113 replies to this topic

[King Kev.]

The Kingkiller Chronicle I cannot recommend enough. The Name of the Wind is easily one of the best books I've ever read. It's a damn classic in my mind. The second book, The Wise Man's Fear, isn't as good, but still far ahead of most things out on shelves. God, I love this series. Cannot wait until the third book. Rothfuss is a great writer.

[paradoarify]

I recommend The Book of the New Sun By Gene Wolfe. I'll throw out some words:
Dense, Dying Earth, Catholic Mysticism, Unreliable Narrator, First person Perspective,  Mysteries, Twincest, Torture, More revealed upon the second readthrough, Borges, Post-apocalypse, Mysteries upon mysteries, Difficult prose.
If you like ASoIaF because it's full of mysteries and rewarding. Understanding this series is a real accomplishment, and it served as my "gateway drug" into real, high-literature.

[Luthien Targaryen]

I'd recommend anything by Neil Gaiman or China Mieville. I loved Perdido Street Station and Good Omens is one of my favourite books ever.

Nobody's mentioned Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast yet.... Give it a go, it starts with Titus Groan, then Gormenghast and then fizzles out a bit with Titus Alone, because the author died before he could finish it (there was a fourth book planned). Peake was a bit mad, even by his own admission, and so's this, Gormenghast is an ancestral seat of of the Groans, and it's a bit like Winterfell on acid...especially if it had a kitchen boy who was an unholy mix of Littlefinger and Hot Pie. It can be hard going but it boasts the best named characters in fantasy fiction, I mean you can't go wrong with people called Prunesquallor can you?

[fuseprime]

I just got into The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Stephen Erikson.  I finished the first book, "Gardens of the Moon."  Can't wait until I start "Deadhouse Gates".  A word of advice if you plan on reading this.  Stick with it.  It's a tough read for the first couple hundred of pages since it deals with magic, differents "clans", warrior and mage classes, different species and races within specific species.  It's complicated, but once you get the hang of it, you'll understand what you were reading when you were confused, and it'll be difficult to put the book down eventually.

EDIT: Grammar

Edited by fuseprime, 27 May 2013 - 03:05 PM.

[Lord over Seas]

Rose of the Prophet ,
a book trilogy by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis.

It is set in a fantasy-medieval world and depicts the fights of Gods, demi-godly creatures and men in the godly fight for universal power.
I personally like the 'homeric' tone the books have, showing gods and human alike, even explaining the creation and constitution of this world like Tolkien in his Silmarillion. The story is also really attractive, focusing on deep and troublesome characters which are closer to anti-heroes than to 'classical' heroes (as Odysseus himself)
Even the ending is surprising, and though unexpected, after avidly reading the 3 books it's just great. I personally finished it and felt a little sad inside, because of the great experience I had had that knew that was over.


I sincerely recommend it to everyone who likes the classical greek mythic influences in fantasy literature, and to Dothraki lovers too! (It would be interesting to search for influences GRRM may have to Hickman and Weis)

[No Avatar- that movie suck]

I had never really read fantasy/scifi before ASOIAF, and even gave up on LOTR with the first book when I was a teenager.

I am really liking Bakker's Prince of Nothing series so far.  Took a while to get into, and the first book was kind of a "when are we going to get to the fireworks factory?" affair, but sitting around now waiting for book 2 to come from Amazon and having withdrawals.  

Really love the Nansurian Emperor's character, it takes skill to write a character whom I can't tell if he's an idiot or a genius so far!

Edited by No Avatar- that movie suck, 01 June 2013 - 10:38 AM.

[Captain Sheepf*cker]

Holy fucking edit, Batman.  Where'd all those words go?   People spend time, responding, rebutting, ....etc. and it's all just..........gone.  Have some fucking respect.  Goddamnit.  Or just abuse your powers..........whatever.

[SkynJay]

Datepalm, on 20 May 2009 - 03:37 PM, said:

- This is not the place to discuss peoples recs.

- Please don't ask for recommendations in this thread.

To keep the thread accessible and clutter free, note that all posts that aren't useful recommendations will be deleted with considerable zeal.

Captain Sheepf*cker, on 02 June 2013 - 08:40 PM, said:

Holy fucking edit, Batman.  Where'd all those words go?   People spend time, responding, rebutting, ....etc. and it's all just..........gone.  Have some fucking respect.  Goddamnit.  Or just abuse your powers..........whatever.

Such abuse, doing what they said they would do on the first post of the thread.

[Captain Sheepf*cker]

Bullshit.  A lot of rec's and numerous posts that adhered to the law of the thread were wiped.  Yeah, some of them were discussion and askance but most weren't, so........bullshit.

[Serious Callers Only]

Rachel Neumeir - Griffin mage series.

[Hairlock the Magnificent!]

Monarchies of God is a gorgeous piece of work. I would recommend it with my last dying breath.

[AxelV]

I am SO happy that I've finally stumbled upon a thread like this. Recommendations from people with the same head works at me. Saweet.

I have a few myself, some that have been mentioned already, some that haven't.

I will point out that although I've always read, I was never really interested in reading fantasy. I was into real life thrillers, crime stories etc etc. One of my closest friends then recommended His Dark Materials to me... I was skeptical... I honestly wasn't too bothered but after a little pressure I finally caved and I can happily say, this was the series that introduced me to the world of fantasy and sci fi and I have NEVER looked back. So...

His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman
The story involves fantasy elements such as witches and armoured polar bears, and alludes to a broad range of ideas from such fields as physics, philosophy, and theology.

Harry Potter - No explanation needed, really.

True Blood by Charlaine Harris
There are 13 books in the series - quite an easy read but they're full of fantasical excitiment. Vampire, werewolves, Faeries, witches, werepanthers... I could go on.

K-Pax trilogy by Gene Brewer
Such a simple but mesmerising plot line.
When a new patient is brought to a mental institution claiming to be an inhabitant of a planet called K-PAX, the hospital seems just the place for him. Yet, except for certain otherworldly abilities, the "alien," prot, appears to be perfectly sane. In taped therapy sessions prot is asked about life on K-PAX - its lifestyle, principles, foods, language. Prot paints a consistent and credible portrait of a glorious utopia painfully unlike our own and yet so possible, could we only erase from human nature its greed and cruelty. It becomes easy, even desirable, to believe in prot's identity and homeland. But prot insists that he must return home. As his announced date of "departure" approaches, staff and patients alike are thrown into turmoil: If he is mad, what will happen when the fateful day arrives? If K-PAX is for real...please, may they come along too?

Book of Words trilogy by J.V.Jones

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I will edit this as I go...  

[Callandoril]

kurokaze, on 04 July 2011 - 08:14 PM, said:

Vorkosigan Saga, Lois McMaster Bujold: These absurdly multifaceted books are fast-paced space opera or similar on the surface, but hold a remarkable amount of social commentary and scientific speculation in the background - right where it should be. Character and action are foremost, and what characters! Miles Vorkosigan is one of the best characters in speculative fiction, barely edging out a certain other vertically-challenged snark. The series structure should be the model for all other episodic series, with each book complete, each book vastly different from the last, and each book dramatically changing the situations of the characters for the next. The series has won enough awards to fill a small spaceship.

Magister Trilogy, C. S. Friedman: This is flying under the radar somehow; I can't imagine why. Maybe because it's really hard to put my finger on what makes it so good. Friedman is a great author with a talent for putting her characters in bizarre situations - they're just fun to read, as well as producing all the empathy and pathos you could want. The central idea of the series is the high cost of magic, and what happens when we find a way for someone else to pay it.

Newsflesh Trilogy, Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire): Here be zombies. But these are not  really zombie books: they are books with zombies, like A Game of Thrones is a book with swords. They are fast-paced thrillers that sometimes reminded me of Snow Crash, with a focus on what happens when society lives in constant fear. Perhaps unlike many other zombie books, with their horror roots, this is very sci-fi, firmly rooted in "what if?" - what is life like twenty-six years after 'zombie infection' becomes a thing that can happen to you and your family? The first book, Feed, is nominated for a Hugo this year.

Realm of the Elderlings books by Robin Hobb: Farseer trilogy, Liveship Traders trilogy, Tawny Man trilogy, and the Rain Wilds Chronicles
Robin Hobb is the gold standard for character in fantasy, as long as you don't mind a bit of excessive moping. Not much else to say.

Hey you got me really interested in the Vorkosigan Saga, but could you tell me in which order should I read the books(disregard the smaller books in the series, I'd like it better to read the main books)?

[RedEyedGhost]

Callandoril, on 14 June 2013 - 12:46 PM, said:

Hey you got me really interested in the Vorkosigan Saga, but could you tell me in which order should I read the books(disregard the smaller books in the series, I'd like it better to read the main books)?

I read them all in chronological order, but I would suggest skipping Free Falling and starting with Shards of Honor - you can find that order here in the center of the page highlighted with the blue border (or it's listed on nearly all the amazon pages for the books).  What you really want to do is buy a hardcover copy of Cryburn (like the $10.95 copy here) that includes the "cd" which has ebook copies of every book and short story in the series except for Memory, Dreamweaver's Delima, and Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (this last was published after Cryburn).  My copy of Cryoburn was the best $20 I've ever spent.