I've gotten a lot of really good ideas on books to read from the other books thread, but I admit to preferring series over single books. Once I'm in a world, I like to stay there for a while before saying good bye.
So, I thought this would be a good place to share your favorite book series.
I have several, but my absolute favorite series is Jack Whyte's Skystone Chronicles. It's a historical fiction series about how Camulot, King Arthur, and Merlin may have actually been. No magic, nothing fantastical. Straight history using characters already known to us.
My favorite is Bernard Corwell's Saxon series. Straight historical fiction set in the time of Alfred the Great. Very satisfying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saxon_Stories
I've already hyped the hell out of Aubrey/Maturin.
My work is done.
It's probably ASOIAF. Already gets plenty of attention here.
Clavell's Asian Saga books are well worth a read.
Racking my brain, but I don't think I've read a book series since I was a kid since so much of it is sci-fi/fantasy or historical fiction, and that's just not my thing.
Charles Willeford, the "Hoke Moseley" series of dark hilarity crime novels (Miami Blues on to the author's death). Just awesome, Hoke being a detective with false teeth living in a seedy Miami Beach hotel with huge alimony payments when the action starts (contemporaneously, in the early 80s). Willeford wrote better books, but this is his only series. I think the Languish crowd would like it quite a bit.
I really like Kate Elliot's Crossroads series. Actually her Novels of Jaran was fun too though bit harder to locate at this point outside of Amazon.
Former is mostly fantasy in the vein of Game of Thrones though instead of dragons there are giant eagles. I think with that series she's finally got down her copying/translating of real-life historical cultures.
Latter involves a future setting with a space faring earth where the lead character finds her self-stranded on a pre-industrial world among some mongol like types.
Another great series, perfect for Languishites: the Bernie Gunther "Berlin Noir" series by Philip Kerr. Noir detective fiction meets Nazis. What could be finer? Oh, and well written and historically accurate, too. ;)
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 12, 2013, 01:22:00 PM
Racking my brain, but I don't think I've read a book series since I was a kid since so much of it is sci-fi/fantasy or historical fiction, and that's just not my thing.
The Cat Who... ?
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 01:04:23 PM
My favorite is Bernard Corwell's Saxon series. Straight historical fiction set in the time of Alfred the Great. Very satisfying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saxon_Stories
I don't, as a rule, care for Cornwell, but this one sounds pretty cool.
Iain M. Banks Culture novels. Epic science fiction. Not really a series, just a bunch of books playing in the same universe, with no real connections between the various books.
Quote from: merithyn on July 12, 2013, 01:40:01 PM
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 01:04:23 PM
My favorite is Bernard Corwell's Saxon series. Straight historical fiction set in the time of Alfred the Great. Very satisfying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saxon_Stories
I don't, as a rule, care for Cornwell, but this one sounds pretty cool.
It's much more satisfying than his Sharpe series, which is written to a pretty strict formula.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on July 12, 2013, 01:34:04 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 12, 2013, 01:22:00 PM
Racking my brain, but I don't think I've read a book series since I was a kid since so much of it is sci-fi/fantasy or historical fiction, and that's just not my thing.
The Cat Who... ?
Oh, fuck that gimmicky shit. Like the one with the bail bonds chick running around solving mysteries that my mother keeps trying to pawn on me. YOUD LIKE IT
Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 12, 2013, 01:05:52 PM
I've already hyped the hell out of Aubrey/Maturin.
My work is done.
You stole my thunder :mad:
Fantasy with a lot of tropes.
http://riyria.blogspot.ca/p/books.html
Buy them, it's good fun reading.
Quote from: crazy canuck on July 12, 2013, 02:13:09 PM
You stole my thunder :mad:
YOUR thunder?? I've been hyping those books since the dawn of recorded history.
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 12, 2013, 02:29:27 PM
Fantasy with a lot of tropes.
http://riyria.blogspot.ca/p/books.html
Buy them, it's good fun reading.
You want fantasy with lots of tropes, huh? :ph34r:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Alera
QuoteThe inspiration for the series came from a bet Jim was challenged to by a member of the Delray Online Writer's Workshop. The challenger bet that Jim could not write a good story based on a lame idea, and Jim countered that he could do it using two lame ideas of the challenger's choosing. The "lame" ideas given were "Lost Roman Legion", and "Pokémon".
:lol:
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 02:34:20 PM
You want fantasy with lots of tropes, huh? :ph34r:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Alera
QuoteThe inspiration for the series came from a bet Jim was challenged to by a member of the Delray Online Writer's Workshop. The challenger bet that Jim could not write a good story based on a lame idea, and Jim countered that he could do it using two lame ideas of the challenger's choosing. The "lame" ideas given were "Lost Roman Legion", and "Pokémon".
:lol:
:wub: that series, too. :wub:
One of my favorites is a trilogy - The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deptford_Trilogy
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 02:34:20 PM
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 12, 2013, 02:29:27 PM
Fantasy with a lot of tropes.
http://riyria.blogspot.ca/p/books.html
Buy them, it's good fun reading.
You want fantasy with lots of tropes, huh? :ph34r:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Alera
QuoteThe inspiration for the series came from a bet Jim was challenged to by a member of the Delray Online Writer's Workshop. The challenger bet that Jim could not write a good story based on a lame idea, and Jim countered that he could do it using two lame ideas of the challenger's choosing. The "lame" ideas given were "Lost Roman Legion", and "Pokémon".
:lol:
...is it actually any good?
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 02:34:20 PM
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 12, 2013, 02:29:27 PM
Fantasy with a lot of tropes.
http://riyria.blogspot.ca/p/books.html
Buy them, it's good fun reading.
You want fantasy with lots of tropes, huh? :ph34r:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Alera
QuoteThe inspiration for the series came from a bet Jim was challenged to by a member of the Delray Online Writer's Workshop. The challenger bet that Jim could not write a good story based on a lame idea, and Jim countered that he could do it using two lame ideas of the challenger's choosing. The "lame" ideas given were "Lost Roman Legion", and "Pokémon".
:lol:
That, that looks awesome!
My favorite series doesn't need no hype.
Quote from: fhdz on July 12, 2013, 02:45:50 PM
One of my favorites is a trilogy - The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deptford_Trilogy
Fhdz is hereby an honourary Canadian :Canuck:
Quote from: fhdz on July 12, 2013, 02:45:50 PM
One of my favorites is a trilogy - The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deptford_Trilogy
You are, by chance, Canadian? :hmm:
Quote from: fhdz on July 12, 2013, 02:48:04 PM
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 02:34:20 PM
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 12, 2013, 02:29:27 PM
Fantasy with a lot of tropes.
http://riyria.blogspot.ca/p/books.html
Buy them, it's good fun reading.
You want fantasy with lots of tropes, huh? :ph34r:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Alera
QuoteThe inspiration for the series came from a bet Jim was challenged to by a member of the Delray Online Writer's Workshop. The challenger bet that Jim could not write a good story based on a lame idea, and Jim countered that he could do it using two lame ideas of the challenger's choosing. The "lame" ideas given were "Lost Roman Legion", and "Pokémon".
:lol:
...is it actually any good?
Surprisingly, it is. :D
It is pretty obvious that the authour deliberately crammed every trope he could think of into it, but it is nonetheless good rollicking fun.
1632 series by Eric Flint. What a wordmeister.
Gormenghast, allegedly.
Although I think the prose is turgid as hell. If you want to read the work of Tolstoy and Dickens's love child, this is it.
I would have to, myself, promote the Temeraire books or the Hornblower books.
Also, absolute best strange fantasy books of all time: Master Li and Number Ten Ox series by Barry Hughart. Just flat-out ossum.
I beg you all, please read anything by Charles Willeford. I don't think anyone here will be disappointed. Exquisitely literate pulp with the darkest humor. If only it were set in the 1600s instead of the 1980s, I could money-back guarantee it to this crowd. But he is an overlooked genius. And a super-decorated WWII tank commander.
Sav, it is to be marked MUST READ for your Florida sojourn. The Shark-Infested Custard before the Hoke Moseley novels, though.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on July 12, 2013, 03:26:32 PM
I beg you all, please read anything by Charles Willeford. I don't think anyone here will be disappointed. Exquisitely literate pulp with the darkest humor. If only it were set in the 1600s instead of the 1980s, I could money-back guarantee it to this crowd. But he is an overlooked genius. And a super-decorated WWII tank commander.
Sav, it is to be marked MUST READ for your Florida sojourn. The Shark-Infested Custard before the Hoke Moseley novels, though.
Looks good. Reminds me of Lawrence Block.
Of which, the best is the
Hit Man series, about a stamp-collecting New York single guy likable nerd ... who kills people for a living. Probably lives in the apartment next to garbon. :D
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 03:36:44 PM
Of which, the best is the Hit Man series, about a stamp-collecting New York single guy likable nerd ... who kills people for a living. Probably lives in the apartment next to garbon. :D
:o
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 03:36:44 PM
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on July 12, 2013, 03:26:32 PM
I beg you all, please read anything by Charles Willeford. I don't think anyone here will be disappointed. Exquisitely literate pulp with the darkest humor. If only it were set in the 1600s instead of the 1980s, I could money-back guarantee it to this crowd. But he is an overlooked genius. And a super-decorated WWII tank commander.
Sav, it is to be marked MUST READ for your Florida sojourn. The Shark-Infested Custard before the Hoke Moseley novels, though.
Looks good. Reminds me of Lawrence Block.
Of which, the best is the Hit Man series, about a stamp-collecting New York single guy likable nerd ... who kills people for a living. Probably lives in the apartment next to garbon. :D
Only L. Block I've read is
Eight Million Ways To Die (picked up at a used sale with "1982" written in huge Sharpie across the bottom :D). Honestly, I bought it for the title alone, but I recall it being a good read, especially with the protagonist's struggle against his alcoholism worked in. Haven't heard of his
Hit Man series, though, but will check it out.
Quote from: crazy canuck on July 12, 2013, 02:49:15 PM
Quote from: fhdz on July 12, 2013, 02:45:50 PM
One of my favorites is a trilogy - The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deptford_Trilogy
Fhdz is hereby an honourary Canadian :Canuck:
A friend's dad loaned me the trilogy books in high school. I devoured those and went on to read everything else the man wrote. I think
The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks is my favorite.
Quote from: merithyn on July 12, 2013, 12:56:45 PM
So, I thought this would be a good place to share your favorite book series.
Black Company
Elric
Rune Staff
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Thomas Covenant
Diaries of the Family Dracul
Oh, and I think I'd make a pretty good Canadian.
Gor
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on July 12, 2013, 04:15:23 PM
especially with the protagonist's struggle against his alcoholism worked in.
That never happens in fiction.
Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries:
http://www.fictiondb.com/author/tony-hillerman~series~a-jim-chee-joe-leaphorn-mystery~781.htm (http://www.fictiondb.com/author/tony-hillerman~series~a-jim-chee-joe-leaphorn-mystery~781.htm)
Okay, on reflection, I have a few more:
The Parker novels by Donald Westlake
The Lew Archer novels by Ross Macdonald
The Philip Marlowe novels by Raymond Chandler
The Continental Op stories by Dashiell Hammett
The Travis McGee stories by John D. MacDonald
The Hitman books by Lawrence Block
Fan of Block's Evan tanner cheesy spy and his burger series
Quote from: The Brain on July 12, 2013, 02:56:56 PM
1632 series by Eric Flint. What a wordmeister.
I just finished 1632. Pretty fun read.
Quote from: Berkut on July 13, 2013, 08:48:58 PM
Quote from: The Brain on July 12, 2013, 02:56:56 PM
1632 series by Eric Flint. What a wordmeister.
I just finished 1632. Pretty fun read.
Ebook version seems to be free on Amazon at the moment. :hmm:
Women's Murder Club
Quote from: Berkut on July 13, 2013, 08:48:58 PM
Quote from: The Brain on July 12, 2013, 02:56:56 PM
1632 series by Eric Flint. What a wordmeister.
I just finished 1632. Pretty fun read.
It's the only series I'm actually currently reading. Probably wouldn't call it my favorite, though. I'd put the Black Company and Amber series ahead of it.
Quote from: Berkut on July 13, 2013, 08:48:58 PM
Quote from: The Brain on July 12, 2013, 02:56:56 PM
1632 series by Eric Flint. What a wordmeister.
I just finished 1632. Pretty fun read.
I've only read the parts of the book that feature Gustavus Adolphus.
Quote from: The Brain on July 14, 2013, 03:08:02 AM
Quote from: Berkut on July 13, 2013, 08:48:58 PM
Quote from: The Brain on July 12, 2013, 02:56:56 PM
1632 series by Eric Flint. What a wordmeister.
I just finished 1632. Pretty fun read.
I've only read the parts of the book that feature Gustavus Adolphus.
I bet the pages are all sticky now.
Quote from: Habbaku on July 13, 2013, 08:52:29 PM
Quote from: Berkut on July 13, 2013, 08:48:58 PM
Quote from: The Brain on July 12, 2013, 02:56:56 PM
1632 series by Eric Flint. What a wordmeister.
I just finished 1632. Pretty fun read.
Ebook version seems to be free on Amazon at the moment. :hmm:
"Bought". :)
Flashman.
Ciaphas Cane books
1632 was always free on the publishers website.
I've started Codex Alera. It's really a lot of tropes!
Quote from: Malthus on July 12, 2013, 01:04:23 PM
My favorite is Bernard Corwell's Saxon series. Straight historical fiction set in the time of Alfred the Great. Very satisfying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saxon_Stories
Thanks for that, I'd forgot first book is in my unread pile/mountain; I'm reading it now, liking it. :thumbsup:
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 14, 2013, 09:26:05 AM
Flashman.
Yeah, that's the one.
Everyone here should at least read the first book in the series.
Quote from: grumbler on July 15, 2013, 04:44:45 AM
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 14, 2013, 09:26:05 AM
Flashman.
Yeah, that's the one.
Everyone here should at least read the first book in the series.
Does he save every one of us?
Ian Rankin's Rebus series. Edinburgh-based detective thrillers with believable cases and characters. Not every murder is a fetish serial killer.
The Baroque Trilogy by Neal Stephenson.
Quote from: Gups on July 15, 2013, 05:04:28 AM
The Baroque Trilogy by Neal Stephenson.
Yup. :)
Toby Frost's Space Captain Smith books are good mindless fun in a Futurama meets British Empire kind of way.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.noahjdchinnbooks.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F06%2Fspace-captain-smith-500x261.jpg&hash=2dbbd9ee66302dd1a7fa2f7ff002f74e80e07854)
EDIT: It appears book #4 will be out soon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-Battleships-Space-Captain-Smith/dp/1905802773
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F512pK2ewuSL._.jpg&hash=ec1acbfb7015994f6e320aba815dbe799939d0fb)
QuoteAttention! Isambard Smith and his loyal and noble friend, the psychopathic alien headhunter Suruk, are back in a fourth laugh-out-loud installment. In the 25th Century the future of the galaxy rests on a knife-edge. The actions of one man could save the British Space Empire, or leave Earth at the mercy of deadly legions of ant-people. That one man is Captain Isambard Smith, and Earth is in a lot of trouble. After blowing up a top-secret enemy base, Space Captain Smith and his crew deserve a rest. But their holiday ends when forces unknown destroy the robot convoy they were meant to be guarding. Smith finds himself in hot pursuit of a mysterious vessel that can pass through dimensions, incurring the wrath of the dreaded Grand Witchfinder of New Eden--which would be much easier to deal with if his pilot wasn't cowering under the dashboard and his spaceship wasn't infested with man-eating toads. Meanwhile, the Empire is gathering its allies to form a united front against alien tyranny. Unfortunately, the delicate negotiations have been entrusted to Major Wainscott, a man who knows no fear and very little about diplomacy or trousers. Once again, Captain Smith must summon all his courage to unite humanity behind the Empire. His quest will take him on a journey to face his greatest fears: from the depths of space, through Hell itself--and even to France.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on July 12, 2013, 03:26:32 PM
I beg you all, please read anything by Charles Willeford. I don't think anyone here will be disappointed. Exquisitely literate pulp with the darkest humor. If only it were set in the 1600s instead of the 1980s, I could money-back guarantee it to this crowd. But he is an overlooked genius. And a super-decorated WWII tank commander.
Sav, it is to be marked MUST READ for your Florida sojourn. The Shark-Infested Custard before the Hoke Moseley novels, though.
I'll put it on the list.
When I first moved here I read Edna Buchanan's nonfiction works; "Never Let Them See You Cry" and "The Corpse had a Familiar Face," about her work on the crime beat of The Miami Herald in the early 1980s. In the first chapters I thought Miami was just like Detroit. About midway through the book it sounded like Miami was a combination of Detroit, Baudelaire's Paris, Jaws and a Raymond Chandler novel. (Naturally Miami is different now than it was in the age of Don Johnson.)
Quote from: Berkut on July 17, 2013, 02:14:59 PM
This is one thing that I was always pretty impressed with in regards to Orson Scott Card. I know he has very firm political and religious views. And those views certainly inform his writing, but he is not slavishly devoted to them in a manner that gets tedious. In fact, some of his stories are pretty anti-religion in tone, while still (I think) allowing him to make a statement about the nature of faith and knowledge.
Have you read Brandon Sanderson? He may be familiar as the guy who finished off the Wheel of Time series. IMO he vastly improved the quality of that series, but his own works are even better if you like fantasy. His worlds are filled with incredibly creative magical systems.
He reminds me of Card in some ways. I don't know that he has made his political views known, but he is also a mormon and he has stated that he has no intention of that bleeding into his books.
You can buy many if not all of his books in e-book format DRM-free on his site. You can download The Warbreaker for free, but it is not his best work IMO. The novella The Emperor's Soul is a much better sample.
Quote from: Maximus on July 17, 2013, 02:31:52 PM
Quote from: Berkut on July 17, 2013, 02:14:59 PM
This is one thing that I was always pretty impressed with in regards to Orson Scott Card. I know he has very firm political and religious views. And those views certainly inform his writing, but he is not slavishly devoted to them in a manner that gets tedious. In fact, some of his stories are pretty anti-religion in tone, while still (I think) allowing him to make a statement about the nature of faith and knowledge.
Have you read Brandon Sanderson? He may be familiar as the guy who finished off the Wheel of Time series. IMO he vastly improved the quality of that series, but his own works are even better if you like fantasy. His worlds are filled with incredibly creative magical systems.
He reminds me of Card in some ways. I don't know that he has made his political views known, but he is also a mormon and he has stated that he has no intention of that bleeding into his books.
You can buy many if not all of his books in e-book format DRM-free on his site. You can download The Warbreaker for free, but it is not his best work IMO. The novella The Emperor's Soul is a much better sample.
I read book one of the Stormlight series and really enjoyed it. Problem is it is taking him forever to get book 2 out.
Quote from: crazy canuck on July 17, 2013, 03:28:16 PM
I read book one of the Stormlight series and really enjoyed it. Problem is it is taking him forever to get book 2 out.
He finished the Wheel of Time series before working on the second book. Stormlight is very good, but it is intended to be an epic. One of the stand-alone books may be better as a sample.
A lot of good ones have been mentioned already. To add a few:
Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander is an excellent young adult fantasy series based on Welsh mythology.
Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte is pretty damn enjoyable as well. Follow the exploits of a hardened yet somewhat romantic adventurer and soldier as the Golden Age of Spain starts to lose some of its lustre. It's not nautical at all, but it still scratches a bit of the same itch as the Aubrey-Maturin books, at least for me.
In spite of the less than completely gushing review I gave them in the books thread, I did really enjoy Ian Hamilton's Ava Lee series - exotic locales, shady individuals, and all sorts of adventure as the diminutive forensic accountant tracks down missing millions and returns them to their rightful owners (minus a percentage, of course).
Quote from: Maximus on July 17, 2013, 03:37:11 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on July 17, 2013, 03:28:16 PM
I read book one of the Stormlight series and really enjoyed it. Problem is it is taking him forever to get book 2 out.
He finished the Wheel of Time series before working on the second book. Stormlight is very good, but it is intended to be an epic. One of the stand-alone books may be better as a sample.
It is the epic sweep of the first book that got me hooked. I see on his website that the draft is finished.... so hopefully it will be released soon.
How abuot the Fiovanar Tapestry? And the Sarantium books.
Not really in the style of the other ones but if you like Victorian fiction then I'd really recommend Trollope's Barchester novels and the Palliser series. It's worth getting a good edition (Oxford World's Classics, or Penguin) for the end-notes. Not essential but very helpful :lol:
Quote from: Syt on July 15, 2013, 12:30:38 PM
Toby Frost's Space Captain Smith books are good mindless fun in a Futurama meets British Empire kind of way.
The name of the third book is absolutely fantastic! :w00t:
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on July 17, 2013, 07:27:16 PM
How abuot the Fiovanar Tapestry? And the Sarantium books.
I've enjoyed all of Kay's books, but I don't know if I'd call them a series as such.
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 17, 2013, 07:34:09 PM
Not really in the style of the other ones but if you like Victorian fiction then I'd really recommend Trollope's Barchester novels and the Palliser series. It's worth getting a good edition (Oxford World's Classics, or Penguin) for the end-notes. Not essential but very helpful :lol:
I'm working my way through the Barchester Chronicles (only read the first two so far). I've no idea why I neglected Trollope for so long or why he is so underrated. He combines the gentle wit of Austen with the gossipy insights of Thackeray.
Thieves World and the MYTH books by Robert Aspriin.
My favorite is the Game of Thrones series, which most or everyone knows about.
The Grass Crown by Colleen Mccullough is another favorite. About Rome in the time preceding and into the rise of Caesar. Very well done historical novels. Has lots of historical info on Roman ways, warfare, political machinations, the people and personalities of leaders and others.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on July 18, 2013, 07:04:40 AM
the MYTH books by Robert Aspriin.
Those really went to hell after 1993 though.
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on July 18, 2013, 07:04:40 AM
Thieves World and the MYTH books by Robert Aspriin.
I had all but forgotten that one. Thanks .
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on July 12, 2013, 01:25:02 PM
Charles Willeford, the "Hoke Moseley" series of dark hilarity crime novels (Miami Blues on to the author's death). Just awesome, Hoke being a detective with false teeth living in a seedy Miami Beach hotel with huge alimony payments when the action starts (contemporaneously, in the early 80s). Willeford wrote better books, but this is his only series. I think the Languish crowd would like it quite a bit.
Just finished reading Miami blues - Not bad but the ending was a little abrupt? What I can't figure out, and what makes me a little uneasy, is the musty racial views - I don't get the feeling that it's written like that on purpose but rather that it's the authors own views shining through.
Other than that it should suit the languish crowd just fine - it even features anal.
Quote from: Jacob on July 17, 2013, 03:46:49 PM
A lot of good ones have been mentioned already. To add a few:
Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander is an excellent young adult fantasy series based on Welsh mythology.
Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte is pretty damn enjoyable as well. Follow the exploits of a hardened yet somewhat romantic adventurer and soldier as the Golden Age of Spain starts to lose some of its lustre. It's not nautical at all, but it still scratches a bit of the same itch as the Aubrey-Maturin books, at least for me.
In spite of the less than completely gushing review I gave them in the books thread, I did really enjoy Ian Hamilton's Ava Lee series - exotic locales, shady individuals, and all sorts of adventure as the diminutive forensic accountant tracks down missing millions and returns them to their rightful owners (minus a percentage, of course).
I love Captain Alatriste, but it's so depressing.
Don't know if I can hype the series because I've just read the first book, but David Pearce's Red Riding 1974 was brilliant.
Started 1977 now. Go read.
QuoteI'm working my way through the Barchester Chronicles (only read the first two so far). I've no idea why I neglected Trollope for so long or why he is so underrated. He combines the gentle wit of Austen with the gossipy insights of Thackeray.
Yeah, I'd ignored him for a long time. I think his reputation took a real hit, so he's not one of the 'great' Victorian writers you have to read. Also he does have some peculiar interests that can be a bit odd to modern readers. The first two Barchester books are the only Trollope novels I've read that don't include at least 1-2 chapters about fox hunting (if not an entire sub-plot) and at least a couple of chapters mainly set in Parliament :lol:
Quote from: ulmont on July 18, 2013, 10:07:03 AM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on July 18, 2013, 07:04:40 AM
the MYTH books by Robert Aspriin.
Those really went to hell after 1993 though.
They were still OK. What was annoying and still is is that they started printing them in large format paperbacks for 15 bucks a pop.