Iron Edge
Iron Edge => Off Topic Discussion => Topic started by: Yathezai on August 17, 2010, 05:57:55 pm
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Couldn't find any thread about books, so here goes.
Does anyone have some good books worth reading? I'm a huge fan of fantasy books, especially the ones with hundreds and hundreds (thousands!) of pages and it's even better if it's a series. So far I've read Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (duh), the Magician series by R. Feist, now reading Eragon and the followups. Also stuff like Harry Potter and Dune but that's not exactly what I'm looking for now. There's more but I sadly can't recall the other titles. :'(
So pretty much any book in an imaginary world, with magic, swords and bows, a crazy quest and dragons are always welcome as well. If you read these sort of books I'm sure you know what I mean. :) Having said that, in case you've read the WoW lore books, how were they? Maybe it's an idea to check those out, they seem alright.
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Discworld.
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i loled
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Look into the Malazan book of the fallen series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_book_of_the_fallen
I'm on the 4th book atm (it's basically 1 big story over about 15 books... does that count as long enough? :p) Each book is ~ 1000 pages long.
I have an ebook of the first one, Gardens of the Moon, if u want to check it out.
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Discworld.
also eragon? i heard it was pretty bad
also go read twilight
oke i lol'ed irl when i thought about that
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First three of the Magician series, for sure. David Eddings for easy reading (really, it doesn't get any easier).
There's a few seminal series, but I forget their names. I have a friend that would know, but he's not on MSN at the moment...
And another vote for Discworld, of course :)
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Two awesome ones:
The Discworld series, for light, intelligent humorous reading. Highly recommended.
And the Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. Approaching 12 massive (on average 800-1000+ pages a book) books of epic fantasy, ridiculous amounts of interesting-approaching-over-the-top plots within plots, and cool main characters (+ no dragons). The only downside used to be that the bugger took 3+ years to bring out each book, so you had to wait ages, to find out what happened next. You would feverishly re-read all the previous books, just before the new one came out, then read the new one, feel it was awesome; then get depressed as you now had 3 years or so, to wait for the next one. However, GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY! Robert Jordan is now dead, so the publishing company has hired another decent writer to turn the manuscripts into the last two books, thus cutting back the time between each book, to one year. Hurrah.
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also eragon? i heard it was pretty bad
That looks terrible. Like fantasy written with the intention of appeasing fat, short attention span, American kids.
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Fourth vote for discworld! It's just great.
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And the Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. Approaching 12 massive (on average 800-1000+ pages a book) books of epic fantasy, ridiculous amounts of interesting-approaching-over-the-top plots within plots, and cool main characters (+ no dragons). The only downside used to be that the bugger took 3+ years to bring out each book, so you had to wait ages, to find out what happened next. You would feverishly re-read all the previous books, just before the new one came out, then read the new one, feel it was awesome; then get depressed as you now had 3 years or so, to wait for the next one. However, GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY! Robert Jordan is now dead, so the publishing company has hired another decent writer to turn the manuscripts into the last two books, thus cutting back the time between each book, to one year. Hurrah.
i for one could not stand the how boring the first book was (dont think i got passed page 300 or something) it felt like it had very little flow if you know what i mean
anyway im sure you read lord of the rings allready if you havent... well screw you go read it
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And the Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. Approaching 12 massive (on average 800-1000+ pages a book) books of epic fantasy, ridiculous amounts of interesting-approaching-over-the-top plots within plots, and cool main characters (+ no dragons). The only downside used to be that the bugger took 3+ years to bring out each book, so you had to wait ages, to find out what happened next. You would feverishly re-read all the previous books, just before the new one came out, then read the new one, feel it was awesome; then get depressed as you now had 3 years or so, to wait for the next one. However, GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY! Robert Jordan is now dead, so the publishing company has hired another decent writer to turn the manuscripts into the last two books, thus cutting back the time between each book, to one year. Hurrah.
i for one could not stand the how boring the first book was (dont think i got passed page 300 or something) it felt like it had very little flow if you know what i mean
anyway im sure you read lord of the rings allready if you havent... well screw you go read it
Yeah, the first two books are kinda slow, as he was just starting out, and hadn't really gotten hold of the epic-ness of the story; but it really kicks off in book 3, that's where I always restart from.
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I always found Neil Gaiman book's quite interesting. They are a strange mixture of modern time's and ancient mythology, also quite good from sociologic point of view. "Neverwhere" was propably one of best reading's of my life. I would gladly write more about em, but unfortunatly my english isn't on level that would allow me to write about those books without trivializing em too much.
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Look into the Malazan book of the fallen series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_book_of_the_fallen
I'm on the 4th book atm (it's basically 1 big story over about 15 books... does that count as long enough? :p) Each book is ~ 1000 pages long.
I have an ebook of the first one, Gardens of the Moon, if u want to check it out.
That looks great, exactly what I'm looking for. How does the e-book thing work? Can you just send it to me? Because that would be fantastic. :)
And I'll definitely check out Discworld if it's as good as everyone says it is. Looking into this and the other mentioned books right now.
Oh and Eragon, well...it's probably aimed for a readerbase between 12-18 years old. The story is quite good but not as complicated or "deep" as the books everyone here suggested. Typical "young, unknown, random boy slowly becomes a hero and has lots of adventures". I'm enjoying the read though, maybe I'm just easily satisfied. :P
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Right! Booky time!
The Black Tower - series by Stephen Kings. King's "red line" book. All his other books are in some way connected to this one. This book is not traditional fantasy book, but I'd say it still belongs to fantasy genre.
Story of these 7 books is about a revolver man and his journey to the Black tower which connects all the worlds together (in short lol). Storytelling in this one is abtolutely amazing and the world is well designed. I heartily recommend this to everyone with good imagination and will to read looong book series. This book is something you cannot miss.
a Song of Ice and Fire - by George R. R. Martin. an Epic Fantasy book series with medieval settings focusing on schemes of noblemen, war and politics. The characters are fukken amazing (yes I like this word). Theres a really wide cast of characters and everyone of them are so realistic its unreal! The story keeps you in it and will not let you go, every chapter is more interresting than the previous one and there is no space been wasted on boring stuff like traveling from place A to B (this seems to be a problem in many fantasy books -.-). Another fantasy novel I recommend for everyone, and definetely one of my all time favourites. BTW the story is not finished yet, theres atleast 1 or 2 more books coming.
For some light reading
Legend - by David Gemmell. Even tho the name is abit corny, the book is very good! This is a epic story about desperate attempt to survive a city siege against impossible odds to protect your country and people. The book is fairly short and easy to read. This Epic and manly story with good storytelling and interresting characters will bring tear into your eye.
These are just few books that came to my mind. Poke for more recommendations, I know MENI
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And the Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan.
*Jedi* The story is strong on this one */Jedi*
However, this book has one biiig problem. It is FUCK BORING at times, not only the first novel, but EVERY novel has maany chapters of nothing happening and boring shit. Its still good tho <.<
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Thanks Sparrow, I was just about to cry. Then I realised that you mentioned Song of Ice and Fire... Its the best series ever. Amazing setup and a lovely person gallery. Go read it.
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Thanks Sparrow, I was just about to cry. Then I realised that you mentioned Song of Ice and Fire... Its the best series ever. Amazing setup and a lovely person gallery. Go read it.
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(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/fiction_rule_of_thumb.png)
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And I'll definitely check out Discworld if it's as good as everyone says it is. Looking into this and the other mentioned books right now.
Discworld is good... some of the books aren't so awesome, though. Don't be put off if you don't like the first one you read :)
And..
(http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-1-5.jpg)
Start with the death novels. They are all pretty awesome.
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I've just read them in release order so far. It's a nice way to get variety too, as you hop between characters and settings.
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Look into the Malazan book of the fallen series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_book_of_the_fallen
I'm on the 4th book atm (it's basically 1 big story over about 15 books... does that count as long enough? :p) Each book is ~ 1000 pages long.
I have an ebook of the first one, Gardens of the Moon, if u want to check it out.
That looks great, exactly what I'm looking for. How does the e-book thing work? Can you just send it to me? Because that would be fantastic. :)
The ebook reader I use is MobiPocket (http://www.mobipocket.com) (purely because it works on my phone - a great way to read books!) You can get the software here (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/DownloadReaderDesktop.asp).
The book is in the format which is designed by these guys, but I think most ebook readers will read it.
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Though they have no dragons and differ somewhat from the 'fantasy type' you are looking for I'd recommend Scott Lynch - ''The Lies of Locke Lamora'' and ''Red Seas Under Red Skies'' (part of the same series). Also, I just read China Miéville's ''Perdido Street Station'' which was awesomesauce!
Been a long time since I read anything from the Wheel of Time series. I actually stopped reading it after the third book as I didn't find it nearly as good as the two first. Others I know who have read the entire series say the same thing, but that it gets better again around book seven :-\.
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Gemmel is supposedly very good -- heard so from a few avid fantasy fans. Not read him myself tho'!
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David Gemell is a very enjoyable writer.
Robin Hobb is probably my favorite writer. She has 3 trilogies all set in the same world and 1 trilogie in a different setting.
Unless I missed it no one named the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind which is a 12(?) book series.
About the Wheel of Time I actually prefered the 1st book after that it started going downhill. Towards the end it's clear the publishers are trying to milk the franchise for everything they can and that doesn't help the quality of writing.
The Malazan series is another great series, but don't bother reading the other writer (forgot his name) who jumped in the series succes.
I don't like Song of Ice and Fire by George R. Martin.
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"The Dragonlance" Trilogy was my favourite. The characters are the strongest part of it imo & the storyline was fascinating. But can't say the same for the other books of Dragonlance series.
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Robin Hobb is probably my favorite writer. She has 3 trilogies all set in the same world and 1 trilogie in a different setting.
Robin Hobb, oh how I forgot thee. I have only read The Farseer trilogy and The Tawny Man trilogy which are both very good. Robin Hobb has in my opinion a very strange writing style, she makes her characters suffer alot making the books very painfull to read :P. Have not read Soldier Son trilogy but heard this is particulary masochistic.
Oh and about wheel of time here in Finland. Publishers have actually split the book to 3 parts, so we currently have 25 wheel of time books which are all the price of a normal hardcover book :) talk about milking money there
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Robin Hobb, oh how I forgot thee. I have only read The Farseer trilogy and The Tawny Man trilogy which are both very good. Robin Hobb has in my opinion a very strange writing style, she makes her characters suffer alot making the books very painfull to read :P. Have not read Soldier Son trilogy but heard this is particulary masochistic.
Nothing compared George R.R. Martin. His series is the only fantasy series I stopped reading. The 1st 2-3 books are OK, but after that it's all so depressing.
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Robin Hobb, oh how I forgot thee. I have only read The Farseer trilogy and The Tawny Man trilogy which are both very good. Robin Hobb has in my opinion a very strange writing style, she makes her characters suffer alot making the books very painfull to read :P. Have not read Soldier Son trilogy but heard this is particulary masochistic.
Nothing compared George R.R. Martin. His series is the only fantasy series I stopped reading. The 1st 2-3 books are OK, but after that it's all so depressing.
I have only read a song of ice and fire from Martin, and I did not see that as such a bother as it was in those 2 Robins trilogies. The cast is simply so wide in Martins book everyone cant be doing bad, or good for that matter ^^.
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Also, another one not mentioned, but quite famous would be Ursula le guin again a very good author and the earthsea quartet is a very good set of books.
Edit: keep reading Feist his books are still good and the series is continuing
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Author: Terry Goodkind
Series: the Sword of Truth
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Truth
Best series ive ever read.
Author: James Barclay
Series: Legend of the Raven
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barclay
Read the first book recently, looks very promising!
(/me hides again.. :P)
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i'm currently at the 2nd book in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams and I have to say its the best fantasy I've read so far, i absolutely love it.
The series is 4 books long, all ~700 pages.
I'm not a hardcore fantasy reader, but I got this recommended by other fantasy lovers.
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Oh man, can't believe I forgot to mention that one Cinn. Great series, up there with Sword of Truth. Although his other books aren't that good imo.
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Though i read more sifi and i think most of the books below are sifi rather then fantasy i'm sure most will enjoy reading them.
I can recommend China Mieville.
He has a different aproach (Atleast imo) about how fantasy could be writen also.
Not the well known same old: Sword, dragon, search quest, power, in the end king kinda fantasy who most of the time have middle ages kinda settings. (Over exaturating abit ofcourse, but you know what i mean.)
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/china-mieville/
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/china-mieville/perdido-street-station.htm
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/china-mieville/scar.htm
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/china-mieville/iron-council.htm
Dan Simmons
Hyperion, must read classic and he made more great novels.
Forgot the title but he also made a book about brain vampires.
Who are able to control people by taking over the brain. Was an awesome horrorfantasy by him.
(Still remember it and it must be atleast 15ish years ago i read it, and most of the time i can't remember anything from 2 days ago so. :P)
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/dan-simmons/
Stan Nicholls Orcs serie.
Nice, easy and also funny serie about Orcs, must read for all Orcs out there ;)
David Wingrove
Chung Kuo serie. THE CHINESE HAVE TAKEN OVER THE WORLD OMFG!!!!
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/david-wingrove/
*Reminder to self* Must check bookshelf for more diamonds.