Book suggestions: fantasy/scifi, read details please?

I got a coupon deal for scifi/fantasy for 4 books for the price of 3.





Some of the authors available I'm curious about are:





Karen Marie Moning


Patrick Rothfuss


Orson Scott Card


Diana Gabaldon


Sherrilyn Kenyon


Robin Hobb





I'd like to know what you thought abou those authors.





And then also if you have any other recommendations too. No young adult please.





I've read quite a bit but here are a few others I've loved:





Karen Miller/K.E.Mills


Terry Goodkind


Terry Pratchett


Laurell K Hamilton


Neil Gaiman


William Goldman


~I've recently started Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin


Kim Harrison (she's okay, not wildly awesome)


Jim Butcher.


David Farland|||Patrick Rothfuss' has been very good. He pulls you in like those good authors do and keeps you turning page after page. I feel that perhaps his world could be a bit more fleshed out, but he makes up for it with a good pace to the story. Just read him a few weeks ago, liked it.





Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow were good books. Definitely worth reading, however they are not exactly a nice books and there are some parts with more or less child abuse or children being vicious with other children. However it's done in such a way that I wasn't offended at all, and it just added to the main characters to overcome such circumstances.





Robin Hobb is my favorite author, and I have read hundreds of books. The Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies are the best I have ever read, they receive my highest recommendations. However, her stories are realistic in that not everything happens nicely, and people don't take serious injuries and are back on their feet, with no ill effects, in a few weeks. Her main characters have to go through a lot of painful, sometimes terrible things so be warned before hand. However her character development is beyond excellent. I really enjoyed her plots too, you cannot see them coming ahead of time and they are consistent with the world and characters, etc.


Her soldier-son trilogy was also very good, but it's not as widely appealing as her other series. The main complaint is that the plot is too slow and the main character isn't nearly as well liked as her other series. However I thought it was very well done, and it gave me a lot to think about on top of the main story.


Her Liveship Traders trilogy I liked the least, probably because of what happens to some of the characters, but it ties into the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies and some people think it's her best series. Of course it was very well written, and despite what I said it's still much better than the majority of the books/series out there.


Another thing about Hobb, her endings are by far the best I have ever read.














Some other recommendations





The Riddlemaster Trilogy by Patricia McKillip. The writing is absolutely beautiful, as is the whole world she creates. The trilogy itself is almost a riddle as she doesn't fill you in on anything, instead gives bits and pieces of the world to you to solve things yourself. It's almost like reading a dream in my opinion, a very amazing one. That being said, it can be confusing the first time reading through it. You will want to reread it though, definitely. Also pay close attention in the beginning when you don't know what's going on, there are some clues given that might help you figure out what the heck is going on later in the book. Probably my favorite trilogy after Hobb's.








L.E. Modesitt- He has four fantasy worlds he writes in (Recluce, Corean, Imager, and Spellsong) all of which have atleast 5 books to them (except the imager series which he started not too long ago). His books are very interesting and thought provoking. His character development is decent, his world development is excellent, and his plots are strong. He also writes a lot of good sci-fi stuff, most of which are stand alone novels, although he has a few series. His books have a lot of social questions in them.








Earth Sea series by Ursula Le Guin - A classic fantasy series that most everyone likes. Tough to describe it, but check it out.








The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series by Steven Erikson - Very extremely complex plot and world with lots of characters and Gods and ascendants walk the earth, fight each other, die, and even new Gods arise. The world and plot are very very deep, the series goes 11 books long and each of those books is near 1000 pages except the first one. I really enjoyed it, but it's kind of dark and gritty. The first book isn't that great by the way, second one was a little dark even for me, but the following are excellent. He is often compared to George Martin. I consider him to be the best writer in the epic fantasy genre.|||Christopher Moore is excellent. I adore him. My favorites are Lamb and Fluke, but honestly I've read every one of his books and he's amazing.





I know someone mentioned Douglas Adams already, but he absolutely bears repeating. :-)





Tanya Huff is very good as well. Most of her stuff is fantasy, but if you're in a sci-fi mood she has the Confederation Novels. All wonderful.





I've read one book by Sherrilyn Kenyon, I liked it a lot; just be prepared for a LOT of sex. As long as you don't mind that (quite a lot), she's good.|||Orson scott card is good, a bit dry though. I love robin hobb. Sherrilyn kenyon is good but after awhile I got tired of reading her. You should also check out robin mckinley and, of you were able to stomach laurel k hamilton you should read kushiels dart. Not that the two are similar but they are a little graphic in some ways. Also you should read anne bishop, possibly my all time favorite author.|||Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris like if TV series The Avengers was steam punk

They have podcasted a few in world stories so you can see if you would like the book in Tales From the Archives|||I've only read one of Sherrilyn Kenyon's a few years ago (when I was an innocent *relatively :P* little child)... graphic lovemaking. Too much. Scarred for life.


Other than that, I recall that I thought the whole gods and powers thing was kind of cool :P|||Patrick Rothfuss for sure. Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear are modern classics. Some of the best high fantasy I have ever read.





Orson Scott Card is pretty good too, I'd recommend Ender's Game from him.|||Karen Marie Moning. My mom absolutely loves her books, and she has a shelf and half, roughly, of a bookshelf dedicated to her work. :)|||The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman? I just bought it out of simple curiosity because all the staff at the warehouse were like OMG AMAZING BOOK! AMAZING!!!!!|||Douglas Adams! I love love loved the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series! Comedy meets sci-fi.|||The hunger games? Its young adult but very good. As well as life as we knew it. Both are kinda post apocolyptic|||Allow me to second (third? fourth?) Douglas Adams here. That man really does know where his towel is! XD Seriously, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is so good! It's hilarious, full of clever metaphors, composed of insane plot twists, and overall perfect for smart people who like a well-written story. Plus it provides material for plenty of future inside jokes! =)



I assume you have tried George Orwell before? I didn't see him in your list. He has a generally negative air that doesn't really click with me, but his concepts are fascinating, and are the basis for the entire sci-fi genre we have today. I think Animal Farm will do, since it is a (rather short) political metaphor. It's kind of... disturbing, in a way, though. I've heard Burmese Days is very good, but haven't found a copy yet. It's not sci-fi, but the author being the father of sci-fi might make this book qualify for your discount, perhaps?



I've heard scores of praise for Orson Scott Card, but haven't read anything by him yet, so I can't recommend him with any conviction. Same with Catherine Wells (Children of the Earth series) and Richard Adams (Watership Down): I keep hearing good things about them, but haven't tried them myself. *shrugs*



Anyway, happy reading!



EDIT: I just remembered one of my favorites: Ray Bradbury! I think I remember you saying you have read some of his stuff and liked them, but just in case, I'll cram in a word in favor of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. Good stuff. =)



EDIT 2: Hi again, sweets. :-D Bradbury is such a good writer. I liked Fahrenheit 451 very much, but that doesn't necessarily mean you will. The Martian Chronicles might be more to your taste. The writing is strong, the plot is interesting, and the story is made up of many intertwined stories (some parallel, some not). Plus there is an entire section with strong alusions to Edgar Allan Poe's works, written in a style that reads very true to Poe's. I think you'll like it.|||Somebody said "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" and I could've sworn that was Young Adult. But I've heard nothing but RAVES about Diana Goldoban (I know I spelled her name wrong :\ ) Seriously! I've also heard 'some' good things about Orson Scott Card, about how strong his female protagonists are and how great his plot twists are,ect.





I'm curious though: I myself have not read The Hunger Games yet so I'm wondering what it is you didn't like about it. I've only heard about the book on here but the premise sounds EXACTLY like Stephen King's 1986 novel The Running Man, which was made into a film with Arnold Schwatrzenegger in the lead. Only difference I can tell from the summary really is that the Hunger Games uses teens instead of adults. And no offense to those who like Hunger Games (and again, I haven't reaad it), but people keep posting how original the concept is, ect. That reminded me of Twilight and how teens were saying it was so original. The Young Adult demographic seems to have SUCH a limited level of reading %26amp; film watching exposure that they really believe these authors came up with these stories by themselves. No offense, it's just an opinion based on observations.|||While I am afraid I can't be of much help pertaining to the authors you mentioned being curious about [except Rothfuss, who I can voche for being good], I do have a recommendation.





Richard Matheson. He used to write for The Twilight Zone, and has since published many short stories and novels. His short stories are his real talent, and I recommend reading those and essentially skipping his novels all together. His best short story collections are Button, Button and Duel. I Am Legend is a fantastic novella, but the rest of the stories in that collection are "eh". For his most Science Fiction-like stuff, Duel is the collection to read. Great stories in that one.





Anywho, good luck!