LongRider Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 I spent this fall and early winter reading the sixteen books of THE REALM OF THE ELDERLINGS by Robin Hobb which consists of four trilogies and one four pack, all in one go. Kinda exhausted now, but still want to read some more fantasy, but not a long series, not even a trilogy. So, what good duologies of fantasy and SF are out there that you would recommend? Wouldn't mind rec's of standalones either, if you have them. tia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 Have you any further specifications? Just to narrow my suggestions a bit. in the meantime, to stick with Hobb you have The Reindeer People/Wolf’s Brother duology. Written as Meghan Lindholm its a fantasy focused on a mother/son who have joined a tribe of wandering herdspeople. Having read her Fitz stuff already you will no doubt seecertain similarities! same goes for her stand alone “Alien Earth” Wizard of the Pigeons is also a wonderful urban fantasy by her. The Wolf in the Attic by Paul Kearney is an excellent and rather beautiful novel.i think he is working on a sequel The Buried Giant is a weird but moving tale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 I think Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic is one of his best works, although it does feel a bit like a very long novel in two parts rather than a 'proper' duology. There is of course Peadar's The Call and The Invasion. Leigh Bardugo's Dregs is a fun duology of heist stories. I thought Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained was a great space opera. I haven't read it yet, but I'm intending to start N.K. Jemisin's Dreamblood duology soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 Mordant's Need by Stephen R. Donaldson. Moontide and Magic Rise by Sean Russell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted December 22, 2018 Author Share Posted December 22, 2018 Thanks for your suggestions, as for narrowing it down, I don't like grimdark. I have read Bakker and Abercrombie and their type of grimdark is not for me. YA and UF is OK, except for vampire stories, can't take all the blood drinking, otherwise, I try to be open. I'll have to look for Peadar's The Invasion as I've read The Call last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Thunderer and The City of Gears by Felix Gilman (the latter being a top ten book for me) The Half-Made World and The Rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman The Call and The Invasion by @Peadar Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet by Gregory Frost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Man I miss Felix Gilman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkdaub Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Felix Gilman's books and Jemisin's Dreamblood are great recs. Michelle West - Hunter's Oath and Hunter's Death(Sacred Hunt Duology). This is cheating a bit as it leads to a much longer work featuring some of the same characters. I'm a Michelle West fanatic, though, so what can I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 Seconding Mordant's Need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 Ooh here's a fun design twist on this: design a book that is basically the two parts of a duology, but constructed in such a way that you flip it over like an album for the second part. I'm basically imagining two books glued back to back and upside down. 'Apologies' for derail #sorrynotsorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted December 24, 2018 Author Share Posted December 24, 2018 1 hour ago, larrytheimp said: Ooh here's a fun design twist on this: design a book that is basically the two parts of a duology, but constructed in such a way that you flip it over like an album for the second part. I'm basically imagining two books glued back to back and upside down. 'Apologies' for derail #sorrynotsorry I think my Dad had a book like that when I was a little kid but damn if I remember what it was. I do think that there are books out there like that tho'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosaic. Also, though not officially a duology but set in the same universe but years apart, Kay's Under Heaven and River of Stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 11 hours ago, larrytheimp said: Ooh here's a fun design twist on this: design a book that is basically the two parts of a duology, but constructed in such a way that you flip it over like an album for the second part. I'm basically imagining two books glued back to back and upside down. 'Apologies' for derail #sorrynotsorry They do this with kids books a bit. My kid has a pokemon book and a Captain Underpants with two books set up just this way. I second (third?) Gilman and Jemisin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 22 hours ago, larrytheimp said: Ooh here's a fun design twist on this: design a book that is basically the two parts of a duology, but constructed in such a way that you flip it over like an album for the second part. I'm basically imagining two books glued back to back and upside down. 'Apologies' for derail #sorrynotsorry I can't speak to how good a book it is but: http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com/Replica.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 On 12/24/2018 at 1:44 AM, larrytheimp said: Ooh here's a fun design twist on this: design a book that is basically the two parts of a duology, but constructed in such a way that you flip it over like an album for the second part. I'm basically imagining two books glued back to back and upside down. 'Apologies' for derail #sorrynotsorry Isn't this what the old Ace Doubles were? Although the books may have been written by two different authors... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Valkyrie Posted December 26, 2018 Share Posted December 26, 2018 On 12/22/2018 at 5:18 AM, Inkdaub said: Felix Gilman's books and Jemisin's Dreamblood are great recs. Michelle West - Hunter's Oath and Hunter's Death(Sacred Hunt Duology). This is cheating a bit as it leads to a much longer work featuring some of the same characters. I'm a Michelle West fanatic, though, so what can I do? I agree that's cheating because IIRC, it doesn't give you any proper closure and I went onward and tried to keep going to get some of that and bounced off of it in total bewilderment. I've been told if you can power through it coalesces, but...YMMV. I still have those paperbacks, maybe it's time to give it another try. Carol Berg has a set of two duologies wherein you can read one and not the other, but if you put them together you get a fuller picture of both events: Flesh and Spirit/Breath and Bone, Dust and Light/Ash and Silver. I do recommend reading in that order, although it'd be interesting to do it the other way around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaston de Foix Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 Jacqueline Carey's the Sundering duology. Also, Tolkein's Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers. There may be a subsequent volume too, can't remember Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted December 28, 2018 Author Share Posted December 28, 2018 3 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said: Jacqueline Carey's the Sundering duology. Also, Tolkein's Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers. There may be a subsequent volume too, can't remember I have a big thick paperback that has those two stories and long epilogue all bound together. Perhaps I should dig it out, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughn Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 It's funny how rare the two book series is. I suspect that is because more than ever sci-fi/fantasy authors like to crank out 1000+ page tomes so what might have been a two volume set in the days of Zelazny or Niven are now one big book. Once the book gets too unwieldy or the production to publishing lag gets too long, then you get trilogies and beyond. My snarky answer is of course the Rothfus books. The first two Dune books are a great pair of novels which, IMO, tell a complete enough arc that there's no 'need' to read the rest of the series. Unlike say GRRM, the major plots are tied up enough that there is a sense of closure at the end of the second one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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