What Are You Reading?

GhostInTheRuins

I'm about a quarter of the way through Abercrombie's Heroes. Enjoying it so far.

I never finished Best Served Cold after getting bored of it two thirds of the way through a few years back. I didn't know that they were connected in any way, so there are spoilers for the end of Best Served Cold if anyone is planning on reading them out of order. It doesn't bother me because I wasn't going to go back and finish it anyway.

Can anyone recommend any good stand-alone fantasy books? Anything that I've been interested in lately has been part of a four or five book series and I'm just not interested in that sort of commitment at the moment!

machalla

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

Can anyone recommend any good stand-alone fantasy books? Anything that I've been interested in lately has been part of a four or five book series and I'm just not interested in that sort of commitment at the moment!

This is more historical fiction with a slight fantasy twist. Its been a while since I read it but I remember it being excellent at the time.

The Dragon Waiting

Another one that had an odd approach to it was this

The drawing of the Dark

I wouldn't say it was brilliant but I remember it being a bit different from the typical fantasy book. It also had a slant on history.


Perdido Street Station can be read as a stand alone book. I liked it at the time but the authors word diarrhea can get a bit much. Plus a bit too much of his political leanings wearing through.

There is a reasonable list of suggestions here
http://bestfantasybooks.com/best-stand-alone-fantasy-books.html

One I didn't think I liked when I started reading it but had changed my mind about by the end was The Curse Of Chalion
It now looks to be part of a series but I've read this and the next book which you don't need to read to enjoy it.

It does seem hard to find purely stand-alone books in fantasy. Everyone is always chasing the big-series.

nhur

almost finished Hyperion... not exactly blown away... it's like a bunch of books glued together... i'm still waiting for them to be tied together...

shrapnel222

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

I'm about a quarter of the way through Abercrombie's Heroes. Enjoying it so far.

I never finished Best Served Cold after getting bored of it two thirds of the way through a few years back. I didn't know that they were connected in any way, so there are spoilers for the end of Best Served Cold if anyone is planning on reading them out of order. It doesn't bother me because I wasn't going to go back and finish it anyway.

Can anyone recommend any good stand-alone fantasy books? Anything that I've been interested in lately has been part of a four or five book series and I'm just not interested in that sort of commitment at the moment!

mentioned a good few times here: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. If you like that one, most of his other ones are stand alone also

Neil Gaiman has loads of standalone ones. only ones i've read and enjoyed were American gods and Anansi boys (these seem to divide opinions in this thread :pac:)


The terror by Dan Simmons (mixes historical fiction and a bit of supernatural) and is very topical as they've just found the boat in the northwest passage on which the book is based.

GhostInTheRuins

machalla wrote: »

This is more historical fiction with a slight fantasy twist. Its been a while since I read it but I remember it being excellent at the time.

The Dragon Waiting

Another one that had an odd approach to it was this

The drawing of the Dark

I wouldn't say it was brilliant but I remember it being a bit different from the typical fantasy book. It also had a slant on history.


Perdido Street Station can be read as a stand alone book. I liked it at the time but the authors word diarrhea can get a bit much. Plus a bit too much of his political leanings wearing through.

There is a reasonable list of suggestions here
http://bestfantasybooks.com/best-stand-alone-fantasy-books.html

One I didn't think I liked when I started reading it but had changed my mind about by the end was The Curse Of Chalion
It now looks to be part of a series but I've read this and the next book which you don't need to read to enjoy it.

It does seem hard to find purely stand-alone books in fantasy. Everyone is always chasing the big-series.

Thanks for the suggestions.

The first two you mentioned sound interesting, the Dragon Waiting and the Drawing of the Dark. I don't think I've ever actually read a historical fiction/fantasy novel but I think it would be something I'd enjoy so I'll definitely have a look into those two!

I was curious what you meant about Perdido Street Station's author's word diarrhoea so I downloaded a sample of it on amazon and I think I know what you mean. It reminds me of the scene in Friends where Joey replaces all the words in his CV with the longest words he can find in a thesaurus.

GhostInTheRuins

shrapnel222 wrote: »

mentioned a good few times here: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. If you like that one, most of his other ones are stand alone also

Neil Gaiman has loads of standalone ones. only ones i've read and enjoyed were American gods and Anansi boys (these seem to divide opinions in this thread :pac:)


The terror by Dan Simmons (mixes historical fiction and a bit of supernatural) and is very topical as they've just found the boat in the northwest passage on which the book is based.

Yes that's right! Someone recommended Tigana to me a long time ago but I completely forgot about it until you mentioned it. I'll definitely have a look into that.

You're dead right Gaiman divides opinions because I tried to read american gods earlier this year and I think it was the worst book I've ever read

I've never heard of Dan Simmons either and that book sounds interesting so I'll keep an eye out for that as well.

Thanks!

Ragnar Lothbrok

I recently got my hands on The Day Watch and the Twilight Watch (2nd and 3rd books in the Watch saga). I'm reluctant to start reading a series without reading the first book though. Does anyone who's read these books think it's vital to read the first book or could I start with the second?

Buford T. Justice XIX

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

I recently got my hands on The Day Watch and the Twilight Watch (2nd and 3rd books in the Watch saga). I'm reluctant to start reading a series without reading the first book though. Does anyone who's read these books think it's vital to read the first book or could I start with the second?

It's been a while but iirc, the first book sets up the whole society behind the series. I read the first book and really enjoyed it but lost interest halfway through the second.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

It's been a while but iirc, the first book sets up the whole society behind the series. I read the first book and really enjoyed it but lost interest halfway through the second.

Thanks Buford. Maybe I'll wait until I can get a copy of the first book and see how it goes!

david75

Neverwhere by Gaiman is an excellent read. His other stuff is patchy.

Paddy Samurai

About 40% read so far.
This is my forth Belcher book ,and I am enjoying this one big time.I do think he's getting better and has a lot more tales to tell.

Laytham Ballard’s granny intended him to be a Wisdom, a magic user who draws strength from his unity with nature and employs it to help and heal. But his great abilities led him to darker places, toward painful bargains with some unsavory entities and the use of his power for less noble purposes. Boj, an old friend and partner in crime, asks Ballard to fulfill his dying wish: to go after Dusan Slorzack, a magically gifted Serbian war criminal who murdered Boj's wife years ago. But Slorzack has vanished utterly, and the path to revenge is littered with corpses, old and new enemies, dangerous deities, and a previously unknown source of magic. The tough, ethically dubious magician/detective/grifter is a popular trope, but Belcher takes it to depths that readers may not have encountered before. Ballard is an incredibly ruthless, vicious operator who doesn’t hesitate to use the few people who still care about him. Protagonists of this sort often destroy innocent bystanders by accident, but Ballard will deliberately use innocent bystanders as a shield or scapegoat to escape during a crisis. He feels guilty, even tormented, about such acts (or at least, that’s what he tells us), but that doesn’t stop him from committing them over and over again. As he explains, Ballard has literally bargained away pieces of his soul, with visceral consequences that most authors aren’t brave enough to show. There’s evidence that there may still be some good in him, but it certainly struggles to surface most of the time.
Another fine effort from Belcher, ripped from a dark, dark place.

OwaynOTT

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

About 40% read so far.
This is my forth Belcher book ,and I am enjoying this one big time.I do think he's getting better and has a lot more tales to tell.

A wisdom? Is there much braid tugging in this?

Dades

shrapnel222 wrote: »

The terror by Dan Simmons (mixes historical fiction and a bit of supernatural) and is very topical as they've just found the boat in the northwest passage on which the book is based.

Oooh that sounds good. Just finished a real life account of artic exploration from that time.

machalla

A couple of standalone fantasy books I forgot to mention before

The Gospel of Loki

Quite an entertaining take on the whole Norse Mythos. Worth a look. It was in the Gollanzc sale but I think its gone back up in price.

The year of our war

Its now part of a bigger series but to me it is one of the finest examples of modern fantasy I've read. I found it compelling.

OwaynOTT

machalla wrote: »

A couple of standalone fantasy books I forgot to mention before

The Gospel of Loki

Quite an entertaining take on the whole Norse Mythos. Worth a look. It was in the Gollanzc sale but I think its gone back up in price.

The year of our war

Its now part of a bigger series but to me it is one of the finest examples of modern fantasy I've read. I found it compelling.

Year of our war was only 99p the other night on Amazon. Picked it up as I had heard good things. Nice to keep reading these good things.

It must wait, as I've to finish Tower Lord and Queen of Fire. Just finished blood song last night.

Paddy Samurai

OwaynOTT wrote: »

A wisdom? Is there much braid tugging in this?

You will be glad to know there's a little bit of everything,including braid tugging of the rough variety.;)

Glebee

david75 wrote: »

Farseer trilogy is such a brilliant and immersive and absorbing read. Would love to be just discovering them for the cost time. And you have two trilogies after it with the same characters.

Not getting into this at all at the moment....:(

shrapnel222

Dades wrote: »

Oooh that sounds good. Just finished a real life account of artic exploration from that time.

wrap up warm for this because it's cold and brutal!!:pac:

david75

Glebee wrote: »

Not getting into this at all at the moment....:(

It's tough going at the beginning. Hang in though. It's more like a GOT setting with the magical elements coming in later and they're organic as opposed to magic. It's worth it.

Where are you? Have you met Chade yet?

Glebee

david75 wrote: »

It's tough going at the beginning. Hang in though. It's more like a GOT setting with the magical elements coming in later and they're organic as opposed to magic. It's worth it.

Where are you? Have you met Chade yet?

Just started training with him

david75

I hoped as much. Gets good now on.

mickmac76

I enjoyed the Farseer books by hobb but the current series is very slow. Just finished Red Rising by Pierce Brown. A book set on Mars in the future. Dystopian science fiction a lot like the hunger games and definitly aimed at the young adult market. But enjoyable all the same.

Mick.

machalla

I just finished Children of Time at the weekend. Its very readable and a consistent storyline, well told and with an a satisfying ending. Thanks to those who suggested it. I'm not sure I'm likely to start the same authors 10 book epic fantasy series but I'd read another stand-alone book from him.

I've begun reading City of Blades now and its got a nice grabby first chapter which eases you back into the world with reference to the previous book.

nhur

Finished Hyperion - not blown away... are the subsequent books more of the same?
(I'm taking a break from Sci-Fi/Fantasy at the moment and am reading Bad Science. Non-scifi books are excruciatingly slow-paced!)

shrapnel222

nhur wrote: »

Finished Hyperion - not blown away... are the subsequent books more of the same?
(I'm taking a break from Sci-Fi/Fantasy at the moment and am reading Bad Science. Non-scifi books are excruciatingly slow-paced!)

i personally think book 2 is incredible and books 3- 4 are really good, but then i thought book 1 was amazing. If anything, book 2 certainly ties all the stories of book 1 together, as i recall that was an issue for you.

Trojan

I didn't get into Hyperion at all, not my cup of tea.

--

Can anyone recommend some fairly newish Feist or GRRM-like fantasy?

OwaynOTT

Trojan wrote: »

I didn't get into Hyperion at all, not my cup of tea.

--

Can anyone recommend some fairly newish Feist or GRRM-like fantasy?

Two fairly different writers there but you might enjoy Mark Lawerence's Prince of Thorns. It's the first in a trilogy and they're all finished.
Also, although you might shave read it, there's Antony Ryan's Raven Shadow trilogy.
First book is excellent and I think the second it also quite good but it is much maligned on the net. The other two people I've spoken to have both really enjoyed that series and I'm rereading Tower Lord before I read the last.
I find that each PoV character is compelling, which is not always the case in PoV chapters devoted to one character.

Nody

Trojan wrote: »

Can anyone recommend some fairly newish Feist or GRRM-like fantasy?

Prince of Thorns series as noted, The Name Of The Wind has potential if the third book ever comes out..., The first law series by Abercrombie and of course the Lies Of Locke Lamora series (the later books are not loved by all but the first one is generally well met).

Trojan

Thanks folks. I've read everything mentioned, I think I should have been more specific

I guess I'm looking for new fantasy written in the last 2-3 years, something like that.

Thargor

There does seem to be a bit of a fantasy drought lately, apart from Robin Hobb Im struggling to think of anything I want to read tbh.