My Book List of Absolutely (mostly) Mandatory Reading (in progress)

Loved it? Hated it? Want to discuss it?  Write Me!

 


Literature Recommendations, Sci-Fi/Fantasy


          I am working on a much longer, more detailed, book recommendation page for my website. This is just what immediatly came to mind, and should hopefully keep you busy for awhile. If you try to read some of these and have trouble getting into it, put it down and try again later, even a year or so later. I promise everything I have recommended is worth the patience and effort. Good fiction is hard to find, excellent fiction almost impossible! The above books also represent different reading "intensities," I will have them broken down if I every get my other site up. For instance, authors like Janny Wurts and CS Friedman take more effort, for me, to read than authors like Terry Brooks and Mercedes Lackey. Of course, as with anything else, you take a lot more out of their literature in trade. These books/authors are currently in no particular order, I have added comments about each series/book by an astrix under the listing. If I really get motivated I will tag each series by whether it is relative “fluff” or something to really sink into. A few of them are actually categorized as “young adult” by whomever decides those things, but good stories are good stories and I don't see why one should be limited by listings. I am happy to discuss any of the books listed on this page and help people find things similar to them they might like. I have well over 1,000 books in my personal library, and that's after I was forced to discard 4/5 ths of them.

         I am also, unfortunately at times, well read in the area of online fiction (fan and original) and sometime would like to write a rec site for that. It is currently not in progress because listing online works usually (to be polite) requires contacting the author and asking permission to link their writing (online authors being notoriously paranoid about having their stories ripped off), which takes quite a bit of time I do not currently have. If you are interested in being directed to online literature you might enjoy, send me an email and, keeping in mind I have little time, I will see what I can dredge up.

Especially you, Alyssa, because I know how much you love Lord of the Rings fanfic. Especially at work ::solomnly::

 

Susan Cooper

The Dark is Rising Series:
1) Over Sea, Under Stone
2) The Dark is Rising
3) Greenwitch
4) The Grey King
5) Silver on the Tree

          *If you get bogged down in the 1st book, read the 2nd book first.

Seaward

 

Douglas Adams

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish
Mostly Harmless
                     * There are several more in this series, and rather than being a bunch of distinct books they read as one long uninterrupted story. I recommend picking up the omnibus edition that goes all the way through Mostly Harmless (the last book) and treating it as one novel. I laughed from cover to cover, highly recommended.

Dirk Gently Series:
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul
                    *These books enjoy considerably less fame than the above series, but in many ways I think they are even better. You do not have to read them in order, I could barely stand to turn the pages in the first one when I picked it up, but The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul is outstandingly funny, and after I read the second one the first one was almost as good.



J.R.R. Tolkien (duh)

The Lord of the Rings Series:
Fellowship of the Rings
The Two Towers
Return of the King

The Hobbit

          *After you've read the above 4 books, make sure you check out a book called "Bored of the Rings" by the Harvard Lampoon. Its hysterical …if you have my sense of humor, and are willing to overlook the occasional too childish bits, anyways.

The Silmarilion
Unfinished Tales
Lost Tales II
          * (Only read Lost Tales I if you are desperate for more Tolkien!)

          * I seem to be one of the few people out there right now not frothing at the mouth to declare LotR one of the best series ever written (this common sentiment seemingly due in no small part to recent and somewhat questionable theatrical endeavors by New Line Cinema). It is outstanding, certainly, and well worth some discussion, but all in all I can name quite a few stories I would consider better crafted and more inspiring. What is most impressive about Lord of the Rings is the sheer scope Tolkien dedicated to this world he created. Volumes and volumes of history and legend fabricated of which the final tale, when read as as a minor part of a much greater whole (in the form of the three book series “Lord of the Rings”), has the feeling of a low key finale to give it all some closure. As a single story, it (LotR) is uplifting enough I suppose (as long as you don't read the appendix), but in the grand scheme of things is rather a sad tale with much in the way of a final weary effort to finally finish the business at hand, before beginning the last of the long declines. Really, it is written like a real history with the detail of real events and those sorts of things always depress me. No one really gets a happy ending (even Aragorn lives with the knowledge of Arwens eventual and rather wretched fate, I would imagine that puts a damper on marital bliss), with the vague possibility of Merry and Pippin. I don't require that a story end on an upbeat and cheerful note (because if I did I would have to restrict my reading to Sweet Valley Twins and the occasional Nancy Drew mystery), but it should allow for the possiblity of a good eventual ending for the characters you have grown attached too. I always go from Tolkiens actual work straight to something like “Bored of the Rings” or a very clever online piece called “Bagenders.” It's probably just me.

Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman

Death Gate Cycle:
1) Dragonwing (I think)
2)
3) Elvenstar
4) Serpent Mage
5) FireSea
6) The Hand of Chaos
7) The Seventh Gate
          * It should be easy to track down and sort these out (I'm not sure they are in the right order and I'm pretty sure I'm missing one), they are lots of fun! They are funnier though, if you read the following series first, since the authors put in a bunch of private jokes. This series IS NOT Dragonlance (though the following one is).

Dragonlance Chronicles:
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Winters Night
Dragons of Spring Dawning

          * if you liked those, you'll love these...

Dragonlance Legends:
Time of the Twins
War of the Twins
Test of the Twins

 

Margaret Weiss:

Star of the Guardians:
          *There are three of these, one of them is called "The Lost Prince," and another "Blood Sacrifice" I forgot the name of the third one, but there was a 4th one added afterwards called "Ghost Legion." These are good books, though fairly melodramatic and depressing...but must reads because of the series she wrote later that ties in called "Mag Force 7"

Mag Force Seven: (co-written with Don Perrin I believe)
Knights of the Black Earth
Robot Blues
Hung Out
          *These books are unreservedly great! And they are even more fun if you have read Star of the Guardians for background info first. I live in endless hope that she/they will write more of these.

 

C.S. Friedman

Coldfire Trilogy:
Black Sun Rising
When True Night Falls
Crown of Shadows
          * My favorite modern science fiction series! It is a little slow to get into because the author seems to be trying to give you a feeling for, and background of, an entire culture in one long introduction. Well worth plowing through the beginning, but the first time I read this series I was so unexcited by the first few chapters that I skipped ahead to the part where our two main characters meet, and then after I was sure I wanted to invest my attention went back and filled in the rest. If you read the warning for The Dark is Rising series at the beginning of the page, it seems that a really dull start plagues many of the best stuff out there, but as I said, very well worth a little investment of patience. Non-fluffy.

This Alien Shore
The Madness Season
In Conquest Born
          * At the time of writing this page these are all of C.S. Friedman's novels, these last three are all stand alone. I would highly recommending at least trying anything she puts out. She is an amazing author!

 

David Eddings

The Belgariad:
Pawn of Prophecy
Queen of Sorcery
Magicians Gambit
Enchanters End Game
          * there are 5 of these, but I can't recall the last title.

The Mallorean:
Guardians of the West
King of the Murgos
Demon Lord of Karanda
Sorceress of Darshiva
Seeress of Kell
          * this series is the sequel to the Belgariad, I'm not sure they are in order.

The Elenium:
The Diamond Throne
The Ruby Knight
The Sapphire Rose
          * Not related to the Belgariad or the Mallorean

The Tamuli:
Domes of Fire
The Shining Ones
Hidden City
          *Sequel to the Elenium

          * All of the above series are “fluff” as far as I am concerned. They are formulaic and predictable,…which doesn't detract from their being very highly entertaining. A good author can spend 5 chapters describing rocks and keep your attention, David (and Leigh) Eddings can usually find far more interesting things to write about, and write about them well. The characters (even when it's the same character with a new name from series to series) always feel fresh and for some reason even recycled jokes come off funny and new. Truly a strange magic at work. Pick these books up and carry them around for slow lines and dull evenings, every couple of years I pick one up and get sucked right back in.

Terry Brooks

Landover Novels:
Magic Kingdom for Sale
The Black Unicorn
Wizard at Large
          * there are more of these I haven't read, these three are very good. Brooks has a more famous series, the Shannara books, but these are better.


Shannara Histories:
Sword of Shannara
Elfstones of Shannara
Wishsong of Shannara
          *if you enjoy these (I liked the first two) the Scions of Shannara series is listed in the covers I am sure. Its not bad, though I can't currently recall the titles, there just seems to be something a little…off, about the writing that keeps me from being a raving fan.

 

Mercedes Lackey

Queens Own Series:
Arrows of the Queen
Arrows Flight
Arrows Fall

The Last Herald-Mage Series
Magic's Pawn
Magic's Pride
Magic's Price
          * I am not sure I have the name of the second book correct.
          *These two series are arcs in a longer tale, it is a good overall story and worth some time, also comes under the qualification of “fluff.”

Elaine Cunningham

Music and Mayhem:
Elfshadow
Elfsong
Silver Shadows
Dreamspheres
Thornhold
          *This series is part of a longer Forgotten Realms series, they are not actually connected to them, so don't worry about being familiar with the larger universe. These books stand alone as a series and are excellent.

Janny Wurts

The Wars of Light and Shadows:
Curse of the Mistwraith
Ships of Merior
Warhost of Vastmark
Grand Conspiracy
Perils Gate
Traitors Knot
More to come…
          *Awesome!!! I might have forgotten one or two...WIP
          *Not fluff. Also one of the rare really good substantial series that starts off with a bang…or in this case a flaming shipwreck, mayhem, torture, illicit magic, interrogation… and that's just the prelude.
          *The only problem with this series is that the author occasionally gets a little bogged down in melodrama. I originally liked the female interest of our outcast prince quite a bit (a least partially because we don't have to see her very much and she actually has a little spirit,) but as the series progresses she seems to be turning into more of a weepy helpless hand-wringing type. I don't see much chance for her sudden demise (at least not without subjecting the readers to a novel or so worth of angst,) so we will have to hope for her recovery. Don't let this stop you from picking these books up though, as far as flaws go, it is a minor one, and easily lost of the grander view of what is an excellent story.