Nowadays I don’t really have any authors or book series like this. As I kid I used to get really excited for a new Series of Unfortunate Events or Alex Rider book. For a while I kept my eye on Adrian Tchaikovsky, but lately I’ve found some of his novels to be hit or miss.
The only book release I’m currently looking forward to is Brigands & Breadknives in the Legends & Lattes series by Travis Baldree. The other two books have been cosy and wholesome, and it’s become a little tradition of mine to read these books around Christmas.
I’m very much into the world that Michael J Sullivan has created with his two Ryria and Legends series. The next book is kind of far out now.
Same with Sanderson. I think it’s cool that he’s tying multiple magic systems together into one cohesive universe.
The opposite answer to this question is Patrick Rothfuss. I hate hearing about him releasing anything new, because I know it isn’t going to be what anyone wants. I also dread him actually, finally, really releasing the 3rd book that people have been waiting for… I will be in a real battle whether to actually read it. Will my spite plus hatred of half the 2nd book win out over my love for the first 1.5 books?
He who fights with monsters by Shirtaloon
Waiting for book 13.
That sounds like a fun series! I hadn’t heard of LitRPG before but if I’m understanding correctly it’s like an isekai where they’re in an RPG with health bars and stuff?
Yes. If Jason is too /r/iamverysmart then you can also check out dungeon crawler carl
I’ll read anything T Kingfisher puts out! I’m especially fond of her Paladin of Steel series and the Sworn Soldier series, but the standalone ones are great as well. The Twisted Ones is great if you want some Blair Witch, rural southern Appalachia horror. A House With Good Bones is also good southern horror that uses the supernatural as a way to explore breaking free from familial abuse.
Nettle & Bone seems to be her most well known novel. Is that a good one to start with?
It’s been a while since I’ve read that one, but I do remember enjoying it!
She’s sooo good.
Fuchsia Dunlop and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, both food writers.
Augusten Burroughs for memoir/fiction.
Cory Doctorow, without hesitation
Dan Simmons. I’m waiting for Omega Canyon
John Scalzi, been a fan for a long time.
Kind of an obscure one but among my friend group who reads we are fans of Matthew Norman. It started with We’re All Damaged which we loved. They are beach reads but consistently fun.
I read Kaiju Preservation Society last year and had a lot of fun with it! I’ve got a copy of Old Man’s War to read at some point, looking forward to it.
Same, Kaiju Preservation Society is his first book I read and really enjoyed it. Have got couple of books in Old Man’s War and going to give it a go soon. If I enjoy them as much, he might end up in the same category.
For stand-alone novels I used to buy new books by authors whose work I enjoyed prior, but have been burned so now I wait until others do so and let me know if its worth it. I also stopped buying unfinished series. Either the author takes forever to get around to the next one or dies before doing so (looking at you Jordan!), or the quality of the story falls drastically before the series end negating the initial investment.
Pynchon. I know you got a last one in you, Tommy…
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
I’ve heard great things about this series, but unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be possible to buy them on Kobo? :(
Have you tried messaging the author? I have heard this sometimes work out.
I have had the same issue with some other books, including Wandering Inn.
Yes it might be worth a try! I could buy a physical copy but it looks like they’re a bit hard to track down in my country (and I’d rather a digital copy if possible).
Sorry to hear that. If you can, the audiobooks are fucking fantastic!
The ebook is an Amazon exclusive unfortunately. It used to be possible to convert with calibre, but Amazon closed that loophole unless you have a kindle floating around. They all got released in hardcover this year. Alternatively you could buy them on Amazon and then pirate them in a more accessible format.
The series is pretty good.
Buying them on Amazon and then downloading them elsewhere is a good suggestion! Thanks :)
All Hail Princess Donut!
Mongo is appalled!
That are no longer alive, PTerry. Thst period he did two books a year plus extra stuff was golden.
That I no longer trust, King, Barker.
That I still pre order, Sanderson and Stephenson.
I love some of Neal Stephenson’s novels, though I haven’t read any of his more recent work. Are they still good?
He got a lot more near future and current possibilities rather than his more esoteric earlier works. I think hes been quite on the money with a lot of predictions as hes predicted things like needing someone to filter out AI and pysop shit from your social media feeds, the split between the anti science right and everybody else, etc.
If you liked Gibsons shift from far to near future then this is a similar shift. He has also become more succinct, his books are shorter, which I think in the main is a good thing as he was overly verbose at times.
That all sounds great to be honest - I love his predictions and seeing how close they come to reality. And more succinct writing is perfect. Whilst I loved Cryptonomicon, that book was probably a bit longer than it needed to be.
Really enjoyed Seveneves. I call it a very verbose The Martian in that it is a near future thought experiment on what would happen if the moon explodes (literally the first sentence). Gets pretty deep in some of the science as NS is wont to do.
Brandon Sanderson, pretty much buy anything he writes.
For all others, I now wait for the series to complete before getting the books.
That’s a good idea.
I was a Dresden Files super fan but then the author went through some stuff IRL, started a whole new series so now in a perfect environment everything takes twice as long, went five years between books, and turned out a massive two parter, both of which I strongly dislike as he clearly doesn’t separate his life from the characters he writes.
I only recently finally tried the “He who fights with monsters” series because LitRPG sounded terrible to me and I love it. It’s 12 books so far but the author just had a big health scare and I’m worried for him. Absolutely entertaining series though.
Sanderson is the gold standard at this point.
Well, I kind of had a bad luck with authors.
My first big (and favourite) fantasy series was Wheel of Time, and author died before the last book (silver lining: when Sanderson finished the series, I got introduced to him). Also started A Song of Ice and Fire and well, we all know how that went. That is when I decided I should wait for series to complete. Which is also why I haven’t read Wise Man’s Fear yet, used to follow Rothfuss’ blog and heard great things about it, but wanted him to finish the series.
I read The Way of Kings earlier this year and loved it, but given the size and quantity of these books I doubt I’m going to be able to get on top on that series or any of his others in time for his latest releases xD
Waiting for series by other authors to complete makes a lot of sense. It’s super frustrating following an author only for their quality to drop near the end.
His series are usually 3-4 books of varying length, often with one-offs in between installments. Stormlight, for example, is done. There will likely be a sequel series in 5-10 years, which gives plenty of time to catch up.
Stormlight is his biggest series, most of his other work is much shorter. Elantris is stand alone. Mistborn is a trilogy (thought there’s also Era 2, and now Era 3 is currently written, but you can read the first trilogy as standalone). Skyward series is also shorter, but it’s a more of a YA, still pretty good though.
John Darnielle is my must-read list. Wolf in White Van was absolutely captivating to me when it came out. I was late reading Universal Harvester, but when I finally did, it literally made me gasp out loud at some of the most horror. And so I decided to lock in and never miss a new drop again. His last book was a day-one buy that I loved, and now I’m just waiting for him to announce something else.
I love anything written by James A. Owen. His flagship series is The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, which is an excellent fantasy story. Everyone I’ve reccomended it to, including well-seasoned book lovers, has put it in their top 5. He’s also written more thoughtful books like the Meditations trilogy, as well as the Starchild comic series, which are both really good. On top of all that he’s an artist and illustrates for all of his books
Alastair Reynolds don’t necessarily buy everything but if I saw something that I haven’t read from him it’s an automatic « stop everything and find a way to read it as quickly as possible »
Is there a particular book you’d recommend for someone wanting to try him out? Maybe a standalone one.
I liked Eversion… but one of my friend didn’t so maybe not this one
There’s a standalone in his Revelation Space Trilogy: Chasm City that I find particularly telling about his writing style
Or maybe House of Suns
Chasm City was amazing. I really need to read House of Suns, don’t I.
Revengers was nice too, but very different
House of Suns is something else but I quite enjoy it. The reason why a galaxy disappear in the sky is 👌
Revengers ?
