@somasatori said in What series are you reading?:
I'm currently re-reading China Mieville's Bas-Lag series.
If you haven't, you really should check it out. It's pretty incredible. While I tend to shy away from anything that's considered steampunk in any way, the fantasy and tech really works in this series. I highly recommend it.
YES YES YES. I /hate/ fantasy, especially typical Tolkien fantasy (anything with dwarves, elves or fairies makes me immediately lose interest. Even urban fantasy doesn't get me. Magic is just too broad and feels like a cop out for most stories.)
HOWEVER, Mieville is just...damn, I love his work, I love his characters. His fantastical elements are not sexy, not cute, not pretty. None of his characters are pretty. He uses the grotesque a lot and it shows - all his non-human creatures are /ugly/ and downright weird, alien-like and almost absurd. He also manages to mix science with fantasy while still giving off a dystopic, ruined world that makes sense.
He wrote one of my favorite female protagonists (Bellis Coldwine) who is a flawed woman without being weak /because/ she is a woman. She could have easily been written a man and it would have worked just as well.
Read The Perdido Street Station first, then The Scar. Those two have to be my favorite. I didn't finish the Iron Council though, I've been meaning to.
ETA: Oddly enough Dark Towers would have been my recommendation but I also haven't finished the series. I still need to read the last book but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Stephen King is known for his lackluster endings, and since the journey was just so good to get to this point, I'm kind of scared and wary to end it.