What should I read next?

[Shingetsu]

Up until four months or so ago I had probably never actually finished or really read a book. Which may be a little sad since I am 19, but never really bothered with books. A friend kept talking about the Pug books by Raymond E. Feist so I finally went and bought the book. I read it, and every one of the books he's written in the series except for a few side books. Then I read all of The Sword of Truth by Terry goodkind and also have the last book reserved for the 13th and can't wait. Good series. After Goodkind I read all of the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan. I just finished the last book out earlier. I enjoyed it as much as Goodkind's books, maybe more. Quite sad about his passing though. I have heard that he shared all his ideas with friends and family and that the last book may still be finished. Hopefully it does, it deserves an ending with how much work he put into it.

Now I don't know what to read next other then the Goodkind book on the 13th. I was thinking maybe The Sword of Shannara series by Terry Brooks. Is it any good? Though it looks like a short series compared to the ones I've been reading. Does anyone have suggestions what I should read next similar to the ones I mentioned? Perhaps 12 book series or longer, though if it's good I suppose it doesn't matter. Just wanted another good series that takes time to read and is good as Jordan or Goodkind.

 

[Culhwch]

Try George RR Martin. In my opinion the best writer of epic fantasy going around at the moment. His 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series starts with A Game of Thrones; four books have been published, of a planned seven.

Another who has just started getting noticed is Scott Lynch. 'The Gentleman Bastards' series begins with The Lies of Locke Lamora and continues with Red Seas Under Red Skies. I think he has eight or ten planned, but those are the only two published so far.

 

[Aleksei]

You could try the Recluce Saga by, L E Modesitt, Jr , but I would not say that he is as good as Jordan or Goodkind, since I think both of them are pretty bad.

 

[Quokka]

With what you've already read I definitley think you'd enjoy Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, I actually prefer Erikson's Malazan books of the Fallen series (they always seem to get mentioned in the same breath so I figure why break the trend) but they're maybe harder to get into, so have a bit of a look at them and see which one sounds more interesting. Robin Hobb's Farseer series is another I'd highly recommend and for something a bit different Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is more a comedic take on fantasy.

Did you read the Empire books by Feist and Wurts? If they were among the side books you missed I'd consider them as well and ummm...... how do you feel about Science Fiction .

But lastly welcome to chronicles!

 

[Shingetsu]

I'm a big Science Fiction fan, just It's always been TV shows and movies before now. Series like Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and many others. Thanks for the welcome Quokka. I'll look up all the series mentioned so far when I wake up and reply what I think of them by description and such. Past 4am at the moment, so time for sleep. Thanks with the suggestions so far.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I can only really second some of the suggestions already made. Steven Erikson's Malazan Books of the Fallen are great (even if I have only read one and a half books of the series ) and is certainly...epic in all senses of the word, I reckon! Robin Hobb is another suggestion I'll second, I'm on the third book of her Farseer Trilogy and have enjoyed the series a lot thus far. And the other book I adamantly, vehemently also recommend is Scott Lynch's Gentlemen ******* series. Loved The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequel Red Seas Under Red Skies was just as brilliant. I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of the series.

Oh, and yes, another recommendation for Terry Pratchett's Discworld, a very humorous set of books, always guaranteed to make you laugh (it's common for people to say that they shouldn't read Pratchett novels on public transport because they receive some strange, sideways glances from other passengers).

I was going to ask if you were also interested in science fiction, but now I see you've already mentioned it above! In which case I shall (surprisingly ) suggest The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- a very witty and whimsical science fiction novel.

One thing you find about joining this site is that there are so many books out there to be read and you'll have recommendations flying at you from all sides! I've always been an avid reader but hadn't really delved a great deal into science fiction and fantasy before joining the Chronicles. Since then my book collection has increased an extraordinary amount and keeps on growing the more time I spend here!

Oh, and welcome to the Chrons! Hopefully you'll stick around, it's quite an awesome place.

 

[Overread]

Well, I will also recommend:
Malazan Books of the Fallen, Steven Erikson
A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin
The Farseer Trilogy, Robin Hobb
All three are great series to read, but they are definatly on the longer side of fantasy. If you are looking for some shorter reads I can also stronlg recommend the following:

The Book of Jhereg, Steven Brust - fun to read, adventure stories with minidragons - the series starts off fairly open ended, but gets deeper as you progess through the books - definatly read them in publishing order - any other order is rather hard to cope with

Temeraire - Naomi Novik - dragons, Napoleon, ships, - totaly great books which add a new dimension to dragon riding. I strongly recommend

Orcs omnibus edition - Stan Nicholls - fast moving, bloody, adventure series with orcs as the lead characters. A well written story which has some of the best fighting descriptions.

Discworld - short and sweat - that about sums it up, great writing in short books that don't take an age to read.

Through Wolf's Eyes - Jane Lindskold - if you like the idea of strong leading animal characters in a story this is one for you. Now a 6 (I think) long sereis of books which only get better - a story of two wolves (well one real wolf and a "wolf" in sheeps clothing_

 

[Connavar]

I'm a big Science Fiction fan, just It's always been TV shows and movies before now. Series like Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and many others. Thanks for the welcome Quokka. I'll look up all the series mentioned so far when I wake up and reply what I think of them by description and such. Past 4am at the moment, so time for sleep. Thanks with the suggestions so far.

Hi and welcome

Im big fan of Stargate,Stargate Atlantis too and several other SF tv shows. I think only tv shows like these does SF justice compared the mindless movies.

SF books that have made me enjoy the genre more and i think you would like are these :

Foundation
Hitchhiker
Starship Troopers
Moon is A Harsh Mistress
Emphyrio
Tales of Dying Earth
Altered Corban
The Stars My Destination
Childhoods End
War of The Worlds



Those i think would make a newbie see what the genre is like and what he might like.

 

[Shingetsu]

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch sounds like it might be funny and good, I'll check that out. Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson sounds good and I'll check that out too. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin sounds interesting too. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb too. I'm not sure about Terry Pratchett, though I do like comedy. Just not sure about short stories and all, but I'll check it out aswell.

Hmm, I think I might try Steven Erikson's books first. Hard to decide, but have to pick one. Maybe I'll pick up the first book of it on tuesday when I get the last Goodkind book.

 

[Shingetsu]

Too bad you can't edit your post after a certain time, hopefully double posting won't get me in trouble. I have a question about the Steven Erikson books. I read some more descriptions and reviews of the series and some say there is a main character and others say the series is about many different characters and there is no real main character. Does the series center around one character like the three different series I've read so far or just goes about many different ones? Not sure how much I would like not having a real main character. Though not sure book wise how it would be for me.

 

[Tau Zero]

Try Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny. Many books in that series and what a great series it is!

 

[Overread]

I would say that the Malazan books follow several key main characters. Chapters tend to deal with a single character, with the persepective changeing with each chapter.

Interestingly this is also the approach taken in A Song of Ice and Fire series, however the number of main characters is fewer. It takes a little getting used to, but the overall effect is one that allows you to see more of the world in which the characters live, and also see the other view points.

On the other hand the Farseer series focuses totally on a single lead character and delves more into his motives and thoughts as well as what is going on around him - written like memoriers (SP).

 

[Quokka]

Each Malazan books have central groups of characters but your right it's probably alot wider then what you've read so far. At this point each book is sort of a story in themselves, some with one or a few central charcters others with a few more, the next book then introduces new characters. Some central characters do appear ins several books but theres also alot of setting things up for later books to tie together. Martin's series mainly follows a family of characters so thats a smaller group but Hobb really has one central character, I think so do does The Lies of Locke Lamora but hopefully someone else can confirm that, its on my reading list as well.

Just to through another name out there if your thinking of science fiction, Dune is another good read that has some fantasy elements mixed in with sci fi. Hopefully we havent thrown too many names at you at once, there is alot out there and everyone has there favourites, which is why this place can be so much fun .

 

[murphy]

C. J. Cherryh's Fortress series, starting with Fortress in the Eye of Time. Very good and slightly different.

 

[Shingetsu]

So far so good. I've been looking up all the authors/series mentioned and adding the names into a txt file. I'd most likely forget them all if I didn't. And yeah, this place looks like the best forums for books that I've seen so far. Especially since I'll most likely only stick to sci-fi fantasy books. Or atleast for quite some time. I suppose it may be because I'm an anime fan, and sci-fi fantasy books are almost like anime in book form. But yes, it seems I have found a home for my new addiction. A very time consuming addiction if I do say so myself. Though I do enjoy the books being longer, more good story if you ask me. The Goodkind and Jordan books were twice the length of the Feist books.

 

[Connavar]

Dont fall into that trap. Longer books doesnt mean better books.

Specially if you like SF cause most SF books arent that long.

Go by what story interest you when you decide to read one of the books mentioned.

There are always things that interest you more than others. That will guide you to what you want to read and might like.

 

[Shingetsu]

Of course, I wasn't judging the series by length for choosing or anything. I was just mentioning that if a series is good I'd like it to be as long as possible. Of course unless that ruins it or something, but you know what I mean. I just pick them by whatever sounds interesting, though may have to pick ones that even don't that may be good aswell. I wouldn't know what's good till I read it, plus being a book newbie.

 

[Connavar]

Of course, I wasn't judging the series by length for choosing or anything. I was just mentioning that if a series is good I'd like it to be as long as possible. Of course unless that ruins it or something, but you know what I mean. I just pick them by whatever sounds interesting, though may have to pick ones that even don't that may be good aswell. I wouldn't know what's good till I read it, plus being a book newbie.

Ah i see what you mean. Of course we all want long series that are good,thats why they keep making long series.

There is a newbie thread in almost every author forum in these forums. Always good to check where to start with an author and hear what the fans think.

It helps when you are newbie and dont know alot of the genres.

Might you like Heroic fantasy by the way, check out David Gemmell. He is the king of Heroic Fantasy.

His stories are good to read if you dont want to read only all these epic fantasy with overly complex stories,politics etc all the time.

My favorite writer of all i have read. He is the reason i became an avid book reader. Heh i was 24 and only last year when i started reading for real. No need feel shame you are way younger than me.

 

[Shingetsu]

I'll add David Gemmell to my list. I don't know what types of sci-fi fantasy I like. I just know I liked the three authors I've read so far. So I don't really have much perspective yet.

 

[Shingetsu]

Well, I didn't quite do what I said I was. I said I would probably get Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson on Tuesday when I got the last Goodkind book. Instead I ended up getting The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and my bro went with and he got The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Which is another on my list to read, so it seems I have two series to read now. I think I'll start with The Lies of Locke Lamora. Only the two books out of it so far anyways, won't take long. Though now that I have books to read I don't think I'll be waiting till tuesday to read the Goodkind book first. I may have to stop wherever I'm at in the book and read the other then go back to it.