Favorite Book

[Darkruin]

/>I have two in a way.

First off. War of the Flowers by Tad Williams.

I love it. The first Hundred pages are depressing and a little boring but Theo is still a great character, the story is brilliant, and it has as much story as most trilogys in one book. Besides which its possibly the most original Urban fantasy Work to this day, definitley the most original I've read.

The second is my current book to find. I read it years ago-In the mid to late 90's. I don't know its name. I've never met anybody that has read it. It was full of potential and very unique. What I remember is this. There were three lands split by mountain ranges. One was Medieval europy. One was Hellish. And one was Faerie. The main character was a mountain climber. Early in the book he falls, spearing his heart on a chunk of ice made from water from all 3 lands. It ressurects him, but leaves a piece of that ice in him. It saves his life later. Anybody know the name?

A Breach in the Watershed, book one of The Watershed trilogy. And favorite book of all time would prolly be Cards Enders Game, I read it as a kid growing up and it always stuck with me

[Argent he/him]

Ender's Game left me the feeling that I am not doing enough with my genius...

[WarHawk he/him]

I have a lot of favorites. Also, I like reading series (Branden Sanderson, Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Patrick Rothfuss, Rick Riordan, etc). A few of the books that I re-read quite a bit would be:

Sojourn by R.A. Salvatore - (special because it introduced me to fantasy)

The Way of Kings by Branden Sanderson

Hard Contact by Karen Traviss

Covenants by Lorna Freeman

[Guest Alaxel]

For me, it's a tough choice between The Black Company Series or the Garrett, P.I. books, both by Glen Cook.

The Black Company really appeals to me, personally, because I spent four years in the Marine Corps Infantry. I immediately identified with all of the characters and felt like I've known them for years. That, combined with the accurate and compelling portrayal of the trials and tribulations of a military unit, told from the perspective of the Company Physician, makes this book unforgettable. The deeper questions about the nature of duty and honor that get explored are also exceptionally well done.

The Garrett, P.I. books are also fantastic. Witty, humorous, clever, you want to read these books. The stories star Garrett, a handsome Ex Marine turned freelance private investigator. He lives in the city of TunFaire, home of humans, elves, dwarves, trolls, giants, fairies, and every possible combination of those races, and works as little as he possibly can to get by. I'm doing a poor job explaining these books, but suffice it to say it's Noire style mystery in a Fantasy setting with plenty of humor.

Prior to Stormlight Archive, I would have said that I enjoyed KingKiller Chronicles more than the Cosmere novels...but, damnation it...nothing happens in KKC! It's beautifully written and interesting, but Sanderson has spoiled me. I expect some mind blowing craziness to happen by the end if the novel. Besides, Kaladin woukd stomp the rust out of Kvothe any day.

[Argent he/him]

Heh. That's the one thing I praise KKC on - its beautiful writing. Not that the rest is bad, but Brandon has the nasty habit of spoiling his readers... I often tell my friends, or even random readers I talk with, that every time I finish one of Brandon's books, I usually start thinking "Well, it felt incredible while it lasted, but surely a part of it is my fanboyism." Then I read some other good book and go "Okay, this was pretty good, if I had been objective about Brandon's writings, I probably would've found them on the same level." And then Brandon comes up with another book, and I read it, and I try to find the minor flaws I find in other books, and I just can't...

 

The Black Company, I didn't like as much. It's got some interesting ideas, but I didn't like the series terribly much. I think my biggest issue was the timeline - too long, too frequent character switches. 6/10, I'd say.

[Iredomi]

Three more favourites I would just like to add all in the realms of fiction if not fantasy, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer, this book is a million times better than the movie, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the discussion at the end sort of ruins the book a mite but it's an amazing dystopian classic.

 

But for nerding out there is absolutely nothing that comes close to Sanderson. He is and will be my favourite author for some time at least. 

Edited October 30, 2013 by Iredomi

[kami]

I have to agree with shuyinsan, the rigante is an amazing series and as you gemmel is an amazing writer.

I especially love the way his series spans across so many yrs and characters pop up here and there from other books.

My all time favourite book has to be New Moon by david gemmel. Its a fight for a mans sanity which then becomes a fight for the human race. Its so well written and all done in one book. This was my first ever book from this genre and I will always feel good after reading it.

[Cromptj he/him]

Epic: Iliad

Play: Henry V, though I still haven't read Hamlet which will probably take no. 1

Sci fi: Ender's game/Hyperion

Fantasy: The Way of Kings/The Wise Man's Fear

General fiction: Pride and Prejudice

[el_warko he/him]

Anything by Neil Gaiman. Especially Neverwhere, American Gods and Sandman.

 

Then anything by Brandon.  Defending Eysium is easily my favourite work of his that I have completed. 

Edited January 22, 2014 by el_warko

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Well first off I'll have to give my acknowledgements to Stephen King and most of his books. His novels were what got me into reading full time.
Starting the Dark Tower series in 9th grade was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Still to this day those 7 books are among my favorites, and will always have a place in my favorite series, ever.

Favorite non-Dark Tower book by Stephen King is Long Walk, one of the novels he wrote under hid pseudonym, Richard Bachman.

 

Wheel of Time - The Dragon Reborn, Lord of Chaos, or A Memory of Light, those were my three favorite from that series.

In A Song of Ice and Fire- the first and third books so far are my favorites, A Game of Thrones and Storm of Swords. Storm of Swords just has so many awesome character arcs finish up and turning points, it ends so strongly and most of the current problems are resolved and moving into another phase.

And Arya finally making it to Bravoos for faceless training = perfect
and Tyrion bolting his dad through on the toilet. Most appropriate symbolic death ever.

For non-fantasy books, I have to say Catch 22 is probably the funniest and most clever darn thing I've ever read. It's a real mind-bender.
But just so hilarious and entertaining to read. I've always recommended all of my friends to read this book. I just think it's a book that no matter who you are you'll enjoy it.

And of course add Way of Kings and the Mistborn series on my list of favorites. Gotta add those in for sure.

[el_warko he/him]

Well first off I'll have to give my acknowledgements to Stephen King and most of his books. His novels were what got me into reading full time.

Starting the Dark Tower series in 9th grade was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Still to this day those 7 books are among my favorites, and will always have a place in my favorite series, ever.

 

 

Yo Gamma, started the Dark Tower as was a little underwhelmed, possibly because I built my expectations up to much.  how do you feel the first book compares with the rest?  My favourite King book is The Stand.

 

Totally agree re: your spilers, they were awesome. 

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

The first book, in comparison to the rest of the series, is the strongest and the weakest.
Strongest because it works as a standalone, in some ways, and because it was still at that time a very small story that had tons of potential to become something huge and epic. Which it did. But in retrospect, after book two the story could have taken so many different turns.

I can see it being weak, because of the world we begin to explore in later books is so much larger, and after a while begins to seem disconnected from the first book. Mind you, King did go back and revise the first book and re-published it with very minor changes and trying to get the tone more set for the future books, and just go more in line with the ending.

It's just that I am almost 99% positive King had no idea where the series was going to go in book one, save for maybe the ending and vague themes and events he wanted to touch. And then after it started to come out, it definitely becomes a lot more overwhelming and truly epic in scale.
If I recall correctly, The Gunslinger was originally published in parts or chapter by chapter in whatever Fantasy/SF magazine King was submitting to back in the 70's. The story is still one of his first ideas/novels he worked on starting at age 19.

Ho-ho! For those that have read the series and know the silly numerology that is 19

Just for me, regardless of how people feel the series ended, or how it started to change at the end (Wolves of the Calla and onward), I will definitely admit it changes direction from where it seemed to be going, but just look at Stephen King's life to see why. This series literally became part of him, I really think. Here was a series, his magnum opus, that he had been working on his entire life, and then he almost dies. (When he was hit by the van and seriously injured in 1999), and he realized he didn't want to die, especially before he finished writing the Dark Tower. And then earlier in his life before then, with drug and addiction problems, you can definitely see how those factored in effected him and the series in some way.

It's just like Wheel of Time, even if you don't like it, you can't help but acknowledge and respect such literary achievement.

 

Edit: Is your avatar the boss from IT Crowd, by the way?

Edited January 24, 2014 by Gamma Fiend

[el_warko he/him]

The first book, in comparison to the rest of the series, is the strongest and the weakest.

Strongest because it works as a standalone, in some ways, and because it was still at that time a very small story that had tons of potential to become something huge and epic. Which it did. But in retrospect, after book two the story could have taken so many different turns.

I can see it being weak, because of the world we begin to explore in later books is so much larger, and after a while begins to seem disconnected from the first book. Mind you, King did go back and revise the first book and re-published it with very minor changes and trying to get the tone more set for the future books, and just go more in line with the ending.

It's just that I am almost 99% positive King had no idea where the series was going to go in book one, save for maybe the ending and vague themes and events he wanted to touch. And then after it started to come out, it definitely becomes a lot more overwhelming and truly epic in scale.

If I recall correctly, The Gunslinger was originally published in parts or chapter by chapter in whatever Fantasy/SF magazine King was submitting to back in the 70's. The story is still one of his first ideas/novels he worked on starting at age 19.

Ho-ho! For those that have read the series and know the silly numerology that is 19

Just for me, regardless of how people feel the series ended, or how it started to change at the end (Wolves of the Calla and onward), I will definitely admit it changes direction from where it seemed to be going, but just look at Stephen King's life to see why. This series literally became part of him, I really think. Here was a series, his magnum opus, that he had been working on his entire life, and then he almost dies. (When he was hit by the van and seriously injured in 1999), and he realized he didn't want to die, especially before he finished writing the Dark Tower. And then earlier in his life before then, with drug and addiction problems, you can definitely see how those factored in effected him and the series in some way.

It's just like Wheel of Time, even if you don't like it, you can't help but acknowledge and respect such literary achievement.

 

Edit: Is your avatar the boss from IT Crowd, by the way?

 

Thanks for the info Gamma, appreciate the review.   And yes, yes it is.  You may note my signature, it's my favourite line of his.

Edited January 24, 2014 by el_warko

[Who Sharded?]

Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson

 

no question

[Tamzin Ashevai she/her]

No 100 boring pages for me, however.  I'm in and out about titles/authors/series.  Mostly, I'm into epics.  Sure, I'll read a short story (and the like), but I want to know more - the background and the potential interest me far more so.  Even so, I thought Dune had done it for me many years ago; nonetheless, no other author has surpassed what Frank Herbert did for me like Jacqueline Carey did with Kushiel's Dart.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Tamzin Ashevai

[zandi she/her]

For sic fi: I really enjoyed Anathem by Neal Stephenson and The Culture series by Iain Banks. I think Cyteen by CJ Cherryh, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, and The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach are some less well-known but really good sci-fi books. They made me think anyway, about a lot of things! Definitely not light reading. And under the more-challenging (for me) but excellent is Gene Wolfe's the Book of the Long Sun. 

 

As for fantasy...well hard to beat The Stormlight Archive of course!  I'll agree also with KKC by Rothfuss and Watership Down.  Recently I've added to my list of fantasy favorites: Little, Big by John Crowley and anything by Guy Gavriel Kay.

[twilt]

This is a hard question for me! ive loved a lot of books

 

for fantasy i think it is TWOK

and for none fantasy, its a tie between 'The sunbird' and 'River god'..both by wilbur smith

 

But i think the 'codex alera' series by jim butcher needs an honourable, as does Rothfuss, and the original 'magician' by feist

[mshimmyb1]

1. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

2. The Game of Thrones

3. WoK

[Tamzin Ashevai she/her]

I think we need to redefine our offerings. Might we differentiate our favorites between fantasy and sci fi?

[HydrogenAlpha he/him]

It's so hard to choose just one favourite book ! I have so many favourites, but if you put a gun to my head and forced me I would probably go with Anathem from Neal Stephenson. Runner up would be Words of Radiance and The Black Prism.

[Tamzin Ashevai she/her]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle. I read this last summer. It was the gift of a gift of a friend. Thank you!

[zandi she/her]

wow downvoted for saying positive things about books - that's kind of a bummer - sorry?

[Iredomi]

I'm sure they just slipped well.. hopefully they just slipped. I gave you an up-vote to neutralise the bad.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Iredomi