Recommend me books about the following...

[Elfgore]

I read mostly military or action novels, so pretty much all of these are that.

Fantasy
Anything by Glen Cook. Really down to earth stuff. Realistic characters with actual flaws, deep lore, and amazing battles are just of the things that makes his books awesome. He also has some Scifi novels that combine Norse mythology and space warfare.
Game of Thrones for obvious reasons.
Mazalan: Books of the Fallen. Long series with good lore and characters.

Scifi:
Warhammer 40k books. Action packed and really awesome reads. My personal favorites involve the imperial guard and the Grey Knights.

This may be Post-Apocalypse or not, but World War Z is a great read. It's nothing like the movie and a great zombie novel.

 

[Commissar Sae]

The Combat-K series by Andy Remic is pretty good. It has a nice mix of humour and insane action. They aren't high literature or anything but they are a fun read, easy to get into and it is decent dystopian sci-fi.

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher is similarly a fun romp, but not sure if you are interested in urban fantasy or not. For the urban fantasy genre, it is some of the best I've read. Most of them are set up as mysteries, since the main character is basically a private detective who also happens to be a wizard.

Otherwise the Matthew Corbett series (especially "speaks the nightbird") are great historical fiction/mysteries. They make for an interesting read.

 

[MLionheart]

The Name of the Wind and Final Empire

 

[Thaluikhain]

Fantasy books, specifically stuff like lord of the rings(the only reason I don't read the books is because apparently tolkien spends too much time describing the lore and all that shit, I might still give it a go) or anything like LotR is good.

Thing is, that is what often makes a fantasy series good.
http://imgur.com/a/cGshF

Er...world building makes a story good. But anyone can sit down and write 500 pages of "In the Year X, Lord Y defeated the demon Z", exactly what a real history doesn't look like.

 

[LongAndShort]

These are really really good fantasy books:

The First Law series
- The Blade Itself (START WITH THIS ONE)
- Before They Are Hanged
- Last Argument of Kings

Other books by Joe Abercrombie
- Best Served Cold
- The Heroes
- Red Country

Raven's Shadow:
- Blood Song
- Second book coming out in June

I love these books with all my heart. And I am a bitter, apathetic person.

Yep, seconded. I love these books. The First Law by Joe Abercrombie series in particular, turning heroes into villains at worst, the lesser of multiple evils in the middle, and morally ambiguous at best.

Can't wait for the sequel to Blood Song. I'd suggest checking out Anthony Ryan's other books as well. He does a couple of cool Sci Fi novellas as well.

 

[TheMiseryGamer]

The Final Empire series is a post apocalyptic and fantasy mix. You really have to read it. The main character is a real honest to god dick most of the time but he's one of the most interesting characters to read about in my opinion.

Any of Brandon Sanderson's books are just phenomenal I'm a major fan of his. I'd recommend the mistborn series first. His new epic fantasy series may be a bit tough to get into seeing as your new to reading but once you're fairly engrossed into the hobby then I firmly suggest The Stormlight Archive series.

Even though I'm in my twenties I can always go back and re-read the demonata series by Darren Shan one of my all time favorites along with the vampire saga by the same author. Both are teen fiction horror and really easy to read.

My favorite Sci-Fi books to date are the Warhammer 40K series pretty much all of them scratch that Sci-Fi itch for me but my all time favorite series from The Black Library would be the Gaunts Ghosts series. I SERIOUSLY recommend it!

I could never get into LoTR however The Hobbit was a much better book compared to the trilogy in my opinion so I'd suggest reading that. Also Lord of the flies is a must read for anyone as well All quiet on the western front and Of mice and men.

Hope that helps

Oh i forgot to mention Neil Gaiman! I'm reading American Gods just now and its an absoloutely lovely read. Fantasy, mystery, thriller it just fits so perfectly together.

 

[EHKOS]

I haven't read books in a long time. Just because I don't have the time or concentration anymore
I can certainly recommend Robert B. Parker's Spencer novels for witty crime. I would not, however, start with the first few books, as they are mostly a warm-up. I think Taming a Seahorse was the first one I truly enjoyed, but it was somewhere around there that it really kicked in. There's a small amount of stuff you need to know if you want to dive in from certain points, but they're easy and fun reads.

 

[Phlogiston]

I'll add to the list as I remember them.

Fantasy:

The Elric Saga [http://www.multiverse.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Elric_Saga_%28series%29] by Micheal Moorcock [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock]
Wheel of Time [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Time] by Robert Jordan [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan] and, after his death, Brandon Sanderson [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson]

Science Fiction:
The Sprawl Trilogy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sprawl_trilogy] by William Gibson [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson]
Anything by Philip K. Dick [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Dick] (Special mentions to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F], A Scanner Darkly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Scanner_Darkly],
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Stigmata_of_Palmer_Eldritch] and Ubik [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubik])
Anything by Arthur C Clarke [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C_Clarke], starting with Childhood's End [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood%27s_End].
Anything by Isaac Asimov [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov], starting with I, Robot [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot]
Bug Jack Barron [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_Jack_Barron] by Norman Spinrad [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Spinrad]
Dune [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_%28novel%29] by Frank Herbert [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert]
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Scream] by Harlan Ellison [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison]
Farhenheit 451 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farhenheit_451] by Ray Bradbury [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury]

Crime:
Ian Rankin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Rankin]'s Inspector Rebus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Rebus] series
James Ellroy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ellroy]'s L.A. Quartet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Quartet] series
Anything by Jo Nesbo [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Nesbo]

Other Must Reads:
1984 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four] and Animal Farm [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_farm] by George Orwell [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell]
Brave New World [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World] by Aldous Huxley [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley]
Of Mice and Men [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Mice_and_Men] by John Steinbeck [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck]
Lord of the Flies [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies] by William Golding [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Golding]
Things Fall Apart [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_Fall_Apart] by Chinua Achebe [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe]
Heart of Darkness [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness] by Joseph Conrad [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad]
Anything by Jules Verne [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne], my personal favourite being The Survivors of the Jonathan [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_of_the_Jonathan]

So much good literature in this list already - a few things I'd add (already mostly mentioned by other commenters):

- humorist stuff like the 5 book trilogy by Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett's later Discworld books (the earlier ones are more fantasy with a comedy edge) and anything by Robert Rankin

Jeff Noon - Vurt / Pollen / Automated Alice

Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children

For post apocalyptic it's gotta be The Road by Cormac McCarthy

And for steampunk it pretty much has to be HG Wells or Jules Verne - basically Victorian sci-fi written by authors that still imagined all their future devices made from mahogany

 

[axillarypuma]

Holy crap thats a lot of books, awesome suggestions, I'm making a list of all this shit to look for them.

Also if you don't mind can you suggest horror books? I know hp lovecraft and clive barker, and one of them has something to do with cthulhu (which is fucking awesome) but thats all I know, so I will check out their books, that aside I'd like horror like in the silent hill games, which I assume is psychological horror, also shit with disturbing creatures is a plus.

Thanks

 

[Vault101]

Holy crap thats a lot of books, awesome suggestions, I'm making a list of all this shit to look for them.

Also if you don't mind can you suggest horror books? I know hp lovecraft and clive barker, and one of them has something to do with cthulhu (which is fucking awesome) but thats all I know, so I will check out their books, that aside I'd like horror like in the silent hill games, which I assume is psychological horror, also shit with disturbing creatures is a plus.

Thanks

have you heard of Stephen King

read Stephen King

my favorite is Misery I also like Delores Claiborne and The Tommy Kockers

I also think people need to vary their suggestions..the same Sci fi classics are great but suggesting them over and over again makes books in general seem narrow

 

[Doctor Greenthumb]

I'll add to the list as I remember them.

Fantasy:

The Elric Saga [http://www.multiverse.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Elric_Saga_%28series%29] by Micheal Moorcock [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock]
Wheel of Time [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Time] by Robert Jordan [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan] and, after his death, Brandon Sanderson [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson]

Science Fiction:
The Sprawl Trilogy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sprawl_trilogy] by William Gibson [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson]
Anything by Philip K. Dick [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Dick] (Special mentions to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F], A Scanner Darkly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Scanner_Darkly],
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Stigmata_of_Palmer_Eldritch] and Ubik [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubik])
Anything by Arthur C Clarke [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C_Clarke], starting with Childhood's End [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood%27s_End].
Anything by Isaac Asimov [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov], starting with I, Robot [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot]
Bug Jack Barron [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_Jack_Barron] by Norman Spinrad [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Spinrad]
Dune [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_%28novel%29] by Frank Herbert [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert]
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Scream] by Harlan Ellison [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison]
Farhenheit 451 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farhenheit_451] by Ray Bradbury [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury]

Crime:
Ian Rankin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Rankin]'s Inspector Rebus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Rebus] series
James Ellroy [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ellroy]'s L.A. Quartet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Quartet] series
Anything by Jo Nesbo [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Nesbo]

Other Must Reads:
1984 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four] and Animal Farm [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_farm] by George Orwell [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell]
Brave New World [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World] by Aldous Huxley [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley]
Of Mice and Men [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Mice_and_Men] by John Steinbeck [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck]
Lord of the Flies [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies] by William Golding [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Golding]
Things Fall Apart [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_Fall_Apart] by Chinua Achebe [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe]
Heart of Darkness [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness] by Joseph Conrad [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad]
Anything by Jules Verne [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne], my personal favourite being The Survivors of the Jonathan [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_of_the_Jonathan]

you sir have damn good taste, only thing i could think to add to this list are

Raymond E Fiest magician series and the serpent war saga are fantastic
ian M Banks.....just everything he's written you've got grand space operas and gritty thrillers under his M.Banks moniker

 

[Furbyz]

--------------------------

I myself is currently looking for books with a villain as a protagonist or at least an anti hero. I want to read about a protagonist that's cunning and don't have a problem about doing the wrong things like hurting people or killing but he doesn't do it because he's a psychopath but because purely out of self interests. I want him to be cunning and outsmart the so call heroes through brains instead of brawn.

I'm sick and tired of black and white and typical hero archetype protagonist.

Someone like Tyrion in game of thrones, a character that seems underpower in the surface but more than meets the eye underneath, if anyone know of any books that fits the profile please let me know.

I haven't finished it yet, but The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie may be exactly what you're looking for. While it has 3 protagonists (None of which could ever be called Heroes) with interconnected stories, the one I think would interest you most is Sand dan Glokta, the once rising star of the military and greatest swordsman the country had ever seen who was captured as a POW, tortured and crippled for years, and finally upon his return home he signed up for the Inquisition. Now Inquisitor Glokta is tasked with cleaning out the corruption of the government one coerced confession at a time.

 

[Vault101]

ian M Banks.....just everything he's written you've got grand space operas and gritty thrillers under his M.Banks moniker

is there any particular order to the culture novels? some of them look more interesting to me than othes....

 

[Doctor Greenthumb]

ian M Banks.....just everything he's written you've got grand space operas and gritty thrillers under his M.Banks moniker

is there any particular order to the culture novels? some of them look more interesting to me than othes....

theres a vague order but its pretty unimportant as thier all self contained, maker of weapons is a very good one and I really enjoyed The player of games

 

[hawkeye52]

If you want something fantasy that will be intense reading. Try the wheel of time by Robert Jordan/Brian Sanderson.

For Sci fi that is kind of post apocalyptic and Grimdark try any Warhammer book by Dan Abnett. I have heard that the Ciaphas Cain series is exceptional

 

[Linksmash]

In sci fi terms i cannot recommend Hyperion by Dan Simmons enough. Marvelous award winning book, even popular with lardy da 'proper' literary critics. Robert Heinlein(sic?) has done some good stuff too. Also i'd heartily endorse the plaudits for both Ian (m) banks and Michael Moorcock. I also rather enjoyed the first two chronicles of thomas covenant, provided you can still get behind fairly non sympathetic main characters.

I see a few people going for the wheel of time. Obv each to their own but personally i found these books to be utter drivel. The first is very derivative of LOTR( Although not as much as the first shannara book which is basically just a reskin) and i find the characters, especially the female ones, to be unbearably annoying. If you want that sort of 'trashy' easy to read fantasy i'd go with terry goodkinds Wizard first rule books, david eddings the belgariad or maybe some David gemmell for heroic filled with death type stories.

 

[TheRookie8]

"The Dresden Files" by Jim Butcher- a detective-style contemporary fantasy about a wizard in Chicago who gets caught up in murders, abductions, and conspiracies of the supernatural. Very dark and often very funny.

"Codex Alera" by Jim Butcher- think the Roman Empire combined with The Last Airbender and Pokemon. No...I'm not joking.

"The First Law Trilogy" and subsequent spin-offs by Joe Abercrombie- Flawed characters swept up in bloody, world-shaking conflicts. Dark humor, revenge and pointy things.

"Ex-Heroes"- Imagine superheroes defending the last remnants of humanity from a zombie apocalypse. Now add some sharp writing and likable characters, and suddenly a cheesy idea becomes quite entertaining.

...and some random Dean Koontz. His stuff is all over the place in terms of topics, but they range from horror, to crime fiction, to science fiction, to fantasy but nearly always good to read.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Fantasy - Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Very sarcastic, funny, and just plain weird.
Also check out RA Salvatore, I always liked his Dark Elf books.
Scifi - Douglas Adams

You might also like Robert Rankin's Armageddon The Musical.

 

[bluepotatosack]

Anything steampunk-ish, like bioshock infinite, I don't know if bioshock 1 and 2 counts as steampunk too.

Bioshock 1 and 2 are arguably more steampunk than Infinite was.

Nahhhh. The first two Bioshock games were dieselpunk. Infinite was the steampunk game of the series.

If the aesthetics look to be from somewhere around the 1920's to '50's with futuristic post modern technology, it's dieselpunk.

 

[Imre Csete]

The Dark Tower books from Stephen King. It's post-apocalyptic, dark fantasy, western and scifi! I kid you not. I've only read the original 7 and it dropped in quality imo at the last two books, but I don't regret reading them.