So I need something to read

[Oly J]

Hey all, so since I decided not to read "A Storm of Swords" until I'd seen season 3 of Game of Thrones, I'm at a loss on what to read next, I just finished "The Mark of Athena" and have read all previous installments of the "Heroes of Olympus/Percy Jackson" series, I've also read all of "inheritence" and don't really have any wish to revisit that right now, I'm loving "Ice & Fire" but as I said I'm not reading book 3 until season 3 of "Game of Thrones"...I'm not gonna go through a list of everything I've read that would take too long but any recommendations would be great, thanks.

 

[sky14kemea]

Have you tried the Phillip Pullman 'His Dark Materials' trilogy?

First one is the Golden Compass, which is probably the most well known one. I read them a few years ago and really like them.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

I recently finished Yahtzee's newest book, Jam. It was very well done. That being said, the Mass Effect series of books written by Drew Karpyshyn were very well done as well. Was going to recommend Inheritence series, but you've already read them apparently. Best thing I ca say is re-read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books to get ready for The Hobbit in theaters!

 

[Oly J]

Have you tried the Phillip Pullman 'His Dark Materials' trilogy?

First one is the Golden Compass, which is probably the most well known one. I read them a few years ago and really like them.

actually it's funny you should mention that I've had all three of those books for YEARS, and I completely forgot I had them until you mentioned it, I've had them at least 6 years

EDIT: wait the Golden Compass. I thought it was The Northern Lights?

 

[sky14kemea]

Have you tried the Phillip Pullman 'His Dark Materials' trilogy?

First one is the Golden Compass, which is probably the most well known one. I read them a few years ago and really like them.

actually it's funny you should mention that I've had all three of those books for YEARS, and I completely forgot I had them until you mentioned it, I've had them at least 6 years

EDIT: wait the Golden Compass. I thought it was The Northern Lights?

Hmmmmm.... According to Wiki:

His Dark Materials is a trilogy consisting of Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in North America)

So it's the same one. I dunno how I ended up with the Golden Compass one though... I'm from the UK.

 

[Muspelheim]

If you find it, pick up Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome. It's one of those classics that are classic for a reason.

To summarise, three gentlemen (and one dog) decide to rent a boat and spend the holiday on the Thames, which goes about as well as you'd think, with unhelpful steamers, sudden rain, uncooperative teapots and quarrelsome swans. It's a comedy, and it really doesn't have any greater ambitions than being that, which leaves it plenty of room to be fun and really rather clever.

Give it a read! It's from 1886, I believe, but that honestly doesn't matter very much. If nothing else, a lighthearted and snappy comedy about three idiots on holiday is a good thing to have around to relax inbetween more beefy novels.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

If you're into your medieval-esque fantasy like A Song of Ice and Fire, then I reckon you can't go wrong with Raymond E Feist's Riftwar saga, beginning with Magician. It owes a lot to Tolkien, but he's a fantastic craftsman and the books are more than worth the read.

Alternatively, I always maintain that Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines quartet are some of the best fantasy/cyber-punk novels out there. Such a wonderful premise behind those books, and they're one of those series that even though their ostensibly for 'young adults', they're still great reads whatever your age precisely because they're so well written.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Look up the Darksword trilogy. I have fond memories of those books. I should probably find them and read them again sometime.

 

[Antitonic]

I recently finished Yahtzee's newest book, Jam. It was very well done.

Maybe it's just me, but I had a bit of trouble getting through Jam. It didn't grab me as much as Mogworld.

As far as recommendations go, anything from the Discworld series, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and World War Z.

 

[Smolderin]

If your looking for a fantasy or sci-fi book, consider the Warhammer series. Very cool world, try the Space Wolves series by William King to get yourself started.

 

[General Grind]

If you want something really long, really dense and really epic (in the words most purest form), you should read Malazan Book of the Fallen. As of right now, the main series is finished at 10 books! But the author is filling out intriguing side-stories with a prologue trilogy and a trilogy following a certain character after the events of the main series.

When people ask me why they should read it, I usually say it's a mix of the best from Tolkien (magnificent world-building), George R.R. Martin (Great characters and a cold brutal world where no one is safe) and the badassery of anime (Characters that makes you go F*CK yeah in the dozens.)

Be warned though, the author is not one to lead you by the hand and the first book just drops you straight into the story without bothering to tell you any backstory. There is almost no exposition and you are just meant to catch things as you go along. As an anthropologist and an archeologist, you can be damn sure the author knows how to build his world so finding out things about the world is a wonder onto itself.

The books are fairly philosophical at times as well and I truly believe the books changed, or at the very least, influenced my way of viewing the world.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Hey all, so since I decided not to read "A Storm of Swords" until I'd seen season 3 of Game of Thrones, I'm at a loss on what to read next, I just finished "The Mark of Athena" and have read all previous installments of the "Heroes of Olympus/Percy Jackson" series, I've also read all of "inheritence" and don't really have any wish to revisit that right now, I'm loving "Ice & Fire" but as I said I'm not reading book 3 until season 3 of "Game of Thrones"...I'm not gonna go through a list of everything I've read that would take too long but any recommendations would be great, thanks.

Sir, I demand that you read Joe Abercrombie. Start with "The First Law Trilogy", and then move on to his three stand alone books set in the same universe in chronological order...Best Served Cold, The Heroes, and the just released Red Country. It's basically a series of 6 books, with another trilogy on the way.

Abercrombie is arguably the best of a "new wave" of dark, gritty, low-fantasy authors that have spawned in the wake of George R.R. Martin's incredibly influential "A Song of Ice and Fire". His books are the very definition of grey/grey or black/grey morality, where the villains are villainous and the heroes are arguably even worse. His writing is brisk and snappy, he's a master of fight scenes, and his dialogue is incredibly sharp. He aggressively subverts every major fantasy trope as well, almost to the point of silliness. He takes great joy in turning genre conventions on their ear.

The three stand alone novels are particularly interesting, in that he's taking his established universe and looking at it through different genre lenses. Best Served Cold is a Count of Monte Cristo style revenge fantasy, The Heroes is a classic war story, and Red Country is a western with heavy shades of Unforgiven and Deadwood. As his books have gone on, he's gotten better and better at his prose.

You can read more about him here if you want:

http://bestfantasybooks.com/top25-fantasy-books.php

Martin himself is a huge fan of Joe, and the two of them actually did a long interview together, but it seems to have been stripped off all the video sites for copyright purposes.

Anyway, can't recommend him enough. He's young, he's prolific, he's getting better and better, and he's also kind of a cool guy. He's a gamer (he frequently reviews RPGs on his blog) and he pops up on fantasy book forums from time to time to talk to fans. Recently he, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch and a few other high profile modern fantasy authors got together to play AD&D. Read his stuff. You won't regret it.

 

[Oly J]

Hey all, so since I decided not to read "A Storm of Swords" until I'd seen season 3 of Game of Thrones, I'm at a loss on what to read next, I just finished "The Mark of Athena" and have read all previous installments of the "Heroes of Olympus/Percy Jackson" series, I've also read all of "inheritence" and don't really have any wish to revisit that right now, I'm loving "Ice & Fire" but as I said I'm not reading book 3 until season 3 of "Game of Thrones"...I'm not gonna go through a list of everything I've read that would take too long but any recommendations would be great, thanks.

Sir, I demand that you read Joe Abercrombie. Start with "The First Law Trilogy", and then move on to his three stand alone books set in the same universe in chronological order...Best Served Cold, The Heroes, and the just released Red Country. It's basically a series of 6 books, with another trilogy on the way.

Abercrombie is arguably the best of a "new wave" of dark, gritty, low-fantasy authors that have spawned in the wake of George R.R. Martin's incredibly influential "A Song of Ice and Fire". His books are the very definition of grey/grey or black/grey morality, where the villains are villainous and the heroes are arguably even worse. His writing is brisk and snappy, he's a master of fight scenes, and his dialogue is incredibly sharp. He aggressively subverts every major fantasy trope as well, almost to the point of silliness. He takes great joy in turning genre conventions on their ear.

The three stand alone novels are particularly interesting, in that he's taking his established universe and looking at it through different genre lenses. Best Served Cold is a Count of Monte Cristo style revenge fantasy, The Heroes is a classic war story, and Red Country is a western with heavy shades of Unforgiven and Deadwood. As his books have gone on, he's gotten better and better at his prose.

You can read more about him here if you want:

http://bestfantasybooks.com/top25-fantasy-books.php

Martin himself is a huge fan of Joe, and the two of them actually did a long interview together, but it seems to have been stripped off all the video sites for copyright purposes.

Anyway, can't recommend him enough. He's young, he's prolific, he's getting better and better, and he's also kind of a cool guy. He's a gamer (he frequently reviews RPGs on his blog) and he pops up on fantasy book forums from time to time to talk to fans. Recently he, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch and a few other high profile modern fantasy authors got together to play AD&D. Read his stuff. You won't regret it.

that sounds awesome, I'll definitely check that stuff out, I've seen one or two of his books around in stores but never thought to pick one up

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Get thee to yon bookshoppe and procure for thyself the Ender Quartet. Some of the finest literature I've ever read.

 

[Launcelot111]

Not fantasy at all, but Jennifer Egan's "A Visit From The Goon Squad." It's kind of hard to explain, but it's about a bunch on people who are connected by music and the music industry and various countercultural things, but every chapter is from the perspective of a different character (I mean they never repeat) and it's nonlinear in its chronology, but it's still somehow cohesive, and the characters are interesting, and on the whole, it's funny and kind of sad. I can't give it justice with this explanation. Just read it

 

[Spade Lead]

I personally enjoyed the Bolo! series by David Weber. I picked up a couple of the books from the library here in town, and immediately wished I had the whole series. (It is by two different authors, David Weber collaborating with a few, and taking the last half of the series, after the original author died and left him the sole author.) It is a story about sentient tanks. If you need more than that to get excited, nothing else I offer will be of any interest to you.

Drew Karpyshyn, was recommended earlier in the thread, and he has some amazing Star Wars books, if that is your thing. The Darth Bane trilogy is simply inspiring, and Revan is really interesting and well written if you have ever played KotOR. Also, it explains what is only mentioned in passing in the Sith Campaign of what really happened to Revan after the events of KotOR 1.

In the vein of things Star Wars related, there are over 150 novels available from major retailers at this time (I have over 130 of them), and Michael A. Stackpole's entries in the series are very well written as well. The Rogue Squadron series is great, and I, Jedi is probably my favorite single novel entry in the whole universe. Nearly any author who is well known will have at least one Star Wars novel to test the waters with.

Taylor Anderson's The Destroyermen is my favorite series of all time, consisting of seven books, basically broken into two full trilogies, with the newest book beginning a separate sub-series. To read is to understand, but really it is a character driven story about a World War 1 American destroyer wrenched from World War 2 into an alternate reality where Dinosaurs are the dominant species on the planet, having gained sentience some time in the past. (Also, to make it interesting, they are not the first to travel to this new world, nor the last, including some foes they thought they left behind...) Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyermen_%28book_series%29

 

[chaser5000]

The Mistborn trilogy is a really good series of books. The best part is the magic system, there is a logic behind it, it's not just a character mumbling some made up words and all the bad guys die. The magic has rules and if a non magic user knows those rules they can fight a magic user on equal footing.

The Child of the Sword is a fantasy book I read recently, it's suppose to be the start of a new series, but I don't think the second is out or if it is even going to come out.

 

[Oly J]

I personally enjoyed the Bolo! series by David Weber. I picked up a couple of the books from the library here in town, and immediately wished I had the whole series. (It is by two different authors, David Weber collaborating with a few, and taking the last half of the series, after the original author died and left him the sole author.) It is a story about sentient tanks. If you need more than that to get excited, nothing else I offer will be of any interest to you.

Drew Karpyshyn, was recommended earlier in the thread, and he has some amazing Star Wars books, if that is your thing. The Darth Bane trilogy is simply inspiring, and Revan is really interesting and well written if you have ever played KotOR. Also, it explains what is only mentioned in passing in the Sith Campaign of what really happened to Revan after the events of KotOR 1.

In the vein of things Star Wars related, there are over 150 novels available from major retailers at this time (I have over 130 of them), and Michael A. Stackpole's entries in the series are very well written as well. The Rogue Squadron series is great, and I, Jedi is probably my favorite single novel entry in the whole universe. Nearly any author who is well known will have at least one Star Wars novel to test the waters with.

Taylor Anderson's The Destroyermen is my favorite series of all time, consisting of seven books, basically broken into two full trilogies, with the newest book beginning a separate sub-series. To read is to understand, but really it is a character driven story about a World War 1 American destroyer wrenched from World War 2 into an alternate reality where Dinosaurs are the dominant species on the planet, having gained sentience some time in the past. (Also, to make it interesting, they are not the first to travel to this new world, nor the last, including some foes they thought they left behind...) Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyermen_%28book_series%29

sentient tanks you say? interesting, also, I consider myself a big Star Wars fan but I confess I've never read any novels, I started one in school, Han Solo was getting on and coping with a loss that I have no wish to spoil here, and the bad guys were the Yuuzan Vong I think they were called, I didn't get that far into it, 15 minutes a school day to read a book just isn't enough

 

[saintdane05]

I say start on the Dark Elf Trilogy, from Forgotten Realms. Great book, perfect intro to the world.

ff

Ah, the Vohng War. Great fun. Lots of death.

Read Vector Prime if you want that. Warning: It gets sad when
Chewbacca dies

 

[Knoopdog]

Read The Legend of Drizzt by R.A. Salvatore. Sixteen books and counting last I checked. Salvatore's also a consultant for a lot of the Forgotten Realms/D&D lore they use so it's fun to see how things mix and match between his work and that of others.

Really, you can't go wrong with it. It's pretty much synonymous with popular fantasy literature at this point.