Author Topic: Recommend a book  (Read 19577 times)

Inkthinker

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #15 on: December 26, 2010, 03:26:26 PM »
Dave Duncan books, the 7th sword series and the A man of his word series.

The 7th Sword series is great, but I think my favorite of his would be either the Alchemist's Apprentice books or the King's Blades series. The Alchemist's Apprentice books are especially enjoyable if you're a fan of the Assassin's Creed games for the PS3/360, since they take place during similar time periods (and both feature Venice, Italy).

It's hard to go wrong with Duncan, though he's had a few I couldn't get into. The Dodec books sounded great at first, but I wasn't able to plow through even half of the first one.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2010, 03:29:13 PM by Inkthinker »

EvilNuff

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #16 on: December 26, 2010, 05:09:02 PM »
The 7th Sword series is great, but I think my favorite of his would be either the Alchemist's Apprentice books or the King's Blades series.
...

The Alchemist books were ok (I've only read the first so far though) but I wasn't enamored of them.  Agreed his king's blade books are great as well.  My favorite of his is a single stand alone called Ill Met in the Arena.  Fantastic book that I adore!

Inkthinker

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #17 on: December 27, 2010, 11:47:57 AM »
Haven't read that one, though I've heard of it.

I sometimes think the Alchemist books were an excuse for him to write off a trip to Venice, but I still enjoy 'em. They're lighter than his normal stuff, to be certain.

He basically seems to be doing an homage to Nero Wolfe throughout the entire trilogy. Both Nero and Nostradamus largely refuse to leave their homes, using their narrating sidekick (Alfeo Zeno/Archie Goodwin) to do the footwork and face the dangers.


CabbyHat

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #18 on: December 30, 2010, 01:37:04 PM »
Writing Excuses was plugging John Brown's Servant of a Dark God for a while, and I'm going to go ahead and back them up on that. It's got fun, likable characters, an interesting and developed world, and a magic system that's evocative of Sanderson's style while still being unique. I enjoyed it a lot.
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guessingo

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2011, 05:03:39 PM »
go to the elitist book review site. I don't have the url in front of me, but those key words are the first hit. Several people who are active on this forum review alot of fantasy books. They do a very good job.

Here are some books I have read recently or will read that they liked.

Joe Abercrombie (very dark. I think he is better than George RR Martin)
Ken Scholes (post apocalytpic fantasy. These are pretty original)
Daniel Abraham (have not read this yet, but they liked him alot and Brandon said he liked him).

They review a lot of books. I have pretty much been using their site to pick out fantasy books. What makes their reviews so good is that, they give you enough information where even if they don't like a book, you might like it yourself. Which to me is the sign of a very good review.

c0rr0s10n

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #20 on: January 06, 2011, 05:38:36 PM »
I got a real kick out of the dark adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (and zombies). Also Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter we a pretty good read being completely far fetched but interesting.

I also recommend any B.S. book out there. I've read elantris, mistborn 1 & 2 , and currently on 3. soon to read WOT: Towers of Midnight. mistborn 1 is my favorite so far.

the Monik Ieron

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #21 on: March 11, 2011, 12:48:30 AM »
DragonLance is good, though i wonder how long it would take to read all of them or if its even possible.
Dragoncharm is AWSOME i strongly suggest it.
and if for some reason you haven't read the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, or the Silmarilion those too of course.

Tasslehoof

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #22 on: March 14, 2011, 03:30:58 AM »
DragonLance is good, though i wonder how long it would take to read all of them or if its even possible.
Dragoncharm is AWSOME i strongly suggest it.
and if for some reason you haven't read the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, or the Silmarilion those too of course.

Yeah, Dragonlance is stellar (my name is even a Dragonlance character :D ), I would suggest the main trilogy, by far the best.  And then if you read any of the other ones, the references will make a lot more sense.  The original series, while not required to read any of the others, it really helps to see the greater picture.
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Boutch

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #23 on: April 13, 2011, 01:27:24 AM »
Hmm. I feel that I may get laughed out of the forums here.

EARLY Raymond E Feist. His current novels have lost focus, but the original Magician trilogy is pretty great.

Robin Hobb's Assassin's series is amazing. Great use of first person writing.

Most of Eddings' work is a touch 'childish', but The Redemption of Althalus has some great ideas and scenes.

EDIT

I can't believe that I forgot this. SARA DOUGLASS. She is an incredible Australian fantasy author. The Axis trilogy, and the trilogy set after it (I forget the name) are a great starting point.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2011, 01:32:31 AM by Boutch »

Inkthinker

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #24 on: April 14, 2011, 02:01:07 AM »
That's very interesting... The Redemption of Althalus was actually the book that made me stop reading Eddings entirely. I felt like, for the length of  that entire book, not one character was ever in doubt, ever at risk, and when he did kill off anyone I felt like it was cloying rather than effective.

I really loved the Elenium, but the sequel trilogy (the Tamuli) suffered from the same problem... I never expected any of the main characters to fail, and neither did any of the characters. They were consistently confident and frequently cocky about it to the point of being snarky, and at some point I just got tired of it.

It didn't seem to as much of a problem in his earlier books, but in later ones I got the impression that he loved his own characters too much to ever make them anything less than always awesome, all the time. It was like an entire cast of Han Solo variants.


Boutch

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #25 on: April 14, 2011, 11:44:45 PM »
You know Inkthinker, you're right about the characters. Perhaps I held it so high because I went on to read The Elder Gods... Compared to that, Althalus is amazing. I think that you should read the Elder Gods just so you know how bad it is.
Ideas like the house and the books and the ways in which they were used were okay in Althalus. However, I take it from my list. I do, however stand by my Sara Douglass claim.

Juan Dolor

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #26 on: April 15, 2011, 02:36:36 PM »
I read Glen Cook's The Black Company years ago, and I've been meaning to go through the series again from start to finish.  If you like fantasy, but you're tired of the standard hero's journey, try this.  It's a fantasy novel the way that Heart of Darkness is an adventure tale.  Although really it's more like Apocalypse Now with wizards.   Quite a different flavor.

Inkthinker

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #27 on: April 16, 2011, 03:18:23 AM »
I quite liked Cook's "Black Company" series... I also like his pulp/noir "Garrett PI" urban fantasy series. It's kinda like Butcher's "Dresden Files", except that Garrett lives in a full-fantasy world, rather than being part of "our" world.

The covers are terrible (they seem to imply that he's some sort of pulp-era detective trapped in a fantasy world, rather than a native character who's fallen into the "problem-solving" business) but the contents are really good, even if the last half-dozen or so are a little rocky.


craigles

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #28 on: April 16, 2011, 10:18:56 PM »
Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenent books are a classic and the Mordant's need duology is also worth a look. The latter has quite an interesting magic system if that's your thing. Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince books are worth reading as well.

fireflyz

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Re: Recommend a book
« Reply #29 on: April 17, 2011, 01:10:53 AM »
@ Boutch

How are the rest of Sara Douglass's novels?  I started reading the Serpent Bride and had to stop after the first few chapters.  I thought the writing was terrible.  One of the few books I put down.  Until that point I never really believed in the first 50 pages rule.  I was upset because on a whim I'd bought the first three books.  Was this possibly an exception for her or has she improved since then?

@ OP, if you're looking for some good sci fi YA James Dashner's Mazerunner series and Suzanne Cooper's The Hunger Games Trilogy are both very good, fast reads.  I recently read them (you can find my reviews in the books section).
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