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Book Recommendation Thread of life after ASOIAF

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B

Burli

Pringo
So I've just been given a kindle for my birthday and I'm in dire need of some book recommendations.

As I've hinted in the title, the last books I've read are the first four from the A Song of Ice and Fire series and I feel like I'm in mourning, like I can never enjoy another book again unless it's from this series - which is obviously brain-tosh. In my eyes those books are a perfect balance of characters, political intrigue, fantasy, war, gore and dragons. I've never enjoyed reading so much.

I'm really into fantasy and sci-fi, it's a phase of wanting to read about things that aren't limited by the rules of the world we live in. In terms of books I am woefully ignorant, before ASOIAF the only other books I'd properly read were the Harry Potter series, a large brunt of Redwall, The Hobbit, The Subtle Knife.. not many. All good though.

So, fire away. I suppose we could potentially turn this into an up-to-date book recommendation thread if it goes well and I'll make a fancy banner or something.
 
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. That is, if you haven't read it yet. It changed my outlook on life and plunged me into a semi long lasting depression.

It was worth it though. And I'm fairly certain it will not have that effect on most other readers.

/edit: This thread has some great recommendations as well click.
 
I think I'll definitely read that, my Dad's been trying to get me to read it for years now, he's a big Sci-Fi buff where as I lean more towards fantasy. Although the semi-long depression doesn't sound so appealing..

Starting to see some of the limitations with the Kindle already though, for instance I can buy the entire 5 Hitch-hiker books in one hard-back for about £11, or only all of them separately on Kindle for about £25, lame.

Thanks for the link, looks good!
 
If you've read The Hobbit, then you should also read The LOTR as well as The Silmarillion.

I'd also recommend The Count of Monte Cristo and The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequel; Red Seas Under Red Skies. In fact, there's still five books to go in this particular series, so you could follow it over the next few years.
 
Name of the Wind sounds really interesting, cheers for that Dares.

Edmond: I loved the Hobbit, in fact I enjoyed the story of the Hobbit more than the LOTR Trilogy but that's from only watching the LOTR films. I'm worried watching all the films will have ruined the books for me, I'm a fan of surprises.

SamVines/Jintor: Discworld scares the shit out of me, there's so many of them, a case of 'where do I start?'. I think I attempted to read one when I was far too young for it and it put me off for awhile but I should get back on it, but man, so many.


Jenga said:
boo this man
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Uh oh
 
Burli said:
I think I'll definitely read that, my Dad's been trying to get me to read it for years now, he's a big Sci-Fi buff where as I lean more towards fantasy. Although the semi-long depression doesn't sound so appealing..

Starting to see some of the limitations with the Kindle already though, for instance I can buy the entire 5 Hitch-hiker books in one hard-back for about £11, or only all of them separately on Kindle for about £25, lame.

Thanks for the link, looks good!
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Np. Don't worry about the depression, I was half kidding :P.

And you're right on the Kindle factor. I wonder how long it'll be before someone finally delivers on all the promises of digital delivery.
 
I'm reading two sci-fi books right now, and they're both pretty sweet.

Fnb40.jpg

I haven't gotten very far, but this book is amazing. The prose is excellent, the set-up superb, and the dust jacket is felt! What more suggestion do you need, than to know that a book is literally soft and fuzzy? Basically it's a zany Fallout-meets-Gamma World postapocalyptic Futurama-esque good time.

Snowcrash.jpg

This is the main one I'm reading right now, and it's alright. I don't think I've gotten into the good bits yet, but so far it's the Matrix meets the Internet before either really existed (the book was written in the very early 90s), so while it feels kind of overly nerdy and derivative, ya gotta keep in mind that it predates all the stuff it reminds you of. It's hard to describe, but just know that it's definitive of the genre and the main character is named Hiro Protagonist. Hiro Protagonist! That sold me on the book immediately.

My third recommendation is that you don't read the Dark Tower.
 
If you also like sci-fi, I recommend reading Dune, the whole series by Frank Herbert (stop at the last book written by him). It is someway similar to ASOIAF , with lots of intrigue, balanced characters, and so on.

About discworld (probably my favourite series): Reading Guide . You can start with any group of novels, so far you don't read a sequel of an existing book. However, I would not recommend to start with the "industrial revolution" novels, as they are very interconnected with the "Guards" novels. I would start with Mort or Guards! Guards?, because the first novels of Rincewind and arguably the first one of the witches are not top-notch written as the rest of the series.

Edit: Damn, beated at bringing the guide of Discworld :p
 
If you want to try to make the jump from genre fiction to literature you could try out Lonesome Dove.

I thought I'd be turned off by the western setting, but it actually got me into them. And I say you could use it as a bridge because it was followed up by three other books (two prequels, one sequel) that give you a broader look at the characters you'll come to know so you can still enjoy the multiple book thing if you're down.
 
Dares said:
Meh, it is good for me. Guess I was wrong.
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it's ok I get that a lot

it's tough being so good



but really, name of the wind isn't bad, but I got turned off of it when the character's backstory got revealed. OP get ready for mary-sue
 
I don't know about you, but I love serial/pulp fantasy - short stories centring around one or two main characters that combine into a larger over-arcing storyline, and on that note I'd highly recommend all three of the following;

elric.jpg


Michael Moorcock's Elric saga is a brilliant piece of dark fantasy as the cursed last prince of Melniborne travels the world in it's final days with his demon possessed sword Stormbringer.

c21670-1.jpg


Fritz Lieber's Lankhmar series tells the tales of two adventurers and friends; Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and the trials and tribulations they face trying to make a living as sellswords in and around the corrupt city of Lankhmar.

the_long_ships.jpg


The Long Ships chronicles the life of Red Orm, a boy plucked from his home by Vikings who grows to be a man as a slave on a galley and how he escapes servitude to return home and become one of the most feared and respected Viking warlords.

Burli said:
SamVines/Jintor: Discworld scares the shit out of me, there's so many of them, a case of 'where do I start?'. I think I attempted to read one when I was far too young for it and it put me off for awhile but I should get back on it, but man, so many.
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Yeah, Discworld can be daunting, but it's really best to start from the beginning. If you pick and chose books to read from the series you'll miss out on a lot of references and nods to events and characters in previous books. That being said, if you start from the beginning be aware that the early novels like Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic hold a different tone, Pratchett hadn't yet got into his grove and stylistically those first two or so differ a lot from more recent Discworld novels and aren't really representative of the quality of the whole series.
 
Also if you're into classic books i would recommend Crime and Punishment by Dostoevskij and The Count of Monte Cristo like Edmond Dantès said.
 
CTRHr.jpg



Subtle, great characters, great low-magic system; and by a friend of GRRM, to boot. It doesn't start with a bang, though; don't except battle and gore right from the start.

Robin Hobb is great, too. Another GRRM favorite.
 
I'd go as far as to say that the first book in the series (Shadow in Summer) is pretty boring at times. That said it's worth it.
 
Dresden said:
I'd go as far as to say that the first book in the series (Shadow in Summer) is pretty boring at times. That said it's worth it.
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I loved it. It's so refreshing; you keep wondering when the shit is going to hit the proverbial fan.

But it is slow at times, I'll admit.

Have you read The Dragon's Path, Dresden? Trying to find time to finally get to it.
 
Bootaaay said:
Michael Moorcock's Elric saga is a brilliant piece of dark fantasy as the cursed last prince of Melniborne travels the world in it's final days with his demon possessed sword Stormbringer.
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Awesome, someone else who likes Michael Moorcock.


I will add another vote to the Discworld Books, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Robin Hobb.

Dissolution, the first book of a historical fiction series, is a very good read and so is the Flashman series.
 
Sotha Sil said:
Have you read The Dragon's Path, Dresden? Trying to find time to finally get to it.
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Yeah, it's pretty damn good. That said I wasn't happy with some of the choices Abraham made, but overall it's got a lot of swag.

The book itself is the cheapest looking thing I've seen in a while, though. Compared to the slim, appealing Tor hardcovers the trade paperback from Orbit looks like something that an alleyway press shit out early in the morning. Nitpicking here, of course, but Abraham deserved a more beautiful book.
 
Sotha Sil said:
CTRHr.jpg



Subtle, great characters, great low-magic system; and by a friend of GRRM, to boot. It doesn't start with a bang, though; don't except battle and gore right from the start.

Robin Hobb is great, too. Another GRRM favorite.
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I have all 4 of those books on my shelf. I've been meaning to start Shadow in Summer for a while now, but I've been on a McCarthy and Oe binge lately. I think I'll go ahead and start Summer today.
 
Dresden said:
Yeah, it's pretty damn good. That said I wasn't happy with some of the choices Abraham made, but overall it's got a lot of swag.
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Ah, that's good to know. Two weeks until we dance with dragons... might have the time to read it before then. Thanks!


perfectnight said:
I have all 4 of those books on my shelf. I've been meaning to start Shadow of Summer for a while now, but I've been on a McCarthy and Oe binge lately. I think I'll go ahead and start Summer today.
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I hope you'll like it.
 
Hows Guy Gavriel Kay? I remember reading one of his books and being bored out of my mind. Don't even remember the title.
 
With A Dance With Dragons coming out in a couple of weeks I start with one of the fantasy books which is the start of a series, slip it in there.
 
The Lies of Locke Lamora is a great fantasy read


AVOID: Night Angel trilogy and either of Rothfuss' books (The Name of the Wind is on par with Sonic the hedgehog fanfiction)
 
Haha, I keep almost buying The Name of the Wind then seeing a negative comment and stopping, then seeing more praise, then more negatives.
 
I am in the exact same position right now... I find it hard to feel the drive to pick up and start another book though.

I've grown so fond of the characters from asoif that I just want to continue living in westeros.

I must say, reading is more like virtual reality to me than any other medium (well asoif has been in parts for me). I'm re watching the first season and during some episodes I get to some parts and bits are missing and it is the strangest sensation, it felt like I'd seen a scene the last time I watched it, but obviously I hadn't because it wasn't there.

Very cool.

Good thread.

I've never read the hobbit or lord of the rings so I think I'm going to dive into both of them as soon as I'm done with adwd, then I'll use this thread for it's many recommendations.

Thanks all who contribute!

I'd ask, if you're going to recommend something please don't just say a title... Please say what the book is about, why it's good, why you would recommend it to someone who liked asoif (perhaps someone who has only read asoif) and such :)

Part of what I think makes asoif so special is the subtle use of supernatural, there is little magic in the world, and what magic there is seems to be few and far between and hard to come by. This is how I feel magic should be done. If anything I feel like lord of the rings is overly full of magic, although I think it suits that world, some worlds are well suited to overly magical places.

I'd like things with over the top knights, dragons, giant castles, politics, magic... Basically asoif, but perhaps more fantasy like with elves and goblins and orcs and such... I suppose that would be lord of the rings?

But are there other stories?
 
Wheel of Time. (Book 1 is "The Eye of the World")

Twice as long as ASOIAF but finishing up in March. It's as complicated, as epic, and has the same history of long delayed books. (Only I think Wheel of Time books are longer on average.) It also has detractors, but that's pretty much standard for very successful fantasy series.
 
Hyperion books by Dan Simmons.

Foundation series by Asimov.

They are classics and do a great job of moving you into another world, well written. I enjoyed both as much as ASOIAF, possibly more so in some ways.

Dune - maybe. I loved the first book still enjoyed the next couple but not as much.

Name of the Wind...fun and enjoyable, but a bit fluffy. I'd recommend it like I'd recommend a summer blockbuster, can be a good ride if you just let go, but don't dig too deep.
 
Burli said:
Haha, I keep almost buying The Name of the Wind then seeing a negative comment and stopping, then seeing more praise, then more negatives.
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It's like a fantasy Harry Potter (easy readable and entertaining), but the main character has to be the most perfect person ever to live.
 
The Illuminatus! Trilogy - Crazy things
The Dice Man - A man relegates the decisions of his life to the roll of a die
Replay - A man dies and wakes up in his younger self's body with his memories of life intact
 
Crazymoogle said:
Wheel of Time. (Book 1 is "The Eye of the World")

Twice as long as ASOIAF but finishing up in March. It's as complicated, as epic, and has the same history of long delayed books. (Only I think Wheel of Time books are longer on average.) It also has detractors, but that's pretty much standard for very successful fantasy series.
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You are a fucking gun!

I think you just solved my problem, this looks awesome!!

I think I might jump straight into this after adwd. 13 books! Far out! W00t!!
 
Burli said:
Haha, I keep almost buying The Name of the Wind then seeing a negative comment and stopping, then seeing more praise, then more negatives.
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It has two main points of complaint:

1. The main character becomes unlikable because he is too good at everything.
2. At a few points, the writing becomes overly flowery.

If you think you can get past those flaws, then I would highly recommend it.
 
The Name of The Wind was really damn boring, and I dropped it because I kept getting drowsy every time I tried to get back into it. Hell I found The Magicians to be a far more enjoyable read and that book was by no means well written.
 
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