(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best epic fantasy books

1.) These postcards are mostly grey. And black and white. And they are also good for grey days. :)

2.) This is The Dead Weather's debut album. A good one. (jack white <3 <3 <3)

3.) As you will see on the track listing, the eponymous The White Stripes album has TWO songs on it that relate to food: "Sugar Never Tasted So Good" and "One More Cup of Coffee". Plus, the cover has the traditional swirly mints of The White Stripes. (Also, this one reminded me that I don't have Neutral Milk Hotel's first album on my list! So thanks for that.)

4.) The postcard books are for my friends. I send postcards to them. This TOTALLY counts. Especially the David Choe ones since David Choe is amazing. And I know that my friends like his art.

5.) If there is ANY chance that you have not read Sabriel, you need too. Really, really, really.

6.) This was on my list, but was removed after the lovely /u/scrumtrelescent sent it to me! And heads are definitely not related to hair, because heads can be bald. And the biggest annoyance about these things is that they sometimes get stuck in your hair. So it's really an advantage if you have no hair. :)

7.) This postcard book is actually titled "Wicked Witches and Creepy Cats", so there are lots of cats in it. If you look inside, you will see a cat dancing with an owl, an awesome dress covered in cat faces, and a very cute cat in a pumpkin. Also some truly scary cartoonish cats. Avoid the one in the bowtie. shudder

8.) I really don't need another dress, but this one is so cute!

9.) So...I don't have movies on my list that I have seen before. I actually only have this one. BUT. I can save this. This is a Studio Ghibli film. And Studio Ghibli films are awesome. (Spirited Away is my favorite movie <3) So...my argument is, everyone should watch every Studio Ghibli movie at least once in their life because they're so great. Which is why I want it! :)

10.) When zombies attack, it is important to be able to run quickly. No one could run faster than someone wearing SUPERMAN SNEAKERS!! I mean, he's faster than a speeding bullet!

11.) My biggest current goal is to make new friends, since I'm moving to a new city (eek! yay!). Board games always help with friends! This would definitely help me out.

12.) I'm going to interpret "pesky Add-On items" as anything that a company encourages you to purchase after an initial purchase of an item. Instead of what you really meant. So you should probably just ignore this one. BUT. An expansion to Munchkin would be so fun! Even if you don't really need it at all... <3

13.) I wouldn't call this my dream item, but it is the most expensive item on my list. This NES game for a number of reasons. First, it's a GREAT game. Second, I think it's funny having an amazingly expensive item on my list. Thirdly, what if someone actually bought me the "new" one? That would be Amazing.

14.) (I love the edit-I always just knew what size a breadbox was from playing 20 questions with my mom...) So. I don't really have large items on this list so much. BUT. [Fabric] (http://www.amazon.com/Aviary-Sparrows-Cavern-Black-Fabric/dp/B004VNVE7A/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=NO029QAH2C2U&coliid=IEEZTV09MV12V), while perhaps being able to fold up into something smaller than a bread box, could also wrap around the bread box. This must count for something. It's already 42" across, so that's wider than a bread box...Plus, what if you just purchased 100 yards of it? Then it wouldn't fit inside...

15.) My dad has one of these and it is so useful. I want one too! I'm pretty sure it's smaller than a golfball. It's possible that it's longer than one, but if you smushed it into little pieces, the total volume would definitely be less than that of a golfball. :P

16.) If I ordered this now, it would be brand new when I recieved it in September, and new books just smell SO GOOD!

17.) I love Rio Grande games, so I really want to try Power Grid. Plus, if you worked at an electrical company, your boss might even think you were just hard at work on some new electrical line, soooo it's definitely safe for work. (hehehe)

18.) Since I'm starting grad school this year in a new city, far from my undergrad friends, I need chocolate to help me when I'm sad and lonely! (Another good way to make friends, too!)

19.) This summer, the only thing I've been doing is making things. I really want to get into making hats (for some reason), so I've been rather obsessed with finding sinamay-it would be so useful to have the forms already made too...

20.) Purchasing this item gives you TWELVE Toblerone bars (you get two of the beautiful 6-pack boxes that you see pictured. That's ELEVEN MORE than usual!!! I can't explain the amazingness of this any better.

BONUS ITEMS

Anything that has my real name on it: Hm. Will have to do more research. :)

Made in Oregon: While perhaps not recorded or manufactured in Oregon, as The Decemberists are from Portland, OR, these songs were certainly composed there!

fear cuts deeper than swords

Fellow fan of series here! Let me see...

Young Adult
Percy Jackson series is fun (and finished, too, I think).
Artemis Fowl series isn't quite as good as Percy Jackson IMHO, but it's got a following.

Fantasy
Harry Dresden series This is one of my favorites. Harry is Chicago's only professional wizard. There are a ton of these books and they are still going strong.
Game of Thrones These are great...but unfinished. If you watch the show, reading the books does help you get even more out of the story, I think.
Wheel of Time Another good series. There is a LOT of this series and it's finished. (Thank you, Brandon Sanderson!)
Mistborn Speaking of Brandon Sanderson... This one is very good. I highly recommend reading the Mistborn books before trying the Stormlight Archive, but only because as good as Mistborn is, Stormlight Archive is even better.
Stormlight Archive Amazing. Man, these are good. The series isn't finished, but the two books that are available are some of my favorites ever.
Kingkiller Chronicles I loved the first book. I could not freakin' believe I enjoyed the second one even more. The third one is still pending.
Temeraire Dragons in Napoleonic times. Super cool premise! This one is not finished (I don't think, anyway).
Gentlemen Bastards Con men in a fantasy realm. It's pretty light on the fantasy elements. Very light, I'd say. I'd also say that it has some of the very best swearing that I've ever come across. :D

Scifi
Old Man's War I'm almost finished this one--it's amazing!

Horror/Thriller
Passage Trilogy I've heard these described as vampire books...maybe zombie books... It's apocalyptic for sure. Great books!

Mysteries
Amelia Peabody Egyptology + murder mysteries. Super fun, but trust me...go with the audiobooks for these. They are best when they are performed.
Stephanie Plum Total popcorn reads. If that's your thing, shut off your brain and just enjoy.
Walt Longmire These get particularly good as it goes along. The main character is a sheriff in modern day Wyoming. (Side note: The TV show is also great--just don't expect them to stick to the books.)

Graphic Novels (Everything recommended can be gotten in a "book" format instead of only in comic form, in case that matters. I've gotten most of these from my local library.)
Locke & Key Eerie as crap. Love the art! This one is on-going.
Y: The Last Man All the men on the planet drop dead in a day...except for Yorrick. REALLY good. This is the series that got me reading graphic novels. Plus, it's finished!
Walking Dead I am not a zombie fan...but I like these. They're not done, but I've read up through volume 22 and am still enjoying them.

Other
OutlanderI have no idea how to categorize these or even give a description that does them justice. I refused to pick it up for AGES because it sounded like a bodice-ripper romance and that's not my bag. But these are good!

I hope there's something in there that'll do for you. Have fun and read on!

Edit: Apparently, I need to practice formatting. :/
Edit 2: I forgot to add the Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentlemen Bastards #1).

There's a lot of great authors publishing independently(self and small press) now, but it can be hard to pick the ones you'll enjoy out of the flood of new releases on Amazon. I'll link to a few of the authors and books I've enjoyed.

Super hero novels

The Blackjack novels by Ben Bequer are fun.

I also enjoyed Confessions of a D-List Supervillian by Jim Bernheimer. They share similar themes of a super-villain forced out of their comfort zone.

Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain by Richard Roberts is the start of a great young adult series about the daughter of super heroes charting her own path.

Fantasy and SF

Anything by Andrea K Höst is great. The Touchstone series is great comfort reading about a young woman who walks around a corner and ends up in another world. It's the most SF of her works.

Terry Mancours' Spellmonger series is a fun fantasy about a mage who retires to the backwoods but ends up in the center of a continent spanning conflict. It spends a lot of time on the details of living in a fantasy world, but there's plenty of action too.

John Conroe's Demon Accords is a contemporary fantasy about a cop turned holy warrior. Fun action/fantasy, a couple of the books focus on side characters for a change of pace.

Jack L. Knapp has a couple enjoyable SF series. I'm partial to his New Frontiers series about the rediscovery of a space drive technology and humanities expansion in to the solar system.

Military SF

Marko Kloos is great as mentioned by others.

Christopher Nutall has a ton of books, both SF and fantasy(I tend to prefer his fantasy).

I highly recommend:

1. The Orphans of Chaos trilogy by John C. Wright. He really pushes the boundaries of the imagination by writing about a universe in which there are 4 different paradigms of magic/power, each of which cancels one of the others out and is canceled out by one of the others. It's an epic Titans vs Olympic Gods fantasy, and I've read it several times--which is rare for me to do.
   
   
2. Obviously read the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin if you haven't already done so! I delayed reading it a long time but then read all of them in a week and a half when I finally succumbed.
   
   
3. ALWAYS recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
   
   
4. ALSO always recommend Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequels by Scott Lynch.
   
   
5. The Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. It's YA, but pretty mature YA, and IMO could easily transition to the regular fantasy section.
   
   
6. Books by Diana Wynne Jones. She writes YA, but fantasy that I wouldn't call immature. The best word I could use to describe it would be "whimsical." If I could compare her style of fantasy to anyone's it would EASILY be the filmmaker Miyazaki. (His films include Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, etc.--he even adapted one of her books!) I think her best work is her Chrestomanci series which has 3 volumes (each volume is made up of several novellas), but she is best known for Howl's Moving Castle, which I also highly recommend (along with its sequels Castle in the Air and The House of Many Ways).
   
   
7. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. It's fun, original, often dark, often humorous, fast-paced, and FILLED with action. As noted by someone else, there are vampires in the universe, but they're not the central motif. There are also other scary things, like fairies, goblins, witches/wizards, demons...the list goes on and on.
   
   
8. Terry Pratchett's Discworld canon. There are many, MANY books, and they're not written in series so you can jump in almost anywhere. I recommend Small Gods to start.
   
   
9. The Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier, starting with Daughter of the Forest. There are also spin-off novels, though I haven't read them all. Her writing is beautiful and mystical. She almost makes me believe magic/fae could exist.
   
   
10. The Passion and The Promise (a duet) and, separately, The Alchemist by Donna Boyd. These are really, really excellently written. "Lush" would be the word I'd use. They're not hugely well known, and I find that utterly boggling considering how good they are.

Sorcerous Rivalry is my debut sword and sorcery novel! Recognized as a Semi-Finalist from SPFBO 2018, this novel will hook you with vibrant characters, action packed battles, and just enough romance to keep things interesting.

If you loved Sorcerous Rivalry and needed more of those lovable characters in your life, you’ll be thrilled to know that Mistress Mage is released and finishes the current arc of the story where we left our heroes. Both novels are free on Kindle Unlimited and available through Amazon worldwide as either e-book or paperback formats!

If you’d like to review either of my works, my contact information is available through the TBRindr Project! I want to thank all of the r/Fantasy community and especially those of you who read and review the works of indie authors such as myself. Your feedback and enthusiasm for fantastic worlds are an endless source of motivation – thank you and happy reading!


Sorcerous Rivalry qualifies for the following Book Bingo squares:

• Self-Published Novel
  
  
• Novel Published in 2018 (HARD MODE Eligible)
  
  
• Novel with Fewer than 2,500 Goodreads Ratings (HARD MODE Eligible)
  
  
• Novel that was Reviewed on r/Fantasy (HARD MODE Eligible)
  
  
• Novel from the r/Fantasy LGBTQ+ Database (HARD MODE Eligible)
  
  
• Novel that Features the Fae
  
  
  Mistress Mage qualifies for the following Book Bingo squares:
  
  
• Self Published Novel (HARD MODE Eligible)
  
  
• Novel Published in 2018
  
  
• Novel with Fewer than 2,500 Goodreads Ratings (HARD MODE Eligible)
  
  
• Novel that was Reviewed on r/Fantasy (HARD MODE Eligible)
  
  
• Novel from the r/Fantasy LGBTQ+ Database (HARD MODE Eligible)
  
  
• Novel Featuring a Library
  

Couple of suggestions:

• Stephen King: The Dark Tower (series)
  
• Derren Brown: Tricks of the Mind
  
• Simon Singh: The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets
  
• Mark Hadden: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
  
• J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter
  
• Mark Leigh: Pets with Tourette's
  
  Don't what your interested in, but the above is pretty good all round list.
  
  The Dark Tower books are an amazing read. Fantasy fiction. 7 books in the series, with an 8^th written latter that is kinda supposed to be in the middle somewhere. It is an addictive read, and yet I haven't finished it yet. I'm not very good at describing books, and I don't want to ruin it at all. So I'm afraid you'll have to look up reviews. But they are brilliant, and I really must finish them!
  
  Derren Brown is (if you don't know) a British illusionist with an absolutely unbelievable set of skills. He is constantly de-bunking psychics, and magic in general, while at the same time making you believe he is magic (even if you have absolutely no belief in magic at all)! This book explains some of the tricks he does, and how to perform a lot of things. From simple disappearing coins, to insane memory capabilities. Very interesting read. Another one that is really hard to put down.
  
  The Simpsons Mathematical Secrets book is something I found accidentally while being really nerdy and watching this video. It turns out that a lot of The Simpsons writers are mathematicians. These guys slip nerdy Easter Eggs into the episodes, and Simon goes through them all. The video linked talks about how numbers should be difference for the Simpsons, as they only have 4 fingers (3 and a thumb) where as we have 5. This makes us use a base 10 number system, they should use a base 8 number system. Fundamentally changing things like Pi. The writers knew this. But there is one, and only one, character in The Simpsons who has 5 fingers (4 and a thumb), and so this is why they live in a decimal world - The only character is God, and he controls the number system for some reason.
  
  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a book I had to read in school. It is an amazing diary like "murder mystery novel like no other". It is narrated by a 15 year old boy with Asperger's Syndrome. It has been a while since I read this, so I don't remember a lot about it, but I remember reading it a couple of times before the rest of my class got around to finishing it. Not a long book, but a very good one!
  
  I included Harry Potter, because its an obvious choice. It's also the only one from the above that I've finished (other than The Curious Incident). I've finished all 7 books. But never got around finishing the others (only got the Simpsons one for Christmas). If you haven't seen the films, read the books first. They are 100 times better. Seriously. But the films are like icing on the amazing cake that is HP, so don't avoid them either. This isn't just a kids book/film like some people assume.
  
  Pets with Tourette's is a picture book. Not for kids. The things these pets say sometimes, disgraceful.
  
  
  
  
  Can't think of any others, but probably because it is 4am here. Hahaha.
  
  
  EDIT: Grammar and formatting errors.

...know what it takes to go through the design process of creating your own 'professional' looking book covers.

Speaking as a cover designer, here's a number of elements where I see a lot of amateurs messing up:

Failing to research their genre niche to see what the covers of the top-selling books look like. Book buyers use the covers to guess at what the book will contain, to narrow down their choices. There are far too many books available to expect that readers will read the description of every single result of their search on whatever platform they're searching on, so you need to signal genre, sub-genre, and mood loudly enough that it jumps out as someone's eye is scanning over a batch of 1.5" tall covers that are all competing for attention.

What signals those things, and what things readers are looking for, changes subtly over time, so you need to keep an eye out. I designed the house look for the Zoe Chant shifter romance books (I don't do all the covers; many of the authors do their own) and while we've kept the same overall look, when Zoe Chant first published the idea was to play up the cozy qualities in the books. As action romance has gotten more popular in the past few years, the challenge now is to play up the dramatic tension without signalling "alphahole" because the Zoe Chant niche is focused on ultimately kind heroes. This mostly involves a lot of dramatic lighting, and in recent months a lot more glowy elements to pull focus. The books are the same sort that have been published all along, we're just focusing on different aspects now.

Yes, there are always books that break the mold of current design and sell a ton, and thus set new fashions that everyone else chases. Your book will not be the one that does that.

Leaving large flat areas of color in the design. This also fits in with researching covers in your niche: large flat areas of color are common in non-fiction, but not so much in fiction. At the very least, fill in that empty blackness with a texture or with words. If you have a background in graphic design and understand how to use negative space properly, go for it, but if you don't, then I wouldn't attempt it.

Failing to give the focal point of the design a 'pop'. 'Pop' means to stand out. You can do this with color, composition, negative space, light glows, etc., and you should use more than one thing. It should be immediately apparent what the focal point is, because you have less than one second to grab the reader's eye and make them interested. The more experienced you are, the more subtle you can go--I love the cover for Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House, where the broken-up letterforms cause you to look twice and realize it's a snake doing that.

Failing to take lighting on the stock photos into account. If you grab two stock photos and montage them into a picture, they need to have complementary lighting. You can't have one high-key (bright, few shadows) and one low-key (dark, dramatic), and if you have the lighting in each photo coming from a different direction, you need to account for it in the rest of the picture because the two pictures will never blend properly if you don't. Yup, even in photomontages that aren't supposed to look like one photo: we are used to consistent lighting schemes in real life, and inconsistency draws the attention in a bad way because the brain goes "Something is wrong here."

Slapping the text on as an afterthought. The best cover designs involve the text from the very beginning, and make sure the composition includes the text. Ninth House above is a very obvious (and also very trendy right now) example.

(Also note that while Ninth House technically has large flat areas of black in the artwork, the title covers it up.)

Being afraid to put text on top of the artwork. Too many amateurs either make or buy a nice picture, and then go "I can't hide this picture!" and scrunch the title waaaaay down at the bottom and put their name waaaay up at the top. Ideally, you should have researched what your genre's conventions are--note that most trad publishers often put the text smack on top of the artwork, even interacting with it--and worked with the artist to develop a composition that takes the text into account. Barring that, put the full artwork on your website where your fans can see it (and maybe buy prints from your artist, or you if you licensed the copyright), and just slap that title on top.

Joe Abercrombie can get away with breaking this rule because he's Joe Abercrombie (and because the positive shape of the helmet POINTS AT THE TITLE, and because his name is BRIGHT RED and focus-pulling, and because the lighting on the helment is dark at the bottom and light at the top--three things that drive the eye to Abercrombie's name, which is the focal point).

Using default Photoshop text effects. Do not use anything more than a subtle drop shadow if you're new to this. Most text effects just look muddy at Amazon search results size, and are terrible anyway. If you find yourself looking at your title on the cover in a flat color and thinking, "This looks boring. I should jazz it up," then it means you are using the wrong font. It's still going to look wrong once you put a pillow emboss and outer glow on it. Go look at creativemarket.com, filter by price range, and invest in a (READABLE) font that is more interesting than Arial or Times New Roman or whatever you were using that came default with your computer.

Not making their author name big enough. You shouldn't go as big as Robert Jordan's name if you're not as big as Robert Jordan, but when your name is tiny, it looks like you're apologizing for having dared write the book.

Speaking of Jordan, I love these current covers. This is what you do if you can't bear to cover the artwork: you frame it, and you pull colors for the frame and the text from the artwork, and you incorporate interesting shapes into the frame. As a not-well-known author, you'd put the title into text the size of Jordan's name and put your name into the smaller text, and in the case of these covers, the frame would draw attention to your name, so the text could be smaller. (Although for an unknown author who wanted a similar cover, I'd put the series name into the frame, make the title large, and put the author name across the top.)

I'm really glad to hear that! I'm sure you've heard this a lot, but I got to know you from the YouTube channel (still working my way through Running the Game as I prepare my own campaign - awesome series), and if I hadn't seen you on YouTube, I would never have known about the Ratcatchers.

I bought Priest and Thief on Amazon nine days ago sight unseen, partly out of curiosity and partly because whether I liked the books or not, I wanted to kick something back to you for your completely free YouTube content.

Well, I finished them both and just started re-reading Priest. Great job! Lots of fun, lots of comedy, but especially love all the relationships and heart and feeling. Can't wait for Fighter and what I assume will be Wizard.

While not my favorite ever I really enjoyed the Otherland series (only four volumes but each book is fairly large).

It's entertaining cyberpunk and features some interesting looks at the future. Very enjoyable read.

Another (shorter) series that is good for a quick read and a lighter introduction to scifi is The Risen Empire. Split into two parts (although together they would have made an only slightly-large novel) it's along the border of Hard Scifi and "pulp scifi". I'd consider it as an okay introduction to hard scifi.

Which leads me to the third and forth series, Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space. Reynold's is hard scifi, meaning that there are points where he spends twice as much time describing the technical details when character advancement would be very much welcome. However, this also means he takes into account things like relativistic travel and how boring space battles would be to spectators. Awesome books though.

Last but not least is the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's hard scifi that doesn't lose sight of character development. Also, out of all the books I've mentioned I'd have to call it the most "realistic" as the technological point at which it starts could conceivably be reached in the next decade or so.

All enjoyable reads, all enjoyable scifi. After (or during) these don't forget to check out classics like Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Banks, etc. Especially Asimov's Foundation books or the short(ish) story Nightfall, although the original short story can easily be considered better than the expanded version linked (so you might want to stop reading when you reach the end of the original).

So hopefully you read the Night Watch / Day Watch / Twilight Watch books? There's supposedly two more books out there in the series now, Last Watch and New Watch, which I haven't read.

The Markhat series by Frank Tuttle is brilliant fun.

9 Goblins is short but totally worth it. by T. A. Kingfisher

The Night Circus is a whimsical book full of beautiful things, tends to be a bit melancholy.

Most things by Elizabeth Bear are worth reading, as are most things by Connie Willis.

Charlie Stross' Laundry Files are excellent fun with the single, sole, sad exception of the second book which I hated but which other people loved.

The Enterprise of Death is - well. Um, let's just say the woodcut engraving on the cover? Not a metaphor in this book. Does not pull punches.I found it more horrific than a dozen other books labeled specifically as horror, but also more brilliant and more beautiful.

If you haven't got around to reading Ben Aaronovitch's stuff you're in for some good London fun. He's an excellent writer.

The Felix Castor series by Mike Carey is brilliant too.

I've only read the first book, The Crown Conspiracy, and have been meaning to get on with the rest. I really liked it but now my memories of it are fuzzy.

I think that the Gentlemen Bastards series is similar but it had more moving pieces. I don't know if the plots get more complex as the series progresses.

If I remember correctly some of the various First Law subplots had similar flavor, especially with Glokta.

I'm really dying for more in this genre because it's so awesome. Ocean's 11 meets fantasy. It's a smaller genre than I'd like.

There's also the Night Angel Trilogy and Lightbringer from Brent Weeks. Night angel was a bit more assassin than confidence but it was pretty good and dealt with thieves. Lightbringer has that plots upon plots feel.

Speaking of those, it made me think of Farseer Trilogy and Tawny Man from Robin Hobb which are both pretty good if more concerned with assassination.

I also rather enjoyed The Blacksmith's Son which I got for free or cheap on Amazon and am planning on, eventually, getting to the second book in the series. This seemed very similar, in tone, to The Crown Consipracy.

That's about all I've got. I'll get to Avempartha after Best Served Cold and The Heroes are done. My reading list is so long. I got a kindle and a bunch of gift certificates for Christmas and the money was gone before the close of February. Not counting free books either.

Thanks for browsing this subreddit and getting back with fans.

I personally love worldbuilding in stories, probably to the same extent you do. Someone wrote below that they don't want to read a D&D guide, I DO want to read a D&D guide. We probably are in a minority, but there are a few ways I've seen authors cover for the fact that their stories are very heavy on world exposition:

1. Young characters learning about the world, or characters in school. The character can be learning things at the same time you are teaching the reader. Harry potter takes this format.
   
2. Portal fantasy. A person is transported to another world. Its a justification for why they know absolutely nothing about that world, and anytime they learn new things its an opportunity for the author to go on some exposition. The schooled in magic series did this a lot.
   
3. Do it shamelessly, but spread it out and try to always keep it really interesting. I've enjoyed all of the books in the Spellmonger series because it dumps exposition everywhere, but its also why I rarely recommend the books because I know I'm kinda weird for how much I like exposition.
   
4. Appendices, and separate areas where you keep the majority of your exposition. Just keeping most of the background separate from the story but available to curious readers can also work. Most famously, Lord of the Rings did this.
   
   My advice as a wanna-be author (a few unfinished stories) is to just do something that you feel good and comfortable doing, but just make sure you have some good editors that can understand what you are trying to do. Amazon self publishing is a thing, and there are a bunch of websites where you can also share your stories. There are way more readers than authors out there

I just finished the Theros e-book and I was about to make post a synospis/review anyways! First off, I enjoyed the book a whole lot and heartily recommend that anyone with $1.99 to spare Buy the E-Book from Amazon, especially if you are interested in learning the specifics of the stories of Elspeth, Xenagos, Daxos of Meletis, and Polukranos. I was personally disappointed with The Secretist e-book for the Return to Ravnica block, but I believe Godsend is shaping up to show that e-books can really shine as a method to deliver Magic's lore.

That said, spoilers from the e-book Theros: Godsend Part 1 below. Again, the e-book is cheap and small and well-written, so I do recommend people with even a little more than passing interest buy it and read it themselves.

The book starts following Lydia, a young Meletian mother who has left her polis and taken her sickly son Daxos to be cured by an oracle of Athreos in the distant blasted wasteland ruled by Erebos. She realizes too late that she has been tricked. Her son is not ill at all; rather he is an oracle, someone with the gift to speak for and with the Gods. Athreos attempts to claim him for his own use, but Lydia gives her life in exchange for Daxos's freedom.

After helplessly waiting under a tree for days, Daxos meets a young Elspeth, who has only recently begun planeswalking. The two share a need for food and water, and Elspeth helps Daxos up a mountain and to a clean spring. Daxos can see the sky of Nyx above, even during the day, and sees a bloody and gruesome duel between Heliod, who fancies himself the head of the pantheon, and Purphoros, who has forged a sword capable of damaging the fabric of Nyx itself.

Purphoros slices out Polukranos from the constellation's resting place in the night sky, and the hydra falls to the Earth, becoming corporeal. Heliod and Nylea work together to imprison it, and Kruphix, god of Time and Horizons and the oldest of the gods, punishes Purphoros by limiting his memory and cognition. Purphoros drops the nyx-bane sword and it lands on the mountaintop where Elspeth and Daxos rest. Heliod appears before Daxos, searching for the weapon, but frightens the young Elspeth, who grabs it and planeswalks away.

Years later, Elspeth has returned to Theros after fleeing Mirrodin, now New Phyrexia. She still carries the sword from all those years ago. She seeks a place to rest; a home that is incorruptible, and she believes that the Gods may make Theros a prime candidate for that. She works as a mercenary near Akros, and makes trips to visit various temples, although she has put off seeing Heliod's.

Meanwhile, Xenagos, under the title 'King Stranger' (I remember hearing that that is a rough translation of what the word 'Xenagos' means in Greek) rules over the Satyrs and misguided humans of the Skola Valley, who spend their days relaxing and their nights in bacchanalia. Xenagos has ignited his spark and is disdainful of the gods; he openly resents and mocks them, to the shock and fear of his subjects. From a poet he hears that Polukranos has begun to stir from the caves that Heliod and Nylea sealed it in, and Xenagos prepares a plan.

Heliod notices that something is awry. His vision, which should be omnipresent, is lacking and faltering (likely due to Xenagos's scheming). He consorts with Thassa about this, but the two mostly end up bickering and fail to find a solution. He blames Purphoros, but Thassa reminds him that ever since their previous bout, Kruphix has forbidden all gods from fighting each other, lest he enact a Silence that banishes them to Nyx.

Visiting an oracle of Phenax and seeking guidance, Elspeth allows the mindreading priest to discover her planeswalking abilities and the fact that she holds the lost sword. This fact quickly finds its way back to Phenax, who shares it with Thassa. Thassa then communes with Purphoros, who in his addled state was unable to catch Xenagos stealing his golem and crafting partner, Petrios. When Thassa arrives Purphoros constructs a metallic chimera that can seek out the sword. Thassa enters it and then launches away to find Elspeth.

Elspeth, at the advice of the oracle of Phenax, finally decides to visit the temple of Heliod. She begins to pray just as Thassa arrives, and Thassa's attempt to grab the sword is interrupted by the arrival of Heliod himself. He believes Elspeth to be a thief (and he's technically right about that) and attacks her with blisteringly hot rays. Elspeth uses her planeswalking power to cast a reflective spell that protects her however, and that inspires Heliod. He takes her blade, naming it Godsend, and transforms it into a spear before giving it back to her. He then asks her to travel to Meletis, to become his champion and meet with his oracle.

His oracle who happens to be our good friend Daxos. Although he was chosen by Heliod as an oracle, Daxos has the unique ability to speak with all of the gods, including Nylea, with whom he appears to have started a bit of a romance with. Daxos, with his god-sight, sees that Polukranos is freeing himself, and warns Nylea of this, before he is addressed by Heliod to set out and meet Elspeth on the road between Akros and Meletis.

Nylea seeks out Polukranos and finds evidence of magical intervention. Although Polukranos was awoken by the return of Elspeth's blade, it appears he has been baited into lumbering towards the polis of Meletis. She tracks the source of this magic and it leads her to Skola Valley. There she confronts Xenagos and eventually attacks him, revokes her protection of the valley and leaving it a rotting, lifeless husk, before leaving. Xenagos is unfazed, almost happy that he has insulted a god in person, and begins using his magic to regrow the valley undeterred.

Elspeth returns to Akros only to find that foreigners are being rushed out of the city as it prepares for war against a massing minotaur horde. She is given a job escorting a teenage daughter of an Akroan estate in a caravan from Akros to Meletis and sets out immediately. After a few days of travel and alternating friction and friendship between Elspeth and the girl, named Nikka, the caravan is attacked by servants of Erebos. Escaping, Nikka and Elspeth make it to the see on a small boat.

At this point arguments and fighting between the gods have reached a fever-pitch. Heliod and Purphoros blame each other for the empty spots in their vision, and Heliod wrestles with Thassa to maintain protection over Elspeth and the sword. Oceans boils, forests quiver and shake, and storms throw lighting bolt after lightning bolt into poleis. Thassa conjures an enormous wave which reaches up from the see to grab the spear Godsend from Elspeth. After she is overwhelmed by water, the Sun's Champion nearly gives up hope and drops the spear.

That is when Kruphix intervenes. He pauses time and makes good on his promise to suspend the pantheon in Nyx. Nylea desperately tries to stop him, to warn her siblings of the true danger to the world that Xenagos poses, but fails and is restricted to Nyx like all the other gods.

Elspeth and Daxos meet each other on the steppes outside of Meletis and instantly recognize each other. Their touching reunion is unfortunately ruined when Polukranos appears however, and Elspeth sends Nikka to Meletis to warn the guards. After an arduous and deadly battle, which only Daxos and Elspeth survive, Elspeth ultimately defeats Polukranos, and limps with Daxos back to Meletis.

I really enjoyed this story and hope that part two keeps up the great quality. Their are a few typographical, grammatical, and formatting errors here and there, but nothing too worrisome and overall I enjoyed the writing a whole lot. I left out plenty of details though so I recommend one last time that everyone drop the two dollars on the e-book from Amazon.

Sure! I know exactly what you mean. So, I will say that a lot of the most interesting stuff in Fantasy is (and has for a while) being done in YA fantasy, and I don't mean stuff like Twilight.

Garth Nix's Abhorsen series (starting with Sabriel) is excellent. Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock is kind of along the lines of what you're talking about, but is really well done.

Just about anything by Dianna Wynne Jones is great, I will call out specifically Howl's Moving Castle (the inspiration for the Miyazaki film of the same name) and also her 6 part [Chronicles of Chrestomanci] (http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Chrestomanci-Charmed-Lives-Christopher/dp/006447268X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417629757&sr=1-1&keywords=chronicles+of+chrestomanci).

If you're in the mood for something more adult, I really enjoyed Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, starting with Kushiel's Dart, but that gets into some S&M stuff, which, YMMV.

And then Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Which is just fantastic.

I forgot, I have also started Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Read by Stephen Fry), and it is well done as well.
I remembered a couple more that I liked:

Unbroken - good (true) story about WWII pilot who was captured by the Japanese

Water for Elephants - Good book (fiction) about a circus in the depression era

Anathem - I really like Neal Stephenson, and this was a good book, but it was very long, and I'm sure I would have had a much harder time if I had to read it, instead of just listen to it

Eye of the World (Wheel of Time Book 1) - Good book, but very long and if it weren't for the different voices by the narrator, I would have gotten lost pretty easily.

Hope this helps, and hope you find some good ones!

First book in the "Wheel of Time" series, if she likes it there are like 13 or so books in the series. I LOVE her book selections. I'm a huge fantasy reader.

Bingo game!

Free cell game too. My grandmother LOVES this card game

Lauren Bacall's autobioghraphy, your mother-in-law would have grown up watching her, and the book is a great read.

Happy shopping.

<3 Your generosity never ceases to amaze me!

I'd absolutely love to have something like that. I don't have a smartphone or laptop, which makes managing my business quite tricky when I'm away from home. If I had something that could connect to WiFi, I'd be able to reply to customer emails, update my shop, keep track of finances, etc. Certainly would make things quite a bit easier, especially as I've been helping take care of my mom a lot lately (in hospice, over an hour away).

And business-aside, I'm a huge bookwork, and I'd be all "read ALL the books!!". And so would my Tiny Turtles, as they becoming quite the mini-bibliophiles as well. <3

I think my first e-book would be The Eye of the World... might as well start off with an epic series. :)

The His Fair Assassin trilogy features Breton assassin nuns who serve a death god. In the books it states that the gods are pre-Christian but are now worshipped as saints. Those who still worship them as gods are known as followers of the old ways. I definitely recommend the series.

Though not Pagans, one of the main character's sisters in The Passion of Dolssa is a fortune-teller, and Dolssa herself is a mystic fleeing from inquisitors after being branded a heretic.

My friend recommended Till We Have Faces to me. It's a retelling of the myth of Eros and Psyche.

Cruel Beauty's main characters are Hellenists who practice Hermetic magick, and "As Above, So Below/As Within, So Without" is a running theme in the book. There are also Celtic pagans in the book.

I'd also say Sabriel. Sabriel is the daughter of a necromancer and she and her father practice Charter Magic, which uses runes. There is also a community of seers in the book.

I tend to read a lot of fantasy and YA, so hopefully this isn't a turnoff.

Hmm...

Could you be more descriptive in what you like about Sci-Fi? It is a huge genre. What is your aesthetic?

Also, don't feel bad about re-reading sections; it is a good habit if you don't understand the author. I'm reading The Brothers Karamazov right now, and I like to reread sections to better understand lengthy dialogue.

I think you should try reading Dune. It is a brilliant story and universe. However, you have to look up a lot of the words in a glossary in the back, which may be annoying for you.

An easier book that is sci-fi with elements of fantasy/folklore is Artemis Fowl. Definitely a favorite of my teen years. It is full of loveable characters, action, and intrigue.

If you like video games and have ever played Halo, I would recommend the first of the Halo book seires, Halo: Fall of Reach. It is well-written and develops the characters immensely, but it is still relatively easy reading. Even if you don't play the game, this is a "movie-in-the-head" kind of book.

The more feedback you give us, the better we can help you!

There are many classics that you should definitely check out, but I'm going to recommend two different things:

I would highly recommend Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It is a long read about an escaped Australian convict that begins when he touches down in Bombay, India. There are really interesting characters, and the story is great.

Also, if you happen to like the epic fantasy genre, you should check out The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan. This is a link to the first book in the 14 book series. The series' final book is due to come out fairly soon, and it has become my favorite epic fantasy story.

I really hoped the thumbnail would appear for this post! Come on, NYT gallery ....

Anyhow, though I didn't know who they were until recently, as a child I was instantly drawn to books illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. I had to have every book I found featuring their art, including novels by Isabel Allende. I loved to read, but I'm sure I read more because of the artists' work. Other favorites I wished were illustrated by the couple — they made characters complex, dignified and multiethnic, overall more like the world I knew than the one reflected by most book covers.

Image Google "Leo and Diane Dillon art" for more excellence.

Jacqueline Carey is probably exactly who you want to read. She has a three trilogy series known as Kushiel's Legacy, and it is amazing. She is very good at character development, world-building, AND the series is complete, so you won't have to wait around for years hoping to get more. It's full of politics, intrigue, drama, travel, courtesans, spymasters, royalty, pirates, romance (epic, happy, and tragic)...anything you want, it's in there. The first half of the first novel is intense world-building/set-up, but it's all interesting, and when the story kicks into full-gear, it's hard to put it down!

The first trilogy is Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, and Kushiel's Avatar.
The second trilogy is Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, and Kushiel's Mercy.
The third trilogy is Naamah's Kiss, Naamah's Curse, and Naamah's Blessing.

Here is the Amazon description of the first novel in the first trilogy, Kushiel's Dart:

"A nation born of angels, vast and intricate and surrounded by danger... a woman born to servitude, unknowingly given access to the secrets of the realm...

Born with a scarlet mote in her left eye, Phédre nó Delaunay is sold into indentured servitude as a child. When her bond is purchased by an enigmatic nobleman, she is trained in history, theology, politics, foreign languages, the arts of pleasure. And above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Exquisite courtesan, talented spy... and unlikely heroine. But when Phédre stumbles upon a plot that threatens her homeland, Terre d'Ange, she has no choice.

Betrayed into captivity in the barbarous northland of Skaldia and accompanied only by a disdainful young warrior-priest, Phédre makes a harrowing escape and an even more harrowing journey to return to her people and deliver a warning of the impending invasion. And that proves only the first step in a quest that will take her to the edge of despair and beyond.

Phédre nó Delaunay is the woman who holds the keys to her realm's deadly secrets, and whose courage will decide the very future of her world.

Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age and the birth of a new. It is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. A world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, deposed rulers and a besieged Queen, a warrior-priest, the Prince of Travelers, barbarian warlords, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess... all seen through the unflinching eyes of an unforgettable heroine."

It's... well, yeah, it's pretty eh. I was never the hugest fan of apostrophes in fantasy names either, but it's part of a subgenre. The type of fantasy Tal'Dorei lies in is very high and metropolitan, focused largely on being fantastical. The use of an apostrophe communicates "weirdness" and "foreignness" at a glance, and so it can be useful for setting up the genre and tone. Even if it's a quick decision, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the wrong one for this particular work, subgenre, and tone.

If you're interested in a fantasy setting that does take its names, linguistics, and language pretty seriously, though, and typically avoids apostrophes to boot, might I recommend the world of Vasloria in the Ratcatchers series? The author of those books (two so far, three more planned) talks online a lot about the time he spends trying to get the names in his setting juust right, since he really believes in the usefulness of language in setting a certain tone and delivering a specific feeling. Might be a breath of fresh air for you.

I really like:

Terry Mancour's Spellmonger series on Kindle. It's not super deep like Gene Wolfe or even Sanderson, but he writes very fast, a couple books a year, they're cheap. It's like comfort food sword and sorcery medieval fantasy. Story follows a fairly young veteran battle mage who has retired to a quiet mountain village to be the local "spellmonger", when he gets caught up in an attack by the evil goblins. His survival launches him on a martial and political career that will reshape his world. There's also romance and some nice wisecracks along the way, and hints that the world isn't as simple as it first appears. Sometimes you just want something easy and fun and this delivers.

http://terrymancour.blogspot.com/?m=1

https://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-One-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W


I also like H. Paul Honsinger's Man of Honor trilogy. It's fairly hard military sci fi. The first trilogy is complete and he's working on a follow up series in the saga. Story follows a young naval destroyer captain in a total galactic war against a crazy alien enemy. There is a strong sense of esprit d'corps, and it is a fun action packed read. Technically no longer self-published, since Honsinger got picked up by Amazon's own publishing imprint. The books are cheap and there are excellent Audible editions.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DQUKZMY/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=


The first book for both are only a few bucks, and I love recommending both authors! They definitely deserve all the fans I can send their way.

>Once again, the mod team at r/dndnext are pleased to announce an AMA. This time with Matt Colville! Matt, as I'm sure many of you are aware, Is an Author, GM, Youtube personality, Redditor, and above all a font of wisdom for all things D&D.
>
>I personally have used much of Matt's advice in my own campaigns. It has made me a better DM, a better player, and a better table companion. I am subbed to his subreddit where he is very active, and I can tell from the feedback survery many of you are as well. If you aren't, why don't you wander over to r/mattcolville and sort that out :P
>
>
>So Join us on Saturday the 29th for a late morning chat, with Matt.
>
>Chur,
>
>-ba
>
>(Sticky threads will be returning the week after next.)

If you like Savage Divinity and don't like MMO-ish rulesets, you might considering checking out Xianxia. I'd consider it kind of a LitRPG-adjacent genre, I guess? Clear stages of power progression without any sort of Game Mechanics or blue boxes at all. There a quite a few web novels translated from Chinese you might like, but the starting point I recommend is Coiling Dragon (on the web here or on KU here), and if you like it you have a TON of web-based reading material ahead of you my friend. If you want an English-native take on the genre /u/Will_Wight is doing a great job with his Cradle series.

i mean, i say give the books another shot because i can't imagine enjoying the movies but not the books. but to each their own. if you don't want to go down that road, what do you mean things that might interest you? do you mean in the harry potter universe? if so, the other stuff is fun but the original seven are her magnum opus IMO and to get my fix, i had to go outside the Harry Potter universe.

some books that I just inhaled and read in one sitting will sound super corny, but...

• The Sookie Stackhouse novels. Wow. I am embarrassed at how fast I read these books. Edward Cullen can screw off. Eric is way hotter.
  
• the Da Vinci Code. Not the best writing. not the most factual history. don't care I blasted through that book.
  
• Ready Player One
  
  If you just want some good fantasy that isn't just Lord of the Rings rip offs, these are the ones I like.
  
  
• Gormenghast
  
• King Killer Chronicles
  
• Wheel of Time
  
• Game of Thrones
  
• The Blade Itself
  
• The Crystal Cave

Hi there! You've gotten some amazing suggestions here, but I'd like to add the Sharon Shinn book, Archangel. (Bonus points because it's got an amazingly unique setting.) Also Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. And if you're open to indie authors, the first book of my fantasy series is free through today! Catalyst Moon: Incursion. (I just did a writer of the day post here, too.)

Happy reading! :)

A Planeswalker is one who walks between planes. There are an infinite number of planes in the Multiverse (which is where the entirety of Magic takes place). Planes can vary from a single landmass (like Innistrad) to an entire world with orbiting suns (like Mirrodin). The ability to move between planes is incredibly rare, and is what differentiates Planeswalkers from regular mages. All the Planeswalkers we've seen have had at least some ability to perform magic, but I'm not sure if it's a requirement.

If you want more lore, there are lots of places to get it. The MTG Salvation Wiki is a great starting point, since all the lore is in one place. Outside of that, the lore comes in a bunch of different mediums. For a long time, Wizards of the Coast published novels. Then they switced to doing short, online comics. For the most recent set, they released a series of 3 e-books, called "The Secretist" (Book 1, on Amazon, is here).

You also get a lot of lore from just playing the game. The card art is fantastic, and many cards have "flavour text", which is just italic text at the bottom of the card to give you a better sense of its flavour.

This made me think of Matt Colville's Priest - everything after the first act.

In his setting the sky elves were demigod-like creatures, now mostly gone, and the fey were their servants. When they get a hold of someone, they feed and entertain, but these illusions were made for minds alien to ours. You know how little kids can get glued to the TV - absorbing hyperstimulation tailored to them by what is, relative to them, a superintelligent collective? Now imagine a bunch of pixies and sprites around a person having simultaneously the best and worst trip possible. They laugh and writhe in a pool of their own urine and feces, in utter ecstasy, all the way until their mind or body gives out. Who knows which is worse.
And the fey, they don't ... they can't understand. They're doing everything they're supposed to do, executing it perfectly.

Anyway, it's not exactly what you asked for. The forest isn't intentionally malevolent, but the village folks would definitely get that impression.

Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (they're parts 1 and 2 of a trilogy, respectively).

Rothfuss writes an incredibly engaging story. The trilogy is about the rise and fall of one of the greatest heroes in a fantasy world, and it couldn't be more personable or interesting.

Also, everybody needs to read some Diana Wynne Jones in their life. She's an amazing fantasy author who's often dismissed as a children's author. Think JK Rowling if JK Rowling studied under Tolkien and were a much, MUCH better storyteller. Howl's Moving Castle is probably her most famous novel (it was turned into a Studio Ghibli movie a few years ago), but the Chrestomanci series is great too.

I tend to like stories that make me laugh and make me think. Here are a couple recs that met that criteria.

1. I think I stumbled upon this on SV somewhere; also it is mentioned in Open Fanfiction Thread. Applied Cultural Anthropology, or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cruciatus. Great character arc for Hermione as she learns social skills in Slytherin, which makes you think about how social dominance can be a force for good or bad. Also liked that it makes Neville a main character. (Currently on chapter 8, as I just started it yesterday.)
   
   
2. Daniel Black Book 1: Fumbulwinter. This one costs money, but you can read the first six chapters here. YMMV/TW/etc, has some author tract elements with a neoreactionary flavor and contains a certain amount of BDSM as well as other sex scenes (all consensual). It is by the same author as Time Braid, and the character becomes similarly overpowered compared to those around him. My biggest complaint with this one is that the main character seems really slow on the uptake about how to exploit his powers, and the magic system comes across a little too exploitable. But he does do some smart things, the worldbuilding is interesting (if a tad exploitable), and it's entertaining enough that I ended up buying all three of the books.

Nix is holding a giveaway for some bell charms and a sneak peak at Clariel! I was conflicted since sharing this here meant lower odds of me winning :P

>I think it must be time to have a giveaway again. I still don't have time to find someone to sell bell charms, so I will give some away. To have a chance to get some, write a review of SABRIEL here http://www.amazon.com/Sabriel-Abhorsen-Trilogy-Garth-Nix/dp/0064471837/ (nowhere else) and then comment on this post to let me know what name you've used. Seven people chosen at random from the reviewers who also post here will get two sterling silver bell charms each and a sneak peak of a piece of CLARIEL, two chapters bound in a small signed and numbered booklet. Yes, I know it is being Amazon-specific, and I know you may have to buy a book. But for better or worse, Amazon ripples spread widest and the giveaways are worth much more than a book, not least because they are otherwise unobtainable. I'll use my old D&D dice to choose who gets the loot a month from now, 8th September 2013.

If you want spoilers for how the novel goes don't hesitate to ask and I'll send out how the story ACTUALLY ends. However there are SOOOOO many differences between the novel and the manhua that I don't think I could fit all the changes in a PM without basically writing the novel itself.


My real recommendation though is to read the novel starting from chapter 1 all the way to the epilogue. You can find it here as e-books published by the translator and the original author and also at www.wuxiaworld.com under the novels -> completed tab though only a preview is up for now until it gets reuploaded.


It's an excellent story and deserves to be read in it's proper form. Please don't hesitate to binge it if you get the chance!

Spellmonger definitely has combat, but it isn't a progression story in that respect after the traditional sense.

The protagonist starts out as a small village hedge wizard, slowly growing in power and importance until he's eventually a feudal lord and more. So if you consider gaining new titles and ranks in the peerage progression, then you might find it to be a fun read.

Yep. They're written (mostly) by Rand Miller. I think Robyn helped with one of them, but Rand did the others. I may have that backwards, but it's one of those ways. ANYWAY.

There are three books. You can get all three in one novel now called the Myst Reader. The first book, Book of Atrus is/was out of print and is harder to find, so the Myst Reader is a great resource if you want all three.

The books are The Book of Atrus: about his childhood, his meeting of Catherine, and his relationship with his fucked up father, Gehn, and his grandmother, Ti'ana; The Book of Ti'Ana: goes back in the past to show what happened to the D'ni, the people who created and perfected the Art of Writing Books (they're all capitalized in the books as well for a reason); and The Book of the D'ni: takes place after the first two and falls sometime after Riven, but before Exile. It's about Atrus and Catherine trying to rebuild what is left of the D'ni people and culture.

If you like Myst, the books really do flesh out what happened in the games much much more. Things click better. And, it makes the games more haunting, I feel. The only thing that isn't mentioned is the full extent of what Sirrus and Achenar did. I don't even think it's mentioned at all, actually.

Also, there's supposed to be two new books coming out sometime, but there's no information on when that might occur.

Some of the LitRPG stuff on Amazon qualifies for this. There are quite a few cool original English stories as well as some great translated (mainly from Russian) stuff on amazon available pretty cheaply or for 'free' if you've got the monthly kindle unlimited subscription.

The Daniel Black series and the Dragon's Wrath series most closely match the kingdom/etc building themes you're asking for.

• "The Wandering Inn" for best world building, and best slice of life mixed with an epic story
  https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/10073/the-wandering-inn
  
  
  
  
• "The Snake Report", for best reincarnation into a monster, ALL HAIL THE TINY SNAKE GOD!
  https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/14396/the-snake-report
  
  
  
  
• "Cradle", for a Xianxia with a non jerk protagonist and a mentor + sect/faction that you can root for
  https://www.amazon.com/Unsouled-Cradle-Book-Will-Wight-ebook/dp/B01H1CYBS6
  
  
  
  
• "Savage Divinity", for a nice Wuxia like story with a sometime depressed but always nice protagonist (and lot of floofs!)
  https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/5701/savage-divinity
  
  
  
  
• "There is no epic loot here, only puns", for best light hearted dungeon core story
  https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/15935/there-is-no-epic-loot-here-only-puns
  
  
  
  
• Daniel Black series for a Male Adult Power Fantasy with sex and a harem that still has a story if you remove the sex
  (guilty pleasure)
  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KZ41LHM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Kushiel's Dart is by far THE BEST romance/erotic novel with a clever plot that I have ever read. I highly recommend it. It is also a series so if she likes it, you've got a couple to go on.

The Circle Trillogy by Ted Dekker is an absolute must-read. Its not what I would call "high fantasy" (No elves or dwarves here) but it's superb fantasy none the less.

I have also really enjoyed the Myst trilogy. Ignore the fact that it's based of a video game. It's some of the best fiction i have read In a while.

1.) The Eye of The World - by Robert Jordan (and subsequent novels)

2.) 9.8/10

3.) High Fantasy, Adventure, Fiction

4.) This is the first book of a 14 book series called the Wheel of Time. The story follows a young man named Rand Al'Thor and his friends. He is absconded away from his home by a mysterious woman and a wonderful adventure comes from it. The series contains the most complex magic system I have ever read and it is always exciting. You will find yourself thinking about how you would use the magic if you had it. The Wheel of Time is one of the most critically acclaimed fantasy series of all time. You are doing yourself a disservice to not fall into this world that Robert Jordan crafts. I do it no justice, and I cannot recommend it more.

5.) http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Wheel-Time-Book/dp/0812511816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375429878&sr=8-1&keywords=The+eye+of+the+world

I would check out The Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It starts out historical moves forward into sci-fi and then goes backwards to historical again. It's hard to explain but it is a very rewarding read and one I pick up periodically just to reread again.

I also liked Girl In Landscape by Jonathon Lethem and Dune by Frank Herbert a lot and both have been good rereads.

Oh! And The Nightrunner Series by Lynn Flewelling which I inhaled.

I can recommend:

• The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett has a really nice and different world compared to other fantasy series and I'm really mesmerized by the story. 4 books
  
  
  
• Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time has 14 books, so it might be more than what you are looking for. But the story is insane, except for 1-2 books that were slightly boring.
  
  
• A Song of Ice and Fire. You have probably read it, but since you didn't list it, I thought I'd recommend it anyways. Amazing fantasy world, but with Game of Thrones being everywhere, you know of this one. 5 books (not finished yet)
  
  
• I also like the Eragon-series, but it's not for everyone and might be not as "grown up" as the others. Eragon by Christopher Paolini. 4 books

> Play to Win.

is this it here?
http://www.amazon.com/AlterWorld-Play-Live-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00LYJOII6

sounds awesome! thanks!

Okay, thank you for not inducing twitches purposefully. Hopefully I will recover, on a positive note, The Wise Man's Fear comes out tomorrow, I can't stay depressed for long.

Matt has an obsidianportal wiki with some of the information on his world -

http://the-age-of-conquest.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page

It's not really a campaign so much as a world Matt has built up over the time he has been running the game - it doesn't really have a "plotline" to it and he makes up stories as he goes based on how he believes the world will react to the players and drops in modified versions of old modules he likes running.

He also has been writing a book series set in his D&D world in a different time period that are really good and can be great for inspiration.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OIBG44/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JQ20KOE/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

Hahah, I want to say this octopus just because I'd be really surprised to see it. But I'd be plenty pleased with a book so you can have enough funds to give other people toooooooo!

GOOD LUCK.

The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss

The Pale King - David Foster Wallace

The Informationist - Taylor Stevens. This last one is my friend's first novel. She's already getting excellent blurbs from some writers in the genre, and I'm immensely proud of her.

I came here to suggest Dune as well. May not be about swords and dragons, but there are lasguns and giant sandworms!

The story is great and you should read all 6 by Frank Herbert; but you can skip the series of prequels, interquels, and sequels that were co-written by Kevin J. Anderson and the original author's son, Brian Herbert. They were no where near as good as Frank Herbert's.

u/MattColville has an excellent book out, two actually! Definitely fits in the spirit of D&D and all of that! You can find the first book here. Take a look and enjoy! I know I did!

https://www.amazon.com/Priest-Ratcatchers-Book-Matthew-Colville-ebook/dp/B003OIBG44

I cannot say enough good things about The Name of the Wind. it's the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicles.

If you love fantasy and strong female characters, the Eye of the World is the first book in the just recently finished Wheel of time series. Amazing series, long, deep, complicated, but amazing.

If you like VRMMO read AlterWorld.. its pretty good.. I definitely recommend it if you like LMS and Ark

Uncrowned - Amazon US

Uncrowned - Amazon UK

Uncrowned - Amazon Australia

Uncrowned - Amazon Canada

Uncrowned - Amazon Mexico

Uncrowned - Amazon Germany

Uncrowned - Amazon Japan

Uncrowned - Amazon Spain

Uncrowned - Amazon Italy

Uncrowned - Amazon France

Uncrowned - Amazon India

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I read it, and do NOT recommend it.

Book is too meh, relies too heavily on common tropes we've seen done time and time again better. The writing style is too slow and ponderous for my liking, while still managing to be imprecise. It's like they wrote it relying more on the ideas and topics then the actual story; it's the kind of thing that if was a movie you'd think was made by committee.

You want a good Steampunk book series? Myst; yes after the game. There are three, and they chronicle the fall and aftermath of a civilization from the perspective of a family. (Grandparent, Mother, Husband, Son, etc...)

Since the top /r/scifi post right now is about Alastair Reynolds, maybe you can try his books. I think his books are one of the best in the Space Opera genre, and written very well.

You can start with his most popular series, Revelation Space, but his other books are stellar (ha) as well, like House of Suns, or Century Rain.

I can't really see any translated novels that I read and someone else hasn't already recommended, but here are a few English ones:

Worm, it's a completed web novel with a lot of chapters. Although I dropped it halfway through, I think it's a really good read (and has tons of good fanfics as well).

Daniel Black (book)

Contractor (book)

If you like fantasy books, and want to sink a lot of time reading a good long story, I'd recommend starting with book 1 of the Wheel of Time Series, The Eye of the World. I have read this massive series 4 times now. It's a good waste of time! :) The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812511816/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_yZrUzbW2T2FXY

I would definitely recommend the Coiling Dragon series;

Coiling Dragon: Book 1 of the Coiling Dragon Saga https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FRGNGMJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1t9NDbZYB965G

It's quite good overall and the MC really focuses on improving himself.

The Abhorsen Trilogy was really great. A pretty wild fantasy ride with a really cool twist on necromancy.

First of all, there's the excellent Salvation Wiki, which is probably the most complete resource you're going to find.

There certainly are books. In the past, each fatpack came with a book and after they stopped doing that, they tried doing less frequent books, which led to Agents of Artifice, The Purifying Fire and Test of Metal. They also gave block novels a shot, but these ended up mostly disappointing and after a planned novel about Liliana was so bad it never made it to print, they axed the book line.

With Return to Ravnica, they tried another experiment: e-books. The first one, The Secretist (in three parts) did well enough that we can expect another e-book for Theros on April 1.

Apart from the books, the Creative team also publishes a short story each week. These vary in quality a lot (but tend to be enjoyable) and give nice little looks in the worlds we visit. With each set (but mostly with the first set of the block), they also give out something called a "Planeswalker's Guide" which is an edited version of the style guide they use for building the plane.

On the main site, you can also find some webcomics, focusing on the planeswalkers which I personally find very interesting. Unfortunately, they stopped making them because they were too expensive.

There are also older comics, but they can be hard to find. There's also a newer line of comics, featuring the thief-planeswalker Dack Fayden, but though they follow the planes we visit, they don't really impact the main storyline.

Finally, you can learn a lot from the online community. I personally hang out here, but the Storyline forum on Salvation is also good (although they're a bit too serious for my taste). Both of those forums have the most knowledgeable person on Magic: The Gathering lore, so any question you have will probably be answered. You could also try just asking here, or on /r/mtgvorthos (although the latter subreddit is a bit dead). Whatever you do, don't visit the official forum, it's a wasteland.

Okay, I think that's all.

The thing about glitter is, if you get it on you, be prepared to have it on you forever 'cause glitter is the herpes of craft supplies.

=D

I think this book looks pretty good :3

This may be how it is in the US but over in the UK this isn't a problem. My current set of DT is consistent and lines up nicely on my shelf.

My previous set was also a complete set. So if you want a good set you might want to look at ordering from the uk.

Some old favorites have updated!

Changeling Space Program is a My Little Pony story about the changelings in a space race against the other species to be the first ones to reach the moon. There is a sequel crossover with the Martian, The Maretian, which is about the Equestrian crew crash landing on Mars and sharing in Mark's challenges and woes. Heavy on the sciencing one's way into space with some political drama/comedy.

Break Them All is about exploring what happens when modern science is applied to a magic system which resembles magic used in stories like Harry Potter and similar systems with quirks like gold being hard to conjure, old artifacts/spells are stronger than modern day magic, and other fairy tale like qualities. Fairly slice of life while exploring magical consequences.

The sixth book in a series I follow, Nightlord, has just came out. It's about a guy who gets turned into a vampire and then tossed into another world with magic set in a medieval era where he spends time wandering around as a hero before sorta accidentally-on-purpose becoming the king of a newly founded kingdom.

Despite the cliche wish fulfillment sounding summary, he acts very much like someone from this community where he spends time investigating his powers as a vampire and as a wizard (plus the magic to cross alternate worlds), puts serious thought into the ethics of a modern person as a king in a dark ages society, and has genuine relationships with one woman at a time instead of the standard harem.

One issue that might put off readers is that the books are very long and the plot...sort of meanders around a little. Very often the protagonist sets out to do one thing in a subplot and ends up starting another entirely different subplot. The story always gets back to the old plots, but it's evocative of real life where events are messy and don't ever have a neat, self-contained arc or episode. I liked it, but I know it's not to everyone's taste. The books are also very long. As in each book is as long as a trilogy for any other series. A short one, but still.

Preorders for Uncrowned is now out for anyone who is a fan of the Cradle series.

The Abhorsen trilogy is some great YA fiction that I'm sure your son would enjoy. The books are about a decade old, and are available as a cheaper box set - but admittedly the covers on these might not be as intruiging to a 7th grader.

The Mistborn Trilogy is also great, but might be a little difficult for a 7th grader to get through. Regardless, I'd get him these if you feel that he's up to the challenge.

If you like the tone and want to go for something in the Fantasy genre, try out T. Kingfisher's Nine Goblins. She's got a practical, world-wise sensibility and a lighthearted sense of humor. It's an adorable light read.

http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Goblins-T-Kingfisher-ebook/dp/B00G9GSEXO

Thank you. I wish i could take credit for it but i can't.

I just parodied The Wheel of Time opening, but i would be more then happy to repost it in the event you remake this thread :D

I've posted the first thirteen chapters of the PRIEST audiobook for free on soundcloud. Shit, the whole thing might be free, I dunno. I haven't decided if I'll try to monetize it yet.

https://soundcloud.com/matt-colville/priest-one-through-seven

https://soundcloud.com/matt-colville/priest-part-two

At this point, this is as good as the audiobook is going to sound. Totally DIY. Though I suspect by the time I'm done I'll end up going back and rerecording the beginning. I get better as I go. :D

I'll try and do another chunk each week depending on my free time.

And, of course, if you want to know what happens next and don't want to wait for me, you can always read ahead. :D

Haven't been reading as much as I should, however, I did recently read Nine Goblins which was a terrific little novella. This is a one sitting read that really manages to passively build a rich world and tell a great story.

The Mageborn series by Michael Manning is actually really good. The first was a bit rough around the edges but they keep getting better and better.

http://www.amazon.com/Mageborn-The-Blacksmiths-Book-ebook/dp/B005A1JBB8

Heads up, the UK Publisher Hodder & Stoughton has all 8 Dark Tower novels and the Complete Concordance as a matching set, and on amazon it would actually cost me less to have the H&S set shipped all the way from the UK than it would to preorder this set. That's the 7 main books, Wind Through the Keyhole, AND the concordance, whereas I'm pretty sure this set available for preorder is only the 7 main series novels. I saw the H&S books in person in China and they're beautiful, so if this set doesn't look super beautiful or have SOMETHING better than the H&S set, I'm getting the H&S set instead. The H&S books are all available on amazon.co.uk as well as eBay.

Here are links for books 1-7, WttK, and a copy of the concordance.

The Gunslinger

Drawing of The Three

Waste Lands

Wizard & Glass

Wolves of the Calla

Song of Susannah

The Dark Tower

Wind Through The Keyhole

Dark Tower: Complete Concordance

People above are mentioning similarity to Garth Nix. His Old Kingdom series is among my favorite books ever. The first one is called Sabriel. Definitely worth a read if you liked this.

Alterworld is like Zhang Long, except better in every way, shape, and form. It's slow to start, but the cultures and worldbuilding within the virtual world are amazing to read!

Just remembered Fimbulwinter: Daniel Black Book 1. No Qi but the MC's goal is simply to survive the end of the world. Collects a merry band of follwers along the way. It is a good read and somewhat fits.

Not sure which one, but it sounds like one of the Abhorsen Trilogy books. Maybe Sabriel? She has a talking dog friend?

http://www.amazon.com/Abhorsen-Trilogy-Box-Set/dp/0060734191/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1425998900&sr=8-3&keywords=garth+nix

In case you haven't done so already, you should give the space revelation triology from Alastair Reynolds a chance. It presents a detailed, yet broad outlook on humanity, taking place in the next couple of hundred of years. Alastair has a lot of interesting ideas and presents them in a great way.

I've finished the big 5 novels and am currently reading the short stories and even though there's not a lot of time for the story to unfold - I'm still sitting on the edge 'cause it's so exciting.

http://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Space-Alastair-Reynolds/dp/0441009425/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1394833904&sr=8-3&keywords=alastair+reynolds

I would recommend The Land by Aleron Kong and Daniel Black by E. William Brown. Daniel Black can get a little raunchy, if that is not something you are looking for you might want to skip it. Both book series are excellent and worth a read.

I dunno if these will float your boat but you can try:

Traitor - Amazing standalone book set in the starwars universe

Ender's saga - Philosphy, strategy

Dune series - Abstract philosophy, higher concepts

Ringworld - Haven't read it but I've heard it's worth a go. I'm going to start it as soon as I finish the bloody Sword of Truth series.

Hitchhikers - Need I explain?

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

If you want some space opera that has a lot of roots in hard sci-fi, give Alastair Reynolds a shot. Reynolds is an astrophysicist, so the series has a fair bit of hard science in with its fantastic futurism. The best example is the lack of Faster than Light travel in his spacecraft. I'd suggest starting with Revalation Space.

The Daniel Black books are pretty good. Unfortunately there are only three at the moment.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Fimbulwinter-Daniel-Black-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00KZ41LHM

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22500562-fimbulwinter

It's about a man who has a string of bad luck and at his bedside at the hospital a goddess from another world appears and offers him a new life if he will become the guardian for her last priestess and keep her alive in the apocalypse.

I like how he uses magic in the universe, always experimenting and coming up with new inventions.

I love reading!

I am interested in starting the Wheel of Time series. This is the first book.

Ishmael (and the rest of the series) by Daniel Quinn opened my eyes in my senior year of high school.

It's about a Gorilla, who has lived beside man for a number of decades and teaches a pupil through stories and analogies about how we are already at the cusp of civilization collapse. It's about a lot more than just that, namely the relationship of humans, animals, the planet, and how humans have a unique, egotistical view of themselves where we deemed ourselves rulers of the planet.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins is an eye opener as well.

Other great reads:

Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock.

Necronomicon

UFO's by Leslie Keen

Siddhartha - Herman Hesse

I also really enjoyed the Myst series by Rand & Robin Miller (the books the game is based on). It's about worlds within worlds and an ancient race of authors creating worlds through magical ink and books (sci-fi/fantasy).

Abhorsen Trilogy, in case you haven't already read it! It's one of my favorite fantasy series. I don't know of a single person who I convinced to read it and didn't end up loving it :) The first book is called Sabriel. (http://www.amazon.com/Sabriel-Old-Kingdom-Garth-Nix/dp/0064471837/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415711623&sr=1-1&keywords=sabriel)

The Stainless Steel Rat (probably the closest thing to Space Opera on my short list of suggestions)

Dune

Anything by Isaac Assimov

Anything by William Gibson (Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Neuromancer would be good first choices)

Ender's Game

H. G. Wells and Jules Verne are also good choices if you want some classic old-school sci-fi

T. Kingfisher's Nine Goblins - the capacity to use magic is a disorder and the wizards are recruited and handled by the military if they have a useful power. It's not often in focus but it is an important part of the story.

Have fun on the canal!

I would recommend:

Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind


Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, or his newest series The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive).

If you made it all the way through Sword of Truth series, you probably will enjoy Jordan's Wheel of Time.

Scott Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora is also very enjoyable.

If you are looking for another big one, enjoy the gritty and dark elements from Martin, Stephen Erikson's Malazan series might be up your alley. The first book is a little difficult to get through, but it picks up after that.

1. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
   
2. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
   
3. A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present by Howard Zinn
   
4. Dune by Frank Herbert
   
5. The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty by Peter Singer

Scriber by Ben S. Dobson. It's an indie book, probably the first I ever read. Good fantasy storytelling. Excellent treatment of female characters.

Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher (aka Digger author Ursula Vernon.) Also an indie book. A quirky novella where the main characters are troop of goblins and an elf who mucks out the stalls and treats the sores of the not-so-cutesy woodland creatures.

The actual books of course you have to buy, but the short stories are usually on the mtg story page for free.

In 2005-6 original Ravnica had a three book cycle named after the sets: Ravnica, Guildpact, and Dissention. In 2012-13 Return to Ravnica had a three book series called the Secretist Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, and Dragon's Maze. For this set there will be a War of the Spark book, and some time in June or so there will be a series of short stories that probably will be released on the MTG site.

There's also a Story section to their site that has short stories for each one of the recent blocks. The most recent stories are at the top, and if you scroll down you can open stories for previous blocks back to at least Tarkir.

Yeah I tore through them pretty fast. The first couple are solid gold, but #5 and #6 kinda gets away from the good stuff a bit. http://www.amazon.com/AlterWorld-Play-Live-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00LYJOII6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1452878704&sr=8-5&keywords=d+rus

It's important to note I don't read a ton of fantasy, but I just recently read and loved /u/mattcolville 's Priest and Thief books.

I'm a fan of the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan. I would love to see a movie made from these books.

Chronicles of the Black Company - Only a 30 pages into it But it's good so far, written sort of Journal like. Not much Fluff, which i like.

Just Finished The Wise Man's Fear Really enjoying that series, but not looking forward to wait times on the next novel....

Wheel of Time series (first book is The Eye of the World).

Fantastic fantasy series.

I also noticed you had a few books about the Appalachian Trail - I would recommend A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

This sounds very similar to a something in Revelation Space. I started reading this trilogy because it sounded like it had a similar plot. I've made it through two of the books and I really enjoyed them. Maybe this is kind of a reference to that?

Depends on what you mean with "epic" I guess.

It's hard to go more epic in SF than Frank Herberts Dune series. The story is complex and has wheels within wheels, the characters are well crafted with their own inner motivations and Frank Herbert was excellent when it came to the craftmanship of writing. There's a reason why the first book in the series gets almost 80% five star ratings at Amazon.

On the downside they can be a bit heavygoing at times, some people get put off by "The God Emperor of Dune" which reads a lot like a 500 page autobiography by the main character. But I loved it.

And as for the "sequels" and "prequels" his son Brian Herbert has written along with Kevin J Anderson I'd leave them alone. Same universe but the characters are written in a reactive way (it seems like they just bounce around like ball in a pinball game) and they keep pulling shit out of their asses when they've written themselves into a corner.

the second book is out by the way, A wise man's fear it's just as good as the first book, can't wait for day 3!

Try Frank Herbert's Dune for starters. A more modern author would be Neal Stephenson, maybe start with his Cryptonomicon.

I really enjoyed Nancy Kress' Beggars in Spain as well, though I haven't read anything else by her.

After the novel was fully translated, wuxiaworld had an agreement with the author where the books were published on amazon (Volume 1 for example).

Daniel Black series has some similarities. 1, 2, 3. That MC is using magic to re-create modern marvels, during an apocalypse, after being brought to another world, oh and he is protecting witches... There are a lot of similarities and the story is very interesting so I would suggest reading it.

Take a look at the list of past Hugo winners and look for easily accessible ones. A few jump out at me:

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

Dune - Frank Herbert

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold, or maybe the omnibus Cordelia's Honor

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson

I just read Sorcerous Rivalry on my vacation last week. It was enjoyable both when I was sitting by the pool relaxing, and when I was cramped up in an airplane, wondering if the guy beside me was reading over my shoulder or just annoyed by the light of my tablet. Highly recommended!

Most of the traditional fantasy That I've read on unlimited is in your list. Ive lost most of my time recently on LitRPG and Urban Fantasy. Some of my Unlimited reads not in your list:

Urban:

• Daniel Faust by Craig Schaefer
  
• Nate Temple By Shayne Silvers (Pairs with his other 2 series, Feathers and Fire, and the Phantom Queen) - Currently my favorite of these.
  
• Junkyard Druid by M. D. Massey
  
• The Hellequin Chronicles by Steve McHugh (Followed by Avalon Chronicles)
  
  LitRPG:
  
  
• Chaos Seeds by Aleron Kong
  
• Viridian Gate by James Hunter
  
• Limitless Lands by Dean Henegar
  
• The World by Jason Cheek - Currently my favorite of these.
  
  Random Wuxia (What The Cradle Series Is based on I Think?) (Side note, I went down a rabbit hole with these and others like it. Soooo many hours lost reading.):
  
  
• Coiling Dragon Saga by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi - Only one I can really recommend as the others are sometimes badly translated. I'm fine with badly translated but most aren't. This one is fantastic.

ebooookksssss Richmond! Thank you for the contest :)

Thank you for your interest! Here are some other works tagged (Low Quality):

[Iron Wood] (Low Quality)
[Mauling Snarks] (Low Quality)
[Taylor Varga] (Low Quality)
[Defiance of the Fall] (Low Quality)
[He Who Fights With Monsters] (Low Quality)
[A Hero's War] (Low Quality)
[The New World] (Low Quality)
[Azarinth Healer] (Low Quality)
[The Gam3] (Low Quality)
[The Arcane Emperor] (Low Quality)
[The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound] (Low Quality)
[The Land] (Low Quality)
[Daniel Black] (Low Quality)
[Savage Divinity] (Low Quality)
[The Wheel of Time] (Low Quality)
[The Tutorial Is Too Hard] (Low Quality)
[Metaworld Chronicles] (Low Quality)

This list is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

When you started off I though you were talking about Ratcatchers.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OIBG44/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o04_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Really really good book I'd never heard of before with a similar sounding lead. I'll be sure to check this out.

Anyone who read into the series of D.Rus. (Alterworld - Play To Live) on Free Folk?

https://www.amazon.com/AlterWorld-LitRPG-Play-Live-Book-ebook/dp/B00LYJOII6

You started with Exile? Not such a great introduction to the story. Start with the original game and play it as if you're actually there. Try to what you'd actually do if you were stuck on an island full of strange machinery - poke around, read things, and try to find a way out. Finishing the game is well worth your patience.

Also, if you're interested you might read the game's backstory beforehand. Things will make much more sense if you do.

Frank and beans!

Wheel of Time book one would be awesome!

Shards of Alara lore is in the novel Alara Unbroken

Return to Ravnica has a trio of novellas: Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, and Dragon's Maze. There's also the Planeswalkers' Guide, and some scattered short stories floating around somewhere.

Original Ravnica has a trio of novels: Ravnica, Guildpact, and Dissension.

What about original English novels? Because there is this series: http://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-The-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W

It's a long series, and the development you want happens in book 3 and 5. Book 4 is from the supporting characters' viewpoint.

I'd like to add that - according to the artist - they remaining five books will (at least for now) only be released as mass-market paperbacks. The first book is available in both paperback and mass-market editions, with the paperback being of better quality and not as tall/thin as the mass-market paperback.

Once we get closer to the movie's release, there'll probably be a whole bunch of editions and a box set too, so I'd just wait a bit.

Dune series is amazing. My favorite series of all time. Deals with so many political, ecology, and philosophical issues and spans so much time.

The Unincorporated Man is a very very interesting read. Deals with a minarchist society that rose after the economic collapse of civilization due to virtual reality. The protagonist ultimately takes the view that the way the society is setup is akin to slavery, since most people in it sell a majority share in themselves (individuals can sell stock in themselves or buy stock in others. The only 'tax' is that the government is assigned 5% stock in everyone at birth but can't sell or buy any), then start getting told what to do by their shareholders. Brings up some interesting questions on just how far should contracts be enforced and such. I haven't read the sequels yet so I'm not sure where the authors take the story after the first one.

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. One of the better fantasy books to come out for a while in my opinion.
http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Mans-Fear-Kingkiller-Chronicles/dp/0756404738

EDIT: also recommend the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
http://www.amazon.com/Way-Shadows-Night-Angel-Trilogy/dp/0316033677/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

The credits roll to completion after episode 10 of season 6, the closing music concludes as well. The crackling of a fire can be heard against the black screen. There is a now shot is of Kit Harrington sitting in a chair in front of a hearth in Winterfell. A the fire is roaring, and Ghost is sitting at his feet. He is looking down, reading a book. The camera pulls into a mid-shot and he looks up at us, breaking the fourth wall and says:

"I hope you enjoyed tonight's episode, and this whole season. Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss wanted to thank you, our fans, for watching and we look forward to an even more exciting and compelling season seven." [he shifts his weight and closes the book in his lap] "But really I am here to tell you that Mr. George RR Martin has given me permission to announce that--" The tip of an ice spear bursts through his chest. Ramsay, now a walking ice-corpse, is at the other end of the spear. Ghost immediately leaps onto him to tear out his throat. In the ensuing kerfuffle the camera shakes and tumbles to the ground. The book falls into frame, just out of focus, but the cover is somewhat visible...

I'm not working right now, but my last 2 jobs were at hospitals. To complain a bit, I really don't like 12 hr shifts. For some reason I feel like I'm trapped at work, and it adds to the stress of the job. Plus 12 always turns into 13 or 14 hrs. Sure I get to work 3 days and off 4, but it really just ruins those 3 days! I'm bitter =)

I hope your days starts to look up. I love glitter!! Thank you for the contest.

Glitter all the things. ALL of them!

book!

I'd suggest reading the Afterworld. It's... extremely representative of the genre, free at the moment and, uh, an extremely guilty pleasure to read.

Because it's Spellmonger, by Terry Mancour But i have to agree its an awesome series. It is kinda indie but damn its one of my favorite.

http://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-1-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407696655&sr=8-1&keywords=spellmonger

Dune

A timeless masterpiece that current sci-fi literature can only aspire to be compared with

There is a paperback set that's sold in the UK/Europe that you can order on UK Amazon(or whatever EU country you prefer). You have to order each book individually, though. It came out before The Wind Through the Keyhole, so that one just kinda sits off to the side. Nonetheless, the seven books look great together.

PS: a recent discovery http://www.amazon.com/AlterWorld-Play-Live-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00LYJOII6/

Awesome light scifi book

Yep, in the little-publicised eBook that accompanied the Return to Ravnica series, entitled "The Secretist". Not actually a terrible read.

Shadow of the Wind and Angel's Game, both by Carlos Ruiz Safon:

https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Wind-Cemetery-Forgotten-Book-ebook/dp/B000OVLINI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498238020&sr=8-1&keywords=Shadow+of+the+Wind

https://www.amazon.com/Angels-Game-Cemetery-Forgotten-Book-ebook/dp/B001NLKZLE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498238029&sr=8-1&keywords=Angels+Game


Kushiel's Dart and pretty much all the books that followed, by Jacqueline Carey:

https://www.amazon.com/Kushiels-Dart-Legacy-Book-ebook/dp/B0055DLCAY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498238161&sr=8-1&keywords=kushiel%27s+dart


Right now, I can't think of anything that I keep going back to over and over.

Wow, no kidding on the "next to nothing" claim. You can get the paperback of the first one for 15 cents (plus ~$4 shipping) on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Atrus-Myst/dp/0786881887/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500427093&sr=1-2

Alter World is probably one of the highest quality ones out there since it has an actual physical print in Russia also available on Amazon digitally in English with a high quality translation. You can read a synopsis here. The translation speeds not to bad about 1 to 2 full books a year as well.

My bad, I was thinking of "Necromancer Awakening"

Have you looked into the "Play to Live" series? Its quite a bit darker than LMS but its one of my favorites. http://www.amazon.com/AlterWorld-Play-Live-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00LYJOII6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421864024&sr=8-3&keywords=play+to+live&pebp=1421864028692&peasin=B00LYJOII6

Most people who start it end up finishing the entire translated series in several days.

more fantasy than scifi, ive been enjoying the spellmonger series. book 1 https://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-One-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W

latest book has a scifi twist which the author has been foreshadowing since quite early on. there is 10 books so far and it is on kindle unlimited.

other books ive been splurging on is the litrpg genre.

I'm 90% sure it's these ones:

• Gunslinger
  
• Drawing of the Three
  
• Waste Lands
  
• Wizard and Glass
  
• Wind Through the Keyhole
  
• Wolves of the Calla
  
• Song of Susannah
  
• Dark Tower
  
  
  Links obtained here.

When I was a teenager I somehow ended up with a book about Myst and it was actually really good. The Book of Atrus

If you don't mind fantasy books, the Kushiel series https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055DLCAY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_jTBHAbPC5V6PS by Jacqueline Carey is quite good.

T. Kingfisher's Nine Goblins.

Seconding Asprin's Myth Adventures series. If you can get ahold of the editions with Phil Foglio illustrations, I recommend those.

Craig Shaw Gardner's Ebeneezum books.

You went to Verblijf Op De Boerderij in Malempre, Belgium for some pancakes and ice cream (because Belgian pancakes are fancy.)

This is my book. :)