So I grew up very sheltered and isolated from society and as a result missed out on a lot of pop culture and other common things. I love to read, and I really enjoy fantasy and DnD and those types of things and I’m trying to find and catch up on the great fantasy books/series that every fantasy lover/nerd should know. I’m not as interested in sci-fi, but I’m willing to read the “great” ones too. What would you recommend?
Series I’ve read: The Lord of the Rings The Witcher The Dark Tower The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Dungeon Crawler Karl
Update to add also read: Wheel of Time Most of the Stormlight Archive The Hobbit
I’m just starting my first Discworld book.
Edit: Thanks everyone! Keep them coming, I’m going to make a list with all the suggestions and start working through them.
Seems like most of the big ones were mentioned. The glaring omission is The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Read the first one, and you’ll find yourself finishing the story.
I started the first book a week or so ago. Now I’m am almost done with the third. Sooo good!
I’m going for Michael Moorcock’s “Dancers at the End of Time” series. In the far future, Earth’s human population is like 120 immortal people who possess science that is indistinguishable from magic, powered by some kind of Dyson Sphere. They’ve long forgotten how the tech works and lead lives of leisure in which their main activity is amusing each other. Although old (1970s, I think), it feels contemporary in that is has many gender-fluid elements and seems like the kind of world tech bros dream of. It has a Sci-fi premise but it’s pure Famtas It’s philosophical and also quite funny.
Ok so since you’re doing sci-fi as well, Hyperion/Hyperion series.
I just finished the Cantos this week. I think Hyperion is one of the best sci-fi setups ever conceived. The Canterbury Tales in Space is so hype, and so well executed. I could read it ten times and love it every time.
The rest of the series is ambitious, but never quite lived up to the first book. There are incredibly interesting ideas, and some excellent parts… but I can’t give the whole thing a 10/10.
Book four light spoilers
Aenea spends so much time talking at the reader, and her set up as the savior of humanity pins her character in a corner.
The discussion on how “humans stopped evolving” was an incredible turn on my view of the Ousters, and helped recontextualize the series as a radical, conservationist epic instead of just an anti-authoritarian one was also A+.
Since I just read this, I’ve been thinking a lot about how a television adaptation would work. Season one would be just the first book… one pilgrim’s tale per episode. But then I feel like the next three books would need a comprehensive overhaul to streamline the narrative and pick a clearer focus.
I started the second book shortly after reading the first, and I didn’t finish it. I think I prefer to remember Hyperion as a standalone story as it’s so perfect
Yeah, I put Hyperion/Hyperion series since the series is not for everyone.
I personally enjoyed the Endymion books, some people enjoy Fall of Hyperion and leave it at that.
I would recommend Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series as well as his Lyonesse Trilogy.
I’m gonna suggest a web novel, Practical Guide to Evil. Great series about 8 books long that follows the apprentice of a medieval fantasy villain. Looks like the first book just dropped on Amazon for kindle and audiobook last year
Pale Lights the author’s ongoing serial, is even better. New chaptr just dropped a hour ago!
Just finished the latest chapter. Go 13th
Gotta love a story where “mapmaker” is the OP vocation.
I read Dresden Files for the first time within the last 18 months and I’ve been relentlessly shilling it to everyone ever since. I’ve been a bookworm my entire life and it’s probably my favorite series I’ve ever read, ever. It fucking slaps, it’s SO good.
I thought Butcher’s other series was much better. IDK why it’s called Codex Alera and not something with “Fury” in the name since that’s what all the books have, but it’s a more consistent series than Dresden and with better worldbuilding.
I have gone in bursts devouring those books. There’s a little too much nerd boy fantasy insert in the first book. (The skinny loner who dressed bad has WAY too many beautiful women into him). But it’s pulp so it’s expected. Besides it gets so good.
Can’t say no to gritty magic crime noir.
If you fancy a small change over to comic/graphic novels, I can highly recommend the Alan Moore run of Swamp Thing. Two years ago I would have also included Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, but it seems that he’s a piece of shit, so if you do want to read his stuff, please pirate it to avoid giving him any money.
Recently I’ve been thinking one of the best things Alan Moore has written is the original 12-issue series Top 10. It just has certain characters and events that stuck in my mind.
Lord of the rings of course you have read it but what about a second time
I don’t really like manga, but one of the best stories I’ve ever read in any format is the 7-volume Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It’s post-apocalyptic fantasy about the nature of evil, the corruption of humanity, the extent to which individuals can fight against historical forces, and the fragility of civilization, for a start. Plus there’s a lot of action and world-building. There’s an anime movie which covers about one tenth of the story, if you want to get a feel for it.
I saw the movie. It was AMAZING. I had no idea it was based on book(s)!
Yeah, the manga is eminently worth reading. Especially if you enjoy the movie at all (it’s my favorite of Miyazaki’s.) The manga somehow manages to be even better.
Robin hobb farseer books are great
the rainwild chronicles were my favourite
Series?
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Le Guin’s Earthsea Trilogy
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Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain
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Discworld, especially the Night Watch books
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Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker series
Individual Books:
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Robin McKinley, The Hero and the Crown, or anything else she wrote
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Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock and Howl’s Moving Castle, or anything else she wrote
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Philip K. Dick, “Galactic Pot-Healer” (Dick straddles the line between science fiction and science fantasy, but this one’s firmly the latter)
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Madeline L’Engle, Many Waters
I’m sure I’ll think of more but my break is up.
I came here to say Chronicles of Prydain. I read them over and over as a child and they are so magical and well written, it’s a shame they aren’t more well known!
Wait wait. You’re starting with Engel’s “Many Waters?” Isn’t it book 4 in a series where book 1 (“A Wrinkle in Time”) is considered a classic?
It’s been a long time but I remember liking book 2 a whole lot. I never did get book 5, though I think there is one?
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Last time I recommend Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, I got crucified over it. Imma do it again. It was a formative work to me, and I frequently quote the wizards’ rules. Content warning though: some scenes are quite disturbing, and some of Terry’s political opinions leak into the text and are questionable at best.
Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series is another of my favorites, and I think I can recommend it without content warnings but it’s been a long time since I read it so I don’t really remember.
Louis McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga is also very good. Scifi instead of fantasy, but how often do I get the chance to recommend books?
Gah, sword of truth. I read that, ok, so there’s a hero’s journey thing going on, I can dig it - suddenly BDSM fanfic!
Nope, Goodkind ain’t for me. It was SO jarring!
Still, you also recommended Bujold. My fav! I’ll have to check out Valdemar.
Valdemar deals with some serious stuff, but glosses over the worst of it. The torture of one main character, and the brutal burning of another, as two examples, are handled pretty well. I would still go back and read them if I didn’t just remember them all so well because they’re awesome. There is definitely the fantasy trope of orphan/unwanted kids getting their fantasy though, but it’s appropriate for the blue fantasy genre.
…also, you should get crucified for sword of truth :P
Chronicles of the Black Company
Discworld (Terry Pratchett), no question.
Very much Discworld. I shouldn’t have had to scroll this far down to find this shame on all y’all. The Night Watch series and The Witches series are my favourites and I do recommend reading series’s in order to but you can start practically anywhere if you want. Just remember the very first two books aren’t anyone’s favourites but are still good.
I mean, they mentioned they’re already reading Discworld…
I found this reading order quite helpful:
It’s my turn to ask this question, it seems, but if this image low resolution and very compressed?
I found a better version, updated.
Wtff… I remember the colour of magic being fun and knew there was more but that’s wild
The Colour of Magic was published in 1983, The Shepherd’s Crown was posthumously published in 2015 with up to three books published in some years. It’s an incredible life’s work.
If you liked The Colour of Magic, I’d strongly recommend continuing reading, it’s usually considered one of the weakest novels in the discworld, being the first book he wrote while still having a day job.
The good thing is, there are these sub series as you can see in the picture following specific characters with some cameos from the other series, so no need to read all of them (although recommended, because they’re great). Even within these series, every book is basically a standalone story with minimal spoilers if you read them out of order and zero confusion if you don’t remember what happened in the last book.
I’m a really fast reader and I had a slowish day at work yesterday. I read The Colour of Magic start to finish yesterday morning and really enjoyed it. I’m almost finished with The Light Fantastic now.
They get better
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books. Hyperion (first 2 are best buy i love all 4 in the series). Read some of the classics like Philip k dick “do androids dream of electric sheep” and robert heinland’s “stranger in a strange land” isaac asimov’s “i robot” books and foundation series are excellent too.
