[Acorn]

I've begun to run low on books to read... I've gone through some To-Be-Read lists and been totally lost as to which Books are like those that I enjoy and which are not...

To that end I figured I would appeal to your pity and pray that you gift me with some knowledge!

So far I've read, and enjoyed the most:

MBOTF obviously. I've also read all ICE novels as well as FoD and the B&KB short stories (minus Crack'd Pot and the last one)
Dresden Files (all of them, Side Jobs too)
Wheel of Time
Codex Alera
Kingkiller series (Patrick Rothfuss)
All Brent Weeks books, minus Blinding Knife which I'm not sure I want to finish it... Will in time.
Black Company books


I've also read Prince of Thorns recently and liked it - will get King of Thorns soon.

I have also read and not really liked:

Anything from Robin Hobb aside from first 3-6 Farseer
L.E.Modesitt Jr books (every one is too similar to the last one)

I'm sure I'm leaving out plenty of books - but off hand I can't think of them (migraine and an 8 month old who likes to hummmmmmmmm loudly don't make thinking easy)

I have a copy of Mage Blood to read, but I want to take a break from such blatantly Christian-Based/Inspired stories after Prince of Thorns... I've not decided if I would even continue to read Mage Blood after reading the descriptions in the first few chapters of the "Church".. I mean, for crying out loud their "savior" even shares the initials JC. It's either going to turn out to be a clever implication - or it will end up being a horribly uninspired and pathetic attempt at creating a system of Faith.


So.....

My favorites are the Malazan books and Dresden Files. I would like to find something comparable to Dresden Files that I can find on Kindle format... I like having physical books too, but it is easier to keep my Kindle with me since I travel a lot.

So can any of you recommend anything for me?

Thanks!!

[worry]

Acorn is a bot trying to get you to list the PRODUCTS you've liked so that he can ADVERTISE to you. I wouldn't trust this thread as far as I could throw it.

[Acorn]

Processing comments...

Invalid command. Retry, Abort or Ignore?


I've also read all of Brandon Sanderson's stuff - liked all but Alloy of Law. Really liked Warbreaker and Elantris.

I liked Michael A Stackpole's Secret Atlas series a lot too - wish he had it available on Audio book, had rough names in it. He has a killer voice, I've listened to his pod-casts before on writing..


-Thank you to whomever moved the thread to Other Literature - I wasn't sure where to put it, even if it seems obvious now... I was tired and in full blown migraine mode. Apologies!

This post has been edited by Abyss: 21 December 2012 - 03:52 PM
Reason for edit: MODGOD NOTICE OF THREAD MOVE, NO WORRIES, HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

[Abyss]

In the vein of Dresden i'll throw in

- Mike Carey's FELIX CASTOR series. Five books (sixth is rumoured but the five are complete), darker/slower than Dresden but oh so very clever and Carey delivers a steadily bigger finish with each successive book. 1-2-3 are good, 4 is brilliant and 5 is just fucknuts.
- KRAKEN by China Meiville is worth your time/money.
- Ben Aaronovitch's MIDNIGHT RIOT/RIVERS OF LONDON and sequels... the first two are pretty great, the most recent one less so but still fun.
- Charlie Stross' LAUNDRY series. This is more sf than fantasy, but brilliant, tho it helps to have some knowledge of Lovecraft, which you can get from wikipedia is not his books.

In the Epic side of things check out

- Matt Stover's CAINE books. Start with HEROES DIE. Then brade yourself for the mindfuck that is BLADE OF TYSHALLE. tehn things get crazier.
- Richard Morgan's TAKESHI KOVACS trilo, then BLACK MAN, then LAND FIT FOR HEROES.

And on the sf/thriller side of things, Patrick Lee's BREACH trilogy is worth your time. money and possibly sanity.

[James Hutton]

Acorn, on 21 December 2012 - 03:02 AM, said:

I've begun to run low on books to read... I've gone through some To-Be-Read lists and been totally lost as to which Books are like those that I enjoy and which are not...

I must say I haven't read these myself, but two friends that enjoyed MBotF (separately) recommended these to me:
- R. Scott Bakker's "The Second Apocalypse" series, starting with "The Prince of Nothing" trilogy.
- Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" series.

[Acorn]

Thanks Abyss and James - I will add those to my notes for books to try out!

I've heard a lot about the Felix Castor series, but I haven't tried it. If I can find it at a good price (an 8 month old baby isn't a cheap pet =P) I'll gladly give it a go, great things have been said for it.

Not heard much about the others except Heroes Die First, so I'll pick out a few of each and see what comes of it, in time of course.

Thanks again

[Ukjent]

Check outShadow of the apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the first book isnt fantastic, but the serie keeps getting better book by book.

A song of ice and fire - Martins

Sarantine Mosaic- Guy Gavriel Kay

Riyria Revelations - Michael J. Sullivan

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R. Donaldson

[Macros]

David Gemmell

Specifically:

The Troy Trilogy (lord of the silver bow, shield of thunder and fall of kings)
Legend
The Rigante Series

[yuna_anomander25]

Joe Abercrombie
First Law Trilogy:
-The Blade Itself
-Before they are Hanged
-Last Argument of Kings

+ 3 stand alone (though i have yet to read these myself)
-Best Served Cold
-The Heroes
-Red Country

[James Hutton]

Graablick, on 21 December 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R. Donaldson

OP is looking for opinions so here goes: I bought the first six books at a thrift store a while ago and read the first, and a bit of the second. But I have to say I was utterly bored by the simplicity of the books, most notably the races, and the thought-process and actions of the protagonist Thomas Covenant. Without spoilering stuff, I absolutely enjoyed the storypart when Thomas is in the normal, modern world. His personal life and recent developments therein are a great read IMO. But after that, the inconsistency of Thomas' thoughtprocesses and actions made it horrible for me. After grudgingly finishing book 1, and starting with #2, the same thing happened. Then I brought the books back to the thrift store

I wanted to try this series, because when it was written (in the 1970's/80's!) it was a very progressive style and plot! It is mentioned as one of the important building blocks of contemporary fantasy. But I found it an aweful read.

[Mentalist]

Chris Wooding- Braided Path trilogy for something that's self-contained and finished and suitably "epic".

If you are looking for something on the same scale as Erickson, but aren't afraid to dip into sci-fi:

Peter Hamilton Night's Dawn trilogy
Neal Asher-the Polity/Ian Cormac books, starting with Gridlinked

If you liked the soldiers' POV's from Malaz (Bridgeburners/Bonehunters), check out The Black Company books by Glen Cook... they are what inspired SE in the first place.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 21 December 2012 - 05:12 PM

[Acorn]

Graablick, on 21 December 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

Check outShadow of the apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the first book isnt fantastic, but the serie keeps getting better book by book.

A song of ice and fire - Martins

Sarantine Mosaic- Guy Gavriel Kay

Riyria Revelations - Michael J. Sullivan

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R. Donaldson

I read GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire - hated it for many reasons, but I won't argue my opinion here, there's no point - a lot of people loved the series, and a lot of people didn't. The same can be said for any story - I just couldn't make myself continue reading it after the third book. I got tired of being let down.

yuna_anomander25, on 21 December 2012 - 04:45 PM, said:

Joe Abercrombie
First Law Trilogy:
-The Blade Itself
-Before they are Hanged
-Last Argument of Kings

+ 3 stand alone (though i have yet to read these myself)
-Best Served Cold
-The Heroes
-Red Country

I forgot the First Law trilogy, which is stupid of me because I JUST finished it. I enjoyed the series a good bit, some great characters and plot lines, my only complaint was how overly obvious the Luthar thread was to me... I figured that out pretty close to the beginning of the Bayaz/Luthar meeting... I haven't read the others, but I see "Best Served Cold" often on Amazon in reference to my purchases.

Mentalist, on 21 December 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

Chris Wooding- Braided Path trilogy for something that's self-contained and finished and suitably "epic".

If you are looking for something on the same scale as Erickson, but aren't afraid to dip into sci-fi:

Peter Hamilton Night's Dawn trilogy
Neal Asher-the Polity/Ian Cormac books, starting with Gridlinked

If you liked the soldiers' POV's from Malaz (Bridgeburners/Bonehunters), check out The Black Company books by Glen Cook... they are what inspired SE in the first place.

I have read the Black Company series, unfortunately it was a long time ago, and I'm uncertain if I finished it... I'll have to check again to be sure!


A side note - I'm not a big fan of "Elves and Dwarves and Halflings" and such. They are far too overly abused in Fantasy books, and usually very poorly at that. Sadly most mediocre Authors abuse the hell out of Elves/etc and manage to sell books simply based on that, the best of authors don't have to use that crutch. Some really great authors DO use those Races and do so well, but they are far from the majority.. It has left me jaded and cautious when picking Fantasy stories. Don't know if I'm the only one who's gotten that way or not.

[Salt-Man Z]

Regarding Donaldson, I'd actually recommend his fantasy duology Mordant's Need or his sci-fi Gap Cycle over the Covenant books.

[polishgenius]

Acorn, on 21 December 2012 - 07:14 PM, said:

Don't know if I'm the only one who's gotten that way or not.

Tbf I think there are nowadays very few books coming out that use elves and dwarves except to somehow twist on the notion (Erikson, Bakker). Out of all the fantasy books I read this year, I think the only one to feature actual elves was Blade of Tyshalle, which is very far from standard, plus The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett which, being a fantasy Western, had them be as much in the 'Indian stand-in' role (by which token, the Folk in Gilman's The Rise of Ransom City were also a bit elvish, but likewise, were equally playing the native role).



You should (because your reading list indicates you haven't done too much of that just yet, though perhaps you have and didn't like it, in which case ignore me ) wander off into the sections of the genre marked 'new weird' and their related books. China Mieville being the prime mover there but also looking at Felix Gilman, Steph Swainston, Catheryne Valente, Jeff VanderMeer, Hal Duncan...


In terms of Dresden-style kicks, my other favourite urban fantasy series is Kate Griffin's Urban Magic series. Though one thing to bear in mind if you're looking at ebooks is that, at time of print, The fourth book - The Minority Council - reportedly had a crucial scene (actually the best scene I've read this year in any book) ruined by dodgy formatting. Hopefully they've fixed it since then, but I don't know. It is a series well worth your time.


I'm also going to throw out my obligatory recommendation of The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham. Small but perfectly formed.

[Overactive Imagination]

Stephen King - The Dark Tower.

8 Books in the series.. the first one is ''The Gunslinger'' and is totally awesome.

It's kind of a mix of western gunslinger tales, epic fantasy tales, and weird stuff Stephen King is known for.

This post has been edited by Overactive Imagination: 21 December 2012 - 08:14 PM

[Mentalist]

polishgenius, on 21 December 2012 - 07:48 PM, said:

Acorn, on 21 December 2012 - 07:14 PM, said:

Don't know if I'm the only one who's gotten that way or not.

Tbf I think there are nowadays very few books coming out that use elves and dwarves except to somehow twist on the notion (Erikson, Bakker). Out of all the fantasy books I read this year, I think the only one to feature actual elves was Blade of Tyshalle, which is very far from standard, plus The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett which, being a fantasy Western, had them be as much in the 'Indian stand-in' role (by which token, the Folk in Gilman's The Rise of Ransom City were also a bit elvish, but likewise, were equally playing the native role).



You should (because your reading list indicates you haven't done too much of that just yet, though perhaps you have and didn't like it, in which case ignore me ) wander off into the sections of the genre marked 'new weird' and their related books. China Mieville being the prime mover there but also looking at Felix Gilman, Steph Swainston, Catheryne Valente, Jeff VanderMeer, Hal Duncan...


In terms of Dresden-style kicks, my other favourite urban fantasy series is Kate Griffin's Urban Magic series. Though one thing to bear in mind if you're looking at ebooks is that, at time of print, The fourth book - The Minority Council - reportedly had a crucial scene (actually the best scene I've read this year in any book) ruined by dodgy formatting. Hopefully they've fixed it since then, but I don't know. It is a series well worth your time.


I'm also going to throw out my obligatory recommendation of The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham. Small but perfectly formed.

I can't really think of anyhtign with a truly "epic" scope in New Weird as of yet, though. Shadows of the Apt is probably the closest, but I'd call that more Steam/mech punk than New Weird. Mieville's Bas-Lag books have glimpses of it, but they are far too character/setting focused to push those particular buttons for me (which doesn't detract from tehm being awesome, btw.

On the topic of more steampunk-ish with an epic feel to it--Check out Ken Scholes' "Psalms of Isaak" series.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 21 December 2012 - 08:21 PM

[polishgenius]

Mentalist, on 21 December 2012 - 08:19 PM, said:

I can't really think of anyhtign with a truly "epic" scope in New Weird as of yet, though.

In fairness to me, I don't think TC ever actually specified that the recommendations should be epic.

As for epic/new weird crossover, Mistborn definitely has weird vibes, Mark Charan Newton's Legends of the Red Sun have an epicness to them, and Anthony Huso's Caliph Howl duology somewhat straddles the boundary too. None of them are must-reads but all of them are worth a look (especially Huso).

Though Sanderson is I guess a must-read in terms of impact if not actual quality. He's almost certain to be one of the defining authors when we look back at this time of fantasy.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 21 December 2012 - 08:32 PM

[Abyss]

Acorn, on 21 December 2012 - 07:14 PM, said:

...I forgot the First Law trilogy, which is stupid of me because I JUST finished it....I haven't read the others, but I see "Best Served Cold" often on Amazon in reference to my purchases.

The three follow up books are a serious boost in quality for JA. BEST SERVED is one of my favorites of the last few years.

[Eddie Dean]

I will second the First Law Trilogy and the Dark Tower books. Both are fantastic.

I would also recommend:

Lies of Locke Lamora/Red Seas under Read Skies - Scott Lynch

[Acorn]

I have read the Dark Tower books (save for 7, since I didn't want the series to ever end... Oy was just too damned cool to risk losing him!) And I did read the two tangent novels written by King and Straub. I own an awful lot of King novels, though I no longer read Horror books.

I will be finding a copy of Best Served Cold soon, I have seen it all over the place, which is why I started with First Law to begin with. I have also seen the Lies of Locke Lamora recommended often, I didn't look into it yet, but I have added it to my list too!

Thanks!

-----Edit-------
Also, please note that about the Lightbringer - I am a complete and utter moron.

It seems that even though I bought Black Prism... I never actually READ the damned thing, some how I confused Way of Kings with it, since I bought both at the same time. I guess I need to go back a ways.. Damnit. I hate spoiling a book by reading even part of a sequel first!

Gah!

This post has been edited by Acorn: 21 December 2012 - 09:46 PM