(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best action & adventure fiction books

I take it from Harry Potter and Divergent he likes strong, morally-white protagonists on journeys to save the world. I don't know his exact reading level or interests, so I will make the following suggestions by category. I ranked books in each category by difficulty.

 

Teen Fantasy:

 

Dealing with Dragons: Funny, easy to read, dragons, magic, and sarcasm.

The Lioness Series, Immortal Series, or The Magic Circle Series: Strong female leads and interesting to read with great stories (Think Mulan). My brother loved them.

Artemis Fowl: Strong, morally ambiguous but ultimately altruistic, sarcastic, and smart protagonist against the world.

User Unfriendly: Dudes get sucked into a video/rpg and try to get out without dying. Like Tron, but less sci-fi and more fantasy.

Halo: One of my brothers who HATES reading -- or at least is incredibly picky actually stayed up all night to finish four of Halo books. He also really likes the games. I don't know which one is the first or the best but this one had the best reviews. I dunno if it is dark either -- I haven't read it :'(.

The Dark Elf Trilogy: Darker than anything else I have on here (or can be) hero vs world type fantasy. Drizzit = my brothers' hero growing up. Kinda WOW-esque? Having played both, I understand how much of WOW is inspired by DnD. I personally didn't like this.

Redwall: Harder to read, talking animals save the world from other talking animals. I personally hated this series, but my brothers read every single book in the series at the time.

 


Adult Fantasy:

 

Magician: Magic, totally badass protagonist, BORING first couple chapters, but ultimately the most OP hero I have ever read. Amazing, truly amazing. I think it is two-three books in the first series.

Harper Hall: Dragons, music, strong, but lost protagonist. Deals with sexism and gender biased. The other books in the cycle range from sci-fi to political fantasy.

Dragonbone Chair: Strong, badass hero vs a dragon. What happens? He becomes more badass. It is a lighter verison of LOTR/Sword of Shanara (which is probably too much politics/genetics/enviromental commentary -- generally boring-- for him right now) --

An even lighter alternative, more teen book is Eragon. That being said, I absolutely DETESTED these books. I don't care if he was 16, he didn't coming up with any of his own material. But -- a lot of people really like it, so your brother might!

 

Sci-fi:

 

Ender's game: Amazing ending, especially if he likes videogames. I haven't seen the movie, but my Dad said it was "loosely inspired" from the book. All I know is the book was world-changing. It has some legitimately dark points (like gouging out a giants eye or drowning puppies).

Johnny Maxwell Trilogy: This dude is cool. I didn't know until I linked it that it is hard to get a copy >.<.

Dune: This, like LOTR, is VERY political and can be very easily boring. It might also be too adult or hard for him. There is mental illness and just crazy people in the later books.

 

Mature Humor:

 

He should be ready for some British humor, which is a little more mature than American humor (sorry) and much more sarcastic. You also have to be in the mood for it, especially if you aren't expecting it.

Sourcery: Really, really funny.

Hitchhiker's Guide: Also funny.

Magic Kingdom for Sale -- Sold: American. Funny take on fantasy books.

 

I kept away from darker books where the protagonist is morally grey (Artemis fowl and Drizzit being exceptions -- though they are both still definitely heros), sex, questionable themes, or general mental derangement.

I also stayed away from more modern books, which I have read a lot of if you would like recommendations for those instead. I read a lot in general, so if you have a questions about a book in particular, I can try to help.

Edit: Links

"Well, unfortunately, any kind of exposure indirectly helps ratings. Of course, nothing will boost ratings more than the show itself being good, but the more people that can be attracted to it, the better chance there is of their ratings staying high or (I'm sure) even increasing."

Well, I don't know anyone who would start watching/reading because they saw a direwolf iphone skin, but since your so doggedly determined that keychains are going to sell the show more effectively than something legitimate like word of mouth, I take it that's how you became a fan. You can have that one, I suppose.


"It sounds like you're still stubbornly defending the idea that he "sold out" without offering enough support for that claim. If you can somehow demonstrate that the literary quality sharply decreased after he shared his writing with other types of ventures, I'll believe it."

I understand you're a newbie to the ASoIaF world, and therefore a little late to the party. I've been there for the 8 years of blog posts about the Giants and Wildcards and of him hocking his latest piece of craphenalia in real time. You haven't. I don't get into this "I've been reading since before it was cool, so I'm better than you" rhetoric alot of the old guard seem to - that's silly - but it does give me better insight to the things we are discussing here than someone who just discovered these were books last summer.

I'm not going to sit here and go through with you every piece of merchandise until you are satisfied. In fact, I won't go through any of them with you other than the things I've already mentioned. It is apparent that you can only find your way to HBO.com

Uh, AGoT ACoK ASoS AFfC ADwD

I don't really have the inclination to get too involved in this so I just gave you the Amazon links. There's a star rating near the book titles. These ratings summarize the quality of the product listed. As you can see the first three books of the series have exceptional ratings: 4.5+ stars, but then starting with Feast and continuing through Dance (current) you see these drop down to 3 stars. There's your demonstration. I'm not going to continue to take you by the hand and point to things as obvious as this.


"There's the Cyanide's track record, which is mostly just a bunch of cycling-related games, and it's pretty clear from the post you linked that GRRM declined Cyanide at the time because he basically felt they were too amateur a studio to be able to do a good job on the game. Years later, (years!) this little company is still determined to do it, especially now that they've opened up another studio and hired enough people to pull the game off"

That's pretty bold to pass that off as fact based on the information in the blog post. We'll go ahead and chalk that up in the "good faith" and "benefit of the doubt" column.

"I think AFfC and ADWD should be considered special cases given what it took to write them."

I don't know exactly what you're intending with this, but no. It shouldn't.

I don't read enough books to know where to look for reviews, but I'll do my best. I got like 200 pages into ADWD before no longer caring, whereas with the first 3 I finished them all in days. It's like he looked at the last books and thought "hmm, people like seeing bad things happen to the characters. I'll just keep throwing bad things at them over and over again and they'll be so shocked they love it!"

AGOT - 4.5 stars. Top reviews are all of praise.

ACOK - 4.5 stars. Most of the top reviews are praise, some notice a dip in quality. I agree, though still a great book.

ASOS - 4.6 stars. Top reviews are praising it, much deserved.

AFFC - 3.8 stars. Top reviews say "it's okay, but..."

ADWD - 4.0 stars. Top reviews are even worse, despite the higher score.

Good books? Maybe, but they're not on the quality level of the Harry Potter books and the first 3 asoiaf books, which was what most people were expecting again.

Yeah, the honesty is really hard, and for me still causes pain, though I don't run away from it anymore. I take that as the part of just being. And with that I work on keeping my serenity the most (I'm one who doesn't like the strivation to always be happy - I think that's putting out an expectation that hard to fulfill and will lead to disappointment - though I've found I have more happy moments now than when drinking).

Good for posting - just talking with others who've been in similar situations is great. I went to an AA meeting the other night where it was just me and four others and instead of formal shares we just talked casually and it was GREAT.

I listened to some of the Joe and Charlie podcasts. I would like to listen to them again and more than I did originally. It's been awhile but I remember liking them.

Most of the reading that helped me were books that also helped me realize my own spirituality. In terms of fiction, Hesse's 'Demian' was a great one (though may have some triggers), and Castaneda's 'Tales of Power' (possibly the same with triggers).

Otherwise, Emmet Fox's 'The Sermon on the Mount' is just great. It's the precursor to AA's big book - sort of the collegiate form of the big book. Especially with it, I leave some of it behind, but there is some powerful shit in there.

I'm also a fan of Joseph Campbell and much of his stuff helped me with realizing a more solid foundation of my personal spirituality, but I read 'The Joseph Campbell Companion' when in rehab for the second time and there were a lot of little writings that cut through to me. There's a lot of fluff as well, but one passage was so powerful I took it to a counselor who then brought it to the community. I just went and got it and it's on p38, and then I looked and found someone transcribed it! (gotta love the interwebs)

Lastly for now - yeah, I realized for multiple years that I had a problem. My oldest is turning 11 next week and the first very feeble attempt at stopping was when she was born. Looking back I can see clearly how I had a problem with alcohol my whole life, going back to when I was 16 and stealing liquor from the grocery store where I worked and drinking it in my car on my break! Geez, what a different life I could've had if I had just realized shit back then. But I can't, and so don't go there except to say that now I have more choice in what I make of my life, more clarity in experiencing life. Whatever time I have left and whatever I do with it, I will be present in it to the best of my ability.

I wouldn't want it for me, but I'd want it for my mom! She's been hinting here and there that she wants a tablet/ereader, and I can't afford to get her one (at least not anytime soon!) Her computer is usually taken by her boyfriend (who is, for lack of a better word, a dickbag), and she likes the lit screen/bigger font of my Paperwhite for reading.

I want her to stop borrowing my Paperwhite! lol.

As for an ebook, I've been lusting after this, personally. My mom mostly reads classics that I can find free on Gutenburg or Amazon, so I wouldn't know what to ask for for her. :)

I hope you really do have to write your username on your hand. The idea of that is completely hilarious to me lol.

Oh man, a billion of 'em, but here's a handful:

If you like 2001 then I presume you've read Childhood's End and Rendevous with Rama (avoid the sequels), both by Clarke--if not, you're missing out on my two favorite books of his. Beyond that, I love big-concept sci-fi.

Somewhat similar in concept to Rama but more current is Greg Bear's Eon.

More rollicking and not as hardcore is anything by Larry Niven, but Ringworld is among his most famous and best-loved.

One of my very favorite hard sci-fi authors is Iain M. Banks. I randomly picked up his novel Excession and was blown away by the breadth and depth of it. It takes place in his "Culture" universe where he stages a number of other novels, almost all of them very good.

I also really, really enjoyed John C. Wright's Golden Age trilogy.

And I assume you've done your Herbert and Heinlein.

I have the perfect book for you, I hope you haven't read it already.

I also like books with female protoganists and I almost always dislike the way romance is handled, especially in Urban Fantasy (it's also borderline impossible to find an Urban Fantasy series with a female protoganist that isn't at least 40% romance.)

Anyway, Rook by Daniel O'Malley is one of the exceptions, and it's one of my favorite books in recent years. The protagonist is incredible likeable, probably my favorite female protagonist in that genre. The book centers around an organization that protects the world from supernatural threats and is mostly staffed by people with various supernatural abilities. Not a super original-sounding premise, but it's done really well. The main character is a fairly high-ranking bureaucrat in that organization who has just had her memory erased at the start of the book. She left herself copious notes about the organization and about her own life, but there's a lot of humor coming from the main character stumbling around trying not to let on that she has no idea what's going on. There's a really fun dynamic between the current main character and her relationship with her former self via the notes left behind.


I'd be a big fan of this book regardless, but there's also zilch in the way of romance, which is a huge plus for me (and yourself, it sounds like.) Give it a shot!

Sure, a couple notes while I'm downloading BaW :)

The book order is thus:

The Last Wish

Sword of Destiny

Blood of Elves

The Time of Contempt

Baptism of Fire

The Tower of the Swallows

The Lady of the Lake

There's no official english translation of the last book yet, but the one I've linked is the best fan translation I've found. It's the one I read, and I honestly would have had no idea it wasn't a "real" edition if I didn't know better. Fantastic work.

There's also A Season of Storms, which is sort of a midquel for the series. But it was written in the last two years, has no bearing on any of the game's canon, and contain some minor potential spoilers for later books since he expected his readers had finished the series at this point. I recommend you ignore it for now, and if you decide you want to read it down the road pick it up after the series.

The first two books are a short story collections. The series is in chronological order, but the actual novel arc doesn't begin until the third book. Definitely don't skip the first two though, they set up important characters and events in Geralt's life prior to the novel arc beginning.

Lastly, if you really can't be bothered to spend a bit on the amazon paperbacks here's a link to all of them in epub format. I can't vouch for the quality of the fan translations in this pack, nor do I recommend this format. Buying the books supports the author and reading a book is still easier than reading on a tablet in my opinion.

Good luck on your journey into the Witcher!

P.S. - Oh, here is the Witcher 1 recap video I mentioned. DO NOT WATCH THIS until after you finish the books. It will spoil the climax of the series and ruin your reading. You can buy the game dirt cheap if you can handle a playthrough on PC, but you really won't miss a ton of important info if you skip it. I don't want to spoil the end of the books either, but essentially the second and third game don't rely on the first one at all aside from knowing cursory details of the first game.

You know, I honestly can't remember now, but I'm pretty sure I read Homeland before I played D&D. Regardless of the order, that book definitely helped to shape my view of hte game. Funny how we assume everyone's experiences are the same as our own. :)

Anywho, I could see how a drow warlock would be a pretty slick character concept, especially with Lolth kicking around as an unofficial patron now.

How about Inferno by Dan Brown?

Ha ha ha! Just kidding. How about some urban fantasy? It's all the rage in the finer boutiques. I would recommend Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews. It has a Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe, with a genuine three-dimensional kick-ass heroine, lots of magic, plenty of evil monsters to dispatch, and a will-they or won't-they plot thread with a handsome [Spoiler.]

There's also The Rook, a fantastic book which I don't think got enough love when it was released and also featuring a great heroine. This has a better plot than most.

Rivers of London is the start of another great series set in modern London. It's about a young copper who discovers that ghosts, vampires and what-nots are real. Exciting and told in the first person with an intelligent, dry-witted voice.

And finally, if you've never read American Gods, well, then you've just been depriving yourself.

I know these recommendations aren't exactly what you've been looking for, but I think these are all great books set in the modern world. Just with some extra magic.

Here some good ol' high fantasy standbys from my shelves. There's a good chance you'll be able to find these at any used book store.

• The Shannara books - Plenty to choose from, but I've only read the original three personally.
  
• The Memory, Sorrow & Thorn series - You may need a character flowchart, but it's worth it.
  
• The Renshai Trilogy and the sequel "next generation" series the Renshai Chronicles - Very nordic, if that's your bag.
  
• The Legend of Nightfall - Possibly my favorite book, actually. Great if you like the thief archetype.
  
• The Magic Kingdom of Landover series - Half spoof, half serious
  
  And of course, any of the Discworld books if you feel like giving the genre a light ribbing. You can honestly pick up the series anywhere, but I'm a fan of the books that pertain to the Watch.

Gregory Benford might be to your liking, Eater hits a lot of those old hard SF buttons in particular. The Hyperion Cantos may also do the trick. C.S. Friedman's In Conquest Born and This Alien Shore are favorites that have that classic sci-fi feeling.

I would also give Stephenson another shot.. it's really good stuff, but yeah Snow Crash is a little over-the-top (very much so for the first chapter or two, but it does settle down a good bit). I mean, the main character is named Hiro Protagonist... there's obviously going to be a certain level of tongue-in-cheek, self-aware ridiculousness going on, but it's quite amazing how well he foresaw much of the modern computing world. Cryptonomicon is awesome and is one of those rare books that somehow feels like science fiction even though there's nothing out of the ordinary in it. Anathem and Zodiac are also quite good and more traditional in tone and style.

I think you should start reading the Discworld series, but I'd love to see your dog wearing this, because just looking at the pictures made me laugh out loud.

Check out my WL and feel free to get what you like if you like my suggestions.

1. I went on a road trip across the country for 6 months! It was a wonderful experience. Traveling is really my thing these days! Picture!
   
   
2. My favorite book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower because it is a wonderful story to get lost in.
   
   
3. I would love to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy because I haven't read it yet and apparently it's amazing!! :)
   
   Thank you for the contest!!

For such speculative questions, it is often useful to turn to speculative fiction.

There is a very good recent Hugo Award winning science fiction novel out called Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie, it depicts a genderless, space faring society.

Unlike earlier feminist Sci-Fi, like for example Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness which depicts a biologically hermaphroditic society, in Leckie's universe, the people in this society still have the same range of physical bodies as the physical bodies that we see on Earth today, but their culture does not apply differentiated gender categories to them. There, however, still social categories. All citizens are citizens, all non-citizens are non-citizens. There are still rich and poor, powerful and powerless, there are still 'human' and 'sub-human'; but sex and romance are discretionary, a person wears whatever clothes are fashionable and pleasing to them, they can romance and have sex with whomever consents, their career paths are mostly determined by social rank, family lineage, personal contacts, and to some extent merit, but never gender.

What's interesting, also, about Leckie's universe, is that even though gender and gender oppression are completely absent from this society, it is still for other reasons horrendously dystopic (and trigger warning: it deals with issues of colonization, cultural subjugation and slavery in very graphic and harrowing ways).

nevertheless, I would highly recommend it.

Have you tried .. every "pop" fantasy book ever?


The Shannara books are pretty popular. https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Shannara-Trilogy-Terry-Brooks/dp/0345453751


So are the Discworld books (a bit more tongue in cheek).
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Magic-Discworld-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0062225677


Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is really good. https://www.amazon.com/Wizards-First-Rule-Sword-Truth/dp/0812548051

If you want to branch out into fantasy that isn't swords and wizards, you can move into things like The Deathgate Cycle. https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Wing-Death-Gate-Cycle/dp/0553286390


All of these have pretty interesting worlds with a hero that saves the day.

Rendezvous with Rama the whole series is pretty good.

2001: A Space Odyssey (Arthur C. Clarke Collection: The Odyssey) that series as well

Neuromancer

Homeland: The Legend of Drizzt, Book I: Bk. 1
the dark elf trilogy is pretty good

for amazingly deep and rich backdrop you can't beat the Dune (40th Anniversary Edition) (Dune Chronicles, Book 1) at least the first three.. others that were wrote by his son and other authors are ok but dont live up to the originals imho

pretty much all of Robert Heinlein's stuff stranger in a strange land, starship troopers (nothing at all like the movie), Glory Road, Have Spacesuit will travel.

I would suggest C. S. Friedman. She has a lot of the flawed character thing going on in many of her books. She does a bit more sci-fi than fantasy, but honestly either way she's great.

This Alien Shore is good, and a stand-alone:
http://www.amazon.com/This-Alien-Shore-C-S-Friedman/dp/0886777992/ref=la_B000AQ1TUO_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410005630&sr=1-9

Feast of Souls is the start of a good trilogy:
http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Souls-Magister-Trilogy-Book/dp/0756404630/ref=la_B000AQ1TUO_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410005630&sr=1-5

And Black Sun Rising is also the start of a good trilogy:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rising-Coldfire-Trilogy-Book/dp/0886775272/ref=la_B000AQ1TUO_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410005630&sr=1-1

Great series of books. You do not need to read them in order; I read book 4 first, and it spoils nothing.

Supposedly, Amazon Prime wants to do a miniseries of this, or at least the first book, to the level of quality of Game of Thrones. I'll... believe it when I see it.

Anyway here are Amazon/Audible links! (Or hit up your local library, etc.)

1. Consider Phlebas paperback / Audible
   
   
2. The Player of Games paperback / Audible
   
   
3. Use of Weapons paperback / Audible
   
   
4. The State of the Art (collection of short stories) paperback / Audible
   
   
5. Excession (I read this one first, it's great) paperback / Audible
   
   
6. Inversions (sort-of a Culture book) paperback / Audible
   
   
7. Look to Windward paperback / Audible
   
   
8. Matter paperback / Audible
   
   
9. Surface Detail paperback / Audible
   
   
10. The Hydrogen Sonata (my favorite - Vyr Cossont is my hero) paperback / Audible
    
    I really like this stuff as space opera type stuff. It's usually not "hard" sci-fi like Asimov or even Philip K. Dick or anything, but I rather hope humanity heads in the direction of the Federation, and then ultimately to The Culture.
    
    Fun fact!! Elon Musk named the autonomous drone barge ships (the ones that SpaceX rockets land on) after some Culture ships. Namely the Of Course I Still Love You, and the Just Read The Instructions. I also rather like the full name of the ship Mistake Not… (Don't Google it! It's a spoiler!!!)

They're all going to be complete versions. As long as it's the 50th anniversary text it'll be the most updated, but they'll all suffice. It really just depends on what he likes aesthetically. My favorites are the Alan Lee hardback illustrated editions. A lot of people also like the 3 volume 60th anniversary editions, because it uses Tolkien's original unused dust jackets.
There's also single volumes. I'm currently reading this one. The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544273443/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_AbOlDb3T8NW54
It doesn't have any illustrations or anything, but it's great for a reading copy.

When was new to atheism, I found the works if Joseph Campbell to be very valuable.

In his popular works, he essentially deconstructs and compares the great world religions, and shows that in many cases, the underlying messages of them are similar, and point to some truths about the human experience that can be appreciated without having to turn to spirituality or the supernatural.

His seminal work is The Hero of a Thousand Faces and it's probably the best place to start.

I also really enjoyed Reflextions on the Art of Living which is a collection of short pieces.

Much of Campbell's work is generally no longer considered academically sound, but it's still a fantastic read.

Check out RA Salvatore's Drizzt books in the forgotten realms universe. These really got me into reading and they're just excellent. Start with the dark elf trilogy (homeland, exile, sojourn)

Edit: here is another recommendation I gave someone else that includes amazon links, not changing it because I'm on mobile

I know you want standalones but for beginning fantasy you can't go wrong with R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt series, and I'd definitely recommend starting with The Dark Elf Trilogy....you can get it used there, or new but it's a bit pricier (I've got the collectors which is apparently quite pricey by now) but with all this you may just be better off starting with Homeland then Exile then Sojourn, completing the trilogy (but not nearly the series, it's huge and one of my top favorites).

It sounds like the Riyria Revelations would be exactly what you're looking for, if you haven't already read it! It's very fast-paced, fun reading and the two main characters enjoy a lot of great banter. It can get darker at times, but it generally maintains a lighter tone.

Daniel O'Malley's Rook is more urban fantasty/sci fi, but it seems to be pretty overlooked and it's often hilarious. Speaking of urban fantasy, if you've never read the Dresden Files, that may be a safe bet as well. Lots of humor and pop-culture references even as the story becomes more and more dire and epic.

This isn't a series, and isn't so much pew-pew as BOOOM and "oh god, the several centuries of ramifications of that boom" but A Canticle for Leibowitz is my absolute favorite book. Sadly there's no Kindle version, but if your library has it, check it out.

For books that have a Kindle version, have you ever read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Absolutely hilarious.

As for fantasy, one book I've read recently that I thoroughly enjoyed was The Corpse-Rat King. Bonuses for being a cheap Kindle book and for being an indie author! It reminded me of my favorite D&D campaigns in all the right ways.

>In Conquest Born

Yeah, that was good. I have had This Alien Shore on my bookshelf for over a year. Her books are thick, but rich with characters and settings. I might give it a shot. I am finishing Chris Moriarty's Spin Control and it is not as good as the first Spin State.

I would also give an honorable mention to John Scalzi and his Old Man's War series. They were great too.

I'd say get in at least a few young adult fiction, as they're full of saccharine and angst ridden metaphor:

• The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

• Looking For Alaska

A few historical fictions:

• Wolf Hall

• Memoirs Of A Geisha

Comedy:

• The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

• Good Omens

Stephen king (just because he's a favorite)

• 11/22/63

• IT

And finally, some objectively "bad" books, to learn what not to do.

• Wild Animus: A Novel

• The Da Vinci Code

• Moon People


All of these books are personal favorites for one reason or another, and some may fit into multiple categories (see: looking for Alaska under YA fiction and "bad,").

That said, this should at least keep you busy for a bit.

Happy reading, and good luck on your novel!

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Neil and Terry are actually friends. I read the story of how they met once but I can't quite remember all the details. I think they were on the same train to London or something. Neil is also friends with Tori Amos which is kind of interesting. He has sequestered himself away to her different homes in the past so he can quietly write his books. Terry and Neil even wrote a book together (Good Omens), to be honest it's not my favorite but I would definitely recommend you take a look at Neil Gaiman.

Oh... one more, you should read Neverwhere.

Lol. If you really don't like reading maybe you should try some different books. My first suggestion for anyone who wants to try something new is Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Magic-Discworld-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0062225677/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413836312&sr=1-1&keywords=the+color+of+magic

It's the start to his absolutely amazing Discworld series. If you like comedy, amazing worlds, fantasy, sci-fi, and interesting characters, you really need to try it!

Just got off of work and working out so a little late on the reading schedule, but here it is for the first book of the end of the year series, Assassin's Apprentice (which is free from the library and only $2 off amazon for the free Kindle app)

October 3rd- read chapters Prologue-4

October 10th- 5-9

October 17th- 10-14

October 24th- 15-18

October 31st- 19-end

The posts for the Assassin's Apprentice will not be with the Literature off topic, but rather their own stickied post at 6:00pm

/u/carluun is helping me out with this, so if it is not up at that time PM him and he will make sure it will be up

> Think Witcher (of the video game series)

I can't tell if you're aware, but The Witcher is based on a series of books. The first two books are The Last Wish (which I'm currently reading and enjoying) and Sword of Destiny, which are collections of short stories. The first of the novels is Blood of Elves. The novels all take place prior to the first game. I think all but the last novel have official English translations (though it looks like the final official translation is due out in a few months).

EDIT: Here's the kindle link for Last Wish: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010SIPT4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Also, it looks like Blood of Elves for Kindle is on sale for $2.99 right now.

Not sure what you guys are discussing in terms of an official push to get more activity but the ones of us who are here actively could get some stuff we find interesting started up.

Is this the book? [http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Blood-Powder-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0092XHPIG/ref=tmm_kin_title_0] (http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Blood-Powder-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B0092XHPIG/ref=tmm_kin_title_0). It seems interesting. I might put it next on my list after I'm done with my "illustrated Mahabharata" borrowed from a friend.

In terms of stuff /r/fantasy loves, /u/MarkLawrence's Broken Empire trilogy (about an evil stabby bastard) has been a favorite (you can also start with Prince of Fools, which is the same world, but not as brutal), and I liked /u/robinhobb's Assassin's Apprentice (what it says on the tin) also. Robin Hobb's probably the best modern fantasy author I've found so far in terms of writing mechanics, but the first book is really slow until the last 1/3. Also really enjoyed Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora (thieves in fantasy Venice).

For brain candy, I frequently return to Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Choice/Trickster's Queen. Spies and coups in fantasy Malaysia.

Further into YA, Incarceron and Sapphique (labyrinthine steampunk prison + faux medieval outside world) were quite good.

Some of my favorites:

• The Myth of Sisyphus for philosophical essays.
  
• The Road and The Stand for dystopian fiction.
  
• American Gods or Neverwhere for fantasy.
  
• Brave New World, The Picture of Dorian Gray or Les Miserables for classics.
  
• Harry Potter is my favorite book of all time. It's pure story that is fun to read, evokes emotion and has great depth.
  
• The Beach is good to begin with, better if you're a traveler or like utopian type fiction. (Think of it as a dirtier, contemporary version of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine.)
  
• The Autobiography of King Henry VIII for historical biographies. Note that this one is fiction, but well researched.
  
• A few final random ones are Flowers for Algernon, Angela's Ashes and Italian Folktales.

Well you see, you gots some French Rev style revolt, throw in some military tactics, a sprinkle of mage factions, some excellent cooking, and a PI with a perfect memory and you get this book. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0092XHPIG/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_QKHiDbNYVVYK8

Shit is on sale for $3 as a Kindle read. That's some stonks right there. Audio books are also excellent if you like reading on the hour long drive to work like I do.

I recommend this talk by Watts, prob my favorite. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jX8PqznN0ao

Also Joseph Campbell is incredible. He has some lectures on iTunes that are pretty good, and this book (link below) is a good introduction to his work.

http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Art-Living-Campbell-Companion/dp/0060926171

This is an interesting series of novels. Not really necessary to read them in any particular order, but set in the same universe with some really neat ideas. Expendable, James Alan Gardner. I'm a stickler, so I like to read in order and this is the first.

http://www.amazon.com/Expendable-League-Peoples-Bk-1/dp/038079439X/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267371733&sr=8-8

I'd also add C.S. Friedman, This Alien Shore

http://www.amazon.com/This-Alien-Shore-C-S-Friedman/dp/0886777992/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267371906&sr=1-8

And if you haven't read them, the Halo book series is surprisingly good.

http://www.amazon.com/Books-Flood-First-Strike-Reach/dp/0345473043/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267373681&sr=1-4

Thanks, it's been a while, and I was confused.

To show my thanks, I hereby recommend a book. To Be or Not to Be. It's a plot-your-own, choose-your-own-adventure kind of book. You can be the ghost of Laertes, Hamlet, or Ophelia (a science genius). You know how Hamlet basically makes every decision wrong and you want to slap him the entire time? Play Ophelia, and you can. Or play Hamlet, and get him to do the right things.

Fun, fun book. Here. No, I'm not getting money for it, and I don't know the author, but it is one of the best books I've read in the past year.

I haven't read these two, but I've seen them in the fantasy aisle:

Paper Mage - Leah R. Cutter

Thirteen Orphans - Jane Lindskold

I've read some other of Lindskold's stuff and I liked them, but I don't know how she does chinese-based fantasy.

If you are looking for Asian in general, Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn was pretty good, I thought. But it is based on Japan not China.

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan.

I don't remember how I came across it. I think it may have been on a thread here and it was on sale/free. I was really impressed. Great characters (the main antagonist was my favorite character), well developed world for a first book, and a good political backdrop.

That reminds me I need to pick up the second book...

Gotta spread it out. I almost want to say Don't worry about your readers not quite understanding all of the backstory for a particular reference when it would first be relevant, or even before it would be relevant. Go ahead and let them have some mystery. If they don't know the precise why of how a reference is meaningful to the characters, that won't necessarily turn them off, especially if you make it clear that the reference is meaningful to the characters.

An example I would give because I've been reading it recently is Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. There is a ton of backstory, world-building, expository information, etc etc etc, that one could ladle out in the first chapter. It's a very complex world with a very complex history. And instead of being bogged down and bored by getting it all up-front, Leckie layers it through the narrative. It's a good two or three chapters before you get the element of exposition that makes it clear why the main character is reacting the way they are. You're more than half-way through the book before you know anything at all about an element of the universe's world that winds up being essential to understanding the entire driving force of the plot. She does a remarkable job of slowly slipping the world-building in in tastes and drips and awesome moments. At the end of the day, do you understand exactly every aspect of what the hell is going on in the first chapter? No, of course not, you lack the context for a lot of what is going on. But you're intrigued enough by what's going on that you want to find out what that context is, and so you keep reading.

Since it seems like you're already covering more popular series and not against SFW fiction, I'm going to suggest Magic Kingdom for Sale- SOLD! By Terry Brooks. I loved this book when I read it, and it got me into fantasy reading :)

The 50th anniversary editions (paperback or hardback) are very good choices, with the best text available; there's also a recent "deluxe" edition in a semi-paperback that's a good value.

I'm not sure how you're feeling about the WoT after these comments. I read the first 4 and, well I prefer a little more action in my fantasy. With that being said IF you are waffling and looking for alternatives, I would highly recommend this series: http://www.amazon.ca/Homeland-Legend-Drizzt-Book-ebook/dp/B002DOSBMK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373045175&sr=1-1&keywords=Drizzt

You will read those 13 books in the time you read 3 WoT books and they will give you some AMAZING memories. They are page turners! I still smile thinking about those books and characters. Check it out!

Book one

Book two

Absolutely incredible short story

Book one had such an uncomfortable start for me, felt too tropey and overdone, but I'm glad I stuck around and got into it because it really picks up into an amazing couple of books.

I just really hope book three is released during my lifetime.

One of the character's names is Ambrose.

I AM THAT

Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion

Ursula LeGuin's translation of the Tao Te Ching

Pharmako Series by Dale Pendell

Breaking Open the Head

Zhou Yi - the Book of Changes - this is by far, the most lucid version I have found; profoundly useful and amazing reflections and a true companion along the way.

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn is the first of The Tales of the Otori series. These are some excellent books and likely exactly what you are looking for. I really hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

It is not quite what you ask, but it was an interesting read regarding gender roles. I guess it was Sci Fi and not fantasy, so maybe you won't like it at all.

Ancilliary Justice by Ann Leckie, completely removes gender roles from the character. There is no romance from the main character Breq but one of the supporting characters does make several advances on the main character. Breq rebuffs them all to get on with his/her/its mission. There are a number of situations where you might think gender roles would get involved, but there is always some mitigating circumstance.

$0-$5

$5-$10

$10-$20

$20-$50

If I win, I really want it to be in the $10-$20 category, because I got that pen as a gift last christmas, loved it, then lost it at school. I miss that pen.

For reading I really like this one It's made of a more flexible type of material than a hardback but is sturdier and put together better than a paperback. There are a lot of nicer editions but many of them are quite expensive.

does this count?

thanks for the contest! aliens have always been interesting we actually almost went to the area 51 exhibit thing while i was over in vegas pretty big stuff :)

It's second-world epic fantasy, but the technology is equivalent to our own early 1800's. Very Napoleonic.

I'll say that the hardcover is gorgeous and the audiobook is very well done, but the ebook is currently on sale for $1.99. So if you're on the line about getting it, nab and ebook.

Based on your criteria, I'd say start with some Young Adult stuff first, it tends to be shorter and less convoluted than the adult high fantasy stuff like WoT and GoT. Maybe Graceling would interest you?

If you want something light hearted that won't take up too much of your brain space, I'd say try Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, the Landover series by Terry Brooks, or the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. All fantasy books plenty of comic relief.

storm of swords by George R. R. Martin. The greatest book from the greatest series in my opinion.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, by Douglas Adams is a book from the much beloved Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Well worth a read.

The Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie beginning with Ancillary Justice deals with all of these issues from a unique, very interesting and alien perspective. The amazon page claims it is the only novel ever to sweep the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards.

Homeland: The Legend of Drizzt is on my Kindle wishlist. I started playing DnD over a year ago and I'm finding myself loving it more and more. Found out there are some books written within the universe and this is one of the best ones. Besides, it's fantasy. Who doesn't love fantasy?

Miskatonic University

My wife loves her kindle, it's alot easier for her to take places where she would normally take 2 or 3 different books with her. Plus, if she manages to finish one and still has time to kill or whatever, it's super easy to start another.

As for books, I've got 2 recommendations if you're into fantasy at all. One and two.

Drizzt Do'Urden, of The Legend of Drizzt series the modering original Mary Sue.

I'm also very partial to Kylar Stern of The Night Angel Trilogy. Slum boy to badass assassin. Love it.

If you get this one, it's actually a deal on Amazon US right now for $2.99 for the Kindle edition, then you can buy the audiobook for $11.99 whispersync deal. I remembered seeing it on the /r/ebookdeals subreddit earlier today. Depending on how much you pay for your credits (and whether you have any interest in the Kindle edition too), this could be a good deal.

Whole lotta reading recommendations in this thread. May as well throw my two cents in.

The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. If you're into Guts' introspective-man-of-violence-looking-for-his-place-in-the-world-thing I'd think you find Logen Ninefingers to be an interesting character. If you're into audiobooks then I highly recommend checking out the audiobook versions. The guy reading them is practically a voice-actor.


The original trilogy:

• The Blade Itself.
  
• Before They are Hanged.
  
• The Last Argument of Kings.
  
  The standalone novels (available as a single volume in The Great Leveller):
  
  
• Best Served Cold (my own personal favorite. Imagine the mercenary-army warring states stuff from the Golden Age meets Kill Bill/Lady Snowblood).
  
• The Heroes.
  
• Red Country.
  
  And the most recent Sharp Ends (short story collection).
  
  The Witcher books by Andrezj Sapkowski. Already spawned a popular video game franchise (I've only played the third one and enjoyed it tremendously, but still prefer the books). They're planning to adapt the books into a Netflix series within the next few years.
  
  Short story collections:
  
  
• The Last Wish.
  
• Sword of Destiny.
  
  The novels:
  
  
• The Blood of Elves.
  
• The Time of Contempt.
  
• Baptism of Fire.
  
• The Tower of Swallows.
  
• The Lady of the Lake.

If you like sci-fi and Adventure Time's humor, I would definitely start with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I picked up where I left off on the Drizzt series. I stopped after book 8. Let me tell you those books are awesome and well worth a read, I'm sure you've heard of them.

http://www.amazon.com/Homeland-Trilogy-Forgotten-Realms-Legend/dp/0786939532/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318470456&sr=8-2

Well, my favorite thing I've purchased from Amazon is To Be or Not To Be by Ryan North for 22 dollars. It's a choose-your-own-adventure version of Hamlet and it's hilarious.

Homeland (26)

I read it in elementary school. It was the book that inspired my love of fantasy novels and the first REAL book I ever read.

I remember seeing this version on Amazon. Was considering getting it before deciding to get a split up version for more comfortable reading. It was a hard choice tho...looks beautiful.

And here’s a video of it in action!

I read a lot of smaller name authors from Amazon and /r/Fantasy.

Finished the third book in the Weapon of Flesh trilogy, Weapon of Vengance and started on the first of the Powder Mage trilogy, The Promise of Blood.

I'm super excited for Will Wight's new trilogy-of-twos to come out - Of Sea and Shadow / Of Shadow and Sea

I recently read The Last Wish and loved it. It's what The Witcher games are based on, and it's a very interesting world with interesting characters and a plot that really makes you take a moment to think about how you define a monster and what makes something good or evil.

The Underdark (or as I like to call them "The Sunless Lands") is your chance to do anything you want, mostly because if the PCs are being played correctly, they probably haven't heard much about it...or if they have, what they may have heard are wild tall tales or fanciful rumors that have very little basis in reality.

And blank slates don't come along very often, so you should make the most of it.

For source material, if you have access to previous editions of D&D, I would try any of the following:

https://www.amazon.com/Menzoberranzan-Famed-City-Drow-Revealed/dp/1560764600

https://www.amazon.com/Skullport-AD-Forgotten-Realms-Undermountain/dp/0786913487/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473797909&sr=1-1&keywords=skullport

https://www.amazon.com/Drizzt-DoUrdens-Underdark-Forgotten-Realms/dp/0786915099/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473797970&sr=1-2&keywords=underdark+AD%26D

Or read some of R.A. Salvatore's novels such as

https://www.amazon.com/Homeland-Trilogy-Forgotten-Realms-Legend/dp/0786939532/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473798026&sr=1-1&keywords=r.a.+salvatore+drizzt+series

Or try http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052948/ -- you can turn the plot of that 1959 movie into a D&D equivalent and run wild with it. Bet they never expected a "Hollow Earth" would exist down there!

If anyone wants to start reading The Witcher novels I made a guide over on the "Featured Character" comment section that I'll repost here:

Short stories:

1. [The Last Wish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Wish_(book) - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
2. Sword of Destiny - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   Novels:
   
   
3. Blood of Elves - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
4. Time of Contempt - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
5. [Baptism of Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_of_Fire_(novel) - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
6. The Tower of the Swallow - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   
7. [The Lady of the Lake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake_(novel) - Amazon US / Amazon UK
   
   Overall:
   
   
8. The Last Wish
   
   
9. Sword of Destiny
   
   
10. Blood of Elves
    
    
11. Time of Contempt
    
    
12. Baptism of Fire
    
    
13. The Tower of the Swallow
    
    
14. The Lady of the Lake
    
    The short stories are a must-read before the novels because they introduce many characters and plot points for the main saga. There is also a prequel story called Season of Storms which hasn't been officially translated into English yet, but there are fan translations if you can't wait. I haven't read it myself, but I hear that it is best read after the others. If you want to know more about The Witcher lore there is always The World of the Witcher^UK which will give you more backstory and details.

Just to belabor the point, I've noticed a huge difference in the words I use in everyday speech when I'm reading fantasy novels or other fiction. Don't worry about books they make you read in English classes, any modern non-YA fiction will do.

If you like fantasy, I recommend Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice and the other books in the series.

To Be or Not To Be by Ryan North (of Dinosaur Comics fame)! It's a choose-your-own-adventure version of Hamlet, in which you can play as Hamlet, Ophelia, or Hamlet Senior's Ghost! It's hilarious as well as logically consistent! Highly recommended for all grown-ups. :D

Have a look at Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series. Space opera/MilSF, simple narratives.

Incidentally, if you use FTL, you can set the average speed and transit time to whatever is convenient to your narrative.

Excession by Iain Banks is a good look at a post scarcity interstellar society. It's also a good study in plotting and pacing. In a Banks novel you'll generally encounter complex narratives, factions gathering intelligence for most of the book and maneuvering into position, then a big action scene, then the factions regroup and then a big final action scene.

I think you should also look at Martha Wells' Murderbot series. This is a series of novellas, 40K words, but they are basically being marketed as novels, and readers are eating it up. Wells is killing it with this series, and you should study the overall form of the story and the writing style and tone/mood.

Readers are hungry for lighthearted SF now. Not necessarily humorous SF like the Hitchhiker's Guide, though humorous is also popular, but lighthearted enough so that the characters can crack a joke occasionally, or have some running banter in their dialogue. Murderbot is a killer android with a soft side.

I think readers are tired of the doom & gloom of post apoc, and right now the market responds to lighter fare. Other recent examples of this would be We are Legion (We are Bob) and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I hesitate in include these two, because I think they are both poorly written, but they are both lighthearted and are super popular right now.

If you like sci-fi at all, I recommend John Scalzi's series that starts with "Old Man's War."

I haven't read them, but I've heard good things about Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and Tad Williams' Otherland series.

Here's a few recent books, all good or very good:

Last Plane to Heaven, Jay Lake (short story collection)


The Adjacent
, Chris Priest

On the Steel Breeze, Alistair Reynolds (Book2 in series)


The Causal Angel, Hannu Rajaniemi (Book3 in series)


Strange Bodies, Marcel Theroux


The Martian, Andy Weir (recommended!)


ShipStar, Benford-Niven (Book2 in series)


Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie


A Darkling Sea, James Cambias


The Disestablishment of Paradise, by Phillip Mann {I've just started this one, so can't say yet if good or great or crappy, but it's started off very good).


...And if you have not yet discovered The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanDerMeer, you should probably check it out.

I don't know how much shipping would be, since I can only see the prime price. xD; But here!

You shouldn't gift me because I HAVEN'T MADE MY BED IN AGES. Like I want anything from YOU.

Edit: FIXED!

What sort of literature are you into? I don't dedicate as much time to reading as I used to, which is unfortunate. I read House of Leaves in High School, but I sort of want to re-read it. I'm also in the third book of a song of ice and fire, but I've put that on hold for now. I'm about to start reading Homeland, on loan from my best friend. He liked it quite a bit, so I'm hoping I will too.

Edit: Homeland (and all of the Drizzt books) are set in the Forgotten Realms, if you're into Dungeons and Dragons at all.

Assassin's Apprentice If you like fantasy books this one is great. There is a lot of magic and intrigue.

Other works of fiction that contain the concept of a metaverse;

Books

• The Otherland series, by Tad Williams, beginning with City of Golden Shadow (sidenote, this series also has an MMORPG based on it, currently in closed beta, and recently (October of last year) brought back from the dead)
  
  
• The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons, beginning with Hyperion.
  
  
• The Golden Oecumene, by John C. Wright, beginning with The Golden Age.
  
  
• Accel World, by Reki Kawahara, beginning with Kuroyukihime's Return. (If you are familiar with the manganime Sword Art Online, this is by the same author, and shares the same universe)
  
  
• This Alien Shore, by Celia S. Friedman. (amazon link)
  
  
• The Sprawl Trilogy, by William Gibson, beginning with Neuromancer.
  
  
• Accelerando, by Charles Stross. (free e-book link)
  
  Anime and Manga
  
  
• The .hack series, specifically .hack//SIGN
  
  
• For a lighter feel, there's Summer Wars (available on CrunchyRoll) and the INCREDIBLY similar second Digimon movie, Our War Game!. Also I guess by extension, but not really explored as much, the entire Digimon series, as it takes place in an analogy for the internet.
  
  
• Serial Experiments Lain
  
  
• Okay fine, here's Sword Art Online (CrunchyRoll link)
  
  Film
  
  
• The Singularity is Near, a speculative documentary based on the Ray Kurzweil book of the same name.
  
  
• The Thirteenth Floor, a crime thriller about the owner of a VR simulation company getting murdered.
  
  ----
  
  I know I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the genre, because if there's one thing humans are good at, it's writing fucktons on what we like.
  
  So feel free to comment additions to this list, or opinions on what I've currently included. I have by no means read/watched all of these, so having someone with actual experience with each of these weigh in would be nice.

There's also a fantasy series based on feudal Japan called Tales of the Otori that was excellent (and supports your point about fantasy being based on certain historical realities).

I would suggest reading the novel Homeland, by R.A. Salvatore. You don't have to get all into the Drizzt stuff, but this is the stereotypical assumption for Dark Elves (keeping in mind this is one city in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and your DM might have a TOTALLY different viewpoint on this subject).

I think it will give you a good point-of-view on how most people will reply to your questions... like the baseline assumptions on Drow society.

Try The Quantum Thief a hit-tech, high-energy adventure.

Also,

> .. books aren't sexist or racist but not about those issues ...

Ancillary Justice which folks might not suggest because of its well-known take on gender, but it's not about that at all. It's pace is pretty moderate, though.

If you're interested, here's the chronollogical order of the books (with links to buy them on Amazon):

1. The Last Wish
   
2. Sword of Destiny
   
3. Blood of Elves
   
4. Time of Contempt
   
5. Baptism of Fire
   
6. Tower of Swallows
   
7. Lady of the Lake
   
   --------
   
   Season of Storms is an upcoming book set in between the short stories of The Last Wish. It will be released in English on March 2018.

Tales of the Otori I don't believe I have ever seen it mentioned, but I loved the series.

You should give us a little insight as to what genre you like, since every reader is different. Here are a few of my favorites from some random genres.

Fantasy: A Song of Ice and Fire, Harry Potter, Neverwhere, American Gods.

Sci-Fi: The Illustrated Man, Gold.

Dystopian Fiction: The Stand, The Road.

Classic Fiction: Flowers For Algernon,

Philosophy: Thus Spake Zarathustra, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Whatever Else: Fight Club, Fast Food Nation

edit: formatting

If you want something that is current and easy to carry around then this one is probably a good choice.

Yes. All of that.

https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Kingdom-Sale-Sold-Landover-Brooks/dp/0345317580

and it's written in that light hearted King's Quest way that makes the whole read just fun.

Here's a sneak peek of /r/ebookdeals using the top posts of the year!

#1: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams -- Kindle ($2.99) | 1 comment
#2: Hyperion by Dan Simmons / $1.99 on Kindle | 5 comments
#3: The Scorching by Libbi Duncan - FREE ebook for Cyber Monday | 0 comments

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The Rook. Absolutely amazing. In my top five. the rook

This sort-of not really but still kind of sounds like you want The Rook. It's less corporate and more bureaucracy, and the main charcter isn't vanilla (but isn't far off either), but you'd probably enjoy it.

I would like The Thin Red Line by James Jones or The Last Wish by Andrzei Sapkowski.

Lately I have been listening to a lot of Blind Pilot and Dirty Heads but Tom Petty has always been my favorite musician.

rock out

Guys! This isn't the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! This is from the Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett!

You should definitely read the book if you like this kind of humor.

The Last Wish: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0010SIPT4/
Sword of Destiny:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316389706/

The last story in SoD describes how has Gerald and Ciri met, and there's one about her parents.

Also, short stories are better IMHO.

There's actually quite a bit of good post-singularity literature. You should check some of it out. Here's a quick list of a few of my favorites:

• Ventus by Karl Schroeder
  
• Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder
  
• Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
  
• Accelerando by Charles Stross
  
• Excession by Iain M. Banks
  
• Hyperion by Dan Simmons
  
• A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

I've been purchasing the reissued mass market paperbacks one at a time as I finish them (currently reading small gods ). I'm pretty sure they are the only ones I've found to be a complete matching set. So far so good.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0062225677/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486628973&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=discworld+collection&dpPl=1&dpID=51chrfXHMNL&ref=plSrch

You might be interested in the novel Across the Nightingale Floor, in which a ninja must learn to silently cross a wooden floor, which was designed to be extra noisy to alert the guards. It's basically pseudo-Japan Mission Impossible.

I'd recommend that you start reading this book: Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion. It will open your eyes to spirituality. I think it will provide a good context for someone who has been brought up in any belief system to understand spirituality.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, one of the greatest and most hilarious books ever written. Get the actual book and completely ignore the movie of the same name.

The kindle book: The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher is on sale for $2.99 today.


The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010SIPT4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_74T-BbF0ZVYTF

Mortal Instruments is fantasy, right? Does she dig humorous books? If yes, the Discworld series is perfect. The first couple set the world, but I much prefer the witches or Night's Watch series.

If you don't mind things set in our geography but with fantasy worlds added on there's:

The City and The City by China Mieville. I really didn't like it but lots of people do.

Not to give much away but towards your fantasy point [spoiler](/s"The story is set in a city that overlaps with another. There aren't other races etc though.")

Alternatively his Perdido Street Station has those of other species in something like our modern times.

Also I'm surprised to have not seen American Gods in here.

I just finished the Farseer Trilogy, which starts with Assassin's Apprentice. I enjoyed it, and thought there were a lot of similarities there. Starts with the protagonist as a parent-less child who has some untapped magical abilities, told from the perspective of the main character looking back and telling his story as he grows up.

A couple of the best

Iain M Banks : Excession

Greg Egan : Permutation City

Really good sci-fi book that plays around with this question.

Well, my favorites are

The Moviegoer

The Road

A Confederacy of Dunces

Rendezvous with Rama

Watchmen

Snow Crash

Slaughterhouse-Five

Cat's Cradle

The Big Sleep

The Maltese Falcon

American Gods

A Clockwork Orange

Preacher

Fahrenheit 451

1984

Akira

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Lolita

Love in the Time of Cholera

Naked Lunch

Animal Farm

The Sandman

At the Mountains of Madness

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Brave New World

We

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

I've done something similar a while ago and used books on amazon marketplace is your best bet. It's actually easy to find them there if you know how.
Go to amazon.com, search for Color of Magic, the first book of the series, and look at the list of used books.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0062225677/ref=tmm_mmp_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&sr=8-1&qid=1394908702
In there, you will find some users with insane numbers of ratings (300k and more). Those are used book shops and they often have entire series available, but list every book individually on amazon. So click on one of them and search for "discworld" in their user shop. The "DailyDeal USA" shop seems to have almost, if not all of the books.
Then you can either add them all to your cart (annoying) or you can try e-mailing them. They might even give you a discount.

Great: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Wish-Introducing-Witcher-ebook/dp/B0010SIPT4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523567240&sr=8-1&keywords=introducing+the+witcher

The first book.

Tales of the Otori is immediately what I thought of when I saw this post. Absolutely amazing books. You should pick it up sometime.

Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book 1)

Link for OP

Eclipses make us happy here!.

1:11

link.

What about A Short History of Nearly Everything? Or Seal Team Six? Or The Magicians? What about American Gods, Hyperspace and The Grand Design

What I'm saying is 18 is too few. Get cracking.

Pretty unrepresentative choice of reviews to display. A Storm of Swords had a 4.5 star rating on Amazon in November 2006. (link)

Here is the link to Amazon. The books were created first then CD Projekt asked to create the game and it went over like crazy in Poland.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Wish-Andrzej-Sapkowski-ebook/dp/B0010SIPT4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420836986&sr=8-1&keywords=witcher

In no particular order:

1. The Grishaverse By Leigh Bardugo
   
   
2. Binti by Nnedi Okarafor
   
   
3. The Great Library by Rachel Caine
   
   
4. Hunter by Mercedes Lackey
   
   
5. The Temeraire Novels By Naomi Novik
   
   
6. Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen
   
   
7. The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
   
   
8. Kings and Sorcerers by Morgan Rice
   
   
9. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
   
   
10. The City of Brass by S A Chakraborty

I recommend Ryan North's retelling of Hamlet in a choose your own adventure style: To Be or Not to Be.

The Kingkiller Chronicles!

The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear

Would you be down to follow a Dark Elf main character as he survives his brutal dark elf society to become ome of the greatest swordsman and hero?

If so, Homeland by R. A. Salvatore

Happy Friday. Apparently I really need to read this book

back to the beginning

---

Current Selection#####

• Echopraxia by Peter Watts [Echopraxia]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
  ---
  

  Past Selections#####
  

  
  

  2014######
  

  
  

• The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke [Songs]. Began August 6th.
  
  
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson [2312]. Began July 7th.
  
  
• The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard [crystal]. Began June 4th.
  
  
• The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon [Lot49]. Began May 7th.
  
  
• The Lilith's Brood Trilogy by Octavia Butler [lilith]. Began April 7th.
  
  
• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie [Justice]. Began March 6th.
  
  
• [Invisible Cities] (http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Cities-Italo-Calvino/dp/0156453800) by Italo Calvino [Invisible]. Began February 5th.
  
  
• Machine Man by Max Barry [Machine]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2013######
  

  
  

• House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds [suns]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Singularity Sky by Charles Stross [singularity]. Began November 4th.
  
  
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood [Oryx and Crake]. Began October 7th.
  
  
• The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway [gone-away]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin [dispossessed]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
• The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks [sonata]. Began July 3rd.
  
  
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clark [rama]. Began June 3rd.
  
  
• Jack Glass by Adam Roberts [glass]. Began May 3rd.
  
  
• Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn [monsters]. Began April 3rd.
  
  
• Solaris by Stanisław Lem [solaris]. Began March 3rd.
  
  
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan [carbon]. Began February 1.
  
  
• The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson [diamond]. Began January 4th.
  
  

  2012######
  

  
  

• Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke [childhood]. Began December 1st.
  
  
• Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo (aka Unto Leviathan) [fools]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg [dying]. Began October 4th.
  
  
• China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh [china]. Began September 4th.
  
  
• Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges [labyrinths]. Began August 4th.
  
  
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury [martian]. Began July 2nd.
  
  
• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [mote]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky [picnic]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester [Destination]. Began April 2nd.
  
  
• Diaspora by Greg Egan [diaspora]. Began March 5th.
  
  
• Stories by Ted Chiang [Chiang]. Began February 3rd.
  
  
• Grass by Sheri S. Tepper [grass]. Began January 2nd.
  
  

  2011######
  

  
  

• Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny [lord]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Zones of Thought Trilogy by Vernor Vinge [zones], [fire], [deepness], [children]. Began October 28th.
  
  
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami [Wonderland]. Began October 3rd.
  
  
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline [rp1]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• Rule 34 by Charles Stross [Rule 34]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
• The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi [quantum]. Began July 1st.
  
  
• Embassytown by China Miéville [Embassytown]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald [dervish]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin [LHoD]. Began April 5th.
  
  
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. [canticle]. Began March 1st.
  
  
• Inverted World by Christopher Priest [inverted world]. Began February 1st.
  
  
• The City & the City by China Miéville [the city]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2010######
  

  
  

• Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks [surface]. Began December 3rd.
  
  
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell [cloud atlas]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Anathem by Neal Stephenson [anathem]. Began October 1st.
  
  
• Blindsight by Peter Watts [blindsight]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi [windup]. Began August 1st.
  
  
• The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams [MoPI]. Began July 15th.

Ancillary Justice

http://www.amazon.com/Ancillary-Justice-Imperial-Radch-Leckie/dp/031624662X

It's from Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy.

Douglas Adams has that dry, sarcastic, self-deprecating British humor down. He basically wrote a fun book, or perhaps even a series, around the idea that "What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything" is a malformed question.

It’s the origin story of Drizzt Do’Urden by R. A. Salvatore. When I was young it was the first set of books I ever read that I wasn’t required in school. I highly recommend reading them if you like forgotten realms books.

I cannot recommend enough the Powder Mage Trilogy by Brian McClellan. Mainly follows 3 protagonists POV, but has additional support characters it examines from time to time. First book is Promise of Blood.

I enjoyed The Rook by Daniel O'Malley.

Well, I own this one!

http://www.amazon.com/To-Be-Not/dp/0982853742

It is a rather amusing take on Hamlet. Not only do you choose your own adventure, but you choose your own character. I don't know if this is quite the genre you're looking for though.

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss Kvothe is one of the most overpowered, got the answers to everything, character.
Book 1 The Name of the Wind kindle link.
Book 2 The Wise Man's Fear kindle link.

King's Dark Tidings by Kel Kade. Rezkin suffers from the same blight as the previously mention Kvothe, BUT he has social awkwardness, which is great through the first 2 books.
Book 1 Free the Darkness kindle link.
Book 2 Reign of Madness kindle link.
Book 3 Legends of Ahn kindle link.



Here is one of my favorite books. Urban Fantasy.
MC is OP, but doesn't realize it. Manages to survive things he shouldn't.

Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia
The fist book is free from the Baen website.

Promise of Blood (Powder Mage Trilogy) by Brian McClellan.

It is a Flintlock and Sorcery series that is heavily inspired by the American Revolution.

Boomerang

Thanks for the raffle!

https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Johnson-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199538336

https://www.amazon.com/Color-Magic-Discworld-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0062225677/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550233194&sr=1-1&keywords=DiscworldI highly recommend both of these.

The Wise Man's Fear is also on sale for $2.50

Start here.


See you in several months (depending on how fast you read) .


You are welcome.

Got you covered :)

I read The Magic of the Unicorn as a kid, purchased it for my own children and was surprised at how enjoyable I've found it as an adult. The reading is not difficult, but the story is unpredictable and the fantasy world is vivid.

I will read To Be or Not To Be soon (saving it for a snowy night).

Right now, I'm on a tour of Space Opera; Ancillary Justice before sleep, Abaddon's Gate during commute, and The Sundiver on my laptop during downtime at work. Between those 3, Abaddon's gate is the most interesting one, although it requires you to read the first two books.

First books that come to mind:

• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven
  
• Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
  
• Blindsight by Peter Watts
  
• Excession by Iain M. Banks (pushing the theme a bit but it deals with how humans and "Minds" deal with a more advanced culture than their own)

I'm reading through the first one and it's decent. You'll recognize some events from the first game. It appears to be a collection of not-really-related vignettes. As far as fantasy fiction goes, it's interesting subject matter that's passably written. But it's about Geralt so it's interesting.

On this note

https://www.amazon.com/Assassins-Apprentice-Farseer-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B000FBFMG6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1488123779&sr=8-3&keywords=robin+hobb

On special. Couple of bucks atm

Got them individually off of Amazon Prime:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316029181/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316219185/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316219134/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031602919X/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316273716/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316389706/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I do have a book

A choose your own adventure

but you are Hamlet! :D

I almost forget, you may also enjoy Magic Kingdom For Sale by Terry Brooks.

Incidentally, check out this collection of Le Guin's Hainish novels. (Totally worth it by the way.)

Otherwise, here are some suggestions for other authors:

• CJ Cherryh's Downbelow Station and her other Alliance-Union works.
  
• Iain M Banks' Culture series. People often suggest starting with Player of Games which is a solid choice.
  
• Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice (the first in a trilogy)
  

This is the version that I got: Lord Of The Rings Deluxe Edition

It contains the most recent and accurate version of the text. I like that it is all contained in the same volume, because I like to consult the Appendices as I read. The book is also bound in leather, and is very durable. It's thick, but small enough to be carried around for on the go reading.

I have this one and like it very much: http://smile.amazon.com/The-Lord-Rings-Deluxe-Edition/dp/0544273443

Yep! 4th in the saga translated into English, The Tower of Swallows

I recently finished "Name of the wind" and "The Wise Man's Fear" both by Patrick Rothfuss. I don't think I am in any way over hyping these to by saying they are the greatest novel's I've ever read. Fair warning, this is a trilogy and the third book is no where in sight.

On the nonfiction side, I am working my way through "Waking the Dead" by John Eldredge. This has been a really difficult read for me, as I have to stop every few paragraphs to recollect my emotions.

This Alien Shore by C. S. Friedman. I'm not sure how many people have read it, but I don't see it mentioned very often, which is a shame because it's a great book.

My daughter recently bought Ryan North's To be or not to be. It was my first exposure to "choose your own adventure" and I must say it got me thinking about doing a Riyria one.

What about choose your own adventure books?

I recommend Shantaram. It's about an Australian that escapes prison and goes to live in India. Apparently a true story but I take that with a pinch of salt. http://www.amazon.com/Shantaram/dp/192076920X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253712007&sr=8-2

and also American Gods http://www.amazon.com/American-Gods-Novel-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0060558121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253712023&sr=8-1

R.A. Salvatore is a nifty guy.

A mental mind fuck can be nice.

The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley. The protagonist starts the story with amnesia, but she was warned about it beforehand and puts together a healthy dossier on everything she'd need to know, so a good chunk of the book is spent consulting that dossier alongside the protagonist to find out what's going on in the top-secret organization she's apparently part of. Said organization is basically Her Majesty's X-Men, BTW.

I really like Homeland: The Dark Elf Trilogy By R.A Salvatore but only the first three, after that they really go downhill in quality
http://www.amazon.com/Homeland-Trilogy-Forgotten-Realms-Legend/dp/0786939532/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

The consensus will be for the "Disc-world" series. That's a handy link to a recommended reading order. Here is a link to the first novel .

Според мен най-добре използвай amazon - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786939532/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517925478&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=The+Legend+of+Drizzt&dpPl=1&dpID=51cDAwaY4aL&ref=plSrch

Amazon US links:

The Last Wish - $2.99 - Goodreads page

Blood of Elves - $2.99 - Goodreads page

You may want to read the Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan, it starts with Promise of Blood

They are fan translated, but as of May we've gotten Tower of Swallows.

I got it not long ago, but it's in my backlog of reading material currently. And the final book translation/audiobook has a vague 2017 date by the same company.

Toss up between Stephen King's The Gunslinger and Neil Gaiman's American Gods

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

• His Dark Materials (3 books) series by Philip Pullman
  
• [The Dark Tower (7 books)](http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1249348911/ref=sr_kk_2?ie=UTF8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=dark tower box set&tag=scoklablo-20) series by Stephen King
  
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
  
• Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Read about Johnny Appleseed here.

Reflections on the Art of Living - A Joseph Campbell Companion

This is one of the most affirming books I have ever read. Campbell's main idea is "Follow your bliss."

I don’t have the exact book with me but I think it was this one. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0060926171/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0060926171

The Laundry Files series by Charles Stross, beginning with The Atrocity Archives.

Nexus by Ramez Naam.

Lexicon by Max Berry.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley.

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway.

The Rook, perhaps?

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie!

Sequel to the renowned Ancillary Justice and second in the trilogy.

Very stoked!

You can have an alien or an animal or a monster be your main character, but the secret is that you have to make them human. In order for your reader to identify with them, they have to have some human qualities.

Essentially, your hivemind is a single entity, a single personality. It just happens to be able to inhabit multiple bodies simultaneously. It's more common in SF than fantasy. The case that immediately comes to mind is Ancillary Justice.

You need to read more, mate! May I suggest the morally gray stories about The Witcher?

Then read them in English? Assuming you're American:

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Wish-Introducing-Witcher/dp/0316029181/

http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Destiny-Witcher-Andrzej-Sapkowski/dp/0316389706/

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Elves-Andrzej-Sapkowski/dp/031602919X/

http://www.amazon.com/Time-Contempt-Witcher-Andrzej-Sapkowski/dp/0316219134/

http://www.amazon.com/Baptism-Fire-Witcher-Andrzej-Sapkowski/dp/0316219185/

http://www.amazon.com/Tower-Swallows-Witcher-Andrzej-Sapkowski/dp/0316273716/

Or

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Last-Wish-Audiobook/B00HWBTIFI/ etc.

http://www.amazon.ca/Tower-Swallows-Andrzej-Sapkowski/dp/0316273716/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453231383&sr=8-1&keywords=tower+of+swallows
There it says may 17th 2016