Need something new to read

[Gidde]

Haha GW, the whole point is NOT to resist putting in your two cents! Thanks for those, and thanks to CM for the vote of confidence on them as well Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son series is fantastic, but I never did get around to his sci-fi (although I did read his book about writing sci-fi; it's great).

[Jaxilon]

The Ender series is good. I especially liked Ender's Game.

[Greason Wolfe]

@ Gidde - I haven't read the Seventh Son novels yet, though I do have the graphic novels from Marvel (as well as those for Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow). And, yes, his "How To . . . " book is great. I've actually got two copies of it, one with all the highlights I've done and one that I've only opened once. I do, however, like the original version better than the latest, 3-Ring Binderish version

@ Jaxilon - I actually like the Shadow series better, but then again, there is something about Bean's plight that just draws me in.

@ CM - I'm still hoping that Melanie will write the final Exiles book (Ruins of Ambria, Mageborn Traitor). I have, though, had a ball reading her most recent works, Spellbinder and Fireraiser. Although more of a modern fantasy, it's been good so far.

And one other series I forgot to mention earlier . . .

The Pliocene Exile series by Julian May

GW

[Gamerprinter]

I've read all the Alvin the Maker series (which is Seventh Son) by Orson Scott Card, the Song of Fire & Ice (unfinished series) is the last series that I read, that and Dune books co-written by Herbert's son and that was a few years ago. Been mostly reading nonfiction stuff like The Handbook of Japanese Mythology by Michael Ashkenazi, The Celts - a History, and Castles from the Air (a coffee table book, mostly aerial shots over European castles.) I've been doing more research reading these days for the various projects I'm involved in - less so of fictional works.

[Diamond]

Couple more:

--Anything by Tad Williams. His earliest fantasy trilogy, starting with The Dragonbone Chair is a classic, and his four book scifi series 'Otherland' is just plain awesome. Then there's The War of the Flowers, which is a stand-alone 'urban' fantasy about a dude from our world who finds himself in the middle of a nasty war between various noble faerie houses. He's got a new series out too, so far uncompleted, which starts with Shadowmarch. I haven't read that yet; waiting for it to finish before I get into it. I'm not making the same mistake I did with George RR Martin.

--John Marco wrote an entertaining trilogy composed of The Eyes of God, The Devil's Armor, and The Sword of Angels.

I also like to read historical fiction, so here's some excellent ones from that genre:

--The Journeyer, by Gary Jennings. About the travels of Marco Polo.
--Shogun, by James Clavell.
--River God, by Wilbur Smith. About an ancient Egyptian princess and her manservant. This one veers quite a bit into the fantasy genre.

[tilt]

Read the Dragonbone chair some years ago, had so really good things - but was also a bit slow read I thought
And yep, I hear you about George Martin - one should think that after getting into WoT one would check if the series are finished first... *lol*

oh.. Guy Gavriel Kay... the classic "Fionavar Tapestry" and I love "Tigana" stand alone

[Daelin]

If you haven't read it already, I suggest Perdido Street Station, by China Mierville. It is fantasy with some steampunk elements, but the setting is totally unique, sometimes bizarre but super mega uber cool. It's got super freaky monsters that eat your mind and poop dreams in solid form and interdimensional spiders and people with scarab beetles for heads and cactus people.
The story is really exciting but what I love the most about it, is the city in which it takes place, New Crobuzon. Its so well-described and big and full of all sorts of weird characters.

The attached image is from what was to be a video game taking place in the universe, but I think it's scrapped:

It captures the whole mood of the setting pretty well.

And the author must be a cartography fan, cause he's really good at making up places and especially cities. The sequel to Perdido Street Station takes on a giant floating city made out of thousands of intertwining ships. Another book, The City and The City takes place in a sort of "dual" city, where the two different populations live side by side, but must not communicate.

Mind you, it is an adult novel, so there's so nasty stuff in there (including interracial sex with aforementioned beetle-head woman and a bizarre form of punishment magic) but its not gratuitous.
If you want gratuitous, read The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan. That's hardcore! Explicit homosexual (!) sex scenes, ultra-violence and oppressive pessimism.

[Jaxilon]

The Iron Tower Trilogy - if you like stuff along the Tolkien style.

Written by Dennis L. McKiernan


Followed by his Silver Call duology which takes place in the same world.

[Midgardsormr]

I'll second Tad Williams. He is a bit slow to get started. Dragonbone Chair takes about 200 pages to get into the meat of the story, and Otherland is even slower. His standalone novels are much quicker to get to the point, though. Tailchaser's Song is a favorite of mine. I haven't started Shadowmarch yet for the same reason as others: it isn't finished. The third volume was just released, and it contained a note indicating that there will be a fourth novel. Hopefully Williams is done getting diverted writing comic books and will finish that one quicker.

If you enjoy The Dresden Files, you'll want to read at least the first four or five Vlad Taltos novels by Steven Brust. And if you like those, then I highly recommend Gypsy, which is a collaboration between Brust and Megan Lindholm, whom you already know as Robin Hobb. And I concur with the others: The Tawny Man trilogy is among the best fantasy works I have ever read. I wasn't much into Soldier Son. I only bought the first one, and I read the other two in the bookstore.

Assuming you enjoy Neverwhere, you'll also want to read American Gods and Anansi Boys. Those were the first Gaiman I read, and they got me hooked. He is a storyteller without equal, in my opinion.

David Eddings' Elenium trilogy is good, although it's essentially a more well-crafted retelling of his earlier Belgariad.

Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle is pretty good, particularly the first three books. And Byzantium, if you don't mind the religiosity. Those are both historical fiction with some fantasy elements. I haven't cared much for the rest of his work, though.

And speaking of historical fiction, I've enjoyed the couple of Bernard Cornwell books I've read: An Archer's Tale and one of the Richard Sharpe novels.

[Jaxilon]

Also the Coldfire Trilogy by C. S. Friedman is a great read from what I remember.

Plus the cover art is some of the best ever. They were done by Michael Whelan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldfire_trilogy <-- would have posted the images but was worried I might step on Copyrights if I linked the wiki .pngs.