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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph Book Recommendations

Discussion in 'Archive: SF&F: Books and Comics' started by NYCitygurl, Feb 4, 2006.

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  1. resnictem

    resnictem Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 1999
    I must concur. I also like Neal Stephanson, A.E. Van Vogt (my Dad loves Van Vogt) and Philip K. Dick.
     
  2. Excellence

    Excellence Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2002

    It's okay, Ezekiel. You can't always avoid princesses and rogues in fantasy. I have to accept that. The only archetypes I won't read are elfs and dwarfs and orc type things. I'll consider the first book of The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone at least.
     
  3. JEDI-SOLO

    JEDI-SOLO Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 12, 2002
    I don't think that you will regret it either.

    Let me know what you think when you get to it!
     
  4. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    Has anyone read the Halo trilogy and could you give a review?
     
  5. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    L.E. Modesitt's Recule Saga is really good. The Magic of Recluse is the first one. It'l hard to get into, but if you finish you'll be glad you did.

    Sharon Stone's books are amazing!!! I recommend Summers at Castle Auburn.
     
  6. Excellence

    Excellence Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2002

    I was looking that up not a day ago, actually.
     
  7. JediNemesis

    JediNemesis Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2003
    I'd recommend Paradise Lost[/i[ to anyone, although I admit that some bits are not as incredible as other bits. But definitely Books I & II are essential reading.

    Also the works of Alastair Reynolds, a middling-obscure British SF writer. His books manage the almost unique feat of staying within the bounds of scientific possibility (well - mostly) whilst concocting some of the most detailed, complex and compulsively readable plots about. Plus, the characters are great - the humans are often almost as strange as the 'real' aliens. :p

    If you like hard sci-fi and space opera, Reynolds is good :)
     
  8. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    You should try it. It's really good. Though her name is Sharon Shinn. I don't know what I was thinking when I typed that . . .
     
  9. Twinky_Stryder

    Twinky_Stryder Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2003
    Yo.

    I'ma about to read The Magician's Guild and have seen what some of you guys have said; that it's poorly written and for teenagers.

    I'm still gonna read it, because I like to make up my own mind about things, but I was wondering if anyone could reccormend some books with a similar stroyline, but for adults.
     
  10. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    I'm usually into the more adult books, but I actually enjoyed that. Give it a shot, and go in with an open mind.

    Can't think of anything off the stop of my head, sorry.
     
  11. Knight_Dilettante

    Knight_Dilettante Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2002
    I'm looking forward to reading some of the above recommendations. All of mine are undoubtedly sadly out of date but I'm gonna make them anyway - because I'm like that.

    Here's just a few of the books that I have really enjoyed. Some are young adult but I still enjoyed them greatly (despite no longer being a young adult by the time I read them) and I still periodically re-read most if not all of them. Most of these will be older books because I haven't been anything like as up on books since the local sci-fi/fantasy bookstore closed. :_|

    Anything and everything by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and Tom Holt. Although Holt's books in particular sometimes work better than other times, it seems to me.

    The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford is excellent. I've really enjoyed everything I've read of John M. Ford's actually.

    Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

    Beauty & Deerskin by Robin McKinley

    Briar Rose by Jane Yolen is one of hers that sticks out in my mind. I've enjoyed everything I've read of hers too, with the exception of the books for really little kids - some of those I could do without if I didn't have a little kid.

    War for the Oaks by Emma Bull has elves but they're definitely different from your run of the mill elves. I also enjoyed everything else I've read of hers - haven't read the one with Brust yet.

    Steven Brust's Vlad series was fun (some more than others of course) and I also enjoyed a lot of the other books such as Brokedown Palace. I didn't get into some of the other books as much but that could just as easily be my frame of mind at the time.

    I liked the earlier Anita Blakes by Laurell K. Hamilton but I haven't kept up because despite having quite a high tolerance it seemed like it just got to be too much about the sex and not enough about the story for my taste.

    Sharon Shinn's Samaria trilogy (Starts with Archangel) was good. I've been meaning to read some of her other books but somehow I lost reading time after having a kid.

    Everything Diana Wynne Jones has written that I have read (I think I may have missed a few recent ones) I have enjoyed but I really liked some a lot more than others. Howl's Moving Castle (the recent animated movie did not do it justice in my opinion), Dark Lord of Derkholm (I think this one is hilarious - sometimes people give me strange looks when I wax poetical about that, ymmv), Deep Secret, and Fire and Hemlock are the ones I can remember off the top of my head (my library is in storage at the moment) as being some that I particularly enjoyed.

    I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit of course, but I'm one of those who is equally entertained by the Peter Jackson films so I don't know if that will render my recommendation moot or not.

    Sorcery and Cecelia by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede is a light fun read too. Not nearly as much there there as one might sometimes want. But sometimes it's the bubbles that make the bath fun.

    And there's a huge number of other books and writers whose work I have enjoyed enough to read multiple times but I can't think of them off the top of my head for some reason.

    KD
     
  12. Excellence

    Excellence Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2002

    With The Magician's Guild, one of the first fantasy book I read, the underlining problem is that the same chase-the-girl event is repeated over and over, for hundreds of pages. You're essentially reading the same thing for over 2/3rds of the book. Is it true the subsequent trilogy explores a homosexual relationship, anyone, incidentally?
     
  13. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    Sharon Shinn is excellent!!! Archangel is amazing, and Summers at Castle Auburn is even better :) Have you read the Crestomanci books by DWJ?

    Ex--the other two books were better. And yes, there is a homosexual romance, and a couple non-homosexual ones, as well. They're all very delicately done.
     
  14. Lonestar52

    Lonestar52 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jun 30, 2005
    If you can find it, go out and buy the Eisenhorn Omnibus by Dan Abnett. Three Novels for $10, a good deal. It's a pretty good introduction to the WH40Kverse.

    American Gods has already been mentioned, but I'll mention it again. I would also recommend the March To... Series by John Ringo and David Weber.
     
  15. jangoisadrunk

    jangoisadrunk Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 7, 2005


    I just finished Revelation Space and have to say that it was one the best, and most creative novels I've ever read - sci-fi or not. He really toed the line between hard science fiction and space opera with that novel. The people, places, and events in that book are now permantly imprinted in my mind. For me, reading Revelation Space transended the normal sci-fi novel experience. I'm sure I'll look back at this time and see RS as one of the (if you'll pardon the hyperboly) epoch defining moment in my life. It truly was a special novel for me. I can't wait to read Chasm City.

    It was so important for me, that I'm considering changing my JC username to something relevant to the story.
     
  16. JediTrilobite

    JediTrilobite Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 1999
    I've been meaning to pick up some of Reynold's stuff. I've heard a lot of good things.
     
  17. Twinky_Stryder

    Twinky_Stryder Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2003
    Do any of you guys know if Shadowmancer by GP Taylor is any good?
     
  18. sidious618

    sidious618 Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 20, 2003
    I found the Briar King rather boring myself. I didn't attach to anything, really.
     
  19. Excellence

    Excellence Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2002

    The rest of the trilogy?
     
  20. Excellence

    Excellence Jedi Knight star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2002

    How badly would one recommend Alastair Reynold's books?

    Are they prosed with heavy techno babble like Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction? How exciting and action packed are they? Or are they slow reads with Triple Zero-type boredom?

    Thanks!
     
  21. barabel_humour

    barabel_humour Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2005
    I read Shadowmancer, it was a fairly entertaining children's book but I remember my enjoyment being completely retrospectively ruined by a second edition being released not long afterwards with a bonus chapter continuing the cliffhanger ending that the original version ends with. It's a great page turner, full of superstition and dramatic tension but slightly too descriptive in places and I remember being irritated by the over-simplification of good and evil.

     
  22. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    I got a few pages in, but it's a children's book and didn't interest me much so I put it down.
     
  23. severian28

    severian28 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 1, 2004
    How are the Dresden Files. I actually read a 150 pages of the book just hanging out in Barnes and Nobles ( its my day off ) and Im seriously thinking about buying them all. Just wanna now if it maintains well.
     
  24. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    I've only read the first book so far, but it was an easy, enjoyable read. I've got the second but haven't had time to read it, but I hear they keep getting better. There's a thread on them somewhere around here . . .
     
  25. Rouge77

    Rouge77 Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2005
    I would suggest starting reading Alastair Reynolds´ work with Chasm City. It´s clearly his best novel, and works independently of his other work in that sequence. People who don´t like space opera so much could like it, unlike most of his other work. Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days is a collection of two novellas, also independent works in the same sequence and not in the epic scope of his other works. Century Rain is his first novel out of his main sequence and in my opinion pretty bad book.
     
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