Book Ideas?

bagelpirate

I haven't read a book in a while, but I want to pick one up again.

Im looking for a good sci-fi or adventure type book, idears?

5 Schrute Bucks awarded to the best recommendation

Horseshoe

Sometimes when I'm sick of the newer stuff that's out there I pick up something old and pulpy by Robert E. Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs or Fritz Leiber.

SniperGuy

Obligatory Song of Ice and Fire and The Dark Tower referrals.

And you want an adventure, how about The Talisman or Black House?

Chuwero

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.

BlochWave

Obligatory Song of Ice and Fire seconding

Dune's always a classic though maybe a bit too much if you haven't read in a while

zhen_rogue

Dune, if you haven't read it.

Dune, even if you've read it before.

Arch Guru XX

A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are both excellent hard sci-fi books by Vernor Vinge.

The Diamon Age by Neal Stephenson is very good (a lot of people like Snow Crash more, but I think Diamond Age is overall the better book - Snow Crash is good, though)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is excellent if you haven't read that.

TychoCelchuuu

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (adventure/fantasy). It just won a Quill award, it's been getting absolutely ridiculously awesome reviews from just about everyone who has read it, and I loved it a ton.

Neuromancer by William Gibson is a classic sci-fi adventure. Very good.

shadowane

The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequel Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch are both very good fantasy/adventure.

Aegis

Thirding A Song of Ice and Fire & seconding Ender's Game especially if you haven't read it before. If you want a long, involved sci-fi series I'd recommend the Otherland series by Tad Williams. There's also (anything really) by Neil Gaiman, though as an example I'd recommend Neverwhere. And Perdido Street Station by China Miéville is amazing, and sci-fi.

BlochWave

I anti-reccomend the Vernor Vinge books

Well, A Fire Upon the Deep is the one I didn't care for

Jack Vance's Demon Princes series is light but exceptionally well written

Preacher

I am with the Burroughs recommendations (John Carter of Mars is a great if unfinished pulp scifi series) and Dark Tower.

Also the Cold Fire Trilogy is a good fantasy scifi.

enderwiggin13

Thirding for Ender's Game (see handle).

Also, the Watch quadrilogy by Sergey Lukyanenko. Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch, Final Watch. Russian fantasy/horror/philosophy? series about Others - humans with supernatural powers (warlocks, vampires, werewolves, but not in the high fantasy sense...more of a modern/realistic sense)and the battle between the good and evil Others. The first two have been made into movies, but the stories don't follow 100%.

Technicality

A wizard of Earthsea and The Hobbit are my favourite fantasy adventure books. Both are easy to read and very good.

The Time Machine is an old one, but its very gripping.

The Dosadi Experiment is my favourite non dune book by Frank Herbert, but if you haven't read dune read that.

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy? (kind of adventure, sci-fi, lots of comedy wierdness)

yourspaceholiday

I'm reading "Mason and Dixon" by Thomas Pynchon right now, and it's really good. It's sciencey and adventurey in that late 17th century way. Not a quick read, but certainly very enjoyable.

Brynj

Can't recommend the Dune series enough.


The Dark Tower books...

Well, books 1 through 4 are good to great. Books 5-7, average to horrible <IMHO>. You can tell King just really wanted to finish the series ASAP.

SniperGuy

Brynj wrote: »

Can't recommend the Dune series enough.


The Dark Tower books...

Well, books 1 through 4 are good to great. Books 5-7, average to horrible <IMHO>. You can tell King just really wanted to finish the series ASAP.

Disagree! The last one is actually one of my favorite. Five, upon a reread, is actually not nearly as boring as I thought it was, and really really good. As long as you get past the theme which I won't spoil, it's quite awesome.

Brynj

I thought 5 was average, but 6 and 7 were just bad.

They were all over the place plot wise and they actually caused me to cease caring about the characters I had grown to love from the series beginnings.

I actually

did not even care when Jake and Eddie died. Oy's death made me kind of sad though. And the cop-out ending, ugh.

They might not have been so bad in my opinion if the earlier books were not of such high quality. King was tired of the series, and writing in general, after his accident and just wanted to make sure to end it and it shows.

YamiNoSenshi

Making Money by Terry Pratchett just came out. It's like is Douglas Adams wrote fantasy instead of sci fi. I highly recommend anything by him. It's all part of the Discworld series, but you can jump in at any time.

A-Rod

HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy - series is pretty good. Im on the 4th book, I think they are a fun read

Its not Sci-fi, and not quite adventure but I really think its great - A Confederacy of Dunces

KalTorak

"Good Omens" by Pratchett and Gaiman

exis

shadowane wrote: »

The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequel Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch are both very good fantasy/adventure.

Seconded. I've only read the first, but it was fantastic, and my girlfriend assures me the second is even better.

Unicron

Fourthed or fifthed or whatever for Ender's game, just finished the first one there and was really impressed. I'm currently about 1/4 way through Neil Gaiman's American Gods and gotta say so far I really like it. Like Lovecraft meets Pratchett's darker brother or something.

Also the Hyperion series is pretty cool although probably rather heavy if you haven't read in a while.

Dune should go without saying

Agrehond

• The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. It won the 1983 Philip K. Dick Award and 1984 Science Fiction Chronicle Award. Pretty much anything written by Tim Powers is worth reading, especially this book.
• The Black Company by Glen Cook. This book starts the wonderful Black Company series.
• The four books that comprise Jack Vance's Tschai series. Also known under the cliched name Planet of Adventure books. I've read a lot of Jack Vance and I think these books are his best.
  1. Way of the Wankh
  2. City of the Chasch
  3. The Dirdir
  4. The Pnume
• Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart. This is more of a fantasy book than sci-fi, but it's one of the best around, and won Best Novel at the World Fantasy Awards in 1985. It's a novel of ancient China that never was, but should have been. You'll laugh. You'll cry. Definitely worth a read.
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin. Again, fantasy. If you've seen that simplistic drivel on the sci-fi channel that claimed to be Earthsea, you've been robbed. Read this wonderful book and cleanse your mind of that drek.
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi. If you like Heinlein, you'll like this book.
• Speaking of Robert Heinlein, his Stranger in a Strange Land and I Will Fear No Evil shows us why he's considered a master of science fiction. Read them if you haven't already.
• When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger. A best novel nominee for the Hugo awards back in 1988.

flatlinegraphics

Brynj wrote: »

I thought 5 was average, but 6 and 7 were just bad.

They were all over the place plot wise and they actually caused me to cease caring about the characters I had grown to love from the series beginnings.

I actually

did not even care when Jake and Eddie died. Oy's death made me kind of sad though. And the cop-out ending, ugh.

They might not have been so bad in my opinion if the earlier books were not of such high quality. King was tired of the series, and writing in general, after his accident and just wanted to make sure to end it and it shows.

books 5 and 6 were act three, and like a lot of act 3s, you have to tie up everything and push towards the ending. plus books 5 and 6 should actually span across every book he wrote during this period of his life. like everything he wrote kind of spiraled around the plot of the darktower.

come on, if you didn;t see the ending from the first chapter of the gunslinger, you are blind.

i'd have to +1 the song of ice and fire, even tho we have 2 books to go, and a dance with dragons is years overdue at this point.

heinlien, jack vance, edgar rice bouroughs, robert e howard, all good adventure/sci fi.

Evyl

Highly recommend Tigana or The Fionavar Tapestry.

Brynj

flatlinegraphics wrote: »

Brynj wrote: »

I thought 5 was average, but 6 and 7 were just bad.

They were all over the place plot wise and they actually caused me to cease caring about the characters I had grown to love from the series beginnings.

I actually

did not even care when Jake and Eddie died. Oy's death made me kind of sad though. And the cop-out ending, ugh.

They might not have been so bad in my opinion if the earlier books were not of such high quality. King was tired of the series, and writing in general, after his accident and just wanted to make sure to end it and it shows.

books 5 and 6 were act three, and like a lot of act 3s, you have to tie up everything and push towards the ending. plus books 5 and 6 should actually span across every book he wrote during this period of his life. like everything he wrote kind of spiraled around the plot of the darktower.

come on, if you didn;t see the ending from the first chapter of the gunslinger, you are blind.

I could make a whole thread on my problems with the last 2 books, but I don't care to go into it and we're getting off topic. Agree to disagree.