The jewels of Aptor
by Samuel R. Delany
Delany's first novel, written when he was about 19. The story follows a small group through a post-nuclear war future setting, on a quest to rescue a priestess of the goddess Argo from the land of the dark god Hama. If you're going to start reading his science fiction novels, this would be a good start - or read it after reading several of his later ones and gain an interesting perspective on his evolution as an author. For a book written in 1962 by a nineteen-year-old, it is imaginative and extraordinary. Even reading it now and seeing the marks of youth in the author's style, it's a fun story, and you can also notice the gift for description that make Delany's works so vivid.