Help - Sci Fi/fantasy book series recommendations

[RedTeamGo!]

My 30th birthday is coming up and I am hopefully getting a tablet. I have been trying to find a good fantasy or sci fi series to read to bridge the gap to the next GoT book but am having trouble. I have already read the following:

Sword of Truth
Wheel of Time
Pretty much all Star Wars books
Song of fire and ice
Drzzit books from Forgotten Realms
Enders Game books

Does anyone have any suggestions on the next series I should tackle?

Sub question: any suggestions on tablets?

Thanks in advance!

[MilotheMayor]

Dune - Herbert
Foundation Trilogy - Asimov

Really anything by Heinlein, Bradbury, Gibson, or Clarke.

[RedTeamGo!]

I have read Dune, excellent book. The rest of the series is worth the read?

I have read Starship Troopers, very enjoyable - I also picked up The Moon is a Harsh Mistress recently and have enjoyed that as well.

[marcshoe]

It's been a while, but I read Roger Zelazny's Amber books straight through.

[joshnky]

My 30th birthday is coming up and I am hopefully getting a tablet. I have been trying to find a good fantasy or sci fi series to read to bridge the gap to the next GoT book but am having trouble. I have already read the following:

Sword of Truth
Wheel of Time
Pretty much all Star Wars books
Song of fire and ice
Drzzit books from Forgotten Realms
Enders Game books

Does anyone have any suggestions on the next series I should tackle?

Sub question: any suggestions on tablets?

Thanks in advance!

Codex Alera - jim butcher
Mistborn- Brandon Sanderson

Those are my two favorite authors and two great series. I also like Brent Weeks.

[thatcoolguy_22]

Steven Erickson The Malazan Book of the Fallen- MASSIVE! 10 volumes of 1k+, outside of the first. Main characters have a habit of dieing.

Brandon Sanderson- Mistborn series (finished), Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive) (1 of X, #2 out early next year)

Brent Weeks- Night Angel Trilogy (finished), Lightbringer series (2 of 4 complete, 3rd out early next year)

Joe Abercrombie- The First Law (finished trilogy)

Mark Lawrence- Broken Empire Trilogy (last one comes out in August)

Guy Gavriel Kay- A lot of stand aloone novels but check out The Sarantine Mosaic (2 books finished)

Check out Goodreads.com. Create an account and start reviewing books that you have read. The site will recommend books to you off of your preferences. The more you review the more precise it will be. I've been using it since 2011 and now I don't hesitate, if its recommended and I don't have something already on the list, I download it.

and a Sci Fi

Peter Hamilton- The Reality Dysfunction (finished space opera trilogy that is also massive)

[joshnky]

Steven Erickson The Malazan Book of the Fallen- MASSIVE! 10 volumes of 1k+, outside of the first. Main characters have a habit of dieing.

Brandon Sanderson- Mistborn series (finished), Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive) (1 of X, #2 out early next year)

Brent Weeks- Night Angel Trilogy (finished), Lightbringer series (2 of 4 complete, 3rd out early next year)

Joe Abercrombie- The First Law (finished trilogy)

Mark Lawrence- Broken Empire Trilogy (last one comes out in August)

Guy Gavriel Kay- A lot of stand aloone novels but check out The Sarantine Mosaic (2 books finished)

Check out Goodreads.com. Create an account and start reviewing books that you have read. The site will recommend books to you off of your preferences. The more you review the more precise it will be. I've been using it since 2011 and now I don't hesitate, if its recommended and I don't have something already on the list, I download it.

and a Sci Fi

Peter Hamilton- The Reality Dysfunction (finished space opera trilogy that is also massive)

I'm reading the malazan books now. The books are very confusing but I still find it enjoyable. Great characters.

[Raisor]

SM Stirling.

Start with his Nantucket trilogy.

An encounter with a cosmic event send the Island of Nantucket and a Coast Guard windjammer back to around 2000 bc.

[LoganBuck]

Steve Alten's Meg series is pretty good. Giant prehistoric shark unleashed in modern times. I have read all 4 books. A fifth is coming in the next year or so. There is a movie stuck in development hell based on this.

[RichRed]

This is more of a shameless plug than a recommendation. I haven't read it yet but I went to college with this guy, and his first book of what will be a trilogy is getting pretty strong ratings.

http://www.amazon.com/Known-Afterlife-Provider-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B004Z2JTNS

[Redsfaithful]

The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun

Very literary and kind of dense, but really good.

[klw]

A friend of mine from HS/college apparently writes Sci-Fi BDSM books which are available for download as e books. I haven't read any of them as I just found out about them being available but I saw the summary for one and one of the characters has my name- which is not a very common name. I will probably have to read it to see what this character is all about and whether his description is at all like me- not much from the summary seems to fit.

[marcshoe]

This is more of a shameless plug than a recommendation. I haven't read it yet but I went to college with this guy, and his first book of what will be a trilogy is getting pretty strong ratings.

http://www.amazon.com/Known-Afterlife-Provider-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B004Z2JTNS

Which reminds me, I really like the series linked in my signature, even if it is more supernatural suspense than true fantasy or syfy. Never heard of the author, though. ;)

[Moosie52]

I have read Dune, excellent book. The rest of the series is worth the read?

I've enjoyed the books Frank wrote, as well as the books his son has written using the same characters.

[marcshoe]

btw, you mention you've read the Ender books, have you also read the Bean (shadow) books? I thought they were interesting in their own right. They carried on the story of Ender's Game a little more directly than the Ender sequels.

[RedTeamGo!]

btw, you mention you've read the Ender books, have you also read the Bean (shadow) books? I thought they were interesting in their own right. They carried on the story of Ender's Game a little more directly than the Ender sequels.

I have not, a friend of mine has recommended I read them but I still have not. That is a problem I had with Speaker for the Dead for example, was so much different than the original book, I didn't really know what was going on.

[Rojo]

I don't know what people see in Heinlein. He manages to both a fascist and hippie. Grok, whatever.

[medford]

I don't know that it falls under the sci-fi title, but I've read that it contain elements of it so I'll ask it here, both as a question I've had lately and as a possible recommendation for the OP... any recommendations on the Dark Tower series by Stephen King? I think I read the 1st one some 25 years ago (I was going to say 30, but realized I wasn't quite reading Stephen King at age 6)? I've been thinking about diving into that, but not quite sure if its worth the commitment. Seems like Stephen King books are either really, really good, or really really strange and not entertaining.

[RedTeamGo!]

I have been thinking about the Dark Tower series recently as well. It sounds pretty unique and you know they are going to turn it into a movie series at some point.

[joshnky]

I have been thinking about the Dark Tower series recently as well. It sounds pretty unique and you know they are going to turn it into a movie series at some point.

I hated it but I'm not a Stephen king fan. If you like fantasy there are much better options out there.

[Brisco]

Agreed on the Brandon Sanderson books.

Also, I recommend Glen Cook. I have been a fan of Martin since literally the day Game of Thrones was first published. I have bought GoT for over 35 people in the last decade all because I wanted to ensure the Martin kept writing. This is because I suffered through the lost decade when Glen Cook stopped writing.

Cook is not Martin, but the Black Company series and the Garrett novels are some of the most original and entertaining works in the genre.

[thatcoolguy_22]

I have been thinking about the Dark Tower series recently as well. It sounds pretty unique and you know they are going to turn it into a movie series at some point.

Do yourself a favor if you read the Dark Tower; stop when you finish the 4th book. Read a synopsis of the final 3 if you wish, but they are terrible. the first 4 were written by a young stephen king trying to make an epic, the last 3 were by an old Stephen King looking for an ending.

[KittyDuran]

Just adult sci-fantasy or would you try young adult or teen? I really liked Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). The first book is the best and was made into a movie (which is why I started reading the books). If you can get past The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass is pretty good.

[RedTeamGo!]

Do yourself a favor if you read the Dark Tower; stop when you finish the 4th book. Read a synopsis of the final 3 if you wish, but they are terrible. the first 4 were written by a young stephen king trying to make an epic, the last 3 were by an old Stephen King looking for an ending.

Interesting, I will keep that in mind - I do think this is going to be the next series I read.

It will kill two birds with one stone. I have never read a Steven King book and I am looking for a new series.

[RedTeamGo!]

Just adult sci-fantasy or would you try young adult or teen? I really liked Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). The first book is the best and was made into a movie (which is why I started reading the books). If you can get past The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass is pretty good.

I prefer adult, especially after reading the very dark Song of Fire and Ice series.

I have read some young adult sci fi/fantasy in the past couple years. My wife and I read The Hunger Games books, and I also recently picked up The Giver at a garage sale, which I felt was a good book.

[PTjvs]

The two series I have recommended to people for ages are A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (the Game of Throne books) and The Hyperion Cantos (Dan Simmons). These are both adult series.

Someone earlier mentioned Roger Zelazny, and his best stuff is excellent as well (the Amber series, This Immortal, Creatures of Light and Darkness, Lord of Light). Zelazny's later work tailed off substantially, though. Zelazny is a much faster read than Martin or Simmons.

Other scifi/fantasy I would recommend:

Neuromancer (Gibson)
Snow Crash/The Diamond Age/Cryptonomicon (Stephenson)
Hitchhiker's Guide (Adams)
Foundation (Asimov)

I agree that The Dark Tower dropped off badly in the later books.

jvs

[chicoruiz]

Given what you like so far, I'd recommend Kevin Anderson's "Saga of Seven Suns" septet.