originally posted by Beldarius
Another author I could recommend - especially for people who want easy, fun reading and loads of dry, witty humor - would be David Eddings.
He was the man who started me on the path of fantasy literature when I was 12. It took me 11 years to collect all of his fantasy books (I have all 24 in Finnish, and 10 in English). Even though he recycles his characters and plot elements, I never get bored with his work (except The Dreamers which is sort of lackluster) and could read the books again and again.
I also respect him for his decision to not have his books filmed. I think he even mentioned somewhere he hated the idea and that "kids these days need to read more, not watch more TV".
originally posted by Trys
According to the list of titles in the front of The Wild Road there is at least one more book after this one. It indicates that volume four is Dragon Moon.
There are also two more Tiger and Del books, Sword-Bound due out in March 2013 and Sword-Bearer.
originally posted by David Gardner
I just finished reading this year's "Best Novel" Hugo, Jo Walton's Among Others. It was an interesting read, written as a series of diary entries by a teenage girl in 1979 UK struggling to live with the aftermath of a horrible accident.
I enjoyed it and would recommend it, although I had a few problems with the book-- the protagonist is an avid reader and although I had read a lot of the books she talks about there were way too many that I'd never even heard of; a "younger" reader would almost certainly have never ever any of the books she talks about except for Narnia and LOTR.
I also felt the like the society she was describing was more 1950s Britain than 1970s/1980s; it didn't depict any of the massive changes that were occurring at the UK at the time (start of Thatcher's rule!).
Anyone else read it?
originally posted by Neil
For some lighter/easier reading this year - I enjoyed some Joe Abercrombie's first law trilogy…and shadow magic by John Lenahan
I bought under heaven by guy kay on kindle for reread on the move with my iphone yesterday 
I am considering going back to alan garner lacking inspiration from some new books…anyone have any recent favourites? (doesn't have to be fantasy)
originally posted by Trys
Neil, if you have not read it already give Thomas Harlan's Wasteland of Flint a try. First in a series that deals with the same main character.
originally posted by Auna
Nobody has recommended books in ages…
I'd like to suggest "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. Book 2 - "The Wise Man's Fear" is out however book 3 won't be out until probably 2014. This is a pretty amazing first book for a new author who creates a very interesting story with very varied, fun, interesting characters. Even his side characters are well done.
I ran across his name when watching online lectures by Brandon Sanderson on how to write sci fi/fantasy (very entertaining and informative btw).
originally posted by Neil
Name of the wind was good and wise man's fear pretty good. Book 3 I fear may be tragic. These are books so big I am glad I have the phone/kindle to read them on
Try River of stars (what can I say? I like guy kay only a little more than Janny 
I am currently reading "the heroes"…joe abercrombie which is kind of bizarre now I see my post from Oct 2012…
I have read some highly recommended sci fi this year (used sfsite.com):
Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson
ender's game by Orson Scott Card
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is fun if you were a teenager in the 80s and know the video game references.
"Rivers of London" was fun too
I recently reread Ysabel and Initiate's trial too
I see "The Republic of Thieves" may be out later this year.
Robin Mckinley's shadows also later this year.
Jo Walton's Among Others (mentioned above) is on my to read list but I could not quite get into it when I read first few pages…some books I am not ready (yet) to read?
originally posted by David Gardner
There's a discount book store called Kelly's on George Street in Sydney that's closing down. I've bought a lot of books from there over the years, so I popped in this evening to see what they've got.
They've emptied out their storeroom and filled a shelf with Janny's back catalogue: http://imgur.com/b0mUYKj
I know there's a few Sydneysiders floating around, so if you ever wanted a copy of some of the harder to find books like Sorceror's Legacy or That Way Lies Camelot and couldn't find it, they've got them. Some of the paperbacks are in pretty poor condition generally, but they're approx. $5 a book.
originally posted by Neil
"The Republic of Thieves" came out on my kindle today
Scott Lynch and Patrick Rothfuss look to be visiting "Forbidden Planet" bookshop in London, UK soon.
Robin Mckinley's Shadows is winging its way in the post today too…
But I have "best served cold" and "the city and the city" on the go first…decisions…decisions…hmm…
originally posted by Neil
Can anyone recommend the first dorothy dunnett to read? Without me searching too much online
I thought I would ask…I was curious about how Janny mentioned DD made you think about how you perceived the story and how you would have too re-evualate what you see initially (sound "familiar"?)
originally posted by Neil
please ignore / delete - just found my previous post on this…elsewhere
originally posted by Neil
So far in 2014
Old Man's War - quite fun
King Hereafter - very good
originally posted by Neil
I really liked King Hereafter (read in Jan/Feb)…Hmm yes. Dorothy Dunnett did her research
Failed to get into wasteland of flint, also could not get into some Jonathan Carroll books (saw a reference on sfsite.com) or Comac McCarthy…nor speaker for the dead.
I did finally read "among others". Interesting read.
I started "Game of Kings" this week. I wonder what other gems are out there, truly, what other good "older" books have I missed? These were written in 1960 & 1970s. I wonder how I missed these as a teenager when my local library would not have have had a huge selection of fantasy/historical fiction…and I played chess so would have remember the references in the titles if I ever saw them…"The Sunne in Splendour" I still recall even if I never open its pages…
I suppose lymond books may have been too hard to read if I had tried at the time anyway?
I think these books might keep me going until Destiny's conflict comes out
I guess I may need a break from a long series now and again? Possibily time to reread "to ride hell'ss chasm" which someone else we know used as a break from a series
Neil, if you liked those titles, take a look at The Heaven Tree trilogy by Edith Pargeter; also two of my favorite books, ever, were Summer of the Red Wolf by Morris L. West, and also, The Horsemen by Joseph Kessel (book! not movie!!!)
Fantasies with mature angles of view and adult perspective, check Carol Berg, Barbara Hambly, Guy Kay, and in SF, R. M. Meluch's Merrimack series (very fun and wry humor); also her Jerusalem Fire was extremely deep and well done (more serious).
Katie Waitman's The Merro Tree (SF) was awesome and went totally under the radar, and also, Sarah Zettel's SF is stellar.
originally posted by Auna
All of Barbara Hambly's stuff is available on Kindle so you don't have to go lurking in old book stores to try and find copies. I love the way she describes scenes and frequently cite the first chapter in The Time of the Dark for my friends as an example of the proper way to suck in a reader so they don't escape your book
Other fantasy stuff I remember from the good ole days would include Jo Clayton, Louise Cooper, Sydney Van Scyoc, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Anne McCaffrey, and Mercedes Lackey to name a few. Unfortunately most of these would require rummaging old book stores since I didn't see most available in ebook form, sadly.
The new Dresden Files book just came out and I enjoyed it, so if you haven't gotten into this series yet that's 15 books of awesome to occupy time while you wait for a certain book to get done
originally posted by Auna
Oh I should also mention Roger Zelazny since I'd put the Amber series in the fantasy section and he rocks as an author.
originally posted by Auna
The Broken Eye, by Brent Weeks, comes out Aug 26.
I mention this since during my habitual obsessing about the release, I ran across Brent's Ask Me Anything and one of the posters mentioned 'Janmy' Wurts (yep her first name now has an 'm' in it).
According to the poster, Janny was bribed to kill off a character called Ardbeg in return for some fine scotch (or libation of choice) and artisan BBQ sauce. I'm definitely curious about how/where Ardbeg fits in. lol.
If you want to check out the Q&A out just hit the Reddit AMA link on Brent's page: http://www.brentweeks.com//
Oh there's also a link to chapters 1-9 if you absolutely can't wait a few more days and NEED a fix to tide you over.
originally posted by Neil
Just discovering heaps of reread blogs at Tor
e.g.
http://www.tor.com/features/series/rereading-the-empire-trilogy
but there is a name of the wind also
And… lord of the rings (well 5 years ago there was…)
originally posted by Melanie Trumbull
Disregard if you don't want to hear about me reading something that has been around for several years already.
My latest reading project started when I was in the public library and stumbled across The Burning Stone, a single volume of Kate Elliott – by "single" I mean that the library had absolutely no other books by this author. Just that title, which is no. 3 in a series of seven.
This is precisely how I became acquainted with Janny Wurts. In a different branch/location of the same library network, I encountered a single volume, not saying which one [except that it was not the first, opening volume] of The Wars of Light and Shadow. I went to the rest of the series after reading that volume.
So, I started Kate Elliott's "Crown of Stars" series with book no. 3, The Burning Stone. Have not read all seven books yet, nevertheless I now know how the whole thing ends.
One of the most striking things about the big arc of the story line, for me, is the arc through the volumes of the half-human, half-divine character named Liathano. It is in book no. 4, Child of Flame, that she penetrates the dimensional level from which her inhuman mother descended, a level of fire attainable only by "walking the spheres." Of course, in a series of seven books, number four is the middle, and so the character Liathano ascends from the first book, where her human father is murdered, to the zenith, which she cannot contact without discipline, practice, and innate ability, and where she can only stay for so long before she must descend from fire to aether and, finally, to earth.
Then, in the final book in the series of seven, she is released from a relationship attachment on the earthly level, and leaves the earth in a conflagration that consumes her earthly self, and liberates her divine self to return, for good, to the sphere from which her mother came.
The "Crown of Stars" series will stick in the craw of people who have no taste for religious institutions, for histories of dogmas and heresies. Many pages of paper and ink are devoted to the questioning, dissension, and conflict amongst believers. This does not bother me, as the early Church history fascinates me, and Kate Elliott clearly researched same before building the world in these books.
originally posted by Neil
"we are all completely beside ourselves" - a good read on siblings
"The girl with all the gifts" - also fun and surprising
Has anyone got a kindle voyager? my kindle keyboard has finally decided to stop working…