Greatest book/series ever!

[pyers]

I have two trilogies that no one seems to have mentioned:

1) Hero of Ages Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (a freaking great series with one of the biggest twist endings I have ever read).

2) Demon Trilogy by Peter V. Brett (The first book is The Painted Man which is my number one favorite book. The second one The Desert Spear, which he just made recently, was pretty good but it was mainly just build up for his third and final book)

 

[KrazyShrink]

As a kid I fucking adored Deltora Quest. Best fantasy books ever with an awesome twist at the end.

 

[ManiacRaccoon]

Discworld.

nothing more, nothing less.

Agreed. It gets extra points because it's been going on for so long. So I don't have to wait for new ones to come out to get more. I think I might have read half of them now, but I haven't counted recently, and he's released a few more and that's not to mention the Science of Discworld books which were discontinued or something. I still have to track those down.

 

[Chal]

Greatest series: The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher.
Greatest book: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

I'm actually right in the middle of the latter one right now. Hefty stuff. Good choice! Have to second Chelsizzle on being guilty of picking up The Phantom Tollbooth even past high school. Anyone 'round these parts a fan of Crichton? That was something else I failed to mention earlier. Love his stuff.

 

[ALuckyChance]

I used to read the Animorphs like mad. The ending was a gigantic tease, though.

ooh ooh ooh! tell me! tell me! tell me!

Well, fine:

Spoiler

At the beginning of the book, Ax is promoted to Prince, and ends up investigating a derelict space vessel. Inside, he finds a clear hair, and the book switches to the other main characters, in Earth.

Near the end of the books, the government finally realizes the Yeerk threat. By this time, all surviving main characters are in their teenage years. Jake and Marco steal a Yeerk cruiser and jump in with a team of Andalites as a 'special ops force.' After they run into the 'derelict space vessel,' they find Ax has been assimilated into a being known as "The One." Jake smiles, and orders the crew to ram the ship.

That's when the book ends. That is really the end of the entire, 52-book, epic story Applegate created.

 

[Hlain]

Wheel of Time!

Robin Hobbs three trilogies about Fitz, the Fool etc. are at a strong second place. =)

 

[John O'Toole]

Well I really liked the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks, but....
of ALL time? Yeah that would be Hitchhiker's Guide series.

I loved the Night Angel Trilogy, to me those were the best books I have ever read.

I would also like to throw in Darren Shan's Demonatta series.

 

[dfphetteplace]

Drizzt Saga.

 

[gim73]

Wheel of Time is definately up there at the top of the list. Brandon Sanderson is doing a fine job filling in for Jordan for the final three books (that Jordan envisioned as a single massive 3000 page book). I love the series, but books 9 and 10 could have been a single book and worked better. Personal favorite is book 4.

Anything by R.A. Salvadore. Well, I haven't read EVERYTHING by him, but pretty much all the forgotten realms stuff and a few of his newer ones were well worth reading. Few authors can actually make a cleric work as a main character like Cadderly does.

A Song of Ice and Fire. If Martin doesn't finally give us book 5 after all these years of waiting we might just have to go all crazy on him. Then he teases us with chapters with bran and tyrion...

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. Oddball great 'trilogy' that has four books. I love it!

Coldfire Trilogy: If you haven't read this book, you gotta go out and get it. It's a world where your random fears can create demons that will eat you alive. Plus one of the main characters is essentially a vampire.

Anything by Simon R. Green. Deathstalker is one of the best sci-fi sagas of all time. Hawk and Fischer is essentially a crime fighting mystery story set in a fantasy setting. The Nightside gives us a modern day world with a supernatural side private eye story. Very enjoyable read.

 

[Rhymenoceros]

Can I just point out an inconveniant truth to all those who love the Diskworld

Spoiler: Very Sad

Terry Pratchett is getting alzheimers. He says that sometimes it "feels like I'm typing through thick rubber gloves" soon the world will lose an amazing person and one of the greatest authors ever.

 

[Kuroneko97]

I love two series: The Series Of Unfortunate Events, and The Saga Of Darren Shan, also known as The Cirque Du Freak series. Both stories talk about how cruel the world is, only in Cirque Du Freak, there's a meaning behind it...

[small]Yes, I'm trying to get you interested.[/small]

I'm also finally trying out the Harry Potter series. I've only read the first book so far, but I'm gonna finish it when I can get the rest of the books.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is my all time favorite combination of papers bound together together that convey an idea. To me it's not just a comic, a graphic novel, or a novel.

The following come close:

*Animal Farm by George Orwell
*1984 by George Orwell
*A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
*Bridge to Terabithia by Kathy Patterson
*The Color Purple by Alice Walker
*Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
*Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.
*The Giver series by Lois Lowry
*The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
*The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
*One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

 

[Rhymenoceros]

I also think that the Inheritance Cycle (previously the Inheritance Trilogy. He left to many loose ends in the second) is one of (if not the) greatest series of all time.

They're the Eragon books

 

[Torque669]

My favourite book series however is the Demonata Series by Darren Shan. Absolutely brilliant story with loveable characters and plenty of moments where you just dont want to stop reading.

Is he still writing them? I've read (and own) up to Deaths Shadow. How many others are there?

Also they are so much better than his Vampire series. They seem a bit more mature.

The tenth, and final, book came out this year. Also the next three books you have to read are probably the best in the series so I highly recommend you finish reading them

 

[nerd51075]

My favorite book of all-time is 1984 by George Orwell.

 

[Ickorus]

Robin Hobb's books, most set in the same world and on the same storyline but with different characters.

The Farseer Trilogy
The Liveship Traders Trilogy
The Tawny Man Trilogy
The Rain Wild Chronicles

His Dark Materials is a very close second though, amazing series.

 

[Tajomaru]

Dune series by Frank Herbert
Pandora series by Frank Herbert
Destination: Void series by Frank Herbert(I'm this man's freakin' fanboy)
Everything Sven Hassel
Everything Jaroslav Hasek
Report to El Greco, The fratricides, Zorba the Greek, The last temptation of Christ, Christ recrucified(best novel I have ever read) by Nikos Kazantzakis
General of the dead Army, Chronicle in stone, The castle by Ismail Kadare
Everything Hunter S Thompson
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Am I the only one here who dislikes to the very core the Lord of the Rings or George Orwell? I don't know, I think that what they wrote is worthless shit. But that's just me.

 

[Rhymenoceros]

Am I the only one here who dislikes to the very core the Lord of the Rings or George Orwell? I don't know, I think that what they wrote is worthless shit. But that's just me.

I haven't really read enough Orwell to formulate an opinion but what I have read does seem to be very good but I'm inclined to agree with you in terms of Lord Of The Rings. It does take an unnecessarily long time fir anything to happen

 

[Bored otter]

Rainbow six by Tom Clancy, still don't understand why no-one tried to film it or something.

 

[JIst00]

I love The Malazan Book Of The Fallen series.

Me 2 can't wait for the next book to hit the shelves

Janurary, or so I've read. Cant WAIT. Favourite books EVAR!

Aside from the Takeshi Kovach series, and Song of Ice and Fire.

The Recluse saga isnt bad either.

But the BEST? Eriksons Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

EDIT:

Jan 20 2010 according to amazon.