Here, you have to read this! Recommendation Thread

OwaynOTT

I think after the great recommendations of both Andy Weir's The Martian and ,to lesser extent for me, Anthony Ryan's Blood Song, we should have a general recommendations thread so that such great reads don't get lost in the general 'what your reading' thread.

I'll start the ball rolling with:

The Red Knight by Miles Cameron.
I haven't finished it yet and I did have a significant gap between putting it down and restarting it but I still it is a good read. Some nice detailed battle scenes and a good steady pace, despite multiple points of views. An interesting magic system and the amount of research gone into the medieval setting in regards to armour and weaponry is impressive.

Thargor

Broken Empire Trilogy for me, my go to reccomendation whenever anyone asks me for something to read these days because to be honest Im getting a bit sick of fantasy, Im all cliched out at this stage, waiting for the next ASOIF and Kingkiller Chronicle and the odd good one like Blood Song if a lot are reccomending it but thats about it.

Jonathon Strange and Mr Norell is a great read aswell, picked it up for a fiver at a boot sale because I liked the cover and the size of it and it became one of my favourites.

China Mievelles stuff also especially the first one, Perdido Street Station.

Nody

Going with books people might not normally consider I'll go with:

Gotrix and Felix Omnibus (four so far but I've only read the first three)
Helps if you know the basics of the Warhammer world but if not it's fantasy so nothing overly strange in concepts (i.e. vampire, slaves, mutants, chaos, lizard people etc.). No fancy writing or highly advanced concepts but interesting story telling of the world around it and unlike most fantasy stories the heroes don't get the girl at the end and live happily ever after.


Malus Darkblade
Take a dark elf, leave him to be a dark elf rather then a goodie two shoes hero ala Drizzt, have him get posessed by a demon forced to steal items to regain his soul from the demon and you got the basic idea of Malus Darkblade. You will not like Malus Darkblade, you will not cheer him on in his heroic acts to defend the world because honestly he could not give a damn if the world goes under. In that sense Malus is the perfect anti hero in the arguably among the most evil race living in the world having to try to get people to trust him so he can get what he wants. You want a bastard who'd slit his own father's throat and drink the blood? Meet Malus.

None of the above are in any way master pieces but they tell a good story about the warhammer world and that's (imo) quite an interesting world were things are not exactly peachy for the good guys.

ixoy

Can I make a suggestion to provide some structure for this thread to keep it readable and useful:

* One book per post
* List the author, the book/series name clearly
* Say why you liked it and, if applicable, an idea as to who it would appeal to (in the vein of "if you liked xxxx or yyyy then you'll like this").
* Try and pick authors outside the well known ones to add something. Most of us already know about Erikson, Feist, Hobb, GRRM, Sanderson, etc.
* No point in repeating a series already mentioned. Should create a more beneficial thread.

OwaynOTT

ixoy wrote: »

Can I make a suggestion to provide some structure for this thread to keep it readable and useful:

* One book per post
* List the author, the book/series name clearly
* Say why you liked it and, if applicable, an idea as to who it would appeal to (in the vein of "if you liked xxxx or yyyy then you'll like this").
* Try and pick authors outside the well known ones to add something. Most of us already know about Erikson, Feist, Hobb, GRRM, Sanderson, etc.
* No point in repeating a series already mentioned. Should create a more beneficial thread.

All good points and I tried to pick something that I haven't seen mentioned in here before with Miles Cameron.
I think we should try to not overload it as well. Try and reserve it for those excellent books.

Sephiroth_dude

The king killer chronicles by Patrick rothfuss,can't wait for book 3.

jimoc1978

has anyone hear read any books by David Dalglish?
The shadowdance trilogy would be a great start, loved his books.
Quick, snappy, and action packed.

RobbingBandit

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Great story and fantastic characters and twists, I read it myself every couple of months, Gaiman is a great storyteller.

In limbo at the moment regarding a HBO TV Series, if it ever does get made will be as good if not better than Game of Thrones, will be split into 6 seasons.

The Culture series by Iain M Banks. Not necessarily in order, but most have thought provoking ideas, articulate writing, a great blend/balance between high intellect and coarse invective.

At the risk of nominating 2 authors - sorry!- Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy. A terrific read, way beyond the norm, IMO

MagicMarker

RobbingBandit wrote: »

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Great story and fantastic characters and twists, I read it myself every couple of months, Gaiman is a great storyteller.

In limbo at the moment regarding a HBO TV Series, if it ever does get made will be as good if not better than Game of Thrones, will be split into 6 seasons.

American Gods split into 6 seasons?! I don't think Peter Jackson would even attempt such a thing!

Heffoman

The Prince of Nothing trilogy from R Scott Bakker. Epic Fantasy.

May not to be everyones taste but brilliantly written and fantastic characters.

I ve reread it several times now and for me it stands with the very best.