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Official Recommendation Thread: Books

Discussion in 'Books and Anime Discussion' started by Marguerida, Apr 5, 2005.

  1. Philly Homer

    Philly Homer What you call elephant cum I call mouthwash

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    Look at the name, it should be obvious.
    Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

    Time magazine called GRRM "the American Tolkien", and that title is well-deserved, since A Song of Ice and Fire is the most darkest, realistic and grittiest fantasy series ever written. It has rape, incest, pedophilia, and several other dark themes. It might be defined as epic fantasy, but don't expect a lot of magic. It's more of a political thriller disguised as epic fantasy. It's based on the Medieval Period, and inspired by the War of the Roses.

    The world of Westeros and beyond is built masterfully with its own extensive history and religion or religions. However, the best part of the series are the characters. Make no mistake, A Song of Ice and Fire, is a character driven epic. Oh and what characters they are, some of the most realistic, beloved, witty, cunning, honorable characters ever written. Some of the characters stand out like Tyrion, the Kingslayer, Eddard, Tywin, the Hound, Robert, and my personal favorite Littlefinger. However, I would also advise you to be careful, because GRRM is absolutely ruthless with his characters. The world and characters are tied up in a stellar plot.

    The world and characters are tied up in a stellar plot. To avoid spoiling any of it, I won't go into details, but here is the gist.

    The series rights were picked up by HBO, and they recently got done shooting the pilot. Each book is going to get it's own season and Game of Thrones is the first one. The project has some huge names like Sean Bean and Lena Headley attached to it. Also, HBO is reportedly astounded by the amount of buzz that the show has generated online. All of this points towards HBO picking up the series.
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2009
  2. Zombie

    Zombie Black Philip Moderator DLP Supporter

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    He's just making quota now. I can't stand to read King anymore.
     
  3. Clerith

    Clerith Ahegao Emperor ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    The Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's a series of 10 books, first one being called Gardens of the Moon.

    It's incredibly awesome. Epic Fantasy that really stands up to that classification. My words won't do it justice, so I'll leave the research up to you. But if you're a fan of extremely well-written dark and epic fantasy with interesting characters, give it a try.

    I think there are several 'sites', 'polls' and such that seem to regard it as the best fantasy series out at the moment.
     
  4. JoseCuervo

    JoseCuervo Squib

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    That's too bad, Under The Dome is his best work in a long time, it really is a fantastic story. Probably the best King ending I've ever read too. Although that's not saying much since his endings usually suck.

    Back on topic:
    Felix Castor series by Mike Carey (Especially if you're a fan of The Dresden Files)
    Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch (If you like GRRM, you'll love Scott Lynch)
    The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (One of the best debut fantasy novels ever IMO, the sequel keeps getting pushed back though)
     
  5. Militis

    Militis Supreme Mugwump

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    I've just started reading the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. Even Jim Butcher likes it. It's a different experience, that's for sure; reading from first person, female perspective, that is. Do chicks really think about clothes that much?! I'd have been set to wear the same damn clothes through that entire first book. Seriously.

    Going to try the Felix Castor series here in a couple days.
     
  6. Sidekick Girl

    Sidekick Girl Squib

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    Everyone has probably read this but I think it has to be mentioned.

    I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

    One of the best books I've ever read and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say it's a thousand times better than the film.
     
  7. Mindless

    Mindless Big Boss DLP Supporter

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    Castor's one of my favorites, right now.

    A scifi rec from me would be the Legacy and Inheritance trilogies by Ian Douglas. It's incredibly well-written and well-researched; at times, the author would include equations for some of his imagery. It's humans v. aliens fare, and the humans kick major ass, as it progresses.
     
  8. Oneiros

    Oneiros Groundskeeper

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    The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez-Reverte.

    The story starts off nice. It is basically about this old fencing master that doesn't care for politics and has no clue about what is going on in the world around him at all. It promised to be a rather interesting book, but I didn't expect a lot from it, but the ending...I didn't see it coming... and it was one of the most well I don't want to ruin it as it would take away from the shock value so I'll use spoiler tags.

    It was one of the most chilling things I've ever read. It shows a depth of sheer insanity in the protagonist that I never saw coming.

    Also, Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2009
  9. Demons In The Night

    Demons In The Night Chief Warlock

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    Altered Carbon series by Richard K. Morgan is good shit.

    Also, check out Charles Stross. He has a few different standalone novels and a few ongoing series currently. I loved his novel Glasshouse, Halting State (book one a series; the next is coming out in 2010), and I'm about to start one of his other series that begins with Singularity Sky.

    I just bought Assassin's Apprentice by Hobb the other week, and I'll give a review if I like it enough to buy the next books in that series.
     
  10. rocket_runner

    rocket_runner Seventh Year

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    Has anyone read the Mortal Instruments trilogy? It's aimed towards teenagers, so probably not... I did, however, quite like it.
     
  11. Nukular Winter

    Nukular Winter The Chosen One DLP Supporter

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    Werd.

    Are you talking about the books by Cassandra Claire? I won't read her for the simple fact that she basically invented LeatherPants!Draco.
     
  12. darklordmike

    darklordmike Headmaster

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    That's Cassandra Clare's trilogy, right? Is it readable if you're male, or is it just Draco-in-Leatherpants on a new canvas?

    Gah. Ninja'd by Nuke.
     
  13. Bukay

    Bukay Professor DLP Supporter

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    The whole series by Morgan is a good cyberpunk read indeed.

    As to Hobb I've only read the Farseer Triligy and it was good, but nothing breathtaking.
     
  14. Portus

    Portus Heir

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    As if that wasn't bad enough, she's a plagiarist who won't admit it, and played her fans for fun and profit, the fucking cow.

    Dunno; you make the call. From the page NW linked, it's obvious she used cut-and-paste pretty liberally between her fan fiction and this published, "original" drivel.

    I won't read a plagiarized story, period. If a person makes an honest mistake and admits it - fine, but when you lift whole passages and half-ass the citations, you know you're lying, and that's bullshit.
     
  15. Oz

    Oz For Zombie. Moderator DLP Supporter

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    Christ, I remember that cow. Never got how such a stupid bitch caused so much dramnations. ~_~

    EDIT: The fanhistory page for DLP is a bit off. :rolleyes:
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2009
  16. Ash'Ura

    Ash'Ura Totally Sirius

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    Anyone read any of the books form the Noble Warrior Trilogy by William Nicholson. The first two books, Seeker and Jango, were great, but the last one, Noman, was just amazing.
     
  17. rocket_runner

    rocket_runner Seventh Year

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    Holy shit, where was I when all of this happened?

    I just picked up the book in Wal-Mart and started reading, lol. I never even thought about the author.

    I rather liked the books. The twist was rather cliche and dragged on for a good while, but some of it was rather interesting. I'm not sure if a male would like it as much as I did. It does seem rather teenage girl-oriented. I read it for the actual plot, but I can't deny the Twilight-esque fluff.
     
  18. Ash'Ura

    Ash'Ura Totally Sirius

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    Holy shit, she looks ugly as fuck. I read the books and they were okay, but now that I've sat down and read the facts, all the plaigarism in her books seem obvious. Also, someone actually made a Draco Malfoy that wears leather pants?
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2009
  19. Demons In The Night

    Demons In The Night Chief Warlock

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    Received Tokyo Vice for Christmas, in which former Yomiuri reporter Jake Adelstein tells of his life in Japan. It goes into great detail about the Japanese culture and underworld: the Yakuza, the sex industry (both legal and illegal), human trafficking, etc. etc. It's some pretty amazing and mind bottling stuff. Easily one of the best books I've read in 2009.

    Would definitely recommend.
     
  20. Oz

    Oz For Zombie. Moderator DLP Supporter

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    Mind bottling? Rofl. Methinks you mean boggling. ;)
     
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