Need some new books to read...into fantasy/sci-fi

Well, as the title says, I need some new fantasy books to read. These are my favorites if anyone hasn't read them, all good stuff.

Wheel of Time series (hate that Robert Jordan died, but he left alot of notes for his last book to be written)

Sword of Truth series (a bit predicatable at times, and the books seem to follow the same progression, but meh, I like em)

George R.R. Martin novels--mainly a Song of Fire and Ice series.

and I have read all the main stream stuff (Tolkein [spelling?], potter stuff etc.)

Thanks for any feedback, and if you haven't read any of these, they are good reads (I know some will say they aren't, but we all have our preferences.)

Ah now you're speakin my language. The books you have listed are all great in my opinion. I have a few others that you didn't list. Let's see here. Ah yes this first one is actually my most favorite of all the authors and books to be listed. George would come second.

Raymond E. Feist: Magician Apprentice I believe is one of his first. Go with that one first. Then go with the Riftwar Series. Next hit the Serpentwar Saga Series. Then go Darkwar Saga Series. Those are all great!

Dragonlance: So these are made up of different authors. The best in my opinion is the combo Margaret Weis/Tracy Hickman. These two rock hard. Any books by them are good. Douglas Niles wrote a few good ones about the Solamnics. The Rise of Solamnia story. Another author I like from this is Richard A. Knaak. He's ok and wrote about the Monotaur Wars. Check em out.

R. A. Salvatore: The Forgotten Realms stuff. He writes about Drizzt a dark elf hero who is basically not like a dark elf. Really good as well.

I'll leave it at that. If you read all those books I just talked about, then you'll be busy awhile. Each of those authors probably wrote 10 books for those series I mentioned. Hope you find something you like and enjoy.

I've been reading the J.V. Jones series... Cavern of Black Ice, Fortress of Grey Ice, Sword from Red Ice... and I really like them... they start out a little slow, but the series is solid...

Gregory Keyes wrote a series that started with the Briar King that I really liked... can't remember the name of the series, though... but they rocked...

Another series I just started was The Black Company... those are pretty neat, as well...

Everything mentioned above is great. If you want a cool sci-fi/fantasy combo, read S.M. Stirling's "Dies The Fire" series. The three books are (in order), Dies the fire, The Protector's War, and A Meeting at Corvallis. There is another, older series that ties into it, but I never read it. There is also a series after this one, but I haven't finished book 3 of this set yet.

Greg Bear's The Forge of God is a great (if a little slow at times) sci-fi read. A bit wordy here and there, but the ending was quite incredible. I saw it coming about half-way through the book, but didn't think it would actually play out the way it did.

Terry Brooks is another of my favorites (anything Shannara). Actually, The Elfstones of Shannara was the first fantasy book I ever picked up (was a heavy Mack Bolan reader many, many moons ago), and it hooked me good.

Terry Pratchett is fantastic for a good laugh. The Color of Magic was wonderful. Side-splitting funny and gritty all at the same time. Most of his other books are the same.

JV Jones was mentioned above. Her first series, The Baker's Boy, was brilliant, as far as I'm concerned. I've read it several times. I think the series goes in this order: The Baker's Boy, A Man Betrayed and Master and Fool. Lots of twists and turns.

I was pretty exclusive sci-fi/fantasy for ages. I wouldn't read anything that didn't have a space ship/babe with a sword on the cover. Now, however, I love going to the used book store and just browsing titles. Michael Crichton (Jurrasic Park, Fear, and Eaters of the Dead--aka The 13th Warrior), James Rollins is also great (he recently penned the latest Indiana Jones screenplay), and old Stephen King stuff ('salem's Lot and The Shining were fantastic).

Anyway, good luck in your search.

Oh yeah... and 1632 by Eric Flint is pretty good... almost finished with that one... a town from West Viriginia is transported back in time into the middle of the 30 Years War... pretty sweet stuff...

Edit: Gonna have to pick up that other Jones series now on reading the recommendation...

Dwimm, you won't be disappointed!

Dan Simmons - Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion, Illium and Olympos. Great sci-fi with a decided literary bent. I love his stuff. His horror is great, too.

Patricia Keneally Morrison - The Copper Crown, The Silver Branch, The Throne of Scone, The Hawk's Gray Feather, The Oak of Kings and The Hedge of Mist---amazing combo of sci-fi and fantasy. My favourite series of all time is the first three.

Michael Moorcock - Elric of Melnibone. Read them all. Trippy and awesome.

Anything by Alan Dean Foster. And Andre Norton.

The Pern/Dragonrider series by Anne McCaffrey. These were some of the first sci-fi fantasy books I ever read.

Pamela Dean - The Secret Country, The Hidden Land and The Whim of the Dragon. Great stuff in a Narnia-type way, but twisted. Her book "Tam Lin" is also my favourite book of all time.

I'm sure I'll remember more later...

may not quite be your style but

Stephen Kings Dark Tower series is complete and it wont let you down

also anything by llaurel k hamilton wont let you down either if your into some smexy fair/vampire type stuff

evilash wrote:may not quite be your style but

Stephen Kings Dark Tower series is complete and it wont let you down

also anything by llaurel k hamilton wont let you down either if your into some smexy fair/vampire type stuff

Both awesome recommendations. And for fantasy, I'd also recommend the Kushiel series by Jacqueline Carey. Just ignore the awful covers---they're actually very intelligent, full of court intrigue and light S & M stuff. I love them.

Well, I'm not a reader but I used to sell pc games and I have a couple copies of Wheel of Time which is based off of the books. If you would like to check it out let me know and I could send it to you.

cool, thanks for the replies everyone; I'll have to check them out.

Also, I just wanted to say that I haven't been on in a while...we a short at work at the moment (as usual for an icu nurse). And I will be moving to night shift soon; however I have been leveling a PoM that I'll try to get into the guild on friday (off-day). I hated to see what happened while I wasn't logged on, but I still believe in the guild and core people in it-

See ya in game,
Zambra/Ishemael

Try C S Friedman.

I liked the first 5-6 books of the Wheel of Time... but then all the sniffing and skirt straightening got to me... the last two have been pretty good, though... and with a new author taking over for the late Mr. Jordan, I hope to see a good final novel to the series...

I really liked Ilium by Dan Simmons... that was a pretty good Sci-Fi...

I also like the Vampire Earth series by E.E. Knight... not a true vampire novel, but it was pretty good...