Books

[AboveUp]

If you arrange Stephen King's books on your shelf just right, they form a sort of microcosm of a world slowly twisting and descending into madness, from start to finish.

And at the center of that world is the Dark Tower.

 

[johnzaku]

Check out Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series Or anything else by him. He's an excellent writer and the stories are awesome. It's set in Warhammer 40,000. They're published by the Black Library.

EDIT: I didn't see sparecash and ironlord's posts. Yeah, what they said

 

[Amalith]

Hello fellow escapists,

I was wondering if people could recommend me some books/series to read? I prefer sci-fi, but any genre is good. My favorite author is R.A. Salvatore, though i've read some threads that claim he is overrated . I was thinking about reading Glen Cook's Black Company series, can anyone say if this book is worth the money or not?

EDIT: sorry meant to say sci-fi or fantasy

Since noone else has answered it yet, I'm going to answer your question and say YES, Glen Cook's books are most definately worth picking up. I love each book of his I have read (admittedly, this is only the first two trilogies of The Black Company, and the first trilogy of The Dread Empire. I'm going to pick up the next sets of trilogies next time I go to a local bookstore though. They only sell the compilation books here).

As for other recomendations: Brent Weeks (The night angel trilogy) and Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind) are also worth picking up in the fantasy genre. I can't say much about sci-fi.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

Jim Butcher I would greatly recommend. The Dresden files is running onto what... twelve main books and some shorter stories? It is a unique first person writing style that is quite entertaining to follow and has all the good nummy things a plot line should have. Set in modern times it follows the life of a Wizard who practices his craft fairly openly as a PI. You can find him in the phone book, under wizards, though often the number is used to being mocked by 'straights' who don't believe in magic. It has all the good backing of any crime novel but with magic, which ironically tends to make things a lot harder.

His other series, the Codex Alera, is a completely different writing style, proving he has a greater deal of talent then a lot of writers who become so cemented into one style, and is equally well through out and filled with so much plot it could easily be three times as long then what it currently is. I would even say he gave serious research to the subject matter, particularly what life would be like if we developed magic in the earlier cultures to such an extent that everyone could use it in some form or another. Thousands of years and very little intellectual and no technological development... quite accurate of you ask me.

One little gripe though, he knows how to cliff hang like no one else. While this series does not end with a cliff hanger, such a thing is a literature no no in my eyes, often a single chapter will. It will often have you wanting to skip ahead whole chapters just to see what happened.

It is annoying and fun at the same time.

Terry Pratchett is a must, but that is already suggested.
Added: I see that Butcher was already mentioned... but one line doesn't give him justice and was easily overlooked.

 

[Satin6T]

Terry pratchetts discworld series, i've started recently and I like it(warning the series is so big it has it's own map.)

but you can't map a sense of humor

I agree Terry Pratchett is wonderful

but if your into something a little more serious I'd go with George RR Martin

 

[AdhesiveTape]

Hello fellow escapists,

I was wondering if people could recommend me some books/series to read? I prefer sci-fi, but any genre is good. My favorite author is R.A. Salvatore, though i've read some threads that claim he is overrated . I was thinking about reading Glen Cook's Black Company series, can anyone say if this book is worth the money or not?

EDIT: sorry meant to say sci-fi or fantasy

ANYTHING from the genius that is Brandon Sanderson! Mistborn is a wonderful, heart-stopping, frustrating piece of work; that is if you are into trilogies. He has two other stand-alone novels, Elantris and Warbreaker. Elantris is my favorite of the two.

Haven't read Black Company... *goes to research*

 

[ccdistancerunner]

If you like SF, Dune is an absolute must-read. It's pretty much the Lord of the Rings of SF novels. Other than that, Niven is ok, but his science tends to take precedence over his characters, which I disliked quite a lot. Iain M. Banks is very, very good.

Other than SF, if you like fantasy, which you probably do given that you like Salvatore, then you have to read A Song of Ice and Fire. Admittedly, it is extremely long, and there are still three books yet to be released, but fantasy fiction really does not get any better than it.

Eragon,Eldest, and Brisinger are pretty good

They're fine as long as the plagiarism doesn't make you want to burn the damn things.

What is it plagerized from?

What the hell? Do we even need to answer that question? Read your first post again. The answer is right there. Plagiarised from Star Wars, fool person.

Seriously though, if you've read any of that series then it should be completely obvious. Now, back on topic. I'd recommend any Discworld books (preferably in order, start with The Colour Of Magic), and indeed anything from Pratchett. Also, Ian Irvine's Three Worlds Cycle (two quartets and a trilogy, with a stand alone book soon to be written - start with A Shadow On The Glass), and also Phillip Reeves' Mortal Engines quartet. That's a bit of steampunk there for you and is completely epic. Finally, I highly recommend the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman, if you fancy a bit of religious/political commentary (although it isn't in your face and I read them plenty of times without picking up any of the religious stuff, at least until I was a bit older).

Obviously I don't know if I asked that question.

 

[twistedmic]

Dune by Frank Herbert is good, though I really couldn't get into the other Dune books. Robert Heinlein is a good author Glory Road, Starship Troopers (vastly different than the movie) and Stranger in a Strange land are some of my favorites. And the first three books of the Barsoom series (the only ones I've read) are good. So is
I also remember Armor by John Steakly (I believe) is decent.

 

[ForgetRealism09]

My brother is reading tons of the stuff by Cormac McCarthy thats worth checking out. I would suggest something I've read but I haven't finished Dracula yet.

 

[Sparecash]

Hello fellow escapists,

I was wondering if people could recommend me some books/series to read? I prefer sci-fi, but any genre is good. My favorite author is R.A. Salvatore, though i've read some threads that claim he is overrated . I was thinking about reading Glen Cook's Black Company series, can anyone say if this book is worth the money or not?

EDIT: sorry meant to say sci-fi or fantasy

you already like salvatore, thats all you really need...

but i suppose if you really want something else you should go with the warhammer 40,000 Gaunt's Ghosts Novels, they are as action packed as salvatore, gorey and very easy to get into, you dont have to worry to much about the warhammer 40k universe background as the ghosts are typically very far away from all that nonsense and just focus on the fight at hand

Im glad some other people love salvatore too
Do the 40,000 novels have good stories? I was actually looking at that series today at my local bookshop but i wasnt too sure if the story was any good.

with the ghosts the good thing is that there is a storyline but its not the mad interstellar space epic that gets overly complicated and annoying, the ghosts are simply small fish in a MASSIVE pond so there is a storyline and sub plots that all work really well together, but the main purpose of a storyline in a GG novel is as a purpose or a reason for the characters to be fighting...

when is say small fish in a massive pond, there are 3000 of them but this book is in the imperium of man, where a billion is barely a blip on the radar screen

Also do yourself a favour and get them in the omnibus version (because it looks cool and there is extra content) and read them in order, it will keep you in suspense, dont be a noob like me and read a book randomly because then you will know who lives or dies...

Sweet, im glad the story isnt trying to do too much yet still provides reasoning for whats going on.
Ill definitely try to pick up the first one tomorrow. When you say "get them in omnibus version" im guessing you mean there is more than one version?

 

[scrambledeggs]

The Dark Tower Series

Ninja'd. Best books. I <3 them. Definitely worth a read.

 

[Sparecash]

If you like SF, Dune is an absolute must-read. It's pretty much the Lord of the Rings of SF novels. Other than that, Niven is ok, but his science tends to take precedence over his characters, which I disliked quite a lot. Iain M. Banks is very, very good.

Other than SF, if you like fantasy, which you probably do given that you like Salvatore, then you have to read A Song of Ice and Fire. Admittedly, it is extremely long, and there are still three books yet to be released, but fantasy fiction really does not get any better than it.

Eragon,Eldest, and Brisinger are pretty good

They're fine as long as the plagiarism doesn't make you want to burn the damn things.

What is it plagerized from?

What the hell? Do we even need to answer that question? Read your first post again. The answer is right there. Plagiarised from Star Wars, fool person.

Seriously though, if you've read any of that series then it should be completely obvious. Now, back on topic. I'd recommend any Discworld books (preferably in order, start with The Colour Of Magic), and indeed anything from Pratchett. Also, Ian Irvine's Three Worlds Cycle (two quartets and a trilogy, with a stand alone book soon to be written - start with A Shadow On The Glass), and also Phillip Reeves' Mortal Engines quartet. That's a bit of steampunk there for you and is completely epic. Finally, I highly recommend the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman, if you fancy a bit of religious/political commentary (although it isn't in your face and I read them plenty of times without picking up any of the religious stuff, at least until I was a bit older).

His Dark Material has been mentioned before and it sounds pretty interesting, i might take a look at that one too. Is it sci-fi, fantasy, or both?

 

[Sparecash]

Hello fellow escapists,

I was wondering if people could recommend me some books/series to read? I prefer sci-fi, but any genre is good. My favorite author is R.A. Salvatore, though i've read some threads that claim he is overrated . I was thinking about reading Glen Cook's Black Company series, can anyone say if this book is worth the money or not?

EDIT: sorry meant to say sci-fi or fantasy

Since noone else has answered it yet, I'm going to answer your question and say YES, Glen Cook's books are most definately worth picking up. I love each book of his I have read (admittedly, this is only the first two trilogies of The Black Company, and the first trilogy of The Dread Empire. I'm going to pick up the next sets of trilogies next time I go to a local bookstore though. They only sell the compilation books here).

As for other recomendations: Brent Weeks (The night angel trilogy) and Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind) are also worth picking up in the fantasy genre. I can't say much about sci-fi.

Alright thanks a bunch. I can pretty much guarantee ill be getting The Black Company tomorrow, and ill just go from there. Ill also take a look at the the other two you mentioned, is The Name of the Wind just a stand-alone book?

 

[Silbena]

An amazing, amazing and also amazingly deep book is Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. It talks about Michael Valentine Smith, a human child who has been raised on Mars by Martians, and who, in his twenties, is "rescued" and brought back to Earth. By this time, of course, he knows nothing of the complex-simple rules of humankind.

It's a great, great piece of literature, with writing so skillful that each time a new character was introduced, I hated them, only to be severely embarrassed some 20 pages later, when I found out that the character has more to them than the first impression, and...

Do it.

EDIT: Oh, and The Name of the Wind will have a sequel at some point. I want it nao.

 

[Anachronism]

Eragon,Eldest, and Brisinger are pretty good

They're fine as long as the plagiarism doesn't make you want to burn the damn things.

What is it plagerized from?

Someone show this guy the Holy Trilogy! Stat!

Ya i was thinking of checking out A Song of Fire and Ice, but it looked pretty intimidating. I've heard it recommended a lot so ill probably give it a look thought

It is intimidating, I won't lie for a second. There have been four books published so far, and three more still to come. Each of the books is at least 700 pages long, and the third one, A Storm of Swords, is 1100 pages. It is, like you said, more than a little daunting, but it's definitely worth it.

 

[mugetsu37]

Sara Douglas; most of her fantasy is pretty awesome


Also the Talon of the Silver Hawk series is pretty good

 

[necromanzer52]

Well there's the hobbit and Terry Pratchetts discworld series.

As for sci-fi there's Philip K.Dick who wrote a load of fantastic short stories and novels,my personal favourite being A scanner darkly.

 

[Vacancie]

Sci Fi
Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter Hamilton(long, but EPIC)
Foundation Trilogy by Issac Asimov(classic)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams(classic)

Fantasy
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett(hilarious satirical fantasy)

 

[ironlordthemad]

Hello fellow escapists,

I was wondering if people could recommend me some books/series to read? I prefer sci-fi, but any genre is good. My favorite author is R.A. Salvatore, though i've read some threads that claim he is overrated . I was thinking about reading Glen Cook's Black Company series, can anyone say if this book is worth the money or not?

EDIT: sorry meant to say sci-fi or fantasy

you already like salvatore, thats all you really need...

but i suppose if you really want something else you should go with the warhammer 40,000 Gaunt's Ghosts Novels, they are as action packed as salvatore, gorey and very easy to get into, you dont have to worry to much about the warhammer 40k universe background as the ghosts are typically very far away from all that nonsense and just focus on the fight at hand

Im glad some other people love salvatore too
Do the 40,000 novels have good stories? I was actually looking at that series today at my local bookshop but i wasnt too sure if the story was any good.

with the ghosts the good thing is that there is a storyline but its not the mad interstellar space epic that gets overly complicated and annoying, the ghosts are simply small fish in a MASSIVE pond so there is a storyline and sub plots that all work really well together, but the main purpose of a storyline in a GG novel is as a purpose or a reason for the characters to be fighting...

when is say small fish in a massive pond, there are 3000 of them but this book is in the imperium of man, where a billion is barely a blip on the radar screen

Also do yourself a favour and get them in the omnibus version (because it looks cool and there is extra content) and read them in order, it will keep you in suspense, dont be a noob like me and read a book randomly because then you will know who lives or dies...

Sweet, im glad the story isnt trying to do too much yet still provides reasoning for whats going on.
Ill definitely try to pick up the first one tomorrow. When you say "get them in omnibus version" im guessing you mean there is more than one version?

well you can buy them one book at a time or you can buy them in omnibus form where you get three all tied together, it may be a few quid cheeper (maybe im not to sure) and it looks very pretty because of the sexy black cover
the omnibus is actually paperback so that may influence you but its a good buy

 

[Vacancie]

His Dark Material has been mentioned before and it sounds pretty interesting, i might take a look at that one too. Is it sci-fi, fantasy, or both?

It's kind-of in the middle. It features travel between parallel universes. The first book was made into a movie if you want to watch it, but of course, the book is better.