Book Recommendation Thread

[lord geryon]

I'm sure this has been recced somewhere in this thread already, but I'm gonna do it myself, just in case.

I have been recently reading an noir urban fantasy series about a hidden side of the world where magic and legends and myths dwell, all quite real, and the main character is a private investigator that has a rather mighty reputation.

It's not the Dresden Files, or Hellblazer. It's the Nightside series by Simon R. Green.

It's nothing deep or thought-provoking, it's pure entertainment, and it has some awesome characters and ideas; Razor Eddie, the Punk God of Straight Razor, who once killed for money, pride, or just because he could, but an epiphany made him into a force for good that leaves behind blood but no corpses, though good didn't get a say in the matter. Shotgun Suzie, aka Suzie Shooter, aka Oh Shit, It's Her, RUN. Jessica Sorrow the Unbeliever, who believes in nothing so perfectly that nothing can touch her, but at the cost of believing in nothing. The Walking Man, the wrath of God made incarnate who cannot be stopped so long as he walks God's path. Merlin Satanspawn, who sat on his iron throne and told the armies of both Above and Below to STFU, and they obeyed. The Speaking Gun, the one weapon that can destroy anything including angels, speaks one of God's Words backwards, and whatever thing belonged to that Word is gone forever. Heard of the Holy Grail, Jesus's cup from the Last Supper? Well, what about the Unholy Grail, the cup Judas drank from?

I'm only on the third novel atm, but it's not failed to entertain. I do recommend it.

And reading back, I realize there is quite a bit mention of God. This is not a Christian novel series, the protagonist quite firmly tells us that the attention of either the Above or the Below is seriously bad for you health.

I am withdrawing my recommendation of this series. :/

It's very repetitive, using a lot of phrases every novel, sometimes several times at once. A lot of the characters will be introduced as ultra-badasses that everyone fears - then something happens to remove them from the story in the same novel they were introduced in. Each novel itself is rather short.

It feels like a bad fanfic of something I have no experience with.

 

[Estrecca]

I am withdrawing my recommendation of this series. :/

It's very repetitive, using a lot of phrases every novel, sometimes several times at once. A lot of the characters will be introduced as ultra-badasses that everyone fears - then something happens to remove them from the story in the same novel they were introduced in. Each novel itself is rather short.

It feels like a bad fanfic of something I have no experience with.

Like all of Simon Green's stuff, it is rec-worthy as moderately entertaining pulp literature, if taken in small doses.

 

[Glimmervoid]

I am withdrawing my recommendation of this series. :/

It's very repetitive, using a lot of phrases every novel, sometimes several times at once. A lot of the characters will be introduced as ultra-badasses that everyone fears - then something happens to remove them from the story in the same novel they were introduced in. Each novel itself is rather short.

It feels like a bad fanfic of something I have no experience with.

And it was the easiest thing in the world to do...

 

[lord geryon]

I still maintain that the Nightside series offers a nice setting, however.

It's just the writing quality that sucks.

 

[Glimmervoid]

I still maintain that the Nightside series offers a nice setting, however.

It's just the writing quality that sucks.

Eh. In my opinion the Nightside books are modern day derivative pulp. Not everything needs to be high literature. I read them up to Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth. They weren't terribly good but were a fun way to waste time; that's all a book really needs to be.

On to something better.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman is honestly one of the best novels I've ever read. It is styled as a modern fairytale and is a dazzling construct of ideas, themes and prose. In it, Tristran Thorn travels across the Wall, into fairy to retrieve a falling star for his lady love. In fairy he finds adventure, danger, excitement, secrets about himself and even love. Simply, it is a great novel.

 

[pacifist]

I'm of the opinion that Simon R. Green is very hit or miss. Blue Moon Rising was great along with his short stories about Hawk and Fisher. His scifi Deathstalker series and modern Nightside series don't seem to hold my attention as nearly as well.


Recommending
John Steakley's Armor the story of several people reliving the combat experiences of a suit of power armor.

 

[the DragonBard]

Libriomancer by Jim C Hines

Interesting story.

Hundreds of years ago, Gutenberg (of Gutenberg printing press fame) created a new system of magic. One which allows the user to reach in to books and pull things out of them. Only limitations being that the item cannot be sentient, the item be able to fit through the pages of the book, and the book must be read by sufficient numbers of people.

Story follows a burnt out, forcibly retired libriomancer who gets caught in a war between the vampires and the libriomancers, and the one behind this war may be the most powerful libriomancer of them all, Gutenberg himself!

 

[crazyfoxdemon]

Libriomancer by Jim C Hines

Interesting story.

Hundreds of years ago, Gutenberg (of Gutenberg printing press fame) created a new system of magic. One which allows the user to reach in to books and pull things out of them. Only limitations being that the item cannot be sentient, the item be able to fit through the pages of the book, and the book must be read by sufficient numbers of people.

Story follows a burnt out, forcibly retired libriomancer who gets caught in a war between the vampires and the libriomancers, and the one behind this war may be the most powerful libriomancer of them all, Gutenberg himself!

And you can't forget the sequel Codex Born.

 

[Ashaman]

Can any1 recc me a good SciFi book series. Preferrably something actiony but not grim.

Thank you

 

[Fellgrave]

David Weber's Honor Harrington series or his Safehold series. Both are excellent reads. There are a couple dark spots in the Honorverse. Actually, here are a couple links for most of the novels: http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/01-HonorverseCD/Baen01-HonorverseCD(War%20Of%20Honor)_iso.zip or http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/01-HonorverseCD/Baen01-HonorverseCD.zip

For other sci-fi... hmm, I'll have to look through my shelves.

 

[Ashaman]

Alright. Giving Safehold series a try

 

[LORD_ARM]

I gone thour a few audio books in the last few mouths and here some of few I like.

The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
Really good if you are in to the video game history. I never know that so much was happening in the 70's. The few complaints I have is that its out-of-date, about 12 years, the book goes over the same info a few times and there is little info about PC games.

Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America
Another great book about video game history. Focus only on Nintendo, if you like the book above or vice versa you will like this book. Not as out-of-date "Ultimate History".

Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It
Not as good as the other two books above but none of the least worth a read or listen to.

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
An history of John Carmack and John Romero. Worth a look at for any long time FPS fan. Out-of-date as "Ultimate History"(2003) but that dosen't really matters that much for this book and also the book bog down a bit at the end too.

 

[tapeworm]

I'd also recommend David Weber's 'Empire of Man' series that begins with the book 'March Upcountry.' A shipwrecked, spoiled prince and his company of badass bodyguards trying to escape a death planet. Lots of good character development.

 

[Ashaman]

175 pages into Off Armageddon Reef.

Not exactly what I was hoping for, and a little more complex than I was expecting, but interesting so far.

Its something I can digest slowly and with interest.

 

[Fellgrave]

The Safehold series isn't quite as sci-fi heavy as the Honorverse, but it gets there. And I have to say, for the closest thing to a legitimate G/Mary-Sue insert in original fiction, it's handled incredibly well. Nimue literally has almost all the answers, but s/he can't release them with causing complete and utter soul-breakage for everyone. Weber's handling of his/her knowledge and resources is really impressive.

...shit, I went full fanboy. Sorry bout that.

On a side-note, Honor Harrington is one of the most bad-ass female characters ever. If she was put into any sci-fi verse, be it Mass Effect, Star Wars, or other, I'd give her less than a year before she's kicking the big bad's ass.

 

[Ashaman]

So almost immediately after writing the above, it seems to have kicked off and my enjoyment and interest skyrocket.

Also, I find it incredibly funny how, midway through reading about Charis I'm reminded of Great Britain, then two pages later it explicitly references the UK.

I'll keep going with the Safehold series, but I'll give Honor Harrington a go at some point. In that vein, what's the first book in that series?

 

[Fellgrave]

Just wait till you get to the actual sea battles, because Weber has written some of the absolute best.

And funny? Just wait until Nimue starts cribbing lines from Earth's history.

For the Honorverse? On Basilisk Station. I'm pretty sure that it and the first eight or so are included in those dl links I posted.

 

[Ashaman]

Oh my.

I came in looking for Sci Fi, got pre-industrial social reform, technology development and anti-Evil!Church politics, and super human robots playing the long game. I'm quite happy with the unexpected surprise.

I fucking loved the abacus moment for one.

I'm just hoping she re-introduces the metric system - fuck the imperial system.

I think I might have come across one or two of those lines, but at the same time by famous quote memory is rusty so I'm not sure.

Thanks, but I prefer having actual paper in my hands. Personal preference.

 

[Fellgrave]

Fair enough, for the dl I mean.

I believe she does include the metric system. Have you gotten to the point where the Arabic numerals are introduced and the guy looking at them goes "How the hell did we not figure out something like this in X years?"

Ah, you'll know the quote I'm thinking of when you see it. It's hard to miss since Nimue points it out herself.

 

[Emerald Oracle]

Y'know, as much as I enjoyed the Safehold series, and I did, the names always jarred me out of my reading groove. They're a nice touch and a not too shabby lingual shift thing, but damn do they break the flow.

Interesting thing about Safehold as a series though, it was mainly written cause of an earlier book that Weber wrote and wanted to expand into a whole series. That was the third book in the Dahak trilogy, which ironically is the only one in it I haven't read.

 

[Ashaman]

I believe she does include the metric system. Have you gotten to the point where the Arabic numerals are introduced and the guy looking at them goes "How the hell did we not figure out something like this in X years?"

That's the abacus scene

 

[Fellgrave]

*shrugs* It's been a while, so bits have slipped. Oh, and to EO, yeah, I do admit the name thing threw me off a bit. Trying to figure out what name was what in modern English and how to pronounce them was a bit of a pain.

 

[pacifist]

Can't go wrong with Timothy Zahn's Conquerors trilogy.

 

[Ashaman]

Finished Off A Reef - It was decidedly good. I love the characters in this book especially.

Though one thing does kind of bother me about Merlin, but its a minor niggle.

I'm so glad I ordered the next book the other day. And good news - its ready for pick up tomorrow.

 

[Fellgrave]

Nice. I started the series when it first came out, so I had to wait ages for the next book to come out.

What 'niggle'?

The characters are what make Weber such a role model as a writer for me. Each one comes across as an actual person, with proper depths and substance to them. And given the fact that the latter books have about 6 or so pages for the character lists, creating so many and keeping them from being flat or uninteresting is a heck of feat.