Fantasy/Sci Fi recommendations?

TheBandit

dr gonzo wrote: »

Great recommendations, ive heard a lot about the wheel of time so i might give that a go.

Tried to read The Colour of Magic but it didnt grab me at all, although i have heard Pratchett fans saying its not the best one to start with, is that true?

I wasn't a big fan of The Colour of Magic but i've read about 5 or 6 other discworlds and loved them. I'd recommend Night Watch as a good first one to read, its a take on a detective story, very funny.

I gave up on the Wheel of Time after 4 1/2 books, i thought it just turned to crap. Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin is great, not as cliche as your average fantasy book. I'm only halfway through the third book mind you.

I read the Necroscope series years ago and loved it. vampire/fantasay book

LenaClaire

I have been looking for a new author and after all of the Raymond Feist suggestions I read Talon of the Silver Hawk and it was really good! I am going to have to read more of his books.

Thanks for the suggestions

Green Light

I'm on Book 12(out of 14) of the Wheel of Time Series caled The Gathering Storm.

The WOT Series is immensely detailed and has a 'cast' of nearly 3,000 characters. It can be tough going but it is really worth the work you put into in in my view as the Last Battle is looming large on the horizon...:)

Very sadly Robert Jordan died after Book 11 but thankfully he left extensive notes and plot lines and actually wrote the final Chapter of Book 14 before he died.

His widow and son asked Brandon sanderson to take on the onerous task of finishing the epic off and The Gathering Storm is his first effort. I'm halfway through it and am loving it.

Denerick

I liked Wheel of Time when younger, but wasn't able to finish Crossroads of Twilight (I got immensely bored after book 5, but kept at it because I was curious about how the plot would turn out) TBH, Jordan was a horrible writer, he was really bad at writing women and he introduced far too many superflous characters and gratuitous paragraphs.

David Gemmel is alright, I read one of his books one time.

For science fiction, you really can't beat Isaac Asimov. The man was one of the highest ranking members of Mensa for christs sake!

Tabnabs

Surprised to see William Gibson's name hasn't been mentioned yet? One of the all time outstanding Sci-Fi authors. Start with Neuromancer and continue with Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. You won't be disappointed and it won't be the last time you read this trilogy. :cool:

lordgoat

jujibee wrote: »

I have been looking for a new author and after all of the Raymond Feist suggestions I read Talon of the Silver Hawk and it was really good! I am going to have to read more of his books.

Thanks for the suggestions

you need to stop and go back to the first book or you'll miss out on so much!

Magician - R E Feist - go get it in chapters for E5 if you're in dublin!


The storm had broken.

LenaClaire

Thanks for the tip! I am in Cork but I am sure I can find Magician. That will have to be my quest for tomorrow.

lordgoat

jujibee wrote: »

Thanks for the tip! I am in Cork but I am sure I can find Magician. That will have to be my quest for tomorrow.

I actually started re reading it again todau, if you somehow can't find it let me know! i think i have a spare copy of it knocking around somewhere.

p to the e

If you are looking for something a little less weighty try "I am legend" by Richard Matheson. It's very different to the film of the same name and quite short and to the point. Regular readers will fly through it in no time.

LenaClaire

I found a copy of Magician here and it was really good! Going to have to read all of the rest now.

ixoy

jujibee wrote: »

I found a copy of Magician here and it was really good! Going to have to read all of the rest now.

You do realise there's well over 20 books to go yeah?

LenaClaire

Yeah, but I am a book nerd and I read fast so I should be finished in a month or so as long as I can find them all

Paddy Samurai

For fantasy......................Gemmell.
Not to be missed if your intersted in Fantasy

• Legend (1984)
• The King Beyond the Gate (1985)
• Waylander (1986)
• Wolf in Shadow (1987)
• Against the Horde (1988)
• Ghost King (1988)
• Last Sword of Power (1988)
• Knights of Dark Renown (1989)
• Last Guardian (1989)
• Lion of Macedon (1990)
• Quest for Lost Heroes (1990)
• Dark Prince (1991)
• Drenai Tales (1992)
• The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend (1993)
• Waylander II - In the Realm of the Wolf (1993)
• Bloodstone (1994)
• The Hawk Eternal (1995)
• Ironhand's Daughter (1995)
• Legend of Death Walker (1996)
• Winter Warriors (1996)
• Dark Moon (1997)
• Midnight Falcon (1999)
• Sword In The Storm (1999)
• Hero in the Shadows (2000)
• Ravenheart (2001)
• Drenai Tales - Volume III (2002)
• Echoes of the Great Song (2002)
• Stormrider (2002)
• White Wolf: A Novel of Druss the Legend (2003)
• The Swords of Night and Day (2004)
• Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow (2005)
• Troy: Shield of Thunder (2006)
• Troy: Fall of Kings (2007)

Also The Name of the Wind,The Painted Man,The Blade Itself trilogy,A Game of Thrones Series,any and all of these are worth reading.
Your lucky as you have years of great reading ahead of you if you hav'nt read any of these books.

Denerick

I really liked Sword in the Storm when I was younger. Can anyone recommend a fantasy novel to respark the love of fantasy in me? Not George R.R. Martin, I honestly thought his first novel of the series was boring as hell (Only got to Pg. 150 or so)

lordgoat

Denerick wrote: »

I really liked Sword in the Storm when I was younger. Can anyone recommend a fantasy novel to respark the love of fantasy in me? Not George R.R. Martin, I honestly thought his first novel of the series was boring as hell (Only got to Pg. 150 or so)

If you like Gemmil and don't like Martin, i'd prob recommend Eddings. Easy to read fairly standard fantasy.

I preferred Jon Shannow books to Druss one's.

Paddy Samurai

Denerick wrote: »

I really liked Sword in the Storm when I was younger. Can anyone recommend a fantasy novel to respark the love of fantasy in me? Not George R.R. Martin, I honestly thought his first novel of the series was boring as hell (Only got to Pg. 150 or so)

Try Tim Powers "The Drawing of the Dark" or " On Stranger Tides"

Fluorescence

Gemmel is good. Raymond E Feist is one of my favourite authors, along with Trudi Canavan (light, easy fantasy) and Terry Pratchett (as much satire as fantasy).

Amhran Nua

Michael Moorcock's Elric saga hasn't got a mention yet, absolutely epic storyline and breadth of imagination, pulls no punches either while not losing a smooth narrative flow. Don't go buying his whole catalogue though, some of the books are not fantasy or indeed any genre I could pin down. One standalone novel of his that was superb was "The warhound and the world's pain", excellent work. I haven't read them for a decade or so now but the old Warhammer fantasy books used to be fairly good. Also Ursula leGuin's Earthsea books, intriguing internal logic.

Amhran Nua

Scott Lynch's "The lies of Locke Lamora" as well, cleverly written and plotted, it tracks the derring do of a con artist in a fantasy world. Definetely the kind of characters that would have you counting your fingers after a handshake.

davy7

just starting the wheel of time series now but not so enthusiastic now about continuing on for too long with it.

any tips or advice on when the series starts to drag? thanks

MikeC101

davy7 wrote: »

just starting the wheel of time series now but not so enthusiastic now about continuing on for too long with it.

any tips or advice on when the series starts to drag? thanks

From memory, it was around book 5 or 6 that the braid tugging, sniffing, endless descriptions of clothing, characters (especially the females) descending into one dimensional parodies and stagnating plot really started to annoy me. I persevered until book 7, and with no sign of a recovery, gave up on the series completely.

Denerick

MikeC101 wrote: »

From memory, it was around book 5 or 6 that the braid tugging, sniffing, endless descriptions of clothing, characters (especially the females) descending into one dimensional parodies and stagnating plot really started to annoy me. I persevered until book 7, and with no sign of a recovery, gave up on the series completely.

I got as far as halfway through book 10 before giving up. The depth in his world is amazing (In terms of societies, cultures, politics, etc.) but there is far too many gratuitous paragraphs. After book 4, it got really boring. Book 2 was by far my favourite (Best ending too, when they horn was called forth and Rand did battle with ba'alzamon above the sky at Falme...)

Klingon Hamlet

Lightning by Dean Koontz.

MikeC101

Denerick wrote: »

I got as far as halfway through book 10 before giving up. The depth in his world is amazing (In terms of societies, cultures, politics, etc.) but there is far too many gratuitous paragraphs. After book 4, it got really boring. Book 2 was by far my favourite (Best ending too, when they horn was called forth and Rand did battle with ba'alzamon above the sky at Falme...)

Yes, definitely agree on the depth of his world. When he bothered, the man could write a hell of a story, and intense scenes, shame it was too often swallowed up by needless verbiage.

The fact that his wife was also his editor (and of course the massive sales of his books) may have been a contributing factor in this - a better editor might have convinced him to be more ruthless with cutting his prose.

That, and made some strongly worded suggestions when he decided that writing prequels to the story was a good idea.

I might try to get through the remaining books with the intent of reading the ending of the series - perhaps Brandon Sanderson will do a good job.

irish_goat

I really enjoyed the Book of Words trilogy by J.V Jones. Read it a few times now.

I love the Wheel of Time series, re-reading it now before I start on the newly released books, honestly can't remember it lagging, I made it to Book 11 with no complaints anyway.

deman

As mentioned a few times before, American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a must. Brilliant book.

Macca3000

I have to say Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy really was fantastic. It is light fantasy certainly but definitly would appeal more to adults. It deals with some real life issues like homelessness and class divide, her characters are engaing and the setting is far removed from the typical medieval-lush green valleys and dark castles of a lot of magic fantasy series.

I would definitly recommend it as a starting point for fantasy reading

Carawaystick

a lot of good stuff posed already.
I'd add the Mars triogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.

anything by Stephen Baxter - fairly mind blowing SF

Terry Pratchet
Eddings

Robert Heinlien - starship troopers is fairly intersting, simply written but big ideas.

Douglas Adams - Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy

Iain *M* Banks - anything he wrote under this name.

Tolkien - ti's all good, just some is a lot harder to digest.

Arthur C Clarke
Azimov
all good stuff

and Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicron, the Baroque cycle, anathem - all really good.

Tar.Aldarion

tolkien, a song of ice and fire, malazan series, prince of nothing series, assassins trilogy, discworld, black magician trilogy.

fuelinjection

Carawaystick wrote: »

a lot of good stuff posed already.
I'd add the Mars triogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Tolkien - ti's all good, just some is a lot harder to digest.

That Mars Trilogy is excellent - very hard to stop reading.
Tolkien is hard to read just because he is boring and addicted to his backgrounds that go nowhere and hard-to-remember names. Putting Lord of the Rings into 2 hour movies was the best thing ever, as you don't have to read through his extended prose and dead-end characters and histories.