Here is what I've done so far.

33 Strategies of War
Accelerando
A Dirty Job
American Assassin
American Gods
Anathem
A Prayer for Owen Meany
A Splendid Exchange
Best Served Cold
Brain on Fire
Blood Song
California Bones
Cryptonomicon
Darkness Weaves
Dune
Dying of the Light
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Earthweb
First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Foundation: The History of England Volume I
Glasshouse
Gravity's Rainbow
Guns Germs and Steel
House of Leaves
I Know Not: The Legacy of Fox Crow
Infinite Jest
Influx
Island in the Sea of Time
John Dies at the End
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
Libriomancer
Mistborn
Neuromancer
Neverwhere
Night Watch
Off Armageddon Reef
Old Man's War
Oscar and Lucinda
Prince of Nothing
Procession of the Dead
Professor Moriarty
Ready Player One
Reamde
Red Rising
Reflexive Fire
Religion in Human Evolution
Sandman Slim
Shantaram
Ship of Fools
Singularity Sky
Solaris
So You Want to Be a Wizard
Steelheart
Straight Man
Target Deck
The 48 Laws of Power
The Amulet of Samarkand
The Art of Seduction
The Black Tulip
The Book Thief
The Cider House Rules
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Crown Conspiracy
The Cyberiad
The Diamond Age
The Emperor’s Blades
The Forever War
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
The Golem and the Jinni
The Gone Away World
The Great Gatsby
The Grim Company
The Heroes
The Inventors Secret
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
The Lives of Tao
The Lock Artist
The Passage
The Peshawar Lancers
The Road Not Taken (Non-GR)
The Rook
The Shining
The Silver Pigs
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin
The Vampire's Assistant
The War of the Flowers
The Way of Kings
The Windup Girl
Things Fall Apart
Thraxas
Ubik
Under Heaven
Valour
Vita Nostra
West Pacific Supers
Wolf Hall
Wool
Worlds Apart (Non-GR)
World War Z
Ysabel


Series:
Age of the Five Series
A Dream of Eagles
Codex Alera Series
Demon Cycle
Discworld Series
Emberverse Series
Gentleman Bastard Series
Harry Potter
Honor Harrington
Ilium Series
Iron Druid Chronicles
Leviathan Series
Malazan Series
Matthew Swift Series
Memory, Sorrow, and the Thorn
Monster Blood Tattoo Series
Night Angel Series
Night's Dawn
Otherland Series
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series
Repairman Jack Series
Rogue Agent Series
Tales of the Kin
Temeraire Series
The Bartimaeus Series
The Black Company
The Broken Empire
The Dresden Files
The Fionavar Tapestry
The First Law Trilogy
The Keys to the Kingdom
The Kingkiller Chronicles
The Lost Fleet
The Milkweed Triptych
The Reminiscent Exile Series
The Tapestry Series
The Traveler's Gate Trilogy
The Vampire Files Series
The War Against the Chtorr Series
Vorkosigan Saga
Wheel of Time Series


Young Adult:
CheddarTrek
KHAAAAAAAAAAN!!

Notes:
Does not contain every book mentioned.

• Some posters mentioned they were reading a book but never gave there opinion, so it wont appear on this list.

• If many books of the same series were mentioned, they were condensed.

 

Finished it today. Good book, very clearly identified characters and an enjoyable protagonist. But some of the plot-points in this story aren't quite what I was looking for (less world-threatening stuff) and it dulled my enjoyment of the book. Nice twist at the end, I hadn't quite realized it and I got sad for a second before glorious battle continued. And then I realized what it meant and got irritated slightly.

 

If you like dragons, this is a fun and easy read:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28876.His_Majesty_s_Dragon?from_search=true

Don't know how the Napoleonic Wars rank on your world-threatening scale but that's the main conflict in the series.

 

That series starts strong but gets worse with each following book. The MC character has some very strange ideas of duty/honor that make absolutely no sense and often only seem to exist to make his life harder. And I feel that Napoleon is a much nicer guy with a much nicer regime than anything the British have to offer, especially in that series.

 

Is the main character or group involved in ending the war in some level? Or is it just sort of a birdseye view of some of the soldiers on the ground, ala Badge of Honor?

I know it sounds weird, but I'm just so bored with massive threatening situations that only our hero can defeat or win.

 

I'm confused, you were hoping for more world-threatening stuff, or the stuff in the book was too world-threatening?

The Temeraire series focuses mostly on one rider and his dragon, but there's a lot of focus on the the units they're in. Most of the plots of the later books don't revolve around them solving gigantic battles on their own.

 

Have you read the Last wish and Sword of destiny?

 

Nope. Looked them up, very interested. Let you know what I think.

Too world-threatening. I want stuff that's more small-scale, or looks at a smaller part of the greater picture. And that's sounds good.

 

Tales of Kin should fulfill all your needs. Maybe something of William King, like the Terrach series.
(For a soldiers view of the Napoleon-British war you can always try the Sharpe series)

 

Wish there were a separate nonfiction recc thread.

Reading Isaacson's The Wise Men: of the six friends who shaped the post-WWII world order, created the international institutions for the reconstruction of Europe and the alliance against Soviet Communism, and set the foundations for a Pax Americana in place of the crumbling Pax Britannica.

A timely read, given they were men who intimately understood Russia: predecessors and mentors to the likes of Rusk and Kissinger.

 

After reading quite a few mediocre fantasy books (like Oberon´s Dreams) I have finally something worth sharing.

A Crucible of Souls
While it doesn´t invent the book new it is solid fantasy with only a few weaknesses. We follow a young, smart man who quickly learns that reading about the world and living in it are very different things. He and the world are bit too simplistic and idealistic in their portrayal but still within acceptable limits. It was an entertaining read and I have some hopes that next book will be even better.

The -sort of- Dark Mage (Waldo Rabbit, #1)
It is comedic fantasy and a very enjoyable read. Poor Waldo is a dark mage who tries his best but seems simply unable to do truly evil things. That, coupled with his strange world view make this a very special story.


Midnight Riot (Peter Grant #1)

I also have something for the Urban fantasy fans here. A series that feels very much like a british Dresden Files. The worldbuilding isn´t as good as by Butcher but the plot still flows nicely and it offers some very nice police scenes.


And at last I have a request. Does anybody here know good fiction/AUs based on ancient Rome or Alexander the Great? It can range from something like The Silver Pigs (Marcus Didius Falco, #1) to The Misplaced Legion (The Videssos Cycle, #1). would be nice if it wasn´t the historic correct(more or less) biography of someone major, have had enough of those.

 

Recently read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It's absolutely stunning. Best written book I've ever read, probably. The characters feel so real that you have to remind yourself that you're reading fiction, not a biography. The setting is detailed but descriptions never get weighty. Despite the sad events of the story, it doesn't ever feel angsty and it ends on a kind of melancholy hope.

My only complaint would be that sometimes he's a bit obvious with his metaphors, having characters explicitely recognise them.

If you've read his story The Kite Runner, it's better than that. Much better. I think it's the focus on women that makes it so interesting. There's a reason sense at the end that the men of Afghanistan are a lost cause, but you might be able to place your hope in the women.

Also read Percy Jackson #1. It was okay, but boy is that one stupid protagonist.

 

Hey guys, so after reading Words of Radiance I feel like I should give his other works a try. I've read Mistborn. Thought they were decent, but nothing amazing. Nothing like WoK and WoR. Nothing like his end to The Wheel of Time.

I know he's pumped out quite a few other books though. Which are the best he's written?

 

You've read them. Sanderson has steadily improved as an author since his first books, and it shows. That being said, I recently read Warbreaker and Steelheart; both were fairly enjoyable (Steelheart was especially hard to put down).

 

Warbreaker... it just seemed a bit average to me. Reviews indicated the same.

Have just gotten Steelheart though. Time to see what that's all about. MIght go through the Mistborn quadrilogy again though.

 

If you've not read it, The Alloy of Law is a fun follow-up to the Mistborn series. It isn't an epic fantasy, more steampunk/crime thriller/Wild West mash up. EDIT: Just seen you talk about the quadrilogy...
I also rather liked his first book, Elantris, although it's certainly not as polished technically as his later books. Warbreaker is full of nice ideas, but a little weighed down by the overly complex 'Breath' system imo. Steelheart is fun, but a little lightweight - I fully expect the series developing out of it to be fantastic, but it's very first installment. And you really shouldn't bother with the Alcatraz series.

 

I've read all of Sanderson's Cosmere stuff.

My favorite is obviously the Stormlight Archive followed by the novella - The Emperor's Soul which is fucking awesome.

Mistborn 1 was good, 2 was also good especially the ending. Hated the 3rd book. Almost ruined the series for me. I loved how in Mistborn:Alloy of Law the world has progressed because of the events in the trilogy. The evolution in how they used the powers was very interesting. Though the story leaves much to be desired.

Warbreaker is an interesting book mainly because of Nightblood and Vasher. I hated the two princess. Sanderson loves to write his 'noble ladies'. :|

Elantris is quite average compared to the rest mainly because it was Sanderson's first novel and it shows. The plot was interesting enough but how they resolved the main plotline(ie what caused the problem) was fucking bullshit imo. It also has more noble ladies.

The Emperor's Soul is set in the same region as Elantris but in a totally different region and as I said before it is fucking awesome. You should read this now.

Legion is also a nice novella though it is not a part of the Cosmere.

Steelheart was a very fun and quick read which I loved.

So yeah read Sanderson's books.

 

Have a new Fantasy book I wanted to share.

Red Knight
Twenty eight florins a month is nowhere near enough when a wyvern's jaws snap shut on your helmet in the hot stink of battle, and the beast starts to rip the head from your shoulders. But if standing and fighting is hard, leading a company of men - or worse, a company of mercenaries - against the smart, deadly creatures of the Wild is even harder.

It takes all the advantages of birth, training, and the luck of the devil to do it.

The Red Knight has all three, he has youth on his side, and he's determined to turn a profit. So when he hires his company out to protect an Abbess and her nunnery, it's just another job. The abby is rich, the nuns are pretty and the monster preying on them is nothing he can't deal with.

Only it's not just a job. It's going to be a war..

It has some similarities to series like the Broken Empire series but has clearly its own, distinct style. It took me some time to get used to the writing but now have come to like it quite a bit. The whole Men against nature theme is interesting and something I would like to see more of.

The fighting and description of knights/battles etc. is really well done and shows that the author has done his homework in that regard.


It has multiple POVs but we clearly follow the story of one person and the mostly provide deeper background, still I really would like to read a modern fantasy series that tries to tell one story instead of always trying for 6+ (I blame GoT for that)

4/5

 

^ Nice rec. It also has a sequel. The Fell Sword.

Like them both. Although the first is better. Can't wait for the third.