Since I have all this extra free time I figured I'd get a bit of recreational reading done (along with some educational reading) before I started up classes again. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking for some quality fantasy/adventure type books. I was reading Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I read "Gardens of the Moon," "Deadhouse Gates," and "memories of Ice." I was thinking of continuing with the series, but I was wondering if there were any other books that may be better.
If you're up for some "hard" science fiction, I'd recommend either Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) or Michael Flynn's Firestar (there's a series of books, but the first, Firestar, was my favorite). Science fiction with less hard science in it would put S.L. Viehl's Stardoc series as a main contender.
"Modern" fantasy books/series I've enjoyed lately include Kim Harrison's Hollows books (Dead Witch Walking is the first book) which follow a witch detective. Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson books are also pretty good (first book is Moon Called), they follow a slightly non-human mechanic and the wonder world of werewolves, vampires and fey that she gets caught up in. I'd say either series does a really interesting job of adapting fantasy creatures and magic to a modern setting. And yes, in both vampires are still monsters, are still scary as ****, and don't glitter.
Hrm... actual fantasy/adventure though... I think the most recent of that I've read (aside from Pratchett) was a Mercedes Lackey story, but she pissed me off so I wouldn't actually recommend any of her books.
Oh! I don't think there's any new books to the series, but Robert Asprin's Myth books are kinda fun. They're (for the most part) short little fantasy romps, filled with much silliness and Aspirin making up the rules as he goes, but they're fun. I think the first book is Another Fine Myth. And hey, while you're at it you might look at Thieves World. It's a collection of short stories by various authors set in a shared world edited by Asprin. Thieves World is pretty low magic and gritty (kinda a Sin City feel to it, really) but it's interesting.
And I suddenly remembered Raymond E. Feist's epic fantasy-adventure series, which starts with Magician (sometimes published as two books, Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master). Haven't actually read any of his new books but I used to really enjoy them.
Anything by David Eddings is good, except his latest series The Elder Gods. Stay away from that one....really (personally, I think his wife wrote them even tho he still got top billing). I'd recommend you read the 5 books of The Belgariad and decide if he's for you. He once said of this series: "I put so many plot hooks in the first hundred pages that, if you read that far, I've got you." One thing about Eddings that some people I know have complained about is his strict adherence to his "perfect formula" for writing epic fantasy.
David Gemmel is another author you should look into. His Troy series wasn't my personal cup of tea, but his earlier works were power-reads. I'd definately recommend his Drenai Tales series as well as his Rigante series.
That should do for a start.
The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein
The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, CS Lewis
Elric of Melniboné, et. al., by Michael Moorcock (if you really like anti-heros)
Sci-Fi:
Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire novels
There's a whole slew of Star Trek and other Star Wars novels out there. Some are better than others.
Most anything by Allan Dean Foster is good.
The Meg series, by Steve Alten.
If you like apocalytic fiction, the Out of the Ashes series, by William Johnstone, is quite decent.
The Wolf's Hour, by Robert R. McCammon in an interesting mix of werewolves and WW2 historical fiction (though I tend to believe that certain aspects, such as the Brimstone Club, were based on reality).
Hrm... if you're looking at Fantasy, about the only recent fantasy I've read that I'd recommend is any and all of Pratchett's Discworld.
If you're up for some "hard" science fiction, I'd recommend either Kim Stanley Robinson's Marstrilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) or Michael Flynn's Firestar (there's a series of books, but the first, Firestar, was my favorite). Science fiction with less hard science in it would put S.L. Viehl's Stardoc series as a main contender.
"Modern" fantasy books/series I've enjoyed lately include Kim Harrison's Hollows books (Dead Witch Walking is the first book) which follow a witch detective. Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson books are also pretty good (first book is Moon Called), they follow a slightly non-human mechanic and the wonder world of werewolves, vampires and fey that she gets caught up in. I'd say either series does a really interesting job of adapting fantasy creatures and magic to a modern setting. And yes, in both vampires are still monsters, are still scary as ****, and don't glitter.
Hrm... actual fantasy/adventure though... I think the most recent of that I've read (aside from Pratchett) was a Mercedes Lackey story, but she pissed me off so I wouldn't actually recommend any of her books.
Oh! I don't think there's any new books to the series, but Robert Asprin's Myth books are kinda fun. They're (for the most part) short little fantasy romps, filled with much silliness and Aspirin making up the rules as he goes, but they're fun. I think the first book is Another Fine Myth. And hey, while you're at it you might look at Thieves World. It's a collection of short stories by various authors set in a shared world edited by Asprin. Thieves World is pretty low magic and gritty (kinda a Sin City feel to it, really) but it's interesting.
And I suddenly remembered Raymond E. Feist's epic fantasy-adventure series, which starts withMagician (sometimes published as two books, Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master). Haven't actually read any of his new books but I used to really enjoy them.
Damn… I just read the description of the Mars trilogy. I think I’m going to get that one. I have seen the Magician and had thought about picking it up. Seeing as you and jetshield both recommend it and I had thought about it before, I’m going to get this one for sure. My GF now wants “The Hollows” series. I might just read it after she finishes with it.
Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga - Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master, Silverthorn, A Darkness at Sethanon - (as EE mentioned) was a good series. I'd recommend the author's prefered edition. The story continues with the Krondor's Sons books -Prince of the Blood and The King's Buccaneer. He wrote a few other Krondor books that I can't think of right this minute. I'd also recomment the trilogy he wrote with Janny Wurts. The first book is called Daughter of the Empire (the rest are all something of the Empire, but I can't think of the exact titles).
Anything by David Eddings is good, except his latest series The Elder Gods. Stay away from that one....really (personally, I think his wife wrote them even tho he still got top billing). I'd recommend you read the 5 books of The Belgariad and decide if he's for you. He once said of this series: "I put so many plot hooks in the first hundred pages that, if you read that far, I've got you." One thing about Eddings that some people I know have complained about is his strict adherence to his "perfect formula" for writing epic fantasy.
David Gemmel is another author you should look into. His Troy series wasn't my personal cup of tea, but his earlier works were power-reads. I'd definately recommend his Drenai Tales series as well as his Rigante series.
That should do for a start.
Funny enough I’ve read all of David Gemmel’s books… or most of them. He may not be the greatest writer, but I always found his books a fun read. The Drenai series is one of the coolest ones I read when I was younger.
The Wolf's Hour, by Robert R. McCammon in an interesting mix of werewolves and WW2 historical fiction (though I tend to believe that certain aspects, such as the Brimstone Club, were based on reality).
You know… I was liking “The Wolf’s Hour” until I saw the Amazon price for the hard cover… WFT?!?!
Adding Harry Turtledove's Worldwar tetrology to the mix - In the Balance, Tilting the Balance, Upsetting the Balance, and Striking the Balance. It's an alternate history about aliens invading Earth in the middle of WWII.
Ender's Game is a good read and so was Speaker for the Dead. I haven't read any of the other Ender books yet so I don't know about them.
The Dune books can be enjoyable if you don't mind politics.
Same with A Game of Thrones.
I highly recommend continuing with the Malazan Book of The Fallen - there's so much crap going on in those things that you lose track of a lot of the little stuff if you wait too long between books, lol.
If you're looking for something lighter, I'd recommend almost anything by Simon R. Green - His Hawk & Fisher series is about a husband and wife team of cops solving cases and kicking ass in a fantasy city named Haven that gives Mos Eisley an inferiority complex. A companion series, the Forest Kingdom books, also includes their adventures outside Haven, both preluding and wrapping up the series.
The Secret History series is about the Druid family, a magical spy organization in the modern world that protects us from otherworldly threats. It heavily parodies the spy genre, with titles like The Man With The Golden Torc and Daemons Are Forever.
The Nightside series follows the adventures of a private investigator named John Taylor in a place called The Nightside, a few square miles of modern-day London that doesn't exist in our world, and where everything from zombies and magic to time-travelling aliens coexists in a place that resembles Las Vegas on steroids and a bad acid trip. Even minor characters from the author's other series have shown up there from time to time.
The thing I like best about Mr. Green's work, aside from his penchant for blending genres, is that he seemlessly blends sarcasm, dry wit and humor into his work even during serious scenes - almost everything that happens in his books is taken with a grain of salt by the characters involved.
It's hardly great fiction, but it's definitely funny as hell.
I'll also second the recommendation of Kim Harrison and Patricia Briggs if you like modern fantasy-in-an-otherwise-real-world settings.
Ender's Game wasn't bad, but I can't stand Orson Scott Card's politics. After I read some of his non-fiction writings I lost all interest in his fiction as well.
I can't say I blame you on the politics part. I don't care for them either now that I looked into them. But I really enjoyed Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. To not say so would be a lie.
I highly recommend continuing with the Malazan Book of The Fallen - there's so much crap going on in those things that you lose track of a lot of the little stuff if you wait too long between books, lol.
If you're looking for something lighter, I'd recommend almost anything by Simon R. Green - His Hawk & Fisher series is about a husband and wife team of cops solving cases and kicking ass in a fantasy city named Haven that gives Mos Eisley an inferiority complex. A companion series, the Forest Kingdom books, also includes their adventures outside Haven, both preluding and wrapping up the series.
The Secret History series is about the Druid family, a magical spy organization in the modern world that protects us from otherworldly threats. It heavily parodies the spy genre, with titles like The Man With The Golden Torc and Daemons Are Forever.
The Nightside series follows the adventures of a private investigator named John Taylor in a place called The Nightside, a few square miles of modern-day London that doesn't exist in our world, and where everything from zombies and magic to time-travelling aliens coexists in a place that resembles Las Vegas on steroids and a bad acid trip. Even minor characters from the author's other series have shown up there from time to time.
The thing I like best about Mr. Green's work, aside from his penchant for blending genres, is that he seemlessly blends sarcasm, dry wit and humor into his work even during serious scenes - almost everything that happens in his books is taken with a grain of salt by the characters involved.
It's hardly great fiction, but it's definitely funny as hell.
I'll also second the recommendation of Kim Harrison and Patricia Briggs if you like modern fantasy-in-an-otherwise-real-world settings.
I was thinking about continuing with the Malazan book of the fallen series, but I wanted to take a break from Erikson and his ever grunting , growling, and roaring characters. I like his books, but one of the things that bothers me about him is how there is so much grunting. there are times while reading the book where I imagine that the characters are all apes dressed in people clothing.
I have to admit, I'm not much of a detective book fan, but the Hawk & Fisher books sound really interesting.I think those may be nearing the top of my list.
Ender's Game seems pretty cool actually. I may just pick that one up. George r. R. Martin needs to hurry up and finish the next book. I think I need to make a list and organize them by the order in which I want to read them.
That's a good idea. Especially if the list is large. Oh, and completely agree on Martin finishing the next book already.
I have to admit, I'm not much of a detective book fan, but the Hawk & Fisher books sound really interesting.I think those may be nearing the top of my list.
They're not really detective books - The two of them are widely regarded as the two toughest cops in the entire city, and trouble always seems to find them. They're alot closer to Die Hard than CSI, lol. For the most part, any sort of cop procedure or mystery is entirely secondary to them waxing philosophical about how much their job sucks or getting into fights and chasing bad guys through the city causing property damage. Although the two of them work cases, most of the time that just involves a lot of interesting dialogue while they figure out who they need to pound the crap out of.
For Sci-Fi, I've got to go with Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. Neat-o story. The Sirens of Titan is also quite good, IMO.
Post apocalypse - if you're interested - would be The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The best book I've ever read.
For something none of the above, you could try Battle Royale by Koshoun Takami. A Lord of the Flies but much nastier sort of thing. Gov't involvement, body count, that sort of thing. Really a wonderfully fun book.
Well, I'm off to not be of any help to people in other threads. Take care, citizens!
China Mieville: a younger english author, he is most well known for his gothic, steam-punk, fantasy book Perdido Street Station. I really enjoyed that book. I have also just read his most recent book Kraken, which occurs in contemporary London and features cults and magic with a dash of humor.
Roger Zelazny: he is most well-known for his Chronicles of Amber series, but my favourite book of his is Lord of Light. It is about the ancient progenitors of a colonized planet that masquerade as Hindu deities through the use old/advanced technology to reign over a feudal civilization.
Frank Herbert: I will always like the Dune series, but he also wrote a series of two books and a short story entitled Whipping Star and The Dosadi Experiment. These feature the hero Jorj X. McKie of the the Bureau of Sabotage. Of particular note, in Whipping Star he explores conversations between the hero and an entity that does not neccessarily live a linear existence.
Gene Wolfe: I just started reading The Books of the New Sun series, featuring a far-future dying earth with an anti-hero, ex-torturer and a lot of fun with language.
Michael Moorcock: I have read most of his stuff, and someone has already recommended Elric of Melnibone. I also liked his Dancers at the End of Time stuff and his Dorian Hawmoon series. The latter occurs in post apocalyptic Europe and features the evil empire of Granbretan.
Also in the vein of pulp, there is Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars series and his subterranian Pellucidar books. I also like E. E. Doc Smith's Lensman series, one of the first space operas.
Good Reading!