(Part 2) Best epic fantasy books according to redditors
We found 5,415 Reddit comments discussing the best epic fantasy books. We ranked the 1,244 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
![The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force [Vault Edition] (Star Wars)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/415n96Oo2iL.jpg)
In no order:
The Gunslinger
Stranger In A Strange Land
Siddhartha
Ender’s Game
East of Eden
The Stranger
By the way, in case you are not aware, the Cradle: Foundation ebook (which is the first 3 books of the series in a single ebook) is free for the next few hours, be sure to get it before the deal ends, so you can see for yourself if it's for you without having to spend a dime. Here are the links:
Some of my favorite books available on Kindle Unlimited:
They Mostly Come Out At Night and Where the Waters Turn Black by Benedict Patrick
Paternus by Dyrk Ashton
Danse Macabre by Laura M. Hughes
The Half Killed by Quenby Olson
A Star Reckoners Lot by Darrell Drake
Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe
Jaeth's Eye by K. S. Villoso
Here are some that I haven't read, but have heard mostly positive things about:
The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes
Revenant Winds by Mitchell Hogan
Ghosts of Tomorrow by Michael R Fletcher
A Warrior's Path by Davis Ashura
Valley of Embers by Steven Kelliher
Faithless by Graham Austin-King. He also has another series, The Riven Wyrde Saga, beginning with Fae - The Wild Hunt
Ours is the Storm by D. Thourson Palmer
Path of Man by Matt Moss
Threat of Madness by D.K. Holmberg
To Whatever End by Claire Frank
House of Blades by Will Wight
Path of Flames by Phil Tucker
The Woven Ring by M. D. Presley
Awaken Online: Catharsis by Travis Bagwell
Wolf of the North by Duncan M. Hamilton
Free the Darkness by Kel Kade
The Cycle of Arawn Trilogy by Edward W. Robinson
Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw
Benjamim Ashwood by AC Cobble
The Crimson Queen by Alec Hutson
The Queens Poinsoner by Jeff Wheeler
Stiger's Tigers by Marc Alan Edelheit
Rise of the Ranger by Philip C. Quaintrell
Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron
Devil's Night Dawning by Damien Black
Here are some older fantasy and sci-fi books that I enjoyed:
Tales of Nevèrÿon by Samuel R. Delany - African inspired S&S by an extremely talented writer.
Witch World as well as other good books by Andre Norton
Swords and Deviltry The first volume of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber - Many of the tropes of the rogue/thief came from this legendary duo created by Leiber. And it's worth noting that Leiber actually coined the term Sword & Sorcery. This collection contains 3 stories, two average origin stories for each character and the final story is the Hugo and Nebula winning novella "Ill Met in Lankhmar" detailing the first meeting of Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser.
Swords Against Darkness - A '70s S&S anthology. It has few stinkers, a few mediocre stories, and a some really good ones. Poul Anderson and Ramsey Campbell both have awesome stories in this anthology that are well worth checking out. For some reason, there were quite a few typos in this book, it was slightly distracting, but may have been fixed since I read it.
The Best of C. L. Moore by C. L. Moore. I read this earlier this year and I absolutely loved it. The collection is all sci-fi and one Jirel of Joiry story, which is her famous female Sword & Sorcery character. I was suprised by how well her sci-fi stories held up, often times pulp sci-fi doesn't age well, but this collection was great. Moore was married to the writer Henry Kuttner, and up until his death they wrote a bunch of great stories together. Both of their collections are basically collaborations, although I'm sure a few stories were done solo. His collection The Best of Henry Kuttner features the short story that the movie The Last Mimzy was based on. And, if you are into the original Twilight Zone TV series there is a story that was adapted into a memorable season 1 episode entitled "What You Need". Kuttner and Moore are two of my favorite pulp authors and I'm not even that into science fiction, but I really enjoy their work.
Some LitRPG recommendations:
In terms of published Western LitRPGs, I'd say Ascend Online is my favorite. The central protagonist isn't a complete psychopath like a lot of LitRPG protagonists, and he immediately starts treating the highly intelligent AI NPCs as people. That's a huge selling point for me, since it's so rare to see LitRPG protagonists that are friendly to NPCs.
Also, rather than immediately jumping into save the world stuff, it's reasonably paced. The main character doesn't start out with any crazy game breaking abilities, and the setting itself feels largely realistic - it feels very similar to a futuristic version of Everquest.
My other favorite Western LitRPG is Threadbare, which focuses on a bunch of teddy bear (golem) gradually learning about the world around it, and undertaking a determined quest to protect his little girl “owner”. It’s both heartwarming and surprisingly insightful.
In terms of non-Western LitRPGs, Log Horizon is my favorite. The author has clearly played MMORPGs, and the tactics used in there - both by the main character and other characters - feel like the types of things real people would do in a MMO setting. Once again, the main character also takes NPCs seriously and treats them well, which is a big plus for me. Shiroe for Log Horizon is probably the closest character I've seen to someone with my own background in a book.
I also love So I'm a Spider, So What?, which is a hilarious story about a girl who gets reincarnated into an RPG setting as a tiny spider monster. Fortunately, she can grind to get stronger! It's a bit of a strange one, but tons of fun. Note that this one is not strictly going into a VR game - they're just reincarnated in a world with RPG stats. It's a little different, but similar.
If you like the idea of a protagonist exploiting a bunch of bugs, check out Kono Sekai ga Game da to Ore dake ga Shitteiru. I enjoyed the first book a ton. The second book started getting into tropes I didn’t enjoy quite as much.
One of my other recent favorites is The Tutorial is Too Hard, which focuses on a main character transported into a dungeon on “Hell” difficulty that needs to make his way through to the top floor. We see a lot of his analytical process, which makes the story much more enjoyable to someone like me. This is probably my favorite ongoing story.
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
Grant yourself a favor - walk with Childe Roland for a spell do it please ya :)
Spoilers for Revelation Space series of books
In the Revelation Space books by Alistair Reynolds, there's a race of machines that wipe out all sentient life whenever that life becomes advanced enough to trigger them. In order for the trigger to happen, the Inhibitors, as they are called, leave traps all over the galaxy in different places and forms where only an advanced space-faring race could find them. When triggered, the Inhibitors wake up from their sleep-state and destroy that race completely before going back into hiding and waiting.
It is revealed that they do this because in a few billion years the Andromeda (or other) galaxy is going to collide with the Milky Way and the resulting collision period will pretty much pose a threat everything. The Inhibitors, actually very much fond of life but not sentient life, "Inhibit" the sentient races and keeps places of life constrained to single solarsystems. This way they can move or shield or otherwise protect these areas of life when the collision comes.
As has happened many times in the past, any time a race spreads out (or, very rarely, more than one at a time) they become too far spread and too unwieldy to protect, potentially endangering this future rescue operation and therefore must be dealt with.
All that said, you can kind of see why the reveals for ME and ME2 were a little less powerful of a hit for me.
They are awesome books that I completely recommend and can be had for cheap (or even try a library).
It is very simply the smartest, best written, and darkest fantasy series out there. There is no competition.
It's also intentionally unsettling and rather dense, but all of that comes with the territory in my opinion.
Here's a portion in which one of the magic-users has reason to be very very upset and completely lets loose against a bunch of rival magic-users. For this sample, all you need to know is that "tears of god" are a kind of artifact that kills magic-users on contact, and "Analogies" is a word for the kind of magic they're using.
I've altered some of the words to eliminate the risk of spoilers.
>Vengeance roamed the halls of the compound—like a God. And he sang his song with a beast’s blind fury, parting wall from foundation, blowing ceiling into sky, as though the works of man were things of sand.
>And when he found them, cowering beneath their Analogies, he sheared through their Wards like a rapist through a cotton shift. He beat them with hammering lights, held their shrieking bodies as though they were curious things, the idiot thrashing of an insect between thumb and forefinger . . . Death came swirling down.
>He felt them scramble through the corridors, desperate to organize some kind of concerted defence. He knew that the sound of agony and blasted stone reminded them of their deeds. Their horror would be the horror of the guilty. Glittering death had come to redress their trespasses.
>Suspended over the carpeted floors, encompassed by hissing Wards, he blasted his own ruined halls. He encountered a cohort of [soldiers]. Their frantic bolts were winked into ash by the play of lights before him. Then they were screaming, clawing at eyes that had become burning coals. He strode past them, leaving only smeared meat and charred bone. He encountered a dip in the fabric of the onta, and he knew that more awaited his approach armed with the Tears of God. He brought the building down upon them.
>And he laughed more mad words, drunk with destruction. Fiery lights shivered across his defences and he turned, seething with dark crackling humour, and spoke to the two [mages] who assailed him, uttered intimate truths, fatal Abstractions, and the world about them was wracked to the pith. He clawed away their flimsy Anagogic defences, raised them from the ruin like shrieking dolls, and dashed them against bone-breaking stone.
>He was free, and he walked the ways of the present bearing tokens of ancient doom.
You can ready the first chapter or so on Amazon. Click the book's cover: http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-that-Comes-Before-Nothing/dp/1590201183
It's not for everyone, but it's the best.
This edition of The Lord of the Rings. It looks like a pretty bible! I also have The Hobbit in this edition.
No legit sellers? Amazon sells it themselves ("Ships from and sold by Amazon.com"), or you can buy it from a bunch of other sellers through them.
https://www.amazon.com/Darkness-that-Comes-Before-Nothing/dp/1590201183/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1506711028&sr=8-2
But you'll have to buy it one book at a time - the publisher does not offer it as a single volume or as a set.
http://www.overlookpress.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?q=bakker&x=0&y=0&p=1
One of the nice things about being independent. I comission my own covers. In this case, a reader in New Zealand just messaged me and said "I loved your book, so I did a cover!" I then paid him for it and paid him for layout work, and paid him for the cover to the sequel!
http://www.amazon.com/Priest-Ratcatchers-Matthew-Colville-ebook/dp/B003OIBG44/
http://www.amazon.com/Thief-Fantasy-Hardboiled-Ratcatchers-Book-ebook/dp/B00JQ20KOE/
I dunno, maybe those are cheesy, but I am crazy in love with them.
Try The Riyria Revelation by Michael J Sullivan. Great, fast paced series with two of the best protagonists in fantasy. Starts a bit trope-y, and some of the tropes don't go away, but he has a way of turning many on their heads, and taking others and doing them really, really well. The first book is fun, but as the series progresses it gets better and better and the scope goes from small scale to worldwide in a very natural way. And the series is considerably shorter than something like WoT, not taking forever to get going.
Also, The Emperor's Edge books by Lindsay Buroker are absolutely delightful. Another quick, not crazy deep series, but with wonderful characters that feel like real people. Seriously, it's almost impossible not to fall a little in love with the main character as the series progresses. Fun action, witty dialogue, etc...They're great. Also, the first book in the series is free on Amazon.
Spellmonger definitely has combat, but it isn't a progression story in that respect after the traditional sense.
The protagonist starts out as a small village hedge wizard, slowly growing in power and importance until he's eventually a feudal lord and more. So if you consider gaining new titles and ranks in the peerage progression, then you might find it to be a fun read.
...know what it takes to go through the design process of creating your own 'professional' looking book covers.
Speaking as a cover designer, here's a number of elements where I see a lot of amateurs messing up:
Failing to research their genre niche to see what the covers of the top-selling books look like. Book buyers use the covers to guess at what the book will contain, to narrow down their choices. There are far too many books available to expect that readers will read the description of every single result of their search on whatever platform they're searching on, so you need to signal genre, sub-genre, and mood loudly enough that it jumps out as someone's eye is scanning over a batch of 1.5" tall covers that are all competing for attention.
What signals those things, and what things readers are looking for, changes subtly over time, so you need to keep an eye out. I designed the house look for the Zoe Chant shifter romance books (I don't do all the covers; many of the authors do their own) and while we've kept the same overall look, when Zoe Chant first published the idea was to play up the cozy qualities in the books. As action romance has gotten more popular in the past few years, the challenge now is to play up the dramatic tension without signalling "alphahole" because the Zoe Chant niche is focused on ultimately kind heroes. This mostly involves a lot of dramatic lighting, and in recent months a lot more glowy elements to pull focus. The books are the same sort that have been published all along, we're just focusing on different aspects now.
Yes, there are always books that break the mold of current design and sell a ton, and thus set new fashions that everyone else chases. Your book will not be the one that does that.
Leaving large flat areas of color in the design. This also fits in with researching covers in your niche: large flat areas of color are common in non-fiction, but not so much in fiction. At the very least, fill in that empty blackness with a texture or with words. If you have a background in graphic design and understand how to use negative space properly, go for it, but if you don't, then I wouldn't attempt it.
Failing to give the focal point of the design a 'pop'. 'Pop' means to stand out. You can do this with color, composition, negative space, light glows, etc., and you should use more than one thing. It should be immediately apparent what the focal point is, because you have less than one second to grab the reader's eye and make them interested. The more experienced you are, the more subtle you can go--I love the cover for Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House, where the broken-up letterforms cause you to look twice and realize it's a snake doing that.
Failing to take lighting on the stock photos into account. If you grab two stock photos and montage them into a picture, they need to have complementary lighting. You can't have one high-key (bright, few shadows) and one low-key (dark, dramatic), and if you have the lighting in each photo coming from a different direction, you need to account for it in the rest of the picture because the two pictures will never blend properly if you don't. Yup, even in photomontages that aren't supposed to look like one photo: we are used to consistent lighting schemes in real life, and inconsistency draws the attention in a bad way because the brain goes "Something is wrong here."
Slapping the text on as an afterthought. The best cover designs involve the text from the very beginning, and make sure the composition includes the text. Ninth House above is a very obvious (and also very trendy right now) example.
(Also note that while Ninth House technically has large flat areas of black in the artwork, the title covers it up.)
Being afraid to put text on top of the artwork. Too many amateurs either make or buy a nice picture, and then go "I can't hide this picture!" and scrunch the title waaaaay down at the bottom and put their name waaaay up at the top. Ideally, you should have researched what your genre's conventions are--note that most trad publishers often put the text smack on top of the artwork, even interacting with it--and worked with the artist to develop a composition that takes the text into account. Barring that, put the full artwork on your website where your fans can see it (and maybe buy prints from your artist, or you if you licensed the copyright), and just slap that title on top.
Joe Abercrombie can get away with breaking this rule because he's Joe Abercrombie (and because the positive shape of the helmet POINTS AT THE TITLE, and because his name is BRIGHT RED and focus-pulling, and because the lighting on the helment is dark at the bottom and light at the top--three things that drive the eye to Abercrombie's name, which is the focal point).
Using default Photoshop text effects. Do not use anything more than a subtle drop shadow if you're new to this. Most text effects just look muddy at Amazon search results size, and are terrible anyway. If you find yourself looking at your title on the cover in a flat color and thinking, "This looks boring. I should jazz it up," then it means you are using the wrong font. It's still going to look wrong once you put a pillow emboss and outer glow on it. Go look at creativemarket.com, filter by price range, and invest in a (READABLE) font that is more interesting than Arial or Times New Roman or whatever you were using that came default with your computer.
Not making their author name big enough. You shouldn't go as big as Robert Jordan's name if you're not as big as Robert Jordan, but when your name is tiny, it looks like you're apologizing for having dared write the book.
Speaking of Jordan, I love these current covers. This is what you do if you can't bear to cover the artwork: you frame it, and you pull colors for the frame and the text from the artwork, and you incorporate interesting shapes into the frame. As a not-well-known author, you'd put the title into text the size of Jordan's name and put your name into the smaller text, and in the case of these covers, the frame would draw attention to your name, so the text could be smaller. (Although for an unknown author who wanted a similar cover, I'd put the series name into the frame, make the title large, and put the author name across the top.)
First of all, there's the excellent Salvation Wiki, which is probably the most complete resource you're going to find.
There certainly are books. In the past, each fatpack came with a book and after they stopped doing that, they tried doing less frequent books, which led to Agents of Artifice, The Purifying Fire and Test of Metal. They also gave block novels a shot, but these ended up mostly disappointing and after a planned novel about Liliana was so bad it never made it to print, they axed the book line.
With Return to Ravnica, they tried another experiment: e-books. The first one, The Secretist (in three parts) did well enough that we can expect another e-book for Theros on April 1.
Apart from the books, the Creative team also publishes a short story each week. These vary in quality a lot (but tend to be enjoyable) and give nice little looks in the worlds we visit. With each set (but mostly with the first set of the block), they also give out something called a "Planeswalker's Guide" which is an edited version of the style guide they use for building the plane.
On the main site, you can also find some webcomics, focusing on the planeswalkers which I personally find very interesting. Unfortunately, they stopped making them because they were too expensive.
There are also older comics, but they can be hard to find. There's also a newer line of comics, featuring the thief-planeswalker Dack Fayden, but though they follow the planes we visit, they don't really impact the main storyline.
Finally, you can learn a lot from the online community. I personally hang out here, but the Storyline forum on Salvation is also good (although they're a bit too serious for my taste). Both of those forums have the most knowledgeable person on Magic: The Gathering lore, so any question you have will probably be answered. You could also try just asking here, or on /r/mtgvorthos (although the latter subreddit is a bit dead). Whatever you do, don't visit the official forum, it's a wasteland.
Okay, I think that's all.
I've bought a fair amount of ebooks on Amazon recently and I think most of them are books that a lot of people here would enjoy (heck I heard about most of them through here!).
The Preorders:
Underlord - The sixth book in the Cradle series which is described as a Western Xianxia series. A lot of people here don't really like the Xianxia genre and I agree with their criticisms of how many main characters are very villainous, under-developed enemies and female characters, the economies of cultivation aren't logical, poor scaling in conflict as you go from one city to interstellar in scope, and awkward prose. But I bring up all of these flaws to say that the Cradle series completely avoids all of the typical flaws in Xianxia and has a very smart character who sets out to cultivate smartly instead of bullheadedly.
And the sixth book is coming out in March! (Get the box set. It has the first three books and is cheaper!)
Exhalation - Who here hasn't heard of Ted Chiang, the master of short stories that perfectly appeal to the r/rational crowd? The same guy that we literally use as an introduction to rational fiction. Well, if you enjoyed his first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, you'll love hearing that the second collection is coming out in....May! (Ugh....really May? I don't think I can wait that long!)
The books you can read right now!:
The Beginner's Guide to Magical Licensing - Has a similar start to Unsong where a magical college-graduate, minimum-wage, sweat-shop worker stumbles on a powerful spell and sets out to start his own business competing with the powerful. The parts of the story that follows afterward makes a whole lot more logical sense than Unsong however. (Used to be online for free, but now you'll have to pay the price for your ignorance if you want to read it! (Nah, I lied.))
Six Sacred Swords - If you liked the Arcane Ascension series, but wished there was more dungeonnering and less of school shenanigans, then look no further! In some ways it's a lot like reading a very good DnD session played by really savvy players who never follow the 'standard' way to solve problems.
The author of Six Sacred Swords made a recommendation for The Ruin of Kings. He said that it reads like a Locke Lamora-esque rogue protagonist, telling the story in a style similar to Kvothe, in a setting similar to Game of Thrones. I haven't bought the book yet, but the review was interesting enough that I wanted to include it in my list of recommendations.
Senlin Ascends - I haven't read this yet either, but skimming through it, I see some fair bit of social manipulation/combat that I think people here would like. Plus the Tower of Babel setting is something that appeals very strongly to me.
Polyglot: NPC REVOLUTION - A lot of people here seem to really like LitRPG and Artificial Intelligence, but almost no one seem to ever question the implications of the NPCs in LitRPG stories having human-level intelligence.
Small Medium: Big Trouble - It's by the same author who wrote Threadbare that people here really liked. Similar to Polygot where the NPC is the main character who needs to deal with players, but smaller scale in scope. There's a lot of fast-talking to convince selfish sociopaths to do what you say.
Q is for Quantum - I was going through my older ebook orders when I found this one. It's the single best introduction for quantum mechanics that I have ever read (not that I've read too many of those). It focuses on building an intuition for the subject and once you've read through the book, you will understand on a gut level what superposition means. Note that it's meant as an introduction for the subject, so don't expect it to cover everything, just what's need to get started learning about quantum mechanics. But I'd still recommend it to experts if only for a better way to explain their subject to their peers and laypeople.
it's genre, not gender ;)
two excellent starting points:
Life Reset
Ascend Online
Hey folks, I'm Phil Tucker, author of The Chronicles of the Black Gate and The Godsblood Trilogy. I'm thrilled to be here, and thanks to Mark and Dyrk for putting on this AMA!
Since the top /r/scifi post right now is about Alastair Reynolds, maybe you can try his books. I think his books are one of the best in the Space Opera genre, and written very well.
You can start with his most popular series, Revelation Space, but his other books are stellar (ha) as well, like House of Suns, or Century Rain.
Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen
Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn
Brandon Sanderson - The Stormlight Archive
Peter Brett - The Demon Cycle
R. Scott Bakker - The Second Apocalypse
Joe Abercrombie - The First Law
Scott Lynch - The Gentleman Bastard
Patrick Rothfuss - The Kingkiller Chronicle
All excellent. Some slightly more excellent than others.
It's... well, yeah, it's pretty eh. I was never the hugest fan of apostrophes in fantasy names either, but it's part of a subgenre. The type of fantasy Tal'Dorei lies in is very high and metropolitan, focused largely on being fantastical. The use of an apostrophe communicates "weirdness" and "foreignness" at a glance, and so it can be useful for setting up the genre and tone. Even if it's a quick decision, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the wrong one for this particular work, subgenre, and tone.
If you're interested in a fantasy setting that does take its names, linguistics, and language pretty seriously, though, and typically avoids apostrophes to boot, might I recommend the world of Vasloria in the Ratcatchers series? The author of those books (two so far, three more planned) talks online a lot about the time he spends trying to get the names in his setting juust right, since he really believes in the usefulness of language in setting a certain tone and delivering a specific feeling. Might be a breath of fresh air for you.
Looks like The Emperor's Edge (the number 1 upvoted book on this list) is free on Amazon!
Alastair Reynolds, astrophysicist, dark hard sci-fi author. Start with Revelation Space
Here are the Amazon links to the books Book of Sith, The Jedi Path
I completely understand. Some characters rub me the wrong way as well! Thanks for giving my work a try. And I'd encourage you to keep giving indie writers opportunities. There are some great works out there. I'd recommend Phil Tucker's The Path of Flames, Timandra Whitecastel's Touch of Iron, and Benedict Patrick's They Only Come Out at Night.
That's great! All my books happen to be free too! You can find them on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Ascend-Online-Luke-Chmilenko-ebook/dp/B01M01ET8E
It'll say that the book costs $6 there, but that's because I'm running a sale for the next forever. During this sale each book comes with a sense of pride and accomplishment for being able to help an author eat and warm his house this winter.
I hope you take advantage of it! This sale will only last until the end of time!
For those unfamiliar with Mr. Bakker, he wrote one of my personal favorite trilogies in Fantasy, and is working on a second one. The place to start is here, if curious:
http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Comes-Before-Prince-Nothing/dp/1590201183/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313006327&sr=8-1
Two series I can recommend off the top of my head, both of which I couldn't put down during the first readthrough and never get tired of re-reading:
And if you want a single book to tide you over while searching, the 832-page The War of the Flowers (also by Williams) was a riveting read.
*edited for linkage
Kushiel's Dart is by far THE BEST romance/erotic novel with a clever plot that I have ever read. I highly recommend it. It is also a series so if she likes it, you've got a couple to go on.
You seem to have two types of books here, fantasy YA and classics that span the genres.
For fantasy YA-type books I recommend:
For non-YA I think you might enjoy from the other books you've included, I recommend:
People above are mentioning similarity to Garth Nix. His Old Kingdom series is among my favorite books ever. The first one is called Sabriel. Definitely worth a read if you liked this.
There is a paperback set that's sold in the UK/Europe that you can order on UK Amazon(or whatever EU country you prefer). You have to order each book individually, though. It came out before The Wind Through the Keyhole, so that one just kinda sits off to the side. Nonetheless, the seven books look great together.
The Emperor's Edge series has a female protagonist I liked a lot. It's a fun light read and the first book is free on Kindle.
[Taylor Varga] (Low Quality)
[Iron Wood] (Low Quality)
[Defiance of the Fall] (Low Quality)
[He Who Fights With Monsters] (Low Quality)
[A Hero's War] (Low Quality)
[The New World] (Low Quality)
[Azarinth Healer] (Low Quality)
[The Gam3] (Low Quality)
[The Arcane Emperor] (Low Quality)
[The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound] (Low Quality)
[The Land] (Low Quality)
[Daniel Black] (Low Quality)
[Savage Divinity] (Low Quality)
[The Wheel of Time] (Low Quality)
[The Tutorial Is Too Hard] (Low Quality)
[Metaworld Chronicles] (Low Quality)
This list is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.
I'd go with Ascend Online if you're looking for a book with an actual game.
If you want more of a fantasy with game elements, Sufficiently Advanced Magic is where it's at. (While I admit that I know the author personally and have some bias, it's an Amazon Bestseller.)
If you prefer something modern-day and like a good zombie story, The Alpha Virus is a great read, though it's still a work-in-progress.
For a series with great characters and emotional impact, The Wandering Inn is an ongoing web serial of considerable length, and updates frequently.
Cradle currently has a promo until end of Thursday. The first 3 books are free as a box set which is gonna save you some money if you dont have kindle unlimited. I cant stress enough how ridiculously good this series is. I’ve reread it many times. Book 7 is coming out in October
Finally had some more time to read, picked up books mostly on Kindle Unlimited with some exceptions on Novel Updates.
Stuff in bold is stuff I really like and can recommend, stuff italicized is stuff I'm not sure about but you should probably read anyway.
Picked up
Arcane Ascension: (Kindle)
LitRPG, School, Dungeon/tower
Story had a pretty decent hook in the beginning, characters are decently fleshed out although I do hope book 2 has more character development.
The MC is a recovering loner with interesting family dynamics due to an unfortunate grandfather, militant father, and a missing brother.
I would have enjoyed this story more if I read it in chunks as the author is trying to create something new with depth and that ruined a bit of the immersion for me.
After reading 2/3 of the story I took a break and read other stuff before coming back to it and the last 1/3 was very enjoyable; then again the last bit was mostly plot development instead of world building.
Completionist Chronicles: (Kindle)
LitRPG, cleric?, puns?
Same author as the Divine Dungeon series linked below.
Compared to the Divine Dungeon series this story is much more enjoyable since the MC is human and already has a personality.
Divine Dungeon: (Kindle)
Dungeon core, cultivation, puns?
Pretty interesting premise but it is my first dungeon core story; story is pretty good and told in the POV of two MC's, a dungeon (Cal) and some shepherd who learns to cultivate.
In book 1 Cal is still developing as he was just Born which made it slightly more difficult to get into due to not much character development but the different POV's makes things easier to read. If you're okay with book 1 which was enjoyable but focused more on setting the foundation of the story then you should like books 2 and 3 much more.
Awaken Online: (Kindle)
LitRPG, Anti-hero?, Necromancy, glass cannon
A bit of an aside but this really made me feel nostalgic for Legendary Moonlight Sculptor even though there isn't much in common.
The prologue set the tone for the the story and while it could be too soon to tell I'd say he's only mostly anti-hero.
Story is a bit cliched and there isn't much tension but it's pretty well written and does a nice job overall differentiating itself.
Fields of Gold
Mild Mary Sue, hunting, isekai, reverse harem?
Phew, finally have something to fill the void that is Volare. (Even though I have 3 other novels I'm bulking up to binge later)
Just when I think I'm free of all food porn from previous completed novels they ambush me with this. y u do dis /u/Etvolare (and Myst), some of y'all have gotta be foodies and I'm concerned it's a criteria in novel selection.
Another Mary Sue story with hints of a reverse harem but that's probably unlikely. Her immediate family loves her but everyone else.. fuck 'em, except for maybe that one gentle aunt.
The S-Classes That I Raised
Time rewind, yandere, taming
Weak asshole MC turns over a new leaf with his time travel and patches things up with his younger more OP brother.
Ascend Online (Kindle)
LitRPG, Crafting, taming
Solid story but it's a bit average, pretty good read overall but character development is kinda weak.
I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire
Mecha, "anti-hero", ^^^ha! futuristic, isekai, misunderstandings, long life span
MC gets betrayed pretty badly by his wife due to the involvement of a third party who gets off on the grief and misery of others. MC reincarnates to another world and is mistrustful of women, gets abandoned by his parents and ends up doing some territory management in the pursuit of being evil later.
Demon King, Retry!
Overpowered, loli, misunderstandings, territory management?
Think of this as a more lighthearted, shallower take on Overlord for a younger audience, maybe.
A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss
Non-harem harem?, Wish fulfillment
Strong MC with a soft spot for ladies.
***
Still reading
Trash of the Count’s Family
Restaurant seems to be going well, some more of Cale's background is being very slowly teased through the story which makes it all the more understandable he wants to chill.
Ascending, Do Not Disturb
Apparently another story where cuteness is justice regardless of gender; two justices have been unlocked so far: cuteness and deliciousness.
The Beloved Imperial Consort
Strict mother and chill father? That'll be a fun baby, smart little monkey.
Lucia
Lucia is hangry and the damn grapes aren't in season yet.
The hubby is gonna have some serious blue balls if he doesn't find something to busy himself with.
Assassin Farmer
The assassin organization has changed hands with the death of the idiot boss.
MC has plenty of people waiting on her now (much to her distaste) and new house(s) are being built for her and her hubby's brothers.
*
Edit**: forgot to add the Arcane Ascension series and labeled the ones on Kindle Unlimited.
I'm not well-read in the genre so I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but Will Wight's Cradle series sounds as though it might interest you. The series isn't complete, but there are five completed novels in it.
Amazon link for the first book, Unsouled
Amazon link for the first three as a package deal.
I would recommend it if you're a fan of cultivation, spiritual techniques, and the zero to god journey. It also has a more western style prose that for me was more enjoyable to read.
Did you know there are actual books?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Atrus-Myst/dp/0786881887
I read it, and do NOT recommend it.
Book is too meh, relies too heavily on common tropes we've seen done time and time again better. The writing style is too slow and ponderous for my liking, while still managing to be imprecise. It's like they wrote it relying more on the ideas and topics then the actual story; it's the kind of thing that if was a movie you'd think was made by committee.
You want a good Steampunk book series? Myst; yes after the game. There are three, and they chronicle the fall and aftermath of a civilization from the perspective of a family. (Grandparent, Mother, Husband, Son, etc...)
Matt has an obsidianportal wiki with some of the information on his world -
http://the-age-of-conquest.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page
It's not really a campaign so much as a world Matt has built up over the time he has been running the game - it doesn't really have a "plotline" to it and he makes up stories as he goes based on how he believes the world will react to the players and drops in modified versions of old modules he likes running.
He also has been writing a book series set in his D&D world in a different time period that are really good and can be great for inspiration.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OIBG44/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JQ20KOE/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
The Emperor's Edge
Brood of Bones
The Corpse King
The Book of Deacon
The Secretist: Part One
The Secretist: Part Two
The Secretist: Part Three
In case you haven't done so already, you should give the space revelation triology from Alastair Reynolds a chance. It presents a detailed, yet broad outlook on humanity, taking place in the next couple of hundred of years. Alastair has a lot of interesting ideas and presents them in a great way.
I've finished the big 5 novels and am currently reading the short stories and even though there's not a lot of time for the story to unfold - I'm still sitting on the edge 'cause it's so exciting.
http://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Space-Alastair-Reynolds/dp/0441009425/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1394833904&sr=8-3&keywords=alastair+reynolds
And their dirt cheep on amazon too!
The Book of Atrus ~ Myst, Book 1
The Book of Ti'Ana ~ Myst, Book 2
The Book of D'Ni ~ Myst, Book 3
Good list of recommendations.
Personal highlights include all books by Andrew Rowe (especially War of the Broken Mirrors), Phil Tuckers Chronicles of the Black Gate, Paternus and A Star Reckoners Lot.
/u/esmerelda-weatherwax has an awesome blog where she reviews lots of indie books - Most of them are part of KU.
Ascend Online by Luke Chmilenko
Chronicles of the Black Gate by Phil Tucker
The Aching God by Mike Shel
The Castes and the OutCastes by Davis Ashura
Paternus by Dyrk Ashton
​
I could keep going all day, but here's some starters, ha!
Here's the Path of Flames link : https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01DTTO9MI/
Pro tip: there's an Audible-produced audiobook of POF coming REALLY soon, and grabbing the cheap ebook now should let you take advantage of the reduced price audiobook thingy that Amazon tends to offer if you already have the ebook.
If you're Canadian and reading this, it's free on Amazon.ca too!
https://www.amazon.ca/Cradle-Foundation-Collected-Book-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=Cradle+series&qid=1567468886&s=gateway&sr=8-8
Phil Tucker's Chronicles of the Black Gate series is in KU and quite good.
Just a few updates.
Been playing Everquest's TLP server with my brothers. Really fun. My brother just got crack, so we're all happy.
Dark Souls remastered is a bit silly. I'm running my SL 20 sorcerer that can only have +5 weapons through to get Dark Bead and blow up some lowbies. Basically just have to down Four Kings and Artorias. Shit is hard. The online community is huge right now. It's seriously the best its ever been in any Souls game because it actually fucking works for once.
New Path of Exile league comes out Friday. I took Monday off and am working from home on Friday. Doing some 10 hour shifts so I can get off work earlier, too.
Will Wight's new book also comes out Friday and the first three books in that series will be free on Amazon. If you like Wuxia at all, you should read it.
Three of the best after Ice and Fire:
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix (trilogy)
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (trilogy)
The Earthsea series
You can buy a used paperback copy for under $5 after shipping on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/0451210840/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=all
I just finished Myst: The Book of Atrus last night - this immediately reminded me of Katran's First Age.
There is a British publisher that has released a set of all 7 that match.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Tower-Gunslinger-Stephen-King/dp/1444723448
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dark-Tower-Drawing-Three/dp/1444723456
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Waste-Lands-Dark-Tower/dp/1444723464
So on and so forth.
This may be how it is in the US but over in the UK this isn't a problem. My current set of DT is consistent and lines up nicely on my shelf.
My previous set was also a complete set. So if you want a good set you might want to look at ordering from the uk.
i mean, i say give the books another shot because i can't imagine enjoying the movies but not the books. but to each their own. if you don't want to go down that road, what do you mean things that might interest you? do you mean in the harry potter universe? if so, the other stuff is fun but the original seven are her magnum opus IMO and to get my fix, i had to go outside the Harry Potter universe.
some books that I just inhaled and read in one sitting will sound super corny, but...
If you just want some good fantasy that isn't just Lord of the Rings rip offs, these are the ones I like.
I'm really glad to hear that! I'm sure you've heard this a lot, but I got to know you from the YouTube channel (still working my way through Running the Game as I prepare my own campaign - awesome series), and if I hadn't seen you on YouTube, I would never have known about the Ratcatchers.
I bought Priest and Thief on Amazon nine days ago sight unseen, partly out of curiosity and partly because whether I liked the books or not, I wanted to kick something back to you for your completely free YouTube content.
Well, I finished them both and just started re-reading Priest. Great job! Lots of fun, lots of comedy, but especially love all the relationships and heart and feeling. Can't wait for Fighter and what I assume will be Wizard.
> Spellmonger
Added to my list. Any other suggestions? I love sci-fi / fantasy but I'm tired of reading novels with xir pronouns or with the "white savior" trope only reversed.
I'll throw the Galaxy's Edge as a sci-fi suggestion.
Think of it as a multiverse. There are an obscene amount of 'verses or planes, and we jump to new or old ones each year (or each battle when you look it at in a certain regard).
The game has been going on for a good two decades. There have been numerous novels and comics which flesh out a bunch of the story, and their quality really does vary quite a bit.
Wikipedia at least orders the massive plots in chronological order.
EDIT: The wikipedia link doesn't make mention that the novels have continued to have been published as ebooks.
I would recommend The Land by Aleron Kong and Daniel Black by E. William Brown. Daniel Black can get a little raunchy, if that is not something you are looking for you might want to skip it. Both book series are excellent and worth a read.
Here's the link to Amazon, if anyone is interested!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DTTO9MI
Let me know if this breaks any rules!
If you want some space opera that has a lot of roots in hard sci-fi, give Alastair Reynolds a shot. Reynolds is an astrophysicist, so the series has a fair bit of hard science in with its fantastic futurism. The best example is the lack of Faster than Light travel in his spacecraft. I'd suggest starting with Revalation Space.
George RR Martin's - A Song of Ice and Fire Series
Or you can get the Vault Edition from Amazon
Holy...fucking...shit.
http://www.amazon.com/Jedi-Path-Manual-Students-Force/dp/1603800964
I never knew this book existed. I have to have it.
Oh here is the cheaper version,
http://www.amazon.com/Jedi-Path-Star-Daniel-Wallace/dp/1452102279/ref=pd_sim_b_3/189-0894191-9537604
No awesome case though.
have you tried The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan? Here's a link to the first one.
It's important to note I don't read a ton of fantasy, but I just recently read and loved /u/mattcolville 's Priest and Thief books.
I just finished the Theros e-book and I was about to make post a synospis/review anyways! First off, I enjoyed the book a whole lot and heartily recommend that anyone with $1.99 to spare Buy the E-Book from Amazon, especially if you are interested in learning the specifics of the stories of Elspeth, Xenagos, Daxos of Meletis, and Polukranos. I was personally disappointed with The Secretist e-book for the Return to Ravnica block, but I believe Godsend is shaping up to show that e-books can really shine as a method to deliver Magic's lore.
That said, spoilers from the e-book Theros: Godsend Part 1 below. Again, the e-book is cheap and small and well-written, so I do recommend people with even a little more than passing interest buy it and read it themselves.
The book starts following Lydia, a young Meletian mother who has left her polis and taken her sickly son Daxos to be cured by an oracle of Athreos in the distant blasted wasteland ruled by Erebos. She realizes too late that she has been tricked. Her son is not ill at all; rather he is an oracle, someone with the gift to speak for and with the Gods. Athreos attempts to claim him for his own use, but Lydia gives her life in exchange for Daxos's freedom.
After helplessly waiting under a tree for days, Daxos meets a young Elspeth, who has only recently begun planeswalking. The two share a need for food and water, and Elspeth helps Daxos up a mountain and to a clean spring. Daxos can see the sky of Nyx above, even during the day, and sees a bloody and gruesome duel between Heliod, who fancies himself the head of the pantheon, and Purphoros, who has forged a sword capable of damaging the fabric of Nyx itself.
Purphoros slices out Polukranos from the constellation's resting place in the night sky, and the hydra falls to the Earth, becoming corporeal. Heliod and Nylea work together to imprison it, and Kruphix, god of Time and Horizons and the oldest of the gods, punishes Purphoros by limiting his memory and cognition. Purphoros drops the nyx-bane sword and it lands on the mountaintop where Elspeth and Daxos rest. Heliod appears before Daxos, searching for the weapon, but frightens the young Elspeth, who grabs it and planeswalks away.
Years later, Elspeth has returned to Theros after fleeing Mirrodin, now New Phyrexia. She still carries the sword from all those years ago. She seeks a place to rest; a home that is incorruptible, and she believes that the Gods may make Theros a prime candidate for that. She works as a mercenary near Akros, and makes trips to visit various temples, although she has put off seeing Heliod's.
Meanwhile, Xenagos, under the title 'King Stranger' (I remember hearing that that is a rough translation of what the word 'Xenagos' means in Greek) rules over the Satyrs and misguided humans of the Skola Valley, who spend their days relaxing and their nights in bacchanalia. Xenagos has ignited his spark and is disdainful of the gods; he openly resents and mocks them, to the shock and fear of his subjects. From a poet he hears that Polukranos has begun to stir from the caves that Heliod and Nylea sealed it in, and Xenagos prepares a plan.
Heliod notices that something is awry. His vision, which should be omnipresent, is lacking and faltering (likely due to Xenagos's scheming). He consorts with Thassa about this, but the two mostly end up bickering and fail to find a solution. He blames Purphoros, but Thassa reminds him that ever since their previous bout, Kruphix has forbidden all gods from fighting each other, lest he enact a Silence that banishes them to Nyx.
Visiting an oracle of Phenax and seeking guidance, Elspeth allows the mindreading priest to discover her planeswalking abilities and the fact that she holds the lost sword. This fact quickly finds its way back to Phenax, who shares it with Thassa. Thassa then communes with Purphoros, who in his addled state was unable to catch Xenagos stealing his golem and crafting partner, Petrios. When Thassa arrives Purphoros constructs a metallic chimera that can seek out the sword. Thassa enters it and then launches away to find Elspeth.
Elspeth, at the advice of the oracle of Phenax, finally decides to visit the temple of Heliod. She begins to pray just as Thassa arrives, and Thassa's attempt to grab the sword is interrupted by the arrival of Heliod himself. He believes Elspeth to be a thief (and he's technically right about that) and attacks her with blisteringly hot rays. Elspeth uses her planeswalking power to cast a reflective spell that protects her however, and that inspires Heliod. He takes her blade, naming it Godsend, and transforms it into a spear before giving it back to her. He then asks her to travel to Meletis, to become his champion and meet with his oracle.
His oracle who happens to be our good friend Daxos. Although he was chosen by Heliod as an oracle, Daxos has the unique ability to speak with all of the gods, including Nylea, with whom he appears to have started a bit of a romance with. Daxos, with his god-sight, sees that Polukranos is freeing himself, and warns Nylea of this, before he is addressed by Heliod to set out and meet Elspeth on the road between Akros and Meletis.
Nylea seeks out Polukranos and finds evidence of magical intervention. Although Polukranos was awoken by the return of Elspeth's blade, it appears he has been baited into lumbering towards the polis of Meletis. She tracks the source of this magic and it leads her to Skola Valley. There she confronts Xenagos and eventually attacks him, revokes her protection of the valley and leaving it a rotting, lifeless husk, before leaving. Xenagos is unfazed, almost happy that he has insulted a god in person, and begins using his magic to regrow the valley undeterred.
Elspeth returns to Akros only to find that foreigners are being rushed out of the city as it prepares for war against a massing minotaur horde. She is given a job escorting a teenage daughter of an Akroan estate in a caravan from Akros to Meletis and sets out immediately. After a few days of travel and alternating friction and friendship between Elspeth and the girl, named Nikka, the caravan is attacked by servants of Erebos. Escaping, Nikka and Elspeth make it to the see on a small boat.
At this point arguments and fighting between the gods have reached a fever-pitch. Heliod and Purphoros blame each other for the empty spots in their vision, and Heliod wrestles with Thassa to maintain protection over Elspeth and the sword. Oceans boils, forests quiver and shake, and storms throw lighting bolt after lightning bolt into poleis. Thassa conjures an enormous wave which reaches up from the see to grab the spear Godsend from Elspeth. After she is overwhelmed by water, the Sun's Champion nearly gives up hope and drops the spear.
That is when Kruphix intervenes. He pauses time and makes good on his promise to suspend the pantheon in Nyx. Nylea desperately tries to stop him, to warn her siblings of the true danger to the world that Xenagos poses, but fails and is restricted to Nyx like all the other gods.
Elspeth and Daxos meet each other on the steppes outside of Meletis and instantly recognize each other. Their touching reunion is unfortunately ruined when Polukranos appears however, and Elspeth sends Nikka to Meletis to warn the guards. After an arduous and deadly battle, which only Daxos and Elspeth survive, Elspeth ultimately defeats Polukranos, and limps with Daxos back to Meletis.
I really enjoyed this story and hope that part two keeps up the great quality. Their are a few typographical, grammatical, and formatting errors here and there, but nothing too worrisome and overall I enjoyed the writing a whole lot. I left out plenty of details though so I recommend one last time that everyone drop the two dollars on the e-book from Amazon.
If you want more on the Jace/Bolas/Ravnica storyline, I guess the next steps would be Agents of Artifice (summary here) and then the Return to Ravnica novels (summary here).
If you like Savage Divinity and don't like MMO-ish rulesets, you might considering checking out Xianxia. I'd consider it kind of a LitRPG-adjacent genre, I guess? Clear stages of power progression without any sort of Game Mechanics or blue boxes at all. There a quite a few web novels translated from Chinese you might like, but the starting point I recommend is Coiling Dragon (on the web here or on KU here), and if you like it you have a TON of web-based reading material ahead of you my friend. If you want an English-native take on the genre /u/Will_Wight is doing a great job with his Cradle series.
Sabriel -Nix
Bout a Girl who can raise the Dead and talk with them-in a Fantasy/WWI setting. Awesome read & 1st in a series of 3
Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds - this is a /r/scifi favourite but in this case, at least for this book, it's a very similar setting to the original Alien
This sounds very similar to a something in Revelation Space. I started reading this trilogy because it sounded like it had a similar plot. I've made it through two of the books and I really enjoyed them. Maybe this is kind of a reference to that?
> The sun killer arrives twice every generation looking for our people.
Could this possibly work as the first line? This line coming first might set up the impending sense of demise that your great, last line "I think again about how it’s likely the three of us will die." works towards. I think it might make for nice bookends to this piece.
Also, and this isn't any fault of yours, but I just got through reading Revelation Space and there is a nefarious "character" called Sun Stealer that is used all through the book as a malevolent force. Your entity called Sun Killer really reminded me of this since they seem a little bit similar. Might be something to think about since the book is quite famous and other sci-fi fans might also be aware of a slight similarity.
I guess the only other thing I noticed was that you start off with some descriptive action but then as it continues we get some back story that's hard to feel the weight of given that all we have experienced so far is a rock slide. I suppose what I'm not feeling is the power of the sun killer because we're only being told about it, and not shown.
"Show, don't tell" is the #1 rule of writing. Any chance you get to show something and not tell us about something is where the writer earns his paycheck. By showing us you are letting us, the readers, do the work of imagining the events and characters of the story. But when we are told we are forced to have to just sit in the passenger seat and not be allowed to let our imaginations run with your words.
EDIT : Show, don't tell is a really hard rule to abide so don't sweat it too much since you will have to tell from time to time and depending on the story - it's just something to be aware of.
Still though, I really like the blunt and heartfelt last line "I think again about how it’s likely the three of us will die." There is such an inevitable finality to this and if you can link this up tighter with the character and the power of the sun killer then you'll have gold here.
Ha! Awesome.
Yeah, man, I'm 34, so when I was a kid, I remember reading Hatchet, and My Side of the Mountain.
The other one that got me as a young man was The Girl Who Owned a City, which is to me, like a sibling of Lord of The Flies only with a feminine theme instead of a mostly masculine theme.
Also, if you have never read at least the first book of The Dark Tower, you MUST read book 1 either before or during your journey.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Gunslinger-Tower-Revised-Edition/dp/0451210840/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398445164&sr=8-1&keywords=the+gunslinger
Because none of the others include it, either?
Ishmael (and the rest of the series) by Daniel Quinn opened my eyes in my senior year of high school.
It's about a Gorilla, who has lived beside man for a number of decades and teaches a pupil through stories and analogies about how we are already at the cusp of civilization collapse. It's about a lot more than just that, namely the relationship of humans, animals, the planet, and how humans have a unique, egotistical view of themselves where we deemed ourselves rulers of the planet.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins is an eye opener as well.
Other great reads:
Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock.
Necronomicon
UFO's by Leslie Keen
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
I also really enjoyed the Myst series by Rand & Robin Miller (the books the game is based on). It's about worlds within worlds and an ancient race of authors creating worlds through magical ink and books (sci-fi/fantasy).
Myst - The Book of Atrus Serene.
could it be The Book of Atrus? https://www.amazon.com/Book-Atrus-Myst/dp/0786881887
This is like complaining about Luke being able to force pull the lightsaber towards him in Empire Strikes Back. We never saw Obi-Wan force pull in A New Hope!. Every film introduces us to something new. He even got the idea for Force Projections from a novel published before Disney even bought Lucasfilm: https://www.amazon.com/Jedi-Path-Manual-Students-Force/dp/1603800964
<3 Your generosity never ceases to amaze me!
I'd absolutely love to have something like that. I don't have a smartphone or laptop, which makes managing my business quite tricky when I'm away from home. If I had something that could connect to WiFi, I'd be able to reply to customer emails, update my shop, keep track of finances, etc. Certainly would make things quite a bit easier, especially as I've been helping take care of my mom a lot lately (in hospice, over an hour away).
And business-aside, I'm a huge bookwork, and I'd be all "read ALL the books!!". And so would my Tiny Turtles, as they becoming quite the mini-bibliophiles as well. <3
I think my first e-book would be The Eye of the World... might as well start off with an epic series. :)
If you aren't Familiar with Brandon Sanderson... I'd check him out immediately!
His Mistborn series is amazing and finished (At least the first Trilogy), his other series are just as amazing, but no where close to finished so could be a long wait if you get as engrossed in them as I have.
Books are:
He also finished Robert Jordan's epic tale Wheel of Time when Mr Jordan passed away before completing the last 2 or 3 books.
An author I would encourage you to check out right now, today, do not pass go, do not collect $200, don't wait to get home from work, seriously, open up your smart phone right now, and look up Brandon Sanderson.
Start with either Elantris or Warbreaker as they are standalone novels. I'd personally recommend Elantris as that is the first novel he ever published (and anything else you read by him can only get better)
Elantris https://www.amazon.com/Elantris-Tenth-Anniversary-Authors-Definitive-ebook/dp/B003G93YLY
Warbreaker https://www.amazon.com/Warbreaker-Brandon-Sanderson-ebook/dp/B002KYHZHA
Warbreaker https://brandonsanderson.com/books/warbreaker/warbreaker/warbreaker-rights-and-downloads/ (free, author's website)
Sanderson tends to hit the nail on the head in regards to capturing the essence of character and what would be going on in the situation rather than worrying about attempting to get a character hot and bothered at all times of the day or night.
If you've never heard of him, you owe it to yourself to check him out.
When you started off I though you were talking about Ratcatchers.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OIBG44/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o04_?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1
Really really good book I'd never heard of before with a similar sounding lead. I'll be sure to check this out.
The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker is about a group of bantering outlaws trying to do good. Like a fantasy A-Team if you will. The first book is even free on Kindle.
Lindsay Buroker is awesome. Her Emperor's Edge series is one of my favorites from the last few years. The first one of that series is free on Amazon if you want to try it. [Linky] (http://www.amazon.com/Emperors-Edge-Lindsay-Buroker-ebook/dp/B004H1TDB0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1420050103&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=emperor%27s+edge)
I love this thread idea, though I feel like it's already mostly covered by the "What did you read this month?" thread. Still, far be it from me to not shove my preferences in everyones face.
Anything Lindsay Buroker puts out. Most known for her Emperor's Edge books. First one is free, just try it. Steampunk, bit of romance, fun cast of characters. It's nothing revolutionary, honestly, but I just have so much fun reading her stuff and I can't even tell you why. I'm just an absolute addict and she provides the crack in a timely manner. You think Sanderson writes like a machine? This woman must have self-triplicated somewhere along the line. 5+ books a year.
Next up would be J.S. Morin's Twinborn books. It's not exactly unknown on here, but it still needs a mention. Two series, one building on the other. Excellent work-building, cool characters, can't wait for what the author does next. It's mostly traditional Fantasy as you can get, but featuring Pirates, Magic, Empires, Demi-Gods and as of the 2nd series Steampunk, bit of SF and Transhumanism. Excellent stuff.
I also greatly enjoyed the short, fun read that was Larkspur. Not unknown on here either as the author frequents /r/fantasy relatively often, but still. MORE DAMN YOU!
Also, [Fae - The Wild Hunt] (http://www.amazon.com/Fae-Wild-Hunt-Riven-Wyrde-ebook/dp/B00IWOW2Y8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1417986097&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=graham+austin+king) by Graham Austin-King. He has a promo thread for the 2nd volume up on here right now anyway, but who cares? I loved the first book. Dark fairy-tale, novel approach to multiple POV story-telling. Can't wait for tomorrow. (2nd book release)
Lastly, [Book of Deacon] (http://www.amazon.com/Book-Deacon-ebook/dp/B0036FTF4S/ref=sr_1_1_ha?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1417986518&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=book+of+deacon) by Joseph R. Lallo. Counting by the Amazon reviews it isn't exactly obscure, but I never saw it mentioned on here. Quite traditional "chosen one, save the world" Fantasy, but what makes this series is the diverse cast. There's a human magician and there's a fox and a dragon and... I'll just shut up now. Traditional in many ways, not so much in others.
Try these:
Zero Sight
Emperor's Edge
If you don't mind fantasy books, the Kushiel series https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055DLCAY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_jTBHAbPC5V6PS by Jacqueline Carey is quite good.
Jacqueline Carey is probably exactly who you want to read. She has a three trilogy series known as Kushiel's Legacy, and it is amazing. She is very good at character development, world-building, AND the series is complete, so you won't have to wait around for years hoping to get more. It's full of politics, intrigue, drama, travel, courtesans, spymasters, royalty, pirates, romance (epic, happy, and tragic)...anything you want, it's in there. The first half of the first novel is intense world-building/set-up, but it's all interesting, and when the story kicks into full-gear, it's hard to put it down!
The first trilogy is Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, and Kushiel's Avatar.
The second trilogy is Kushiel's Scion, Kushiel's Justice, and Kushiel's Mercy.
The third trilogy is Naamah's Kiss, Naamah's Curse, and Naamah's Blessing.
Here is the Amazon description of the first novel in the first trilogy, Kushiel's Dart:
"A nation born of angels, vast and intricate and surrounded by danger... a woman born to servitude, unknowingly given access to the secrets of the realm...
Born with a scarlet mote in her left eye, Phédre nó Delaunay is sold into indentured servitude as a child. When her bond is purchased by an enigmatic nobleman, she is trained in history, theology, politics, foreign languages, the arts of pleasure. And above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Exquisite courtesan, talented spy... and unlikely heroine. But when Phédre stumbles upon a plot that threatens her homeland, Terre d'Ange, she has no choice.
Betrayed into captivity in the barbarous northland of Skaldia and accompanied only by a disdainful young warrior-priest, Phédre makes a harrowing escape and an even more harrowing journey to return to her people and deliver a warning of the impending invasion. And that proves only the first step in a quest that will take her to the edge of despair and beyond.
Phédre nó Delaunay is the woman who holds the keys to her realm's deadly secrets, and whose courage will decide the very future of her world.
Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age and the birth of a new. It is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. A world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, deposed rulers and a besieged Queen, a warrior-priest, the Prince of Travelers, barbarian warlords, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess... all seen through the unflinching eyes of an unforgettable heroine."
It's one of the last few novellas before they discontinued magic fiction in paperback. There's one novella for each expansion.
https://www.amazon.com/Return-Ravnica-Secretist-Part-One-ebook/dp/B009MYB82Y
Return to Ravnica: The Secretist, Part One https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009MYB82Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_PE0IBbHQ2GW1C
Stories with a similar feeling:
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/throne-of-magical-arcana/
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/a-sorcerers-journey (warning, not as good as the other 4)
but if you want kingdom building, then you really gotta read https://www.novelupdates.com/series/release-that-witch/
I would also suggest reading the daniel black series since it seems a lot like something you would enjoy...
Just remembered Fimbulwinter: Daniel Black Book 1. No Qi but the MC's goal is simply to survive the end of the world. Collects a merry band of follwers along the way. It is a good read and somewhat fits.
Raising people from the dead has been done in some good stories.
The closest to what I think you want would be the necromancers in Garth Nix's Abhorsen series. They have an official line of necromancers who can raise the dead to real life again; although they are more concerned with keeping the dead from coming back unnaturally.
http://www.amazon.com/Sabriel-Abhorsen-Garth-Nix/dp/0064471837
The hero Severian in Gene Wolfe's Shadow Of The Torturer series, gains the power to bring back the dead. He encounters a necromancer who has raised a classic zombie. Severian brings the zombie to life again. Strangely, the people who witness this find a true return to life more frightening than the zombie existence.
Jim Butcher's Dead Beat (I think the fifth book in the Harry Dresden series) has the hero up against necromancers. It is a forbidden magic but one of them is convinced it can lead to a natural immortality without being corrupting.
The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore. It's kind of similar to Pratchett.
[Sabriel](http://www.amazon.com/Sabriel-The-Abhorsen-Trilogy-Garth/dp/00644718370 by Garth Nix. This is a light read, not light-hearted.
Nix is holding a giveaway for some bell charms and a sneak peak at Clariel! I was conflicted since sharing this here meant lower odds of me winning :P
>I think it must be time to have a giveaway again. I still don't have time to find someone to sell bell charms, so I will give some away. To have a chance to get some, write a review of SABRIEL here http://www.amazon.com/Sabriel-Abhorsen-Trilogy-Garth-Nix/dp/0064471837/ (nowhere else) and then comment on this post to let me know what name you've used. Seven people chosen at random from the reviewers who also post here will get two sterling silver bell charms each and a sneak peak of a piece of CLARIEL, two chapters bound in a small signed and numbered booklet. Yes, I know it is being Amazon-specific, and I know you may have to buy a book. But for better or worse, Amazon ripples spread widest and the giveaways are worth much more than a book, not least because they are otherwise unobtainable. I'll use my old D&D dice to choose who gets the loot a month from now, 8th September 2013.
My dad has the Red Book of Westmarch, which is named after the book that Bilbo and Frodo actually write and pass down the hobbit families. He inscribed the inside cover with the date we started reading it, when i was 7. It's my very favorite family heirloom.
Does Houghton Mifflin still publish the big red book with all three volumes in one cover? That's the one I have. Well, one of the ones I have. I also have a three-volume edition I bought in the 90s, and a Ballantine paperback set I bought in the 70s, with Tolkien's paintings on the covers.
Hmm. It doesn't seem that the red book is still being published, but you can buy old copies for varying prices. A shame. Mine is getting worn out, and I was thinking of replacing it.
$27 for anyone interested:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395193958/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_UVIlyb733S7ZZ
I asked for the same thing a few years ago. My son did a bunch of research and they bought me this and this. They're gorgeous. The paper is a so rich feeling.
The Revelation Space series by Alistair Reynolds. It follows a cast of characters who are investigating the disappearance of an ancient alien race on a planet several light years from Earth. People, pigs and primates all work together to avoid certain deeeath.
Sounds like a weapon from Relevation Space.
[edit] For those who don't know what that is, it's a great SF book. There is a space ship containing dozen of mysterious kida evil half-self-aware doomsday devices built by advanced human race which is no longer around. SLAM seems to fit right in :P
I've wanted to start reading this series and used, the first book is $0.01!!!
Thanks! I hope you are having a great day too!
Best 140 character story that will never be finished.
It used to be a video game! Or, is a video game, one of the oldest to use computer generated environments, puzzles, and the authors released the books behind the events of the game, or leading up to it.
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Atrus-Myst/dp/0786881887
You started with Exile? Not such a great introduction to the story. Start with the original game and play it as if you're actually there. Try to what you'd actually do if you were stuck on an island full of strange machinery - poke around, read things, and try to find a way out. Finishing the game is well worth your patience.
Also, if you're interested you might read the game's backstory beforehand. Things will make much more sense if you do.
Yep. They're written (mostly) by Rand Miller. I think Robyn helped with one of them, but Rand did the others. I may have that backwards, but it's one of those ways. ANYWAY.
There are three books. You can get all three in one novel now called the Myst Reader. The first book, Book of Atrus is/was out of print and is harder to find, so the Myst Reader is a great resource if you want all three.
The books are The Book of Atrus: about his childhood, his meeting of Catherine, and his relationship with his fucked up father, Gehn, and his grandmother, Ti'ana; The Book of Ti'Ana: goes back in the past to show what happened to the D'ni, the people who created and perfected the Art of Writing Books (they're all capitalized in the books as well for a reason); and The Book of the D'ni: takes place after the first two and falls sometime after Riven, but before Exile. It's about Atrus and Catherine trying to rebuild what is left of the D'ni people and culture.
If you like Myst, the books really do flesh out what happened in the games much much more. Things click better. And, it makes the games more haunting, I feel. The only thing that isn't mentioned is the full extent of what Sirrus and Achenar did. I don't even think it's mentioned at all, actually.
Also, there's supposed to be two new books coming out sometime, but there's no information on when that might occur.
Wow, no kidding on the "next to nothing" claim. You can get the paperback of the first one for 15 cents (plus ~$4 shipping) on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Book-Atrus-Myst/dp/0786881887/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1500427093&amp;sr=1-2
Couple of suggestions:
Don't what your interested in, but the above is pretty good all round list.
The Dark Tower books are an amazing read. Fantasy fiction. 7 books in the series, with an 8^th written latter that is kinda supposed to be in the middle somewhere. It is an addictive read, and yet I haven't finished it yet. I'm not very good at describing books, and I don't want to ruin it at all. So I'm afraid you'll have to look up reviews. But they are brilliant, and I really must finish them!
Derren Brown is (if you don't know) a British illusionist with an absolutely unbelievable set of skills. He is constantly de-bunking psychics, and magic in general, while at the same time making you believe he is magic (even if you have absolutely no belief in magic at all)! This book explains some of the tricks he does, and how to perform a lot of things. From simple disappearing coins, to insane memory capabilities. Very interesting read. Another one that is really hard to put down.
The Simpsons Mathematical Secrets book is something I found accidentally while being really nerdy and watching this video. It turns out that a lot of The Simpsons writers are mathematicians. These guys slip nerdy Easter Eggs into the episodes, and Simon goes through them all. The video linked talks about how numbers should be difference for the Simpsons, as they only have 4 fingers (3 and a thumb) where as we have 5. This makes us use a base 10 number system, they should use a base 8 number system. Fundamentally changing things like Pi. The writers knew this. But there is one, and only one, character in The Simpsons who has 5 fingers (4 and a thumb), and so this is why they live in a decimal world - The only character is God, and he controls the number system for some reason.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a book I had to read in school. It is an amazing diary like "murder mystery novel like no other". It is narrated by a 15 year old boy with Asperger's Syndrome. It has been a while since I read this, so I don't remember a lot about it, but I remember reading it a couple of times before the rest of my class got around to finishing it. Not a long book, but a very good one!
I included Harry Potter, because its an obvious choice. It's also the only one from the above that I've finished (other than The Curious Incident). I've finished all 7 books. But never got around finishing the others (only got the Simpsons one for Christmas). If you haven't seen the films, read the books first. They are 100 times better. Seriously. But the films are like icing on the amazing cake that is HP, so don't avoid them either. This isn't just a kids book/film like some people assume.
Pets with Tourette's is a picture book. Not for kids. The things these pets say sometimes, disgraceful.
Can't think of any others, but probably because it is 4am here. Hahaha.
EDIT: Grammar and formatting errors.
[I bought The Dark Tower series in an edition that had a tag for the movie.] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Tower-Gunslinger-Stephen-King/dp/1444723448) It does reduce an otherwise neat cover, and it is printed, no sticker.
They can be published by different companies. The only entire matching set Ive seen is a UK publisher Hodder
Heads up, the UK Publisher Hodder & Stoughton has all 8 Dark Tower novels and the Complete Concordance as a matching set, and on amazon it would actually cost me less to have the H&S set shipped all the way from the UK than it would to preorder this set. That's the 7 main books, Wind Through the Keyhole, AND the concordance, whereas I'm pretty sure this set available for preorder is only the 7 main series novels. I saw the H&S books in person in China and they're beautiful, so if this set doesn't look super beautiful or have SOMETHING better than the H&S set, I'm getting the H&S set instead. The H&S books are all available on amazon.co.uk as well as eBay.
Here are links for books 1-7, WttK, and a copy of the concordance.
The Gunslinger
Drawing of The Three
Waste Lands
Wizard & Glass
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower
Wind Through The Keyhole
Dark Tower: Complete Concordance
That's one of the few books that shaped the way I think after reading it, then really gave me deep philosophical insights I hadn't considered before.
Another good example of this was The Prince Of Nothing series by R Scott Bakker. You really reconsider what true strength and power are, and how human interaction is all about leverage on every level.
I've just finished The Windup Girl, which I had been putting off for some time. It was, quite simply, the most astounding and breath-taking science fiction book I've ever read. I loved it.
However, my problem is that I buy books compulsively. Mostly hard copies, but recently I bought a Kindle and buy the odd e-book or two. I have literally hundreds of books on my "to read" list.
One near the top is A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel. I recently read her phenomenal Wolf Hall and was blown away by her skills as a story teller. I'm a bit of an armchair historian, and I'm particularly interested in the French Revolution (amongst other things), so I'm very excited by the prospects this book holds. If it's anything like Wolf Hall then I'm in for a very particular treat.
Also near the top lies Quantum - Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality, Manjit Kumar's much lauded recent history of the emergence of quantum mechanics. I very much enjoyed other tangentially related books on this topic, including the wonderful The Making of the Atomic Bomb and The Fly in the Cathedral, so this should be good fun and educational to boot.
Having read and loved Everitt's biography of Cicero, I'm very much looking forward to his biographies of Augustus and Hadrian.
I'm listening to an audio-book version of The Count of Monte Cristo on my iPod, which I find rather enjoyable. I've only got through the first half dozen chapters and it's already taken a few hours, so this looks to be a nice, long-term and periodic treat for when I have time alone in the car.
Cronin's The Passage keeps piquing my interest, but I was foolish enough to buy it in that lamentable format, the much cursed "trade paperback", so the thing is a behemoth. The size puts me off. I wish I had waited for a regular paper-back edition. As it is, it sits there on my bookshelf, flanked by the collected works of Alan Furst (what a wonderfully evocative writer of WWII espionage!!) and a bunch of much recommended, but as yet unread, fantasy including The Darkness that Comes Before by Bakker, The Name of the Wind by Rothfuss and Physiognomy by Ford.
Books I have ordered and am eagerly awaiting, and which shall go straight to the top of the TBR list (no doubt to be replaced by next month's purchases) include Orlando Figes's highly regarded history of The Crimean War, Rosen's history of steam The Most Powerful Idea in the World and Stacy Schiff's contentious biography of Cleopatra.
A bit of a mixed bunch, all up, I'd say.
https://www.amazon.ca/Darkness-That-Comes-Before/dp/1590201183/
On Amazon Canada.
The Prince of Nothing series is pretty much one big journey. Book 1 is The darkness that comes before
Books not mentioned so far that I like:
Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy (not 1st-person, otherwise follows your criteria, Harry Potter-esque, some people dislike the protagonist but he's intentionally kind of a tool), starting with The Magicians.
R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy (not 1st-person, magic is seriously powerful and the protagonist is an already-accomplished practitioner, mythology is complex, I don't recall it having a huge amount of characters), starting with The Darkness That Comes Before.
If you're willing to step outside of prose works, I like The Books of Magic a lot; it's a comic book miniseries.
The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force [Vault Edition] (Star Wars) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1603800964/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_bMGACbAVREBA7
Watch the video showing the box opening. It’s cool. There is also one for sith, bounty hunter, and imperial army.
Is this not it? They also have the Sith edition for $55. If yours is identical, i.e. "Vault Edition", then that should be the Jedi equivalent.
Wheel of Time series (first book is The Eye of the World).
Fantastic fantasy series.
I also noticed you had a few books about the Appalachian Trail - I would recommend A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Yup.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Priest-Ratcatchers-Book-Matthew-Colville-ebook/dp/B003OIBG44
$13.42 seems more reasonable, though.
This made me think of Matt Colville's Priest - everything after the first act.
In his setting the sky elves were demigod-like creatures, now mostly gone, and the fey were their servants. When they get a hold of someone, they feed and entertain, but these illusions were made for minds alien to ours. You know how little kids can get glued to the TV - absorbing hyperstimulation tailored to them by what is, relative to them, a superintelligent collective? Now imagine a bunch of pixies and sprites around a person having simultaneously the best and worst trip possible. They laugh and writhe in a pool of their own urine and feces, in utter ecstasy, all the way until their mind or body gives out. Who knows which is worse.
And the fey, they don't ... they can't understand. They're doing everything they're supposed to do, executing it perfectly.
Anyway, it's not exactly what you asked for. The forest isn't intentionally malevolent, but the village folks would definitely get that impression.
Hello,
For some reason, the links for these books were not working for me from the article, so here are direct links to them on Amazon:
Hopefully, that will be of use to people wondering where to download these from Amazon.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Alrighty mate, here's a link to all three: Into the abyss, Spellmonger, Orconomics
There's a lot of great authors publishing independently(self and small press) now, but it can be hard to pick the ones you'll enjoy out of the flood of new releases on Amazon. I'll link to a few of the authors and books I've enjoyed.
Super hero novels
The Blackjack novels by Ben Bequer are fun.
I also enjoyed Confessions of a D-List Supervillian by Jim Bernheimer. They share similar themes of a super-villain forced out of their comfort zone.
Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain by Richard Roberts is the start of a great young adult series about the daughter of super heroes charting her own path.
Fantasy and SF
Anything by Andrea K Höst is great. The Touchstone series is great comfort reading about a young woman who walks around a corner and ends up in another world. It's the most SF of her works.
Terry Mancours' Spellmonger series is a fun fantasy about a mage who retires to the backwoods but ends up in the center of a continent spanning conflict. It spends a lot of time on the details of living in a fantasy world, but there's plenty of action too.
John Conroe's Demon Accords is a contemporary fantasy about a cop turned holy warrior. Fun action/fantasy, a couple of the books focus on side characters for a change of pace.
Jack L. Knapp has a couple enjoyable SF series. I'm partial to his New Frontiers series about the rediscovery of a space drive technology and humanities expansion in to the solar system.
Military SF
Marko Kloos is great as mentioned by others.
Christopher Nutall has a ton of books, both SF and fantasy(I tend to prefer his fantasy).
I really like:
Terry Mancour's Spellmonger series on Kindle. It's not super deep like Gene Wolfe or even Sanderson, but he writes very fast, a couple books a year, they're cheap. It's like comfort food sword and sorcery medieval fantasy. Story follows a fairly young veteran battle mage who has retired to a quiet mountain village to be the local "spellmonger", when he gets caught up in an attack by the evil goblins. His survival launches him on a martial and political career that will reshape his world. There's also romance and some nice wisecracks along the way, and hints that the world isn't as simple as it first appears. Sometimes you just want something easy and fun and this delivers.
http://terrymancour.blogspot.com/?m=1
https://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-One-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W
I also like H. Paul Honsinger's Man of Honor trilogy. It's fairly hard military sci fi. The first trilogy is complete and he's working on a follow up series in the saga. Story follows a young naval destroyer captain in a total galactic war against a crazy alien enemy. There is a strong sense of esprit d'corps, and it is a fun action packed read. Technically no longer self-published, since Honsinger got picked up by Amazon's own publishing imprint. The books are cheap and there are excellent Audible editions.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DQUKZMY/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=
The first book for both are only a few bucks, and I love recommending both authors! They definitely deserve all the fans I can send their way.
What about original English novels? Because there is this series: http://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-The-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W
It's a long series, and the development you want happens in book 3 and 5. Book 4 is from the supporting characters' viewpoint.
I'm not working right now, but my last 2 jobs were at hospitals. To complain a bit, I really don't like 12 hr shifts. For some reason I feel like I'm trapped at work, and it adds to the stress of the job. Plus 12 always turns into 13 or 14 hrs. Sure I get to work 3 days and off 4, but it really just ruins those 3 days! I'm bitter =)
I hope your days starts to look up. I love glitter!! Thank you for the contest.
Glitter all the things. ALL of them!
book!
The story is so complex it's hard fo me to explain properly. Here's a link to the first book so you can read the official summary.
Hi there! You've gotten some amazing suggestions here, but I'd like to add the Sharon Shinn book, Archangel. (Bonus points because it's got an amazingly unique setting.) Also Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. And if you're open to indie authors, the first book of my fantasy series is free through today! Catalyst Moon: Incursion. (I just did a writer of the day post here, too.)
Happy reading! :)
A Planeswalker is one who walks between planes. There are an infinite number of planes in the Multiverse (which is where the entirety of Magic takes place). Planes can vary from a single landmass (like Innistrad) to an entire world with orbiting suns (like Mirrodin). The ability to move between planes is incredibly rare, and is what differentiates Planeswalkers from regular mages. All the Planeswalkers we've seen have had at least some ability to perform magic, but I'm not sure if it's a requirement.
If you want more lore, there are lots of places to get it. The MTG Salvation Wiki is a great starting point, since all the lore is in one place. Outside of that, the lore comes in a bunch of different mediums. For a long time, Wizards of the Coast published novels. Then they switced to doing short, online comics. For the most recent set, they released a series of 3 e-books, called "The Secretist" (Book 1, on Amazon, is here).
You also get a lot of lore from just playing the game. The card art is fantastic, and many cards have "flavour text", which is just italic text at the bottom of the card to give you a better sense of its flavour.
Yep, in the little-publicised eBook that accompanied the Return to Ravnica series, entitled "The Secretist". Not actually a terrible read.
The actual books of course you have to buy, but the short stories are usually on the mtg story page for free.
In 2005-6 original Ravnica had a three book cycle named after the sets: Ravnica, Guildpact, and Dissention. In 2012-13 Return to Ravnica had a three book series called the Secretist Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, and Dragon's Maze. For this set there will be a War of the Spark book, and some time in June or so there will be a series of short stories that probably will be released on the MTG site.
There's also a Story section to their site that has short stories for each one of the recent blocks. The most recent stories are at the top, and if you scroll down you can open stories for previous blocks back to at least Tarkir.
The Daniel Black books are pretty good. Unfortunately there are only three at the moment.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Fimbulwinter-Daniel-Black-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00KZ41LHM
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22500562-fimbulwinter
It's about a man who has a string of bad luck and at his bedside at the hospital a goddess from another world appears and offers him a new life if he will become the guardian for her last priestess and keep her alive in the apocalypse.
I like how he uses magic in the universe, always experimenting and coming up with new inventions.
I love this type of stuff too so I have some suggestions for you!(Read the real descriptions for the books, these are just quick ones I put together.)
[Books]
Fimblwinter
This is about a man who, when down on his luck, made a deal with a goddess to protect her last follower in another world.
Schooled in Magic
This is a story about a girl who was abducted from her world because she was a Child of Destiny...problem is her mother is named Destiny, is it a fluke?
Portals of Infinity: Book One: Champion for Hire
One day William walked through a portal in the woods into an entirely different world and after staying a while decides that this world might be better for him.
[Manga]
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari
One day our protagonist Naofumi is browsing a bookstore and finds a book that sucks him into another world as a hero! The thing is though, everyone looks down on him because he is the Hero of the Shield which people think of as weak.(Only 7 Chapters so far)
[Light Novel/Web Novel]
Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou
A class of highschoolers are transported to another world and become Heros, among them is Hajime, our protagonist, who received an artisan class and mediocre stats. This is his story of fighting through hardships and persevering.
Mushoku Tensei
A 34-year-old NEET otaku was chased out from his house by his family. This virgin, plump, unattractive, and penniless nice guy found that his life was heading towards a dead end. He recalled that his life could actually become much better if he can get over the dark history of his life.
Just when he was at the point of regret, he saw a truck moving at a high speed with 3 high school students in its path. Mustering all his strength, he saves them but ended up getting run over by the truck, which kills him.
The next time he opens his eyes, he had reincarnated to a world of swords and magic, as Rudeus Greyrat. Born to a new world and a new life, Rudeus declared, "This time, I'll really live my life to the fullest with no regrets!" Thus begins the journey of a newly made man
Log Horizon
Just read the description on the site. It has the basic premise of SAO, but it is very different than SAO.(Has an anime also)
These are the only one I can think of at the moment.
Edit: formatting
Series. One of my favorites. First one is called Fimbulwinter.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/10073/the-wandering-inn
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/14396/the-snake-report
https://www.amazon.com/Unsouled-Cradle-Book-Will-Wight-ebook/dp/B01H1CYBS6
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/5701/savage-divinity
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/15935/there-is-no-epic-loot-here-only-puns
(guilty pleasure)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KZ41LHM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
I tend to like stories that make me laugh and make me think. Here are a couple recs that met that criteria.
Here are some good litrpg books on kindle for newbies to the genre:
Will Wight's "Cradle Foundation." Free on Amazon today. https://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Foundation-Collected-Book-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6
some of the more popular ones:
Cradle: journey of a young man as he grows to become ever more powerful, first 3 books are free on Amazon right now:
https://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Foundation-Collected-Book-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6
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Riyria Revelations, starting with Theft of Swords, follow the adventures of a warrior and an assassin with a mysterious past.
https://www.amazon.com/Theft-Swords-Revelations-Michael-Sullivan-ebook/dp/B005N6MDBA
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If you like RPG computer games, there is a whole section of fantasy and SF books categorized as litRPG or gameLit which are easy to pick up and are fun to read. Some examples:
-Awaken Online
-Limitless Lands
-Everybody Loves Large Chests (can also be read for free online)
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/8894/everybody-loves-large-chests/
U.S. Link: https://www.amazon.com/Path-Flames-Chronicles-Black-Gate-ebook/dp/B01DTTO9MI/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1504539676&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=path+of+flames
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
amazon.in
amazon.com.mx
amazon.de
amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
amazon.fr
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
Last Horizon : Beta - https://www.amazon.com/Last-Horizon-Beta-Daniel-Schinhofen-ebook/dp/B01M1MUC76/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481679084&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=last+horizon
Ascend Online - https://www.amazon.com/Ascend-Online-Luke-Chmilenko-ebook/dp/B01M01ET8E/ref=pd_sim_351_5?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=B01M01ET8E&amp;pd_rd_r=1BDVG5RGH85K4YT0TXRN&amp;pd_rd_w=hzRJZ&amp;pd_rd_wg=k0sHQ&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=1BDVG5RGH85K4YT0TXRN
Spinward - https://www.amazon.com/Spinward-Artificial-Dream-State-Novel-ebook/dp/B01KQOSHYK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481679158&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=spinward
One book that I think handles power creeps in a really interesting way is the Cradle series by Will Wight. The MC starts out the most weak and useless member of his tribe, all of whom have some magical ability, except him. Through an encounter with a basically godlike being from another world, he learns that his clan, which he thought was the strongest in his world, are actually babies compared to the real forces at play. He learns that if they continue to live in ignorance to the world around them, they'll eventually be wiped out, and is given the chance to grow strong enough to save them.
What I like about it is that the MC becoming almost godlike is kind of a given right from the time you learn about the rest of the world, but it's the journey and path he takes to get there that really drives the narrative. Its also got a kind of video game feel in the way it's structured, there are specific 'levels' and ways to 'power up', but still retains enough softness in the system that you're never quite sure how it all works.
First books are also on sale at the moment. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076G8DVN6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4bMxCbB5AFRQB
Starts slow but really picks up when it gets going.
My favorite book series is getting a new book.
Cradle by Will Wight. r/iteration110cradle
Perhaps these might be your thing. "Best" is subjective.... so you are subject to my opinion, heh. They ought to keep you warm for a bit.
Phil Tucker's Path of Flames series
Benedict Patrick's Yarnsworld series
Patrick Weekes' Rogues of the Republic series
Tad Williams, A Stark and Wormy Knight
Mike Shel's Aching God
Brett Herman's Chaos Trims My Beard
Evan Winters' Rage of Dragons
I really hoped the thumbnail would appear for this post! Come on, NYT gallery ....
Anyhow, though I didn't know who they were until recently, as a child I was instantly drawn to books illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. I had to have every book I found featuring their art, including novels by Isabel Allende. I loved to read, but I'm sure I read more because of the artists' work. Other favorites I wished were illustrated by the couple — they made characters complex, dignified and multiethnic, overall more like the world I knew than the one reflected by most book covers.
Image Google "Leo and Diane Dillon art" for more excellence.
Is Cerys from this time period? Does she go back in time or does the prince move forward? Are they now time travelers?
With the "centuries-old stone curse," does that mean that he was frozen in stone? I'd reword that part somehow, either to "centuries-old curse" or "trapped in stone for centuries," etc.
P.S. If he is trapped in stone, have you read Sabriel? Might make a good comparison point, though the main plot sounds like it would be very different.
Abhorsen Trilogy, in case you haven't already read it! It's one of my favorite fantasy series. I don't know of a single person who I convinced to read it and didn't end up loving it :) The first book is called Sabriel. (http://www.amazon.com/Sabriel-Old-Kingdom-Garth-Nix/dp/0064471837/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1415711623&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=sabriel)
The His Fair Assassin trilogy features Breton assassin nuns who serve a death god. In the books it states that the gods are pre-Christian but are now worshipped as saints. Those who still worship them as gods are known as followers of the old ways. I definitely recommend the series.
Though not Pagans, one of the main character's sisters in The Passion of Dolssa is a fortune-teller, and Dolssa herself is a mystic fleeing from inquisitors after being branded a heretic.
My friend recommended Till We Have Faces to me. It's a retelling of the myth of Eros and Psyche.
Cruel Beauty's main characters are Hellenists who practice Hermetic magick, and "As Above, So Below/As Within, So Without" is a running theme in the book. There are also Celtic pagans in the book.
I'd also say Sabriel. Sabriel is the daughter of a necromancer and she and her father practice Charter Magic, which uses runes. There is also a community of seers in the book.
I tend to read a lot of fantasy and YA, so hopefully this isn't a turnoff.
Sure! I know exactly what you mean. So, I will say that a lot of the most interesting stuff in Fantasy is (and has for a while) being done in YA fantasy, and I don't mean stuff like Twilight.
Garth Nix's Abhorsen series (starting with Sabriel) is excellent. Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock is kind of along the lines of what you're talking about, but is really well done.
Just about anything by Dianna Wynne Jones is great, I will call out specifically Howl's Moving Castle (the inspiration for the Miyazaki film of the same name) and also her 6 part [Chronicles of Chrestomanci] (http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Chrestomanci-Charmed-Lives-Christopher/dp/006447268X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1417629757&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=chronicles+of+chrestomanci).
If you're in the mood for something more adult, I really enjoyed Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, starting with Kushiel's Dart, but that gets into some S&M stuff, which, YMMV.
And then Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Which is just fantastic.
I have that edition as aset with LOTR. I love it and those are the ones I usually read I keep this and this mostly as collectables.
Your map is a combo of two maps .. one of which appears in the back of This Edition of LotR:
3rd age map
I never would have thought they were rare. I read them and re-read them many times and ended up buying The Red Book years ago as I wanted a hardcover version:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lord-Rings-Collectors-Edition/dp/0395193958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335138168&sr=8-1
I know I didn't pay that much for that book then either.
Of course there are numerous informative sites out there, but I would suggest anyone who is earnestly seeking to know the truth of these words should seek out the source material itself.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lord-Rings-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0395193958
That's the one I have. Apparently it's leatherette and not leather. Sadface.
Still cool, though.
Sounds interesting. And is available for dirt cheap.
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
So long as we're suggesting books, give this a try.
You went to Verblijf Op De Boerderij in Malempre, Belgium for some pancakes and ice cream (because Belgian pancakes are fancy.)
This is my book. :)
Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, starting with The Gunslinger.
Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.
A great sci-fi/fantasy series she may already know of, but may not have read. Definitely worth a go.
Man, I'm really into the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. It starts with The Gunslinger:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Gunslinger-Tower-Revised-Edition/dp/0451210840/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1367950201&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+gunslinger
The most recent printing :/
(2011)
EDIT: I'm not sure if it's the most recent printing.
I would love the first book in trade paperback! I used to own the first four, but the first two were in mass market paperback and every time I tried to read it, I got a headache cause of the formatting.D: I gave the first two to my friend cause she has wanted them for a looong time. I loved what I was reading but every time I tried... I really really really want to get into the story, and I feel bad my hardcovers of a feast for crows and a storm of swords is just sitting there. D: I wouldn't mind used!
Your kids must be absolutely wonderful since they have a darling person like you as a parent and rolemodel!
Thank you for the contest!!
From my fantasy library:
The above novels have themes and events reminiscent of medieval times with the Martin series alluding to The War of the Roses in England, the Prince of Nothing exploring themes of Christianity and Islam with one of the nations aping the Byzantine Empire and finally the Lions of Al-Rassan have many elements of medieval Spain. Magic is sprinkled in small doses and the political intrigue is ramped up in all of them. The characters in all of them are very engrossing and I've lost entire afternoons reading and rereading these.
If you are into low-fantasy epics I highly recommend A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin, it has become my favorite series. Be warned, it is very long, but the writing is awesome.
Ok, I have had A Game of Thrones sitting on my book table for like two months. It's a little intimidating when you know a story does not yet have an ending, but is crazy long. Is it as excellent as the Amazon reviews claim?
They sell the same size with a different cover. Amazon Prime as well. http://amzn.com/0553381687
The Circle Trillogy by Ted Dekker is an absolute must-read. Its not what I would call "high fantasy" (No elves or dwarves here) but it's superb fantasy none the less.
I have also really enjoyed the Myst trilogy. Ignore the fact that it's based of a video game. It's some of the best fiction i have read In a while.
The Myst series? The Edge Chronicles series?
When I was a teenager I somehow ended up with a book about Myst and it was actually really good. The Book of Atrus
I am a fan of the UK covers. I recently picked them up on a trip: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Tower-Gunslinger-Stephen-King/dp/1444723448
Those are the UK editions I think, I'm not 100 percent on that but I know I got them from Waterstones and they're on Amazon over here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Tower-Gunslinger-Stephen-King/dp/1444723448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1467636076&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=dark+tower
I'm 90% sure it's these ones:
Links obtained here.
This is what bothered me while shopping for the Prince of Nothing trilogy. At the time, the first two books were only available in the old design, while the third one had a new design. Eventually I found the third one in the old design as a bargain book.
D&D campaigns can be great starting points, so don't let that stop you. It's about what you do with it after that.
As far as the subject matter alienating readers: Are you more worried about alienating "mainstream" readers with fantastical content or alienating fantasy readers with "mainstream" content? It actually doesn't matter, because neither one should concern you, but I'll address them both anyway.
One of last year's most well-received novels was a post-apocalyptic vampire story, and R. Scott Bakker demonstrated that you can write a series that's really about politics, ideology, and self-deception, even if it stars a wizard. Hell, The Name of the Wind dedicates whole sections to getting drunk and playing the guitar.
Personally, I find the mixing of content far more interesting than anything that's stalwartly dedicated to some kind of genre "purity".
Ah I've seen your comment below. read maybe:
Joe Abercrombie - Best Served Cold
Max Berry - lexicon
Dürrenmatt - Suspicion
Gaiman - Good Omens
Kafka - The Trial
Sillitoe - The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide ( no way you haven't read that - but who knows )
Branderson - Way Of Kings
Libba Bray - The Diviners
Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra ( there is a really ugly bible style translation - beware!!! )
Lynn Kurland - Star Of The Morning ( your sex and age is of interest )
Schwab - Vicious
Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before
Robert Thier - Storm and Silence
Eco - Name Of The Rose ( no way you haven't read it but u know the drill ) + Foucault's Pendulum
Lord Of The Rings ( duh )
Sanderson - Mistborn
Sanderson - Alloy of Law
Harris - Hannibal
Rothfuss - The Name Of The Wind
Bukowski -Ham on Rye
Burroughs - Running With Scissors
Wong - John Dies at the End
The Darkness that Comes Before - R Scott Bakker
Amazon Link
Yes, his first novel either puts people off or sucks them in (Gardens of the Moon). In fact, I accidently started with the second novel, Deadhouse Gates just picking it up in Barnes n Noble. It was easier to follow the first, as Deadhouse is a bit more "compressed" for story lines.
The arc of the series is STAGGERING in scope, and probably isn't slowing down.
However, I will say he's a bit repetitive in characters, too many characters, too much philisophical preening which seems out of place, but that can occur a bit more in the later novels.
The emotive scenes, however, are farkin brilliant. The "power levels" get irksome (characters shift and change, aren't consistent).
I will say those who are trying to find some dark fantasy are truly missing out on R Scott Bakker "The Prince of Nothing" series, of which I find superior in writing (not comparing PLOTS) to GRRM.
http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Comes-Before-Prince-Nothing/dp/1590201183
GRRM has his own plot genius, but his writing plods to me.
Bakker's novels are some of the darkest, violent, evil and philisophical diatribes out there. I have re-read them about 8x (its a 2 part 3x book series), and the depth of history is rather amazing.
Gets into physics of magic, politics, nations warring, what-would-an-hyper-intelligent (as in, average human is a "child" comparatively) monk do to the world?
Ugh, my mother is like that too. She's been telling so many lies to her family and friends for fear of their "judgement" that I'm not sure she even knows what the truth is any more. Her parents are both in their 90s so I highly doubt they care that she hasn't worked in 10 years (for example) or that she went ahead and bought that new car they advised her against anyway....
As a result every family gathring was carefully coordinated and the children carefully coached not to "slip up" and let grandma and grandpa in on anything she had been lying to them about.
Then she took it a step further, concerned that the family would talk about her being a bad parent, she decided to force me to dress/act/be completely different around them (I was a tom-boy as a child). Every family gathering it was dresses and bows and I wasn't allowed to play video games or tag with the boys, I wasn't allowed to talk about my comic book collection or my obsession with Star Wars (I use to read the books as a kid), none of it.
As a result, my family has no clue who I am. I'm sitting in a room right now with 8 framed James Bond movie posters, a life size cut out of "the most interesting man in the world" and a mounted light saber on the wall. What did my extended family give me for Christmas this year? Make up, cooking supplies and dresses. My brother and all the boy cousins got this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jedi-Path-Manual-Students-Force/dp/1603800964
What. The. Fuck.
It's not that I'm ungrateful, I'm upset that my family has no idea who I really am, because my mother was afraid of what other people think.
Oh, I also have 8 tattoos but no one in our family is "allowed to know" so I get to try and cover up all of them (I'm basically a hijab away from being in a burqa come the holidays) whenever there's a family gathering.
Fun times.
It looks like the 2010 edition of [The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force, Vault Ed.] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Jedi-Path-Students-Edition/dp/1603800964/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&amp;dpID=41W822xU2TL&amp;dpSrc=sims&amp;preST=_AC_UL160_SR115%2C160_&amp;refRID=0HZKR8XCHHFVVD64HRSN) I've linked it to an Amazon copy that is currently for sale.
*edited formatting (I suck at links apparently) .
The Jedi Path An in-universe textbook for Padawans with a lot of inserted media like the napkin Obi Wan sketches his Saber Design on and notes written in the margins from the book's previous owners starting with Yoda, and passed down from Master to Apprentice until it came to Luke Skywalker
The thing about glitter is, if you get it on you, be prepared to have it on you forever 'cause glitter is the herpes of craft supplies.
=D
I think this book looks pretty good :3
First book in the "Wheel of Time" series, if she likes it there are like 13 or so books in the series. I LOVE her book selections. I'm a huge fantasy reader.
Bingo game!
Free cell game too. My grandmother LOVES this card game
Lauren Bacall's autobioghraphy, your mother-in-law would have grown up watching her, and the book is a great read.
Happy shopping.
Frank and beans!
Wheel of Time book one would be awesome!
I love reading!
I am interested in starting the Wheel of Time series. This is the first book.
Cricket!
Name that damn puppy already!
Do kindle books work as gifts?
When I do that, I still see a $10.23 price. https://www.amazon.com/Elantris-Tenth-Anniversary-Authors-Definitive-ebook/dp/B003G93YLY
Elantris: Tenth Anniversary Author's Definitive Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003G93YLY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rpbBybZXR7N2E
Is this what you are looking for? I just looked on amazon but I don't know if this is what you want
I would love to get Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, I've been reading his Mistborn Trilogy and I love love love his work! I'm soon at the end of the last book so more Sanderson would be very very nice <3
My favorite book? Oh my, there are many but the answer I usually give to that question is ALL of Terry Pratchett. I love that man and his writings so damn much! <3 His way of writing is extremely witty and humoristic but he also always handles more serious or challenging stuff through his writing. Every book is parody of something bigger :)
>Once again, the mod team at r/dndnext are pleased to announce an AMA. This time with Matt Colville! Matt, as I'm sure many of you are aware, Is an Author, GM, Youtube personality, Redditor, and above all a font of wisdom for all things D&D.
>
>I personally have used much of Matt's advice in my own campaigns. It has made me a better DM, a better player, and a better table companion. I am subbed to his subreddit where he is very active, and I can tell from the feedback survery many of you are as well. If you aren't, why don't you wander over to r/mattcolville and sort that out :P
>
>
>So Join us on Saturday the 29th for a late morning chat, with Matt.
>
>Chur,
>
>-ba
>
>(Sticky threads will be returning the week after next.)
u/MattColville has an excellent book out, two actually! Definitely fits in the spirit of D&D and all of that! You can find the first book here. Take a look and enjoy! I know I did!
https://www.amazon.com/Priest-Ratcatchers-Book-Matthew-Colville-ebook/dp/B003OIBG44
First off, check out ereaderiq where you can curate a list of kindle books to watch for price drops. It will send you an email so you can grab it. Also it has suggested price points to watch for and a history of the price.
I recommend The Emperor's Edge which is free. It' s steampunk fantasy mystery series and the first book is free. The rest are I think less than $5.
There are also a number of cheap agatha christie collections for the kindle. I would read the reviews to see what the quality is though. Happy reading!
Because it's Spellmonger, by Terry Mancour But i have to agree its an awesome series. It is kinda indie but damn its one of my favorite.
http://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-1-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407696655&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=spellmonger
Here
more fantasy than scifi, ive been enjoying the spellmonger series. book 1 https://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-One-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W
latest book has a scifi twist which the author has been foreshadowing since quite early on. there is 10 books so far and it is on kindle unlimited.
other books ive been splurging on is the litrpg genre.
Archives for the links in comments:
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I personally love worldbuilding in stories, probably to the same extent you do. Someone wrote below that they don't want to read a D&D guide, I DO want to read a D&D guide. We probably are in a minority, but there are a few ways I've seen authors cover for the fact that their stories are very heavy on world exposition:
My advice as a wanna-be author (a few unfinished stories) is to just do something that you feel good and comfortable doing, but just make sure you have some good editors that can understand what you are trying to do. Amazon self publishing is a thing, and there are a bunch of websites where you can also share your stories. There are way more readers than authors out there
Shadow of the Wind and Angel's Game, both by Carlos Ruiz Safon:
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Wind-Cemetery-Forgotten-Book-ebook/dp/B000OVLINI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1498238020&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Shadow+of+the+Wind
https://www.amazon.com/Angels-Game-Cemetery-Forgotten-Book-ebook/dp/B001NLKZLE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1498238029&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Angels+Game
Kushiel's Dart and pretty much all the books that followed, by Jacqueline Carey:
https://www.amazon.com/Kushiels-Dart-Legacy-Book-ebook/dp/B0055DLCAY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1498238161&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=kushiel%27s+dart
Right now, I can't think of anything that I keep going back to over and over.
I noticed here you mention politics, philosophy and adventure. A few recommedations that you might not find with pictures that scream "FANTASY" are
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey - Be warned this has a female protag and some very very sexual content. But the actual politics and religion building are phenomenal!
Anathem by Neal Stephenson - Recommending this more for the philosophy and world building. It's a bit more sci-fi than fantasy but it has adventure and I found it made me think. I was taking a philosophy/politics class at the time and I made a ton of connections.
Ooh ooh, second suggestion, this time a book! The Kushiel's Dart trilogy by Jacqueline Carey. Lots of political intrigue, a little magic, and a good amount of smut of the kinky variety
Shards of Alara lore is in the novel Alara Unbroken
Return to Ravnica has a trio of novellas: Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, and Dragon's Maze. There's also the Planeswalkers' Guide, and some scattered short stories floating around somewhere.
Original Ravnica has a trio of novels: Ravnica, Guildpact, and Dissension.
Part One, as requested.
The history they share is all covered in the Return to Ravnica block story. That's all covered in the Secretist eBook. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Those stories detail how Jace became the living Guildpact, which is really the biggest plot detail that has lasting impact from those books.
Some of the LitRPG stuff on Amazon qualifies for this. There are quite a few cool original English stories as well as some great translated (mainly from Russian) stuff on amazon available pretty cheaply or for 'free' if you've got the monthly kindle unlimited subscription.
The Daniel Black series and the Dragon's Wrath series most closely match the kingdom/etc building themes you're asking for.
I can't really see any translated novels that I read and someone else hasn't already recommended, but here are a few English ones:
Worm, it's a completed web novel with a lot of chapters. Although I dropped it halfway through, I think it's a really good read (and has tons of good fanfics as well).
Daniel Black (book)
Contractor (book)
I think the only book I know like this is Fimbulwinter by E. William Brown.
Here is the mobile version of your link
It's in this year's SPFBO and Pornokitch gave it such a great review that I had to pick it up right away. IMO it's the real deal and might be the next Blood Song. Go read the kindle sample already.
This is just a really good dark fantasy series that no one ever talks about.
One of the very few fantasy books that not only doesn't have human protagonists, but the world doesn't even have 'standard' humans. Well worth trying out
The Heir of Night is a strong first book that manages to tread the line between young adult and "adult fantasy" really well. The second and third books in the series just get even stronger.
How many books do you read about an Aztec priest forced to solve a mysterious death? Unless you've read this series, not enough.
This book won last year's SPFBO and out of the books I read in that competition, it was easily my favorite. Sadly it's no longer free, but even for $6, it's a complete bargain.
This is a book filled with strong characters and an engaging plot. It didn't really stick the ending, but I still enjoyed it.
This series starts out feeling built on two stereotypical societies, but the author does a really good job of making things more complicated than they first appear and including a really rousing story. All four books of the series are now out and they're completely worth your time.
Maybe the only book on my list that will actually make it big, despite 12 Kings being recently published, it was just too strong a book to not to include on my list.
It's the second book in the series and while the first book was good, Heaven's Needle just hits it out of the park.