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[ansontan2000]

If you haven't read it yet, A Song of Ice and Fire is another very original fantasy series, and very entertaining.

First book is Game of Thrones, you may recognize it from becoming a HBO show. Author is J.R.R Martin. Book's quite long, and is extremely exciting the whole way through. A must read.

[Gamerlord]

If you are at all inclined to read W40k stuff, you could try out the Horus Heresy, or the Eisenhorn trilogy. Other favorites of mine from that universe are Soul Hunter and it's sequel Blood Reaver (goofy names, great books) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, and their spiritual predecessor, Lord of the Night by Simon Spurrier. I'm one of those slavering 40k fans though, and I'm aware it isn't to everyone's taste.

Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!

Horus Heresy = AWESOME. Just enough violence balanced with other stuff.
Also anything that was written by Dan Abnett. (Includes at least two books from the Horus Heresy series.)

[Lectorog]

If you haven't read it yet, A Song of Ice and Fire is another very original fantasy series, and very entertaining.

First book is Game of Thrones, you may recognize it from becoming a HBO show. Author is J.R.R Martin. Book's quite long, and is extremely exciting the whole way through. A must read.

If you haven't read it yet, A Song of Ice and Fire is another very original fantasy series, and very entertaining.

I read it a long time ago.

He's already read it; as have most fantasy readers. (for good reason)

If you do enjoy science fiction, I second Foundation. Even if you don't like science fiction, you should read Foundation. Especially if you know a little or more about the fall of the Roman Empire. I recently finished the first book, and found it to be quite excellent.

[Flying Dice]

The Wheel of Time Series, by Robert Jordan.

Hands down one of my favorite series, pretty damn long though with over 10 books but a good read regardless.

I can only half recommend this.

IMO the series plummeted after book 6. I gave up after book 10 lacked anything resembling a climax (seriously when I finished it, I was like, that was it?).
First six books though (especially the first three) are pretty damn awesome, though.


Also there's some seriously weird mars and venus psychology that bugged me to no end but was never bad enough to distract too much.

That, and the constant restatement of basic characteristics of various cultures, nations, and individuals, though that is probably just a symptom of having a boatload of people to keep track of.

I hope you didn't stop at book 10, though; volume 14 "A Memory of Light", the final (for sure this time) is due for release in 2012. Believe me, things start to pick up again when Sanderson started ghostwriting the last volume (which quickly turned into the last 3 volumes), all the loose plot threads being tied up, Rand cutting out the whiny woe-is-me crap and obsession with dead women, etc. Seriously, the plot was very slowly rising up a smooth, low hill in the middle of the series, and now it is racing up a vertical cliff to cram everything in in time for the finale.

And as for the whole gender dynamics thing Jordan was fixated on: well, there are worse things. Just look at Weber, or Heinlein. Besides, at least it was relevant to the magic system, which I consider to be a good thing, as it provides a good deal of differentiation from the run-of-the-mill wizard and sorceress types that tend to be peddled by authors who don't have the sense to copy Tolkien in the areas where it might actually do some good.


Quite apart from that, Crossroads of Twilight was one of my favorites in the series, if only because of Mat's struggle to get rid of the butt monkey ball and the awesomeness that followed.

[Jimmy]

Sci-Fi: Agreed with all before me. Asimov FTW. Foundation series. Read. It. Now.

Fantasy: Terry Pratchett's Discworld as mentioned previously for good light-hearted chuckles. Also Raymond Feist's Riftwar series for some high fantasy, starting with Magician and through to current. Excellent characters, compelling fantasy world setting.

Classics: Too many to list. Pick a genre and get reading, if it's been in print for over 50 years you can pretty much guarantee it'll be a damn good read.

[Dsarker]

If you haven't read it yet, A Song of Ice and Fire is another very original fantasy series, and very entertaining.

First book is Game of Thrones, you may recognize it from becoming a HBO show. Author is J.R.R Martin. Book's quite long, and is extremely exciting the whole way through. A must read.

If you haven't read it yet, A Song of Ice and Fire is another very original fantasy series, and very entertaining.

I read it a long time ago.

He's already read it; as have most fantasy readers. (for good reason)

I was never able to get into it. Seemed too much like Warhammer 40k, only without the hope and joy that fills that.

[Realmfighter]

Try reading anything by Iain M Banks(But not Iain Banks, that man is a hack who while being the same man as Iain M Banks doesn't write Sci Fi and is therefore terrible.(Actually all of his stuff is awesome))

[Duuvian]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thieves_World

Many different authors all in one book, yet it fits together pretty well. Also a lot of well known fantasy authors.

I think I only have the first and second books. I can speak highly of those though.

[Enzo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thieves_World

Anything with Robert Asprin's name on it I can recommend, although I haven't actually read this one. That guy was a staple of my childhood. I don't care if Myth Adventures is YA fiction, it's awesome.

Otherwise, usual suggestions. Neal Gaiman (American Gods, etc), Niel Stephenson (Snowcraft, etc)... yadda yadda yadda.

[Phmcw]

A few series you may like :
His dark materials by Phillips Pullman if you want an unusual take at fantasy. An exceptional universe, original concept, and great characters.
The black company By Glenn Cook : A gem of dark fantasy : follow the story of a band of mercenaries in a dark and complex word. As always with Cook, the narrator is unreliable, so free to you to imagine what are the facts behind the story.
Garret files, by the same author : an private investigator story in a fantasy setting. Often hilarious, sometime sad, and never boring. The one who tell the story is the Hero, probably at a bar or something. Yes he gloat.
Dune by Frank Herbert, just in case you didn't read it already.
You like long story in a dark setting : why not try a classic of French literature and read Germinal, by Emile Zola. Catching and instructive book.

[Yoink]

I've never really liked the whole 'everyday modern person ends up in medieval fantasy world' plotline myself, but I was just about to suggest American Gods, which I'm reading at the moment. But Kinseti beat me to it.
Excellent book indeed.

More along the lines of fantasy, my favourite series I've ever read would have to be Chronicles of an Age of Darkness by Hugh Cook. Don't let the length of the series put you off, each of the books is told from the perspective of a different character as they go through the 'Age of Darkness', whose paths often entwine in various unexpected and amusing ways.
I can't praise the series enough, really. Um, I don't want to spoil anything. Just read it. The only problem is it could be a little tough to track the books down, it took me a while.

[Korgus]

The Mortal Engines Quartet by Philip Reeve.

[Willfor]

My tastes:
I like fantasy. I like Garth Nix, Shadows of the Apt, all kinds of things like that. Right now I am not in the mood for really Lord of the Ringsy books, but something with more innovation. Perhaps one of those books where someone from this world goes to another would be good.

Unfortunately, the only good crossover fantasy (a fantasy in which people from earth go to other worlds) I have read is The Fionavar Tapestry (by Guy Gavriel Kay), which was written by a man who worked as an editor on the Silmarillion, and is his own take on the mythical arc. Published in sequence between 1984-1986, it's somewhat seminal fantasy for a few authors who are writing today. Though not as good as his sophomore work, Tigana. Tigana is possibly his best work, and represents his shift from traditional fantasy into a true work of his own. Besides in The Fionavar Tapestry, Kay doesn't use the generic fantasy land (though even there, it has more of a mythical feel) and instead he uses an analog to an actual historical setting that feels far more fleshed out and vivid.

Tigana is generally called a must-read by most of the authors I follow, and I would say the same.

[palsch]

Charles Stross is mostly a SciFi writer, but he has a couple sorta-fantasy series that might be more up your street.

The Merchant Princes (starting with The Family Trade) is multiple world/alternative history fantasy/sci-fi (he sold it as fantasy then justified the magic with advanced technology once the contract was signed). The series suffers a bit because of the way it was sold; he wrote a doorstop and was told to split it into 300 page chunks for publication. It's six books in and he's just finished the first two stories of the trilogy. But it does sound a bit like you asked for in the OP.

The Laundry Series (starting with The Atrocity Archives) is... weird. I've mentioned it here before because it seems a good fit to the average DF player's mindset. The best description is Lovecraftian-spy-techno-thrillers, with a heavy dose of major geek. They follow a computer scientist/necromancer/tech support British civil servant/spy in a world where sufficiently advanced mathematics is literally magical. For values of magical that let you summon up things that find humans crunchy, or at least fun to ride around wearing. Very funny, often in a very dark way, more often in a very geeky way. The first book has Nazis and Muslim terrorists. The second is an in-universe Bond parody. The third.. well, things are starting to go to shit. There are three short stories available free online, each set after one of the published novels. Concrete Jungle set after the first, Down on the Farm after the second and Overtime after the third. Some spoilers for the previous novels in each, but they give you a good taste of the universe.


If you want something nastier, Richard Morgan is good. I've not read his fantasy, but it's been winning awards and had a similar mission statement to his early Sci Fi. Altered Carbon was Noir applied to a cyberpunk dystopia. Cue lots of explicitly graphic and extreme violence and sex (fortunately the most extreme sex is mostly implied given how few things are off limits in this world), along with a nicely rich political plot. The Steel Remains set out to do the same thing for fantasy. The authors description;

“If you had to – really had to – kill someone, which way would you rather they made you do it? With a pistol, or with an axe?

Exactly. So welcome to the brutal world of Ringil Angeleyes, scarred hero of Gallows Gap and death-wish-furious, semi-retired warrior aristocrat. I’ve been talking a good fight about fantasy noir for a while – now I’m putting my money where my mouth is. The Steel Remains is a grubby, blood-spattered trawl through exactly how unpleasant it might be to actually have to live in the average fantasy universe. Can you do noir in a fantasy landscape? You can certainly try…”

[Kofthefens]

I have read the Wheel of Time, the Discworld series, Temeraire, Mortal Engines, His Dark Materials, Dune. As to the rest of these great suggestion:
To the Library!