[Books] Recommend a book

[Schmittay]

I'm just about done reading everything Dune including the prequels and I gotta say I am really struggling to finish for one reason: it's the absolute best series I have ever read and I don't want it to end. The first six especially were extraordinary and I didn't really like Brian's writing style for the last three but IMO he picked up his game doing the The Butlerian Jihad and I'm looking forward to the other series.

What can you recommend knowing my love for Dune? It doesn't necessarily need to be fantasy or sci-fi but it needs to be complex and the characters deep.

[Gallahadd]

If you haven't already, check out George R R Martin's "A song of Ice and Fire" known these days as "Game of Thrones" because of the HBO TV show. Nothing to me says "Complex with deep characters" like George Martin

After that Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" is also excellent, I've just started reading and I'm already on book 9 and I just can't put em down! (trying to slow down the last one isn't out till January ), great characters, great story, real old school fantasy.

Stephen Erickson's "Malazan book of the Fallen" is epic, very VERY complex story, some amazing characters, make sure to keep a stack of anti-depressants near you as you read though, some of the books are fucking GRIM.

that should keep you busy for a while, Ice and Fire is the shortest of those series and it's 5 HUGE books (it's actually so big some are split into two, so if you get paper backs it's close to 7 big books)

[Jon]

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

[obdigore]

Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' is the best Epic Fantasy series out currently, and it is complete. There is also a second not quite as good author writing books alongside the main series, so you get the entire Dune flavor . This series has massive plot twists, very memorable characters, and you will need to read the series multiple times to catch everything.

You could also try the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It has one of my favorite characters ever in it, Glokta.

The Takeshi Kovacs novels are exceptionally character driven and very fun.

You could also read China Meiville if you want character driven stuff, but I warn you, his stuff is much further out there than anything suggested so far in thread. 'Kraken' or 'Perdido Street Station' would be good places to start. 'The Scar' is good but I feel like you need to read Perdido Street Station first to understand. His stuff is extremely character and world driven.

[Mone-chan]

I have to agree with Gallahadd on The Weel of Time. I've read the whole current series atleast 4 times (I re-read them when a new volume comes out) and it's my absolute favorite. I was really sad when the original author died in 2007 but Brandon Sanderson have done a great work finishing the story. The story is complex as hell and I find new stuff I've never seen before everytime I re-read one of the books.

[Kasierith]

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson. As much as I love the Wheel of Time, its an incredibly long read, and if you haven't fully stepped into the genre Mistborn is an absolutely marvelous read, one that I believe is greatly undervalued. Its an amazingly poetic work of art that is truly fascinating on a whole host of levels.

As for A Song of Ice and Fire... meh.... I would disagree about the deep characters viewpoint. They're beyond shallow. The good guys are unbelievably ignorant or stupid, helpless in their given situation, while the villains are glorified to an almost grotesque level. The first book was interesting to read through, then the second started doing the same, and halfway through the third I stopped reading because it was so droll that I could easily predict what any character would do in a given situation. It truly is a depressing and tedious piece of work.

[obdigore]

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson. As much as I love the Wheel of Time, its an incredibly long read, and if you haven't fully stepped into the genre Mistborn is an absolutely marvelous read, one that I believe is greatly undervalued. Its an amazingly poetic work of art that is truly fascinating on a whole host of levels.

As for A Song of Ice and Fire... meh.... I would disagree about the deep characters viewpoint. They're beyond shallow. The good guys are unbelievably ignorant or stupid, helpless in their given situation, while the villains are glorified to an almost grotesque level. The first book was interesting to read through, then the second started doing the same, and halfway through the third I stopped reading because it was so droll that I could easily predict what any character would do in a given situation. It truly is a depressing and tedious piece of work.

SoIaF is all about shock value and how evil everyone at every time is. I can't re-read the books when a new one comes out, I have to look at the synopsis' and then read them again. They are amazingly boring when you know what is going to happen as you read. Wheel of Time is good if you can get past Jordan drowning in minutia in the middle of the series. Erikson's only folly is having his soldiers be philosophers and prone to moments of preaching at each other, but they are at least semi entertaining all the same and it doesn't drag on you until the end of the series.

[Riyan2]

Some strong recommendations here already. I'd also throw out there The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Great characters that grow through the series to go along with stunning world building.

[Muzjhath]

I'm just about done reading everything Dune including the prequels and I gotta say I am really struggling to finish for one reason: it's the absolute best series I have ever read and I don't want it to end. The first six especially were extraordinary and I didn't really like Brian's writing style for the last three but IMO he picked up his game doing the The Butlerian Jihad and I'm looking forward to the other series.

What can you recommend knowing my love for Dune? It doesn't necessarily need to be fantasy or sci-fi but it needs to be complex and the characters deep.

First of all I'm gonna throw Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land here. Great book with some fantastic characters. Some aren't all that deep, but some are oceans.

For Deep characters I personally wouldn't recommend either Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice and Fire. Both have -expansive- characters. And they have some depth, but most of it is a bit of a phantom. A Wheel of Time is also mindblowingly bogged up, starting somewhere around book five or six. It also has a problem with a very improbable timescale of events.
Both are still quite good reads, aSoIF better than WoT snice Robert Jordan lost his way after 1/3rd of the series and it only got picked up in the Last book he wrote, and carried on by Brian Sanderson after his death. aSoIF have a very intresting story and it's hard to find more convoluted intruiges. On Rereads you can spot the waves in one book that happens two books later.
Yet I wouldn't really recommend either for the charactes.

The Farseer Trillogy by Robin Hobb (Starting with Assassins Apprentice) has nice and deep characters. Involved in an intresting story.
So does the Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss. (Starting with the Name of the Wind).
The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton has intresting characters.(Pandora's Star, Judas Unchained) Even if I can't promiss that they all are that deep, some of them have some depth. The Plot is very complex at times.
I'll also endorse The First Law trillogy and Malazan Book of the Fallen mentioned before. For the huge cast the latter has Erikson has really managed getting an amazing amount of depth into core characters.

Just some of my thoughts.

[Dragoncurry]

Completely agree about the Game of Thrones books, I really dislike how predictable the characters are. I also dislike how it switches between storylines so much, it feels like I am reading like 5 different books as opposed to 1, and it's annoying when a certain story starts picking up steam, and then I switch gears 360 degrees the next chapter and lose all that built up anticipation. I really dislike it.

I would recommend Dune, personally. All 6 Dune Books are fantastic. No I don't count the ones written by his son and that other whothefuckcareswhoheis author.

[Tovarish24]

The entire Forgotten Realms series by R.A Salvatore. The main character Drizzt Do' Urden is second to none.

[Schmittay]

I have been eyeing the Wheel of Time series for quite some time, my best friend in high school was really into them too. I realise it's a huge read but that's exactly what I am after because if I get attached to a book / series I hate finishing them. Truth be told this is my third time reading Dune (the original series)...

@Riyan2 I have actually read the Dark Tower series :P

A few other mentioned I will definitely look into, I recently came into possession of a rather SUPERMASSIVE Kindle library collection

[MrWilson]

If you havent already, read everthing from H. P. Lovecraft! You may want to check the wiki article to get a first impression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos

[Muzjhath]

The entire Forgotten Realms series by R.A Salvatore. The main character Drizzt Do' Urden is second to none.

Sadly I'll have to state against this. While the Drizzt books can be very entertaining, from a writing point of view they are subpar and many characters are extremly shallow.

[obdigore]

The entire Forgotten Realms series by R.A Salvatore. The main character Drizzt Do' Urden is second to none.

Salvatore is good at action scenes, but depth of characters he really isn't very good at all. The first 3 are entertaining enough, but he starts to mail it in after that. Same with Feist and Magician (which is a great book) and then once he finished with Shards of a Broken Crown everything else hes done was just for the paycheck. (Not counting the Daughter of the Empire stuff he did with Janny Wurts).

You could also go over to the Gentlemen Bastards series, which are crime books, and more character driven than most books, and Locke Lamora is quite an entertaining read.

I would say if you liked Dune you would like The Dresden Files, but it seems much more of a popcorn style read than what you seem to be looking for.

[Kisho]

I always recommend these: The Dresden Files series of books, by Jim Butcher. First book is called Storm Front.

Wizard in modern day Chicago working as a private investigator, but it quickly ramps up from there. There's some great relationships going on in there, decent characters. Very entertaining books.

They are, however, a bit of an 'easy read': not shallow or simple, by any means. But it's not a struggle like, say, Game of Thrones is. Not sure if that'd turn you off or what.

But hey, there's my recommendation for what it's worth.

EDIT: Lol, oh hai Obdigore, recommending the same thing I am. First time I've seen that happen, I rarely see people talking about Dresden Files, let alone recommending it. :P

[obdigore]

I always recommend these: The Dresden Files series of books, by Jim Butcher. First book is called Storm Front.

Wizard in modern day Chicago working as a private investigator, but it quickly ramps up from there. There's some great relationships going on in there, decent characters. Very entertaining books.

They are, however, a bit of an 'easy read': not shallow or simple, by any means. But it's not a struggle like, say, Game of Thrones is. Not sure if that'd turn you off or what.

But hey, there's my recommendation for what it's worth.

EDIT: Lol, oh hai Obdigore, recommending the same thing I am. First time I've seen that happen, I rarely see people talking about Dresden Files, let alone recommending it. :P

Dresden Files is on my always pre-order list. With about 5 other authors. Also, I read waaaaaayyy too much to have not read Dresden Files.

[Jon]

The entire Forgotten Realms series by R.A Salvatore. The main character Drizzt Do' Urden is second to none.

Salvatore is mass producing crappy fantasy for teenagers. His books are utter trash... unimaginative and repetitive.

[Kripplin]

I always recommend these: The Dresden Files series of books, by Jim Butcher. First book is called Storm Front.

Wizard in modern day Chicago working as a private investigator, but it quickly ramps up from there. There's some great relationships going on in there, decent characters. Very entertaining books.

They are, however, a bit of an 'easy read': not shallow or simple, by any means. But it's not a struggle like, say, Game of Thrones is. Not sure if that'd turn you off or what.

But hey, there's my recommendation for what it's worth.

EDIT: Lol, oh hai Obdigore, recommending the same thing I am. First time I've seen that happen, I rarely see people talking about Dresden Files, let alone recommending it. :P

i love the dresden file series, 14 books have been written and i really feel each book is better than the last.

[Xenogeist]

A Trial of Blood and Steel by Joel Shepherd. My favorite series and an overlooked gem. Here is a review that might tell you a little about it without spoiling anything:
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/04/joe...lood-and-steel