Recommend 'Must Read' book

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I've just about finished George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. It's probably jumped right to the top of my favourite books ever. I'll be waiting extremely impatiently for the next one, but until that comes out I'll need something else to read. I've read and really enjoyed Robin Hobb's books, and Trudy Canavans books. I've got Steven Erikssons books but can't really get into them because I just don't follow them at all. They seem to lurch from one random unexplained thing to the next, and don't build up any characters or explain their past etc. George Martin can pump more life into a character who's around for 2 pages, then I've seen Eriksson do so far in the half of the 1st book I've read.

Possibly something along the lines of Hobb/Martin? Or maybe something different but what you consider 'must read' material. I tend to like big fights and big scale battles, but I'm easy if it's good stuff .

 

Sorry, Barmy. I wish I could share your feelings for that overblown series of books by Martin, SoF&I. IMO, Erikson's Malazan books are vastly superior. But, hey, neither one of us is right or wrong in this instance - it's just a matter of preference.

I would reccomend to you Greg Keyes' Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series of FA books. The first is the Briar King and the last one, book 4, will be out next month, so you can read them all without that long interval between releases.

Also, I'm not sure if you like historical fiction, but Bernard Cornwell's "Saxon" books are excellent. The Last Kingdom is the place to begin. It has lot's of epic battles and Medieval warfare between the Vikings and the Saxons over the Saxon Kingdoms of Southern England.

Cornwell also has another series of books, the Grail Quest, which is set several hundred years later than the events of the Saxon books, but during the Hundred Years War between England and France. This one has a great personal story of an English archer, John of Hookton, who becomes involved in the quest for the Holy Grial, set against the background of the epic battles of Crecy and Poirtiers. The books are well-written and the story moves like lighting. Cornwell's writing is very fast paced, with a great economy of writing, telling you only what you need to know to keep you interested in the story. But the books, nevertheless, seem very medieval, without an overabundance of detail and useless filler. The characters, especially in the Grail series, are very well-rendered. I think you would like them.

Edit - The protagonist in the Grail sereis is Thomas of Hookton, not John. My apologies for the typo....

 

R. Scott Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before. Best epic fantasy I've read, period. Not for everyone (the author has a masters [or doctorate?] in philosophy, and it shows), but if it works for you, it'll really work for you.

Sarah Monette - Melusine. Think Hobb, minus the bloat. Superb. Again, not for everyone; extremely character oriented, with little emphasis on wider events (though they are there).

Greg Keyes is solid, but you can do better. Still, if you want something light(er than Martin, Bakker, Monette, etc.), it'll do.

Stephen R. Donaldson - The Real Story. Definitely not for everyone. Extremely brutal, and it may seem gratuitous--during the first book. Once you get past the first book, it becomes clear that no, it's not. It also becomes clear that this is one of the best scifi series yet written. Even if you hated the Thomas Covenant stuff, this is worth a shot

Richard K. Morgan - Altered Carbon. Godly. Also the title on this list the most likely to appeal to the widest audience.

China Mieville - Perdido Street Station. Yes, it's 'just a bug hunt'. So was Alien/Aliens. This is awesome stuff. Read it.

 

I've been thinking about trying that one also. Thanks, AM.

 

No, you are right. Erikson's Malazan books cane everything else that has been mentioned in this thread.

That series starts off well, but quickly descends into philosophical chaos. The main character is far too invincible to be of any interest.

 

HB - Warning heeded...I may put off the Bakker for a bit then. But I still want to get to it some point, since AM recommends it so highly. I'll at least give it a shot. But yeah, HB, that's one of my pet peeves in FA books also.

 

What's an FA book?

 

I have spoken to people who swear by Bakker as the best thing since sliced bread and although I find him better than average it isnt by much. That depth his fans rave about was just not something I could see, what I did see was a very obvious and strained effort to create depth. Still, worth reading but a long shot from Hobb, Erikson and Martin.

Recently I have read "The Lies of Locke Lamore" where I dont remember the authors name and "The first Law" by Joe Abercrombie both of which I found to be excellent.

 

Isaac Asimov - Foundation.

Not only is it a brilliant book, and incredibly well written, but it also is the inspiration for Star Wars. Well, the first book was published in about 1950, and there are many parallels between the Star Wars universe and the Foundation universe, such as a Galactic Empire, a mad emperor, a disfigured emperor with psychic power (the Mule), a secret society of people with powerful mental powers.

 

I don't doubt that I'd enjoy both Saxon and Grail Quest. Cornwell must have written 15+ books in the Sharpe series, an I've read/really enjoyed them all. I think that's where I'll go next, probably startng with Grail Quest. Cheers. He's a really good author, my only gripe being his books are sometimes a bit 'wham, bam, thank you mam' and over in about 250 pages.

Thanks for the other recommendations, full taken on board. Feel free to add more, I'll come back to this topic in a few weeks/months time when I need more material!

 

HB - Fantasy Adventure

 

The driving force--er, character--being invincible in Bakker is part of the point. Hence the whole 'Darkness that Comes Before' thing.

Although he's not, strictly speaking, invincible. He's extraordinarily manipulative, because to him people are like organic computers, and he can read all the output.

 

Barmy, based on what I think you'll enjoy:


Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. - If you haven't read this, you should start now.

Shogun by James Clavell. - Heavy reading but excellent. One of the best books I've ever read.

Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. - The fictional take on Thermophylae that should've become a movie.

Of my favorites that come to mind, those are the only ones that have grand battles and such. However, among my favorites, I would also recommend all of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, All Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels, Eric Nylund's A Game of Universe and anything by Neil Gaiman. Neverwhere in particular. And if you saw "Stardust" then let me please just say that the book was infinitely better. They didn't totally mess the movie up though I have to say.

I can also recommend the Greg Keyes series that Chandos has but I found it to be quite below par compared to Martin, Hobb or Erikson. Just a cut more serious and dramatic than a good FR novel imo.

 

Yes, Shogun and Gates of Fire are both great books.

 

Well, here's what I've been reading lately. I'll let you decide for yourself whether it's "must read".

Stephen R. Lawhead - The Pendragon Cycle
Ellis Peters - Cadfael series
Candace Robb - Owen Archer series

And, now I know that I'll definitely want to check out all of Bernard Cornwell's books. I really enjoy the Sharpe (TV) series. I wasn't sure about the other books, but with all the recommendations I've been seeing I'm now looking forward to them.

 

Since I overlooked a few things...

BTA: Yeah, the science in The Gap is far from perfect, but IMO Donaldson's fantasy stuff is his weakest stuff. The Axbrewder books are better than the Covenant books, and the Gap books are better than the Axbrewder books.

Scott Lynch's stuff is certainly worthwhile, and is very entertaining. Abercrombie's stuff I haven't tried yet (his first book has been on my shelf for, um, four months now), but lots of folks on the blog circuit have had good things to say about it.

 

I'll second Chandos' recommendation of the Cornwell books. I haven't read the Grail series but I have read the Saxon books and the Arthur books and they are great. Everything Chandos says about them is right on the money.

 

I'd also like to add:
Tim Powers - The Drawing of the Dark (but nearly any of his are good)