[Meatex]

if you want Hollywood action blockbuster in book form (and i mean the good ones *not looking at you snakes on a plane*)
Mathew Reilly

Quick Comments

ToRSmotPokingFish:

<3<3<3Matthew Reilly<3<3<3

[Cute]

Agreeing with the Raymond Feist. I guess I'm kinda biased as they were probably the first fantasy books I've read. Somewhat agree with Erasmus though, I find the latter books much better than the first few. Silverthorn in particular was rather painful ><

[ToR.Arnor]

Bernard Cornwell write some pretty awesome Historical Fiction Books

http://www.bernardcornwell.net/

My Favorite Series have to be

The Arthur Books (aka The Warlord Chronicles)
The Saxon Stories
The Grail Quest

The Sharpe Series and Starbuck Chronicles are also very good reads

Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games Trilogy" is a decent read also (not the best written series but certainly keeps the reader engaged)

[mGGDrGooSe]

Isaac Asimov. Greatest scifi writer of all time. Everybody knows the Foundation series Im sure, but the last book (completed just weeks before his death I believe) was phenomenal. His greatest work is by far The Gods Themselves (and is hilarious when taken into the context of people complaining that he never wrote about sex). But it doesnt matter whether its fact of fiction, his books are very well written and very engaging.
Others... Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks, still ambivalent about the current series he is writting. Good but no comparison.
The Starman and Persimius Series by Sara Douglass (sadly another author who passed before the stories were truly done).
Saga of Seven Suns by Kevin J Anderson who also writes star wars novel (I think) and Children of Dune with Dune author's son (I think).
Trinity trilogy by Fiona McIntosh.
Ofcourse, who could forget Juliett Marillier. Bridei Series is the flagship in my eyes but sevenwaters series, and well basically all of them are pretty good.
Rachel Vincent's Werecat series is very good.
Memory by Linda Negata is pretty good as well and somewhat off the beaten path.
Godspeaker sereies by karen Miller.
The Eragon series by Paolini.
And stepping away from scifi-fant... I like most of Clancy (although sometimes overated) and Geofrey Archer. Older Dale Brown stuff was ok too until it all become about the lasers and automated missiles and just too much scifi.
Dov Silverman, Tairo (and the follow ones that I cant recall the name of) are very good, set in pre-WWII through to the end of the war in Japan, following the story of a couple of generations of a family.
Then I just have a mess of single titles that I have come across in op-shops and what not (my god, every op-shop is stacked with Geofrey Archer and Tom Clancy, lol).

Yes I have a wall of books and no it isn't growing fast enough.

Quick Comments

	ToRPandarine:	you, good sir, i can relate to :D
	Nemo:	Asimov is awesome. Robots and Fondations
	breadfan:
	Asrathiel:	A well-organised wall of books when you finally let me do it! :P
	Uglymutt:	Asimov
	fur:	Don't read much SciFi but Asimov is an exception. Well worth your time.

[ROOT`iaguz]

Haven't read anything for a looooooooooong time. Too much starcraft ><.

Used to read a shitload of fantasy and occasional sci fi. Loads of Pratchett, some gaiman (can't get into it as much as you sadly Dippa), some Gemmell, Song of ice and fire (who doesn't after the bloody show) and some Neal Stephenson; ******* loved Cryptonomicon so much and I quote it often without thinking, probably more then any other book. Long life the Shaftoes!

[TAScarecrow]

David Gemmell is amazing stuff if you're into heroic fantasy. I've re-read some of his best ones 2 or 3 times. Ravenheart & Legend are both great starting points.

I don't know what Erasmus is on about. Feist's early work is great, it's the latest stuff that's terribad and lazy. Magician, the Serpent War Saga and especially the Daughter of the Empire (must read) series are amazing. He's just cashing in with another Pug and Friends save the world every now and then these days.

The Earthsea Saga by Ursula le Guin is another classic i've read multiple times. Definitely pick it up at some point

I was a big fan of Eddings growing up: Belgarath the Sorcerer, Pawn of Prophecy etc. although I'm not sure how well they've aged.

It baffles me how Terry Goodkind gets mentioned so much. He's barely a class above R.A. Salvatore in writing ability and I'm yet to finish a book of his after attempting several on recommendations.

Paolini's first two were very readable, last two declined steeply as his fame/college got to him.

In terms of scifi i'm less well read. The Forever War, The Stars My Destination (Tiger Tiger), Ender's Game, The Rediscovery of Man and Dune are all must reads though.

Quick Comments

	JoFritzMD:	I agree Magician was amazing, however with Paolini I didn't really like his first book that much, it seemed very amateur to me.
	TACeeSerps:	For being first to mention Eddings!

[simon]

i couldnt get enough of forgotten realms and R.A salvatore when i was growing up(10-15)

havent read any forgotten realms or dragonlance since then though and i assume i wouldnt like them as much now that i am a little older. those sort of books are fantastic when you are young tbh. they do so much for your imagination and arent hard to follow.

Quick Comments

Nemo:

Drizzt hwaiting !

[Asrathiel]

Originally Posted by Drgoose

Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks

Juliett Marillier. Bridei Series is the flagship in my eyes but sevenwaters series, and well basically all of them are pretty good.

Was coming to say those two ^_^

And also OMG READ SOME PRATCHETT!!!! Get them from the library if you don't have money to buy them right now....

Also Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.... some people love them some people hate them Personally I think they're fun Oh and Cecelia Dart-Thornton, the Crowthistle Chronicles... her style of writing is annoying for some peope, I know, but she does have Asrathiel in the last two books of that series, and Asrathiel kicks butt

Originally Posted by Drgoose

Yes I have a wall of books and no it isn't growing fast enough.

We will have many many walls of books

Quick Comments

Nemo:

Weel of Time is one of the most romantic books I know. A legend.

[JoFritzMD]

Dune is probably at the top of my sci-fi list. It is so amazingly written, ever single word is written for a reason. However I think the sequels to Dune are very underrated and in my opinion they are the better books. They are less action oriented and have some really good ideas and thoughts written down in them.
Having said that I haven't gotten round to reading any asimov yet however he is high on my 'to read' list.
The Belgariad series was a pretty good fantasy set I've read (though i've only read the Belgariad books and none of the other series by the same author).

Quick Comments

	Nemo:	Dune the books were awesome and I played dune 2 !
	TACeeSerps:	Mallorean series from Eddings is just as good, along with Redemption of Althalus also by him

[neon]

Just to add some series I've read recently that I haven't seen mentioned-

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie has some very unique and colourful chareceters and I found it a very entertaining fantasy series.

also I haven't seen anyone mention "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan, it's pretty classic with the final (13th ? I think) book to be released probably at the end of the year (Robert Jordan has passed away however the books are being finished by Brandon Sanderson). - edit Asrath mentioned it while I was writing this QQ.

This bring me to my next point, Brandon Sanderson has written a few books, I've read the Mistborn Trilogy which was quite unique and a good read, and also "The Way of Kings (Part 1, books 1 and 2)" was a very cool too.

[ikki]

I recommend enders game if you like starcraft very cool book.
I also recommend to those that don't know http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ free shipping worldwide

Quick Comments

ToRPandarine:

how did i ever miss this post?

[mGGSouth]

A book thread! Here is my list of good books. Hopefully they're not too kiddy/have predictable plots :P

Fantasy - Garth Nix
The Keys to the Kingdom Series
The Old Kingdom Trilogy
The Seventh Tower Series

Fantasy - Epic Battles
Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
The Inheritance Cycle - Paolini
The Temeraire Series - Naomi Novic
The Icemark Chronicles - Stuart Hill

Almost Sci-Fi Fantasy
The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel - Michael Scott
The Gone Series - Michael Grant

Miscellaneous Fantasy
The Belgariad - David Eddings
The Spooks - Joseph Delaney
The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness - Michelle Paver
The Bartimaeus Trilogy - Jonathan Stround
The Edge Chronicles - Stewart and Riddel

Historical Fiction
Everything by Conn Iggulden
Everything by Bernard Cornwell
The Revolution Quartet - Simon Scarrow
The Masters of the Sea Trilogy - John Stack

lol a bit longer than expected :/

Quick Comments

	mGGDrGooSe:	Haha, formatting! I was far too lazy. Go you.
	Intoccabile19:	The Belgariad series was quite good. As a kid I only really read my mums books and David Eddings was one of her favourites!

[NOM]

My favourite book is
Junjou Romantica by Shungiku Nakamura.

[NvPinder]

Haven't read a novel since year 7 English. Awwwww yeah.

Quick Comments

	Dox:
	inFeZa:	i didnt even read prescribed novels in english. I just winged it

[mGGDrGooSe]

Originally Posted by TAJPMoney

Haven't read a novel since year 7 English. Awwwww yeah.

You have my pity. Please dont neg rep this guy, its not his fault he was neglected as a child.

[Asrathiel]

Originally Posted by prOxiSouth

The Old Kingdom Trilogy

Yes! Love series with cool female characters. Sabriel and Lirael rock

Originally Posted by TAJPMoney

Haven't read a novel since year 7 English. Awwwww yeah.

Aww that's so sad!

[NvPinder]

Originally Posted by Asrathiel

Aww that's so sad!

I think you're confusing sad with awesome.

Nah but seriously I'm just not interested in reading fiction. I'd far prefer to watch a tv series or movie for entertainment, and I probably read more text than the average person per day just via interaction on the interwebs. I don't think my take on the English language has suffered at all from not reading books, and I was able to wing every English class up till year 10 by just asking friends what the book was about, watching the movie if there was one, and providing answers that are just common sense. I then did English language for VCE(year 11/12) which imo had far more useful real-world applications than studying what an author was really trying to say when he said the main characters eyes were blue.

Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to put down anyone who enjoys reading books, I just don't particularly enjoy it since I have very little imagination and can't picture images in my head like most people.

[Asrathiel]

Originally Posted by Drgoose

Please dont neg rep this guy

He needs love and understanding...

[Dox]

Besides the usual morbid assassination/crime/spy novels from Alex Kava, Kathy Reichs and Barry Eisler, I've (finally!) gotten around to dusting off the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series since it's been sitting on my shelf for years. Loving it so far.

[ToR.Arnor]

Originally Posted by Dox

Besides the usual morbid assassination/crime/spy novels from Alex Kava, Kathy Reichs and Barry Eisler, I've (finally!) gotten around to dusting off the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series since it's been sitting on my shelf for years. Loving it so far.

Yup Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series is awesome highly recommend!

Terry Brooks is also awesome (no doubt someone has mentioned him by now)

The Word and the Void Series was my Favorite

Ive also read The Genesis of Shannara Series and found it extremely enjoyable as well

I havent read the Brook's other works as Im more into historical fiction and post apocalyptic fiction than fantasy, but if you're a lover of fantasy than id say check them out too!