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.
Pynchon. I know you got a last one in you, Tommy…
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.
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.
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.
Yeah… pretty much every series i read i look forward to the next one.
Kevin Hearne is a good one I buy everything he does. Iron Druid (Urban Fantasy), Ink & Sigil (Iron Druid Spinnoff/continuation), Kill the Farm Boy (High Fantasy Parody). All great stuff. Also went to 2 of his book signings.
I buy every new Hollows book (Urban Fantasy and somewhat post apocalyptic) from Kim Harrison, every new Schooled in Magic and all Nameless World spin offs (Isekai magic school and story well past graduation) from Christopher G. Nutall. All Black Ocean(sci fi space western) books by J.S. Morin. Whatever book J.N. Chaney is writing as well (Sci fi space operas). I also wait for a bunch of litrpgs next books. He Who Fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon, Judicator Jane (new one just came out!) from Brian Rouleau, System Universe by SunriseCV… And I’m constantly discovering new authors to get excited about.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Fuchsia Dunlop and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, both food writers.
Augusten Burroughs for memoir/fiction.
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
Cory Doctorow, without hesitation
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!
Anything by Randolph Lalonde. He’s concentrating on his space opera series, Spinward Fringe, and the side books lately but his fantasy work is great too. Spinward Fringe has its flaws, but they tend to be addressed, and they’re easy to overlook when you’re enjoying the books.
I’ve started reading some Jack McDevitt books too, after someone recommended one here, and I’m finding them hard to put down. It’s the God Engines / Chindi series (that I’ve forgotten the name of) . The protagonists do seem to bounce from one problem to another, but it’s done in a fairly realistic way, the whole ‘we’ve accidentally ended up here, so we may as well look around’ kind of thing. I’ve read two and a half books in a couple of days in between looking after my kid and visiting family, so they’re definitely keeping me hooked :)
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? :(
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 :)
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!
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 ?
