Recommend a book/series

[Xeon]

Terry Brooks has written (and continues to write) a number of prequel trilogies as a sort of origin story for his Shannara series. They are all much darker than the original Shannara novels.

The Word & Void trilogy (Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, Angel Fire East). This is mostly a dark urban fantasy taking place is our modern world.

The Genesis of Shannara (Armageddon's Children, The Elves of Cintra, The Gypsy Morph). This takes place 80 years later, after a nuclear holocaust. This is a bit less dark urban fantasy, and more like post-apocalyptic fantasy.

I haven't read any of the prequel trilogies after that. The feel of the genre really shifts towards high fantasy.

 

[Genii Benedict]

IB4 "50 Shades of Grey"...

 

[Touchfuzzy]

Terry Brooks has written (and continues to write) a number of prequel trilogies as a sort of origin story for his Shannara series. They are all much darker than the original Shannara novels.

The Word & Void trilogy (Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, Angel Fire East). This is mostly a dark urban fantasy taking place is our modern world.

The Genesis of Shannara (Armageddon's Children, The Elves of Cintra, The Gypsy Morph). This takes place 80 years later, after a nuclear holocaust. This is a bit less dark urban fantasy, and more like post-apocalyptic fantasy.

I haven't read any of the prequel trilogies after that. The feel of the genre really shifts towards high fantasy.

I really like most of his work. The Shannara books get better the longer he writes in that world (and I really liked Genesis of Shannara). Also the Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold series is surprisingly good and weird.

 

[ShinGamix]

Has anyone said The Sapphire Rose by David Eddings. There is a whole mess of books in the series but this one is my favorite.

 

[AmnesiacJack]

The Runelords series is a fairly well done fantasy series that takes an interesting view on magic. Been over a decade since I've read the series though so can't say anything about the books after the third one.

Also the Sword of Truth series was pretty good and had some really interesting characters and situations.

 

[Lunarea]

Lots of really neat suggestions in here. I'm definitely jotting them down on my to-read list.

I'm currently making my way through Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series. I don't have Showtime, so I haven't seen the series (though I know a bit about it and I've seen a couple of funny clips). But the books are a very very fun read. I really like the narrative style and the concept behind Dexter's role as the Dark Avenger.

 

[FinalHeaven]

I really need to pick up more Terry Brooks. I randomly nabbed one of his books from a used book store but it's the second in the series, and I'd rather read the first one first.

 

[Xeon]

I also noticed that nobody mentioned The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. The books are not short though (nor is the series).

If you like cyberpunk, there is always William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive).

I also enjoyed Accelerando by Charles Stross. That's a bit in the same vein as cyberpunk, but more focus on the singularity.

Of course, don't forget Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson: one of the most famous Metaverse novels that inspired Second Life.

 

[Samven]

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It's possibly the greatest achievement in human history.

I'd also recommend the Tales of the Otori trilogy: Across The Nightingale Floor, Grass For His Pillow and Brilliance of the Moon. They were some of the best books I ever read. Lots of political intrigue, a really rich world and plenty of great characters.

 

[SolarGale]

I'm compiling a list of all these books so i know to read at least one of these, they all sound so great. :3

 

[Samven]

I'm compiling a list of all these books so i know to read at least one of these, they all sound so great. :3

Haha! Something tells me you'd be reading for a while, Solar. : P

Not that that's a bad thing. I've wanted to try and just read stuff for pleasure for ages: but studying writing means you see everything in hyper-analytical terms every time you pick up the things... Thank God for Abe, because the premise is just so ridiculous it's impossible to take seriously. A US president fighting a bloody war against vampires... Seriously, Americans had way cooler leaders than us. Something like Clement Atlee: Caped Crusader doesn't really have the same ring to it, does it?

... Or, does it? Hold on, let me see.

 

[Mewens]

I'd read "Winston Churchill: Statesman by Day, Seductress by Night," though.

 

[Luminous Warrior]

Ummmm... WHY THE !@%# ISN'T ANYONE RECOMMENDING THE CLASSICS!!! Anything by William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jules Vernes, or Edger Allen Poe! How about Frankenstien, Alice in Wonderland, Swiss Family Robinson, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Phantom of the Opera, The Wind in the Willows, Beauty and the Beast, The War of the Worlds, Gulliver's Travels, The Wizard of Oz, King Arthur, Treasure Island, The Odyssey, maybe some classic fairy tales like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, the Valiant Little Tailor, or Sleeping Beauty! Not garbage like the Hunger Games or mind-melting barf like Twilight! Read some classics and stop filling your head with garbage. At least read something like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Narnia, Artemis Fowl, or Lord of the Rings... those can spark some great ideas for fantasy games.

Sorry about the rant. I just can't stand the fact that society today refuses to read the good stuff and settles on reading about glittery vampires (vampires DIE in the sunlight, not SPARKLE! What idiot wrote that!).

 

[Touchfuzzy]

Sorry about the rant. I just can't stand the fact that society today refuses to read the good stuff and settles on reading about glittery vampires (vampires DIE in the sunlight, not SPARKLE! What idiot wrote that!).

That is nice, but what does that have to do with this thread.

I've read a decent bit of classic literature. I even like some classic literature and think it is very good (I'm particularly fond of Picture of Dorian Grey), but I don't build it up in to some form of sense of superiority to bash anyone with, which is pretty much what you did in your post.

I think if you honestly feel like equating everything mentioned in this thread with Twilight, perhaps you are the person who needs to broaden your horizons, and not us.

 

[Luminous Warrior]

I'm sorry, you're right. I just felt like classic literature was getting thrown aside. But still, the classics are some of the best, and I'm sorry about bashing Twilight. It's a good book if you like that kind of stuff. I personally prefer, in more modern literature, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Percy Jackson. If you want some fantasy, those are my favorites.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

I think HG Wells's Time Machine was mentioned further up, which I also really liked.

The problem with classics is they are often written for a different time, and in lots of cases, the language itself seems perhaps stilted due to the different convention of writing for the time. While I do think classics are important, whether they are the "best" to read for a sense of enjoyment is another story. Even for the importance of their impact, on an individual level the impacts of the philosophies found in Speaker for the Dead and its sequels resonates more with me than anything from a book written a hundred years ago.

Classics are great, they are excellent things, and it is nice to enjoy them. But suggesting one is not something I'm likely to do. I believe, perhaps ironically, that I will end this post with a quote from a classic author to explain:

"I don't believe any of you have ever read Paradise Lost, and you don't want to. That's something that you just want to take on trust. It's a classic, just as Professor Winchester says, and it meets his definition of a classic -- something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read."

- Mark Twain

 

[Mewens]

Besides, a lot of classic literature is overrated.

I think Dickens and Austen over-wrote tremendously; their stories are engrossing, but their writing is numbing. On that subject, have you read anything by Hugo that wasn't well-edited? "Les Miserables" is an incredibly moving and powerful story at 150 or so pages. The uncut edition clocks in at well over a thousand. Shakespeare vacillated between genius and farce -- and not in the genre sense -- and it kills me when he steps out of a corner he wrote himself into by using an idiotic just-so incident. (Seriously, Hamlet's saved by pirates? That's the best you could come up with, Billy?) Swift may have been convinced he was the most clever man in the room, but I'll take Wilde over him any day -- and I find Wilde tiresome.

Fuzzy's right on the money with that Twain quote. "Paradise Lost" is the single most infuriating thing I've ever read, and it's emblematic of many classics -- carefully crafted and erudite, but intentionally opaque and self-important. (A perfect example: Milton intentionally breaks scansion several times throughout "Paradise Lost" to make theological and plot points -- points that, even if you're clever or knowledgeable enough to suss out, boil down to, "Man's flawed, Catholics are bad, Christianity civilized humanity and women oughta know their place.")

 

[Touchfuzzy]

Fuzzy's right on the money with that Twain quote. "Paradise Lost" is the single most infuriating thing I've ever read, and it's emblematic of many classics -- carefully crafted and erudite, but intentionally opaque and self-important. (A perfect example: Milton intentionally breaks scansion several times throughout "Paradise Lost" to make theological and plot points -- points that, even if you're clever or knowledgeable enough to suss out, boil down to, "Man's flawed, Catholics are bad, Christianity civilized humanity and women oughta know their place.")

Adding another layer of irony to me using that quote: I have read Paradise Lost. I agree with 100% of what you just said.

I am curious if Twain would have some opinion on his own works becoming classics if he were around to tell us.

 

[Luminous Warrior]

OK, I get it. But I still stand by Jules Verne and the Brothers Grimm any day. But if you want more modern books, as stated in my previous posts, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Artemis Fowl, and Percy Jackson are my suggestions.

 

[Elements]

[IMG]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51A1b0iz%2BjL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg[/IMG]

This sucker is pretty good.

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven.