http://ayende.comAyende @ RahienCopyright (C) Ayende Rahien 2004 - 2021 (c) 202660If you haven't read yet, I'd highly recommend Ilium/Olympos and Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. I'm finishing Olympos right now and I am totally in love with this author already... http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment42http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment42Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:37:59 GMTI can not reccommend In the Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss enough. Its the first book in a series, and I am eagerly awaiting a second. I haven't been this excited about a series since reading the first few of Jordan's book. It sits on my shelf as the greatest fantasy store I have read to date. I'm dearly hoping Rothfuss can deliver with the rest of the series. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment41http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment41Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:12:54 GMTI love The Belgariad Series by David Eddings. The Mallorean is also quite good. It's a fairly light read, but good fantasty stuff. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment40http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment40Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:47:38 GMTI second everyone who recommended Neal Stephenson and Neil Gaiman. Anything by David Mitchell is damn good as well. Then I'd recomment China Miéville, especially Un Lun Dun, Looking for Jake and The City and the City. I'd also throw in Margaret Atwood (e.g. Oryx and Crake) and Jasper Fforde. And last, but not least, I've recently been in a bit of a Dave Eggers fan phase. So far, everything I've read has been excellent. It's not sci-fi or fantasy in anyway, but definitely good. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment39http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment39Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:59:58 GMTPratchett can be daunting to those who think they might like to start. I mean, 37 books in the series? The Colour of Magic was okay, particularly for the time, but it's a while until you get to the really good stuff, IMO. Anway, [here's](http://janessafari.com/post/2009/12/04/Discovering-Discworld.aspx) a good guide that might help. It includes groupings by story line as well as a couple options for truncated chronological ordering. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment38http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment38Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:29:42 GMTI'd got for Raymond E Feist. The Riftwar saga was excellent, as was the Empire trilogy. Those were fantastic, both for different reason. I loved the character depth and adventure in riftwar and the politics and otherworldlyness of empire. Lots of books to be going at. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment37http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment37Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:01:12 GMTNeal Stephenson(Snow crash, The baroque cycle, crypto, anathema) Vernor Vinge(Singularity) Orson Scott Card(Ender, Shadow) Neil gaiman(neverwhere, american gods) http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment36http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment36Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:35:29 GMTCheck out Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Quality read man http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment35http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment35Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:10:53 GMTAgreement on Iain Banks and Charles Stross. If you're willing to work at reading, I'd recommend Gene Wolfe, Tacitus, Thucidides, and Suetonius. If you're not willing to expend as much effort, Gene Wolfe is a good choice, but avoiding his Shadow of the Torturer series. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment34http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment34Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:19:12 GMTIf you like epic space opera then I would check out Peter F Hamilton. He has a couple of series out (Night's Dawn, Commonwealth Saga, Void Trilogy) and I love all of his books. For fantasy you really can't go past David Eddings. The Belgariad series is really great, and it's pretty easy to read too. I also really enjoyed the Empire trilogy by Janny Wurts and Raymond E Feist - much more than Feist's Riftwar series (Magician etc). It has a really good mix of politics and action. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment33http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment33Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:06:31 GMTFor everyone mentioning Stephenson and Martin check out K. J. Parker. I recently finished the Engineer trilogy and it's like a combination of Martin's fantasy (medieval setting, complicated politics, little to no magic) with the geeked out technology details of Stephenson. I'll also back up the Alastair Reynolds rec by Mike. I've read all of his and they keep getting better. Also check out Iain Bank's Culture series, Charlie Stross and Ken MacLeod. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment32http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment32Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:26:20 GMTSince everyone's been recommending Sci-fi... If going for Neil gaiman, check out his comics Sandman- his best work which could also open you to a whole different medium. I would also recommend "The amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay " and "The time traveler's wife": two non sci-fi books which might appeal to you because they're close to that genre and show different ways of dealing with narrative, which might appeal to you as an 'ALT.NET' person... ;-) http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment31http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment31Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:26:08 GMTI'm reading Cryptonomicon right now. It took me a while to get into it but it's pretty good. Snow Crash was a better intro to Stephenson I think, if only because it's shorter. Next on my list is more Alastair Reynolds. I read Chasm City and Century Rain. Chasm City was better but both were interesting enough for me to explore further. I really like Tad Williams and Ian Irvive. They both build fantastic worlds but I dislike the end of most of their stuff. Speaking of which, Robin Hobb is a good read :) Finally, I love George RR Martin but don't start it unless you are willing to wait a LONG time between books. The most recent book (#5) is now 4/5 years overdue and it tells the other side of the goings on of the less than stellar book 4. Can't wait but so frustrated. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment30http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment30Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:46:59 GMTStephane, I LOVED Prince Roger. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment29http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment29Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:57:21 GMTJeremy, Ender's Game was really good, it tapered off quickly after that, I have to say. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment28http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment28Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:12:41 GMTGreg, I read a LOT of Ringo's stuff. I think he is a good author, but at some points his right wing opinions are TOO blatant to actually read. The last few books in the Legacy of the Aldenata were quite annoying because of that http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment27http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment27Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:12:06 GMTjoe, I read the except for that, and I don't think I'll like it http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment26http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment26Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:10:36 GMTCraig & Bill, I'll check Neal Stephenson out. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment25http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment25Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:07:40 GMTFallenGameR, I read a lot of his stuff. He is funny, but at some point it got annoying, I like to have _some_ plot to the book http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment24http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment24Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:06:54 GMTCyril, I think that I read just about everything by Heinlein, he is _awesome_ http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment23http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment23Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:04:44 GMTSimSod I read Sword of Truth, but not Malazan, I'll check it out. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment22http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment22Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:03:59 GMTMark Yep, read that one too. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment21http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment21Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:03:27 GMTRyan, Yes, I read the Sword of Truth, great series, although I think it gotten worse as time went by. I am in Good Reads, yes. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment20http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment20Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:02:46 GMTI second the A song of ice and Fire series by George R.R Martin, one of the best in my opinion! I also quite like the Malazan book of the fallen series by Steven Erikson, haven´t finished that series tough! http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment19http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment19Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:11:14 GMTCharles Stross - I have only read Halting State so far, it was fantastic. Stephen Baxter - Hard SF. Nothing like a good old-fashioned war between the baryonic lords of the universe and the dark matter beings. Tad Williams - Fantasy and fantastic SF Seconding suggestions of Stephenson, Adams and Gaiman. Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey (at least up to "All the Weyrs of Pern") are good as well (I see now though that you already are familiar with Misty at least). http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment18http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment18Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:07:35 GMTif you like david weber, check out the prince roger series ( [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Man)) A good mix of sci-fi and history is 'Illium' and 'Olympos', both by Dan Simmons +1 on neal stephenson (cryptonomicon, diamond age) +1 on neil gaiman (american gods, anansi boys) +1 on ender's game - why isn't there a movie yet? http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment17http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment17Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:41:32 GMT+1 for Neil Gaiman, my favorite modern writer (not that I read a lot though) http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment16http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment16Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:21:36 GMTIf you like DiscWorld, I think you'll like "Good Omens" by Prachett and Neil Gaiman. (Too bad it isn't available on the Kindle though). http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment15http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment15Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:24:12 GMTI liked Dread Empire's Fall series (3 books) by Walter Jon Williams. it's kind of realistic sci fi. A lot of read for six months, even assuming you read only recently published books of honorverse, jordan etc and not the whole series. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment14http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment14Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:07:43 GMTOrson Scott Card has some good books, IMHO. "Ender's Game" starts a series. I found that the series dropped off after the first couple of books, but I really enjoyed Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment13http://ayende.com/4312/reading-frenzy#comment13Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:36:11 GMT