[Dr Trouble]

Alright, so I am looking for something new to read and I have drawn blanks on most sides.

Lately I have been reading alot of Wolfe and and Hardy (Gene and Thomas, that is); and I have just about gone through it all.

So I turn to you, the well read community of Malazan to help me on my quest to find better books.

I just want something thats an intelligent read without any of that damn crap that seems to go along with almost all the fantasy series out there - ala a quest to save the world, maybe a few dragons along the way, friends become enemies, enemies become friends, everyones richer for the experience - So no, I don't want Terry Goodkind.

Help me Malazan, you're my only hope.

(And If I get requests like some of them in this http://www.leasticou...showtopic=20808 thread, I may just scream.)

[Valgard]

Well depends exactly what kind of book you are looking for and what mood you are in.

Comedy: terry Pratchett best fantasy comedy writer out there.

Gaiman: modern fantasical worlds e.g. neverwhere, american drugs. he is an excellent author really brilliant.

The latest book by James Barclay the Cry of the Newborn it is much much better than his previous books more epic in scope and much better written.

R. Scott Bakker: really dark gritty fantasy that is incredibly complex and detailed.

GRRM: Excellent author his song of ice and fire is a brilliant series.

Roger Zelazny: his amber series great series one of the greats of fantasy.

Paul Kearney: Brilliant author writing his second series at the moment with the first two books out. The Mark of Ran and This Forsaken Earth. His earlier series is also very good but hard to get hold of as it is no longer in print.

David Gemell: The books are brilliant not complicated and easy to read but the stories and characters are great. Start with Legend.

[Dr Trouble]

I have read all those authors except for Paul Kearney, which I will now look into

I never did like GRRM though ... I value him highly as a writer, just don't like the books much.

[Valgard]

Fair enough wasn't sure which ones you had read.

other ones I have remembered Tanith Lee an excellent female writer her lion wolf trilogy is great so far (1st 2 books out).

David Keck's Eye under Heaven brilliant debut book really enjoyable. kind of knights with a healthy undertone of mythology (has a very close feel to medieval fairy myths)

Jack Vance's Lyonesse series very good extremely enjoyable. Didn't enjoy his Dying earth book as much.

[QuickTidal]

How about Jack Whyte? His "A Dream of Eagles" series is quite brilliant and one of my most treasured possesions.

[Werthead]

Definitely Kearney:

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"The Monarchies of God is simply the best fantasy series I've read in years and years." - Steven Erikson

What more do you want? The series is made up of five books: Hawkwood's Voyage, The Heretic Kings, The Iron Wars, The Second Empire and Ships from the West. They can be difficult to track down, so Amazon and Ebay may be your friend here. If they are too difficult to find, the first two books from Kearney's current series, The Sea-Beggars, are still in print: The Mark of Ran and This Forsaken Earth.

Other worthwhile books:

The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton
Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
The Book of Words Trilogy and its sequel series, Sword of Shadows by JV Jones. The first trilogy is perhaps over-traditional but it has some great characters and the sequel seris is brilliant.
The Lyonesse Trilogy by Jack Vance is definitely a great read.
Fevre Dream by George RR Martin. Perhaps worth a look if you weren't keen on ASoIaF. A very different style of book but still excellent.
The Prestige by Christopher Priest (the book the film is based on) and the mindblowingly original The Separation by the same author. Really intense stuff that'll make you think.

For historical fiction I recommend The Flashman Papers by George MacDonald Fraser. You can dip in and out of the series, which is constantly funny but also highly educational (I'd never heard of Harper's Ferry before reading these books, or the Taiching Rebellion in China, one of the bloodiest wars fought in human history, far more than WWI and not far behind WWII in casualties).

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(And If I get requests like some of them in this http://www.leasticou....howtopic=20808 thread, I may just scream.)

Well, a lot of love for Erikson but as for the rest...MINE EYES! THEY BLEED!

[Abyss]

China Mieville - Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council.
Mad crazy nu fantasy brilliance. The Scar esp remains perhaps my favourite books ever.

Scott Lynch - Lies of Locke Lamora
Great fun. Different. One novel, complete. No cliffhangers.

GG Kay - Lions of Al-Rassam.
I haven't read any of his other books, but this one is clever and entertaining.

- Abyss, looked at that thread and agrees with the eye bleeding.

[Dr Trouble]

Thanks for all the Authors

I have read (And by read, I mean all of there books, or as much as I want to ) Lynch, Kay, Jones, Priest and Mieville.

Vance I have actually been meaning to try but held back out of sheer laziness, Will try now though.

Hamilton, Sci Fi yes? I'll give it a go.

I now have a great list to take down to the book store and lay order.
Thanks alot guys, I appreciate it.

[zeeny]

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I now have a great list to take down to the book store and lay order.

Yeah, well, I've never actually read Paul Kearney and seeing this thread tried to track down the full Monarchies of god. It seems impossible to get all 5 books on paper;o(((

[Valgard]

Try Alibris.com in america that is where i got mine from.

[Werthead]

Getting the Monarchies book is a pain in the ass. I got Hawkwood's Voyage from a second-hand bookshop, bought The Iron Wars, The Second Empire and Ships from the West brand new when they came out and had to go to Amazon's re-sellers to find a pretty knackered copy of The Heretic Kings.

They are now out of print with Gollancz and once Ace Books stop publishing them in the USA, the rights revert to Kearney within about two years, at which point Bantam will reprint them in two omnibus editions. However Ace keeps desultory reprints of some of the books, delaying the omnibus reprints. Kearney isn't happy about this over on his website.

[High House Death]

Tried House of Leaves by Danielewski??

[polishgenius]

Tried Steph Swainston? An oddball, quite light-hearted but engaging and interesting series (two out so far). Her first book is The Year of our War. It might seem slightly cliche to start but the manner in which she does it means it's far from. Like for example him being addicted to a drug which makes him shift to another dimension.
Highly recommended books.

[werewolfv2]

gods, I just read part of that thread you have linked.. many of those people need major help!

[Valgard]

potsherds;139287 said:

:eek: *falls over*
She's got a new series!??! Damnit, I hate living in the U.S. How come I didn't hear about this?! What's it about? Is it adult or young adult?

It is set is a world where the sun died but creatures and humanity survived there is only a weak ghost sun and the world is covered in ice. The story is about a God that mates with a mortal woman and the offspring of this Lionwolf. The first two are out and are excellent. The first one is called Cast a bright shadow, the second is Here in a Cold Hell. the final one in her trilogy is No flame but mine (not released yet but it has been finished). They are really good highly enjoyable never read any of her other stuff but picked up the first one at random in the book shop and it was brilliant. It is adult not young adult definately.

[Werthead]

Werewolf, WTH have you been? The Goodkind threads haven't been the same!

I've steered clear of Tanith Lee since seeing her Blake's 7 episode. :eek: That was some freaky messed-up stuff.

[polishgenius]

I was trying to remember her name, so cheers. What's the first book in 'Flat Earth' called?
And if it were to be in a bookshop, would I find her under fantasy, or in the regular section like VanderMeer, Kafka, Lem, and Susanna Clarke?