Some must reads

[QuothTheRaven]

Here's my must reads, some you will know and some you won't. Has anyone read them?

A Song of Ice and Fire- Politics and war, redemption and slaughter, a couple dragons, and a tiny bit of magic. Not for the kids. Starts with A Game of Thrones.

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence- Loyalty among thieves, backstabbing among rulers. The dialogue is fantastic, the characters are great, and the settings are unique. Starts with The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Off Armageddon Reef- Religion as a means of control, science as mankind's liberator. Heavy in feudal politics and a little philosophy. Interesting characters, fun plot. A little predictable, and the protagonist is a literal Deus Ex Machina, but still a good read. First in an ongoing series.

The Dragon Circle- My favorite books that no one has read but me. Out of print, but easy to find on Amazon in paperback for dirt cheap. Normal 1960's suburban families thrust into a fantastic setting. There's a Lawn God, a monkey made of lightning, a dog with a demon in him, a man with a sword addiction, a dude who talks to trees and my personal favorite, a talking Raven who claims to be omnipotent. No, he does not feel the need to prove it. Starts with Dragon Sleeping.

Whaddya think, Erfworld?

[Allandaros]

Lies of Locke Lamora is excellent; its sequel, Red Seas under Red Skies, is less so. I'm waiting for the next book in the sequence to determine whether the first one was a flash in the pan, or whether the second was a relative dud.

[Sandis]

Diskworld.

The Harry Potter series.

Animorphs.

Pretty much anything with Timothy Zahn's name on the cover.

David Weber's Honorverse.

If you're into graphic novels, I also recommend the entirety of Neil Gaiman's run on the Sandman.

[Whet Lunkhoff]

The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks. A must for anyone who is A) a gamer, B) likes science fiction, or C) both.

[jioan]

I'm reading a Song of Ice and Fire right now and it's great. Currently I'm on the second one a Clash of Kings. It's interesting how the story is told from around 10 different character's points of view. Also, few if any of these characters fit into archtypes. I agree the book is not for younger audiences.

[t_catt11]

If you love long, intricate reads that involve end of the world plots and complex narration from multiple viewpoints, please, go buy something by Tad Williams. My personal favorite is still the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, but just about anything he writes will do it.

[Prometheus]

Some books/series I love:

A Song of Ice and Fire (George R. R. Martin) - I'm eagerly awaiting the next book.

Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan) - It's long, but it's got a very detailed world with great characters.

Warbreaker (Brandon Sanderson) - This one is hard to summarize, but it's awesome.

Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson again) - Probably the best trilogy I've ever read.

[Mors]

The Malazan Book of the Fallen:
It's a good read I prefer it over ASoIaF which it is often compared to. However it tend to be a series you either love or hate. It only has two books left in the series one of which will be published soon. It has a good mix of fighting/magic/humor that keeps me reading.

The Kingkiller Chronicles:
Only the first book of this series is out "The Name of the Wind" which has a bit of a Harry Potter feel to it. It's played off as an autobiography of the main character Kvothe's life to a man called Chronicler. The first book is great and I can't wait for the second.

Some other books to check out
The First Law Trilogy
Heroes Die

[Emaria]

If you're into graphic novels, I also recommend the entirety of Neil Gaiman's run on the Sandman.

I don't know anything about this Sandman graphic novel business but I looove me some Neil Gaiman. American Gods and Anansi Boys were such good reads. Neverwhere is okay as well, I didn't like it quite as much. Also, Good Omens which was co-written with Terry Pratchett. I don't usually recommend books to people I don't know and it looks like the people on this forum have a lot of the good ones covered. But since someone brought him up I thought I'd throw that one out there.

[DevilDan]

Sandman is a must read. Its breadth is only matched by its creativity.

If you enjoy it, I recommend Lucifer. Start with The Morningstar Option; you will not be disappointed.

[Ehbobo]

Well for starters there is definitely the Dune series by Frank Herbert. Less well known are the books written by his son, who was cleaning out the man's desk after his death and discovered outlines for something like a dozen more books in the series, but in my opinion those are the best.

Then Ender's Game is awesome, the sequels less so.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation series

And... The Inheritance Trilogy, by Christopher Paolini. Eragon comes first, but it's a work in progress.

Oh, almost forgot the recently concluded Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale. The first book is called Merchant of Death.

[Rosa Vernal]

Here's a quick list.

Oldboy. Seriously. Mind = blown.

Dune. HE WHO CONTROLS THE SPICE CONTROLS THE UNIVERSE.

Eragon and the rest of the Doorstoppers because they're so bad they're good. Also: LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE.

Honor Harrington. Even though Honor's a bit Mary Sue-ish, and the allusions are a bit heavy-handed, it's good scifi.

Discworld. Just... Discworld.

The Godslayer Chronicles. Mmh-hmm. Oh so good.

[MarbitChow]

I don't know if I'd categorize these as 'must reads', but I certainly enjoyed them all immensely:

Jim Butcher: The Dresden Files, Codex Alera
Charlie Stross: The Merchant's War, Glasshouse, Atrocity Archives
Stephen R. Donaldson: 1st and 2nd Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, the GAP series, Mordant's Need
C. E. Murphy: The Walker Papers
Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind
Brandon Sanderson: Mistborn / Well of Ascension / Hero of Ages

[Selexor]

Ohhhhh man I'm going to have to behave myself or else I'm just going to put up a run-on post of my favourite books, which would fill about three libraries. Alright, then, just some favourites.

If you're into the swords 'n' sorcery theme, you have to try the original Riftwar Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist. There's many, many books in the extended series, but the first three - Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness At Sethanon are definite must-reads for anyone who likes fantasy novels. Basically a trilogy that follow the loosely-connected lives of Pug the sorcerer's apprentice, Tomas the soldier-in-training, Arutha the royal prince, and Jimmy the teenaged Master Thief, as they get involved in a war with invaders from a parallel dimension.

If you prefer books about things that fall down and go boom, try picking up something by Matthew Reilly sometime. I especially recommend his Shane Schofield series - Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow and Hell Island. Extremely skilled Marine Recon Lieutenant (later captain) guides his team through a variety of attempts to blow up himself, America, the world in general, and a variety of other things. If you're turned off by flag-waving there is virtually none in the books, but it's a very intense series. Think Die Hard but in book form, still just as implausible and dangerous, and losing none of the bang.

And if you want a book that will make you feel genuinely good about the world, I can suggest The Dangerous Book Of Heroes. Don't be fooled by the title, "Dangerous" is more of a brand name for the authors than an indication of the book itself. It's actually a very tasteful, and in places extremely moving, honorific of (mostly British) people who throughout history did truly incredible, heroic things to shape the world.

And also I will stop now before my brain demands I list anything else, otherwise I'll be here all night.

[Foolamancer]

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. A fantastic sci-fi story.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson. The single greatest epic fantasy ever written.

The Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett. The greatest satirical/philosophical works of all time.

Dune, by Frank Herbert. It's considered a classic for a reason.