Best Books Ever!

[Limper]

I have NEVER in 20+ years of reading fantasy and sci-fi EVER began rereading a series right after finishing it the first time..... and I'm liking it more the second time.

The series is Glen Cook's The Black Company....... I don't know why I think this series is the best I've ever read.

Anyone know of any similar authors? I'll be done with these in a month or so.... I thought I'd try the first book in the that Martin series, see if I like it.

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

Great Choice

If you mean George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" consisting of "A Game of Thrones", "A Clash of Kings", and "A Storm of Swords" then I'd say...

YES!!!! IMO it is the best Fantasy on the shelf. It is unlike any series I've ever read. I've already read it twice and plan of rereading it at least one more time before book four "A Feast for Crows" comes out around March 2003. It was supposed to be out this fall but it's been delayed.

Also in the "Legends" series of short stories edited by Robert Silverberg in the second volume (the green one) GRRM has a short stroy named "The Hedge Knight" which is set in Westeros but 70-80 years before "A Game of Thrones" begins. It's really really good. He is also writing another short stroy with Dunk and Egg (read "The Hedge Knight" you'll understand) named "The Sworn Sword" to be in another "Legends" series.

I've never reread a series so soon after reading one for the first time. I hope you enjoy it.

 

[Dave Blewer]

Count this as another vote for Martins series... I am currently re-reading it in preparation for the release of Feast of Crows, but seeing as I have so long to go, chances are that I will also have to read it again before March.

Oh well, poor me

I can't find Glen Cooks Black Company anywhere in Britain... Anyone found them over here?

 

[Dr Midnight]

Another recommendation for George Martin- I couldn't read them fast enough. It's a candlelit dinner for your mind.

 

[bwgwl]

i'm a big fan of Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series, though it's as much (or more) sci fi than it is fantasy.

the four books of the series are: Shadow of the Torturer, Claw of the Conciliator, Sword of the Lictor, and Citadel of the Autarch. a fifth book, Urth of the New Sun was written later and is kind of an "add-on."

the books take place in a far future mythical Earth that feels more like a fantasy world than a sci fi one. you're never sure if anything's magic, psionics, or just really advanced tech. the characters themselves aren't even sure. the main character is an apprentice torturer who carries a mercurial greatsword.

however much i liked "New Sun," i found that i enjoyed the more sci fi-'ish "Book of the Long Sun" series even better. geez if i could remember the names of the four books in that series though. they all end in "...of the Long Sun," though.

the series takes place on a "generation ship" that has lapsed into a more primitive state over the many generations that it has been traveling. most aren't even aware that their world is a vehicle or that they are headed for a specific destination. the "gods" of the world are AI's modeled after the family of the emperor who launched the ship. (this emperor is mentioned in the New Sun books, so the two series are at least peripherally related.) the main character is a priest who has a religious epiphany and leads his people against a corrupt regime. again, like in New Sun, you're never really sure if the mystical things that happen are really meant to be "magical," or just sufficiently advanced technology.

i haven't gotten too far into the "Short Sun" series, which is a direct sequel of the Long Sun books.

 

[Limper]

I weep for England.... I thought it was part of the first world.


Thanks for the input.... so Martins a must, and a vote for Wolfe.

 

[Doc_Subtlety]

Hrm...off the top of my head:

- Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy.
It starts with a complex science fiction world - genetic engineering, trading, competing philosophies...then the Dead Rise. Not zombies - vengeful, damned souls that possess the living and imbue them with supernatural powers.

I wished my eyes could move faster, reading everything but "The Naked God." (I read pretty fast - just wanted more, more, more.)

- Stephen Donaldson's "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant."
I can't even begin to describe these. All I can say is, when I went to see LOTR, I was painfully disappointed to think that these books would never get a similar treatment. Just wouldn't work.

(They're both stories with strong Christian themes, and rings of Power. It's just that Tolkien's good guys are Heroes that are outmatched by Evil. Covenant is a normal person catapulted into a fantasy world and imbued with power beyond imagination - far beyond that of his enemy - that he doesn't know how to use. Worse, as a normal person faced with horrors from a fantasy world, he's an ass, most of the time.)

- Harry Harrison's "West of Eden."
This is the most genuinely alien world I've ever read about, but it all takes place right on Earth. Just an Earth where the dinosaurs never died out - they evolved into humanoid life, while humans developed in the colder reaches.

The series is about the two races meeting, and trying to wipe each other out. The Yilane (dinosaur types) are amazing - living biotechnology, communication by sign language (and limited color changes in the skin), strange customs...and the humans are pretty human. I reread those a bunch of times.

 

[A2Z]

I second Wolfe. I loved his 'Sun' series'. I just finished the Book of the Short sun last month. Good stuff and I'm sure I'll be rereading all of it eventually. Good call bwgwl.

 

[Dagger75]

All you guys talking aboutr George RR Martin made me go out and buy the first book. And it ROCKS!!! One of the best series I have ever read. I was trying to suffer through Wheel of Time but got fed up with it (again), so bought his book. I was quite suprised by the "colorful" parts in the book.

By the time book 4 comes out I will probably just have finished book 3 LUCKY ME!!!!!

 

[Dave Blewer]

Another convert!