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Noblesse Forever!
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6:46 am, Aug 29 2013
Posts: 1067


Hey!

I know it might sound strange but I have never read any novel except Harry Potter series. So I want to read something good ^^ Not light novels or anything, but full fledged novels like Harry Potter. I have seen Lord of the Rings movies so please don't suggest them (Edit: Now I read the novels as well)^^ They are really good ^^ It doesn't have to be fantasy. It can be slice-of-life or sci-fic... anything as long as it's interesting and really good ^^


What I would like:

Interesting characters and plot.
No idealistic or unrealistically noble main character(s)
Excellent Worldbuilding (if fantasy)
Genius plot line/ Mind games (if possible)
Suspense/Mystery/Crime/ Thriller

Please don't suggest anything with an irritating or preachy lead/plot ^^ I like protagonists who think about their own welfare first instead of sacrificing themselves for world ^^ I rather enjoy caracters who resort to everything for their own survival compared to those who cling to loyalty & their ideals even if it means their own death smile

I have ordered A song of Ice and Fire series as many of my friends and teachers said it was dark and good ^^ (Edit: I liked the series. The characters are so human and realistic in nature! I love Tyrion, Catelyn, Bran & Arya! My fav series of all time).

Thanks! smile

Edit: Books I read / am reading:

A Song of Ice and Fire (Kinda dragged out but really like the characters! Tyrion <3 )
Books by Agatha Christie (Her books are amazing!)
Dresden Files #1 (Didn't liked it at all. Perhaps the later books are better...)

Ender's Game (Didn't liked much but first novel was fine)
Farseer Triology (I loved it as well hated it).
Finnikin of the Rock

Lord of the Rings
KingKiller Chronicles (Worst series ever written!)
The Chronicles of Amber (First 2-3 novels were enjoyable but afterwards they became totally boring).

The Curse of Chalion
The Hunger Games
The Goblin Wood
The Grand Sophy (<3)
The Queen's Thief
The Monstrumologist
The Way of Kings (Full of cliches... badly written as well).

Vorkosigan Saga
Wheel of Time #1 (Boring/overdragged plot. Rip off LOTR. Perhaps the series get better later on but first books is really bad).








Last edited by strixflash at 5:17 am, Jan 15 2015

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Post #612621
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7:37 am, Aug 29 2013
Posts: 34


I liked the Kurt Wallander series, by Henning Mankel. These are dark novels about a cop solving crimes in Sweden.

It has everything you want:
Interesting characters and plot
Genius plot lins/ Mind games
Suspense/Mystery/Crime/ Thriller

Start with the first book, called: Faceless Killers

But I don't know if these novels are too dark for your taste, I would recommend you to first read reviews of these books.

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8:01 am, Aug 29 2013
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Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card... people who've never read much seem to like it. lol

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a possessive lover
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9:25 am, Aug 29 2013
Posts: 445


I thought you gonna ask vampire novel recommendations bigrazz

I like almost all Detective and Suspense novel by Agatha Christie, she wrote interesting character and good crime, while my favorite are Poirot series and Mrs. Marple series. But I dont know these are what you're looking for or not.

Last edited by pyonk at 9:30 am, Aug 29 2013

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9:42 am, Aug 29 2013
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I know you don't want any light novels, but there is one that has changed my life. And I'm a book snob! It is amazingly dark and funny- Legend of the Sun Knight, by Yu wo...

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny is reallly good. Its ten books in total. Totally got me interested in Scifi (which I wasnt before). I also second Ender's Game. It was an amazing book/series.

As a writer myself I can assure you that these books are not stupid or lame. They are absolutely divine.

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11:00 am, Aug 29 2013
Posts: 150


Poison study by maria v. snyder

Good omens by neil gaiman and terry pratchet

Monster hunter international by larry correia

Magic bites by ilona andrews



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11:39 am, Aug 29 2013
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Horatio Hornblower - not really dark but the story is really good. a series of 10 books. they were made into 8 movies if you want to take a look at it.

artemis fowl - not dark, but the story is always interesting. 8 books.

the witcher series - should have everything you want

how about some classics? dracula, sherlock holmes...

Last edited by jelzin89 at 2:04 am, Aug 30 2013

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1:00 pm, Aug 29 2013
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I recomend you Erebos and everything else of Ursula Poznanski. The author is a total genius. Erebos is about a game where you can only play once and if you die you are thrown out. The players are not aloud to talk to each other outside of the game and to gain levels they have to do missions in the real world which go slowly but steadily out of control because the players only care about what the game gives them in return.
Her thrillers are also really interesting. Once you start reading them you can't stop.
Another good author is Brent Weeks. His night angel trilogy is really well written. It's a mix of a historical assassin novel with great fantasy elements and often also humor. my favourite quotes of the novel are 'You killed a king who called himself a god. Now you killed an actual god. If you can't find a way to kill continents you'll have to retire' , 'if you don't wake up within five seconds I'll nail you with a cookie' and 'Killing is an art and I'm the best artist there is"

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1:02 pm, Aug 29 2013
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Game of Thrones?!!?

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1:35 pm, Aug 29 2013
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Give Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher a try. Wizards, magic, supernatural in a hard boiled detective style story. It's more action/detective/film noir with mind games rather than crime/thriller. It's about a wizard trying to make ends meets as a private detective and not get his head cut-off by the Wizard Council until fate throw more stuff at him than he can handle. He would either get smart, get tough or die (or maybe die several times). Think of this as Harry Potter mix with Dirty Harry.

You can also try Codex Alera by the same author. It's fantasy, adventure, action, thriller. It's about a normal guy trying to survive in a world where everyone has magic-like skills except him. He has to survive and get ahead with just his wits and brains as well as ancient knowledge.

October Daye and The Hallows series are also pretty good. One is detective/urban fantasy while the other is witch/wizards with suspense and thriller elements.

I also recommend heading to www.goodreads.com and make an account there. Search from books that you like and they will recommend similar books. Build a library with books you read and like and they will show you books that have similar theme or settings.

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chasing oblivion
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2:27 pm, Aug 29 2013
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I don't know how you feel about fanfics, but if you enjoyed Harry Potter there is one that I strongly suggest you at least take a look at. You should also take a look at it if you didn't enjoy Harry Potter.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

Fantasy isn't my thing normally so here's some sci-fi for you

Troy Rising by John Ringo. It actually currently consists of three books starting with Live Free or Die. There's supposed to be more books but the author admitted he wrote himself into a corner and can't figure out yet how to not end up with the universe exploding or something. laugh For what there is, it's actually a good read.

The Lost Fleet and it's direct sequel Beyond the Frontier by Jack Campell. This series leans more into hard science fiction.

Lastly, there's the Uplift Series by David Brin. It consists of the original trilogy and a followup series that is also a trilogy. Humanity has finally joined the interstellar community and are immediately looked down upon by nearly everyone since we apparently evolved without any help whatsoever. All the other races think it's impossible because a universal encyclopedia of sorts told them it's impossible. It's good, but one can't help but notice David Brins bizarre fascination with dolphins.

Last edited by silent killer at 1:45 pm, Aug 30 2013

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3:00 pm, Aug 29 2013
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Quote from Venus_Vortex
Game of Thrones?!!?


This is a problem with you people who only watched the series on TV. You don't even recognize the name of the book series it is based on.
Quote
I have ordered A song of Ice and Fire series as many of my friends and teachers said it was dark and good


You know, the first book in the series is called A Game of Thrones... I believe there might be a connection there...

Ribbing aside, I second Jedinat's recommendation of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Aside from that, my reading tends to lean heavily on the fantasy side of things.

Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy, Liveship trader's trilogy and Tawny man trilogy are all recommended. They aren't quite as grim as Martin's stuffs, but they aren't averse to giving plenty of nasty crap on the characters you are supposed to root for, though generally those who survive will get a more or less of a happy endign.

On the D&D side of things, Paul.S Kemp's Erevis Cale -trilogy and The Twilight War trilogy. Familiarity with the setting helps to get into them a lot though. I find it a bit hard to judge how well would they work for a person who isn't initiated in that particular sect of nerdism smile



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chasing oblivion
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4:22 pm, Aug 29 2013
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Now this seems counterproductive but TVTropes is a really good place to find novels that might be interesting to read. The way they categorize things makes it easy to find what you like.

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Demon Child
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4:56 pm, Aug 29 2013
Posts: 127


anything by Lynn Flewelling
the Wheel of Time series
Redwall series
Vampire Hunter D series
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Night Angel Trilogy
Sword of Truth series

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A talking rock
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5:13 pm, Aug 29 2013
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Dan Brown's novel? Some people might avoid Dan Brown work's because of its controversy and length, but I think they are pretty good. I would recommend Deception Point, as both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demon already adapted into a movie, and chances are, you already seen it.

For nostalgia sake, I'd recommend Enid Blyton's work (The Famous Five, St. Clare, Secret Seven). It was written for children, but hey, it's still a good read. Especially if you're looking for a quick one.

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