So, summer is coming up and I'll be stuck at work making sure no one steps on fresh concrete which means I'll spend most of my time reading books. I'm looking to get some good titles to entertain myself all the way from May to November.

I'm planning to read:

• The Passage (Vol. 2)
• War and Peace (Tolstoy)
• Kingkiller Chronicle (Vol. 2)
• Hunger Games (Vol. 3)
• The Watcher
• Bourne Trilogy
• Mistborn
• Stormlight Archive
• Matthew Swift's Series
• Incarnation by Emma Cornwall
• Gunslinger by Stephen King
• Dark Tower by Stephen King
• Red Rising Series
• Silo Series
• Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
• Emperor Series by Con Iggulden
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (+A Thousand Splendid Suns/And The Mountains Echoed)
• House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• The Count of Monte Cristo
• The Lost Years of Merlin
• Worm (Internet)

I'm not really difficult on genre, but I really like origins story; book(s) where you can see what made the protagonist the way he is like in the Hunger Games or Kingkiller Chronicle or even Harry Potter. I like to make that journey with the main characters.

Any suggestions?

 

Re-recommend Kingkiller. Also grab The Stormlight Archive (2 are out of 10 books planned) if you haven't read it yet.

 

The Mistborn series is also a good call, and finished (at least the primary trilogy) which is always a plus. I'd also recommend Kate Griffin's books. There's the Matthew Swift series, which doesn't really meet your preference for origin stories (it starts with Swift's resurrection, and follows him as he rises to more and more power in magical London - mostly unwanted power), but there's a secondary series which deals with some more...grassroots magic, I suppose would be the best term.

Re: the Bourne series. I read the first two and didn't really rate them, and they're only like the films in the broadest terms. Just a heads up.

 

Incarnation by Emma Cronwall is pretty good read. Main character is girl that gets turned into vampire. It's set in victorian era.

 

I was going to suggest The Gunslinger and/or Dark Tower novels by Steven King up until reaching the part about wanting to read their origin story. We aren't really given much of that for the protagonist until Wizard and Glass, which details one of his earliest and unintended adventures with his childhood friends for the majority of the novel. Drawing of the Three offers insight into other allies of the Gunslinger but I wouldn't necessary call them origin stories, though that and The Waste Lands build said allies up from their original lives into figures fitting into the life of the last Gunslinger.

Hm... Ender's Game by itself is a good read, but the Ender's Shadow books would be great perspective changes and, I think, feature more rounded characters inside of that setting. The Speaker for the Dead era onward is... tedious, more than fun. Disappointing, even.

 

I despise Ender's Shadow. It stomps all over Ender's accomplishments and made me hate Bean. So I'd advise against it for anyone who's already read Ender's Game. I don't know about the sequels for either, I never read them.

As for my own recommendation: Red Rising Series. It's sci-fi like Ender's Game and dystopian like Hunger Games, but, well, better. Here's the DLP thread for it.

And I don't know if it's good or not, but my cousin has been hounding me to read the Silo Series. It's dystopian also, and that's about all I know about it.

 

I loved the Kingkiller, so don't worry that is definitely on my list. I might pick up both Mistborn and Stormlight Archive (both seem interesting from the synopsis on amazon).

It looks interesting. The origin stories was more because I've found myself reading/watching those type of things recently, but I'm not opposed to other genre. I'll look up the Matthew Swift series, the premise is definitely something I could get into.

I've read the first book when the first movie came out (or close) and I remembered it being vastly different, but in a good way. I'll probably re-read the first book just to remember all the important details/characters and keep going with the series.

Female protagonist are always interesting and the setting of this one looks promising. I'll add it up to my list, thanks!

I really need to read those actually. I've had people recommend them for ages and I just always forgot about them or had something else on my list when that happened. Thanks for reminding me, I'll add them!

I read Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow and The Speaker for the Dead. I think the Bean pov was really interesting, it shed light on some of the more important moment of Ender's Game. But yeah, that's definitely the kind of origin story I love to read about, so if you have anything else that is similar, shoot

Both added to the list, they look very promising! Thanks!

 

I enjoyed the parallel between Game and Shadow because it provided another insight into Battle School, the situation around earth and the International Fleet, and the challenges posed to Bean, who had to struggle viciously to survive let alone enter into Battle School.

I haven't ever viewed Shadow as discrediting Ender's achievements, and now I'm going to have to reread to compare and see if that has merit. Could you elaborate more on why you see it that way, on the specifics? After Shadow I enjoyed the series for the political movements.

EDIT:

Nice! I can say I've had some ups and downs with the series, but overall I'm still happy I elected to pick it up, and I think you will be too.

Mm, I'll need to think about anything else similar that isn't obvious.

 

An obvious recommendation on this site would be Jim Butcher's Dresden Files if you haven't already read those books.

Codex Alera by the same author is a pretty good series, too.

Book one of the Emperor series by Conn Iggulden features a pretty great origin story for Julius Caesar. One of the better historical novel series I've read.

The Count of Monte Cristo is a classic with an archetypal origin story. I really enjoyed reading it and can recommend it.

 

The Shadow Campaigns by Django Wrexler is a pretty solid series, had a lot of fun with both books that are out right now. First one is The Thousand Names

If you like having your heart broken, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a great read. haven't checked out his other two books yet but they are supposed to be just as good, if not better.

Second the Count of Monte Cristo, Kingkiller, Mistborn and Stormlight Archive, although, with the last one, seeing that it is only 2 out of 10 books in, there is really no rush in checking those out. They are good, but not all that memorable, imo. If you aren't that into it, no harm done, if you are really into it, you have to wait years until the next book, so, waiting is probably better.

Not sure if it is just me, but I found War and Peace to be a total bore and forgettable.

Not sure if this fits your personal journey criteria, but I found Under My Skin by A. E. Dooland to be an interesting and solid read.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch has still the funniest opening in a book that I have seen and it stays consistently good.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians starting with The Lightning Thief is definitely an origin story and pretty fun all around. The second series is ... different than the first, and as a whole worse, although if you get hooked in the first series, you are bound to check out the Heroes of Olympus series. Five books for each series.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova should be interesting to check out.

Another classic would be The Three Musketeers by Alexandré Dumas.

 

Honestly think House of the Dead is the best book that came out of Russia and would recommend it over War and Peace everytime.

It doesn't have that beginning point though, if you really want that Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness is pretty incredible imo.

 

I've read The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and And The Mountains Echoed all by Khaled Hosseini. I'd recommend them all but my personal favourite is And The Mountains Echoed

 

I read the fire book of Dresden Files and it didn't really catch my interest and I can't really explain why. Codex Alera sounds really interesting! How many books are there, 6?

Nice! I'm definitely adding that to my list. I saw that he wrote some stuff on the War of Roses and Khan, which is definitely something that looks interesting as well. Thanks for the recommendation!

I should really read it, I think I even have it somewhere but never got around to reading it (I do that a lot sadly >.>). Thanks for the reminder!

A book that makes you feel emotion? Count me in. Thanks!

Meh. I've received it as a gift last year I believe, never got to read it. I'll give it a try and if it's too boring I'll just put it aside. I'll make sure to bring another book when I start it, just in case.

I'm not quite sure about the Under My Skin, I'll probably try to get a preview somewhere before buying it, but the other two sound really good. Thanks again!

I read The Three Musketeers in my french class in highschool, loved it. I'm not quite sure how it translates to English, but Dumas' prose in french is breathtaking.

Added! Thank you!

This one sound really peculiar. I'll look it up.

If I like the Kite Runner, I'll add the other two to the list.

Thanks for the recommendation guys! It really helps a lot.

 

I disliked the first few Dresden Files books, but got into it after the fourth or fifth. That might be the same for you. It certainly gets a lot better than those first books, that I can promise you.

And yes, there are six Codex Alera books.

 

It seems like a lot of book to get into it. I've enjoyed HP/Dresden Crossover without ever having read any Dresden Files, so I can kind of understand the appeal, but to trudge through 1500 pages or so before it gets interesting? Seems like a waste of time.

I might acquire them in, let's say, less than legal fashion and see if it's worth it.

 

If you're reading the Dresden Files, start with book 3. Read books 1 and 2 as extended flashbacks when bored. As for the origin storyaspect, books 4 and 13 give the best of it.

 

I personally really enjoyed The Lost Years of Merlin. Was the first book series i read( I think its like 7 or 8 books) so its not huge page number count or anything but you follow Emyrs(Merlin) since before he even what magic was to when he took up the name Merlin and a little beyond.

I thought it was great and you always know whats going on in his mind.

 

If you have a phone with internet available at work, then Worm by Wildbow is a good choice. Great story that's epically long.

 

Thanks! Definitely something I would like to read!

I started reading it actually when I was going to school in the bus, but for some reason I stopped. Fact that's on the internet might be problematic depending on the day at work, but I'm sure I'll figure something out

 

Little bit of a different recommendation, but Lee Child writes some pretty epic mystery/thrillers based around an ex-MP named Jack Reacher. Here is the order they were written in and the chronological order if you want to go that route. I'd probably recommend the latter option.

http://www.bookseriesinorder.com/jack-reacher/