re: Movie Board Recommendations: Books (UPDATE: Post Stormlight Book 1)

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I really want a space opera.

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some of this may have been mentioned, as i didn't read the whole thread. but some of the stuff i've been reading in science fiction:

have you checked out James SA Corey's The Exapanse Trilogy? nothing particularly deep but I found it to be a pretty entertaining series of books in the space opera tradition. the first, Leviathan Wakes, is equal parts film noir, horror, and science fiction, which i thought was a pretty unique blend. the second and third move more toward straight space based science fiction but are still good reads.

also, i'm a fan of John Scalzi's old man's war series .

Scalzi was influenced heavily by The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, which is also a really good read.

If you want a good page turner, I just finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Quickest 850 pages I've ever read, and it was very enjoyable.

I'll stick with fantasy and Science Fiction since the only Horror I've really read you've already mentioned.

Fantasy:

ASOIAF by Martin is a must of course. I'd highly suggest Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and three stand alone books. Scott Lynch has one of the better single fantasy books from the past decade in The Lies of Locke Lamora. From your other reading tastes I'd suggest Steven Erikson's 10 book Malazan Book of the Fallen series, which is also an excellent finished series.

I'd stay away from Jordan and WOT and suggest the above authors (and a number of others) well before him.

Science Fiction:

If you are looking for a good space opera I'd highly suggest Stephen R Donaldson Gap series, it's excellent and hits pretty much all the requirements you mentioned. I'd also suggest Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels starting with Altered Carbon. They aren't really Operas but they have some Dick influences and similarities in some ways. George R. R. Martin has a number of excellent short story collections and his book Tuf Voyaging is excellent sci fi as well.

Hyperion is also very solid though I like the above more.

Also, Martin has a decent sort of horror novel in Fevre Dream if you haven't read that.

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I just got done reading this after your suggestion in another thread. Was a very solid read and good post-apocalyptic setting.

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glad you enjoyed it. just about done with Dust; have had precious little time to read these days. as we discussed before, i'm going to give garden of the moon a second shot when i'm done with Dust. probably this week.

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See the wordiness comment. People around me wish I read this, but I just don't think I can even start.

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You know who else might be right here? Fritz Leiber - the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories are pretty economical and self-contained - they aren't as epic as some of the others, real "working class" heroes. Leiber, was "old school" and intertwined horror, fantasy, etc., in a similar fashion as Moorcock. Not particularly dark or even gritty, but virtually all of the series is short stories, so you can churn up a bunch of them. Really fast page turners from one of the old masters.

Chronologically, start with Swords and Deviltry.

Kindle Edition

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Kingkiller chronicles - 8.5/10. First one was great, second dragged a bit in the middle but still enjoyable. Waiting for the 3rd patiently.



I've heard these are good. Added.

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Rated too low. Quite simply the best there is right now in the genre.

Rothfuss is too good of a writer to be a fantasy author.

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You know who else might be right here? Fritz Leiber - the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories are pretty economical and self-contained - they aren't as epic as some of the others, real "working class" heroes. Leiber, was "old school" and intertwined horror, fantasy, etc., in a similar fashion as Moorcock.

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Yeah, Leiber is very solid old school fantasy that is economical. I'm not a fan of Moorcock, his Elric novels are too emo and pretentious for me, but Leiber is good minimalist fantasy in the same vein as Howard's Conan stuff.

Roger Zelazny (Amber Chronicles, Lord of Light, Night in Lonesome October) and Glen Cook (Black Company series) are two other good fantasy authors that aren't wordy.

Actually, Night in Lonesome October might be a good horror type book for you Freauxzen, it's a good Lovecraftian style story with an interesting premise.

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Stephen R Donaldson Gap series

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+1

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Some books that are quick reads, and that I found enjoyable are Dresden Files Series By Jim Butcher. The ones I've read, and I've only read the 1st 4 are not deep reads, but they are entertaining.

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You've really just scratched the surface with the Dresden Files then honestly. From book 5 on it really starts to ramp up. Dresden Files is probably my favorite "fast read" series right now. It's a great series. You should really dig the rest of them if you enjoy the first couple.

I read a decent amount. But this thread makes me realize that I don't branch out very much. Seems like I'm pretty mainstream.

Twain, Tolkien, Conan Doyle are my favorites. My favorite color is light tan. I also like staring at the moon, long walks on the beach, and drawing pictures of unicorns. Wait. What?

I'm in the middle of Game of Thrones so I'll be on ASoIaF for a wihile now. But before that I read Jurassic Park, The Road, and 1984 (which was a huge disappointment).

This thread makes me feel stupid.