Ask Lemmy

The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman

DISCWORLD

I really enjoyed The Legend of Eli Monpress series, though it's not pop culture.

Everyone? Nothing. People have different tastes. Everyone should read the books they like.

Lord of the rings of course you have read it but what about a second time

I'd like to add Melissa Caruso to the list of authors. I really enjoyed the first two books of the Echo Archives series. The third book will come out in November. Haven't read her other books yet, but they're on my list.

Didn't spot the chronicles of amber by Roger Zelazny in the thread, so that's my recommendation if you want a long one!

EDIT: seems somehow no one actually recommended the Foundation/Robots series by Isaac Asimov, that's the base..

The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison, 1922.

Here are some series I can't recommend enough:

Cradle by Will Wight — A young man born too weak to matter in a world where martial artists can shatter mountains and walk on air decides that's not good enough. Starts small and intimate, then escalates into genuinely insane power fantasy. The progression system is crack cocaine. 12 books, all out, binge-worthy.

The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan — A slum girl accidentally discovers she has magic, which is very illegal if you're not from the right family. Gets accepted into the Magicians' Guild under suspicious circumstances and slowly uncovers something rotten at its core. Cozy, character-driven, and surprisingly political.

The Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks — Magic is literally made of light and color, and drafters slowly go mad from using it. Packed with political scheming, morally grey characters, and one of the best slow-burn mystery plots in fantasy. Weeks hid twists in plain sight for five books and sticks the landing.

The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington — Time travel, prophecy, and a magic system where using power costs you years off your life. Dense and intricate in the best way, the kind of series where you flip back to chapter one after finishing it and realize how much you missed. Islington clearly planned every page from the start.

All are fantastic series, happy reading! 📚

The Neverending Story. Beautiful story and a deep musing on why humans need fantasy and storytelling.

I'll share my favourite part. Gmork the werewolf has revealed that, when a creature from the magical world Fantastica falls into the Nothing, it emerges in the real world as a lie.

"When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts. That's why I sided with the powerful and served them - because I wanted to share their power."

"I want no part in it!" Atreyu cried out.

"Take it easy, you little fool," the werewolf growled. "When your turn comes to jump into the Nothing, you too will be a nameless servant of power, with no will of your own. Who knows what use they will make of you? Maybe you'll help them persuade people to buy things they don't need, or hate things they know nothing about, or hold beliefs that make them easy to handle, or doubt the truths that might save them. Yes, you little Fantastican, big things will be done in the human world with your help, wars started, empires founded. . ."

For a time Gmork peered at the boy out of half-closed eyes. Then he added: "The human world is full of weak-minded people, who think they're as clever as can be and are convinced that it's terribly important to persuade even the children that Fantastica doesn't exist. Maybe they will be able to make good use of you."

Worm by Wildbow, 10/10 all the way through, which is incredible given it's 7000 pages and written by an indie author.

I'll add another recommendation for The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb, it is absolute peak storytelling imo

I'll second NK Jemisin's Broken Earth series. At a dinner a friend mentioned he had just finished the second book and the dinner immediately turned into talking about how amazing the series is. Highly recommend.

Three Body Problem is hard science sci-fi with amazing storytelling. The last book sort or rushes some parts, but I think that story of works for it in the context of a story of humanity rushing at dealing with possible destruction.

I didn't see it mentioned, but the Hyperion Cantos books are more classic SciFi/fantasy but it still hit. I cried at the ending, I'm not sue I ever have before at a book.

I actually liked A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) but, obviously, an incomplete series. Still.

Seems like most of the big ones were mentioned. The glaring omission is The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Read the first one, and you'll find yourself finishing the story.

i read the mtg lore books, that come with the cards and stuff, up until the first lorywn block. up until the nico bolas era, where he lost his powers and needed the "night".

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5

Firsthand account of one of the scariest events of the Second World War in the shape of highly entertaining sci-fi novel.

Must read for everyone.

I'm gonna lean into the series part here, and point at some web series:

Pale is an urban fantasy story (modern day with a magical hidden world) by Wildbow. The premise for this story is it's a murder mystery where none of the suspects is able to lie; and three girls are inducted into the magical world to solve it. This is actually the second web series of his in this world, after Pact. Wildbow is an extremely popular online author, and all his works are available online for free - his superhero stories (Worm and Ward) have influenced most of the online superhero fiction (and even some print publications) I've read since.

The Gods Are Bastards by D. D. Webb is a "high fantasy western". It follows a class of 9 students going through the premier adventuring school in the empire; about a century after magitech advances have made that unfashionable. This series is entirely free online, as are most of his other works. Book 1 of 17 has been printed and is available under the same name. This series is on hiatus partway through his final book; he's working on getting the mental space to complete it. If you read it online he's very open about his process and issues as he goes; and if you find you enjoy it, he has a few other series getting updates in the meantime!

A Practical Guide to Evil is a fantasy series where story tropes are as strong as physical laws - the Law of Threes, for example, states that if a Hero is trounced by a Villain, and then is narrowly defeated in their second encounter, they will absolutely defeat the Villain the next time they meet. It follows the adventures of Catherine Foundling, an orphan who turns Villain to carve out a better life for her people. The first book is up on Amazon, the rest of the series is still available online.

All three of these have amazing, unique characters, extensive and fascinating world building, and go long - 15+ books worth apiece, so if any grab you, pace yourself! Also, they're almost entirely available for free online!

Discworld (Terry Pratchett), no question.

Surprised I haven't seen someone yet mention Magician by Raymond E Feist. That whole first riftwar trilogy is great. Also the spin off Empire trilogy with Janny Wurts.

Seconding those who mentioned the R.A. Salvatore books including the Dark Elf series and the Icewind Dale series.

When Women Were Dragons a great standalone book reimaging the 1950 based on women spontaneously turning into dragons. It's a concept book where a sociality issue is examined by fantasy tropes which are fun. Worth reading if you haven't done a female perspective novel or concept novel in a while.

I would say Dune. It is sci-fantasy but I think it is ok.

Babel it's a fantasy historical account of oxford. It's beautiful and wonderful. The author also has a series Poppy Wars which is good but it's dark. But Babel is best.

Series?

• Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy

• Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain

• Discworld, especially the Night Watch books

• Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series

Individual Books:

• Robin McKinley, The Hero and the Crown, or anything else she wrote

• Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock and Howl's Moving Castle, or anything else she wrote

• Philip K. Dick, "Galactic Pot-Healer" (Dick straddles the line between science fiction and science fantasy, but this one's firmly the latter)

• Madeline L'Engle, Many Waters

I'm sure I'll think of more but my break is up.

Shannara. At least the first few.