[0rph3u5]

I second Dune and Levithan Wakes...

Also, The Chronicles of Solace (The Depths of Time, The Ocean of Years & The Shores of Tomorrow) by Roger MacBride Allen are a good read

Spoiler:

although I found the ending a bit ... awkward - and of course the system of interstellar travel in these books is kinda ... well it involves timetravel

EDIT: Forgot that you are looking for fantasy as well:
If you want a more mature fanatasy series try The Prince of Nothing (The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior-Prophet & The Thousandfold Thought) by R. Scott Bakker

[Bob-san]

Maybe the Game of Thrones series? There's the HBO series in process but a new book came out not all that long ago. They're long but not insane--about 800 pages each.

[0rph3u5]

Maybe the Game of Thrones series? There's the HBO series in process but a new book came out not all that long ago. They're long but not insane--about 800 pages each.

That's George R. R. Martin (covered in post 1)

[Bob-san]

Sorry, him & Tolkein blended together.

[Ravenholme]

The Black Company by Glen Cook.

Probably my favourite fantasy series, incredibly influential amongst fantasy writers (Many recent ones acknowledge being inspired by it), but sadly not that well known. I prefer TBC to Lord of the Rings.

[Luis Dias]

Personally, I would recommend the following:

-Player of Games, by Iain M Banks
The perfect entry drug into the Culture series.

Beat me to it. Best book I've ever read so far. I also liked enjoyed Old Man's War.

Also, a classic: Clarke's "Childhood's End". For many years, my favorite.

[Ghostavo]

The Sword Art Online novels are nice, since they're fairly lightweight, especially the first ones at 200/250 pages each.

[General Battuta]

Read Use of Weapons after Player of Games.

Also read Downbelow Station. Absolutely one of the finest works of military/political SF/F ever committed.

[bobbtmann]

I've never been disappointed by anything by either Ian Banks or Alastair Reynolds.

[Dragon]

The Star Diaries and Memoirs of a Space Traveller by Stanislaw Lem. Think Gulliver Travels in space. Also, Tales of Prix the Pilot, from the same author. Amazingly deep, exciting and humorous at the same time. Invincible (also Lem's) might be a good idea if you like mystery with a fair bit of philosophy, but not everybody would find it suitable for a plane trip.

Stanislaw Lem in general is a very good author (one of the few benefits of being a Pole is getting to read his books in original without needing to learn notoriously difficult Polish as a second language), but many of his works might not be suitable for a plane trip. His Master's Voice, for example, is a seemingly dinky book that actually has more "content" than some doorstopper series. Very interesting and satisfying to read, but also very difficult. Same deal with Solaris, though not to this extent.

[General Battuta]

Lem is super good and was well ahead of Western writers of his time.

[SpardaSon21]

Finally, I would also recommend The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince, by Hannu Rajaniemi.
It's Arséne Lupin post-singularity, which is fun. Beware however that Rajaniemi absolutely expects you to be able to work out what he's saying without handholding and without a glossary, which makes for challenging, but also rewarding reading.

Arsene Lupin?

[The E]

Arsene Lupin is the literary prototype for the "Gentleman Thief" character that pops up ever so often.

[Mongoose]

And the long-running popular character Lupin the 3rd of manga/anime fame is set up as his grandson.

[butter_pat_head]

How about one of the Ciaphas Cain novels?  The first six are available as two omnibus editions which also contain the various short stories that have been written so far.  Blackadder meets Flashman in the 40'000th millennium...

[666maslo666]

Peter Watts - Blindsight (good hard SF is rare)

Travis Walton - Fire in the sky (the book is based on real testimony of alien abduction, is a lot different and much better than the movie)

[General Battuta]

Peter Watts - Blindsight (good hard SF is rare)

I had a whole thread where I made everybody read this so I think Sparda's hit it up. It is very good, though!

[SpardaSon21]

I've already read an assload of 40k, and all the good stuff by Mitchell and Abnett, so don't recommend any of that.

And no, I haven't read Blindsight.  I read the opening section about a kid who nearly beats someone to death because half of his brain had gotten removed through surgery and his social skills were screwed up because of that and that turned me off.

[pecenipicek]

I've already read an assload of 40k, and all the good stuff by Mitchell and Abnett, so don't recommend any of that.

And no, I haven't read Blindsight.  I read the opening section about a kid who nearly beats someone to death because half of his brain had gotten removed through surgery and his social skills were screwed up because of that and that turned me off.

trust me, read the ciaphas cain novels, they are bloody awesome.


also, as a side note, not mention of Hyperion by Dan Simmons? Tsk, tsk, hlp, tsk, tsk.

[MP-Ryan]

Another vote for Dune if you haven't read it.  The first two books are pretty awesome, the third is alright, and I honestly don't know if I'd recommend proceeding much beyond that as it gets much weirder and much less interesting.  The first remains the best of the series.

Fantasy too?

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.  No, it's nothing like the musical (which is also excellent and well worth seeing).