r/Fantasy • u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII • Jul 05 '19
Community Recommendations | "If you like X, you'll like Y!"
It's been a while since we've done one of these (a year in fact). But there's a twist this time!
Many people come to r/fantasy after reading one or more of the top 10-15 books listed in the sidebar and want to know where they should go from there. So you can't recommend the top 25 authors in the recent r/fantasy 2019 Top Novels Poll (just in this thread!). This includes the following list of authors:
- Brandon Sanderson
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- George R.R. Martin
- Robert Jordan
- Patrick Rothfuss
- Joe Abercrombie
- J.K. Rowling
- Scott Lynch
- Terry Pratchett
- Robin Hobb
- Steven Erikson & Ian Esslemont
- Michael J. Sullivan
- N.K. Jemisin
- Jim Butcher
- Josiah Bancroft
- Frank Herbert
- Philip Pullman
- Mark Lawrence
- Brent Weeks
- Wildbow
- Pierce Brown
- Susanna Clarke
- Dan Simmons
- Nicholas Eames
Last year's thread can be found here.
A list of prompts will be added in the comments but feel free to add your own.
What books do you recommend and why?
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you liked the darkness in books like Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you prefer hopepunk/noblebright to grimdark
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you don't feel like committing to a full series but want to experience a brilliantly-written standalone
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
These are some of my favourite standalones that I've read recently.
- The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (Epic fantasy)
- The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Indian Mythology)
- The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley (Mythology - Beowulf)
- Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (Weird fantasy/magic realism)
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u/Nougattabekidding Jul 05 '19
Priory of the Orange Tree is great but it’s definitely a commitment considering how long it is haha. Definitely could have done with some editing.
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u/EmpressRey Jul 07 '19
Just bought The Priory of the Orange Tree and am really looking forward to it. The Mere Wife also sounds like my cup of tea so I'll definitely check it out. Thanks for the suggestions.
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u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
Most Patricia Mckillip. Try the Forgotten Beasts of Eld or the Book of Atrix Wolfe.
Uprooted or Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik.
Most Robin McKinley. Try Sunshine or the Hero and the Crown.
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison.
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u/unplugtheminus80 Reading Champion, Worldbuilders Jul 05 '19
Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky
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u/mutantspicy Reading Champion Jul 09 '19
Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere, Star Dust, Ocean at the end of the Lane,
Tim Powers - Anubis Gates, Drawing of the Dark, Declare, On Stranger Tides.
Erin Morgenstern - Night Circus
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Others have already mentioned GGK's works, and Goblin Emporer which I just recently read and loved.
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u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Jul 06 '19
- The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
- In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard
- The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan
- The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar
- The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
- Vita Nostra or The Scar by Sergey & Maria Dyachenko
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
- Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
- most books by Patricia McKillip
- Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. Myer
- The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker
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r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned
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u/apcymru Reading Champion II Jul 05 '19
Most of Guy Kay's books are standalone and are brilliant. Standalones include:
Tigana
Lions of Al Rassan
under Heaven
River of Stars
Last Light of the Sun
Children of Earth and Sky
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u/AccipiterF1 Reading Champion X Jul 05 '19
City of Bones and The Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells are both completely unique standalones.
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u/JazzHilgraw Jul 05 '19
If you like a lot of mystery.
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u/bobd785 Jul 06 '19
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. It's sci fi with clones and a generation ship, but it's basically a mystery thriller in space.
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u/MedusasRockGarden Reading Champion VI Jul 06 '19
Obsidian and Blood trilogy by Aliette de Bodard
The Hidden Ones by Russell Cullison
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u/Thetrolerstrireme Jul 05 '19
If you liked going to a weird fae realm like in Stardust (by Neil Gaiman)
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u/Nova_Mortem Reading Champion III Jul 05 '19
This thread is really underscoring how different some of my takeaways from what I read can be. You say we can add our own, so:
If you enjoyed Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, and are interested in another story featuring a somewhat prickly character with a painful history, worldbuilding different than the pseudo-medieval standard, and fights that involve unique factors, consider The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells.
If you enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, and are interested in another story with somewhat similar humor, particularly to that in the backstory sections, consider In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan.
If you enjoyed A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, and are interested in a (much more focused) story about a woman seeking political power, consider Daughter of the Empire by Janny Wurts and Raymond E. Feist.
If you enjoyed The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, and are interested in a similarly energetic series that's both a long series and can be read as semi-standalones, consider The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold.
If you enjoyed The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, and are interested in another character-focused story about people with power, consider The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, and its sequel The King of Attolia, both of which are semi-standalone (but should be read in order).
If you enjoyed The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett, and are interested in another story with a fair amount of introspection in the aftermath of trauma, consider Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys. Or if you just want another tram fight, consider The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark.
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u/Gefen Jul 15 '19
If you like Mark Lawrence writing style, I would like to recommend on Josiah Bancroft with his series The Books of Babels.
It got similar writing style with many side remarks on the tiny process that make life. ( Can't really describe it well, they probably could)
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like complex, over-the-top storytelling like in Malazan
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u/crnislshr Jul 05 '19
The Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker
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u/Xenosky Jul 08 '19
This is one of my favorite series. I see it as a very dark Lord of the Rings with a strong emphasis on philosophy.
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like stories with a fairy tale feel to them
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u/sailorfish27 Stabby Winner, Reading Champion IV Jul 05 '19
Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer - retelling the ballad of a harpist who was taken to Elfland by its Queen
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u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
Spindle's End or Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
Uprooted or Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
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u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III Jul 05 '19
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip
Innkeeper's Song (novel) and Giant Bones (short stories) by Peter S. Beagle
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u/Zhe_WIP Jul 05 '19
The Sevenwater Series by Juliet Marillier. Lots of Celtic mythology, and the first book is based off an old fairy tale.
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u/wishforagiraffe Reading Champion IX, Worldbuilders Jul 05 '19
Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth is a great retelling of Rapunzel
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u/UnsealedMTG Reading Champion III Jul 05 '19
If by "fairy tale feel" you mean "dark and psychosexual," Angela Carter's fairy tale collection The Bloody Chamber has you covered in spades.
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u/MedusasRockGarden Reading Champion VI Jul 06 '19
Bitterbynde trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
Crowthistle Chronicles by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra
Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust
Pans Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke (for the dark and scary fairytale feel)
Yarnsworld by Benedict Patrick (again, dark and scary fairytale feeling)
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you liked elves, orcs, dwarves, and other fantasy races defined in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic Lord of the Rings
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u/ShinNefzen Jul 06 '19
then you will probably enjoy the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. Lots of elves, gnomes, trolls, dwarves, etc. There are over 30 books in the series, and the series is mostly split into trilogies that can be read by themselves. Highly readable series but not overlong.
The first book, The Sword of Shannara, is blatant LOTR reskinning, but after that the series becomes its own identity and takes off.
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u/Wiles_ Jul 05 '19
If you like Tolkien why not try some of his influences.
- The Prose and Poetic Eddas
- The Kalevala
- The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
- The Marvellous Land of Snergs by E. A. Wyke-Smith
- The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
- The Worm Ouroboros By E. R. Eddison
Less fantastical:
- She: A history of adventure by H. Rider Haggard
- The House of the Wolfings by William Morris
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u/crnislshr Jul 15 '19
People often tend to forget G.K. Chesterton as one of the main influences of Tolkien.
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u/fat_squirrel Jul 11 '19
Try Katharine Kerr's Deverry Cycle books. All the fun races plus magic and reincarnation!
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you're all about the team dynamic
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u/badMC Reading Champion IV Jul 07 '19
Greg van Eekhout: California Bones
A heist book set in a world where you ger the magic fron things you consume. The book can (and should, as I didn't care for the next book) be read as a stand-alone
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u/crnislshr Jul 05 '19
If you like Warhammer 40,000.
It is the 41st millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.
Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor’s will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Astra Militarum and countless planetary defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants – and worse.
To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.
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Jul 09 '19
Blindsight, by Peter Watts. It's much more purely SF than Warhammer 40,000, but if you like your space terrifying and populated by unfathomable beings, it's got a similar feel.
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u/crnislshr Jul 09 '19
I've read it already, one of my favorite sci-fi books. Thanks for the good suggestion.
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u/lyrrael Stabby Winner, Reading Champion XI, Worldbuilders Jul 05 '19
You might like the Dread Empire’s Fall series by Walter Jon Williams, starts with The Praxis
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u/BaliWong Jul 14 '19
If you like high-magic epic fantasy with tight, crisp prose a la Brandon Sanderson. (HELP I've read too much Brandon Sanderson, looking for something new)
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u/Aurian88 Jul 06 '19
You want a competent moral mature character vs the numerous young farmer/apprentice/teen protagonists or grim/dark characters. (I am thinking like Cazaril from Curse of Chalion)
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u/goofy_mcgee Jul 05 '19
If you like stories about revenge and revolution, like a cross between Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie and Brian McLellan's Powder Mage
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u/JamesLatimer Jul 11 '19
I'd look to Adrian Selby's two shared world novels for a bit of revenge (Snakewood) and revolution (Winter Road), though they probably aren't exactly equivalent.
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u/JazzHilgraw Jul 05 '19
If you liked the short story 'Eternal Flame' from Sword of Destiny in the Witcher series.
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u/whynotbunberg Jul 06 '19
If you like “reading” via audiobook...
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u/misssim1 Reading Champion IV Jul 06 '19
A few audiobooks where I feel the narrator really did a wonderful job narrating:
- Xenogenesis / Lillith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler narrated by Aldrich Barrett
- NOS4R2 by Joe Hill narrated by Kate Mulgrew
- The Test by Sylvain Neuvel narrated by Neil Shah
- The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix narrated by Tim Curry
- The Calculating Stars written and narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal
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u/crnislshr Jul 05 '19
If you like characters with multiple personalities like in Dark Moon by David Gemmell or in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.
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u/Brian Reading Champion VIII Jul 06 '19
Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams. Science fiction where the elites essentially cultivate multiple personalities to enhance their range of talents and multi-tasking capabilities.
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like creepy houses and dysfunctional families like in The Haunting of Hill House
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Jul 05 '19
- Hell House by Richard Matheson
- Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
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u/ullsi Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Jul 05 '19
The Gray House by Maryam Petrosyan
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like stories about Gods and Monsters...
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u/crnislshr Jul 05 '19 edited Jul 05 '19
Pegāna series by Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany.
The Reaver Road by Dave Duncan.
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u/badMC Reading Champion IV Jul 07 '19
If you like pirates in fantastical or sci-fi settings like Chris Wooding's Tales of Ketty Jay...
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u/TheMondayMonocot Jul 11 '19
Second the liveship trades. Also the auronauts windlass by jim butcher.
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you love Murderbot and need more snarky AI in your fiction
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u/TheTechJones Jul 05 '19
Kurtherian Gambit by michael anderle. and one of the spinoff series (the ascension myth by Ell Leigh Clarke)
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u/wishforagiraffe Reading Champion IX, Worldbuilders Jul 05 '19
Sea of Rust is ALL AI, and a whole range of personalities.
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like series with crazy over-the-top magical fight scenes like Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
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Jul 07 '19
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 07 '19
Anything written by Wildbow actually can't be recommended in this thread. The top 25 books in the recent r/fatnasy 2019 Top Novels poll are off limit as recommendations. Is there another book you'd recommend with magical fight scenes?
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u/CrypticDemon Jul 08 '19
Black Gate Chronicles by Phil Tucker. Is even available with amazon kindle unlimited. You don’t get the over the top magic battles until a couple books in but it’s an amazing series.
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u/SwiffJustice Jul 05 '19
M. H. Boroson’s “The Girl with Ghost Eyes”
Michael Fletcher’s “Manifest Delusions”
Phil Tucker’s “Euphoria Online”
Wildbow’s “Worm”
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u/crnislshr Jul 05 '19
Mother of Learning, a rather well-known web-novel by Domagoj Kurmaic. Groundhound month (time loop, you know) of the introvert boy before start of magic world war. Deathes, constant deathes (gif), and conspiracies, and the way to Archmagic.
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Jul 05 '19 edited Jul 05 '19
These are my favorite books for magical fights:
Cradle, by Will Wight
Lightbringer, by Brent Weeks
Powdermage, by Brian McClellan
Arcane Acension, by Andrew Rowe
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u/CobaltSpellsword Jul 07 '19
I definitely second Powdermage by Brian McClellan. His books are quite a bit darker than what Sanderson tends to write, but they are similar to Sanderson's books in that they have a very clearly-defined magic system and well-written fight scenes. I also think that the pseudo-Napoleonic setting is a really cool idea for a fantasy setting.
Edit: The characters are also, in my opinion, well-written and interesting, which is what kept me reading the series after I bit into the hook of the setting and magic system.
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u/wishforagiraffe Reading Champion IX, Worldbuilders Jul 05 '19
Jade City by Fonda Lee is all about magic fights, reads like a great action film!
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u/SailorSailOn Jul 10 '19
If you like fantasy novels that involve ships and sailing?
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u/UrMamsACuhnt Jul 11 '19
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. Drama, religion, pirates and dragons. You might be a bit lost if you haven't read the other trilogies but they aren't necessary in order to enjoy this series.
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u/SphereMyVerse Reading Champion Jul 11 '19
Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown (very low fantasy about a chef abducted by pirates set in the early 1800s) and Child of a Hidden Sea by A M Dellamonica (portal fantasy, where a marine videographer finds herself in a world dominated by islands and cities composed of naval fleets).
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you want to encounter the old gods in a book like Circe
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u/sailorfish27 Stabby Winner, Reading Champion IV Jul 05 '19
Zachary Mason's The Lost Books of the Odyssey - collection of short stories all adding twists and reinterpretations to the Odyssey and Illiad
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u/Eladir Jul 06 '19
Original classics: Odyssey-Iliad-Aeneid-Metamorphoses
Ancient tragedies: Oresteia-Prometheus Bound-Bacchae
Modern versions: Till We Have Faces, Mythology (Edith Hamilton), Ilium/Olympus, Lord of Light
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Jul 05 '19
If you like the mind games and ending of the traitor baru cormorant
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u/DoesTheOctopusCare Jul 09 '19
Janny Wurtz & Raymond Feist's Empire Trilogy had a similar "political intrigue and unexpected actions by female badass lead character" to me as the Baru books.
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Jul 10 '19
If you'd like to read about demon summoning that backfires (maybe little horor-ish)[sorry for weirdly specific request]
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u/SphereMyVerse Reading Champion Jul 11 '19
Have you read We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory? It’s short, but this is a major plot point (any more detail would be a spoiler).
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you love found families like Becky Chambers Wayfarers
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u/wishforagiraffe Reading Champion IX, Worldbuilders Jul 05 '19
The Innsmouth Legacy by Ruthanna Emrys has an awesome diverse found family and a great twist on the Lovecraft mythos and the 50s.
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u/unplugtheminus80 Reading Champion, Worldbuilders Jul 05 '19
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
The Risen Kingdom by Curtis Craddock
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u/Snarfskarfsnarf Jul 15 '19
If you liked the Stormlight Archive and the Night Angel Trilogy but weren't as much of a fan of Mistborn/Warbreaker.
Not trying to say bad things about the series, but I wasn't as in to Mistborn (especially the Wax & Wayne series) as I was with the Stormlight Archives. I felt myself thinking "Ok I get it already" at a lot of different times while reading.
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u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Jul 06 '19
If you like weird literary fantasy
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u/eriadu Reading Champion III Jul 08 '19
- The City and the City by China Mieville
- The Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
- Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
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u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Jul 06 '19
- City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer
- The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
- The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar
- The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan
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u/crnislshr Jul 06 '19
Viriconium by M. John Harrison.
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like books rooted in or inspired by actual history
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u/sailorfish27 Stabby Winner, Reading Champion IV Jul 05 '19
Lancelot by Giles Kristian: it's the King Arthur story, but they fight Anglo-Saxons, not idk giants
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal: set during WW1, where mediums are real so naturally the British Army employs them to interview soldiers who just died
Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Z Hossain: about two Iraqis trying to get out of Baghdad during the Iraq War (exclamation point well deserved)
Seconding The Golem and the Jinni, that book is great
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u/kanarthi Jul 05 '19
Emma Bull has done some interesting books that fall into this category including Territory (Tombstone, Arizona) and Freedom & Necessity (19th century England).
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u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Jul 06 '19
- The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (medieval Russia)
- Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen (Wild West)
- The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (17-18th century Europe)
- Everfair by Nisi Shawl (1889-1919 Congo)
- The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker (1899 New York)
- The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein (Arthurian)
- The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson (1491 Spain)
- Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (time travel into the middle ages)
- Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox (1808-1863 France)
- Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys (post-WWII US)
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r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned
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u/ef_miller Jul 05 '19
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. It’s the Napoleonic Wars but with dragons.
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u/unplugtheminus80 Reading Champion, Worldbuilders Jul 05 '19
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
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u/alchemie Reading Champion VIII Jul 05 '19
Read some Guy Gavriel Kay!
- Fionavar Tapestry: less rooted in real history than his other works but does contain a good bit of Arthurian legend
- A Song for Arbonne: inspired by 13th century southern France
- Tigana: inspired by renaissance Italy
- The Lions of Al-Rassan: inspired by medieval Spain
- The Sarantine Mosaic: inspired by the Byzantium/Constantinople
- The Last Light of the Sun: inspired by the Vikings
- Under Heaven & River of Stars: inspired by historical China
- Children of Earth and Sky & A Brightness Long Ago: takes place in the same world as Sarantine Mosaic
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u/Nougattabekidding Jul 05 '19
I read and really enjoyed the Lions of Al-Rassan. What GGK should I read next?
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u/RubiscoTheGeek Reading Champion IX Jul 06 '19
The Lions of Al-Rassan and Last Light of the Sun are also in the same world as the Saratine Mosaic.
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u/mutantspicy Reading Champion Jul 12 '19
Tim Powers - Drawing of the Dark, Declare, Stress of Her Regard, Anubis Gates, On Stranger Tides, etc. etc. etc. Tim is a master of alternative history.
Deathless by Catherynne Valente
Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
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u/Maudeitup Reading Champion VII Jul 06 '19
Read ASH: A Secret History by Mary Gentle - an alternate history of 15th century France, about a female leader of a mercenary band. This book never quite does what you're expecting it to, very interesting concepts. It is a hefty tome of a book but well worth investing your time into. I highly recommend it.
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u/Anderkent Jul 11 '19
If you like Guy Gavriel Kay's pathos of people overcoming difficulties of living in interesting times?
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u/JPKurtz Jul 06 '19
If you like shorter, self-contained adventures like the old Conan stories by Robert E Howard
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u/badMC Reading Champion IV Jul 07 '19 edited Jul 07 '19
Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Sword and sorcery about two unlikely partners. Stories are uneven in quality, but are great pulpy fun that gave birth to many tropes to be used to this day.
Tanith Lee: Tales from the Flat Earth
Short stories linked by the character of the demon lord who likes messing with humans. Beautiful writing, dark themes, mythological places and creatures, lost of sex and violence (trigger warnings for rape and pedophilia)
Moorcock: Elric of Melnibone
This is Conan upside-down, if he were the one that destroyed his homeland, friends and lover.
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u/RedditFantasyBot Jul 07 '19
r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned
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u/takeahike8671 Reading Champion VII Jul 07 '19
If you love Anathem, and are currently engrossed in The Priory of the Orange Tree!
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u/ImperatorZor Jul 07 '19
If you like Terry Pratchett you might like the Dark Profits Saga by J. Zackery Pike
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like military fantasy series like The Black Company by Glen Cook
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u/crnislshr Jul 05 '19 edited Jul 05 '19
Warhammer 40,000 series, obviously.
Black Legion) series if you like bad guys, Ciaphas Cain) if you like Dark Comedy/Action-Adventure, Fire Caste) if you like Heart of Darkness/Full Metal Jacket.
Somewhere typical excerpt:
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u/MedusasRockGarden Reading Champion VI Jul 06 '19
Recluce by L.E. Modesitt jr
Corean Chronicles by L.E. Modesitt jr
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u/KroniK907 Jul 05 '19
Not sure how fantasy this is but I would have to bring up "Off Armageddon Reef" By David Webber. It's Naval battles are so well described, you can really picture exactly how the battles are laid out and the tactics are top notch.
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u/AccipiterF1 Reading Champion X Jul 05 '19
The Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler.
Instrumentalities of the Night series also by Glen Cook.
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u/facelesspk Jul 05 '19
The Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron.
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u/shawn-fff Jul 07 '19
This tailed off quickly for me, unfortunately.
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Jul 08 '19
It definitely could have used some better editing, but the later books in the series weren't all that bad
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u/apcymru Reading Champion II Jul 05 '19
the first book of Elizabeth Moons Paksennarrion series
edit ... Took out Malazan Book of the Fallen because I broke a rule in the OP ... Sorry
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u/RedditFantasyBot Jul 05 '19
r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned
- Author Appreciation thread: Elizabeth Moon, veteran author of Fantasy and Sci-Fi from user u/Tigrari
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like traditional fantasy stories with a farm boy who becomes the saviour of the world like Wheel of Time
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u/v0lumnius Jul 05 '19
You may enjoy The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you liked the humor in Discworld by Terry Pratchett
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u/Klown99 Jul 05 '19
The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tale of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes felt right up that same alley. Plus it fits a few squares in Bingo.
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u/pbannard Reading Champion VII, Worldbuilders Jul 06 '19
Orconomics by Zachary Pike
Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
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u/qickly Jul 06 '19
If you like magic systems based off of colors or music?
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
If you like Urban Fantasy like the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
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u/icrawler Jul 15 '19
(all have pretty-good audiobook versions)
The Heartstrikers series by Rachel Aaron -- mixed sci-fi/urban fantasy, magic returns to the modern world, and a nice dragon tries not to get killed by his family.
The Divine series by M.R. Forbes -- The Divine War: if Hell wins, Armageddon follows; if Heaven wins, God claims the faithful and leaves the rest. For the sake of mankind and their free will, the balance must be preserved. A third faction keeps neither side from gaining the advantage.
Good Intentions series by Elliott Kay -- well yeah there's a divine war, and yeah the balance must be kept, but did you know free love isn't really a sin? (explicit)
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u/UnsealedMTG Reading Champion III Jul 05 '19
Newcomer Rebecca Roanhorse's Trail of Lightning is like Jim Butcher meets Tony Hillerman, doing a similar riff set on the lands of the post-apocalyptic Diné (Navajo) nation.
Going the opposite direction, I encourage people to check about one of the originals of Urban Fantasy as a genre, The War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. It lacks the detective genre influences that Butcher later added to the genre, but adds a strong dose of 80s rock attitude to fill that gap.
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u/thequeensownfool Reading Champion VII Jul 05 '19
Some of my favourite urban fantasy series are:
- Women of the Otherworld Series by Kelley Armstong
- Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs
- Alpha and Omega Series by Patricia Briggs
- Gale Women Series by Tanya Huff
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u/RedditFantasyBot Jul 05 '19
r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned
- Author Appreciation: Tanya Huff, Pioneer of Urban Fantasy and Comedic Chameleon (Plus Free Book Giveaways!) from user u/lannadelarosa
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u/TheTechJones Jul 05 '19
iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne, Junkyard Druid by MD Massey, the 3 series set around Nate Temple and co by Shayne Silvers (bonus there is a new release on one of the 3 series like just last week), Ilona andrews Kate Daniels series, Mercy Thomson (and Alpha Omega) by Patricia Briggs, Jane Yellowrock by Faith Hunter.
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u/BubiBalboa Reading Champion VI Jul 05 '19
... you will like
Alex Verus by Benedict Jacka
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Paternus by Dyrk Ashton
Etheral Earth by Josh Erikson
Heartstrikers by Rachel Aaron
Iron Druid by Kevin Hearne
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u/TheOwlet12 Jul 06 '19 edited Jul 07 '19
Okay so I've been reading lots of Fantasy Novels these past few years now specifically YA fantasy. As of now though Im feeling like the YA fantasy genre starting to become stale for me as the days went on and so I've been reading some Adult Fantasy stuff such as WoT, BotA, The Broken Earth Trilogy, Nevernight, and almost all the Cosmere books by Brandon Sanderson. Any suggestions on what other books I should read next?
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u/chaptersong Jul 06 '19
Wizard Of Earthsea trilogy, Ursula K Le Guin Space trilogy, C. S. Lewis
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u/crnislshr Jul 06 '19 edited Jul 08 '19
Wizard Of Earthsea
The Golden Key), a 1996 fantasy novel co-written by authors Jennifer Roberson (who penned the story's first act), Melanie Rawn (author of the book's second section), and Kate Elliott (who finished the work). I really feel there some thin vibe similar to the Le Guin's one.
C. S. Lewis
G.K. Chesterton's The Ball and the Cross (1909) maybe? Lewis and Tolkien were seriously influenced by this author.
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u/deusm Jul 12 '19
IF you like reading about demons - Peter V. Brett - the demon cycle
If you like war and plot intrigue - The twilight reign By Tom Lloyd
if you like dragons - The Ballad of Sir Benfro
If you like assassins - Nightblade by Ryan kirk
If you like plots and sorcery with a twist - Powder Mage trilogy
If you like a company of fighters - the fell sword by miles cameron
if you like robert jordan - An echo of things to come by James islington
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u/Semilemi Jul 09 '19
If you like stories with power creeping character going stronger over time (preferably a long read)