up to his adult novels! :)
I read Frankenstein in about three days for my AP 12 class a few years back and for that mad rush of annotations, theme ,and character analysis and yet I loved it. Mary Shelley makes me extremely jealous with how incredible she wrote and how wholly she understood aspects of humanity at such a young age. Too good!
Same!! It was my summer book homework, and I was so surprised about how much I loved it. I actually finished it fast because I couldn’t get enough. And it was one of the few times I spoke in class discussions eager to analyze the boon. All in all, that class had some of my favorite classics: Brave New World, Wuthering Heights, Hamlet, A Farewell to Arms, etc.!
I appreciated Frankenstein but the writing had me bored to tears like 80 percent of the time. I HATED how the weather was the same as Dr. Frankenstein’s mood all the time. But the parts where you learn about his monster are absolutely fascinating.
I've recently been loving Naomi Novik: her stand-alone fantasy novels are so magical and exiting! I loved Uprooted and am currently reading Spinning Silver and couldn't recommend her more :) Her prose is so elegant and the stories are exiting and magical :)
Phenomenal standalone fantasy books I've read in the last year : The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Kingdom of Back. I read Frankenstein over a year ago and LOVED it!
Crichton put biochemistry on the map for me, and I ended up doing a career in research (yey Jurassic Park!). He really manages to suspend my disbelief. Also, man the ER was a great show: not only great characters, but really well documented (at least according to my Dr. uncle). And Crichton was really involved with the show
Susanna Clarke has written some amazing fantasy standalones! Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is sooooo good and her new book, Piranesi, is fantastic as well.
Long time fan of JSAMN. Just read Piranesi and I adore it and will read it again soon because I was so eager to get to the bottom of the mystery the first read through, I know I didn't catch all the nuances. 😅
I think JSaMN is my favourite book. For those that like audiobooks, the reading by Simon Prebble is superb (despite his mispronunciation of "sidhe". Luckily it's infrequent!). Somewhat embarrassingly, I've ended up with the book in hardback, on Kindle, as well as audio. I've bought Piranesi and will be reading that soon.
For a Fantasy standalone I can't recommend 'To Ride Hell's Chasm ' enough. Seriously my all time favourite. It starts off as a court intrigue mystery and gains momentum into full action. The author loves horses and it shows. She draws a world within one book with a vividness few acheive in a full series. It's a imaginative refreshing read, free of cliches and tropes. The writing is gorgeous as well. Fellow fantasy fans check it out.
Yeeees! I have not seen nearly enough people talking about "This is How You Lose the Time War." Such an incredible book. The audiobook is amazing, too. The actresses they got to read for red and blue were just *chef's kiss* perfect. Cannot recommend highly enough.
A few of my favorite stand alone fantasy novels: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay The Lions of Al-Rasan by Guy Gavriel Kay The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson What the Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes
Ugh How You Lose the Time War. First audiobook I listened to where I stopped everything else I was doing and just lay down and listened until it finished. Magical.
On my lunch break right now watching this and thinking how I wish I had a book to read and you recommend the unkindness of magician and and I check my library app and they have it!!!!!!! So excited !!!!
Imagica- Clive Barker House of suns- Alastair Reynolds Perdido Street Station- China Mieville Eyes of the dragon- Stephen King The Talisman- Stephen King Weaveworld- Clive Barker Solaris- Stanislaw Lem Altered Carbon- Richard Morgan Lathe of heaven- Ursula le Guin Alas, Babylon- Pat Frank Under the dome- Stephen King Some good standalone sci fi and fantasy:)
I am so glad to Micheal Critchen made the list. I feel like he so under appreciated. He is an amazing writer and I love the way he weaves the themes throughout his stories.
The first time I heard his name was actually him being a writer on the show E.R. I haven't read his books yet but the writing on that show is amazing and convinced me to try his books next time I have the time.
@@itsjustbree9267I loved ER! ❤ I watch it when it when it came out. I remember reading Jurrasic Park the summer before the movie came out. As a kid I remember mostly the action scenes and the story line. Then when I reread it as an adult and I really appreciate how he weaved the themes in a way that wasn't preachy or in your face. Even A Lost World has a great nature vs nurture theme in it. If you like him also read Congo. The movie didn't give it justice at all.
@@elledowning7512 Darn I'm remembering how E.R. emotionally messed me up at least once a season. Probably why I haven't rewatched it yet... still recovering from the first watch. 😅 I felt like those characters were real people that I knew.
I cannot recommend Dark Matter by Blake Crouch enough. It’s a stand alone sci-fi book with a unique take on quantum mechanics and parallel universes. Again, I cannot recommend this book enough
I have this book but just haven't gotten to it yet. You mention parallel universes and now I want to read it asap. I think I will pull it out and read before this month is over.
I loved it but the ending...well I won’t say anything 😂 Also Recursion was pretty good but...it wasn’t my favorite. I would read something else by that author though.
I need to continue reading Warbreaker soon! I was reading through it when my friends unexpectedly agreed to do an Elantris buddy read with me (which is awesome!), so I put it on pause so I wouldn't get them mixed up. The beginning was so interesting!
I was so excited when I saw the title, great video Merphy! Not to discourage anyone from reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere - because it is amazing and I also highly recommend it - but it is not going to be a standalone for long (I can't wait, London Below is so interesting).
The fact that ive read 5 of the books on this list, all from your recommendations AND ive loved it all, is astoundingly amazing, will definitely read Timeline and Frankenstein soon!! Also The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu is one of the standalone fantasies ive recently read that blew me away with the oh so compelling morally gray characters AND ANd, one thing I particularly found only in this book was the fact that as the characters aged from childhood to adults, you can pick up on the way the tone and voice of the characters evolved and matured as they aged and thats such a great feeling. Definitely should give it a read.
Michael Crichton is my favorite sci fi author!! Timeline, Sphere, and Congo are my favorite stand-alones, but I re-read JP and Lost world at least every year. Even tho he didn't want to write Lost World at first, I think he found a story he wanted to tell. The science feels so real. No spoilers, but Airframe I DNF'd halfway through cause the pacing is very slow, and the jargon is clunky like an engineering textbook. I felt like that book was just Crichton nerding out about airplanes, which is cool if that's your thing. I love your videos!!
I wholeheartedly agree with Peter Pan. I never would have thought to read that until one of your videos where you were raving about it. I think it was a video about classics. Oh my gosh it is such a good book so thanks for the rec. I did the audiobook for that and it was great. Same narrator that did the Harry Potter books.
I definitely also recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as a fantasy standalone! "Howl`s Moving Castle" is a middle grade book that works SO well as a standalone. It`s technically part of a series, but the main characters of Howl`s are really just doing cameos in the rest of the book rather than having their full story continued. Robin McKinley also wrote a bunch of amazing standalones, again mostly middle grade. It is really weird there aren`t more standalones in fantasy in general. I love series too, but... Can`t we have both?
A Sleight of Shadows ( Unkindness of Magicians book 2) but glad you mentioned this because I somehow missed it. And now I know that, and that there is a second
ABSOLUTELY LOVED AN UNKINDNESS OF MAGICIANS. I read it because of the number of times you've recommended it on the channel. Thank you!! Kinda disagree with you about the ending. I thought it was abrupt enough for us to believe that its consequences are going to stay with the character for a while if that makes sense? And I liked that. :D I have read other works of Kat Howard but none of them came close.
Andy Weir. His books The Martian and Artemis were both stand alone sci-fi. Excellent books. Like Crichton he really develops the science. His new book Hail Mary is coming out in May and it looks to be a stand alone as well.
Recommendation for early Michael Crichton - Andromeda Strain. I'm glad you recommended Frankenstein. There are so many movies with different takes, it is really worth it to go back to the actual book. Sounds like I'm adding An Unkindness of Magicians to my TBR.
Since the majority of sci-fi are stand-alones there is no shortage. Here are a few others (plus Dracula). Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke - First contact story Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes - Heartbreaking story of a legal moron who has his intelligence enhanced to genius level and then slowly slips back to previous levels The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin - What is your dreams could change reality? City - Clifford D. Simak - Far distant future where intelligent dogs rule the earth. Humans are a myth - so did they ever really exist? Dracula - Bram Stoker - You know the story Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir - Amnesia in space....I guess I'm supposed to save the world? Anthem - Ayn Rand - Dystopian future where the word "I" is outlawed The Door into Summer - Robert A. Heinlein - Man is frozen and sent into the near future Roadside Picnic - Arkady Strugatsky - Aliens visit earth. Can't be bothered to interact with humans. Leave their trash.
Great Sci-Fi standalones: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson Anathem by Neal Stephenson Snow crash by Neal Stephenson Chasm city by Alastair Reynolds Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
@@charlie.tt4 No problem! Any time i can tell people about Neal is a good day. Haha Plus he's said he doesn't like sequels very much so no risk of having a second book come out years later.
I’ve really been looking for some stand alone recs! Thanks so much! And if I could recommend H.G. Wells he has lots of great sci fi books, The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, The Time Machine. I know Merphy doesn’t care much for H.G Wells but I love his work so I gotta recommend him.
I read An Unkindness of Magicians because of you and it was really really good! I also knew the author from a short story and I gotta say it was a setup. According to Goodreads Unkindness is to have a sequel
Ngl Merph I'm in love with classics. I used to find them "boring". You made me read Peter Pan and now I'm LOVING Frankenstein(I'm currently reading it). It's absolutely fantastic!
Great video Merphy! My recs besides the one you mentioned: Fantasy - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - Coraline by Neil Gaiman - Pan‘s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro Sci Fi - The Test by Sylvain Neuvel - The Humans by Matt Haig
An oldy but a goodie is Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. SF: Michael Flynn - In the Country of the Blind Peter F. Hamilton - The Great North Road C.S. Friedman - In Conquest Born (Fantastic book. It does have a sequel that came out about 20 years later, but it's really not good, so you can ignore it.) Fantasy: Michael Stackpole - Talion: Revenant Tad Williams - The War of the Flowers
My standalone fantasy recs: * "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - it's awesome. Nuff said. (Also, yes, other books by Gaiman) * "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" by Terry Pratchett, a middle-grade book about a talking cat and his band of rodent underlings who run a scam together (technically it's a part of the Discworld universe, but the first time I've read it I didn't realize that, and I love the series) * K.J. Parker is an author that writes a lot of fantasy standalones. So far I've read some of his novellas (that's my Holly Grail recently: fantasy, standalone AND short), and they have unreliable narrators and morally ambiguous characters, so try them if that's your thing. They can get pretty meandering though, therefore if you have a problem with retrospections think twice before picking them up. They are short though. * "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill - it's middle-grade, but longer (about 400 pages), and if you love subverted fairytales, you'll love this. * Another one for fairytale lovers: books in The Castle series by Diana Wynne Jones can be read as standalone, I especially recommend the first book "Howl's Moving Castle" (made into a movie by Ghibli) and the third book "House of Many Ways" (which is underappreciated in my opinion). ---- My standalone s-f recs: * the first entry in the series "The Murderbot Diaries" by Martha Wells is a self-contained story that can be read as a standalone, and it's a novella so it's safe to pick up if you're not sure you want to invest time in another long series * "To Be Taught, If Fortunate" by Becky Chambers - also a novella. If you like science in your SF definitely pick it up * "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury - a must-read dystopian classic. * Books by Connie Willis - she's a genre of her own. * Dune by Frank Herbert - technically first in a series but can be read as a standalone in my opinion. It's not for everybody but if you're an idea guy or gal, and a dry third-person omniscient narrator doesn't scare you, pick this up. * H.G. Wells' books - the story's delivery and writing itself is a bit dated but gods, what an imagination that guy had.
If you like Urban Fantasy, give Charles De Lint's books a try. He writes mostly standalones. Someplace to be Flying, Forests of the Heart, are 2 of my most favorite books of all time. He also has quite a few anthologies, start with Dreams Underfoot.
Wonderful! I'm about to start Gaiman's American Gods. Fingers crossed it'll be good. I'm totally going to take your suggestions. When done wit American Gods, I think I may try for the purple read. I sometiems enjoy that, plus it being a novella may help me read through it faster to jump to yet another book. Thank you!
You have no idea how timely this video is for me. I was just seeking out some standalone titles last night after realizing I was starting to have a bit of series fatigue.
One of my favorite fantasy standalones that I rarely, if ever, see mentioned is Battle Mage by Perer Flannery. It has demons, dragons, zombies, and of course battle mages. I found it hard to put down.
Michael Chrichton is one of my fav authors! I read sphere for the first time last week and was hooked. Currently reading airframe, his premises are always so creative.
OK, here are ten of mine: The Circus of Dr. Lao, by Charles G. Finney. Very weird and extremely memorable non-traditional fantasy; probably not for everybody, but I, for one, find it fascinating. The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester. One of the best 'antihero' sci-fi books out there, possibly the definitive example; the protagonist does some truly despicable things and often comes off as more of a villain, but at the same time goes through such a personal journey that he's oddly relatable, and the whole thing is just so creative and oh it's great. Dark Lord of Derkholm, by Diana Wynne Jones. Thorough deconstruction of sword-and-sorcery tropes, all the while featuring one of the most relatable and endearing group of protagonists I've ever come across. Funny, heartwarming, lots of fun. A Nameless Witch, by A. Lee Martinez. Either an oddly moving comedy with a lot of fantasy drama thrown in, or an oddly moving dramatic fantasy with a lot of comedy thrown in - take your pick. The King of Elfland's Daughter, by Lord Dunsany. A classic, with super-lyrical prose style. Very fairy tail-ish, with 'be careful what you wish for' undertones. Dinosaur Summer, by Greg Bear. Great adventure/sci-fi, with lots of dinosaurs thrown in. I personally prefer it over 'Jurassic Park'. War of the Worlds, by H.G Wells. One of those classic 'changed the face of genre fiction' books that everyone should read at least once; plus, unlike some of those, this is a genuinely good and gripping alien invasion story, still one of the best over a century later. The Magic City, by E. Nesbit. Whimsical old-school children's fantasy, with a genuinely pretty moving 'accepting change' sort of message. The Goblin Reservation, by Clifford D. Simak. One of those weird sci-fi/fantasy mixes you sometimes come across; aliens, time travel and fairies all in the same story. I can't really explain this one very well, but it's good. Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie. Why this isn't routinely mentioned alongside such all-ages classics as 'Alice in Wonderland' is beyond me; one of my favorite books. Bit of sci-fi, bit of fantasy, lots and lots of imagination.
A sci-fi book I just finished recently was Lockstep by Karl Schroeder. It was a quick, fun space adventure about terraforming, humans going into long bouts of hibernation and the family who started it all descending into madness. The book itself really isn't too deep, but if you want something fast and fun to read over a long weekend I highly recommend.
I bought Peter Pan for your recommendations and I plan to read it soon , I think I will enjoy it a lot. Thanks for your recommendations and I will add Ubik as a great sci-fi stand-alone book.
The Vorkosigan books by Bujold are nice in this regard in that they are a series, but each book is a self contained story that stands alone and does not require reading other books in the series (with maybe 1-2 exceptions where a pair of books makes a complete arc). You lose a bit in terms of context if you don't read them in order, but it isn't really necessary.
I honestly can’t believe I’ve never read Gaiman. I own 3 or 4 of his books. I don’t usually enjoy books set in London but you’ve sold me on an unkindness of magicians
I've read Timeline. It was like candy to me since I've always dreamt of being able to travel to the 14:th century. Enjoyed the beginning like I was preparing for a trip myself. Felt it was a little too long and repetitive. Not his best novel. The best one I've read by Crichton was one of his early ones. It was a crime story on another planet. The investigator was only partially human. Some kind of robot. A man with machine or machine with man, like it said on the cover. He went to a house where the murders happened. There was this central computer that controlled everything in the house. Which I found fascinating. If you read something like hundred years ago and still remember it then that must have been good.
Literally just read Frankenstein last week for the first time. I was surprised by how different it was from Hollywood tropes & how much I loved it! I’m a big fan of classics, so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but lots of people said it was too wordy. I didn’t feel that way at all.
Merphy, I always enjoy your videos, and I have picked up books I've liked on your recommendations. Thank you! I hope you'll forgive me for this and take it in the gentle way it is meant, but I have one quibble with your recent videos that doesn't seem to be going away: Novella is pronounced no-vella (ie, a long o, although I have also seen nuh-vella), but not nah-vella. :)
Dracula has a better motive behind it and ending in the 1992 movie, I liked some parts of the book but the end just drags. Frankenstein bored me, it felt too angsty.
Dracula started out amazing...Jonathan visiting the castle was amazing. But then the second half of the book was absolute shit. The main characters tracking the boxes was soooo boring...
I had the exact opposite experience: I read Dracula and was very disappointed by it, then read Frankenstein almost immediately afterward, and was very pleasantly surprised.
I happened to read Frankenstein at the same time as Paradise Lost. It was a coincidence, but now I recommend anyone who wants to read Frankenstein reads the two first books of Paradise Lost first (Books being basically chapters). Gives some great insight into the monster's thought process!
Every time Warbreaker is mentioned I like to mention that Brandon Sanderson has every draft, including the final, published draft, available for free on his website. You can read it for free if you want a good read, or you can compare the drafts if you want a writing lesson on how a book evolves over multiple drafts. Another of the reasons why Sanderson rocks.
Timothy Zahn mostly writes standalone sci-fi! If you like smart plots and very clever believable concepts, try his stuff for sure. Icarus Hunt or Warhorse are great options.
I do really enjoy an Unkindness of Magicians! Warbreaker is also another fantastic standalone fantasy book. My current favorite though is Sword of Kaigen! It is a fantastic self published adult fantasy book
I found Neil Gaiman because I didn’t read Harry Potter until I was 27 👀 and after I was so hungover that I googled books like HP and Neverwhere came up so I ordered it without knowing anything about it. I LOVED IT! And bought about 5 more Gaiman books and he’s now one of my fave authors but I definitely don’t know why google suggests it’s like HP lol but I’m glad they did.
Michael Crichton is really so brilliant with his writing! While I read it the only time I step out of the story is to think about how smart he is 😂 Timeline and Sphere are both great starts after Jurassic Park! Timeline is probably my overall favorite after Jurassic Park!
Michael Crichton wrote mainly techno-thrillers is the father of techno-thrillers. Andromeda Strain, Westworld, Sphere etc. If you like his works go for Daniel Suarez. Influx and Change Agent, e.g.
I love all Neil Gaiman's books! I love his writing, simple yet whimsical. Hate hate hate flowery writing, so "this is how you lose the time war" is definitely not for me. Thanks for letting me know! Also, I was kinda expecting to see some Asimov... he doesn't write standalones? Great video Merphy! xx
I didn’t see unkindness of magicians in the thumbnail and I questioned my life for a minute. I read that like.. last year? Off of your suggestion. LOVED IT. I tried Roses and Rot by her and it just couldn’t hook me.
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It's great to read a complete story without need to read a lot of books!!!
Jurassic Park is part of a genre I call “Should have been standalone but wasn’t 😢”
I’m so glad you’re reading Crichton though Merphy, I grew up on that guy
You've got me thinking about this for a video now...
@@merphynapier42 We would love a video on that lol
You could also do the opposite. Series that should have just been a standalone.
@@chadskelly8955 Umm wouldn't the opposite be
'Standalones that should have been series'
@@tejasdeepsingh456 lol yeah that's exactly what I meant. I was thinking about the original post and ended up typing basically the same thing. So I really meant standalones you just can't get enough of and want more from that world.
I saw the word standalone and I clicked
I'm a simple guy who is intimidated by this authortube world
To people who want another great standalone fantasy rec: 'Good Omens (The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch)' by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It's a comedy based on the 1976 horror film 'The Omen' and it is honestly amazing. They also made it into a television series with Michael Sheen and David Tennant last year that I would recommend watching too.
One of my favourite books, I love it so much.
That's the one book of Gaiman I did enjoy (well, most of it, it was hard to understand sometimes)
@@marianaamoedo5942 if you haven't tried reading neverwhere, I'd recommend that cos it's fairly easy to read ( in my opinion of course) and has some truly amazing characters.
Also, a lot of people are intimidated by Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series, but in reality, you can just pick up one of those books and start reading and it will work as a standalone. True, there are a lot of subseries and mini-trilogies within the Diskworld universe, and while there are overarching themes, the stories itself are pretty self-contained. It's great that way - I think it doesn't really matter where you start and where you stop. True, there are better and worse places, and you'll get to know and understand the characters and the world better if you read certain books in a certain order, but ultimately you can't go wrong with Pratchett.
And within the Discworld series, there is a story you won't even know is a part of that universe if you don't check Goodreads or something, the middle-grade "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", about a talking cat and his band of rodent underlings who run a scam together (btw. it's awesome).
I'm expecting my copy of the book soon and it'll be my first book by him! Do you think I should watch the 1976 movie to get the whole experience? Or should I start with another book of his?
Neil Gaiman is easily one of my favorite authors. Neverwhere was the first book of his I read and had to hunt down everything else.
He’s literally a gift on this planet
Like Murakami, I feel they're far too intelligent for me to understand them, so I struggle with their books (and come up with almost nothing)
@@marianaamoedo5942 you should try Gaiman’s books for younger audiences like Coraline and The Graveyard book! Coraline is my favorite book that I’ve ever read. They’re both still beautiful stories, but may be a bit easier to grasp if you want to build up to his adult novels! :)
Which is one of your favorite books of his?
Fantasy and Sci-fi are my favorite genres and I'm always looking for recommendations, so I really appreciate this video.
I read Frankenstein in about three days for my AP 12 class a few years back and for that mad rush of annotations, theme ,and character analysis and yet I loved it.
Mary Shelley makes me extremely jealous with how incredible she wrote and how wholly she understood aspects of humanity at such a young age. Too good!
Same!! It was my summer book homework, and I was so surprised about how much I loved it. I actually finished it fast because I couldn’t get enough. And it was one of the few times I spoke in class discussions eager to analyze the boon. All in all, that class had some of my favorite classics: Brave New World, Wuthering Heights, Hamlet, A Farewell to Arms, etc.!
I appreciated Frankenstein but the writing had me bored to tears like 80 percent of the time. I HATED how the weather was the same as Dr. Frankenstein’s mood all the time.
But the parts where you learn about his monster are absolutely fascinating.
I've recently been loving Naomi Novik: her stand-alone fantasy novels are so magical and exiting! I loved Uprooted and am currently reading Spinning Silver and couldn't recommend her more :) Her prose is so elegant and the stories are exiting and magical :)
I can't wait to read her new book
I liked Uprooted but it should've been more than one book. Everything is so rushed after the MC goes to the capital.
@@kindacalled777 I agree, I wish it could have been longer
Phenomenal standalone fantasy books I've read in the last year : The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Kingdom of Back.
I read Frankenstein over a year ago and LOVED it!
Merphy hello i seriously wanted stand-alone recs rn, thanks sooo much✨♥️
Crichton put biochemistry on the map for me, and I ended up doing a career in research (yey Jurassic Park!). He really manages to suspend my disbelief. Also, man the ER was a great show: not only great characters, but really well documented (at least according to my Dr. uncle). And Crichton was really involved with the show
I am a simple girl, I see Merphy upload a video I like and watch.
Fantasy standalones are a rare breed 😅. I'm always impressed by someone who can put a whole new complex world into one book!
This Is How You Lose the Time War is one of my favourite books, so happy that you're recommending it here :D
Susanna Clarke has written some amazing fantasy standalones! Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is sooooo good and her new book, Piranesi, is fantastic as well.
Long time fan of JSAMN. Just read Piranesi and I adore it and will read it again soon because I was so eager to get to the bottom of the mystery the first read through, I know I didn't catch all the nuances. 😅
I was wondering if those were the same author. I'll have to check out Piranesi
I think JSaMN is my favourite book. For those that like audiobooks, the reading by Simon Prebble is superb (despite his mispronunciation of "sidhe". Luckily it's infrequent!). Somewhat embarrassingly, I've ended up with the book in hardback, on Kindle, as well as audio. I've bought Piranesi and will be reading that soon.
One of my picks would be The Princess Bride. Love both the book and the film.
For a Fantasy standalone I can't recommend 'To Ride Hell's Chasm ' enough. Seriously my all time favourite. It starts off as a court intrigue mystery and gains momentum into full action. The author loves horses and it shows. She draws a world within one book with a vividness few acheive in a full series. It's a imaginative refreshing read, free of cliches and tropes. The writing is gorgeous as well. Fellow fantasy fans check it out.
Reading Frankenstein made me question every adaptation ever. The monster is YELLOW! Crazy stuff.
Yeeees! I have not seen nearly enough people talking about "This is How You Lose the Time War." Such an incredible book. The audiobook is amazing, too. The actresses they got to read for red and blue were just *chef's kiss* perfect. Cannot recommend highly enough.
A few of my favorite stand alone fantasy novels:
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Lions of Al-Rasan by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint
A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson
What the Wind Brings by Matthew Hughes
Ugh How You Lose the Time War. First audiobook I listened to where I stopped everything else I was doing and just lay down and listened until it finished. Magical.
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane 👍 I recommend Redshirts by John Scalzi! A great stand alone sci fi comedy!
On my lunch break right now watching this and thinking how I wish I had a book to read and you recommend the unkindness of magician and and I check my library app and they have it!!!!!!! So excited !!!!
Yesssss! I have asked so many bookstores for help to find standalones for fantasy!! You deliver! I appreciate! I worship!
Imagica- Clive Barker
House of suns- Alastair Reynolds
Perdido Street Station- China Mieville
Eyes of the dragon- Stephen King
The Talisman- Stephen King
Weaveworld- Clive Barker
Solaris- Stanislaw Lem
Altered Carbon- Richard Morgan
Lathe of heaven- Ursula le Guin
Alas, Babylon- Pat Frank
Under the dome- Stephen King
Some good standalone sci fi and fantasy:)
I am so glad to Micheal Critchen made the list. I feel like he so under appreciated. He is an amazing writer and I love the way he weaves the themes throughout his stories.
The first time I heard his name was actually him being a writer on the show E.R. I haven't read his books yet but the writing on that show is amazing and convinced me to try his books next time I have the time.
@@itsjustbree9267I loved ER! ❤ I watch it when it when it came out.
I remember reading Jurrasic Park the summer before the movie came out. As a kid I remember mostly the action scenes and the story line. Then when I reread it as an adult and I really appreciate how he weaved the themes in a way that wasn't preachy or in your face. Even A Lost World has a great nature vs nurture theme in it.
If you like him also read Congo. The movie didn't give it justice at all.
@@elledowning7512 Darn I'm remembering how E.R. emotionally messed me up at least once a season. Probably why I haven't rewatched it yet... still recovering from the first watch. 😅 I felt like those characters were real people that I knew.
I cannot recommend Dark Matter by Blake Crouch enough. It’s a stand alone sci-fi book with a unique take on quantum mechanics and parallel universes. Again, I cannot recommend this book enough
Yes this is one of my favourite books!!
Add Recursion to that too. Same author.
@@astraestus8828 I loved reading Recursion!
I have this book but just haven't gotten to it yet. You mention parallel universes and now I want to read it asap. I think I will pull it out and read before this month is over.
I loved it but the ending...well I won’t say anything 😂
Also Recursion was pretty good but...it wasn’t my favorite. I would read something else by that author though.
I need to continue reading Warbreaker soon! I was reading through it when my friends unexpectedly agreed to do an Elantris buddy read with me (which is awesome!), so I put it on pause so I wouldn't get them mixed up. The beginning was so interesting!
Merphy Thank You for being you. Isolation and lockdown has been easier with your recommendations.
How is it that you always make videos I am looking for? I needed standalone recs and you are amazing for this Merphy! ♥
I'm reading Elantris as my first Sanderson novel and I love it. I know his writing only gets better from here.
I was so excited when I saw the title, great video Merphy! Not to discourage anyone from reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere - because it is amazing and I also highly recommend it - but it is not going to be a standalone for long (I can't wait, London Below is so interesting).
The fact that ive read 5 of the books on this list, all from your recommendations AND ive loved it all, is astoundingly amazing, will definitely read Timeline and Frankenstein soon!! Also The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu is one of the standalone fantasies ive recently read that blew me away with the oh so compelling morally gray characters AND ANd, one thing I particularly found only in this book was the fact that as the characters aged from childhood to adults, you can pick up on the way the tone and voice of the characters evolved and matured as they aged and thats such a great feeling. Definitely should give it a read.
Michael Crichton is my favorite sci fi author!! Timeline, Sphere, and Congo are my favorite stand-alones, but I re-read JP and Lost world at least every year. Even tho he didn't want to write Lost World at first, I think he found a story he wanted to tell. The science feels so real. No spoilers, but Airframe I DNF'd halfway through cause the pacing is very slow, and the jargon is clunky like an engineering textbook. I felt like that book was just Crichton nerding out about airplanes, which is cool if that's your thing. I love your videos!!
I wholeheartedly agree with Peter Pan. I never would have thought to read that until one of your videos where you were raving about it. I think it was a video about classics. Oh my gosh it is such a good book so thanks for the rec. I did the audiobook for that and it was great. Same narrator that did the Harry Potter books.
I definitely also recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as a fantasy standalone! "Howl`s Moving Castle" is a middle grade book that works SO well as a standalone. It`s technically part of a series, but the main characters of Howl`s are really just doing cameos in the rest of the book rather than having their full story continued. Robin McKinley also wrote a bunch of amazing standalones, again mostly middle grade. It is really weird there aren`t more standalones in fantasy in general. I love series too, but... Can`t we have both?
I love so many of these books 😅😅
EDIT: also korey, editing is on point, as always
A Sleight of Shadows ( Unkindness of Magicians book 2) but glad you mentioned this because I somehow missed it. And now I know that, and that there is a second
ABSOLUTELY LOVED AN UNKINDNESS OF MAGICIANS. I read it because of the number of times you've recommended it on the channel. Thank you!! Kinda disagree with you about the ending. I thought it was abrupt enough for us to believe that its consequences are going to stay with the character for a while if that makes sense? And I liked that. :D I have read other works of Kat Howard but none of them came close.
Your channel is so much fun! Great videos!
Andy Weir. His books The Martian and Artemis were both stand alone sci-fi. Excellent books. Like Crichton he really develops the science. His new book Hail Mary is coming out in May and it looks to be a stand alone as well.
I prefer series because of the immersion, but sometimes it gets heavy so these standalone recs are much appreciated!
Recommendation for early Michael Crichton - Andromeda Strain. I'm glad you recommended Frankenstein. There are so many movies with different takes, it is really worth it to go back to the actual book. Sounds like I'm adding An Unkindness of Magicians to my TBR.
Since the majority of sci-fi are stand-alones there is no shortage. Here are a few others (plus Dracula).
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
- First contact story
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
- Heartbreaking story of a legal moron who has his intelligence enhanced to genius level and then slowly slips back to previous levels
The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin
- What is your dreams could change reality?
City - Clifford D. Simak
- Far distant future where intelligent dogs rule the earth. Humans are a myth - so did they ever really exist?
Dracula - Bram Stoker
- You know the story
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
- Amnesia in space....I guess I'm supposed to save the world?
Anthem - Ayn Rand
- Dystopian future where the word "I" is outlawed
The Door into Summer - Robert A. Heinlein
- Man is frozen and sent into the near future
Roadside Picnic - Arkady Strugatsky
- Aliens visit earth. Can't be bothered to interact with humans. Leave their trash.
New Video Yaaay!!!!🎉🎉🎊🎊
PS it's exactly on time I was looking to start reading Sci Fi Thank You 🙇🏻♂️
Great Sci-Fi standalones:
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Snow crash by Neal Stephenson
Chasm city by Alastair Reynolds
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
Thank you for reminding me that I’ve been wanting to put some of these on my tbr!
@@charlie.tt4
No problem! Any time i can tell people about Neal is a good day. Haha
Plus he's said he doesn't like sequels very much so no risk of having a second book come out years later.
I’ve really been looking for some stand alone recs! Thanks so much!
And if I could recommend H.G. Wells he has lots of great sci fi books, The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, The Time Machine. I know Merphy doesn’t care much for H.G Wells but I love his work so I gotta recommend him.
I read An Unkindness of Magicians because of you and it was really really good! I also knew the author from a short story and I gotta say it was a setup.
According to Goodreads Unkindness is to have a sequel
Ngl Merph I'm in love with classics. I used to find them "boring". You made me read Peter Pan and now I'm LOVING Frankenstein(I'm currently reading it). It's absolutely fantastic!
Great video Merphy! My recs besides the one you mentioned:
Fantasy
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- Pan‘s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro
Sci Fi
- The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
- The Humans by Matt Haig
...I really should read Peter Pan, shouldn't I?
Excited to hear your opinions on Sphere, it's one of my all-time favorites
An oldy but a goodie is Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
SF:
Michael Flynn - In the Country of the Blind
Peter F. Hamilton - The Great North Road
C.S. Friedman - In Conquest Born (Fantastic book. It does have a sequel that came out about 20 years later, but it's really not good, so you can ignore it.)
Fantasy:
Michael Stackpole - Talion: Revenant
Tad Williams - The War of the Flowers
Thanks! I was really looking forward to standalones. Love your channel♥️
My standalone fantasy recs:
* "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - it's awesome. Nuff said. (Also, yes, other books by Gaiman)
* "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" by Terry Pratchett, a middle-grade book about a talking cat and his band of rodent underlings who run a scam together (technically it's a part of the Discworld universe, but the first time I've read it I didn't realize that, and I love the series)
* K.J. Parker is an author that writes a lot of fantasy standalones. So far I've read some of his novellas (that's my Holly Grail recently: fantasy, standalone AND short), and they have unreliable narrators and morally ambiguous characters, so try them if that's your thing. They can get pretty meandering though, therefore if you have a problem with retrospections think twice before picking them up. They are short though.
* "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill - it's middle-grade, but longer (about 400 pages), and if you love subverted fairytales, you'll love this.
* Another one for fairytale lovers: books in The Castle series by Diana Wynne Jones can be read as standalone, I especially recommend the first book "Howl's Moving Castle" (made into a movie by Ghibli) and the third book "House of Many Ways" (which is underappreciated in my opinion).
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My standalone s-f recs:
* the first entry in the series "The Murderbot Diaries" by Martha Wells is a self-contained story that can be read as a standalone, and it's a novella so it's safe to pick up if you're not sure you want to invest time in another long series
* "To Be Taught, If Fortunate" by Becky Chambers - also a novella. If you like science in your SF definitely pick it up
* "Fahrenheit 451"
by Ray Bradbury - a must-read dystopian classic.
* Books by Connie Willis - she's a genre of her own.
* Dune by Frank Herbert - technically first in a series but can be read as a standalone in my opinion. It's not for everybody but if you're an idea guy or gal, and a dry third-person omniscient narrator doesn't scare you, pick this up.
* H.G. Wells' books - the story's delivery and writing itself is a bit dated but gods, what an imagination that guy had.
It's a long time since I read Sphere but I remember loving it.
If you like Urban Fantasy, give Charles De Lint's books a try. He writes mostly standalones. Someplace to be Flying, Forests of the Heart, are 2 of my most favorite books of all time. He also has quite a few anthologies, start with Dreams Underfoot.
Wonderful! I'm about to start Gaiman's American Gods. Fingers crossed it'll be good. I'm totally going to take your suggestions. When done wit American Gods, I think I may try for the purple read. I sometiems enjoy that, plus it being a novella may help me read through it faster to jump to yet another book. Thank you!
i was actually looking for some book recs and then you posted this and i screamed lol
You have no idea how timely this video is for me. I was just seeking out some standalone titles last night after realizing I was starting to have a bit of series fatigue.
I LOVE AN UNKINDNESS OF MAGICIANS SO MUCH LITERALLY A FAV OF MINE. The plot, the charaacters, EVERYTHING about this book.
One of my favorite fantasy standalones that I rarely, if ever, see mentioned is Battle Mage by Perer Flannery. It has demons, dragons, zombies, and of course battle mages. I found it hard to put down.
Battle Mage was outstanding. Falco was my favorite character! 👍🏾
This is a godsend. I seem to need like 3 standalones between every series/serialised(?) book I read.
Michael Chrichton is one of my fav authors! I read sphere for the first time last week and was hooked. Currently reading airframe, his premises are always so creative.
OK, here are ten of mine:
The Circus of Dr. Lao, by Charles G. Finney. Very weird and extremely memorable non-traditional fantasy; probably not for everybody, but I, for one, find it fascinating.
The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester. One of the best 'antihero' sci-fi books out there, possibly the definitive example; the protagonist does some truly despicable things and often comes off as more of a villain, but at the same time goes through such a personal journey that he's oddly relatable, and the whole thing is just so creative and oh it's great.
Dark Lord of Derkholm, by Diana Wynne Jones. Thorough deconstruction of sword-and-sorcery tropes, all the while featuring one of the most relatable and endearing group of protagonists I've ever come across. Funny, heartwarming, lots of fun.
A Nameless Witch, by A. Lee Martinez. Either an oddly moving comedy with a lot of fantasy drama thrown in, or an oddly moving dramatic fantasy with a lot of comedy thrown in - take your pick.
The King of Elfland's Daughter, by Lord Dunsany. A classic, with super-lyrical prose style. Very fairy tail-ish, with 'be careful what you wish for' undertones.
Dinosaur Summer, by Greg Bear. Great adventure/sci-fi, with lots of dinosaurs thrown in. I personally prefer it over 'Jurassic Park'.
War of the Worlds, by H.G Wells. One of those classic 'changed the face of genre fiction' books that everyone should read at least once; plus, unlike some of those, this is a genuinely good and gripping alien invasion story, still one of the best over a century later.
The Magic City, by E. Nesbit. Whimsical old-school children's fantasy, with a genuinely pretty moving 'accepting change' sort of message.
The Goblin Reservation, by Clifford D. Simak. One of those weird sci-fi/fantasy mixes you sometimes come across; aliens, time travel and fairies all in the same story. I can't really explain this one very well, but it's good.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salman Rushdie. Why this isn't routinely mentioned alongside such all-ages classics as 'Alice in Wonderland' is beyond me; one of my favorite books. Bit of sci-fi, bit of fantasy, lots and lots of imagination.
For standalone fantasy: Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang. Arguably my favourite book of the year!
Frankenstein is always going to be one of my favorites
A sci-fi book I just finished recently was Lockstep by Karl Schroeder. It was a quick, fun space adventure about terraforming, humans going into long bouts of hibernation and the family who started it all descending into madness. The book itself really isn't too deep, but if you want something fast and fun to read over a long weekend I highly recommend.
Agree about Gaiman. My favourite of his is Stardust.
Thanks for the recs, I'm gonna look into some of these!
I bought Peter Pan for your recommendations and I plan to read it soon
, I think I will enjoy it a lot.
Thanks for your recommendations and I will add Ubik as a great sci-fi stand-alone book.
Thank you for this video. I've read so many books that are the first in a series and there's just not enough time to get to the whole series.
I love Micheal Crichton. Andromeda Strain was one of the first sci-fi books I read when I was in middle school. It's still one of my favorites.
The Vorkosigan books by Bujold are nice in this regard in that they are a series, but each book is a self contained story that stands alone and does not require reading other books in the series (with maybe 1-2 exceptions where a pair of books makes a complete arc). You lose a bit in terms of context if you don't read them in order, but it isn't really necessary.
Naomi Novik is a fantasy writer who has done a few stand-alones. Uprooted and Spinning Silver 😊
Hi Merphy!I am a new subscriber and I am loving your videos ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I just started reading Frankenstein in my English class and I'm so excited to get into it!
Hi Merphy! Thanks for the recs.
Also I thought I should mention that Warbreaker is there to read for free on Brandon Sanderson’s website...
yayy book recs are backk
I honestly can’t believe I’ve never read Gaiman. I own 3 or 4 of his books. I don’t usually enjoy books set in London but you’ve sold me on an unkindness of magicians
I've read Timeline. It was like candy to me since I've always dreamt of being able to travel to the 14:th century. Enjoyed the beginning like I was preparing for a trip myself. Felt it was a little too long and repetitive. Not his best novel. The best one I've read by Crichton was one of his early ones. It was a crime story on another planet. The investigator was only partially human. Some kind of robot. A man with machine or machine with man, like it said on the cover. He went to a house where the murders happened. There was this central computer that controlled everything in the house. Which I found fascinating. If you read something like hundred years ago and still remember it then that must have been good.
Oooh I've just chucked An Unkindness of Magicians onto my goodreads 'want to read' list, so THANK YOU! I always love me an urban fantasy. :'D
Literally just read Frankenstein last week for the first time. I was surprised by how different it was from Hollywood tropes & how much I loved it! I’m a big fan of classics, so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but lots of people said it was too wordy. I didn’t feel that way at all.
Merphy, I always enjoy your videos, and I have picked up books I've liked on your recommendations. Thank you! I hope you'll forgive me for this and take it in the gentle way it is meant, but I have one quibble with your recent videos that doesn't seem to be going away: Novella is pronounced no-vella (ie, a long o, although I have also seen nuh-vella), but not nah-vella. :)
Frankenstein was kind of "eh" for me but I really enjoyed Dracula. I think the character Dr Frankenstein just really got on my nerves. 😄
Dracula has a better motive behind it and ending in the 1992 movie, I liked some parts of the book but the end just drags. Frankenstein bored me, it felt too angsty.
Dracula started out amazing...Jonathan visiting the castle was amazing. But then the second half of the book was absolute shit.
The main characters tracking the boxes was soooo boring...
I had the exact opposite experience: I read Dracula and was very disappointed by it, then read Frankenstein almost immediately afterward, and was very pleasantly surprised.
I happened to read Frankenstein at the same time as Paradise Lost. It was a coincidence, but now I recommend anyone who wants to read Frankenstein reads the two first books of Paradise Lost first (Books being basically chapters). Gives some great insight into the monster's thought process!
OMG I'VE LITERALLY BEEN LOOKING FOR THESE TYPES OF BOOKS!!
Every time Warbreaker is mentioned I like to mention that Brandon Sanderson has every draft, including the final, published draft, available for free on his website. You can read it for free if you want a good read, or you can compare the drafts if you want a writing lesson on how a book evolves over multiple drafts. Another of the reasons why Sanderson rocks.
The Golem and the Jinni is an excellent fantasy stand alone!
"Prey" is my favorite Michael Crichton sci-fi
Timothy Zahn mostly writes standalone sci-fi! If you like smart plots and very clever believable concepts, try his stuff for sure. Icarus Hunt or Warhorse are great options.
I do really enjoy an Unkindness of Magicians!
Warbreaker is also another fantastic standalone fantasy book.
My current favorite though is Sword of Kaigen! It is a fantastic self published adult fantasy book
Thank a lot. Been waiting a long time for this video.
I love your sweater!
I found Neil Gaiman because I didn’t read Harry Potter until I was 27 👀 and after I was so hungover that I googled books like HP and Neverwhere came up so I ordered it without knowing anything about it. I LOVED IT! And bought about 5 more Gaiman books and he’s now one of my fave authors but I definitely don’t know why google suggests it’s like HP lol but I’m glad they did.
Michael Crichton is really so brilliant with his writing! While I read it the only time I step out of the story is to think about how smart he is 😂 Timeline and Sphere are both great starts after Jurassic Park! Timeline is probably my overall favorite after Jurassic Park!
New fan here. Just want to say I'm jealous of that library behind you.
Treason by Orson Scott Card is also a really good standalone. Just finished it a little while ago and was absorbed in it the whole way through.
Michael Crichton wrote mainly techno-thrillers is the father of techno-thrillers.
Andromeda Strain, Westworld, Sphere etc.
If you like his works go for Daniel Suarez.
Influx and Change Agent, e.g.
I love all Neil Gaiman's books! I love his writing, simple yet whimsical. Hate hate hate flowery writing, so "this is how you lose the time war" is definitely not for me. Thanks for letting me know! Also, I was kinda expecting to see some Asimov... he doesn't write standalones?
Great video Merphy! xx
I didn’t see unkindness of magicians in the thumbnail and I questioned my life for a minute. I read that like.. last year? Off of your suggestion. LOVED IT. I tried Roses and Rot by her and it just couldn’t hook me.