I recently read Glasshouse by Charlie Stross, which was pretty decent if you're into complex, post-singularity stories. It's better if you've read his Accelerando first, since it's based on the world in the latter.

 

As I said earlier, I'd rec Bujold's stuff. Start with Shards of Honor or Warrior's Apprentice. They're not godly, but they're fun.

 

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi is pretty sweet. It's post-apocalyptic, but the apocalypse is actually the fallout from genetic engineering of crops, and the back and forth one-up-manship between major powers to create pests and viruses. Plus, there's an energy crisis and global warming that causes the oceans to rise. It's really fascinating. The kinds of technologies the author invents in the absence of fossil fuels are cool.

 

Has anyone read House of Leaves? A stoner friend of mine recc'd it to me, saying it'd "blow my mind" and "freak me the fuck out". Is it any good?

 

It is very complicated, in a way. Kind of freaky at times.

It's very fun to read, if you can handle it, but not everyone will enjoy the way it's written.

 

^ This. It's an incredible book, incredibly well written in each of the various styles, clever, shit scary, and one of the biggest head fucks I've ever read. Definitely give it a try.

 

Gotta go with the Farseer Trilogy, the Dragonlance Chronicles (sure, it's 10+ main characters, but at least they are coherent and don't change between chapters), and anything Lovecraftian. Maybe some Gore Vidal and/or Steven Pressfield?

 

I thought I might've recced them here before, but a search of the thread says otherwise, so here goes:

A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving - a magnificent book with the most memorable characters I've seen in a long time in Owen, and Hester is also great. The layers of the novel are one its best parts, and I'd have to say its been one of my favorites since I rad it a few years back.

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon - the most difficult and wacked-out book I've ever read. It was a required reading for one of my college course, and I was the only person in the class who actually finished it. Granted, the class was Literature and Technology and was populated entirely by engineers. Still, the required Reader's Guide was instrumental in my being able to understand the book. Mind-bending.

 

It's very clever and an interesting read, but not for everyone. It's a real trial to work all the way through it, but you almost certainly have never read anything like it. My review is here.

 

Just finished the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks after seeing it recommended both by a friend as well as Patrick Rothfuss.

The series basically follows the maturation of some street rat into a masterful assassin/wetboy (he apprentices under the best assassin to ever live). There are a lot of interesting twists along the way, and the author isn't afraid of killing off characters you like when he deems it necessary. This definitely falls under fantasy, since there are both swords and some cool magic.

Overall, it was a good series, and y'all should check it out.

The little green demon has good-quality epubs.

 

I was looking around for a book series to watch and found a book series called "Wheel of Time" is it good?

I'm into Harry Potter/Inheritance Cycle type of things, but I'm not much of a fan of Dresden if that helps.

 

Dear god, why? It's terrible.

 

I read this a year ago or so; can't say I liked it. The first one was decent, but the last two went steadily downhill. It hit rock-bottom when it started blatantly ripping off WoT. I suppose if you haven't read WoT, it could be decent, but by the third book, I found it pretty painful to read.

WoT is an excellent series, but very, very long. It's at 13 books now, with the 14th (and final) one coming out hopefully next spring. Each book is about 800-1000 pgs. It gets pretty slow in the middle, which has stopped a lot of people from finishing the series, but if you can get through the slow parts, it speeds back up in the last few books.

I'd say it's not really like the Inheritance cycle or Harry Potter (or Dresden for that matter). It's massive, epic fantasy with dozens (hundreds even) of characters and many, many viewpoints. Superficially, it does bear some resemblance to the Inheritance Cycle (country kid ends up leading an army and saving the world), but it's on a wholly different scale (and better writing as well).

I would hardly call the Inheritance Cycle a magnificent piece of fiction, but it's far from terrible. There are worse books out there.

 

-Gary Stu, farmboy turned hero
-Mary Sue Elven Princess
-Predictable Plotline, not to mention he completely ripped off Star Wars and Tolkien
-Flat, boring characters
-Terrible, 16 year old girl writing. So. Many. Adjectives. >.<

Sure, there are worse books, but that doesn't make it good.

 

So I got some free time. I need a book that focuses on one guy like TNoTW or HP and has a kick as magical system. Already read, Kingkiller, HP, LoTR, Dresden and seen The Game of Thrones.

Thanks.

 

One guy?

/me obviously thinks Rand Al'Thor.

But you gotta have patience my child, for The Wheel of Time comprises of 14 books, 13th being the latest release.

I've been in WoT mode this week.

 

Book #11(Dead Reckoning) of the Southern Vampire Mysteries came out yesterday, and I enjoyed it. There was a lot of resolution, which was good, but there were a few iffy parts that seemed off. The Sandra Pelt plotline was pretty weak, and seemed kind of hashed together as if the author just wanted to finish it.

Spoiler

which she did

If you plan on reading the series, do not look at the spoilers. The book was very exciting. Lots of gore and blood, which is always a plus. Not so much mystery, but more suspenseful because you knew what was coming, you just didn't know the results.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Lot's of fairy plots, which I don't really like but it is interesting.
Finally learned why Sookie and Hunter are telepathic. I wasn't expecting this to be explained at all. But it wasn't explained why Barry the Bellboy is telepathic.
Eric/Sookie's relationship. It was rocky throughout the whole book, and its possible it will not continue, which is disappointing. Eric is badass. Part of the plot seemed weak when she spontaneously canceled the blood bond. I just hope she doesn't go back to Bill.
Victor plot line was finished, but there obviously consquences.
Bubba is 'finally' revealed to be Elvis, even though it has been very, very, very strongly hinted at in every book, with whimsical beating around the bush. You would need to have been a 3 year old to not figure it out, but it is nice to finally have a %100 confirmation.

Plots I expect to find in the next book.
-Eric's marriage contract (sigh) with the Queen of Oklahoma. His maker orchestrated it before he died, and there isn't much Eric can do about it. The maker-child connection is the strongest in the book.
-The cluviel dor and the fae portal and fae living at Hooligans. Dermot? Claude? Bellenos?
-Mr. Cataliades and the people after him
-Consequences of Sandra's death? PLEASE LET THEIR BE NO MORE OF THE PELT PLOT.
-Consequences of Victor's death? King of Nevada going to be pissed?
-Vampire!Sookie? Is it ever going to happen? Eric wants her forever.
-Cluviel dor and its uses. Can it cure vampirism?