DarkLink
10-13-2011, 07:57 PM
I love books. And I love lending books out to people so they can enjoy them as well (never getting them back is a small price to pay). Ergo, a list of my favorites, which happen to be almost all fantasy/sci-fi:
Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson)
A thousand years ago, the prophesied hero faced a great evil. He failed.
Now, the god-like Lord Ruler rules over an oppressive empire, his rule enforced by powerful noble houses and his mysterious and powerful Steel Inquisitors. Supporting them are the oppressed skaa, slaves at the whims of their social betters.
So when a young skaa girl with strange powers is found by a master thief with similar abilities, she soon becomes embroiled in the most daring plot the thief and his crew have ever dared: stealing the very empire out from under the Lord Ruler's feet.
Game of Thrones (George RR Martin)
The Hand of the King is dead. Now the king rides north to call upon his old friend and ally Eddard Stark, who helped him overthrow the previous mad king. Lord Stark reluctantly agrees and goes south, but learns that the Hand may not have died of natural causes, and the Queen's family may be to blame. Stark must now try and uncover the mystery of why the precious Hand was murdered, and try to keep the kingdom from splintering while the high lords play their game of thrones.
Across the sea, the exiled son and daughter of the mad king are seeking an army, so they may return and reclaim their throne.
Meanwhile, dark things are stirring far to the frozen north, beyond the Wall. Things that have not been seen for thousands of years, but are still remembered in myths and legends.
It has been summer for a long time, but no longer. Winter is coming.
Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
"My name is Kvothe, pronounced nearly the same as "quothe." Names are important as they tell you a great deal about a person. I've had more names than anyone has a right to. The Adem call me Maedre. Which, depending on how it's spoken, can mean The Flame, The Thunder, or The Broken Tree.
"The Flame" is obvious if you've ever seen me. I have red hair, bright. If I had been born a couple of hundred years ago I would probably have been burned as a demon. I keep it short but it's unruly. When left to its own devices, it sticks up and makes me look as if I have been set afire.
"The Thunder" I attribute to a strong baritone and a great deal of stage training at an early age.
I've never thought of "The Broken Tree" as very significant. Although in retrospect, I suppose it could be considered at least partially prophetic.
My first mentor called me E'lir because I was clever and I knew it. My first real lover called me Dulator because she liked the sound of it. I have been called Shadicar, Lightfinger, and Six-String. I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. I have earned those names. Bought and paid for them.
But I was brought up as Kvothe. My father once told me it meant "to know."
I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned.
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me. "
Heroes Die (Matthew Stover)
Caine is the most deadly assassin in a world of magic and fantasy creatures. Hari Michaelson is a famous Actor in a caste based dystopian futuristic society. They are the same person. To entertain the oppressed masses, Actors are trained to kill, then teleported to the Otherworlds where they find adventure wherever they can, their thoughts and experiences broadcast back to Earth.
So when Hari's estranged wife, another Actor, dissapears, the Studio's handlers decide this is a perfect opportunity for their star to have another epic adventure. He must assassinate the God Emperor in order to save his wife (and to them, the assassination is really the only important part). Hari just wants his wife back.
Hari must now take up the persona of Caine, because only Caine is clever and deadly enough to rescue his wife while surviving the wrath of both the God Emperor and his own government.
Old Man's War (John Scalzi)
Alien contact has advanced technology so rapidly that Earth is left an irrelevant backwater. To get off Earth, anyone may sign a military contract to enlist with the colonial military. You live out your life on Earth, then at the age of 75 you are given a new, military engineered body to serve for up to ten years. If you survive, you can move to whatever colony you want.
Complicating this is the fact that there are a lot of alien races out there, and very few habitable planets. War is a constant, with inter-species alliances constantly shifting. Surviving ten years may be much harder John Perry originally thought.
Altered Carbon (Richard K Morgan)
Takeshi Kovacs has been revived from digital storage on the bankroll of one of Earth's richest, Bancroft, one of the few both willing and wealthy enough to achieve effective immortality by transferring his consciousness over hundreds of years from one body to the next. Someone murdered Bancroft, and he wants to know who and why. Kovacs must figure out who is responsible, but there is more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye.
American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
Convict Shadow is released from prison, only to find his wife has died in a car accident. Adrift, he agrees when a strange man, Wednesday, hires him as a driver and personal assistant. But Wednesday is much more than he appears. In modern America, are you still a God if no one believes in you?
And the only non-fiction book here, because this is the single most emotionally powerful book I have ever read:
Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
Donovan Campbell tells the story of Joker Company's efforts to carry out their mission in Ramadi, Iraq in the midst of some of the most intense fighting in the entire war. Politics becomes irrelevant when you're simply trying to watch the back of the Marine next to you, trying to keep a semi-hostile civilian populace safe, all while insurgents willingly take human shields and shoot rockets into groups of school children in the hopes of killing an American.
Anyone else want to chip in with recommendations of their own?
Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson)
A thousand years ago, the prophesied hero faced a great evil. He failed.
Now, the god-like Lord Ruler rules over an oppressive empire, his rule enforced by powerful noble houses and his mysterious and powerful Steel Inquisitors. Supporting them are the oppressed skaa, slaves at the whims of their social betters.
So when a young skaa girl with strange powers is found by a master thief with similar abilities, she soon becomes embroiled in the most daring plot the thief and his crew have ever dared: stealing the very empire out from under the Lord Ruler's feet.
Game of Thrones (George RR Martin)
The Hand of the King is dead. Now the king rides north to call upon his old friend and ally Eddard Stark, who helped him overthrow the previous mad king. Lord Stark reluctantly agrees and goes south, but learns that the Hand may not have died of natural causes, and the Queen's family may be to blame. Stark must now try and uncover the mystery of why the precious Hand was murdered, and try to keep the kingdom from splintering while the high lords play their game of thrones.
Across the sea, the exiled son and daughter of the mad king are seeking an army, so they may return and reclaim their throne.
Meanwhile, dark things are stirring far to the frozen north, beyond the Wall. Things that have not been seen for thousands of years, but are still remembered in myths and legends.
It has been summer for a long time, but no longer. Winter is coming.
Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
"My name is Kvothe, pronounced nearly the same as "quothe." Names are important as they tell you a great deal about a person. I've had more names than anyone has a right to. The Adem call me Maedre. Which, depending on how it's spoken, can mean The Flame, The Thunder, or The Broken Tree.
"The Flame" is obvious if you've ever seen me. I have red hair, bright. If I had been born a couple of hundred years ago I would probably have been burned as a demon. I keep it short but it's unruly. When left to its own devices, it sticks up and makes me look as if I have been set afire.
"The Thunder" I attribute to a strong baritone and a great deal of stage training at an early age.
I've never thought of "The Broken Tree" as very significant. Although in retrospect, I suppose it could be considered at least partially prophetic.
My first mentor called me E'lir because I was clever and I knew it. My first real lover called me Dulator because she liked the sound of it. I have been called Shadicar, Lightfinger, and Six-String. I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. I have earned those names. Bought and paid for them.
But I was brought up as Kvothe. My father once told me it meant "to know."
I have, of course, been called many other things. Most of them uncouth, although very few were unearned.
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me. "
Heroes Die (Matthew Stover)
Caine is the most deadly assassin in a world of magic and fantasy creatures. Hari Michaelson is a famous Actor in a caste based dystopian futuristic society. They are the same person. To entertain the oppressed masses, Actors are trained to kill, then teleported to the Otherworlds where they find adventure wherever they can, their thoughts and experiences broadcast back to Earth.
So when Hari's estranged wife, another Actor, dissapears, the Studio's handlers decide this is a perfect opportunity for their star to have another epic adventure. He must assassinate the God Emperor in order to save his wife (and to them, the assassination is really the only important part). Hari just wants his wife back.
Hari must now take up the persona of Caine, because only Caine is clever and deadly enough to rescue his wife while surviving the wrath of both the God Emperor and his own government.
Old Man's War (John Scalzi)
Alien contact has advanced technology so rapidly that Earth is left an irrelevant backwater. To get off Earth, anyone may sign a military contract to enlist with the colonial military. You live out your life on Earth, then at the age of 75 you are given a new, military engineered body to serve for up to ten years. If you survive, you can move to whatever colony you want.
Complicating this is the fact that there are a lot of alien races out there, and very few habitable planets. War is a constant, with inter-species alliances constantly shifting. Surviving ten years may be much harder John Perry originally thought.
Altered Carbon (Richard K Morgan)
Takeshi Kovacs has been revived from digital storage on the bankroll of one of Earth's richest, Bancroft, one of the few both willing and wealthy enough to achieve effective immortality by transferring his consciousness over hundreds of years from one body to the next. Someone murdered Bancroft, and he wants to know who and why. Kovacs must figure out who is responsible, but there is more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye.
American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
Convict Shadow is released from prison, only to find his wife has died in a car accident. Adrift, he agrees when a strange man, Wednesday, hires him as a driver and personal assistant. But Wednesday is much more than he appears. In modern America, are you still a God if no one believes in you?
And the only non-fiction book here, because this is the single most emotionally powerful book I have ever read:
Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
Donovan Campbell tells the story of Joker Company's efforts to carry out their mission in Ramadi, Iraq in the midst of some of the most intense fighting in the entire war. Politics becomes irrelevant when you're simply trying to watch the back of the Marine next to you, trying to keep a semi-hostile civilian populace safe, all while insurgents willingly take human shields and shoot rockets into groups of school children in the hopes of killing an American.
Anyone else want to chip in with recommendations of their own?