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Give me your favorite book series. I will read them.


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I read so much it is more or less my second job. I prefer audiobooks because I teach and trying to read the traditional way leads to unintentional naps and then sadness when I'm up too late and then up early again.

I'll put it this way. The collective wheel of time series stands about 460 hours in audiobook form. Round about 19 days. I binged it in less than two months, and then did it again this summer. I need a queue from reliable sources.

Notable things I've read and enjoyed (which is most things, really):

Gentleman Bastards, Scott Lynch

The First Law, Joe Abercrombie

Obviously Sanderson, though I didn't care so much for Mistborn.

Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan/Sanderson (current and crowned favorite)

Farseer books (all three trilogies), Robin Hobb

A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin

Harry Potter, Rowling (proud Slytherin)

Tolkien's books, including the oddments, though I've yet to tackle Beren and Luthien.

Explicit sex and violence/gore don't bother me, and I rather enjoy a slew of foul language but still like stuff that doesn't have it. More into fantasy than sci-fi, and I'm not looking for your stereotypical dystopia, so don't you dare recommend A Handmaid's Tale. I need character driven fiction. I want flawed people to love and hate. Batman, not Superman. Magic is cool but not necessary.

Honestly, if you approve of the series above and have something unlisted you couldn't put down or stop reading/listening to, it'll probably end up on my list anyway. Like I said: I always need something to read. I have also been known to enjoy things others don't like, for stupid reasons, so just throw stuff out there. I'm thinking about Outlander but a reliable source is iffy on it.

SEND ME YOUR BOOKS, THE LONGER THE BETTER.

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Dagger and Coin series by Abraham

Monarchies of God series by Kearney

Expanse series by Corey

Dandelion Dynasty series by Ken Liu

Thr Forgetting Moon by Durfee (1st of eventually 5)

Dresden Files by Butcher

Red Rising trilogy by Brown

Instrumentalities of the Night series by Glen Cook

Chronicles of the Exile series by Marc Turner

Shogun by James Clavell

Edited by Ammanas
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The Lightbringer series sounds like the sort of thing you're looking for. It has good character driven story, a very intelligent magic system, interesting fantasy world and plenty of swearing (both real and in world based)

There are 4 books out so far with a 5th on the way and I personally love the audiobooks they're very well read.

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Read almost anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. 

Her Vorkosigan Universe / Saga is what she is most known for.   The first 4-5 books can be read in any order, but after Mirror Dance, they really should all be read in internal chronological order.   The narrator, Grover Gardner, is more a voice I "got used too", rather than a voice I really enjoy.

Her Chalion books are more fantasy based.  The narrators for those are great. A magic system that does have the gods taking an active role.

I don't personally like her Sharing Knife books, but it is an interesting magic system.

Almost everything can be found on the Hoopla Digital app for free.

Tor.com is currently doing a reread of the Vorkosigan Saga. It also won the first Best Series Hugo this year year. 

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3 hours ago, DeanaMCW said:

Read almost anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. 

Her Vorkosigan Universe / Saga is what she is most known for.   The first 4-5 books can be read in any order, but after Mirror Dance, they really should all be read in internal chronological order.   The narrator, Grover Gardner, is more a voice I "got used too", rather than a voice I really enjoy.

This is something that has been on my radar, so it definitely goes on the list.

As for narrators, I feel the same way about Roy Dotrice (narrated ASoIaF). He's the main reason I haven't toured those books a second time. I hate the voices he does.

Thank you all for the suggestions so far! I'll do some sniffing around titles mentioned.

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@officiumdefunctorum
Okaaay, you asked for it! I've read more than my fair share, but these are some of the best. I have way more if you ever want ;)


Second Sons Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon

Riddle Master Trilogy by Patricia McKillip

Cradle series by Will Wight

Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne by Brian Staveley 

All of Guy Gavriel Kay

Kingfountain Trilogy by Jeff Wheeler

Codex Alera by Jim Butcher

Broken Prism series by V. St. Clair

Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence

Most of Tamora Pierce

Thief of Eddis series by Megan Whalen Turner

Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta

Air Awakens by Elise Kova

This should hold you for a while. YMMV of course.

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Thomas Covenant is definitely not for everyone. The main character is incredibly unlikable. That was the whole point, but the fact remains that he is terrible enough to make it hard to read the series. Also, the author loves using words like "fecund" and "eldritch," and it can get annoying, especially with a lot of the characters spouting off in pseudo-archaic language all the time.

The Dagger and the Coin is definitely good, and so is Lightbringer, so I second those recommendations. R. Scott Bakker's Second Apocalypse is another one that isn't for everyone, with an intensely brutal fantasy world, but The Prince of Nothing (first trilogy) and The Aspect-Emperor (second series--four books instead of three) are both complete now. I believe that two more books are possibly forthcoming, but I don't think that there's been much news (and whatever happens, it would be a sequel series, anyway).

I'm not a big Jim Butcher fan, but I love The Aeronaut's Windlass (which, I've found, a lot of big Butcher fans did not enjoy, so...). I also just read Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine. I really enjoyed that, and there is a sequel that I have yet to read. It's kind of sci-fi but in the old school, Burroughs-esque way, where humans can survive just fine with no spacesuits on Mars--along with the local intelligent species, of course--so it's more like fantasy.

 

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@Ravi There are some familiar names on that list! What are your top three?

@DSC01Thanks for the insight. I've seen Bakker's name a handful of times now so it might be next. I might steer clear of Covenant. I can deal with unlikable characters, but I couldn't deal with a constant Holden Caulfield POV. I'm too am not a fan of pretention; I enjoy the language of Tolkien because it's damnation majestic and has gravitas. In other authors it annoys me.

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6 hours ago, officiumdefunctorum said:

@Ravi There are some familiar names on that list! What are your top three?

@DSC01Thanks for the insight. I've seen Bakker's name a handful of times now so it might be next. I might steer clear of Covenant. I can deal with unlikable characters, but I couldn't deal with a constant Holden Caulfield POV. I'm too am not a fan of pretention; I enjoy the language of Tolkien because it's damnation majestic and has gravitas. In other authors it annoys me.

I don't have a top three, it's like asking me to pick a favorite child! It all depends on my mood. I just have a list of "favorites." This is about a fifth of it. I chose the ones that best fit your criteria off the top of my head.

Edited by Ravi
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Codex Alera & Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

All Malazan by Steven Erickson and Ian Elssemont(though he is less epic in his early entries).

Since you don't mind sex I'd def reco Richard Morgans Takshei Kovacs books. Some scenes are porn lvl descriptions. Very good sci-fi.

Edited by Briar King
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@officiumdefunctorum Covenant is less like Holden Caulfield and more like Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. Definitely in the inward gaze group, but from a much more mature and convoluted philosophizing point of view. 

It should also be noted that there are loads of interesting, active characters in the Chronicles. After the first book, you even get POV from them! That's also why I prefer to compare the Chronicles to Crime and Punishment.  Catcher in the Rye is very much a one character show, so if you are not in the mood for a passive character,  you will not enjoy it. Crime and Punishment and the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever do both have a central passive character, but also have a cast of interesting, likeable characters that help to enrich the navel-gazing. 

And at the risk of talking it up too much, when I read the Chronicles in high school, it had my "Red Wedding" moment,  where I experienced for the first time a devastating event (off screen, but still powerful!) in what was suppose to be... escapist.... high fantasy. 

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13 minutes ago, Orlion On a Cob said:

@officiumdefunctorum Covenant is less like Holden Caulfield and more like Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment. Definitely in the inward gaze group, but from a much more mature and convoluted philosophizing point of view. 

I could definitely get behind it, then. I very much enjoyed Crime and Punishment. In fact, Raskolnikov came to mind when reading the inner dialogue of Sand dan Glokta in The First Law.

I guess it comes down to a good story, in the end, and I can always give it up. I've tried getting through the Vampire chronicles three times, and each time I just got bored to death.

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The Recluce series by Modesitt (19 books and counting)
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss (although not done in full)
The Demon Cyle by Brett

I've read the first two books (in audibook form) of Outlander. It's a bit too much of a "book a housewife would read while blushing" for me, but if you can get past that notion the rest of it is rather entertaining..

Oh, and The Martian, which is probably the best audiobook I've ever heard even if it's a standalone, and Sci-Fi..

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update:

I tackled Bakker's Second Apocalypse, with the exception of the final book, for which the audiobook comes out this weekend. I have to say... It's my first experience with grimdark on such an epic and well, thorough, scale. I both loved it and was horrified by it. Gave me weird dreams and had me yelling: NO. WHAT. WHY WOULD YOU--NO. I might be a bit traumatized, but in a productive way?

Now on the third book of Malazan, and I am HOOKED. Yes. All the yes. Thank you to those that recommended it.

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3 hours ago, Briar King said:

No problem it is a fantastic series and in a few yrs it will make a fantastic reread. I promise that part.

There is a temporary downside to reading Malazan in that other books could very well pale in comparison for a bit.

Doubtless. Though I've realized that every author and large fantasy series has something to offer, and I'm usually more critical in hindsight than anything else. Excluding bad writing, I'm pretty magnanimous as a reader. I'll embrace flaws while loving a thing anyway, The Wheel of Time being the crown of that tendency.

For example, I could write a treatise on everything that infuriates and irritates me about Bakker, but within the grasp of the story, I couldn't stop. I'm ever seeking the plausible and realistic in what I read, which in some ways excludes the incessantly nihilistic extremes of pragmatism that exist in the second apocalypse 'verse. Then again, that's the point of it all. The shortest path in that universe is the most bloody, the most fraught, the most treacherous.

My true favorites thus far, though, are realistic in a way that embraces the capacity for hope, rather than immanent amorality, whatever the risk and challenge. Frankly I prefer Abercrombie's brand of grimdark. It's much less conceited.

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