Really enjoyed City of Stairs. It's American Gods in a world with Russian/Indian/Scandanavian cultural roots. Honestly, a large part of the draw for me was that it wasn't set in the UK/US...but in addition to that, the characters are compelling and the world-building and mystery is well-constructed.

 

This one has probably allready been recced, but just in case: The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Great epic length fantasy series that spans fourteen books. I am soon on the eighth book and it is still as epic as ever.

 

With all the hype (and spoilers) about "The Martian" by Andy Weir, I still enjoyed reading the book.

 

Argosh, is it much different from the movie? I've seen that, and I wouldnt mind reading the book, but if its exactly the same theres not much point.

 

Book has more obstacles for Mark Watney to overcome than the movie, obviously. They cut a few things to fit into the movies runtime.
Reading the book gives you a clearer picture of his thoughts etc. I bought it mostly to support the author.

 

The movie followed very closely to the book, but I'd tell you to read it nonetheless. Mark's humorous narrative makes the book what it is and the technical jargon and thought processes are also much easier to understand on the page.

 

The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker is a good book.
It's rather slow burn, and feels like it's mainly focussed on the interaction of the main characters and how their personalities develop. There is some 'conflict' to keep the book moving - but at the start, it doesn't feel like there's any 'grand struggle' as there is in other books.

 

Anything by Christian Cameron for lovers of historical fiction. He has a superb series about the greco-persian wars (The Long War), another pretty good one about Alexander the Great and a third series about Sir William Gold set in the 14th century. All of them are well researched and the fight scenes are superb; the author is apparently into re-enactments in a big way and it shows.

 

Possibly my favorite book is A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness). Listened to the audiobook over the space of a business week in the evenings, but I really had to restrain myself from tearing through it all at once. When I finished it, I was completely wrecked - the littlest things made me tear up. It was such a universal feeling at the heart of the story, something not often dealt with, and I was very moved. I went out and bought a paperback copy for the illustrations, which I also recommend.

 

I love that book. The writing is magnificent.

 

One of my absolute favourites is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It's the book that - to me - reset al the standards I had set for other books.

It has this amazing story-within-story framework with a protagonist who sometimes is a hero, then an anti-hero or even a villain depending on which chapter you are in. You're just sucked in and you can't help but hold your breath as the protagonist keeps on meditating how his heroism went wrong.

Okay I 'll have to go reread it now.

 

Pretty sure 90% of this forum has read this book, and theres definitely a thread already. While this is the wrong place for it, yes, its an amazing book.

 

Yeah I know this is a rec thread, but this Q doesn't deserve its own thread.

What are the best books of the old Star Wars EU? I've read the Darth Bane books and loved them, as well as the Dark Lord trilogy (Labyrinth of Evil - Revenge of the Sith - Dark Lord... SO much better than Star Wars Ep 3, btw) and dug them. But I'm wondering what else out there in that wasteland is worth reading?

I've been rec'd the Thrawn Trilogy and have those ordered. Anything else?

 

Well, from what I can remember when I last read Star Wars EU books near a decade ago...

- Thrawn Trilogy is a must, Timothy Zahn in general for Star Wars.

- the Jedi Academy trilogy isn't terrible, I enjoyed them, back then, but they may not hold up any more.

- I liked the X-Wing series, ten books by Stackpole and Allston, starring Wes Janson and Wedge Antilles and their new squads, those were probably good cheesy fun, am tempted to hunt them down for a reread but am afraid I only liked them because I was a fifteen year old Star Wars fan who would have loved anything with X-Wings in it. I did not read the tenth book that came out in 2012.

-Shadows of the Empire wasn't that bad, I think, playing between Episode 5 and 6.

 

I'll second the X-Wing books. Shadows of the Empire I think would probably not hold up well; my memory is hazy but my strong gut read is that it would come off as super juvenile. Jedi Academy is one of Kevin J. Anderson's abominations, so automatic veto there. Kyp Durron makes Kylo Ren look like Original Flavor Darth Vader by comparison.

I'd throw in:

Everything Zahn's written. Outbound Flight, Allegiance, Survivor's Quest are all at least decent. And definitely, definitely get the duology that caps off the non-shitty EU / Thrawn arc, Specter of the Past / Vision of the Future. Those two are maaaaaybe my favorite EU books?

The Boba Fett trilogy was pretty good IIRC. The Mandalorian Armor / Slave Ship / Hard Merchandise. Been a long time since I read them, but did a pretty good job making Fett cool and interesting without overloading you with angst-y backstory.

I, Jedi is... okay-ish? It's Stackpole, so it's decently written. I remember being really turned off by one specific aspect of it though, can't remember what exactly.

I liked the Correilan Trilogy, but not sure how it would stand up now.

I would avoid anything Kathy Tyers wrote, anything Kevin J. Anderson wrote, and anything containing the name "Callista".

I stopped reading after Vector Prime so I never got into that whole thing.

Been a long time since I read any of them, but. All in all with the exception of Zahn's best five (Thrawn trilogy + duology), which are excellent books just in and of themselves, there aren't really any amazing Star Wars books out there. Everything is shades of almost and not quite. The X-Wing books are good (although the first couple are pretty rough). Aaron Allston was legit funny and had really tightly-paced, high-octane plots. His Wraith Squadron books are good fun, and Starfighters of Adumar is my favorite non-Zahn Star Wars book.

 

As I said, read the Anderson books when I was a teenager, and they were in German, so, it very well may be that they are terrible, but I did have fun with Daala and the non Kyp related Jedi stuff.

Ha, avoiding Callista is a necessity.

I, Jedi is...well, decent, I suppose. I wasn't exactly blown away by it, but I don't remember being angry at it either. Just, wasn't particularly memorable. I remember a lot from the X-Wing books, Thrawn books, the Obi Wan as padawan books, the Han Solo trilogy, even the Anderson and Callista stuff but fuck me if I remember anything else about I, Jedi except that Corran Horn is the protag.

Mate recced the Republic Commando books but haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

 

In my eyes those books are one the worst series in the entire Star Wars universe. Karen Traviss is famous for her "interesting" interpretation of the Mandalorians/Clone Troopers (in short = Mandalorian => Mary Sue), her reinterpretation of the Jedi (which comes near/reaches character bashing) as well as her ignorance for the works of other authors in the EU/, even if she uses already introduced characters or co-writes series (and thus her tendency to re-interpret everything to her liking). Plus of course her attitude when it comes to dealing with critics...

 

I recently read The Goblin Emperor. It was nominated to all major awards for the fantasy book (Hugo Award, Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award and won Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel), but to be honest I would call it a great book. What I would call it is a really nice book, because this word perfectly describes my feelings about it.

As a summary I will just quote part of wiki synopsis that has no spoilers in it:

It's a fish out of water scenario where a nice guy slowly wins people's affection by being mostly himself, but the book is written well enough that you quickly find yourself rooting for Maia in his struggle to be a man deserving being an emperor.

My favourite aspect of it was how one can handle the fact that from a nobody they suddenly becomes the most important person in the country. How just one title can change how everyone is behaving towards someone and how much power it gives over them. I would actually want to read something similar, but have trouble finding exactly this kind of setup. Meaning a very unimportant and ignored person unexpectedly becoming a king and dealing with this change of role. Basically something like King Ralph only more serious.

 

As someone who read Karen Traviss' work religiously when they first came out...I heartily second @Erandil review. God, I had shitty taste.

The same with Shadows of the Empire, it does not hold up.

Plus one to all of these opinions, especially an overwhelming Everything By Zahn.


I'll add a massive recommendation for everything Matthew Woodring Stover wrote in the EU, especially the novelization of Revenge of the Sith.

[Gets a niggling feeling, checks to discover you've already read it.] Edit: It annoys me that I didn't get a chance to rave about this, my favorite book, so I'll just take the time to quickly recommend it to anyone else reading. I think it most reminds me of The Name of the Wind and The Game of Champions, in the grandiose philosophy and unashamedly epic nature of the story it tells. Purple prose done right is a marvelous thing.

Still, the recommendation stands for the rest of his books. I'd especially recommend Traitor, set in the the Yuuhzahn Vong invasion, and Shatterpoint, which covers a badass Mace Windu fighting during the Clone Wars. Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindu was good, but it didn't grab me in the same way his other tales did @Newcomb I'd check out Traitor even if you never touch the rest of the NJO - it's one of only 4 I've read, horribly out of order, and it's good enough to be worth it.

My top 5 Star Wars books are probably:

1. Revenge of the Sith
2. The Thrawn Trilogy (Book 3 being my personal favorite, because it was the first I read)
3. The Hand of Thrawn Duology (Book 2 being the best
4. Traitor
5/6. Outbound Flight and Shatterpoint

Stover and Zahn really do stand head and shoulders above every other writer I've read in the EU.


I'd add to avoid the Black Fleet Crisis, The Dark Nest Trilogy, and The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance like the plague. I have really fond memories of the novelization of Force Unleashed, and Death Star.

 

Oh my god I forgot those were a thing. Worst. Books. Ever.