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Made in gb
Morphing Obliterator





Derry

So I was sitting in my room today and I realised that nearly all the books that I read are Warhammer books don't get me wrong I love reading BL novels, but I really want to expand on the type of books I'm reading. So I was wondering if anyone could recommend some non-Warhammer books that are good reads? I've recently started reading the Eagle series by Simon Scarrow and have been really enjoying them if that helps.


Thanks.

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Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Books that someone who likes Warhammer might like;

Starship Troopers
Orphans of the Sky
The Forever War
The Clone Republic
The Foundation Series
Ender's Game (and the Ender's Shadow Series)
American Gods

   
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Longtime Dakkanaut





Scotland

If you still want Sci-fi the obvious recommendation would be Dune.

If you're simply wishing to widen your horizons 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' is always worth a recommendation.

Jon Ronson and Bill Bryson write some entertaining non-fiction/travel-logs, very easy to read. 'The tomb of the inflatable pig', i forget who it's by, (it's about Paraguay) is also marvelously interesting and well written.

Iain Rankin's Rebus series of detective novels are also very compelling, although they don't necessarily date well. I recently read a non-rebus standalone by Rankin called 'Blood hunt' that was very good. 'Gorky Park' by Martin Cruz Smith and the sequel 'Polar star' are also Fantastic detective novels set in (failing soviet) Russia. (Detective novels are a good idea as i guarantee you can find most of these in charity shops).

Pompei, Imoerium and Lustrum (Ancient Roman period fiction)by Robert Harris are fantastic. Pompeii is an action drama whereas Imperium and Lustrum follow Cicero.

In fact Robert Harris is the master of the page-turner. 'Fatherland' is one of the best thrillers i've ever read.

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Sinister Chaos Marine




The Night Angel trilogy, Kingkiller Chronicles, the Bartimaeus Sequence, the Black Magician trilogy and the Farseer trilogy are my favourites from the last couple of years or so...all worth a read for different reasons.
   
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Reading, England

A song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin (Game of Thrones) is quite good, if a little dense. Hunger Games series is not bad, always Harry Potter.

Bruins fan till the end.

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Member of the Ethereal Council






Go with Sci-fi Classic IMO.
Time Machine.
Call of Cthulu.
At the Mountains of Madness.
War of the worlds.

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The lord of the rings.

Kote!
Kandosii sa ka'rte, vode an.
Coruscanta a'den mhi, vode an.
Bal kote,Darasuum kote,
Jorso'ran kando a tome.
Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad vode an.
Bal...
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Engaged in Villainy

If you like Simon Scarrow, you might also enjoy Bernard Cornwell's stuff - Same sort of thing, but better written, for my money.

"He was already dead when I killed him!"

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Morphing Obliterator






LoTR, Bartimaeus Sequence, Hunger Games, Tunnels series, and Discworld. That's not a complete list, just the ones I can see on my shelf from where I'm sitting at the moment.

And of course, the Mortal Engines quartet, and the Fever Crumb prequel trilogy, the series from which my moniker -Shrike- derives from.

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Incorporating Wet-Blending





Wales: Where the Men are Men and the sheep are Scared.

The assassin's apprentice by Robin Hobb.



 
   
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Bryan Ansell





Birmingham, UK

Bernard Cornwells Sharpe series are also good to dip into.

I will also offer Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series - I prefer anything with the witches and the watch but give yourself a treat and look them up - it'll be worth it!

   
Made in gb
Is 'Eavy Metal Calling?





UK

For Sci-fi:
The White Mountains/Tripods trilogy by John Christopher: A post-alien-invasion trilogy about an alien race that oppresses humaity through the use of 'caps' to monitor and control them, and the resistance that fight them. In many ways, it can almost be seen as a 'what if the marfians had won 'War of the Worlds'.

The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness: About the settlement and establish of a human settlement on a new world where a bacteria basically causes all men to become telepathic, Lots of good themes (war, love, control, trust, lies), some of the best characters ever written, and a very unique way of writing. One of the best Sci-Fi/dystopia series I've ever read.

The Gone saga, by Michael Grant: An mysterious force removes all adults from a California town, and the kids left behind begin to develop supernatural powers. While it's about kids, these books are seriously dark and twisted. Think Lord of the Flies meets X-men and gets a 16+ certificate. Great characterisation and awesome action scenes.

For Fantasy:
Lord of the Rings: do I really have to explain this? Also try out some of Tolkien's other stuff, and his son's write-up of Children of Hurin. A bit of a darker side of Middle Earth.

The Inheritance cycle by Christopher Paolini: Great fantasy series, dragons, elves and wars with a heavy focus on magic. Similar in ways to LOTR, but very well written and awesome action.

The Icemark Trilogy by Stuart Hill: old fashioned fantasy meets developing technology and imperialism, bringing together a ton of magical races and humans together to face it .Talking Snow Leopards, HUGE battle scenes, and PROPER tear-your-throat-out Vampires.

Pretty much anything by David Eddings is also pretty good.

For Historical:
If you like Simon Scarrow, try Bernard Cromwell or Conn Iggulden, If you're looking for something more factual but still a good read, check out some of Anthony Beevor's WW2 books. Stalingrad is a good one.

Just great reads:
More Than This by Patrick Ness. A great novel about life, death and everything in between.

His Dark Materials Trilogy, Phillip Pullman. An awesome trilogy about God, parallel worlds and all sorts of cool stuff. Very original.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Just awesome stuff.

Hope that gives you (or anyone else) some ideas.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/11/16 23:32:50


 
   
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Incorporating Wet-Blending





Wales: Where the Men are Men and the sheep are Scared.

 Mr. Burning wrote:
Bernard Cornwells Sharpe series are also good to dip into.

I will also offer Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series - I prefer anything with the witches and the watch but give yourself a treat and look them up - it'll be worth it!



The watch books tend to be my favorite.

Band of brothers and Generation Kill are both good non fiction books about war.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/11/16 22:16:48




 
   
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Decrepit Dakkanaut






UK

For Fantasy I'd recommend nearly anything by David Eddings (although I found The Dreamers series to be fairly hard-going at the start; they read fairly awkwardly and it takes a few chapters to get used to it), Terry Pratchett for obvious Discworld-related reasons, and Terry Goodkind if you're looking for something a little more mature and a little grittier.

Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle might be okay, but his inexperience shows quite a lot. I only really like them now because they were my first 'high fantasy' books, so the attachment is more sentimental than anything. They're not particularly well-crafted in my opinion, but they're not bad; especially for his first crack at writing.

Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.

Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.

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Wales: Where the Men are Men and the sheep are Scared.

How could I forget the Witcher books. Not many have been translated yet but what has been is great.



 
   
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Hardened Veteran Guardsman





Lisburn, Ireland

Hey man,

A couple of good non BL books/series of books I've read in the last couple of years are;

The Oathsworn series by Robert Low, about a band of 10th Century Vikings nicking about Europe and the Holy Land getting into scrapes and that. There's a slight hint of the supernatural involved as they're all still pagans and thus still believe in the old gods of Norse mythology despite the emergence of the new White Christ religion.

The Emperor series by Conn Iggulden, about the rise and eventual fall of Julius Ceasar; from childhood right the way through his military career, to his betrayal and murder by his best mate Brutus.

Also by Conn Iggulden; the Conqueror series, another historical fiction imagining of the life of Genghis Khan, from his early life cast adrift on the steppe with his brothers, his subsequent uniting of all the Mongol nation, taking on China and beating them, forging an empire and then turning his attentions to the West. The later books of the series go on to detail his sons (and grandsons) and their own struggles; taking on Afghani Muslims, Assassins, Christian Russian knights, more Chinese, and each other!

Anything by the late David Gemmell is worth a read especially the fantasy Drenai series where he made his name and his last series Troy that his wife completed for him after his death.

And if you've been watching Game of Thrones, then I can't recommend highly enough A song of Ice and Fire that it's based on. Game of Thrones is great telly no doubt, but A Song of Ice and Fire is an INSANELY, mind bogglingly, fantastic piece of fiction! So many layers, plotlines, factions, villains, its nearly akin to Tolkein in the amount of depth and history he breathes into it, it's a modern literal work of art!

I think, like you, that the vast majority of stuff I read is from the Black Library, but that's just because we love the WFB and W40K universes, which ain't a bad thing, but there are other cool works of fiction out there, you just gotta take a chance on them!

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Stubborn Hammerer





seconding Discworld (Terry Pratchet) for humor and banter.

seconding Enders Game (and associated works) for sci-fi

Lords of the Sea for entertaining history (focuses on city states of Greece)

Whats the trouble with physics by Lee Smolin for an easy reading science learning

Wind in the Willows for whimsical animal adventures
   
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Androgynous Daemon Prince of Slaanesh





Norwalk, Connecticut

I'll throw in another vote for David Eddings. I didn't enjoy the dreamers much though. The Losers and Regina's Song were amazing though, as are Belgariad/Mallorean and Elenium/Tamuli. Redemption of Althalus is great too, but probably should have been a trilogy, not one huge book.

Reality is a nice place to visit, but I'd hate to live there.

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Due to work, I can usually only ship any sales or trades out on Saturday morning. Please trade/purchase with this in mind.  
   
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Posts with Authority






The Black Company books are some of my favorites; really anything by Glen Cook is awesome.

The First Law trilogy is an awesome ride, even if it kind of ends with you feeling like you got punched in the gut. - Joe Abercrombie

The Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney are really interesting, but fairly mature - subject matter wise

I'm also a fan of John Ringo's stuff.
And there is a lot of awesome spread out through Harry Turtledove's books, although certain aspects of them can get a bit repetitive (I don't need to hear 37 times in a single book how Confederate tobacco is better than Yank tobacco), but you can't sneeze at an 11 book multi-generational epic about the south winning the civil war and the repercussions of that up through world war two.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/11/17 00:57:53


 
   
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Gathering the Informations.

Jim Butcher's "Codex Alera" series, starting with "Furies of Calderon" and the "Dresden Files" series.

You'll thank me later.
   
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 Kanluwen wrote:
Jim Butcher's "Codex Alera" series, starting with "Furies of Calderon" and the "Dresden Files" series.

You'll thank me later.


Can't believe I forgot Dresden. Alera was pretty good too, but Dresden is the cat's pajamas.
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Burtucky, Michigan

 Avatar 720 wrote:
For Fantasy I'd recommend nearly anything by David Eddings (although I found The Dreamers series to be fairly hard-going at the start; they read fairly awkwardly and it takes a few chapters to get used to it), Terry Pratchett for obvious Discworld-related reasons, and Terry Goodkind if you're looking for something a little more mature and a little grittier.

Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle might be okay, but his inexperience shows quite a lot. I only really like them now because they were my first 'high fantasy' books, so the attachment is more sentimental than anything. They're not particularly well-crafted in my opinion, but they're not bad; especially for his first crack at writing.



Agreed on Terry Pratchett. I dont read too many books, I just cant get into them, but I started reading his Disc World books last year and easily hammered out 4 of them in quick succession. They are entertaining and just all round good reads
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Glasgow, Scotland

So in a spammy fashion, reading off what's on my shelves:

Alt-History:
Hitler's War
In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Fatherland

Ok, Nazis, Nazis, Nazis (actually Hitler's War's set in WWI)

Sci-Fi:
The Old Man's War Series
The Night Watch
Leviathan Wakes
Final Days
The Postman
Ready Player One
A Roadside Picnic
Metro 2033
Germline
Childhood's End
Southern Comfort
The Moon's a Harsh Mistress
The Star's My Destination
The Mirrored Heavens

Fantasy:
The Lies of Loche Lamora
Grunts! (till the guns appear...)
Retribution Falls (well with airships, demons, etc)
Among Thieves
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut





I'll agree with Song of Ice and Fire series. Depening on how in depth you want to go with your reading, the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan wasn't bad when I read it (however, I tried to re-read it after reading Game of Thrones books, and just couldnt do it).

I'd also recommend "The Iron King" by Maruice Druon. I've only finished the first book, and havent gotten round to getting the rest of the series, but its basically GoT, with real people from France/England (and George RR Martin cites this series as one of his inspirations behind the GoT books)

Getting outside of that, anything written by Chuck Palahniuk is good reading, and won't eat up too much of your time. I'd suggest starting with either Fight Club, or Survivor and probably Invisible Monsters. Also, anything by Craig Clevinger.


My wife also has a gak ton of books by Terry Goodkind and is practically always re-reading them, so I'd think they're good (I haven't actually gotten to them, as my own list is too big at the moment)
   
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The Conquerer






Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios

 Avatar 720 wrote:
For Fantasy I'd recommend nearly anything by David Eddings (although I found The Dreamers series to be fairly hard-going at the start; they read fairly awkwardly and it takes a few chapters to get used to it), Terry Pratchett for obvious Discworld-related reasons, and Terry Goodkind if you're looking for something a little more mature and a little grittier.

Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle might be okay, but his inexperience shows quite a lot. I only really like them now because they were my first 'high fantasy' books, so the attachment is more sentimental than anything. They're not particularly well-crafted in my opinion, but they're not bad; especially for his first crack at writing.


I feel that his inexperience as a writer really only showed in the first 2 books. The last 2 were much better written.

And we must keep in mind the first book was written when he was what? 16? Not bad for a high schooler.

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Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.

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Fixture of Dakka





West Michigan, deep in Whitebread, USA

Good God do I recommend the Dresden Files by Jim butcher. Urban fantasy at it's finest.

Also, along that line, the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, Starting with Moon Called. Alot like Dresden, but heavily based on werewolf and fae characters, which is refreshing after all the vampire stuff out there.

Also, a really good start of a series I just found is The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson. Such a totally different view of a fantasy world, but one that is so cool so far. The first book in the series is the only one out, but it's a 1000 pages. Unlike some large novels like those in the Wheel of Time series that can drag on, I am 213 pages in and the pacing is similar to that of a shorter novel. Also gotta love a setting that has platemail that is essentially "fantasy power armor", and swords that can cut though anything that are summoned out of the ether.




"By this point I'm convinced 100% that every single race in the 40k universe have somehow tapped into the ork ability to just have their tech work because they think it should."  
   
Made in ca
Zealous Sin-Eater




Montreal

 gianlucafiorentini123 wrote:
So I was sitting in my room today and I realised that nearly all the books that I read are Warhammer books don't get me wrong I love reading BL novels, but I really want to expand on the type of books I'm reading. So I was wondering if anyone could recommend some non-Warhammer books that are good reads? I've recently started reading the Eagle series by Simon Scarrow and have been really enjoying them if that helps.


Thanks.


Almost all of Terry Pratchett's books. Discworld over the other stuff, generally. Everything with Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes in it, or with Death as the main character, is excellent. Going Postal is very good too, and had a brilliant TV adaptation with a great cast (CLaire Foy , David Suchet and HBO's Lord Tywinn, Charles Dance amongst a few others).

If you've never red any Lovecraft, I recommend you give it a try. It's niche, but it's a pretty large niche. I've got a Del Ray compilation called The Best of H.P. Lovecraft : Bloodcurling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, which I re-read every couple of years. My favourite novels are The Colour Out of Space, The Thing on the Doorstep and especially The Music of Erich Zann. That last one, in my mind, captures absolutely everything I love about the macabre. So give it a try, but if you don't like it after one or two novels, don't worry. Lovecraft's style doesn't, at all, matches the one most folks nowadays are used to. To me, BL novels are blandly written. To most people, Lovecraft uses overly complicated terms and sentences that never seems to end.

If you've liked Lovecraft, try The King in Yellow from Robert W. Chambers. The novels are of varying quality, but they are interesting nonetheless because they played a central role as inspiration for much of early science fiction, science fantasy and horror.

Have you red Isaac Asimov's Foundation serie? If not, put it at the top of the list. Same thing with Frank Herbert's Dune serie. Those two should be required readings for teenage boys, and those who fail to love them should be exiled into the Sun.

Also, people will try to convince you that Frank Herbert managed the impossible, that is, to succesfully write not one, but four absolutely, totally perfect novels, and find the time to propagate his genes. For some cruel purpose, these same people will try their hardest to make you believe that this impossible spawn grew into a human-shaped writer, and that this ludicrous entity wrote eleven books set in the same universe. And by hardest, I mean it. They've produced falsified birth certificates, they've hired actors to impersonnate him, they've even gone so far as produced those eleven manuscript and print them on their own money!!! All this for some nefarious but unknown plan. I mean, those books are soooooo bad, only a very evil person could try to slander the Herbert name by attributing them to the product of his man-juice.

But aside, you should tell us what you're interested by. If non-fiction, that would help a lot.



This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/11/17 06:28:35


[...] for conflict is the great teacher, and pain, the perfect educator.  
   
Made in gb
Junior Officer with Laspistol




Perth/Glasgow

For Sci-Fi:
The Space Odyssey Quadrilogy
Hunger Games (yet to read the sequels)]
I suppose HP Lovecraft fits in here
Dune (it's OK imo to miss out the sequels)


For Fantasy
Icemark Series
A Song of Fire and Ice
Inheritance Cycle
Shaman Son Trilogy by Robin Hobb


And Zombie:
World War Z (The book is amazing)
The Monster Trilogy by David Wellington (Island, Nation, Planet)

and Some Stephen King never hurt anyone

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/11/19 00:22:08


Currently debating whether to study for my exams or paint some Deathwing 
   
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Decrepit Dakkanaut






UK

 Grey Templar wrote:
 Avatar 720 wrote:
For Fantasy I'd recommend nearly anything by David Eddings (although I found The Dreamers series to be fairly hard-going at the start; they read fairly awkwardly and it takes a few chapters to get used to it), Terry Pratchett for obvious Discworld-related reasons, and Terry Goodkind if you're looking for something a little more mature and a little grittier.

Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle might be okay, but his inexperience shows quite a lot. I only really like them now because they were my first 'high fantasy' books, so the attachment is more sentimental than anything. They're not particularly well-crafted in my opinion, but they're not bad; especially for his first crack at writing.


I feel that his inexperience as a writer really only showed in the first 2 books. The last 2 were much better written.

And we must keep in mind the first book was written when he was what? 16? Not bad for a high schooler.


He was home schooled IIRC, and his parents owned a publishing business, so he should have access to a lot more insight and experience. That said, the last two books were a little better, but the plot was still utter tripe, and some points were still cringe-inducing. The end was also a huge let-down for me, and ruined what had been an otherwise good character.

Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.

Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.

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"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation 
   
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Cosmic Joe





Monster Hunter International and its sequels by Larry Correia. A fantastic guns blazing story of a proffesional group of mercenaries that kill supernatural monsters for bounties. Awesome stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Hunter-International-Hunters-ebook/dp/B00APAH7PQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384688843&sr=1-1&keywords=Monster+Hunter+International

For more traditional fantasy, I'd try "The Iron Dragon series by Paul Genesse. Fantastic stuff. This guy actually makes dragons fething terrifying.
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Cord-Iron-Dragon-ebook/dp/B006PU7PIE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384688804&sr=1-1&keywords=iron+dragon+series

For sci-fi, I tend to like David Weber and Elizabeth Moon. Awesome ship to ship battles in the Honor Harrington series and the Trading in Danger series.



Also, check out my history blog: Minimum Wage Historian, a fun place to check out history that often falls between the couch cushions. 
   
 
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