I really enjoyed this series - and all of Cornwell's work.

JJxvi said:

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Thoughts on a couple authors I dont see mentioned as often.

I would strongly recommend Robin Hobb for a prolific reader, especially those set in the Realm of the Elderlings (listed below). There's a huge number of volumes, comparable to something like Wheel of Time or Malazan in length, but broken up into way more interesting and manageable chunks, and they mostly feel like a fresh story within each set of books

Farseer Trilogy
Liveship Traders Trilogy
Tawny Man Trilogy
Rain Wilds Chronicles
and Fitz and The Fool Trilogy

I would also recommend The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett (5 books, completed series)

Other thoughts on other things mentioned in this thread already.

I can't recommend the Inheritance Cycle. The first couple of books I would say were promising Young Adult books written by a very young author, but you really didnt see a lot of improvement or progress when he was 27 or so writing the 4th book as when he was just a kid writing in the 1st. It still felt like it was written by a teenager. I think he's got some kind of short story anthology coming out at the end of the year, I'm curious to see how his writing looks now.

Can't recommend Rothfuss. Overrated, and it doesnt have an ending with no resolution in sight.

Wheel of Time/Robert Jordan, recommend only if you're prolific enough of a reader to get through it all.

Malazan Empire/Erickson. Same as above, but this likely also has a specific sort of reader.

Brandon Sanderson, like others can't recommend more strongly. I would not start with Stromlight Archive, thats another unfinished series planned to be a very long slog. Highly recommend Mistborn trilogy, which is shortish, and finished, and highlights all of the Sanderson strengths.

I have enjoyed Lightbringer. It's solid (yet unfinshed).

I recently finished the Dark Tower series. Meh

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I'm surprised Robin Hobb hasn't been mentioned as much. All of her books in the Realm of the Elderlings are great mini series in a connected world.

Great epic series broken into small packages.

FightinTexasAggie08 said:

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Malazan beats anything else period

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Not sure if it beats everything but it is a top 3 for sure

For me, I definitely recommend reading

The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Erikson - just freaking epic, I've read it twice and really picked up on a lot of stuff the second time around.

Gentleman B a s t a r d s series by Scott Lynch - still a work in progress, but I like the fantasy/heist aspect of it.

Any Cosmere novel by Brandon Sanderson - they are all starting to get interconnected which will be interesting to see how he pulls this off. Currently the two Mistborn series, the Stormlight Archive series, Elantris, Warbreaker, and Arcanum Unbounded(a collection of short stories). There are people and objects that appear in more than one of the these series/novels, which all take place on different planets.

Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and stand alone novels - Gritty but one of my favorites,

The Black Company by Glen Cook - Another epic/military series, really good.

The Powdermage Trilogy by Brian McClellan - Not as mentioned by a lot of people, but I really enjoyed it. It's kind of a weird combination of 18th century black powder firearms and magic.

This thread makes me realize I read too much.

Pretty close to batting 1.00

Currently finishing Battle Mage by Peter Flannery and am enjoying it.

While most have already been mentioned, here is my take:

True Fantasy top recommendations:
- Brandon Sanderson - Stormlight series, Mistborn series
- Brent Weeks - Lightbringer Series
- Michael Sullivan - Riyria Chronicles/Revelations
- Ryan Kirk - Nightblade series
- Robin Hobb - pretty much anything
- Joe Abercrombie - The First Law series
- Jim Butcher - Codex Alera series
- Patrick Rothfuss - Kingkiller Chronicles
- Scott Lynch - Gentleman *******s
- Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth series

Other Fantasy recommendations:
- Michael G Manning - Mageborn series
- Will Wight - Cradle series
- Jeff Wheeler - Harbinger series, King Fountain series, Whispers from Mirrowen series
- Peter V Brett - The Demon Cycle series
- Brian D Anderson - The Godling Chronicles
- AC Cobble - Benjamin Ashwood series

Fantastical/Technothrillers recommendations:
- Jim Butcher - Dresden (modern day wizard/vampire)
- Douglas E Richards - Nick Hall series, Wired series, Split Second Series, several single books
Most of his books are current-day thrillers that center around increased mental abilities caused by technology.
- Hugh Howey - Silo Series (actually the Wool, Shift and Dust series rebuilt into a trilogy rather than 9 books)
Post-apocalyptic series about life in silos following a nuclear war.
- Ramez Naam - Nexus Trilogy (neuroscience/nano-drug thriller)
- Marcus Sakey - The Brilliance Trilogy, Afterlife
- Matthew Mather - several post-apocalyptic or techno thrillers
- Michael C. Grumley - Breakthrough series
- Matthew Woodring Stover - Acts of Caine series
Set in the future where virtual reality actors do fantasy "films" that people immerse themselves in so much of the story is fantasy-based with a twist.
- Vasily Mahanenko - Way of the Shaman series - an interesting read if you have ever played MMORPGs as the book is set both in and out of the game world.

I think it's time to take the KingKiller Chronicles off any recommendation list. The series is not going to be finished be written and the best hope is that it gets turned into a movie or tv show to finally get answers.

That and half of what has been written kinda sucks

AgLiving06 said:

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I think it's time to take the KingKiller Chronicles off any recommendation list. The series is not going to be finished be written and the best hope is that it gets turned into a movie or tv show to finally get answers.

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And the worst part about that is that he's writing stuff like Rick & Morty vs Dungeons & Dragons instead.

your first mention of jim butcher likely should be the codex alera series.

I'm finding some new authprs and books here. thanks everybody!

bearamedic99 said:

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your first mention of jim butcher likely should be the codex alera series.

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Absolutely correct, thank you. I had also confused Stormlight and Lightbringer at first...probably my fault for trying to say too much, as usual.

edit: shouldn't try to correct a post when you wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning. lol

I've not met too many people who have read David Gemmel's Troy series, but, this is one of my all time favorites right up there with some of the authors listed above. This series is more of a mix between historical and fantasy fiction, though. One day I'm going to convince one of y'all to read this series on one of these boards...

https://www.amazon.com/Troy-Lord-Silver-Trilogy-Book/dp/0345494571

Robin Hobbs books are fun and the Powder Mage described above was good also.

Check this guy out: China Mieville. I started with Perdido Street Station and have read several others. Writes in some different styles but a lot of it is steampunk/fantasy.

bump if anyone has any newer recs.

Older books I read recently that were probably mentioned that i would recommend:

Kingdom Blades - McPhail
Demon Cycle - Peter Brett
Ascendant - Craig Alanson

Monster Hunter, Dead Six, and Black Sword series' by Larry Correia are all good, fun reads.

The Fatemarked books by David Estes were pretty good.

Benjamin Ashwood series by AC Cobble.

Kings Dark Tidings by Kel Kade

The new Anthony Ryan book is good. It starts a new series about Vaelin al Sorna.

It's sci-fi, but the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos is awesome.

Any Brent Weeks fans on here?

The last book in the Lightbringer series comes out soon. I've started re-reading book 3, then 4.

PS- anyone have a link to the non-kingkiller fantasy book thread on the E-board? I can't find the main one

I usually feel like such a normal contributing member of society until I check this thread and realize how much of a giant nerd I am. I'm batting like .999 on having read every suggestion.

I'll toss in a curve ball that isn't NYT bestselling popular.

The Dark Glory War series by Michael Stackpole.

Four book fantasy series that reminds me of Lord of the Rings in a way. There is a main protagonist but it follows the struggle of a few from a nation at war against the protagonist armies and plans. It's pretty epic and covers a generation of folk. Quite a few ups and downs a la original Star Wars trilogy as well. This is dark and gritty low fantasy stuff. I love it.

Eliminatus said:

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I'll toss in a curve ball that isn't NYT bestselling popular.

The Dark Glory War series by Michael Stackpole.

Four book fantasy series that reminds me of Lord of the Rings in a way. There is a main protagonist but it follows the struggle of a few from a nation at war against the protagonist armies and plans. It's pretty epic and covers a generation of folk. Quite a few ups and downs a la original Star Wars trilogy as well. This is dark and gritty low fantasy stuff. I love it.

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Stackpole also wrote a fun novel called Talion: Revenant

edit: spelling

Good calls. I'm not sure I read Talon Revenant but I definitely read the dark glory war series, I Jedi, and the Rogue Squadron series. Never tried his Cartomancy series; it just didn't seem interesting

I loved Talion. That book was so much damn fun and such a cool world.

john32f said:

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I loved Talion. That book was so much damn fun and such a cool world.

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Stackpole has been talking about a sequel for years.

mpl35 said:

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john32f said:

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I loved Talion. That book was so much damn fun and such a cool world.

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Stackpole has been talking about a sequel for years.

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Yeah, it's called Nemesis I think. I don't think he's done anything on it though.

CastleRock said:

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Just started Book 2 of Malazan and I have no idea what is going on.

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The overall storyline from book to book doesn't start to come together for you until late in the series. You don't get the whole picture until the last book but when you do it is incredible. If you enjoy the individual books, just hang in there. Honestly, I need to reread it because I bet it is better the second time

Speaking of, are any of the Malazan sequels or spinoffs any good?

I like path to ascendancy series. I'm still on the The Kharkanas Books

W.C. Griffin '09 said:

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Speaking of, are any of the Malazan sequels or spinoffs any good?

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I read a few of his co-author's books and they were pretty good. It was the first 2-3 he wrote.

CastleRock said:

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Just started Book 2 of Malazan and I have no idea what is going on.

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I'n on book 8 right now, and I have to say that book 2 was BY FAR the most difficult to get through. The first 300 pages of book 3 explain a lot. I wouldn't say any of the books are easy, but they do get easier, and book 5 is probably the easiest.

Also, I recommend a podcast called Ten Very Big Books. It's a readthrough discussion with one guy who's read all 10, another guy who has not read them but reads a lot of fantasy, and a girl who has not read them and reads a lot but not much fantasy. It's helped me a lot with remembering stuff that happened early in the series and how the plot ties together, esp since I read book 1 a year and a half ago. It's spoiler free except for the episodes that specifically say spoiler in the title (only one of those so far) so skip that one. They're right about where you are in the series too, section 1 of book 2.

Hi
I have apparently decided to do a wierd thing where I am just reading the first book of a bunch of series and then round robin-ing back into them

I finished Pierce Brown - Red Rising.. Loved it
Larry Correia - Hard Magic - fun airplane book (quick read, great world, great action)

I'm reading Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe and I am entrenched. I'm obsessed. This is art. This is levels under levels. Big big fan.

Eliminatus said:

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I'll toss in a curve ball that isn't NYT bestselling popular.

The Dark Glory War series by Michael Stackpole.

Four book fantasy series that reminds me of Lord of the Rings in a way. There is a main protagonist but it follows the struggle of a few from a nation at war against the protagonist armies and plans. It's pretty epic and covers a generation of folk. Quite a few ups and downs a la original Star Wars trilogy as well. This is dark and gritty low fantasy stuff. I love it.

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I read this when I was younger and you're the first person I've ever come across who also read it. I'll echo his sentiments that it's a pretty good series that reminds me of a more current series, Joe Abercrombie's First Law.