Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Shade on September 04, 2007, 10:35:26 am
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I'm running out of books to read, so it's almost time for my annual amazon shopping spree. But I've pretty much exhausted all the sci-fi classics by now (basically, if it's Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Gibson, Orwell or Card, and worth a damn, I've read it, as well as several major classics by other authors), so I need some suggestions. Here are some current ideas I'm thinking about, but any suggestions are welcome:
I'm sorta feeling in a Mech kind of mood, so I'm thinking about looking into some Battletech novels. I know the universe and like both it and mechs in general, so it has some serious appeal. But I've got no idea which of the books are best, nor where to start, so if anyone here reads those, I'd like some input. As for timeline, I'm definitely looking for stories that take place pre-and-during the clan invasion, as that's by far my preferred period. One absolute requirement is that any books absolutely, positively, must feature some kick ass Mech battles :p Trilogies and the like are fine, I like long story arcs.
I've also been thinking about the Uplift series by David Brin, as the premise looks very interesting, but since it seems kind of atypical I'd also like to hear from anyone who has read those first.
Finally, and in the fantasy realm, I'm feeling rather tempted by the Books of the Swords by Fred Saberhagen, but I'm having a ***** of a time finding anything that amounts to a decent review of them. The premise looks awesome though, but I don't know his work at all and bad writing can kill even a killer premise.
Soo... if you're a Sci-Fi/Fantasy lover like me and have read any of these, please help me :)
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Well... if you've never read a book by Charles Sheffield I'd look into those. Some of his better ones are Between the Strokes of Night and The Mind Pool. Godspeed isn't half-bad either.
As for Battletech books, I must admit I haven't read many, but I do have duology concerning Jeremiah Rose and his Black Thorns mercenary unit, during a several year halt of the Clan invasion. Despite it being sort of a cease-fire, they still have border conflicts galore against the Clans, and the Black Thorns get thrown into some pretty hot situations. The books are: Main Event and D.R.T.. And yes, plenty of kick-ass Mech battles. :p
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Have you read any of the culture novels?
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Nope, had never heard of them actually. But having looked them up now that you mentioned them, those look very interesting indeed.
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For fantasy... The Name of the Wind (http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/content/index.asp). That one book puts everything else I've ever read to shame. :yes:
For sci-fi... you could always go through the Star Wars books that were made pre-ep. one.
If you go this route, try the X-wing series.
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Farenheit 451 is fairly engrossing.
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It is. But I've read it, and I've got too good a memory of it to reread it again. That's the big problem for me actually, I can remember the books I read with considerable detail even years later (I'd be great in a world where books were burned, like in F451 ;)), so I have to buy new ones all the time. It'll be much cheaper for me once I get old and senile, then I can just reread then same 2-3 books all the time and go 'ooh' and 'aah' each time :p
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Try books by John Ringo (Council wars series or the Posleen series)
or Frank Herbert (Dune). another good author is David Weber (In fury born is an amazing book)
Try the Baen Free Libary online, they have stacks of good sci-fi authors on there.
Hope this helps :)
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I'm running out of books to read, so it's almost time for my annual amazon shopping spree. But I've pretty much exhausted all the sci-fi classics by now (basically, if it's Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Gibson, Orwell or Card, and worth a damn, I've read it, as well as several major classics by other authors), so I need some suggestions.
Contemporaries of those folks and worthwhile; Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series, which should also be mandatory for anyone who writes a killer robot. Larry Niven. Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history books; I particularly like West of Honor, but it's not all that sci-fi.
I'm sorta feeling in a Mech kind of mood, so I'm thinking about looking into some Battletech novels. I know the universe and like both it and mechs in general, so it has some serious appeal. But I've got no idea which of the books are best, nor where to start, so if anyone here reads those, I'd like some input. As for timeline, I'm definitely looking for stories that take place pre-and-during the clan invasion, as that's by far my preferred period. One absolute requirement is that any books absolutely, positively, must feature some kick ass Mech battles :p Trilogies and the like are fine, I like long story arcs.
Warrior Trilogy: En Guarde, Riposte, Coupe. Blood of Kerensky trilogy: Lethal Heritage, Blood Legacy, Lost Destiny. That's the basics. Extended basics (:P): Twilight of the Clans series, particularly Grave Covenant, the Operation Serpent ones (The Hunters, Sword and Fire, and Shadows of War), and Prince of Havoc. Just for fun or flavor; Day of Honor and Operation Excalibur, Double-Blind, Binding Force. I just got my hands on the Jade Phoenix Trilogy, so I'll let you know.
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(basically, if it's Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Gibson, Orwell or Card, and worth a damn, I've read it, as well as several major classics by other authors),
Umm... Timothy Zahn? Thrawn trilogy? :nervous:
Orson Welles? If you really want to waste time, War of the Worlds... as in the recent movie. There you go. I bet you haven't seem that. ;7
But seriously, some of the older SW books are good, can't give an opinion on the newer ones although I don't like them. Truce at Bakura was interesting. Which shows you how much I know about scifi.
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Good... good, this is exactly what I was hoping for.
Thegreenmonk: Really should've put the dune series in my "already have" list, as that's a must have and thus bound to be suggested when I didn't. Will take a look at the others and see if they look like my thing though.
Ngtm1r: Awesome! Those suggestions will make an excellent start :)
Mustang: Zahn, yes, can't believe I forgot about him. I Don't have the Thrawn trilogy, and if you hadn't mentioned it I bet I'd have forgotten to get it again. I keep meaning to and then forgetting, it's like a damn curse or something :p Not WotW though, know the story too well from other sources, but still not a bad suggestion.
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/me cannot recommend the X-Wing books enough.
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*Desert Tyrant cannot sing the prases of The Thrawn Triolgy enough.
Really, the Thrawn Triolgy and the X-Wing books are as good as the Expanded universe ever really got.
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Is it just me, or did every SW book after 1995 start to get crappy?
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I'm liking this new-fangled Legacy of the Force thing, though.
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Is it just me, or did every SW book after 1995 start to get crappy?
Largely enough, yes. Hey, i'll admit I liked The New Jedi Order. Plus you have no idea how much I hated the New Republic. I outright cheered when thise imcompetant, worthless retards got reorganized into the now much more competant Galactic Federation of Free Alliances(Or GFFA.)
Really, though, the EU has always paled in comparison with the movies in scope and quality(lolz 8 klick Executor lolz, despite the fact that anybody with a pair of ****ing eyes can see that the Executor is much larger.
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Really, though, the EU has always paled in comparison with the movies in scope and quality(lolz 8 klick Executor lolz, despite the fact that anybody with a pair of ****ing eyes can see that the Executor is much larger.
Take that, reverse it. :P
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Really, though, the EU has always paled in comparison with the movies in scope and quality(lolz 8 klick Executor lolz, despite the fact that anybody with a pair of ****ing eyes can see that the Executor is much larger.
Take that, reverse it. :P
...what?
In TESB, we see an Imperator next to the Executor as DEATH squadran emerges from hyperspace, and said Imperator is not much longer than one of the mighty Star Dreadnought's engine groups.
...**** it, here's what Curtis Saxton has to say about it:http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ssd.html (http://www.theforce.net/swtc/ssd.html)
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I smell a thread-jack.
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...what?
You speak nonsense. Come back when you know the EU better; mainly the books.
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*Ahem* Back to the topic at hand.
What do you think of Zombies? Because regardless, I highly recommend World War Z by Max Brooks. It's presented as an oral history of a Zombie pandemic that very nearly wipes humanity clean off the globe. It covers both military and civilian perspectives, characters from all around the world: From a Chinese Admiral who used a stolen Boomer submarine to escape the zombie hordes, to an Australian astronaut who spent the duration of the war on the International Space Station.
Nicely written and an original take on an otherwise well-trodden genre. It ain't got mechs, but it's a damned good read nonetheless.
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Hey. Hey, guy.
Gradisil, by Adam Roberts. It is fantastic. I'm going to keep mentioning this in Recommended Reading threads until everyone on this forum has read it.
Clive Barker's Imajica is the best stand-alone fantasy novel I've ever read.
And have you read George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series? Some excellent high fantasy there. It's got a lot of politics in it without being tiresome, and the world's more medieval than most of the mainstream nonsense. The way Martin handles magic is also pretty classy. First one's A Game of Thrones.
I'm not sure how you feel about Stephen King, but his Dark Tower series might be worth looking into. I've only read the first and it doesn't stand on its own terribly well, but the writing style is fun if a little contrived and the story seems pretty unique. First one's called The Gunslinger.
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I'll second the recommendation to read some Larry Niven. Ringworld is probably the most famous thing he wrote but I'd probably suggest starting a little further back in the chronology with Protector first or perhaps a short story book like N-Space which features what I feel are his best two short stories (Inconstant Moon and Convergent Series).
I'd also recommend some Harry Harrison. The West of Eden trilogy are a damn good read and if you fancy something lighter try any of the Stainless Steel Rat books or even Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers if you want to go for parody.
You might want to try some Greg Bear too. I quite liked Forge of God and it's sequel Anvil of Stars and I know quite a few people who really liked Eon and Eternity although I myself only thought them okay.
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Mefustae: Everyone likes zombies, including me :p I'll check it out.
Ransom: I think you can stop mentioning Gradisil in any future book threads by me, at least. That looks like a must-read, as does Imajica. Song of Ice and Fire also looks good, so thanks for several good suggestions. As for Stephen King, I do like his writing, but it's not what I'm looking for right now.
Karajorma: Ringworld I've read (how could I not?), but I will look into the rest. Thanks.
I think I'm about there now... the suggestions so far should last me a good while. That doesn't mean stop posting good books, of course, it just means it's not particularly urgent. Suggestions about good books are always welcome :) I'd still like to hear from anyone who has read any of the Uplift series or the Boos of the Swords though, but the truth is that if I don't get any comments on them, I'll probably just buy them - They look like my kind of thing.
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Fantasy - Any David Eddings books
Sci-Fi - Julian Mays The Galactic Millieu Trilogy (Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask and Magnificat)
Oh and Ransom Arceihn mentioned Imajica by Clive Barker, I would like to add Weaveworld by the same author. Top stuff! :yes:
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I too have been actively looking for new authors where I can. I've found the best thing to try is grab a couple anthologies (there are occasionally some real gem's in the best of such-and-such-year books). If a story strikes your fancy, try to see what else that author has written. That's how I found Paul McAuley (try 400 Billion Stars if you can find it), Mary Rosenblum (Drylands), and Alex Irvine (The Narrows). All three of them were relative unknowns at the time. Paul McAuley has been quite prolific in recent years. The others I rather doubt you've heard of. Dig a bit. They are worth finding.
I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned the rather obvious Alastair Reynolds (I particularly enjoyed his recent Pushing Ice) or Dan Simmons. I mean, really, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion ought to be required reading whether you enjoy science fiction or not just for pure beauty of the writing. The last two books in the series tanked hardcore, but the first two are my personal touchstones for "good writing."
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Fantasy - Any David Eddings books
Well... I guess Belgariad/Malloreon (along with the Belgarath) wasn't too bad (despite being somewhat clichéd and naivistic journey-of-a-neofyte-hero-and-his-merry-men), and neither was Elenium. Hell, I actually appreciated the Elenium more than Belgariad/Malloreon for the sole reason that when the hero kicks the bad guys' asses, it's because he's a badass warhero master knight and not some teenager with awakening hidden powers that amaze everyone... Sparhawk was IMHO a better champion character than Belgarion. But as a whole I liked the Belgariad a bit more. Don't ask why, perhaps it was because it was the first fantasy series I got into reading, about 9-10 years ago or so.
But Tamuli trilogy was sadly plagued with superman syndrome and plot devices, increasingly towards the ending, Polgara was kinda boring and felt like a rip-off re-telling of what we pretty much already knew, Riva's Chronicles even more so, I'm not going to even mention Regina's Song apart from it's name :ick: and Althalus was pretty much lame all the way through as soon as the bronze age ended, and the characters were just cheesy... I haven't gotten the Dreamer (elder gods'n soforth) stuff into my hands yet, but I'm not holding my breath on them.
Obviously, Terry Pratchett's Diskworld books are entertaining and they get funnier the more you read other, more conventional fantasy/sci-fi stuff, they are crammed with references to all kinds of clichés you can think of. Also, other books by Pratchett are worth reading IMHO.
I personally also like Jordan's Wheel of Time, despite the 3-4 rather tedious books in the middle of the series, I just hope he wraps it ups before dying on it... Some don't like the so-called over-descriptive way they are written, but I don't have trouble with it mainly because my reading speed is faster than average. :p
Other fantasy authors I would recommend with some reservations include (but are not excluded to:
-Robin Hobb (Assassins Inc.)
-Anne McCaffrey (Pern)
-Weis&Hickman (Dragonlance is worth reading, but I personally liked the Death Gate Cycle way more for some reason - apart from the final books in the series)
-Salvatore (Early Drizzt books and Icewind Dale are cool, later ones... not so much. Also, the The Woods Out Back was somewhat readable, but the later books in that series weren't that convincing)
On the Sci-Fi side...
-Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and it's "prequel" A Deepness in the Sky were rather enjoyable reading... Especially because there were some not-so-conventional forms of intelligent life. I get bored with differently coloured humanoids all over the place.
-I'd recommend Hal Clement's books (If the rest are anything like Mission of Gravity, they are good stuff as well. I've only read that one due to lack of both translations and English versions in nearby libraries...) but if you've read most scifi worth mentioning, I'd guess you're familiar with them.
-Simmons' Hyperion universe left a distinct "WTF" impression on me. I mean, what the hell was it all about? Apart from church schemes all around the place, weird religious themes, time traveling and wooden gifts and toys space ships? Some of the confusion might be attributed to Finnish translation, but still... :confused: And yea, Endumion was a Prick with capital P, Aenea was a poor man's messiah and there wasn't much to the books about them. Except more weird religious themes and church scheming. :rolleyes: EDIT: The Shrike was a fundamentally Cool Concept, though. But IMHO it wasn't enough.
Can't really think of much more right now. :)
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Anybody here ever heard of the Firebird Trilogy? (Firebird | Fusion Fire | Crown of Fire) I liked that one. :nod:
http://www.amazon.com/Firebird-Trilogy-Tyers-Kathy/dp/0764229273
-for under $5, including shipping... well, maybe not. I've lost my copy; I'm getting another. :p But you should be able to get it for close to that amount. eBay has it too (http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?ht=1&from=R4&satitle=firebird+trilogy&sacat=267%26catref%3DC6), but more expensive.
EDIT: Oh, and if you like older sci-fi stuff, too (ala HG Wells), try getting CS Lewis' The Space Trilogy. Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Space-Trilogy-C-S-Lewis/dp/068483118X) | eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/C-S-Lewis-Space-Trilogy-in-Slipcase_W0QQitemZ320154339727QQihZ011QQcategoryZ377QQcmdZViewItem)
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You could try Brave New World. That was a decent book.
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The Descent novels by Peter Telep are incredibly good, especially if you're familiar with that series of games. Peter has written a few other fantasy books, and though I haven't read them yet I'm sure they'd be enjoyable.
Also if you like some combination of sci-fi/suspense/thriller/mystery, then I'd give a recommendation for by Dean Koontz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Koontz) :)
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Two Authors not mentioned but should be are Jack McDevitt and Robert J. Sawyer (go CanCON!) I actually met Sawyer, was a pretty nice guy and his books deal with some very intriguing what if questions.
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Although Star Wars books were pretty much beaten to death earlier in the thread, I have to recommend the X-Wing Series, especially the ones by Michael Stackpole. Although, Aaron Allston's are excellent too. The New Jedi Order series is also good if you can keep track of a series that lasts approx. 22 books or so (I don't know the exact number). And you can't go wrong with anything by Timothy Zahn.
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I would definitely recommend the Thrawn trilogy. IMHO, there's nothing better in the Star Wars series (actually think they're better than the movie, but, apples and oranges). Second to none, Timothy Zahn writes not only one, but two compelling storylines, one in the Trilogy, the other in the Hand of Thrawn duology. No other Star Wars author writes as well as he does. The only story that comes close to his is Michael Stackpole's X-Wing series (not the fifth one, mind you, just the first five). That covers the New Republic's conquering Coruscant. Oh, on a sidenote, it was Timothy Zahn who came up with Coruscant. George Lucas was going to use Imperial City for the movies, but on recommendation, he used Coruscant. So, my recommendation: The Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn Duology, both by Timothy Zahn.
or, if you haven't read it, the Ender's Game series...
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Yep, both the trilogy and duology by Zahn are great. The only book I read that is from the Prequel Trilogy-era that was good was Outbound Flight, also by Zahn (of course). Actually, its excellent, but I've always had a little bit of a fetish for the Chiss. They're my favorite race in the expanded universe.
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Kara already mentioned Harry Harrison, so I'll add in the other two authors in my SciFic/Fan Top Three: Alan Dean Foster and Robert Asprin. Anything by Foster is worth reading, but his Pip and Flinx/Humanx Commonwealth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanx_Commonwealth) books are especially good. Asprin writes great comedies, both in Science Fiction (Check out Phule's Company and sequels) and in Fantasy ( check out the Myth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythAdventures) series).
Also, Larry Niven has been mentioned, but the Grendel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legacy_of_Heorot) series co-authored by him hasn't.
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Someone mentioned Baen Free Library. "Doc Sidhe" isn't bad, it's the first book I've gotten from there. It's written by Aaron Allston.
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I'm having some trouble finding an online bookstore that has the Battletech and SW novels, since the UK amazon store doesn't have them in stock and apparently aren't planning to restock them either. Any suggestions for other EU-based stores that might sell them? If it comes to it, I could order them from the US, since amazon.com does have them, but that doubles the price for both delivery and the books themselves so I'd rather not if I can avoid it.
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You might also want to check out The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clark. It's set in the near future when a man invents a way to create tiny wormholes as a means to transfer data instantaneously from one point to another. The plot thickens when they discover that light can pass through them, destroying all vestiges of privacy as you can now see anything, anywhere. They then manage to stretch wormholes through time, as well as space, allowing you to view anything, anywhere, anytime. Safe to say, the impact on society is pretty damn awesome, ranging from the loss of privacy to the destruction of historical and religious legends and myths as the harsh truth is viewed firsthand.
Check it out. :yes:
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(basically, if it's Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Gibson, Orwell or Card, and worth a damn, I've read it, as well as several major classics by other authors),
Umm... Timothy Zahn? Thrawn trilogy? :nervous:
Not so much a fan of star wars books myself, but the triolgy by timothy zhan is an awesome read, Thrawn is one of the more interesting villains if seen in awhile.
Dont read to much sci fi but you did say fantasy, heres a couple I loved when I was a kid. (Forgive me if these have been mentioned, havent read the entire thread)
*Margert Wies & Tracey Hickman books*
Dragonlance trilogy
Will of the wanderer series
Darksword Trilogy
Deathgate cycle series
My fav sci fi book.. aside from timothy zhans work, would probably have to be enders game.. friend loaned it to me a couple of years ago, how I went so long w/o reading it I'll never know.
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Try some early Feist as well, Magician, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon, later on he gets a bit silly, continually making the enemy bigger and bigger and, in general, making the series less enjoyable from my perspective at least, but the early stuff was thoroughly enjoyable Fantasy. Basically, once Prince Arutha died, the series went downhill.
Eddings is ok for the Belgariad/Mallorean, a good series of books, but, as has been said before, the Elenium/Tamuli struck me as just the Belgariad with a different backdrop, mega-powerful gem, hero who is both a warrior and a mage, guided by a powerful mage, a mighty warrior, a Thief etc, and the exact opposite of the mega-powerful gem being the final confrontation.
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Eddings is ok for the Belgariad/Mallorean, a good series of books, but, as has been said before, the Elenium/Tamuli struck me as just the Belgariad with a different backdrop, mega-powerful gem, hero who is both a warrior and a mage, guided by a powerful mage, a mighty warrior, a Thief etc, and the exact opposite of the mega-powerful gem being the final confrontation.
It's different enough IMHO... The writing style is very similar, but aside from that there are plenty of differences. Main difference being that Elenium doesn't bother the reader to go through the main character's teenage *****ing and minor ones reaching to theology and stuff. There are similarities, but they are actually more common to the genre than common with each other. Epic fantasy is clichéd to huge extent, it's mainly character differences that make the fights against all those different evils worth reading.
And as far as characters go, Belgarion's companions are not a very deeply developed ones. Sparhawk's company of heroes is actually more interesting than Belgarion's... Not by much, but still. If only the Tamuli trilogy didn't have such happy cuddly ending with pretty much everyone living happily ever after in true Hollywood style, it would be better than Malloreon by a long shot. For making trolls so cool, if not for any other reason. But I gotta admit, the whole Anakha idea was ridiculously overpowered, and I must admit that the Klael/Bhelliom interaction made me think of the Belgariad/Malloreon's "Duel of the Fates" theme more than I wanted to.
But anyway... name a fantasy epic that doesn't have:
-mega-powerful artefact(s) of Good/Evil/Both
-Old Wise Wizard
-Company of Heroes (The Swordfighter, The Berserker, The Bowman, The Thief, The Medic and all the other clichéd character archetypes you can think of)
-Ages old battle between Good and Evil (Light and Darkness, Us and Them, whatever)
Now that Í think of it, LOTR is actually one of the more original fantasy series out there, which is kinda paradoxal, but still... The main character doesn't have any special powers and is actually incapable of finishing his task in the end; the bad guy is not actually some kind of cosmological fundamental evil but instead was originally a maia amongst others corrupted by Melkor. It still has the Artefact, Company of Heroes and Old Wise Wizard, but it still manages to be more original than most fantasy epics.
Now that I think about it, Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy is somewhat like LOTR as far as the villains are considered... there's no cosmological evil to be fought - just an olden bad guy with olden bad powers.
...dunno if that was already mentioned in the thread, by the way. Worthy reading, but it was sadly split on 12 Finnish translations (that way the bastards can charge more :ick:) and the reading was quite cluttered. I should read it again some day, should I find time.
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Well, I'm more a Gemmel than an Eddings man, the Jerusalem Man series was brilliant, and very unconventional. One of the few 'Time Travel' type stories that really held my interest.
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You might also want to check out The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clark.
After the last of the Rama books I usually avoid Arthur C. Clarke like the plague.
Has he gone down his usual route of failing to explain things properly at the end this time too? Cause the story sounded cool but I'm very wary of his stuff now.
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But anyway... name a fantasy epic that doesn't have:
I can actually think of quite a few, though, honestly, they were written for an audience closer to my age when I was reading them. In a lot of ways, I tend to think things like The Dark is Rising or the Pyrdain books make for far better fantasy then almost any of the more adult-oriented works I've ever read.
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I'm really terrible with authors, but the book titles I somehow remember.
M. Waltari's "The Egyptian" (This is quite an incredible book to have been written in 1940s)
T. Clancy's "Hunt for Red October"
T. Pratchett's "Guards! Guards!", "Men at Arms", "Night Watch"
A. MacLean's "Guns of Navarone"
R. Adams' "Watership Down"
R. Howard's Conan books for different kind of fantasy and attitude.
And last, but not least take a look at the George Orwell's collected writings:
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/o79e/
Some texts of interest there, the schooling system which he attended and a hospital which he had to visit (both basically a must read for anyone):
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/o79e/part49.html
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/o79e/part39.html
Sometimes the reality is stranger than fiction.
Mika
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Oh one more thing, that Hyperion series didn't leave a single trace in my memory. I know I have read it but... tells something about the translation as Herra Tohtori mentioned.
Larry Niven's Ringworld was also something that I didn't really understand.
I should really find the sci-fi writer who wrote that story of a computer program that could simulate real life people (or more like, create them inside the machine) from the given data. The story went so that they first revived Sokrates and then Pizarro in the computer and then let them argue. Dialogue was more than interesting. A good idea I wished someone would have written a book about.
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Prydain books
Read those when I was little. Awesome books. *high five*
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By the way, if you're into Celtic mythos, go and read Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising quintology. :yes:
It is good read... They are supposedly childrens' books*, but please ask yourself what children's book has undead skeleton horses and grey killer foxes chasing kids around? Also, they are crammed full of references to Arthurian/Celtic (specifically, welsh) legends and stuff.
*There are no such thing as childrens' books in my estimation. There might be adults' books, but there are no children's books. :drevil:
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For fantasy... The Name of the Wind (http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/content/index.asp).
I forgot to mention, this guy avoids clichés like you wouldn't believe.
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Dragonlance trilogy
Other than the first one, I didn't like those. It always seemed like the writers hit a brick wall and had to throw a few plotholes around.
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Orson Welles? If you really want to waste time, War of the Worlds... as in the recent movie. There you go. I bet you haven't seem that. ;7
I've only just noticed this?? Orson Welles didn't write War of the Worlds, it was H.G. Wells. Orson Welles just made a radio play out of it, (which apparently scared the american people witless). And both movies were :no: (and the original is the better of the two). The best version of this story is the musical version (Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds)
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Orson Welles just made a radio play out of it, (which apparently scared the american people witless).
Have you listened to a recording of the original broadcast? It was amazingly immersive, even I got a little unsettled by it.
And both movies were :no: (and the original is the better of the two). The best version of this story is the musical version (Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds)
Pfft. The movies were fine, both the original and the recent one. The original is a timeless classic, and the recent Spielberg flick was a quality piece of sci-fi. But, yeah, from what i've heard the musical is by far the best interpretation of the source material we've seen thus far.
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Looks like Ive just got a new reading list, if only all the used book stores in my city hadn't shut down years ago.
Hate spending 20-25$ bucks at barnes & nobles on a book only to finish it in a day or two, whereas I could go to a old bookstore and pick up three or four books for around twelve dollars.
It's been years since I've had a good read, last books I read was enders game books.
:(
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Looks like Ive just got a new reading list, if only all the used book stores in my city hadn't shut down years ago.
Hate spending 20-25$ bucks at barnes & nobles on a book only to finish it in a day or two, whereas I could go to a old bookstore and pick up three or four books for around twelve dollars.
It's been years since I've had a good read, last books I read was enders game books.
:(
Don't you have a library in your town??
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Pfft. The movies were fine, both the original and the recent one. The original is a timeless classic, and the recent Spielberg flick was a quality piece of sci-fi. But, yeah, from what i've heard the musical is by far the best interpretation of the source material we've seen thus far.
I was less dissapointed in the movie than I thought I would be as well. Not a bad film, and accurate enough not to be insulting. Yes, there were changes in locations and technology, but none of it was extreme enough to detract from the story itself. But yes, I also agree, the Jeff Wayne version was the best, but maybe that's because I was around 8 when I first heard it and it scared the daylights out of me, espeically the artwork inside the record covers.
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Well, I thank you all for your help. I now have a nice big cardboard box containing some 22 books (and BSG season 3...) in the mail on it's way to me :) Still missing the Thrawn, X-Wing and Battletech books, since I haven't yet found a place inside the EU that sells them (suggestions welcome), but these should keep me reading for a while so there's no rush in that regard. I'm really excited actually, getting a bunch of new books is like christmas to me :D
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Don't you have a library in your town??
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Short answer: not that I can use. (long boring story)
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Check out Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: You may have already heard of it. It won a freaking truckload of awards. I'd recommend that to anybody who reads. Its really not your run-of-the-mill fantasy book. I guess the best way I can describe it is Harry Potter meets Jane Austen. But if you're not a fan of either of those, don't be turned away by it (you couldn't catch me dead reading Austen). My only issue with the book is that the first third of it (the whole thing runs 800 pages or so) is somewhat hard to get through.
Seriously though. Read it sometime.
Seriously. :nod: