everyone gone quiet - what's up folks?

Hi bl_adi - good list you have.

1. Malazan Series, including those by Ian Esselmont - I am saving this up. I got all but book 2, will hunt it down. I read book 1 but was confused by it. Will give it another go later once i got book 2.

2. Wheel of Time - someone on this forum had ordered Bk12 from overseas (Snowcrash - when are you getting your book? Is it here yet?! I'm so excited for you!)

3. The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, by writer Greg Keyes - oo, got this lined up too

Oh, you got Black Company ! I heard about it and I want! Let us know how is it on this forum. I have searched a few stores for the omnibus Chronicles but don't have in stock. You got Book 1?
If you like military, I totally recommend Gaunt's Soldiers. Google it. Er, not much magic though but very gritty.

I'm struggling through my Age of Misrule by Mark Chadbourn, I think this will turn out to be one of those I will abandon halfway.

Heh, maybe everyone's getting bogged down by their reading lists.... I just finished Dust of Dreams, Gathering Storm & Unseen Academicals, I still have The City & The City, Return of the Crimson Guard, Bauchelain & Korbal Broach: The Collected Stories, as well as Matter on the SF side lying around untouched & unread.....

Book 1 of Malazan is very confusing, & if at all possible I would tell people to avoid it & go straight to Book 2, one of the strongest in the series. Apparently Erikson wrote Book 1 something like 10 years before any of the other books, & you can see how unpolished he was as an author for it.

I left a mini review of tGS on the Robert Jordan thread, I'll quote it here:

Black Company - I've got & read the first 2 collections, and yeah, it is very gritty while at the same time being more standard classic fantasy fare then aSoI&F or Malazan.

Thoma Covenant - Ugh. Just ugh. It's a well written book, & certainly a true classic, but once I read it I never wanted to re-read it again. The word for the main character is odious. Every time he thought or said something I either wanted to throttle him or take a bath to wash his memory off.

BTW, anyone here read the Naomi Novik's Temeraire novels? They're not classic fantasy either (best description: Horatio Hornblower, but with dragons!), but they're very good light reading.

ya, after reading this thread i've been busy compiling and reading books on my reading list.

Standard Gritty page-turner Fantasy, with lots of fighting, that i've read (that i remember, lots are forgotten):
David Gemmell's books - Drenai Series in particular. always gritty, military, lots of blood. while not award winners, they are usually page turners.
David Drake's books. (free online) http://www.baen.com/library/
K J Parker's Fencer series. Gritty to the point of being sickening.
L.E. Modesitt, Jr's Saga of Recluce Series. moderately gritty but always easy and enjoyable reads.
All these are extremely easy reads, that i read in between the more 'difficult' and 'complex' fantasy.
Of course Malazan is considered one of the most gritty military fantasy too. and Black company is the real McCoy of military fantasy that i haven yet read.

If anyone read SF, i would rather talk bout military SF. my HIGHLY RECOMMENDED must read military SF are:
Seafort Saga by David Feintuch
The Forever War & Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
Enders Game

Easy reads:(both free online) http://www.baen.com/library/
David Weber's Honor Harrington (inspired by C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series)
David Drake's books. like Hammer's Slammers series.

And my finally compiled reading list: some are rereads.
Dan Simmons - Ilium
Dan Simmons - Olympos
Dan Simmons - The Terror
Guy Gavriel Kay - Last Light Of The Sun
Ian R. Macleod - The Light Ages
Jasper Fforde - Thursday Next bk1 - The Eyre Affair to bk4 - Something Rotten
Jeff Vandermeer- Veniss Underground
Jeffrey Ford - The Empire of Ice Cream
John C. Wright - Golden Age Bk1 - Bk3
John Scalzi - Old Man's War Series
Jon Courtenay Grimwood - End of the World Blues
Kelly Link - Magic for Beginners (free online) http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3187
Martha Wells - Ile-Rien Series
Naomi Novik - Temeraire Series
Neal Stephenson - Baroque Cycle Series
Patrick Rothfuss - Kingkiller Bk1 - The Name of the Wind
Peg Kerr - The Wild Swans
Peter S. Beagle - Innkeeper's Song
Peter Watts - Blindsight (free online) http://www.feedbooks.com/book/976
Philip Pullman - Dark Materials Series
Robert Charles Wilson - Spin
Scott Lynch - Gentlemen Bastards Series (The_Lies_of_Locke_Lamora+Bk2)
Scott Westerfeld - Succession Series
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrell
Tanya Huff - Keeper's Chronicles Book1 - Book3
Vernor Vinge - A Deepness in the Sky
Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon The Deep
Vernor Vinge - Rainbows End (free online)
Little Brother - Cory Doctorow (free online)

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Added on November 16, 2009, 12:15 am

Special mention to 'The Monarchies of God' by Paul Kearney. Good but not the best fantasy, but he writes one of the best war scene ever. Kearney's gritty-accurate-and-ultra-satisfying-battle-scene alone is nuff to make this series is worth reading.

This post has been edited by tender: Nov 16 2009, 12:16 AM

Hello everyone! I bet I have bump into some of you in Big Bad Wolf sales in the few tables they have on Fantasy/SF. My cupboard is groaning in pain.

Dan Simmons! Good choice. I love the Terror Some parts got me going "huh??" but mostly, I was too engrossed in fates of the men.

I am glad to announce the arrival of Deadhouse Gates in my collection after a loooooong time (no, not from the sale) . Finally! I can continue on Malazan series as its reputation precedes itself.

So many books, so little time! My new motto for the next year or so.

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Added on December 21, 2009, 10:55 pmI did a hostile takeover and acquisitioned Ender's Game recently Am over the moon about it.

Anyone read the Night Watch series? I caught some of the movies and thought they are extremely overrated. Avoided the books. But recently found out that the books are vastly diff from movies.

This post has been edited by Persephone: Dec 21 2009, 10:55 PM

hi all..

I'm a fantasy buff.. started out on dragonlance, forgotten realms then moved on to authors from all over the place. Terry Pratchett is one of my staple reads, enjoy every book that he's churned out, esp the one written with Neil Gaiman

Hands down my favourite writer was the late David Gemmell, really one of the most entertaining writers i've read. I have most, if not all of his books. His Troy saga was amazing.

Unfortunately he's passed on and I've been looking for a new writer.

Any recommendations to writers with a similar style ? I like reading about very realistic heroes who are inspiring simply because at the end of it all they are just human and their choices made them heroic. Gemmell always captured that flawlessly..

The closest so far I've found was Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy.



Here's a list of other writers I've read:

George Martin R.R - Got turned off after his major plot twist involving Rob Stark
Robert Jordan - Still struggling through book 1 to my shame
Raymond E. Feist - His new work is stuffy.. and lacks the edge of the original Riftwar saga
Neil Gaiman - So dark that it's frighteningly real!
Janny Wurts - Ploughed through most of her books, lost interest sadly.
Trudi Canavan - Was so so, I have both trilogies of hers.

Just a hella too many to list out... but i'm open to all suggestions!

Thanks in advance!

This post has been edited by iesnek: Dec 22 2009, 01:00 AM

Your read list has a lot of heroic fantasy.

Good Omens - by TP & NG. One of my favs too. Have you tried Terry Goodkind? RA Salvatore - anything on Dritzz?

L.E. Modesitt feels similar to Gemmell is a "they are just human and their choices made them heroic" way. David Drake can sometimes feel like a sub par Gemmell. I read a lot of Gemmell too. there was a time when i see a Gemmell on a book shelve, i used to grab them FIRST as i am 100% sure i will finish them.

I have most of Salvatore's books on Drizzt... haven't caught up with the latest ones yet, i kind of lost the plot after Kingdom of Orcs saga...

Which Terry Goodkind books do you mean? I think he's decent but haven't read much to have an opinion of him..

Thanks tender I shall give L.E. Modesitt a try then!

does anyone know if the dresden files is any good?

not sure, but its quite popular. and a groupie of feeder industry (TV Series, RPG) milk from it. if you are a fan of ubran fantasy, your welcome to try it out and tell us if its any good.

Read the entire series couple of years ago. Re-read it recently as I some free time. It's a pretty well realized pastiche of urban & low fantasy, with a lot of characters & organizations in play. As to the tone... if you like the TV series House, you'll probably like Dresden. He's not as smart, but he's gott a similar attitude. Also amazing is just how much he gets beaten up in each of the books, he's not your typical high fantasy uber-badass type hero - he's just stubborn & gets described (even by himself) as basically a thug.

Contains high levels of snark

I just read The Black Magician trilogy ("The Magicians' Guild, The Novice, The Highlord") by Trudi Canavan and while it's easy to read, I didn't enjoy it. There's... something missing from the story. I liked John Marco's Tyrants and Kings trilogy (Jackal of Nar, The Grand Design, Saints of the Sword) but it's rather unwieldy than epic.

Anyone can recommend a sweeping epic, say about the rise of an individual to a position of power? I like reading stuff with huge clashing armies, political maneuverings in the background and deep characters. I guess I'm too spoiled by Legend of Galactic Heroes.

i'm looking for a good fantasy series to jump into. Browsed thru amazon.com and find robin hobb's series to be highly rated. However no one mentioned them here...

FYI, at least 2 of us mention Robin Hobb, on the 2nd page of this 3 page only thread lol. And we can never recommend her highly enough. she's sublime. If you like superb character development go for Farseer, but one of my all time fav, one of the reason why i read the this genre, high fantasy at its best, is Liveship Trader trilogy.

Just finished this, after seeing a millyun recomendations. Has it's moments, and certainly has potential but the story goes nowhere. I'm kind of unhappy as this made me break my rule about not getting involved in unfinished series....

Hopefully, my next series that i'm gonna start on (Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin) is better. Supposed to work as a standalone novel & has gotten praise from some reliable reviewers....

Also just finishes Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. Excellent disposable read, but not as good (or as intrigung a magic system) as in Elantris.

Just came from Borders Penang...can u believe they no longer stock Robin Hobb's books??? grr

Holy crap is it better.

It's an excellent standalone book, & quite surprisingly original. The tone of voice is different to almost anything I've ever read before. Very highly recommended. You can read the sample chapters on the authors website to get a better idea.

This post has been edited by snowcrash: Apr 14 2010, 01:14 PM

Can you not order from them? Or buy on some online bookstore?

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Added on June 17, 2010, 7:42 pmHave you guys been to BookXcess@AmCorp Mall PJ?
http://www.bookxcess.com/booklist.html

Price in RM, to name a few,
NEAL STEPHENSONANATHEM 24.90
NEAL STEPHENSONTHE SYSTEM OF THE WORLD 17.90
KIM STANLEY ROBINSONBLUE MARS 17.90
KIM STANLEY ROBINSONGREEN MARS 17.90
L.E. MODESITT, JR. ARCHFORM : BEAUTY. 17.90.
L.E. MODESITT, JR. SHADOWSINGER. 17.90
STEVEN ERIKSON
DUST OF DREAMS 19.90
MIDNIGHT TIDES 19.90
THE BONEHUNTERS 17.90
TOLL THE HOUNDS 17.90
LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD THE SHARING KNIFE LEGACY V2 24.90
Books here are cheap and brand new, hardcovers definitely a steal!

This post has been edited by tender: Jun 17 2010, 07:42 PM

DragonLance- My all time Fav

No, Chewbacca as in Man's best friend. Hans Solo's companion (yes the big furry ape-like thingy) in Star Wars. Sorry, apart from being a fantasy b*tch, I'm a huge slut for Star Wars.