^ ah, good call on the death gate cycle. definitly a great series.

[Edited on December 5, 2005 at 2:11 PM. Reason : ]

12/5/2005 2:11:18 PM

the first 10-15 piers anthony xanth novels

after that they just get silly

12/5/2005 2:24:19 PM

One author I haven't seen mentioned yet that's really good is Raymond E Feist. He writes good traditional fantasy that also has some interesting sci-fi elements to it (parallel universes, etc). There's a series starting with the book Magician that's pretty classic, and another series called The Serpentwar Saga that's pretty good.

A good series in more of a humanist sci-fi vein is the Otherland series by Tad Williamson. It's not really post-apocalyptic, but it's set in the near future where a total immersion VR network has just started to become totally submersive for a large sector of society.

12/5/2005 3:48:13 PM

Ahhh yeah, I meant to mention Feist.

I've read Riftwar and Serpentwar. Also I really like Piers Anthony's Incarnation series.

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys, keem em coming!

12/5/2005 4:00:03 PM

Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series is good, and she has other series which I like also.
as for sci fi, I really enjoyed The Jesus Incident and The Lazarus Effect by Frank Herbert

12/5/2005 4:29:44 PM

For a good but different sci-fi author try Jonathan Lethem. His book Gun, With Occasional Music is very interesting - it's like Who Framed Roger Rabbit with various sci-fi elements. It's a detective story set in a world where animals act like humans. Great book.

12/5/2005 8:14:54 PM

One more to add, though I gotta admit I haven't read it myself yet. E.R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros is generally considered one of THE pre-Tolkien epic fantasies. I've been meaning to read it for years, but it's pretty much impossible to find in stores. I just finally got around to ordering myself a copy off of Amazon.

12/5/2005 10:20:35 PM

I'm gonna vote that you read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series as did many others.

Those books are well written and very fun to read.

12/5/2005 10:22:17 PM

is the shannara series the same as sword of truth series?

12/6/2005 10:40:22 AM

apparently not

12/6/2005 10:42:52 AM

there is no fantasy at all at d.h. hill library

12/6/2005 11:04:39 AM

I am in Book 7 and they are still really good, but I can tell the pace of the action is dragging somewhat. I think it mainly has to do with the fact that he is trying to tie in so damn many storylines at once that its very difficult to move them all in a timely fashion. I heard the newest one that came out last month, Knife of Dreams was a LOT better than any of the last 3-6 books in the series and got far higher ratings as it finally really started to tie up the series and reach the conclusion.

12/6/2005 7:44:28 PM

^yes. he was reeeeeally dragging the series on for about 2 or 3 books where he didn't really do anything except add plotlines. but knife of dreams was rather good.

12/6/2005 7:53:28 PM

Quote :

"I have to go with Terry Goodkind's Sword of truth series thats the most fun i've ever had while reading a book "

My favorite author... and if you start now you'll have plenty of time before the new one in february. What, it's his 10th book? I can't remember... but 98% of it is worth the read.

12/6/2005 10:08:05 PM

I like Simon R. Greene but his stuff gets reused a lot but I suggest the Hawk and Fisher series-kept me turning pages all night haha.

12/6/2005 10:11:23 PM

anyone read eragon or eldest by C. Paolini? thought it was good, though for a younger crowd.

12/6/2005 11:31:17 PM

Ben Bova is a pretty good sci-fi author. I recommend his Orion.

12/7/2005 12:42:14 AM

Second vote for Jeff Noon. Especially if you like your sci-fi... umm... odd.
My favorites were Automated Alice and Nymphomation.

12/7/2005 1:08:07 AM

Read all of the Dune books. Then you can knock out the 2 prequel series that his son wrote, even though they aren't as good. That right there is like 13 full length novels.

I've been following Wheel of Time by RJ for awhile. Supposedly there's only 1 or 2 (at most) books left. I haven't read the one that came out last month yet, but that series will knock a good portion of your time away.

Of course Ender's series, and the Ender's Shadow series.

Check out the Homecoming series by Card as well. The first novel is "The Memory of Earth" and it's loosely based off the Mormons going to Utah, even though you'd probably never guess that from reading it. There's 5 books in that series.

12/7/2005 11:11:40 AM

Double Post

[Edited on December 7, 2005 at 11:13 AM. Reason : >.<]

12/7/2005 11:12:53 AM

Quote :

"anyone read eragon or eldest by C. Paolini? thought it was good, though for a younger crowd."

I read the first couple of chapters of that (at a friend's house) and was pretty impressed.
I've heard some critics say that this would have been Harry Potter if it had come out first - it would have had all the attention and midnight sales and movies...
The writing sure as shit is a lot better than Rowling, but it's still obviously intended for younger audiences. But that doesn't stop it from being a good book.

12/7/2005 11:24:46 AM

I still like Harry Potter better, but I agree that Eragon is good. I'm actually reading it now. It started out a little slow, but got better real fast.

12/7/2005 5:28:53 PM

Hey I know this is a bit off-topic, but not really. I was sitting in church today and the preacher (a younger guy probably about 30, if that) was talking about C.S Lewis and his book Chronicles of Narnia and how he had gone to see the movie and it was really good. He talked about how Lewis was a Christian, but didn't become one until late in life (in large part due to J.R.R Tolkien, his close friend and fellow writer of some fame) and then wrote the book with many references to Christianity in it.

That I had no problem with. He then proceeded to hold it up as a good example of something to go see and then started saying "Unlike that Harry Potter series which glorifies witchcraft!" I was stunned, but I was really ready to stand up and rip him a new one if he made some uneducated comment about The Lord of The Rings trilogy as well, but thankfully he did not.

But seriously, does this really affect someones decision to read a book or not? Shit its fantasy. I really wanted to slap the shit outta him. I've read a couple of Rowlings books, and they were alright, but not really my cup of tea. That being said I don't see why he had to implicate that it is a work of TEH DEVIL. I don't mind religion being in or not being in. It doesn't make LOTR a worse series because it has a struggle between good and evil and it can almost be said that the wizards were angels and other things of that nature. It doesn't come out and push religion on me. Just like Harry Potter doesn't make me want to run out in the streets and denounce God on my broom while I try to fly away and laugh at all the fucking muggles.

12/11/2005 7:08:57 PM

I would definately suggest teh Ender's Game series, by Orsan Scott Card, He just released teh 8th book in teh series. He's also got a few other book series too. I remember when he came to talk on campus bout 2 years ago, was the coolest dude ever, even sign 4 of my books.

12/13/2005 3:44:07 AM

haha DRAGONLANCE YO

12/13/2005 4:20:16 AM