Suggestions for a new author / series of books for me to read?

Has anyone mentioned the prince of nothing series by R Scott Backer. They read a little like history books at some times but the characters and world building is awesome.

If don't mind me tagging my own request in this thread , knowing it will god knows when before book 6 is out for the Song of Fire and Ice , for fans of this series/genre , what are some other trilogies/series you'd suggest ? Fantasy based , not one off books.

I've read the usual , the Wheel of Time series to the Forgotten Realms/Old Dragonlance , Tolkien of course. Wondered if there were any series that maybe get overlooked but are very good , example I really liked most of the early Black Company books by Glen Cook , but they aren't all that well known.

I just prefer series be it trilogies or longer figuring the character to world development for a fantasy setting should be something that takes more than one book.

No mention ofThe First Law Trilogy Boxed Set: The Blade Itself, Before They are Hanged, Last Argument of Kings: Joe Abercrombie: 9780575092969: Amazon.com: Books? Read these three first than the next 3

By far my favorite author, his character progression surpasses even George R.R. Martin and love all the grey area stuff.

AlsoThe Steel Remains: Richard K. Morgan: 9780345493040: Amazon.com: Booksis a great read if you don't mind all the man love. Might become a trilogy at some point.

2nd book for steel remains trilogy, the cold commands, is out. Third book, the dark defiles, should be out in april.

Intrinsic_sl said:

I have to reach out and ask the opinions of Szlia and others here that may have read this...

About 80% through book 1 and wondering if it getanybetter? It isn't necessarily bad, but I'm thoroughly not enjoying it and anticipating 3 more books makes me wonder if it is worth committing to. There are interesting things going on and the concept / system / relationship between the poets and their andat is interesting enough, but damn near nothing happens.

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In my opinion, no, the system itself and Seedless were the only aspects of the series that held any merit for me. If you are well read in the genre I doubt you will find much else of distinction unless fictional economic situations and irrational yet ultimately pivotal character decisions excite you (end of book 1).

As far as recommendations go; The Night Circus and Tender Morsels are two of the few novels among many that I have read in the last several years that I can say were actually worth reading and also quite memorable. They also benefit from being stand alone novels and thus avoid the numerous usual pitfalls of series works.

Toss me a recommendation: I haven't read a single Terry Pratchett book. Where to start with him?

Seventh_sl said:

Toss me a recommendation: I haven't read a single Terry Pratchett book. Where to start with him?

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The Colour of Magic. Read all of Discworld novels(not side shit like cookbooks and such) in publish order. Do it. On subsequent read-throughs go ahead and follow one series.

Also, don't get discouraged by the first two books, a few friends and acquaintances I have lent books to have gotten hung up on them, but from there on it's smooth sailing. And the "young adult" novels might sound like something different but they are fantastic too.

Krag_sl said:

Also, don't get discouraged by the first two books, a few friends and acquaintances I have lent books to have gotten hung up on them, but from there on it's smooth sailing. And the "young adult" novels might sound like something different but they are fantastic too.

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Yeah, Discworld is one of those series where it took the author a few books to really get a handle on how to write them. They should still definitely be read in publication order, but with the understanding that they only get better as the series progresses.

I love Discworld but read "Good Omens" first.

Nebuchadnezzar_sl said:

I love Discworld but read "Good Omens" first.

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Good Omens is excellent.

Also American Gods

Neal Asher's Cormac/Polity books are decent read.. the ecologies he builds are crazy in depth and interesting or word salad depending if you like that kinda thing.

I figured I'd post here rather than create a whole new thread - does anyone have any sci fi (or space opera would I guess be a more accurate term for what I'm after) suggestions? Are there any writers who do that kind of thing without it being based on a movie/game franchises? A friend talked me into the Horus Heresy books, but after the 5th or 6th it just became a blur of endless battle scenes and people becoming corrupted by chaos for stupid arbitrary reasons and I dropped it. I downloaded one of the Mass Effect novels to check out (although my hopes aren't high for obvious reasons) and I have no interest in getting into the whole Star Wars 'expanded universe' thing, but I'd love something along those lines in an original setting.

I assume you've read James S.A. Corey'sThe Expansebooks already? It's not Star Wars level of galactic adventure, but it's very spaceful and I enjoyed the shit out of them. Some Sci Fi nerds hate it though.

Never even heard of them - I haven't done a lot of sci fi reading. Will look into it, thanks.

On that space sci-fi topic, any one of you ever read some of Iain M. Banks books fromThe Culture serie? Or some John Varley? I enjoyed The Golden Globe by Varley but I understand that a space-comedy centered on a Shakespearean actor on the run across the solar system might not be representative of his body of work!

I can't recommend science fiction short stories enough. The two compilations I've read are The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction and The Science Fiction Century.