Book Nerds, Please Help!

[meditation]

Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry trilogy (The Summer Tree, The Darkest Fire, and The Wandering Road).

Tolkien-meets-Arthurian-legend-meets-CS Lewis/Susan Cooper/Charles DeLint.

he has many other books, but it's The Fionavar Tapestry i always come back to.

i second the motion for Mercedes Lackey's early writing (haven't read anything she wrote after circa 1987, though i really should look for some, having loved the early stuff so much) and for Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series, even though her work is aimed at a young audience.

or branch out and try some magical realism - Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children (and others) and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (and others) are amazing works of literature which employ fantasy to explore the human psyche.

 

[figliaperduta]

I'm surprised to see no talk of Jacqueline Carey, especially in the BDSM section of the forum. Start with Kushiel's Dart and go from there.

 

[Keroin]

http://www.warpworld.ca/index.html

 

[MaxSmith]

Oh, I am so very, very glad I stumbled onto this thread. I'm always looking for something new to read. Everyone I know reads sappy, "boy meets girl, they have some sort of trial and tribulation, they work it out and they live happily ever after" books that end up just pissing me off. (of course, they are generally happily married, have their fantasy and are living their happily ever after.) (geez, I sound bitter)

Anyway, my tastes are a bit more... just not that. I've read several of the series/authors listed, but others are new to me and I am totally going to check them out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone who has made suggestions!

 

[Ahlam]

1.) Fiona McIntosh's "Percheron Series"--> Epic supernatural battles and the sexy intrigues of the harem...
2.) Stephen Hunt's "Jackelian Series"--> Holy Steampunk romp, Batman!! And there's a robot fight.

 

[figliaperduta]

I second the recommendation for Brent Weeks, and raise you Brandon Sanderson. He's the author who's finishing Wheel of Time (last book soon!), but the stuff he's written on his own is just amazing. He creates very interesting and DIFFERENT magic systems for each world he writes in. Supposedly, everything is connected... The Way of Kings is the start of a very long epic fantasy series. I'd recommend starting with Mistborn or Elantris if you're not interested in starting at the beginning of a long series and waiting for each consecutive book for years.

I also must mention, to those of you who are fans of George R. R. Martin, you must read Steven Erikson. Start with Gardens of the Moon and be prepared to be very confused, at first. The initial series is ten books (which he wrote at the amazing rate of one a YEAR, and many of which are 1k pages), and there are a few side series, both by him and by his fellow universe-creator, Ian Esselmont (Esslemont?). So very, very good, but be warned: it will spoil the genre for you forever. You will never be satisfied with poorly-written, overly-cliched fantasy again.

 

[Saucyminx]

Hi Satin,

Jack Chalker is pretty good. I prefer his Soul Rider series, and the River of the Dancing Gods series myself.

 

[paisleyavenger]

What a great thread!
I'd like to give a shout out for Tad Williams. He's a multi-stranded epic style story teller. He's done fantasy (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series) and a sci-fi kind of thing, called Otherland. I especially liked The War of the Flowers (it's only one book, so you can get a taste for his style there).
I'm looking forward to trying the other suggestions here, too.

 

[MadameEmma]

Well I'm officially in love with all of you.

I saw this thread and took a peek for something new and have instead been reminded of all the old favorites I haven't revisited in far too long. Every time I thought of someone to add to the list the next post would include them!
I didn't see any mention of C S Lewis' Space Trilogy, it can be a bit hard to find in paperback (my drug of choice) but I imagine nothing's hard to come by if you're reading electronically. (Avoid it if his tendency toward heavy Christian imagery will bug you though.)
Also the Ringworld series by by Larry Niven is a good choice.

Now I have to go dig through my old boxes of books.

 

[bridgeburner]

Okay, some oldies that I didn't see mentioned:

Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist
Maia by Richard Adams (Of Watership Down and The Plague Dogs fame)
The first three books in the Dune series by Frank Herbert

and some...new-ies?

If you're a fan of some of the modern-day urban fantasy books but not so much on the vamps and weres, you might try Seanann McGuire's October Daye series. I avoided it for years for one reason or another but am now hooked. It takes place in San Francisco and Faerie, makes good use of some lesser known faerie legends and monsters, and doesn't muck up the story with too much romance.

And if you want something totally different (modern-day zombie apocolypse blogging) go for Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy. (This is what finally made me read the October Daye series --- I found out that Grant and McGuire are the same author)

 

[satindesire]

*Snip*
And if you want something totally different (modern-day zombie apocolypse blogging) go for Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy. (This is what finally made me read the October Daye series --- I found out that Grant and McGuire are the same author)

*eyes get huge and sparkly*

Did you really just say...

Modern-day....zombie apogolypse...blogging?!


Those are like...MY THREE FAVORITE THINGS!!!!

.....

Imusthavethesebooksimmediately.

 

[bridgeburner]

*eyes get huge and sparkly*

Did you really just say...

Modern-day....zombie apogolypse...blogging?!


Those are like...MY THREE FAVORITE THINGS!!!!

.....

Imusthavethesebooksimmediately.

So. Fucking. Awesome.

Feed
Deadline
Blackout

and there's a novella (Countdown) available that gives some of the backstory -- pre-apocolypse, but you should really wait until after the first if not the second book to read the novella. That's when it was published and it really does fit best there.

 

[rthnck]

Somebody already mentioned the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson. I'll also recommend the Mordant's Need duology by the same author

Mirror of Her Dreams
A Man Rides Through


And if you like space sci fi that is definitely dark then the 5 books of the GAP sequence are also worth a read

The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story
The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge
The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises
The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order
The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die

 

[SirVPL]

What to read?

I have finally exhausted our bookshelf and E-Reader of fantasy novels. I need book suggestions!

I'm extremely fond of dark/high fantasy and sci-fi. I really enjoyed the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman, the Black Jewels novels by Anne Bishop, the Halo series of books (written by Eric Nylund, Joseph Staten, Greg Bear and William C. Dietz), and the Harry Potter series greatly, and any books with that sort of fantasy "tone" is a-okay with me!

I also like Anne Mcaffery, Laurell K. Hamilton, Madeleine L'Engle, Neil Gaiman, and Ray Bradbury. But I need fresh blood!

Can someone give a girl a hand?

I am a biiig Robert E. Howard fan. Believe Me the Conan and Kull movies dont beat the novels. Baen Books publishes the Robert E Howard Library. Ace Publishing Co. publishes the Conan series. Take a gander at them.

 

[jmace1000]

I have finally exhausted our bookshelf and E-Reader of fantasy novels. I need book suggestions!

I'm extremely fond of dark/high fantasy and sci-fi. I really enjoyed the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman, the Black Jewels novels by Anne Bishop, the Halo series of books (written by Eric Nylund, Joseph Staten, Greg Bear and William C. Dietz), and the Harry Potter series greatly, and any books with that sort of fantasy "tone" is a-okay with me!

I also like Anne Mcaffery, Laurell K. Hamilton, Madeleine L'Engle, Neil Gaiman, and Ray Bradbury. But I need fresh blood!

Can someone give a girl a hand?

I'd like to second the recommendation of The Belgariad series, Pawn of Prophecy et al... Also if the sometimes twee Chronicles of Narnia series has been missed by you, it's worth a visit from what I remember as a child. Chronicles of Thomas Covenant I've tried a number of times but never got into.

I won't kill anyone for not liking Wheel of Time. I have been waiting years for it all to be written before I start reading it

In sci-fi I have not found myself often satisfied, but if you are a true geek, I will happily accept you as my queen, especially if you've read 2001 and loved it for all the actual scientific detail in it -- and if you haven't, give it a go, I say!

 

[4yourpleasureiam]

cool old thread

To bad it seems to have withered and died. Grew up on many a phantasy book including the Martian chronicles, then the Dune books on the Tolkien world way back in time. Conan before the movies and one called Brak the Barbarian which my one day to be wife bought me and scratched out Brak and wrote my name in place. Any thing on Merlin and Author which I keep in my home and pull out like old friends. While she is probably not considered a phantasy writer I found Ann Rice had many good books dealing with some good subjects. Like the Taltos series. Of coarse one considering New Orleans my personal Kingdom makes me a little prejudice to any of her books especially the ones with a background there. I knew the city she describes so well once upon a time long ago.

Thanks for the memories

 

[FurryFury]

I've read quite a few of these. I will second the Blue Adept and Incarnations of Immortality recs.

For newer stuff I will put forth the following:

"Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the first in a quartet I loved. It's a Y.A. dystopian series.

 

[4yourpleasureiam]

I've read quite a few of these. I will second the Blue Adept and Incarnations of Immortality recs.

For newer stuff I will put forth the following:

"Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer, the first in a quartet I loved. It's a Y.A. dystopian series.

I looked at one of your stories. Nice, in the Ann Rice the sleeping beauty books sort of way. Did you ever complete your story of the abducted college virgin ?

 

[FurryFury]

No. I haven't. Writer's block hasn't been kind to me, nor, I guess, have I be kind to it or myself. Btw, I really disliked Sleeping Beauty and haven't read the rest. OTOH, I liked Exit to Eden much better and many other books of Anne Rice.

Thank you for the compliment.

I looked at one of your stories. Nice, in the Ann Rice the sleeping beauty books sort of way. Did you ever complete your story of the abducted college virgin ?

 

[IrisAlthea]

This thread seems like a good place to ask:
Has anobody read the Metro 2033 books by Dmitry Glukhovsky?
If so, what are they like? Anything you could compare them to?

 

[seela]

This thread seems like a good place to ask:
Has anobody read the Metro 2033 books by Dmitry Glukhovsky?
If so, what are they like? Anything you could compare them to?

I have read them.

They're ok. J liked them a lot, I thought they were decent but not that great. For some reason the concept reminded me of The Lord of the Rings. Going through the metro map, encountering problems during your journey, who to trust, having a mentor...

I've also read a St. Petersburg version in Polish. I think that wasn't written by Gluchovsky, but it's a part of the same franchise, so to say.

 

[IrisAlthea]

I have read them.

They're ok. J liked them a lot, I thought they were decent but not that great. For some reason the concept reminded me of The Lord of the Rings. Going through the metro map, encountering problems during your journey, who to trust, having a mentor...

I've also read a St. Petersburg version in Polish. I think that wasn't written by Gluchovsky, but it's a part of the same franchise, so to say.

Sounds like it would be worth a shot then?

As I understand it the author of the books invited others to use the same universe to write other stories set in other parts of the world?
Seems like a cool idea to me.