I've decided to decease my internet time and blue light exposure, buy an ebook reader, and get used to finishing the day with some reading, instead of all the other things that give me insomnia.What /tg/-related books have you been reading anon, or what you think what other people should read too? I've read Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit before I knew what the hell ttrpgs even were. Same with the original Dragonlance books. I was thinking of picking up Elric of Melnibone and Original Conan the Barbarian. Already read and enjoyed Eisenhorn, most of the Slayer books with Gotrek, first 1.5 of the Black Company books. And dear god I haven't read books for fun in so long, what have I been doing?
>>96603000As a paper loving luddite, don't forget your local library. You can find a bunch of great fantasy there for free. Elric and Conan are foundational sword and sorcery, definitely a good call. I'd also recommend Gardens of the Moon by Steven Eriksson (first of ten volumes but it stands alone). Fantastic worldbuilding and overall really good prose for a fantasy novel. At the library, I recently grabbed the Dragonbone Throne by Tad Williams, which is next on my list. I think it's a bit more traditional high fantasy.
>>96603000Read something other than just /tg/ genre shit. And I'm saying this as someone as has read a lot of genre shit, and loves it. Read outside of your comfort zone, become a more well rounded person.
>>96603000Ever considered Discworld?
>>96603000In terms of scifi/fantasy books:Gideon the Ninth is about necromancers in space who serve an immortal emperor that was a scientist that figured out necromancy and they consider to be their god because he brought everyone on Earth back to life after a global catastrophe killed everyone who couldn't flee... and then he declared war on all of the cowards that fled the planet instead and left everyone there to die and wages a war of revenge against them to this day. 3 books so far, a 4th on the way.Depending on your tastes, Brandon Sanderson is prolific and does a lot of stuff focused on learning, exploring, and exploiting magic systems linked by a common cosmology. Start with Mistborn, if you like it keep going if you don't stop. Anything set in Discworld is good, but honestly the first couple of books in it are week because they started off as short stories and only later got melded together into a book that pretends to be a long form narrative. Pick up something in the middle, like Guards! Guards!, and this turns out to be your jam then you can always go back and read the earlier stuff now that you are invested. Empire of the Vampire has a cringe name, and is somewhat amatuerish in writing sometimes, but has excellent vampire lore worth stealing if you like that sort of thing. The Lies of Locke Lamora is about a group of criminals inventing the idea of the long con in alchemeical fantasy Venice. 3 books, probably will never get continued but an excellent read full of neat ideas even so. I enjoyed The Name of the Wind but since the third book is about as dead as Winds of Winter its hard to recommend now. Two books of setup with no third book of payoff. The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway, is... very interesting. I genuinely can't tell you anything about it, and I don't want you to look it up ahead of reading it, because its something you want to go into completely blind. Spoilers would change how you read the story.
>>96603325>At the library, I recently grabbed the Dragonbone Throne by Tad Williams, which is next on my list. I think it's a bit more traditional high fantasy.the first book is so fucking slow that i just lost the will to keep going
>>96603432I see where you're coming from, but I'd rather someone develop a reading habit with genre fare than not develop it at all. You can always branch out later.
>>96603325I've been trying my local library for years, and we had good times when I was a student, but it is at the center of the city. It is a 1 hour commute there, or a nightmare exercise in driving and parking. I keep putting off bringing back the books until they expire, and then it is not really fun.
>>96603000Titus Groan
>>96603000Baudolino by Umberto Eco
>>96603000I only read visual novels
>>96603000Seconding Conan, there is that one big anniversary book compiling all of the original, unedited short stories. Got Elric on my reading pile.Fritz Lieber Fafhrd and the Gray MouserDiscworld. I did have trouble reading too much of them back to back, the series is separated into different pov, recommedning the Guards & Witches novel+Small GodsThis summer, I've read+got the audiobooks for Blacktongue Thief and The Daughter Wars by Christopher Buelhman; opinions are pretty split on them, but I liked it quite a lot, deemed grimderp by some and I'll admit that it can be edgy at times, but I found both novel to have some very touching moment and cool worldbuilding ideas here and there. I heard good things about the First Law trilogy, got myself the audiobook but didn't get to start them out.Some stuff I do NOT recommend-The Maleficient Seven -Priest of Bones-Legend of the Seeker-Orcs by stan nicholls
>>96609067Last good recommendation are David Gemmell, especially Rigante. Legend was pretty nice too. I found the Hawk Queen to be quite mediocre though. He does tend to write around the same subject and archetype often, but damn he is good at it; the books are not too long and it all flows very nicely.Currently reading King of the Wyld, I can't deny that i'm having decent fun with it, but its a bit sloppy/cheesy and immature
>>96603432I am all ears anon. The mods will never know you've recommended me something non-/tg/>>96603526Thanks for the recommends.>>96608908Sounds like a classic from the description.>>96608922Oh good recommend, I just remembered I never read The Name of the Rose either.
>>96603000Elric is underwhelming. If you want good SS beside Conan, definetly go for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.I'd suggest something less typically /tg/ but definitely fantasy as Tanith Lee's Tales of the Flat Earth.
I'm currently reading The Thousand Sons. Taking a break from Malazan Book of the Fallen, finished reading book 8. MBotF is the setting written for GURPS, but it's also my favorite fantasy series of all time. I'm also waiting for the Dresden book 18 to come out in January.
>>96603000https://standardebooks.org/subjects/fantasy?per-page=48&sort=author-alphaJust about anything on this page, but ESPECIALLY Lord Dunsany.
>>96611815Not on that specific page, sorry, but rather in the whole tag.
>>96603000The Princess Bride.No, really. It's a delightful little send up of the genre in a way that doesn't necessarily come through clearly in the film.
>>96603000Creatures of Light & Darkenss by Zelazney is a lot of fun in a mythoppetic scifantasy way. Lords of Light is cleaner as a book but less interesting imo. CJ Cherry's Sunfall collection of shorts is neat for various post apocalytic bits. Same for the Dying Earth series by Jack Vance. The Melancholy of Mechagirl is a solid set of postcyperpunk stuff. The Windup Girl by Bagliupican'tspellhisname is fun too. The Name of the Rose by Emberto Eco is a solid read about changing medieval faiths and the unknown. From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón.is good too, closer to wars of religion era but a neat character study. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickensen is fantasy but also a good political piece, skip the sequels (in general good advice t b h). Naked Lunch is a thing if you want to actually learn about gonzo. Tsotsi by Fugard is interesting for ghettos and crime. Red Harvest by Hammett is classic while we're on crime, it more or less built the foundation of 'wandering badass with mixed morals'. Jean Genet's novel Querelle is gay sailor crime at its best. Heart of Darkness by Conrad if you haven't read it is key for exploration and how difficult it is being the one out there. Shelly's Frankenstein and/or The Last Man, Beowulf the old english and Grendel by John Gardner for monsters and what they're up to. The Iliad if you haven't. That'll probably keep you busy for a while. Seconding the Mervin Peak Gormenghast series, even the third one. Pick through appendix N too, lots of good stuff there.
>>96603000Since the dresden files haven't been properly recommended yet I will, Butcher is great urban fantasy fun. Enders Game is absolutely phenomenal, one that you should think onStarship Troopers (the novel) is also worth a read, it's where the modern concept of power armor even comes fromThe Wheel of TimeThere's a lot out there but those are some I had on the brain anon
>The Stars My Destination>The Demolished Man>To Marry MedusaAll by Alfred Bester, the man who gave us wired reflexes and bullet time and rogue AIs and megacorporatocracy and more.
>>96603432Not OP, but I've done that, and the thing I learned from reading more broadly was that I really love scifi and fantasy. I've read and liked non-genre books, and I still like reading non-fiction, mainly history, in addition to genre fiction, but fantasy and scifi just are my thing. It's definitely goid to go outside your comfort zone every now and then, but when it comes to things you do on your free time in order to relax, the main value in doing so is just that it helps you figure out whether your current comfort zone is what you actually like or just what you happen to be familiar with.>>96610259I'm seconding the suggestion to read Tanith Lee. I read the first three books of Tales from the Flat Earth last year for the first time, and they're some of the best fantasy I've read in years.To add a suggestion of my own, I'd advice OP to give Robin Hobb a chance, starting with the Farseer Saga. It's a very good series about a prince's bastard son trained to become an assassin in service to his legitimate family. As for more recent fantasy, I've liked some of N. K. Jemisin's books.
>>96603432This is straight up retarded "advice" and you're a faggot for suggesting it. If someone says they're looking for help choosing a motorbike, telling them to get a car is obnoxious at the best of times. And since your suggestion doesn't remotely fit OP's situation, this is hardly the best of times.You are a self-important cunt trying to lecture people on becoming a "more well rounded person" and deserve nothing but scorn.
If you haven't read The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, you absolutely should.
>>96603000Ursula Le Guin. Really, anything she's written is worth your time. I keep her collected works in the same bookcase as my complete Tolkien.
Wheel of Time is worth the read if you can deal with its issues. It has a fair share of The Author's Thinly Disguised Fetish and the middle of the series isn't called The Slog among fans for no reason, but it has a rich magic system and a lot of compelling characters.I'm on the second book of the Malazan series currently. I really enjoy it so far, though it is a little hard to get into as there are tons of characters and you feel like you're starting out in the middle of a series as opposed to the beginning. I think it makes for richer worldbuilding but it can be confusing.I do not recommend In the Name of the Wind. The first book is an excellent start, but then the second reads like bad fanfiction and the third book is never, ever coming out.I enjoyed the Witcher novel series, though they're a bit pulpy.Stephen King's Dark Tower series is a more nodern fantasy work if that's something you're into. Definitely worth reading, although the ending is incredibly divisive.I think next on my list is Black Company or the works of LeGuin. I also have Pillars of Earth on my radar but that's not fantasy.
Finished the Book of the New Sun about a month ago. Probably the best modern fiction I've ever read. I'd love to simulate what he has in TTRPGs but that's a lot easier said than done. I recently started the War of the Spider Queen series. Book one and two are good so far, nearly done with book two. They're lot of fun and surprisingly well written. A far cry from Gene Wolfe's writing but a lot easier to read.I read Sabriel by Garth Nix after Kelsey Dionne recommended it. It's fine. It's basically in line with Harry Potter in terms of writing and structure. I wouldn't recommend it personally.Robert Howard, Lovecraft, and Moorcock are all great. Fritz Leiber and the Witcher guy seem really overrated to me personally but they often get called out as equals of the above d
>>96603000Does dragon maid count? Thats what im reading rn>>96613947Omg i love the movieI'll add the book to my list
>>96603000>what you think what other people should read too?If we're keeping it /tg/ related, there is a page on the /tg/ wiki listing out /tg/ approved media.https://1d6chan.miraheze.org/wiki/Approved_LiteratureAlso at the back of OG D&D/Gamma Worlds and there is Appendix N which is a list of recommended reading from the game developers. (Pic related)
>>96613947I've seen the legendary animation with Christopher Lee, bu never read the books. I should rectify that.
>>96610063>I never read The Name of the Rose either.I envy you, it sucks ass
>>96614290I don't get what anyone sees in Name of the wind; the few chapters I could stomach already read like bad fanfiction.
>>96620033I liked Rothfuss' writng style at first, and there was a lot of the first book that was interesting to me. I'm a sucker for magic systems involving the True Names of things. I was interested in how Kvothe was going to progress from this Mary Sue type character into the shell of a broken man that you see in the present of the novel's setting, and I liked the framing of the story being like an interview or biography. That being said, I fell off after the second book where Kvothe becomes a sex god kung fu master while still simping for the first girl he noticed.
>>96620350A lot of people seem to feel the same, me included. I was also probably unreasonably pissed off by those warrior culture guys who didn't know that sex was needed to have children, thought that fathers weren't a real thing and making children was solely the purview of of women, and who'd never noticed that women who haven't had sex with men lately don't tend to get pregnant because apoarently none of them had ever spent long enough not having sex for things like that to become obvious. It was genuinely one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in any work of fiction.
>>96613752Counterpoint, everything is /tg/ related. Reading broadly will increase your knowledge and possibly cause you to learn new skills. This all loops back to /tg/ related activities. Post blessed by captcha, so my opinion is also the correct one.
>>96603000The Black Company is easily my favorite fantasy novel series of all time. I've read it dozens of times--about once a year. I started in the 90s. The next book in it comes out this November. I remember when She Is The Darkness came out in a limited run and you simply could not find a copy. This was before any omnibus release. The only copy I managed to secure was a machine translation of the Russian edition. Musta been in 2001 or something, and I downloaded it on limewire or kazaa. Was terrible and nearly unreadable.And now, the series is widely hailed as a masterpiece and there are countless beautiful editions available, including this gorgeous, lettered edition by Midworld Press. Printed and sewn on gorgeous paper, hand signed w/ the pencil sketches by the artists... was it worth $600? Well, I've already paid for volume 2 that was supposed to be shipped Summer 2024 and am anxiously awaiting it. So yes: yes I think it was.
>>96613752Correct. Anon is just being a douche. "Well OP said he wants to read fantasy RPG-related novels, so I should therefore assume he has never read any other books in his life and act superior."What a faggy, pretentious little cunt, looking to build a strawman that he can pretend to be superior to.
>>96612291This person may have the worst taste.
>>96622111Yeah that list is basically "how to larp as a neocon/alt-right in fantasy novels." Starship Troopers sucks ass. Ender's Game is fine... for kids. Dresden sucks out loud. And Wheel of Time? I mean sure: I've read them all. But I'll read absolutely anything. Its one and only redeeming quality is that it's very long, so you don't need to pick up new books, for a while.
Read the Book of the New Sun.
