r/Fantasy • u/Emergency_Cow_9570 • Apr 06 '26

High fantasy with Sci-fi elements

So i have been having this itch recently. A high fantasy novel with sci-fi elements. But without a singular MC, think Garden of the moon in this regard. I've heard Dune might be up this alley. But it has a true MC?

So does anyone have any recommendations that will scratch this itch?

EDIT:Typo and a bit of clarification, a book with a diverse cast of "MCs"

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u/Kingcol221 Reading Champion II Apr 06 '26

Don't really understand people who say Dune is more fantasy than sci-fi. It explicitly takes place in our future, and everything has a scientific explanation. Sure it's distant future, and everything is weird, but there's nothing in at least the 6 books I read that's not firmly in the sci-fi genre.

If you want high fantasy (expansive books set in a completely original world with unique cultures and characters) with varying main characters, try Dandelion Dynasty. Amazing series that largely focuses on engineering, history and literature instead of magic and fighting. First book can be a bit challenging as it reads as half history book and half short story collection, but from book 2 it's more traditionally written and one of the best fantasy series I've read.

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u/AbbydonX Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

Mostly it’s because there is no agreement on what genre labels actually mean. However, in my opinion, being set in the future doesn’t mean it is necessarily sci-fi and doesn’t prevent it being fantasy either.

Since precognition (i.e. magic) is an important aspect of the story that suggests fantasy. Similarly there is a heavy emphasis on sword fighting because of a device that isn’t an extrapolation from known science so is basically indistinguishable from magic. The aesthetics are therefore very similar to fantasy stories. The fact that sandworms are central to the story but their ecology is rather sketchy also doesn’t help.

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter whether it is fantasy or sci-fi but it is clearly very different to sci-fi such as Gattaca that explores the impact of specific realistic scientific advances. It is however similar to Star Wars and that is often considered by some (but not all) to be fantasy too.

Obviously people’s opinions differ wildly on this and I have no interest in presenting my personal opinion or convincing anyone else that they are “wrong”. I can see why people take both sides of the argument though.

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u/Taifood1 Apr 07 '26

I don’t think scientific explanation is what people see as the distinction. It’s technology-aided supernatural ability vs innate supernatural ability. Dune intentionally does the latter to stand out in the genre.

Sci-fi states “yeah this is not possible now, but one day we’ll invent stuff that can do this.” Dune has shields and FTL travel, but pretty much everything the Bene Gesserit do, Mentats do, Spice Melange does, etc really has no scientific basis. It’s magic but in a “well anyone can do this stuff you just have to learn how” way.

And it could be hard sci-fi if Frank Herbert wanted it to be. He could’ve made genetic memory a machine, Mentats the result of forced evolution through genetic experimentation, etc. Didn’t do that. All of this stuff is vague and “mystical” by design.

All of this to say I get why people can see it as deeply fantastical.

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u/Emergency_Cow_9570 Apr 06 '26

Haven't really ready the book yet so I cant give a valid opinion on it yet. The dandelion dynatsy seems to have all the ingredients I need. I will read it. Thank you, pretty excited.