BadMojo
First Post
Here are a few that I really enjoy, for what it's worth.
- George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice & Fire" series is excellent. The first book is called "A Game of Thrones". These books are set in a low magic world and the subject matter can be fairly dark. I wouldn't recommend these books to someone who likes clear cut heroes and villains; many of the characters are flawed and some are downright rotten. There's a lot of intrigue, some very brutal combat and a ton of very "real" characters (sometimes too many to keep track of). Definitely for "mature audiences".
The books in the series (currently 4 out of a projected 6) are quite long if that's any type of deciding factor for you. One last warning, nobody in a GRRM book has "plot immunity".
- Paul S. Kemp's "Erevis Cale" books are also very good. These are set in the Forgotten Realms and also deal with "shades of grey". The writing is excellent and the characters are very deep. A lot of the fantasy books I've read lately have had characters who seemed so two-dimensional that I find myself unable to care about what happened to them.
- Although I'm not a huge fan of Glen Cook's writing, he's got some really cool ideas going in his books. I just find the writing itself to be mediocre. Still, the Black Company books are a fun, quick read. I've only read the first few, so maybe they get better as he continued to write.
- Anything by Steven Brust, although the "Vlad Taltos" boks are probably the best place to start. "The Book of Jhereg" can be had for ~$11 on Amazon and collects the first three books of the series. There's a big difference between the chronology of the stories themselves and the order the books are published in but I wouldn't worry about it; Brust just likes to mess with us like that.
The "Taltos" books are set in a very high magic world and are kind of like a fantasy version of "The Sopranos" with a great sense of humor. Brust's writing is brilliant and I'm in the process of reading everything by him that I can get my hands on.
- George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice & Fire" series is excellent. The first book is called "A Game of Thrones". These books are set in a low magic world and the subject matter can be fairly dark. I wouldn't recommend these books to someone who likes clear cut heroes and villains; many of the characters are flawed and some are downright rotten. There's a lot of intrigue, some very brutal combat and a ton of very "real" characters (sometimes too many to keep track of). Definitely for "mature audiences".
The books in the series (currently 4 out of a projected 6) are quite long if that's any type of deciding factor for you. One last warning, nobody in a GRRM book has "plot immunity".
- Paul S. Kemp's "Erevis Cale" books are also very good. These are set in the Forgotten Realms and also deal with "shades of grey". The writing is excellent and the characters are very deep. A lot of the fantasy books I've read lately have had characters who seemed so two-dimensional that I find myself unable to care about what happened to them.
- Although I'm not a huge fan of Glen Cook's writing, he's got some really cool ideas going in his books. I just find the writing itself to be mediocre. Still, the Black Company books are a fun, quick read. I've only read the first few, so maybe they get better as he continued to write.
- Anything by Steven Brust, although the "Vlad Taltos" boks are probably the best place to start. "The Book of Jhereg" can be had for ~$11 on Amazon and collects the first three books of the series. There's a big difference between the chronology of the stories themselves and the order the books are published in but I wouldn't worry about it; Brust just likes to mess with us like that.
The "Taltos" books are set in a very high magic world and are kind of like a fantasy version of "The Sopranos" with a great sense of humor. Brust's writing is brilliant and I'm in the process of reading everything by him that I can get my hands on.
