OT - Books???

[Executor]

Started reading Song of Fire and Ice a while back after I lost a game titled the same to Corwin. I never realized the series weren't finished once I started reading the first damn book so a hex on you Corwin for that!

So, I was wondering if anyone else here is into the same or similar crap and if you've got something good(ish) to recommend, preferably something finished?

[Knai]

Other stuff you should like.

STANDARD READING
Guy Gavriel Kay
The Lions of Al Rassan*
The Last Light Of The Sun
The Sarantine Mosaic

J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Silimarillion


George R. R. Martin
Fevre Dream
The Armageddon Rag

LIGHT READING
Brandon Sanderson
Elantris
Mistborn
Warbreaker

Garth Nix
The Old Kingdom

Alan Dean Foster
The Journey of the Catechist
The Damned
The Founding of the Commonwealth

Tamora Pierce
Protector of the Small
Terrier

*If you take nothing else from this, take this book. It is wonderful.

[samoht]

Book of the New Sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_new_sun) by Gene Wolfe. It makes for some pretty challenging reading, but very rewarding. I like to reread it about once a year. It is four books, but now it is collected into two volumes. You can find it at most any book store.

The old (original) Conan stories by Robert E. Howard are always good, too. I think those have been collected into three different volumes.

[Starbelly Geek]

Glenn Cook's Black Company series - the first few have some of the feel of a Dominions game, complete with thugs and SC's!

[Anaconda]

The First Law thrilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It's ok, its not mind blowing, but its good enough to keep genre fans entertained while Martin finishes his next tome.

[Executor]

Thanks for the suggestions!
Started reading Mistborn yesterday but gave up after the first few chapters, didn't really catch my attention.
Hopefully these books mentioned here will keep me occupied for a while.

[Knai]

Thanks for the suggestions!
Started reading Mistborn yesterday but gave up after the first few chapters, didn't really catch my attention.
Hopefully these books mentioned here will keep me occupied for a while.

Honestly, Mistborn is probably my least favorite Sanderson book, and Sanderson is among the authors on that list that is least applicable (and that I like least). It's Guy Gavriel Kay that you want, more than any of the others.

[Deathjester]

Steven Erikson - "The Malazan Book of the Fallen"

For me, it's a fantastic series and the best fantasy I have read. It's gritty, rough, epic and touching. It's not true to many formulas in fantasy though, which might be offsetting. But, many scenes, many characters, are so memorable. 10 books, starting with Gardens of the Moon, all finished.

Also, Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" is a great epic. While not strictly fantasy - it's scifi/fantasy/western - it's a solid epic storyline with great characters and it's just very very good. 7 books, starting with "The Gunslinger", all finished.

These should not be missed!

[Doo]

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny is brilliant!

This is the series that turned Angband into Zangband (I hope that means something to somebody here), introducing the Trumps of Doom and other beasties. I've finished the Amber series and over halfway through the Courts of Chaos series.

Also read The Lords of Light by the same author. A stand-alone novel about gods at war over educating the humans, except its not what it first appears...

Zelanzy has a very easy to read style and I recommend the above novels to anyone.

[thejeff]

Be aware that The Dark Tower series becomes much more horror than scifi/fantasy/western as it goes along. I loved the first few and lost interest as I went along.

Zelazny is wonderful. Lords of Light is one of my all-time favorites.

Mistborn is one of the few books I couldn't get through. Never tried to read any others.

[Olm]

Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn

[sansanjuan]

Thanks for the suggestions!
Started reading Mistborn yesterday but gave up after the first few chapters, didn't really catch my attention.
Hopefully these books mentioned here will keep me occupied for a while.

Almost put Mistborn down too but was glad I didn't. Certainly was a slow starter.. but a strong finisher imho.
-ssj

[Korwin]

Got Mistborn as an free eBook from Tor, bought the other two.
Tangential to Brandon Sanderson, do you know Wheel of Time? (Autor: Robert Jordan, RIP), because next year it will be finished (by Sanderson)
If you dont know it yet, be warned its very long winded (I like it anyway ;))
The Way of Kings (http://www.amazon.de/Way-Kings-01-Stormlight-Archive/dp/0765365278/ref=sr_1_1?s=books-intl-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1323781815&sr=1-1) is the start of Sandersons own epic fantasy series.

Authors I did not see in the thread and which I like.
(But those books are all much lighter (ie. not so depressing), than Song of Fire and Ice)

Jim Butcher
(two series out,
one fantasy: Codex of Alera [Pokemon + missing Roman legion] finished,
the other urban fantasy: Dresden Files[wizard + private eye] in work)
Sample Chapters - Dresden Files, book 1 (http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/storm-front/sf-chapter-1)
I liked his fantasy serie, but the urban fantasy one I liked better.
To be honest, the first book in the serie is nice, but the later ones get better.

Wen Spencer - not really urban fantasy, more fantasy urban (a modern city got transplanted into the elf world, one day in the month it gets back to earth.)
Tinker (http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0743471652/0743471652.htm?blurb) - Sample chapters (1. Book)
Wolf Who Rules (http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1416520554/1416520554.htm?blurb) - Sample capters (2. Book)
Book 3 is - hopefully - soon available as eARC (electronic Advanced Reader Copy)

David Weber - only one fantasy serie (if you want science fiction, you get many, many more books)
Oath of Swords (http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0671876422/0671876422.htm?blurb) - First book for free as ebook.
If you dont know him, read it.
If you allready red all his other books, he gets a (IMHO) little predictable... (but I still read all his books, so it can't be sooo bad, right?)

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Almost forgot to second Steven Ericksons Books of the Fallen. Much nearer in tone to SoFaI.
And its finished. (There will be books in the same world, but the Books of the Fallen got finished)

[Executor]

Hmm, and how about The Name of the Wind?

The Black Company sounds very interesing.

EDIT: Wanted to give Wheel of Time a go, but it seems a bit too long and I not all chapters can be found where I live.

[Korwin]

The Name of the Wind is good, but it was almost 3 years between book 1 and book 2.
You where warned :D

Some other ebooks from Glen Cook (with sample chapters):
http://www.webscription.net/s-157-glen-cook.aspx?pagenum=2

[Knai]

The Name of the Wind is good, but it was almost 3 years between book 1 and book 2.
You where warned :D
I'd consider The Name of the Wind a bit of a different genre. Plus, the series is nowhere near done, and I suspect we are going to see the Jordan/Martin book release schedule with it. Rothfuss is a good enough writer to be worth putting up with that (unlike Jordan), but the OP has suggested that he prefers finding finished series and reading them then.

[Anaconda]

Jordan should be mentioned in past tense, he is resting in peace.

[Knai]

Jordan should be mentioned in past tense, he is resting in peace.

The Jordan Release Schedule is still in use, if not by Jordan. It is part of his legacy. It's much how Tokenien Fantasy is a genre, despite Tolkien being long dead.

[Edi]

Peter V. Brett's The Painted Man and The Desert Spear are excellent reading.

I second the Black Company and also Glen Cook's Tyranny of the Night series is quite a good fit for a Dominions type of story.