Reddit mentions: The best sword & sorcery fantasy books

1. The Heritage of Shannara - The Wishsong of Shannara was the book that brought me into reading at the age of 10 thanks to a truly amazing 4th grade teacher. The Heritage series cemented my interest in Epic Fantasy and lead me to multiple amazing authors. This quadrilogy has a special place in my heart for many reasons, I'd be hard pressed to pick something else if I had to pick only one book. I love that the ultimate weapon against evil is literally a two edged sword that makes you accept the naked truth about yourself to wield it, and undoes evil by that same principle. Hard to beat four books for the price of one with this collection. I've read them countless times and would happily do so again at any time.
   
2. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Shakespeare's works are the basis for so much literature and culture (good and bad) that a complete volume of his works would be enjoyable in its own right while providing memories for the many offshoot works that have their roots here which I have already consumed.
   
3. The Stories of Ray Bradbury - A few have mentioned Fahrenheit 451 here already, but Bradbury was an amazing author beyond the confines of his popular works, and a collection such as this offers a decent variety from an amazing writer.
   
4. Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Vol. 1 - Azimov is another author who was a prodigious writer with a wealth of amazing concepts and stories. I've enjoyed most of his popular fiction and a collection as large as this would seem a godsend should I be as limited as this challenge proposes in my reading.
   
5. Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson is probably my favorite author right now, and if I had the option I would pick the complete Mistborn series or the whole of the as yet to be finished Stormlight Archive, but with 1 book left in my 5, I would have to limit myself to his one offs, and of those I think Warbreaker speaks to me most. It's a great story and having read it a couple of times already, I don't think I would tire of it easily.

In teen fiction or adult? I don't think I've read any adult books recently (published in last two years) that would be appropriate for a 13 year old.


Stardust: Quirky, fun and Neil Gaiman. His writing and stories are very strange so people either like them or they don't (I don't). However, my friends swear by this book.


Kingkiller: Badass hero, epic journey, epic story. Ultimately along the same difficulty as Sword of Shanara/LOTR and is probably super boring for a 13 year old.


Let me think: Game of Thrones is neither appropriate nor well written. Lackey is still amazing, but has strong homosexual and relationship themes. I think I waited to read her old stuff until I was 13, but her new stuff is just as -- well, her... Terry Brooks has a new series, but it is more political than Rothfuss. All the modern mystery/suspense is very sexual. I'm reading Abercombie right now, but don''t feel confident recommending it since I'm not done. Keyes reminds me of old-school high fantasy -- really, really dense and hard to digest for a 13 year old.

 

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Divergent, as he already read, was quite good. Hunger Games and Maze Runner are in the same genre, but both are quite a bit darker than Divergent (stupid mind control and very Lord of the Flies-esque).

I think my best modern recommendation is:
Rick Riodran: Generally awesome teen male fiction. I've read the greek (percy) and egyptian series. They are fun and very similar to harry potter in tone.

Other

Throne of Glass: Not super popular, but definitely good! I haven't had the chance to read the sequels, but the first stuck with me.

Mistborn: water-downed Trudi Canarvan. Poor girl becomes a magician/assassin who totally kicks butt. Some almost-rape scenes (2 I think).

Intisar Khanani - I got a chance to read her newest book before it was released. She is the modern equivalent of Tamora Pierce and definitely someone to watch in the future. Great - Great author, but doesn't have an established series.

If he ends up liking the Dark Elf Trilogy -- The forgotten realms are STILL making books.

I'd say that Mortal Instruments (Girl meets demon hunter -- kind of a less cool version of Bleach), anything John Green writes (watered down Nicholas Sparks), Tiger's Curse (awesome epic adventure, but kinda creepy), and the Iron Fey series are too girly.

I recently read a free kindle book that would be awesome. It was a watered-down, less rape-y/fetishy version of The Sword of Truth. I can't find it. I'll have to get back to you on that. It had dragons and magic and bad-assery in a generic fantasy way. There was also another one with lots of dragons and he had power over them... hmmm... I might be losing my mind.

Here is some good history on dragons in D&D; there have been a lot of iterations, although they have kept to the basic theme of chromatics, metallics, and gemstones (later).

In all fairness, 5E Monster Manual is pretty thin on material to build out dragons as more than stat blocks, but part of that is because the MM is mostly stat blocks, a bit of behavior. Earlier editions like 2E and 3E gave a bit more to work with, and the 1E Rules Cyclopedia had a fair amount as well. Dragons, to play them well, should get the full NPC personality treatment to flesh them out, and should be done before focusing on the stat blocks - they should have a reason to be there, rather than another big scary thing. They are (mostly) highly intelligent, have strong personalities and interests, and won't just mindlessly attack without a good reason.

There are some great suggestions in this thread on source books, but I also encourage you to look at D&D fiction books like Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms books to see how dragons' personalities are beyond the monster-stat block side. Also, look at non-D&D fiction to explore dragons - The Dragon and the George is unusual but fun, the Temeraire books by Naomi Novik are a very different take on dragons that is all about their interactions with humans. E. E. Knight's "Age of Fire" series is excellent in terms of giving a natural history and political exploration of dragons (but the editing in the last couple books is terrible, sadly).

In the end, you can make any monster/adversary interesting, but you have to be willing to do the work to develop them. I've been on a kobold kick lately to research what has been done and to come up with ways to give them actual personalities and a society. Dragons are much easier as there is so much material out there, and you have so much to work with.

Full disclosure: have been obsessed with dragons since He-Man's Granamyr and "Flight of Dragons" the animated movie. Watch those too.

I find it completely awesome, and as far as the quintessential milestones in 5e, I can't recommend it strongly enough. Every DM needs to at least decide whether or not to run it. It's that good. It's meaningful, too, and relatively deep. We're not tagged for spoilers here, so I won't ruin it, but it's definitely a 'thinker' on many, many levels. And the module itself doesn't answer all the questions directly.

> Has anyone run it or played it?

Running it right now. We 'officially' started on February 2nd, and are about 50% done with all the stuff outside the castle. 25% overall, I'd say.

> If so, did you enjoy it?

Everyone enjoys it a great deal, but it's not pure enjoyment. See, the setting is gothic horror, and there's a good amount of grimdark in it, as written. Dark, horrible stuff. Everything is ruined in some way, and/or tragically flawed. It can make you sad inside. But that's part of the appeal. There are highs and lows. It's a journey.

> What were the stand-outs and things to look out for/cut/avoid?

As mentioned, it gets dark, and that's not for everybody. Someone once asked whether it would be good for a church youth group, and I'd have to say 'no' on that idea. Don't think "Lord of the Rings" for this one. Think "Cabin in the Woods", "Dawn of the Dead", and/or "Cloverfield". It's just different, when you do it right.

There's also a ton of prep you can do before running, like getting your hands on I, Strahd : The Memoirs of a Vampire, which reveals a lot of the detail under the hood for the story. Tons of advice online to read, too. Dig through that a bit before you decide.

I have a bunch of specific spoiler-filled advice to give on the topic, too, if you do decide to run it.

And to the other question here...

> If it's just a rail-road with any real role-play or freedom, then I'll pass. THANKS

It is and it isn't. In general the adventure design is about as sandbox as it gets. You can go where you like and do as you please. You can easily wander out of your level range and cause a TPK. Super, super easily. But the PCs are utterly trapped in Strahd's Dread Domain. They're completely at his mercy until they either deal with him or fail completely. So that's definitely a form of 'railroad' if we're using the term properly. Best description is a 'sandbox on rails'. Do whatever you please, so long as you're preparing to confront Strahd at the end.

Mystara

Ah, Mystara. At first I thought that this one's more generic than Forgotten Realms, maybe that's why they put in the "yo dawg" situation. See, this world has another one inside, called Hollow World, inspired by our very own Hollow Earth, with its own Sun and everything. Also, instead of gods, it has ascended beings, called Immortals—in some ways they remind me of the Ancients from Stargate. Oh, and there's also a giant crashed space ship called FSS Beagle somewhere on the planet. Because, really, why not? Did I mention the Scottish lich? Or the Roman- and Egyptian-like people riding dinosaurs inside the Hollow World? Or the gnomes who live in their floating clockwork city... Wait, let me also tell you about how one of the planet's moons is inhabited by katana-wielding cat people samurai ninjas, who ride giant sabertooth tigers. In space. Wat.

On second thought, maybe this world isn't generic, just certifiably insane. Why aren't there dozens of novels in this setting? :(
Site: Vaults of Pandius.

• The Black Vessel by Morris Simon: Hey, Spanish elves!
  
• The Orcs of Thar by Bruce Heard: it's not a novel per se, but a sourcebook detailing the cultures of orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc. Filled with plenty of goofy jokes and stupidity, fun for every age! A bit too difficult to procure nowadays.
  
  Planescape
  
  Quite famous, thanks to the fantastic PC game, Planescape: Torment. This setting ties everything else together in a way, according to this world, belief has the power to change the fabric of reality and create the Outer Planes. The center of it is Sigil, which is a giant city that's floating above the Spire, a tower of rock of infinite height. Sigil is kinda like a railway junction of portals, from here you can go to any plane you fancy as long as you can find its portal.
  Sites: Planewalker and Mimir.net.
  
  
• Blood Wars Trilogy by J. Robert King: While formulaic, I found it enjoyable and it had some interesting moments, like hopping through various planes of existence, at some point the characters ending up on the floating body of a dead god.
  
• Planescape: Torment by ShadowCatboy: a novelization of the game expanding on the original dialog text, it's free. Flawed (after all, it's a script turned into a book by a fan) and complex, but fantastic.
  
  Ravenloft
  
  Maybe it's because I'm Transylvanian, but I'm a huge fan of Ravenloft. It's basically fantasy-infused gothic horror, many of its novels are re-imaginings of classic horror tales, like Frankenstein, Dracula or The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The setting itself is rather interesting, it's a pocket universe that's "floating" in the Ethereal Plane, surrounded by the Mists, with its own laws of physics. It also features some very iconic evil characters, like Strahd and Lord Soth—all in all, grimdark warning!
  Notable fansites include The Fraternity of Shadows and Secrets of the Kargatane.
  
  
• Carnival of Fear by Robert King: my first Ravenloft novel, it got me hooked. Doubly enjoyable if you like media featuring traveling carnivals/freak shows.
  
• I, Strahd by P.N. Elrod: Great story featuring the most famous Ravenloft character, the vampire Strahd von Zarovich. Has a sequel, I, Strahd: the War Against Azalin. One novel! Two novels! Ah ah ah!
  
• Knight of the Black Rose by James Lowder: features a Dragonlance villain called Lord Soth, a true b'dass who's a pretty cool guy and doesn't afraid of anything.
  
  Spelljammer
  
  Fantasy in Space. Wooden spaceships with Elven crews, steampunk themes, interstellar travel, phlogiston, organic manta ray looking giant space ships, intelligent Orcs that are more like Klingons and actually called scro, easy traveling between Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, etc. Yes!
  Sites: Spelljammer.org and Spelljammer Wiki.
  
  
• The Cloakmaster Cycle by various authors: six books, as far as I know these are the only novels set in this universe.
  
  There are more campaign settings, such as Oriental Adventures, Mahasarpa, Jakandor, Pelinore, etc., however none of those have official novels.
  
  That's about it, I guess. I suspect it's roughly 500 novels in total; at the rate of one per week, it'll take you ~10 years to read them all. I probably wouldn't, as some of them genuinely suck.
  
  Ugh, this thing became far too long, apologies for that.

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind is the first fantasy book I ever read. I had always been into science fiction and historical fiction, but I'd never tried the fantasy genre until this girl I'd met suggested it to me. I LOVED IT! Every part of the book was fantastic. It's not just your typical magic and dragons fantasy book. There is a fantastic plot with some of the most unexpected twists I've ever read, genres aside.

The best part about all of this is that the girl who suggested it to me became my girlfriend a few weeks later. Now, she's my wife. This book will always have a special place in my heart and I wouldn't have it any other way.

P.S. - A sincere thank you for the contest and your magnanimousness!

It depends on what you already read, but let's start you off easy:

I would take a look at some stand-alone books to get you started:

• The Hobbit: Short and can be read as a stand-alone. It's a good mix of whimsy and darkness, which seems to be key to the genre. It's more of a story than an epic tale.
  
  
• Stardust: I love Stardust. Neil Gaiman is a master of the beautiful and thorny nature of magic. No magic "systems" to sift through here.
  
  
• Warbreaker: Brandon Sanderson is considered a modern master of the craft. He loves unique magic "systems," and this is no exception. He originally released this book free of charge in [PDF] format! I found it to be enjoyable, but it's still on my "to finish" list (which is too long). Highly recommended due to being FREE and a good sample of some modern fantasy.
  
  Slightly more involved:
  
  Harry Potter was mentioned - 7 books, easily accessible, builds complexity and atmosphere over the series. Highly recommended.
  
  Also, The Name of the Wind and The Lies of Locke Lamora have been mentioned, and I second these. I also would add The Magicians, by Lev Grossman. Each series has two books out. I don't know if The Magicians will have a third book, but the others surely will.

The Crafter by Outspan Foster. I haven't read this one yet, but I'm pretty pumped. Ordered the paperback. Set in a non-vr world.

Dante's Immortality. Highly recommended on this sub. Book 2 probably won't happen. Probably once a week asks about book 2. Still, so good that it's worth reading book 1 of an unfinished series. I think that's pretty high praise for it.

Sufficiently Advanced Magic. Another sub favorite. People argue whether or not it's LitRPG, most important thing is: it's dope.

Adventures on Brad. Nice slice of life in a non-vr fantasy world with game mechanics. Fun stuff.

A few others:

Adventurer Academy andIs It Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon.

Enjoy!

If you haven't, you really should read Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. Here's its description on Amazon:

>After bursting onto the fantasy scene with his acclaimed debut novel, Elantris, and following up with his blockbuster Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson proves again that he is today’s leading master of what Tolkien called “secondary creation,” the invention of whole worlds, complete with magics and myths all their own.

>Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago.

>Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

>By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

It has one of the most unique systems of magic I've ever come across, as well as other interesting premises. But the best part is, it's offered for FREE on his website! You can read it on the site itself or download it for kindle.

Well, most FR literature is in novel form. I am not very familiar with non-novel stuff, maybe Volo's guide to the Sword Coast? It's an old one, likely from very old versions of D&D, but it will still give you a history of some parts of FR.

As for novels, I would recommend Cormyr by Ed Greenwood, and Evermeet: Island of Elves by Elaine Cunningham. I read both of them nearly 20 years ago, and they are great stories about the history of Cormyr and the Elves respectably.

And of course there's the Drizzt Do'Urden series. They're my guilty pleasure, and give a good account of Menzoberranzan, Mithril Hall, Icewind Dale, and several other locations.

I read all the time, I actually didn't like the idea of reading on a tablet or e-reader at first, but I'm reading every day on my new Kindle and I love it.

I would highly recommend The Thrawn Trilogy, first book here. I also really loved the whole Ender's Game series found here. One last big recommendation is The Sword of Truth series found here.

For anyone who loves the idea of a tiny dragon guarding his precious treasure I recommend A Book Dragon in which said treasure is a beautiful, priceless old book. One of my favorite YA stories.

Currently reading: Seagalology: The Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal by Vern. Hilarious but also really interesting.

Finished reading last night: Sword in the Storm, a swords-and-sorcery novel by David Gemmell. I'm on a bit of a nostalgia trip at the moment, so I'm rereading some of the novels I read as a kid, including this one.

About to start reading: Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon. It's a comic novel inspired by the survey of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Edit: since I see you like SF, have you read Stealing Light by Gary Gibson? Near future, cyberpunky affair featuring a kick-ass female protagonist.

My bad, didn't notice the audiobook part, just the exciting combat part.

Patch 17; locked in game story (or maybe portal into game-world?), lots of great combat and multiple audiobooks. Character gets glitch-stuck in a locked expansion surrounded by demon NPCs, right as everyone who plays the game gets uploaded into it (there are some unexplained non-scientific stuff about that, that make me wonder if it's actually an upload and not really a portal story).

Adventures on Brad; dungeon crawling fantasy story containing no earthlings. Easier/lower level story, a trilogy, but the fights are decent for what I consider a YA level book.

The System Apocalypse; real life apocalypse story. Fighting is good, as is the writing, and there are 4 (5?) audiobooks already (and a few more books already published that haven't gotten an audio treatment).

Codename: Freedom; VRMMORPG, with zero magic to start but lots of fighting. Decent for a VR book, I'm not usually a fan of those but I've listened to the first two books and am looking forward to the third.

Arcane Survivalist; apocalypse caused by a portal-story (scientist semi-accidentally sends the system back though his portal into the real world). Action is great, though writing could have been better. Same writer wrote another story I've read, but I can't remember how much action there is in it.

Forever Fantasy Online; VRMMORPG turned portal-story. I'll admit the whole thing wasn't amazing, but you're just looking for action and I liked the action.

You're Not Allowed to Die; end of life single-player VR sim turned portal-story (the MC doesn't know that, though). This one is hard, as I liked it but the character starts with some insane OP equipment. Still, this and the sequel were both enjoyable.

The Land; I'm not even linking this one, people here have a hate-hardon for it. Still, as long as you look past the bro-ish behavior and tone, great books with lots of action.

I'm so thrilled you enjoyed The Raveling! Makes me happy. The third book was just released, if you hadn't seen that yet.


Have you read The Aching God? I think it's a really terrific book. I've heard good things about the Rhenwar Saga. I also loved Paternus, though that might be classed as urban fantasy.


https://www.amazon.com/Aching-God-Iconoclasts-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07C9DBKB6


https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Rhenwars-Saga-Fantasy-Pentalogy-ebook/dp/B07KLXCH5X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=rhenwars&qid=1575089953&s=digital-text&sr=1-1


https://www.amazon.com/Paternus-Rise-Gods-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B01CXPD8T4/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=paternus&qid=1575089982&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

I don't think it matters, both are good reads. After those two it kinda goes down hill. If afterwards you wanted to look into other series in forgotten realms, look for:

• Erevis Cale trilogy by Paul S Kemp
  
  
• Twilight War Trilogy by Paul S Kemp - Follows up the events of the previous.
  
  
• Elminster Series by Ed Greenwood - First three or four are pretty good, Elminster's daughter is a bit of a slip and I haven't yet gotten around to the last two released.
  
  Also slightly related to Forgotten Realms (via Baldur's gate 2) is the Dragonlance series. This series is one of my favourites for AD&D. Margate Weis & Tracy Hickman are a fantastic duo, if you are at all into D&D I suggest picking up the Annotated Chronicals and the Annotated Legends. Those contain the first 6 books with notes, thoughts and stories from all the players (including the authors, artist, and close friends of theirs) in the campaign they went through.

Here's tonight's replay of Soundbooth Theater Live! Today I narrated "Delvers LLC: Welcome to Ludus," by Blaise Corvin. Another great LitRPG title with great characters and a fun and dark premise. I hope you like my Eek the Cat!

REMEMBER! The next stream of Delvers LLC will NOT be tomorrow, but on Tuesday, 11-29, at 7pm CST. And if you want, drop by for Requests Only, still on every Sunday at 5pm CST!

10:00 - "Delvers LLC: Welcome to Ludus" by Blaise Corvin

https://www.amazon.com/Delvers-LLC-Welcome-Blaise-Corvin-ebook/dp/B01M0U4B3S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479961269&sr=1-1&keywords=delvers+llc

I have a soft spot for novels that combine fairies with rock & roll (bonus points if it's specifically heavy metal/punk). The more earnest and ridiculous, the better. Gael Baudino's Gossamer Axe is the greatest example, but Tad Williams has a good one too, and then there's Martin Millar.

Maybe it's because there are so few of these stories that I never get tired of the idea, but I really wish there were more.

Try halfpricebooks.com

Look up Fire and Dust by James Gardner. Great Planescape story but author couldn't get it printed so he released it online:
http://planewalker.com/wings/archive/firedust.html

This trilogy is also awesome:
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Hostages-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0786904739

Edit - Torment the game is excellent. Torment the book is deplorable.

Hi, thanks for doing this :)

My favorite ebook would have to be Wizard's First Rule
by Terry Goodkind. My name is Brian and I would love to own an ereader such as the kindle so I can read the rest of the series by Terry Goodkind, as well as the Song of Ice and Fire series! Thanks again!

I have only read the story in the Rogues anthology. I enjoyed it, it was quite humorous and the characters were certainly fun. I've not read anything else by Garth Nix so no idea how it would compare with his other stuff.
The series appears to be 3 short stories and are collected quite cheap on kindle at the moment so might well be worth a look.

UK-£1.08

US-$1.79

My recommendation would be to go pick up some 2nd, 3rd or 4th edition sourcebooks for dirt cheap at Half Price Books or online. The Forgotten Realms sourcebook from 3.5 is what I am currently using, it has a removable foldout map of Faerun, and detailed lists of major sights throughout the realms, including descriptions of the major cities, ruins, etc.

I've heard good things about the Greenwood Forgotten Realms book as well.

You can probably also find sourcebooks specific to Waterdeep, Neverwinter, etc. though I don't know the specific titles.

The point is that generally speaking the edition doesn't matter when it comes to background materials, physical descriptions, major characters, history, politics, factions, maps, etc. It just doesn't. So do yourself a favor and buy this stuff cheap from older editions.

Also, keep in mind that while you are building off of an existing world, and there is something cool about that, the minute you start to play in it it's YOUR world. None of these sourcebooks are going to have every single detail fleshed out, and often will just give you the flavor of a particular city, a few major landmarks, etc. From there on you should create your own landmarks, taverns, interesting characters, history, etc.

This is the book that I use a lot:
http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Campaign-Setting-Dungeons-Roleplaying/dp/0786918365/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417478819&sr=1-2&keywords=FOrgotten+Realms

Here are more:

http://www.amazon.com/Greenwood-Presents-Elminsters-Forgotten-Realms/dp/0786960345

Neverwinter book:
http://www.amazon.com/Neverwinter-Campaign-Setting-Dungeons-Supplement/dp/0786958146/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417478789&sr=1-4&keywords=Neverwinter+source+book

Waterdeep book:
http://www.amazon.com/City-Splendors-Waterdeep-Roleplaying-Supplement/dp/0786936932/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417478895&sr=1-1&keywords=Waterdeep

http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Realms-Atlas-Karen-Fonstad/dp/0880388579/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417478853&sr=1-3&keywords=FOrgotten+Realms

Hope that helps. Also buy 4th edition stuff now if you ever think you want it. Lots of stores are having fire sales moving their 4th ed stuff.

Another series of fantasy fiction with which there are huge paralels are the "Legend of the five rings" clan wars novels (https://www.amazon.com/Scorpion-Legend-Five-Rings-Scroll/dp/0786916842/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503682001&sr=8-2&keywords=legend+of+the+five+rings)

I am not sure which appeared first... but in L5R, in a feudal Japanese style universe, the great clans are all fighting amongst each other to get the Emperor's favor or to position themselves to sit on the Jade Throne. While all this is happening, the Crab clan are defending the Carpenter wall to the south. The Crab clan along with the great Carpenter Wall are the only thing keeping the hordes of the Shadowland from invading Rokugan!

Feels familiar?

My all time favorite book is "The Merro Tree" by Katie Waitman. (https://www.amazon.com/Merro-Tree-Del-Rey-Discovery/dp/0345414365) It's an excellent science fiction tale about a boy who transcends incredible odds to become one of the galaxy's greatest performers. It is about love, music, dance, and theatre, all in a beautiful sci-fi setting. Excellent and easy to read.

If you want harder science fiction, I suggest "House of Suns" by Alestair Reynolds (https://www.amazon.com/House-Suns-Alastair-Reynolds-ebook/dp/B002AKPECW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550262904&sr=1-1&keywords=house+of+suns+alastair+reynolds) A murder on a planet full of immortal clones. A murder mystery in a transhumanist far future.

Not into Sci-Fi as much, but don't want your usual sword and sorcery Fantasy? How about "Warbreaker" by Brandon Sanderson. (https://www.amazon.com/Warbreaker-Brandon-Sanderson/dp/0765360039/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550263031&sr=1-1&keywords=warbreaker) Political intrigue in the court of the GodKing, and a tireless immortal attempting to correct a wrong done a long time ago. It also has an interesting form of magic, different from your usual "pinch of pixie dust, eye of newt, mutter incantation" kind of wizardry.

Into Gaiman, but want something slightly more serious? How about something akin to "Neverwhere"? I suggest "The City's Son" by Tom Pollock (https://www.amazon.com/Citys-Son-Skyscraper-Throne-Book-ebook/dp/B00LSX4TO6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550263325&sr=1-1&keywords=The+City%27s+Son+tom+pollock)

You can check novels based on Legend of Five Rings CCGs. It is oriental setting with ninja, samurai and Great clans. But also has alot of fantasy with mythical beasts and supernatural powers. Each novel tells a story of one Great clan and its leaders/followers. The first in series is called The Scorpion

If you want to see how they used to manage it, check out the Forgotten Realms Atlas for more ridiculously detailed maps from all over the realms. They include huge overland maps and detailed interiors in a collection that detailed every major location in the Realms as of its publication based off the collected fiction/novels of TSR.

EDIT: Real old school here, but the most detailed maps EVER made for the Realms are only available in the CD ROM Forgotten Realms Atlas, where EVERYTHING existing at the time was rendered in Vector Maps. Infinitely rescalable and extractable. I use the Forgotten Realms CD to copy the maps from, then Campaign Cartographer to export them in at least 6000x6000 image size where I then lazily project them onto the whole table top. A mouse wheel zooms from perfect clarity overhead of Waterdeep to a just as clear doorway level map, all on the same image.

I really don't understand people that don't like to read. The worlds that a good book can create in your head are just so much better than what any movie could ever accomplish. Give him some action packed fantasy books for young adults. It may not be valuable content from an English teacher's position, but it might spark his interest. Maybe Harry Potter? Or Trudi Canavan's - Magicians guild or Raymond Feist's - Magicians Apprentice.

Thanks for the review, I am going to have a read! Noticed that the series is still on sale and possibly has been for 10 months.

US $0.94
UK £0.99
AUS $1.37

Another thanks for the fantastic offer.

My Puggle pooped on the floor haha!

A used copy of this book from my Husband's wishlist is $0.08 plus $3.99 shipping. Thank you for the contest :)

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

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amazon.es

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amazon.nl

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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're down for a swords and sorcery-style fantasy adventure, my favorite has always been the Dragonlance Chronicles. Another good one, for a grim/gritty medieval fantasy world is Orcs(btw, it's about orcs). That's the kind of reading I like to do, anyways. [3]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I, Strahd : The Memoirs of a Vampire (Ravenloft Books) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1560766700/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rcFlDbKGX3V6H

This book describes how Strahd became a vampire. It’s a quick read, and it’s pretty good.

Nice thing is you can grab the annotated chronicles for pretty cheap.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00J1HDEH4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect

https://smile.amazon.com/Cast-Under-Alien-Destinys-Crucible-ebook/dp/B01I8DTAKQ/ref=sr_1_1

https://smile.amazon.com/Aebeling-Casere-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00JS8VRV6/ref=sr_1_1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0U4B3S/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_1

https://smile.amazon.com/How-Avoid-Death-Daily-Basis-ebook/dp/B01H5G6ZR8

---

^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

Do you like fantasy/sci fi? If so, check out Elantris and Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. Two of the most enjoyable standalone fantasy novels I have ever read.

THIS.

Also, the Sword of Truth series.

Edit: Links :)

Dresden

Sword of Truth

Lol true that.

For everyone on this thread looking for LitRPG, my first book just came out: ttps://www.amazon.com/Delvers-LLC-Welcome-Blaise-Corvin-ebook/dp/B01M0U4B3S/

You can also find a list of LitRPG stories in my group on RRL: http://royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=83267

[Cradle]
[Mother of Learning]
[Sufficiently Advanced Magic]
[Street Cultivation]
[The Land]
[The Divine Dungeon]
[The Dark Herbalist]
[Ascend Online]
[The Way of the Shaman]
[The Wheel of Time] (Low Quality)
[I Shall Seal the Heavens]
[A Will Eternal]
[Coiling Dragon]
[Patrick Rothfuss] (Author)
[The Thousand Li]
[Savage Divinity] (Low Quality)
[The Dao of Magic]
[Dante's Immortality]
[Forge of Destiny]
[Veilverse]
[Way of the Immortals]
[Sundered Soul]
[Edge of Eons]
[Soulship]
[The Wandering Inn]
[Delvers LLC]
[Dodge Tank]
[World Tree Online]
[Life Reset]
[Viridian Gate Online]
[The Crafting of Chess]
[Reverend Insanity]
[I Eat Tomatoes] (Author)
[Er Gen] (Author)
[The King's Avatar]
[Against the Gods]
[Martial World]
[Dragon Heart]
[Purple Days]

I enjoyed "Time Enough for Love"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_Long

Also:

"Elantris" and "Warbreaker" by Brandon Sanderson

Oh! Also check out "The Mummy or Ramses the Damned" by Anne Rice!

Have you read much David Gemmell? It's been a while since I read the series but I think his rigante books would cover many of the aspects you're looking for.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sword-Storm-Rigante-Book-1/dp/0552142565/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418079811&sr=8-1&keywords=Sword+In+The+Storm

It's part of one of my all time favorite series of fantasy books.

If you need any help, there is a product out there for this
http://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Dungeon-Advanced-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786913924

I'd recommend hitting up a local library for it.

Rhenwars Saga by M.L. Spencer is a must read in my opinion. It's also on Kindle Unlimited. A great deconstructive epic fantasy that hits all the right buttons. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Rhenwars-Saga-Fantasy-Pentalogy-ebook/dp/B07KLXCH5X/

The Complete Rhenwars Saga


The Rhenwars Saga is a fast-paced fantasy of mages and warriors, demons and heroes, that is evocative and compelling, with characters that are rich and real in both virtues and flaws.

And it’s more than just a story—it’s an allegory.

The Saga paints a tale of two nations at war—the “good guys” from the familiar Western lands and the “bad guys” from those shadowed areas on the map we all learned to fear the first time our eyes fell on Mordor. But as it turns out, right and wrong are never as clear-cut as they seem, and not all heroes fight for a just and worthy cause. In a land where the righteous are just as ruthless as the damned, and the invading horde is just as worthy as the nations they target, this is a tale of the unexpected, of betrayal, of brutality, and sacrifice.

In this saga, good may not necessarily triumph over evil--but what are good and evil, anyway, but merely cultural constructs? After all, one man’s demon is another man’s hero…and sometimes both demon and hero define the same man.

The entire Rhenwars Saga—all five books—are currently available in an omnibus for only .99c! And, with 200 Goodreads ratings, 59% of all readers haven given this saga 5*s!

In AD&D there was an Adventure Reverse Dungeon where you can play 3 scenarios in reversed roles. The players play a group of Goblins and other monsters to try and stop a group of adventurers from clearing the thing and reaching the Lich on the lowest level.

Warbreaker is standalone.

It actually has a really fantastic ending.

Check out The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan! The first book is The Magicians' Guild. I love Sanderson and Hobb, and I really enjoyed The Black Magician trilogy. It's exactly a magic school/coming of age story.

Hi there - the 5 book set is 99c for all 5 together on Kindle. Even if you only need one book, buying the 5 book set is a good deal. They have released the fourth and it is a part of this set on Amazon. You can get it here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KLXCH5X

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KLXCH5X

I’m old school, and I’m reading this as ‘what fantasy writings/books/novels can I read to be a better DM/GM’?

I would recommend the original Dragonlance trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman for insight in to storytelling and how to balance humor, darkness and the death of a character (PC).

Dragonlance Chronicles: "Dragons of Autumn Twilight," "Dragons of Winter Night,""dragons of Spring (TSR Fantasy) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140115404/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9KVtDb1EVFJXC

For combat storytelling, there is no one better than R.A. Salvatore IMO. The way he describes combat, it gave me great insight on how to turn combat in to part of the story through explanation of PC actions to the party. ‘You hit and deal X damage’ just doesn’t have the same appeal to me as ‘your character scores a grazing slash across the foul beast, some of its black blood oozes out in unnatural ways...’

The Legend of Drizzt Boxed Set, Books I-III (Set 1, Bks. 1-3) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786947772/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_-PVtDb67EWJ0S

I hope this helps! Other suggestions about reading older editions of D&D is also excellent but may be confusing for a newer DM getting used to the rules.

Game on!

Start with the Second Day of Thunder and Clan Wars stories. This series of books are a good place to start. The Dragon Clan one is probably the best. These are the stories going on when the card game first came out.

Those novels aren't long and read quickly. You could probably knock one out in an evening or two.

For the record, I was inspired to get the guitar and try to learn after reading the book Gossamer Axe

the good guys series and delvers llc

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. Great book. My favorite part is that it's a stand alone book. No need to wait 10 years between the books. Lamb by Christopher Moore. Another phenominal stand alone book.

Edited for spelling.

The 2nd Edition Menzoberranzan Box Set was astonishingly good for 17 year-old me. No idea how well it held up against later material (and I haven't read it in 20 years).

Since noon has responded yet, I have a a YA book from the 90s that you may be interested in a book called A Book Dragon

Terry Goodkinds Sword of Truth series for a fantasy lover. Some people hate it and lots more love it. There are like 14 or more in the series but very good. Epic battles. Romance without being porny, magic, good vs. Evil. First ones called Wizards First Rule

Edit: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00433TO4I

Link to kindle edition. My bad

Dig around for a copy of Reverse Dungeon (Amazon) - it's exactly this idea. While it's 2E, the background, plot, and settings might give you some ideas as to how to run this; it's a really well-thought-out and well-written adventure.

Here's a newish original Anthology - The Mighty Warriors

Edit: the cover could be considered NSFW

You should also check out Garth Nix's Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz. Only 99 cents for a ebook of three stories

Start at the beginning of The Sword of Truth novels - Wizard's First Rule

Yep, this one.

I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire

It's from a Dungeons & Dragons storyline set in a world called Ravenloft; this is the series they use for all their classic horror tales based on Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. Great series. However, you don't have to know anything about the game or the rest of the series to enjoy this book.

It's based on Dracula, but Strahd is fleshed out as his own tragic character--this is his downfall, his villain-creation-story. It's similar enough to Dracula that the book can stand by itself and you won't have trouble following... but it's different enough to be new and interesting. The details are fantastic, and by the end of the story, I'm rooting for and sympathizing with Strahd all the way, even though I know all he's done is evil.

You are in for a wild ride! I grew up reading DL and have not revisited it in a long while.

This is the most comprehensible resource for Chrono & Pub reading orders: https://dragonlancereadingorder.com/. I love reading series in Chrono order. However, DL is an exception. You should:

1. Sart with Chronicles (Skip Summer Flame)
   
2. Legends
   
3. The Raistlin Chronicles
   
4. The Second Generation
   
5. Summer Flame
   
6. Lost Chronicles
   
   From there the Sky's the Limit. I would go pack and read all of the stand alone and early Chrono books before moving into War of Souls, (more of) the Chaos Wars or anything from the 5th age.
   
   I want to also share 2 of my most prized editions:
   
   

• The Annotated Chronicles
  
• The Annotated Legends
  
  ​
  
  I wish Brandon Sanderson would publish his annotation in a physical volume like this. Same with WOT.

Here is a 2nd edition book to fill out your list:

Reverse Dungeon

That's Trudi Canavan's The Magician's Guild. I believe there is a second trilogy out too.

Hey, just wanted to let you know it's out now here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R91PP93

Hmmmm

But if you are, here's a gist of the first trilogy. Amazon
and Thrift books

The first trilogy consists of:

• Dragons of Autumn Twilight
  
• Dragons of Winter Night
  
• Dragons of Spring Dawning
  
  This is the edition I was gifted way back when.

Reverse Dungeon, you say?

Thanksfor the contest! CRICKET

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Dragon-Donn-Kushner/dp/0380707691

Couldn't find a source online.

I followed the link you gave, but it says it is $6.23 for the Kindle version, not $0.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M0U4B3S/

Maybe it's because I am not logged into an account?

I have an Amazon.ca account, not .com.

Doesn't appear to be on sale on the .ca site.

The Legend of the Five Rings: Clan War series. Wonderful stuff. Here's the first book.
http://www.amazon.com/Scorpion-Legend-Five-Rings-Scroll/dp/0786916842/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278328591&sr=8-2

I confess, I've only read Book 1, but I loved the damaged characters with questionable motivations. The entire set is just 99c right now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KLXCH5X

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KLXCH5X

May I suggest the books based on Legend of the Five Rings role playing game?

Incredibly violent, well written and has tons of intrigue. As a note ive never played the table top rpg, in fact ive only just now discovered that it is what the books are based on.

The Scorpion, first scroll

Couple new ones not mentioned:

M.C. Planck - "Sword of the Bright Lady"

Olan Thorensen - "Cast Under An Alien Sun"

Michael Oneill - "The Casere"

It's also a popular theme among the LitRPG crowd. Like the following:

Blaise Corvin - "Delvers LLC"

V. Moody - "How to Avoid Death on a Daily Basis"

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson:
https://dynamic.indigoimages.ca/books/0765360039.jpg?altimages=true&scaleup=true&maxheight=515&width=380&quality=85&sale=3&lang=en

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51zg32xJdLL._SX325_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

One of the worst books I've ever read. Really nice covers though.

A favorite series of mine that does this is the "Legend of the Five Rings: Clan War Saga". Basically, in the fantasy world of Rokogun, the empire has all these Noble Houses. Each of the Houses has strengths, weaknesses, and territories. The books follow the various leaders of the houses, one book per a clan, as a civil war looms. The first book is called The Scorpion (for the Scorpion Clan). There is a meta-plot for all the books, but each works as a stand alone.

https://www.amazon.com/Scorpion-Legend-Five-Rings-Scroll/dp/0786916842/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1498785992&sr=8-2&keywords=legend+of+the+five+rings+scorpion

The Misenchanted Sword, by Lawrence Watt Evans.

The sword will kill 99 victims, the 100th will be the wielder.



The sentient magic sword in Warbreaker is pretty fun. (This one ties in to Sanderson's Cosmere novels, mentioned by DivineArbelests' reference to shardblades in the Stormlight Archive)

Of course, there's alway Stormbringer & Mournblade.


Perhaps The Sword of Truth?



There are sooooo many!!!!

Have you read the "Delvers LLC" serie by Blaise Corvin?

https://www.amazon.com/Delvers-LLC-Welcome-Blaise-Corvin-ebook/dp/B01M0U4B3S

The story follow not one but two main characters transferred together to another world by some kind of mad god like entity and gifted with some gamelike power.

But the "power" is only superficially similar to a game, and the secret of its origin (outisde that "a god did it") and the real nature and objectives of the "god" are integral parts of the story.

Not sure if it is exactly what you are searching however.