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[Emma]

How do they know that the fibre will never come loose?

[Helgoland]

I dunno, they sew very tightly? It's poetic, I guess. Note the discrepancy/relationship between title and content.

Celebracion de la voz humana/2 deals with prisoners in South American dictatorships who weren't allowed to speak, but managed to communicate with their hands or by knocking against walls. Celebracion de la voz humana/3 is about a guy who was gunned down because he dared to speak up against the regime. I'm sensing a common theme

[timferius]

I think I need a new fantasy series or something, something with a unique setting. Any suggestions? (for some of the big ones I've already read, Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth (man that one went downhill near the end), Lord of the Rings, Fionavar Tapestry)

[Tack]

Yeah, more 'Big ones', but have you read Raymond E. Feist's stuff?
First (and biggest) book is 'Magician'.

Jim Butcher's 'Codex Alera' series is also pretty unique for fantasy.

Also David Gemell, for the visceral, sexy reading. I believe Legend was his first. Old Man with Big Axe Defends City, basically.

If you're desperate you can always pick up something useful from the Forgotten Realms people too. Something something DnD universe; takes about as much skill as the Black Library writers.

[Frumple]

I'd echo the alera stuff, just be aware there's some rape baiting -- approaching the act as a shock/titillation device -- in the... second or third book? Something like that, it's been a while since I've read 'em and I stalled on the forth or fifth book. Think there's some other bits here and there that are kinda' rough above and beyond the general violence. If stuff like that's a potential issue, you might want to consider a different series.

Would echo the riftwar stuff, too. They even made some video games (the krondor stuff) based off 'em. Or the other way around, something like that.

... also, if you could stand LotR, you might consider the Shannara stuff. There's certainly a lot of it, and it's not dissimilar in style. Also does the occasional faintly interesting thing. On the other hand, it's also more than a little sloggy, and I vaguely remember some pretty questionable writing at times, as well. Not something I'd actually recommend, but a possibility.

As for interesting settings... there are a small handful of Darksun books. I've read a few, and would probably recommend. Similarly, there's some spelljammer books (six total, making up the cloakmaster cycle) out there that are kinda' neat. Not particularly lengthy (though there's a fair few of the darksun stuff), but they provide some faintly interesting scenarios. In a similar tangent, consider that there are quite a few Magic the Gathering novels, some of which are even pretty interesting. Might be worth checking out if you're looking for fantasy that's fairly divergent from the norm.

[Yoink]

I think I need a new fantasy series or something, something with a unique setting. Any suggestions? (for some of the big ones I've already read, Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth (man that one went downhill near the end), Lord of the Rings, Fionavar Tapestry)

I'm sure I've recommended this just about every time someone's asked for a fantasy recommendation, but: Chronicles of and Age of Darkness, by Hugh Cook.
It's... well... it's morning here and I'm half asleep (and if I tried to describe it I'd end up rambling for ages), but it's a brilliant series.
It has your unique setting (although perhaps some elements have since become a bit cliched) as well as Cook's unique writing style.

I'd recommend starting with either The Wizards and the Warriors (the 1st book) or The Walrus and the Warwolf (the 2nd).
Although, The Wordsmiths and the Warguild was the first one I read, and it impressed me enough that I tracked down the nine other books years later.

[NJW2000]

Adam Roberts, alias A. R. R. Roberts, wrote a great fantasy noval, though most of his stuff is sci-fi, called "the soddit". I'd really reccommend it.

[Arx]

The Godless World by Brian Ruckley (starts with Winterbirth) is pretty original. I quite liked it.

[timferius]

That is quite the list guys! Thanks! To the book store!

[Tack]

I just read the first two books of "the wheel of time" series. Thought they were alright, but I'm incredibly bored now. It's just very boring to read and I'm constantly getting annoyed about how ALL the main characters just do every thing they can to deny what is happening.
So yeah none that. Cause it's just dumb.

Sort of agree but I'm up to the 7th book and the character development is getting pretty awesome. Plus that whole "insanity" twist which you always knew was going to happen, but watching the process is morbidly fascinating.
That being said it certainly takes a few books to get past the "villain of the week" vibe. The "BFF girl gang" stuff never really goes away though.

[Arx]

The thing to remember about Wheel of Time is that it's all Robert Jordan ever published. So the first books are written by a beginning author, and the end books (except, for the purposes of the argument, the ones by Sanderson) are written by an experienced author with a practiced and polished style. It doesn't excuse the first books, but it does make it worth pushing past them. The subgenre also changes dramatically.

[Drakale]

Recently read a translation of "The three body problem" (三体) by Liu Cyxin(刘慈欣), a science fiction novel which is basically Contact in the Chinese Cultural Revolution era. Interesting characters and it's the first time I read a novelized account of life in 70's china. Very interesting stuff, I think the following novel will be translated fairly soon. Fair warning, it's not a novel where a lot happens, it's more of a slow burner, but it's the kind of novel that you keep thinking about a long time after you read it.

[Arx]

Recently read a translation of "The three body problem" (三体) by Liu Cyxin(刘慈欣), a science fiction novel which is basically Contact in the Chinese Cultural Revolution era. Interesting characters and it's the first time I read a novelized account of life in 70's china. Very interesting stuff, I think the following novel will be translated fairly soon. Fair warning, it's not a novel where a lot happens, it's more of a slow burner, but it's the kind of novel that you keep thinking about a long time after you read it.

That one's on my to read list! I believe the second book has already been translated, but I could be mistaken. If it isn't it will be very soon.

[Tack]

Thinking of starting Ian M Bank's "The Culture" series.
Anybody read it?

[NJW2000]

One book.

Toed an interesting line between "high concept" and space opera sci-fi, but a great read, lots of fun, and a pretty interesting subtext too, IIRC.

Kinda reminds me of a toned-down Einsteinian Roulette, come to think of it, though maybe a bit more like... normal books, I guess. In a reasonably good way, i.e. less random death, slightly less cliche, etc.