Book Recommendations

[ixokai]

Also recently read, the Demon Cycle (first book: The Warded Man) by Peter Brett, and I quite liked it a lot. It's about a sort of post-apocalyptic fantasy world where every night demons manifest and try to eat everyone. A rough sort of civilization has managed to survive, just barely.

Very interesting magic system, good characters and cultures. It's got a good mix of action, character growth and diverse groups of people with different agendas all while hell is rising nightly.

[Ortallus]

@ixokai said in Book Recommendations:

Also recently read, the Demon Cycle (first book: The Warded Man) by Peter Brett, and I quite liked it a lot. It's about a sort of post-apocalyptic fantasy world where every night demons manifest and try to eat everyone. A rough sort of civilization has managed to survive, just barely.

Very interesting magic system, good characters and cultures. It's got a good mix of action, character growth and diverse groups of people with different agendas all while hell is rising nightly.

Very fun books, and they get better, if convoluted. Make sure to look for the short stories, too. If you like audiobooks, Graphic Audio did that one, and it's very good.

[JinShei]

Randolph Lalonde's Spinwarde Fringe series.
L.S. King Dueces Wild series..

[Gingerlily]

Lately when I am stressed and cranky and need a distraction I read YA novels, they don't require quite as much thought but are entertaining. Usually fantasy but sometimes John Green

In that vein I'd recommend Sarah J Mass' 'Court of Thorns and Roses' trilogy. It's not Pulitzer material but is engrossing and fun.

[Lithium]

Older books, but, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny are definitely worth a read.

The Thomas Covenant series by Steven R. Donaldson is good too (and one of the many sources that Robert Jordan swiped idea sfrom)

The Bio of a Space Tyrant series by Piers Anthony is good (I expect most to have read the Incarnations of Immortality series by the same author at this point).

[TNP]

@lithium said in Book Recommendations:

The Thomas Covenant series by Steven R. Donaldson is good too (and one of the many sources that Robert Jordan swiped ideas from)

I happen to like the Thomas Covenant books a lot and read both series (and googling discovers there's a third now). However.

You're either going to like them a lot or absolutely hate them.

[Ortallus]

The "Silo" books, by Hugh Howie.

Involves a post apocalyptic scenario where people live in a massive subterranean bunker.

[RnMissionRun]

@tnp said in Book Recommendations:

@lithium said in Book Recommendations:

The Thomas Covenant series by Steven R. Donaldson is good too (and one of the many sources that Robert Jordan swiped ideas from)

I happen to like the Thomas Covenant books a lot and read both series (and googling discovers there's a third now). However.

You're either going to like them a lot or absolutely hate them.

You know what's weird, I read the Thomas Covenant books as a teenager and absolutely loved them, but when I tried re-reading them 15 years later as an adult, I couldn't stand them. I hated the writing, the story and I especially hated the titular character. It's funny how your tastes can change over time.

[Jaded]

I just finished the Necromancer Chronicles by Amanda Downum. A pretty good trilogy of books. I recommend'em.

Also can thank @Misadventure for cluing me into them.

[Bobotron]

This is a combo of RPG book recommendation and regular book recommendation. It'll probably only be useful for people who are fans of Vampire the Masquerade, but the fluff portions of Beckett's Jyhad Diary are ten kinds of awesome in my opinion.

[Cupcake]

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by FC Yee. It's YA and definitely just the brain equivalent of popcorn, but once I realized that the Monkey King was a major character my brain immediately went WHERE IS @Coin?????

[Coin]

@cupcake said in Book Recommendations:

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by FC Yee. It's YA and definitely just the brain equivalent of popcorn, but once I realized that the Monkey King was a major character my brain immediately went WHERE IS @Coin?????

Have not read it.

[Lisse24]

@lithium said in Book Recommendations:

Older books, but, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny are definitely worth a read.

The Thomas Covenant series by Steven R. Donaldson is good too (and one of the many sources that Robert Jordan swiped idea sfrom)

The Bio of a Space Tyrant series by Piers Anthony is good (I expect most to have read the Incarnations of Immortality series by the same author at this point).

I'm a huge Donaldson fan, but haven't heard of The Thomas Covenant. I'll have to add them to my list. Thanks!

[Cupcake]

@coin said in Book Recommendations:

@cupcake said in Book Recommendations:

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by FC Yee. It's YA and definitely just the brain equivalent of popcorn, but once I realized that the Monkey King was a major character my brain immediately went WHERE IS @Coin?????

Have not read it.

I didn't figure you had, but my brain automatically goes Sun Wukong = @Coin.

[Arkandel]

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/04/the-50-best-fantasy-novels-of-the-21st-century.html

Do you agree?

[Lotherio]

@arkandel said in Book Recommendations:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/04/the-50-best-fantasy-novels-of-the-21st-century.html

Do you agree?

I can't say either way, I'd move some up, but I haven't read the entire list, and my personal choices are probably fine where they are. But ...

For me personally, Name of the Wind being on the list, let along the top, blows my mind. To each their own, but the book just reads as some snowflake character developed by Patrick Rothfuss who, in each new 'revelation' of the main character it just seems to be how much more special the main character can be made by the author. And by comparison for me, I was ready Farland's Runelords about the same time I picked up Name of the Wind. Runelords was way better for and those characters are arguably more snowflake'ish (ridiculous power levels), but they had more character each alone, there were more characters in the spotlight, and they included the necessity of supporting cast that Kvothe lacked other than the lone dark maverick with backstory to make him even more lone dark maverick. I guess for greats, Kvothe is up there with Drizzt and Wesley Crusher, but that's not my cup of tea.

ETA: I wouldn't put Runelords on any best of lists, but if I ever made a high-fantasy canon game, I'd consider going Runelords with characters having a small, limited number of Dedicates, focused on one region of Rofehavan. It sort of reads like the kind of book Farland might of hoped was picked up as an RPG or even a T/CCG with the way the runes work.

[Arkandel]

@lotherio said in Book Recommendations:

For me personally, Name of the Wind being on the list, let along the top, blows my mind. To each their own, but the book just reads as some snowflake character developed by Patrick Rothfuss who, in each new 'revelation' of the main character it just seems to be how much more special the main character can be made by the author.

Yes it does, doesn't it?

But as you're probably aware, that might be done by design. All we know about Kvothe's life comes from him; he's not necessarily a reliable narrator.

As a story, told as-is, it was incredible. I loved those books and I wish we'd get more out of him... but, well, you know.

And by comparison for me, I was ready Farland's Runelords about the same time I picked up Name of the Wind. Runelords was way better for and those characters are arguably more snowflake'ish (ridiculous power levels), but they had more character each alone, there were more characters in the spotlight, and they included the necessity of supporting cast that Kvothe lacked other than the lone dark maverick with backstory to make him even more lone dark maverick.

I'll need to read that series. Meh, I need to get back into reading, period.

[Kanye Qwest]

Patrick Rothfuss' prose and world building are 10/10. His characters range from about a 5/10 to a -15/10, with Kvothe being a nice even 0.

[Auspice]

Name of the Wind was the first audio book I tried from Audible.

I had to exchange it because I just could not manage to endure it. Maybe reading it would be better. Listening to it was painful.

I got Dan Simmons' Hyperion instead which was well worth it.

[Rucket]

@auspice In my view, Rothfuss is HORRIBLY overrated. The Name of the Wind was a good book, but the follow-up, The Wise Man's Fear, was one of the worst slogs I've ever read. And yet I still see people try to compare him with Martin... though now that I think about it, maybe a favorable comparison in that neither will end up finishing their series.