Well, I don't know how long "long" is, but Joe Abercrombie's got six books out (five of which I've read) which are pretty awesome:
The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
The Last Argument of Kings
Best Served Cold
The Heroes
Red Country
I also like to recommend the Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham (which actually isn't that long).
I would recommend the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy by Weis and Hickman. If the original trilogy ("Dragons of Autumn Twilight", "Dragons of Winter Night", and "Dragons of Spring Dawning") gets you hooked on the world of Dragonlance, as it did to me, you can find more than 100 follow-up novels, SOME of which were good.
I would assume that you at least tried all of the bread-and-butter fantasy series' (such as "Lord of the Rings") and the mega-popular ones (such as "Harry Potter"), but just in case, I might mention the series that first got me hooked on fantasy, the "Oz" series by L. Frank Baum ("The Wizard of Oz", "The Land of Oz", "Ozma of Oz", et al). Yes, it was written for children, but it's got that fantasy-world-immersion element.
My all-time favorite sci-fi series is the original "Foundation" trilogy by Isaac Asimov ("Foundation", "Foundation and Empire", and "Second Foundation").
If you want a long (15 books) series, I'd suggest Katherine Kerr's Deverry series.
A good place to go after Poirot could be Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimesy novels. Or you could go for a completely different type of crime novels and try Ed McBain's 87th Precint series (it starts with The Cop Hater, but I'd begin with The Heckler, which both introduces the only recurring villain of the series that I can recall, and reveals where they got the idea for the plot of Die Hard III).
And some stuff I always recommend on principle: Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, Ellen Kushner's Riverside novels (begins with Swordspoint), Lindsey Davis's Falco novels about private detective Marcus Didius Falco solving cases in Vespasianus's Rome, Elizabeth Bear's trilogy of silk road fantasy, the name of which escapes me (but the first book is called "Range of Ghosts"), her boyfriend Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard sequence.
Also, if you've never read The Three Musketeers or The Count of Monte Cristo, you're missing out on something great.
And with the centenary of the outbreak of World War I this year, you might want to try and chase down a book by Swedish historian Peter Englund called something like "The Beauty and Sorrow of Battle".
And finally, because I read it a few weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it: The Shadow of the Sword, by Tom Holland.
Ooh! London Calling and Severed Streets by Paul Cornell are some excellent pieces of urban fantasy.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, outside of fantasy and science fiction, my all-time favorite novel is "The Count of Monte Cristo".
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I recommend reading Dune. It has spice, worms, and me!
If you are more into fantasy The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold is a fantastic read. She is a hell of a good writer.
If you want something heavy that will make your mind swim with thoughts Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow is an amazing read. It's a deeply disturbing but profound novel.
-MD
The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire has a few similar themes to Dresden, with the main character being a fantastical investigator and troubleshooter in the modern world. The main difference is that she's a fae changeling and the entire setting and plot is very fae-focused, with courts and intrigue and bargains of word and knowledge being very much the order of the day. The eighth book just came out this past week. Highly recommended.
If you have not read Butcher's other series, Codex Alera, I also encourage it. It's six books long.
+1 to Gentlemen Bastards/Locke Lamora series. Excellent low-magic fantasy.
If you haven't read any of the Pathfinder Tales books, I recommend the four Radovan and the Count books by Dave Gross; I have reviews for all four in my profile. Likewise for the two Salim books (Death's Heretic and The Redemption Engine) by James Sutter, starring a snarky inquisitor who isn't too fond of his job or his boss.
I can recommend more if you like =)
Contributor
|
Those who dig the mechanics of deities and their spell casting priests will appreciate Micheal Planck's Sword of the Bright Lady. Mike give us the answers to five nerdy questions on today's Creative Colleagues.
I just started listening to The Blade Itself and second the recommendation, especially if you listen to the audiobook. The narrator is super.
similar to Dresden
Night Watch by Lukyanenko
Finch by Vandermeer
The Alloy of Law by Sanderson
The Devil You Know by Carey
The Atrocity Archives by Stross
Hard Magic by Correia
Ah yes, HIGHLY recommend almost anything by Brandon Sanderson, primarily the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive's two enormous stories.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
If you are more into fantasy The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold is a fantastic read. She is a hell of a good writer.
Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is also quite fun, though more on the space opera side.
That was me =) I figured, since you started with being a big fan of Dresden, but just wanted to make sure.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Sanderson is a good choice, but if you're waiting for the next Dresden book, you'll probably need a few more after that.
Long (>6 book) series which entertain me:
David Weber's Honor Harrington books
*Military SF. Female Horatio Hornblower in space, with the latter books less focused on both action & the main character.
S.M. Sterling's novels of the "the Change"
*"if physics were changed by an outside force" speculative SF, not sure how else to categorize it.
E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth
*alien vampires have taken over the plan, POV from the resistance
Eric Flint's (with many others) 1632 series
*time travel of a town in AR to 1632 Germany and all of the interesting social & economic changes that it causes
Glen Cook's Black Company
*the dark fantasy series every other dark fantasy is compared to for a reason
Steven Brust's Dragaeran Books
*fantasy series from two different POV's - the original Vlad Taltos books are written in very different voices (due, from what I understand, to changes in the authors life over time) and the Khaavren Romances read like an Alexander Dumas book. I really like the multiple "voices" for the same world.
Naomi Novik's Temerraire Books
* napoleonic era dragons with cannon!
Roger Zelazny's Amber Series
* iconic multiple worlds modern fantasy series...
Other worthy reads:
ANYTHING written by C.S. Friedman or Daniel Keys Moran
Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles (only two books thus far)
Peter V. Brett's Demon Cylce Books (Warded Man, Desert Spear, & Daylight War thus far)
... I should probably stop there or I'll be typing for the next hour :)
-TimD
So I think when I finish Skin Game I'll start on Snaderson's Mistborn series. See how I like the first book of that and go from there.
Sanderson writes the best magic systems I've ever seen. If you like Mistborn and its sequels I highly suggest you check out his other books.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If you are more into fantasy The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold is a fantastic read. She is a hell of a good writer.Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is also quite fun, though more on the space opera side.
Ooo, thanks for the tip. I will defiantly check it out.
-MD
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So I think when I finish Skin Game I'll start on Snaderson's Mistborn series. See how I like the first book of that and go from there.Sanderson writes the best magic systems I've ever seen. If you like Mistborn and its sequels I highly suggest you check out his other books.
It was mentioned upthread but not in this context - those who like Sanderson are very likely to enjoy Night Watch. It's a very smart novel - imagine two grand chess masters who have the power to look into the future and have spent the last thousand years or so playing against each other. Lots of clever twists, a decent urban magic system and the characters are fine. I read the entire trilogy and found myself really enjoying it. It's translated from Russian, which might be an issue for some, but I didn't mind.
First book is "Sweet Silver Blues".I read The Black Company and rather enjoyed that. Maybe I should jump back into that series first, including a reread of TBC.
I also heard Cook has another series about a PI, but I can't remember the name of it now. Anybody know anything about that series?
I've been reading the series for a bit over 20 years - it's one of the book series that really got me hooked on fantasy.
-TimD
You could always go old school, I know I have enjoyed these stories. Granted they aren't series, but could help eat up some time.
Illiad and Odessy by Homer
Beowulf
I highly recommend Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow. It begins with Curse of the Mistwraith. I believe she has created one of the richest characters in all of literature in Arithon. If you like bards, you need to read this series.
Anything by CJ Cherryh is excellent, particularly her Chanur series, Foreigner series, and Cyteen.
I highly recommend any of the Brother Cadfael series by Edith Pargeter.
|
|
After those two, I took a break from sci-fi and fantasy, and read Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes. I have to say, for a horror writer, it was one of the best detective novels I have ever read. If you're a King fan or a detective story fan, it's definitely worth a read.
It has been a while since Stephen King could fairly be described as a horror writer. Dark Tower, Under the Dome, Doctor Sleep and that one with the date that non Americans don't remember have all been their own things, some I would describe as just stories with light genre elements in them. Say what you will about King, he is very versatile and prolific. His output is far from limited to a single format.
When I finished that, I downloaded Piers Anthony's A Spell for Chameleon, which is the first book in the Xanth series. I've read his entire Incarnations of Immortality series, and a few of the Xanth novels here and there, but I decided I'm going to go through the entire Xanth series this time.
Whoo. I read most of the Xanth series when I was in junior high, they had them randomly (and in no order) and I'd pick them up as I could. Certainly not deep stuff, but goofy and silly fun. Provided your head doesn't explode at the high density of puns.
|
|
I'd say that the horror elements in Dark Tower become more and more dominant as the series goes along and really detracted from the last few books for me. He does right other stuff, but the horror part tends to shine through.It has been a while since Stephen King could fairly be described as a horror writer. Dark Tower, Under the Dome, Doctor Sleep and that one with the date that non Americans don't remember have all been their own things, some I would describe as just stories with light genre elements in them. Say what you will about King, he is very versatile and prolific. His output is far from limited to a single format.
After those two, I took a break from sci-fi and fantasy, and read Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes. I have to say, for a horror writer, it was one of the best detective novels I have ever read. If you're a King fan or a detective story fan, it's definitely worth a read.
Really? to me it seems that the horror elements have been in the series from the start and only thinned out with later books...
Second book had the lobstrosities, but otherwise nothing I would consider horror.
Third book has a LOT of horror elements - the guardian monster in the door between worlds, some cosmic stuff with the introduction of the beams and what Eddie heard when he listened at one, the luddites, and of course Blain the Train himself, and that is the truth.
Fourth book was mostly a western, but it had the thinnies and the part with the Wizard of Oz at the end which was written like a horror scene even though it was mostly goofy.
Fifth book had vampires, though they were the prey and not the hunters, the wolves and the robot are just mooks to be killed. There is the part where they shift between worlds through the darkness, and there's the new split personality of suzannah.
Sixth book was like 800 pages where nothing much happens.
Seventh and last book had all the horror elements at the start of it in the dixie pig and what lay beyond which I though was great. It had the monster in the tunnels, it had some really weird sh*t towards the end, and I suppose you can call the ending itself horror if you like.
Seems like a pretty much even split to me.
Spoiler:Sixth book was like 800 pages where nothing much happens.
LOL. Glad I'm not the only one who figured Song of Susannah could be mostly excised or folded into the ones before/after it.
|
|
Maybe I phrased it poorly.
The earlier books had horror elements, but used them the way fantasy uses horror - things for the heroes to fight and beat. In the last books of the series the emphasis changed. How the horror elements were used changed. They were handled more like a horror novel than a fantasy one. From my vague memories starting roughly with the pregnancy.
I'm not sure I agree. For the most part they just go on beating the bad things up, and there are plenty of heroics and moments of triumph which I wouldn't associate with horror. But I need to ponder this some more - there is a tonal shift in later books, and I want to figure out how I wish to classify it.
LOL. Glad I'm not the only one who figured Song of Susannah could be mostly excised or folded into the ones before/after it.
I think the series is at it's best when it has momentum, when it is moving forward. That is why I really love the first three books and large parts of the seventh one. "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came" and the story should focus on that. Once wanders if the last four couldn't be combined into two awesome books, with some awful story telling decisions (most of what happened in the last book) redacted out into making a much better series.
If you do like trash novels, i hint an Italian trilogy: "Unika", by an unknown man/female/doppleganger/denizen of Leng named E. J. Allibis, by DeAgostini.
Really, this novels is horrible. So horrible to regret Twilight :S