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I'm looking for some good book(s). I'm a big fan of fantasy books but I guess wouldn't mind trying out some good sci-fi.
I've always enjoyed all of Tolkien's work and read most of it (The Hobbit, LotR series, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Children of Hurin).
A couple months back I finished the 12 book Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. I really enjoyed this series and I liked the more mature themes involved in these.
What should I start reading next? Feist's The Riftwar Cycle? I've heard of these a lot but don't really know what they're about. Maybe the WarCraft or StarCraft novels?
I'll be making a trip in the near future and would like to have some reading material on the plane. I figured it'd be a good time to start reading a new series, even though any single stand-alone book recommendations are very welcome as well.
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Bearded Elder29903 Posts
The black magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan 
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Stephen King's Dark Tower.
And all the rest of his books too.
I have Silmarillion too, along with the rest of the books. Don't have Unfinished Tales or Children of Hurin, though most of them should have been covered in Silmarillion.
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chronicles of cheysuli
really liked that 8 book set
and the Bartimaeus Trilogy is fantastic as well
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Hm ok, I see this is going to be a big list of books and I won't be able to make a pick 
Could you guys write a few lines what the book is about and its setting, and why it's that great? (without any spoilers ^^ ) Thanks :D
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Song of Ice and Fire (George Martin)
The First Law (Joe Abercrombie)
Vorkosigan Saga (Lois McMaster Bujold - space opera)
I really enjoyed reading those. SoIaF above all though.
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The Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Dune by Frank Herbert
Foundation Trilogy by Issac Asimov
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
All scifi though, I dont read much fantasy.
I also heard really good stuff from TL on Song of Ice and Fire.
If you want general book reccomendations and not constrained to Fantasy/Sci Fi I would gladly help out with more books.
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I'll say Stephen Kings - Dark Tower series. But only if you have read alot of other work he has done. He pretty much weaves in a shitload of other books into one huge series and its really quite thrilling, and wierd as usual for his books.
If you like a really really long fantasy story then "The Wheel of Time" might be for you. The entire series isnt finished yet i believe (since the author died), but if you are in to fantasy the world is pretty awsome,
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Dan Simmons - Hyperion or ilium
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I like Lovecraft ( retro Sci-Fi / horror ) but well it is somewhat a special author and people don't always like his books.
If you want to try one i suggest the The Colour Out of Space. If you dislike it, you won't like all his others books and you can give up with Lovecraft ( they have similar style, themes and structure ).
But i think you should try.
Oh and it is short ( you might have more stories with it in the book you will buy ).
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So many books, so little time.. If I had more time on my hands and wouldn't spend most of my free time on video games then I'd probably read all of you guys' recommendations.
At the moment I'm leaning towards a Song of Ice and Fire.
I've tried reading Dune before when I was little but I had a hard time getting through it. I probably was too young though >.<
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Stephen King - The Green Mile
- if you haven't read it already.
probably have
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Valhalla18444 Posts
if you haven't read a book called Name of the Wind you're doing yourself a disservice
i can't remember who wrote it, but the second book ought to be out by now... If I was still in Canada i'd be cradling it in my arms as I fall asleep every night, one of the best reads i've ever had
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The Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Is a must.
Terry Pratchett writes some incredibly fun stuff so check out: Discworld.
R.A. Salvatores Forgotten Realms books are good with lots of action yeeah!
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickmans Dragonlance series is a classic. Starts with a bunch of heroes who fight evil gods and all that kinda basic stuff, but the later ones really become much different and better in away.
Also their The Death Gate Cycle is a great read ( 7books), the story follows this one mage from world to world and it´s really imaginative story.
I also liked Robert Jordans Wheel of time series, don´t know how it ends yet because the poor fella died and someone else is going to write the last books 
Sorry cannot tell you that much because can´t really remember anymore, read most of them when I was 8-14 years old.. Should read them again though.
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1984
World War Z (post zombie apocolypse history book)
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South Africa4316 Posts
On July 27 2009 22:12 FakeSteve[TPR] wrote:
if you haven't read a book called Name of the Wind you're doing yourself a disservice
i can't remember who wrote it, but the second book ought to be out by now... If I was still in Canada i'd be cradling it in my arms as I fall asleep every night, one of the best reads i've ever had
Name of the Wind is written by Patrick Rothkuss I think. It's an amazing book, but unfortunately it's just the first in a trilogy that is still being written.
Generally, I go to SFFWorld and check out their recommendations and forums for fantasy and SF stuff. If enough (knowledgeable) people agree on the same books, it's almost certainly a good book. This strategy hasn't failed me yet in the last three years.
SFFWorld, staff recommendations 2008. I haven't gotten to all this year's recommendations yet, but I can tell you that Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy is really fun. I've got some of the others that I'm planning to read once the December holiday rolls around.
SFFWorld, staff recommendations 2007. 2007 I've read more of, so I can make better recommendations. Definitely get the Name of the Wind mentioned earlier. It's absolutely amazing. Scott Lynch's Seven Lies of Locke Lamora was quite good, although I haven't read the follow-up yet. And as said earlier, Joe Abercrombie is lots of fun, so you can easily read that as well. Also, from the general forum recommendation that year I remember R Scott Bakker getting quite a few votes, and I'd definitely agree with that. His Prince of Nothing series is probably my all time favourite fantasy series, and the start of the second trilogy this year was also excellent. Neuropath by him was quite cool in that it was a bit like Da Vinci code except focusing on philosophy and psychology rather than art and architecture, but it wasn't his best work yet.
Also, I think 2005 was dominated almost unanimously by Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I enjoyed it a lot, it's something very different if you're used to generic fantasy. It's written as an almost academic recording of two magicians who lived in Cambridge in the 18th century. Not a bad read, although it moves a touch slowly a times.
In the end, I'd say just go to SFFWorld and look at their recommendations and reviews. You're bound to get something exciting there.
EDIT: I should point out that SFFWorld does SF and Fantasy. I linked to part one of their yearly recommendations. Part 2 looks at fantasy.
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Of more recent works, I'd recommened prince of nothing trilogy. I found it far superior to fire and ice series.
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Baa?21244 Posts
I'm gonna go ahead and recommend what I feel is a generally underrated fantasy author, Diana Wynne Jones.
Dark Lord of Derkholm - a fantasy novel that kind of parodies traditional high fantasy. Pretty fun read.
Dalemark Quartet
Deep Secret - aimed more at adults instead of young adult readers.
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South Africa4316 Posts
On July 27 2009 22:30 IMlemon wrote:
Of more recent works, I'd recommened prince of nothing trilogy. I found it far superior to fire and ice series.
Yay, finally one person in the world that agrees with me. It's my absolute favourite fantasy series, and I can't get anyone to read it because it starts out quite slowly. It kils GRRM though, in my opinion.
Also, someone mentioned Trudi Canavan earlier. Canavan is a bit like Abercrombie in that it's fantasy that I think almost everyone will enjoy. Both her trilogies are very well written and fun to read, although I prefer her second trilogy (Age of the Five I think) to her first (Black Magician), even though Black Magician's final book is awesome.
I also just remembered Robin Hobb. Robin Hobb is probably one of the best fantasy writers out there today, although her books are much slower-paced than the average fantasy novel, and quite long. I tend to think of her books as fantasy for people who don't like all the sword and sorcery things. They generally focus more on the politics and interpersonal relationships than on the magical events. You could pick up any of her trilogies (although I'd leave her most recent one, "Shaman's Son" for last, as it is one of the most bizarre series I've read in a long time). It's probably best to start out with the Farseer (assassin) trilogy, as the series are very loosely chronological.
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Awesome website Daigomi!
Reading through all of this made me remember a vague conversation I once had with a friend about 10 years back or so. He was talking about a book or series he was reading in which magic meets technology. I think the theme of the book was about a war between two parallel worlds.. or something about a portal which made two worlds being able to travel to each other. Perhaps a time traveling thing? Not sure. One world was supposedly to have all magic stuff going on, the other was non-magic and all technology (I think).
He told me it was a really great read. It somewhat sounds interesting, I guess it could be totally lame or actually pretty good. Dunno if this rings a bell @ anyone, it's the best description I can give lol
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South Africa4316 Posts
On July 27 2009 22:45 Smorrie wrote:Awesome website Daigomi! Reading through all of this made me remember a vague conversation I once had with a friend about 10 years back or so. He was talking about a book or series he was reading in which magic meets technology. I think the theme of the book was about a war between two parallel worlds.. or something about a portal which made two worlds being able to travel to each other. Perhaps a time traveling thing? Not sure. One world was supposedly to have all magic stuff going on, the other was non-magic and all technology (I think). He told me it was a really great read. Dunno if this rings a bell @ anyone, it's the best description I can give lol
All I can think of is The Magician by Feist, which has a portal and parallel worlds and stuff, but I can't really remember if the other things you mentioned happens in it. Still, the book was very popular around 10 years ago, so it is possible
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Enders game.
Finest sci fi series i have ever had the joy of reading. Simply amazing.
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Feist's Magician is a good book, although it has pissed me off in a couple places. Make sure before you buy it that you know that Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master together form a single book, Magician. Originally, Feist had to cut a lot of stuff out, but due to popularity, he was able to edit it back in. Then, due to length (or so they say), they split the book into two. The "halfway point" is not as good a stopping point as you might hope for.
I've heard that the first trilogy of the Riftwar Cycle is by far the best and that the others... are not so great. Since I haven't read any other than Magician, I cannot tell you this from my own experience, just what I've heard.
Lately everyone seems hooked on GRRM's A Song of Fire and Ice. The series is incredibly good, although mildly overrated. They are real doorstoppers (I've been told that the word count for the first book exceeds the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy) set in a totally crapsack world. Sometimes the perverseness of it all, the great length, the archaic prose, the shits between character perspectives, and some focus on characters who don't seem central to the plot, can get a little annoying. On the flipside, it leaves a wonderfully fleshed out picture.
Robert Jordan with his Wheel of Time... he's undoubtedly one of the fantasy greats, but I've always felt he's overrated. I see a lot of people post shit online like, "Wouldn't it be great if the XXXXX series was written by Robert Jordan instead?" And often times I flat out tell people: no. Jordan was a great author, but frankly, his stories can get a little boring at times. That's what you get when the author is paid by the word count of each book, I guess (yes, that was part of his deal with his publisher... ). *Shrugs*
I haven't read anything by Salvatore, but I heard that the early Drzzt novels were good. Just, I also heard that the later ones suck.
Now I'll toss out a new name. An author I'd recommend checking out is Glen Cook, particularly for his The Black Company series, which is a gray and gray morality (rather than the typical black and white or the black and gray of GRRM's works) series about a band of mercenary soldiers set in a fantasy world. Cook's writing is very different than most other authors in the genre so there's an extreme "your mileage may vary" tag on his work, but with The Black Company, I always feel like I'm on the edge of my seat, reaching for more. To date, it's my favorite fantasy series. Cook was the first modern fantasy author to really bring epic fantasy down to the human level (Black Company predates A Song of Fire and Ice by more than a decade), but he is often overlooked in favor of bigger names.
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Don't know how you can reccomend The Black Company but not the Malazan series
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Because I only just bought Gardens of the Moon recently and haven't read it yet? Okay, I know I commented on Salvatore, but someone else brought up his name first, so I wrote what I've heard (from several different sources).
Edit: I'm going to suggest some more books...
Read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. One of the best urban fantasy books out there. One of the few urban fantasies that doesn't devolve into a vampire romance (with BDSM and a male harem... cough Anita Blake series...).
Also try Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Funny book.
And this one I'll recommend I'm positively sure most of you haven't heard of: The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines. It goes into what really happens after the "happily ever after" in fairy tales. It's pretty funny, but at the same time, these aren't your Disney fairy tales. For instance, just like in the original "The Sun, the moon and Talia," it took more than a kiss to wake up Sleeping Beauty, if you catch my drift. Unfortunately, I've heard rumors of a Disney movie adaptation on the way. Expect some serious adaptation decay.
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In one's life, there is before and after one has read Dune. Where are you?
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How good would you guys rate Discworld? I've always wanted to read it but at the same time I've always had this feeling that it would disappoint me.
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United States3824 Posts
I second this, though I didn't get around to reading the last one. They are kinda targeted as teen/young adult but I'm sure people who like fantasy would still enjoy them.
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Ma Jae Yoon.... 2009!!!
I BELIEVE
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On July 28 2009 00:26 Smorrie wrote:
How good would you guys rate Discworld? I've always wanted to read it but at the same time I've always had this feeling that it would disappoint me.
Well I already recommended it to you but I´d say that if you have a sense of humor you like it.
It´s parody, but you can find some "hidden!" opinions and more serious stuff which only make it better IMO. But.. loads of fun!
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
Contact by Carl Sagan. IMO the best science fiction book ever written, not because of the science, but because of the philosophy.
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On July 28 2009 00:39 Mah Buckit! wrote:Show nested quote +On July 28 2009 00:26 Smorrie wrote:
How good would you guys rate Discworld? I've always wanted to read it but at the same time I've always had this feeling that it would disappoint me. Well I already recommended it to you but I´d say that if you have a sense of humor you like it. It´s parody, but you can find some "hidden!" opinions and more serious stuff which only make it better IMO. But.. loads of fun!
I guess I should just try it sometime not in the plane tho^^
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On July 27 2009 22:30 IMlemon wrote:
Of more recent works, I'd recommened prince of nothing trilogy. I found it far superior to fire and ice series.
Prince of nothing was 10x better than RR Martin's crap series. I swear to god if he kills off the imp i'm going to burn the book series in my back yard.
Terry Pratchett is honestly the best all around author. Read everything he writes.
Robert Jordan does the best classic/epic fantasy.
Steven Brust does some pretty interesting fantasy, but stay the hell away from his Khaavren Romance crap.
Simon R. Green writes crazy comic book style series. Amazing and crazy ideas.
C. S. Friedman is the absolute best up and coming sci-fi/fantasy author.
Endor's Game and the rest of that series(not the shadow crap) is outstanding, but the rest of Card's novels are a snore.
John Ringo and David Weber write above-average military sci-fi, and you can find all their books online for free at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ (Literally months of reading there)
I can list more if you want. This is just off the top of my head.
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
smorrie in the name of all that you love please read song of ice and fire
NOW
LIKE 5 YEARS AGO NOW
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On July 28 2009 01:58 {88}iNcontroL wrote:
smorrie in the name of all that you love please read song of ice and fire
NOW
LIKE 5 YEARS AGO NOW While I can understand why people think that GRRM is a bit overrated, I feel that the praise is well deserved. Honestly, his series is what got me back into loving reading, and if you still haven't read it yet then I really feel you're missing out.
After you're done with that series (or at least as far as the series has been left off), then I'd probably recommend the Gentlemen Bastards series (the first book being The Lies of Locke Lamora). TLoLL is probably the first book I've read since ASoIaF that gave me a similar sense of epicness. The style of writing and the scope of the world isn't as grand, but the characters, setting, and the story itself are pretty awesome.
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On July 27 2009 22:45 Smorrie wrote:Reading through all of this made me remember a vague conversation I once had with a friend about 10 years back or so. He was talking about a book or series he was reading in which magic meets technology. I think the theme of the book was about a war between two parallel worlds.. or something about a portal which made two worlds being able to travel to each other. Perhaps a time traveling thing? Not sure. One world was supposedly to have all magic stuff going on, the other was non-magic and all technology (I think). He told me it was a really great read. It somewhat sounds interesting, I guess it could be totally lame or actually pretty good. Dunno if this rings a bell @ anyone, it's the best description I can give lol
Sounds like The Dark Sword series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The original trilogy was written in 1988, but there was a follow up book in 1998 that involved a portal connecting Earth to the magical world that the trilogy was set in. The trilogy wasn't very good, but that fourth book was horrendous. For some reason in the late 90's Weis and Hickman decided to shit on the trilogies they had written in the 80's with series ruining sequels (e.g., Dragons of Summer Flame).
On July 28 2009 01:31 animus123 wrote:
Endor's Game and the rest of that series(not the shadow crap) is outstanding, but the rest of Card's novels are a snore.
Most people think Ender's Shadow and its sequels are better than the Ender's Game sequels. Even if you really liked Speaker for the Dead, you have to admit that Xenocide and Children of the Mind weren't very good in comparison. I've read hundreds of fantasy/sci-fi novels, and Ender's Game is probably my favorite book. That's not just nostalgia either - I read it in ~2006.
I'll add the Prince of Nothing to my list of books to read. I've never even heard of the series, but if it's better than A Song of Ice and Fire...
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I really enjoyed the Shannara series from Terry Brooks.
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ender's game is a good book, but feel compelled to reccomend diamond age by neal stephenson. It will change your life.
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you guys' excitement makes me excited to read all of these >_<
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On July 27 2009 22:02 samachking wrote:
The Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Dune by Frank Herbert
Foundation Trilogy by Issac Asimov
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
All scifi though, I dont read much fantasy.
I also heard really good stuff from TL on Song of Ice and Fire.
If you want general book reccomendations and not constrained to Fantasy/Sci Fi I would gladly help out with more books.
If you havent read those you have to right now
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It may be better to hold off on reading A Song of Ice and Fire until the series is actually finished, or else you're going to join the rest of us dying in anticipation of each book.
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On July 28 2009 04:46 ShadowDrgn wrote:
It may be better to hold off on reading A Song of Ice and Fire until the series is actually finished, or else you're going to join the rest of us dying in anticipation of each book.
So true. Lately a lot of fans have been worried too, because like with Robert Jordan (who died before completing Wheel of Time), GRRM seems to be taking longer and longer to release each door stopper and he has 3 left to go. Every time he gives a tentative release date on his most recent book, the date gets suddenly pushed back. People are projecting that he won't finish until around the time he turns 75, but he's overweight, so there are some serious concerns that he might die before finishing.
That's the guy right there:
+ Show Spoiler +
However, yes, Song of Fire and Ice is good. Damn good. But I do think it's overrated. It didn't have me jizzing in my pants or anything.
I saw someone mention Simon R Green. Warning: extreme your mileage may vary. I absolutely hated, HATED Something from the Nightside. The book could have been good, but we had a know-it-all protagonist explain, explain through dialogue exactly how we should think and feel about characters/places/events we haven't seen before. At one point a character is introduced and our main character spends three pages telling his client exactly how he feels about the man and exactly how she should feel too.
I was also left terribly unsure of whether Green was trying to write the story as a comedy or as a horror, but all I can say is that he utterly failed at both.
Stick with Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman; it's infinitely better.
Edit: I'll leave a general suggestion that I think may help. When looking for books, go on Amazon.com and check out the reviews. Ignore the positive reviews; I've seen a lot of utter crap get absolutely glowing reviews. Urban fantasy/paranormal romance in particular is notorious for having inflated ratings. If T.H. White's The Once and Future King only gets 4/5 stars, then I don't see why any urban fantasy at all deserves a 4.5 or 5 out of 5.
Anyway, check out the negative reviews, particularly the 1/5 star reviews. Some people just post retarded and uninsightful comments like "this was crap," but some people will give you detailed comments telling you exactly why they didn't like the book that can help you make your decisions. For instance, I really don't like when I feel that an author is shoving his/her political ideals down my throat. Everyone obviously has their own political opinions and these opinions are likely to be reflected in an author's work, but some authors tell a story and let you formulate your own ideas while others get rabid. For instance, a strong female character in a medieval society? Cool. Taking actual historical male figures and gender-bending them left and right so that virtually every major hero in real life history is now a woman? Anvilicious and detestable. A story that features different ethnicities with fantastic racism themes that somewhat mirror real life (realistically portrayed...)? Cool. A story that turns a fantasy species into noble savages and then portrays the humans as industrialist warmongers, raping and pillaging wherever they go? Anvilicious and detestable.
You find out these kinds of things if you read the bad reviews.
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NOBODY MOVE - DENIS JOHSON
DUNE - FRANK HERBERT
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The Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenburg (berg?). Great series, its about some college kids who are apart of this DND group and it turns out their DM is a wizard from this other world and he sends the kids to it as their characters. They just want out originally some get killed. One who was a paraplegic wants to stay however and the other end up staying and it gets very good after that
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On July 28 2009 04:43 Divinek wrote:Show nested quote +On July 27 2009 22:02 samachking wrote:
The Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Dune by Frank Herbert
Foundation Trilogy by Issac Asimov
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
All scifi though, I dont read much fantasy.
I also heard really good stuff from TL on Song of Ice and Fire.
If you want general book reccomendations and not constrained to Fantasy/Sci Fi I would gladly help out with more books.
If you havent read those you have to right now
eh
foundation was good, but none of the books are anywhere near the best books I've read. You probably won't be disappointed, but the books arent really all that amazing to be honest
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2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Pretty good book, and I think people who read lots of fantasy would like it. try it out!
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ok sorry about the bad quality post earlier. but recently my friend asked me to suggest him some books, and i wrote up some stuff in an email to him. ill just copy paste here for you guys
DENIS JOHNSON - i discovered this guy recently after reading 'Nobody Move', which is a recent bestseller. i really like his 'prose' or the way he writes, and the dialogues of his characters.
Nobody Move - about some dude who owes some mobster money, kinda reminds of no country for old men for some reason. the main character meets up and gets involved with a woman who is getting the bad end of a divorce. two lonely people with problems that get caught up together.
Jesus' Son - a collection of stories narrated by one person. it's about the americans you don't know much about. we make fun of these people all the time, the "white trash", the "filth of society" and "trailer-park hillbilly" kind of people. gives you a perspective of the "american" life that people dont really talk about - loneliness, hitchhiking, bars, crime, etc.
PHILIP ROTH- remember today when you were talking about that director that did all the movies about New Jersey? this is the twin of that director, but in writing. Philip Roth writes alot about Jews living in New Jersey, specifically in a city called Newark, but he writes about New Jersey just in general. this guy writes those era type books, more serious. not horror like stephen king. it doesn't really say anything, but philip roth is an award winning author just throwing that out there
Portnoy's Complaint - hilarious book about kid's sexual frustration. alot of masturbation in this book haha. book is about jewish life back then i guess.
Indignation - really interesting book about Jewish life in the 50's. about an overprotected jewish son who is the first in his family to attend college, his father's anxiety over him "entering" the adult world, and problems he encounters while he's at school. not really spoiling anything, but the book is pretty much about how he gets pissed off (book is called indignation by the way) because nobody understands him, says two words, and gets screwed in the end. you'll see.
STEPHEN KING
Duma Key - about a man who gets hit by a car, gains some crazy talent in painting, and weird shit happens
Lisey's Story - a power of love kind of story, sounds cheesy but its good
Hearts In Atlantis - sad story about the effects of 'nam on america in the 60's, with some fantasy/scifi kind of stuff.... kinda.
If you ever get the time/patience, take the time to read King's Dark Tower series. It really is his "masterpiece." The series pays homage to lots of other famous books by other authors, and a huge number of King's books are connected to it somehow. For example, Hearts In Atlantis, The Stand, The Shining, It, Lisey's Story, and others you may have read. See the link i attached.
Black House and The Talisman - two more novels very closely related to the Dark Tower series, very good.
Cell - one of his newer books. there's this popular trend among horror/thriller writers right now (one's that i've read are Infected by Scott Sigler, and Hater by David Moody) that copy this book or are copied by this book, i have no idea. but this one is good. the basic storyline for all of these is a strange endemic of perfectly normal people suddenly becoming crazy murderers.
Also read Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo - about a vietnam soldier who's so disabled he's basically a human trunk. no arms no legs, no jaw, no eyesight, no way out. not even suicide, and he can't communicate. he finally learns to communicate somehow and what he says makes no sense, he's crazy.
enjoy
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Germany2896 Posts
On July 31 2009 02:40 m4gdelen4 wrote:
If you ever get the time/patience, take the time to read King's Dark Tower series. It really is his "masterpiece." The series pays homage to lots of other famous books by other authors, and a huge number of King's books are connected to it somehow. For example, Hearts In Atlantis, The Stand, The Shining, It, Lisey's Story, and others you may have read. See the link i attached.
I started with the first volume and found it rather tedious to read. Does it get better later on?
By Robin Hobb I liked the two farseer trilogies(forgot the official name of the second one) but could't really get into the liveship traders trilogy.
Robert Jordan is an interesting case. I like the world and the basic story a lot, but it gets a bit lengthy when he tells rather uninteresting sideplots with annoying characters. For me a lot depends on the last volumes. They need to give a good reason for why the evil characters behaved as they did.
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[QUOTE]On July 31 2009 04:53 MasterOfChaos wrote:
[QUOTE]On July 31 2009 02:40 m4gdelen4 wrote:
If you ever get the time/patience, take the time to read King's Dark Tower series. It really is his "masterpiece." The series pays homage to lots of other famous books by other authors, and a huge number of King's books are connected to it somehow. For example, Hearts In Atlantis, The Stand, The Shining, It, Lisey's Story, and others you may have read. See the link i attached.[/QUOTE]
I started with the first volume and found it rather tedious to read. Does it get better later on?
Well, if you didn't enjoy the first book, you probably won't like the rest of the series. There is no speeding up of the momentum of the storyline, etc. until maybe the last book. The 4th book Wizard and Glass is even a break from the main storyline.....
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South Africa4316 Posts
On July 31 2009 04:53 MasterOfChaos wrote:Show nested quote +On July 31 2009 02:40 m4gdelen4 wrote:
If you ever get the time/patience, take the time to read King's Dark Tower series. It really is his "masterpiece." The series pays homage to lots of other famous books by other authors, and a huge number of King's books are connected to it somehow. For example, Hearts In Atlantis, The Stand, The Shining, It, Lisey's Story, and others you may have read. See the link i attached. By Robin Hobb I liked the two farseer trilogies(forgot the official name of the second one) but could't really get into the liveship traders trilogy.
The chronology is actually Farseer > Liveship > Fool, and the fool books build somewhat on what happened in the Liveship series. I actually enjoyed the Liveship traders the most, for some reason, although the series is epically slow and long. I think I read the whole series in 8 days, which is the most I've ever read in that period of time (the three books together are about 2.5 times longer than the LotR trilogy, they're really massive).
I dunno why, but I really got into the Liveship series. Her new series is pretty much one of the strangest pieces of fiction I've ever read. It's not that bizarre in terms of plot, but the characterization is extremely strange. It has the typical Hobb focus on characterization and development and internal struggle, but basically, the protagonists core issue is that he has gone from being a handsome cavalier to someone weighing 200kg (literally). So you have massive trilogy focusing on a character that is the exact opposite of any kind of hero. He can't fight, he can't run, he can't be stealthy, and he's depressed all the time because he's fat.
That said, if you get behind the strange protagonist, I actually enjoyed it tremendously. I have read as interesting a book in a while, where so many of the typical fantasy conventions are broken. And the protagonist's internal battles didn't feel staged or set-up, but you could actually imagine fighting them yourself if you were in his situation. I thought it was a really good read (except for book 1, which is a bit strange and confusing).
Either way, if you have lots of time to spare, maybe give Hobb a try again. She's definitely one of my two favourite fantasy writers (with R Scott Bakker).
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+1 to Song of Ice and Fire
It also got me back into reading somewhat. I'm also listening to the audio book of it right now for a refresher and it's really good.
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John Dies at the End, its a horror comedy about two guys and I think the best way of describing the book would be to say they go on crazy adventures after ingesting a certain drug called 'soy-sauce'. The paranormal becomes normal to them.
Book might be hard to find right now as its been out of print for a while (you could get lucky at your local Barnes or Borders) but if not a new hard cover will be released in a couple months (see my sig).
EDIT: You might be able to find an online copy. He had an html version of the book on his website for the longest time but took it off when it was scheduled for re-release.
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The Starcraft books are really good, check em' out, especially part 3 (Speed of Darkness).
Recommend me a book! I like scifi, psychological books (kind of like fight club), and books that deal with problems in modern day society (...again like fight club). Anyone have any suggestions?
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If you haven't read Dune I'd get on that ASAP... but make sure you only read it in private or people will catch on to the fact that you haven't read it yet... and they'll subsequently lose all respect for you.
In all seriousness though, it's probably the most complex and accomplished work of science fiction I've ever read. It's just one of the books that I think everyone should read... There's a lot to be gained from reading it, it's art, it's wisdom, and it's entertainment.
EDIT: I haven't read much fantasy besides LOTR, but other science fiction books that I've enjoyed a great deal that have been recommended in this thread: Hyperion (although the sequel was just "okay") and Ender's Game
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For fantasy books i HIGHLY recommend The name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It is a recently published book that has received a lot of great reviews by authors such as Ursala k. le guin (Wizard of Earthsea), Robin Hobb (<3 the farseer series), Terry Brooks (ton of books), Anne McCaffery (the dragonriders of pern)
But seriously, everyone should check this out.
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United States7166 Posts
As many have said so far, A Song of Ice and Fire series is excellent.
and for the fans of the series who haven't been following the upcoming HBO series, here's the entire announced cast & crew so far:
http://winter-is-coming.blogspot.com/2001/01/cast-so-far.html
I must say, the show seems to be coming along very nicely, and moving very quickly as well. also rumors are that HBO is very likely to pick this series up, and they've invested a lot into it already
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Yeah, the HBO series sounds pretty epic.
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EPT
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