Hi guys - maybe you can help me!

Hello everyone,

Ive been a lurker for the past few years and found some amazing book recommendations here (mainly Lies of Locke Lamore & Name of the wind).

Anyways I keep looking through posts for books that interest me and I figured I might as well say hi and thanks and possibly try to ask directly.

Would anyone know some great contemporary fantasy books? I like things that take place in the modern world with people who have powers.

I enjoyed the Dresden books but not really that crazy over them.

I absolutely loved Chronicles of amber, I enjoy books with conmen and such in it which is why I loved lies of locke lamora (even though its not technically "contemporary).

Heck I even love vampire books but not really the romance ones, more the various vampire houses and how they interact/plot against one another.

Anyways if you have any recommendations id love to hear them. Even a great high fantasy series to replace Wheel of time when its done (ive also read George Martin and enjoyed that one too).

Thanks!

I'll just start the typical fantasy recommendation response since you started specific then slowly encompassed most of the genre...

First Law - Joe Abercrombie
Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
Mistborn and Stormlight Archive(Way of Kings) - Brandon Sanderson
Prince of Nothing - Scott Bakker
Gentlemen Bastard - Scott Lynch
The Riyria Revelation - Michael Sullivan
Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
Acts of caine - Mathew Stover
Night Angel - Brent Weeks

there's just so many...What have you read already?

Vlad Taltos Series - Steven Brust
Dark Tower - Steven King
Earth Sea - Ursula LeGuin

Im going to check out the Joe Abercrombie series even though ive seen mixed reviews on amazon then again theres mixed reviews for most books).

Also ive heard some good things about Prince of Nothing.



Thanks for list!

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Originally Posted by scaleb

Hello everyone,

Would anyone know some great contemporary fantasy books? I like things that take place in the modern world with people who have powers.

I enjoyed the Dresden books but not really that crazy over them.

Thanks!

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I would give Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles a try (it starts with "Hounded"). I think it fits that bill.

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Originally Posted by chris777

I'll just start the typical fantasy recommendation response since you started specific then slowly encompassed most of the genre...

First Law - Joe Abercrombie
Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
Mistborn and Stormlight Archive(Way of Kings) - Brandon Sanderson
Prince of Nothing - Scott Bakker
Gentlemen Bastard - Scott Lynch
The Riyria Revelation - Michael Sullivan
Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
Acts of caine - Mathew Stover
Night Angel - Brent Weeks

there's just so many...What have you read already?

Vlad Taltos Series - Steven Brust
Dark Tower - Steven King
Earth Sea - Ursula LeGuin

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A good list - and I'm honored to be included on it. Of the ones listed I'll give my thumbs up to:

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
Gentlemen Bastard - Scott Lynch
The Riyria Revelation - Michael Sullivan (yes I like my own books - go figure)
Night Angel - Brent Weeks
Earth Sea - Ursula LeGuin

If you liked the Amber books you might like:
Other books by Zelazny (try Changeling).
Empire of the East and the Sword series by Fred Saberhagen.
Magician by Feist

For contemp fantasy, you could do a lot worse than Rivers of London (Midnight Riot in the US) by Ben Aaronovitch. I enjoyed it hugely, and there's another 2 books in the series.

Or Kate Griffin's books, somewhat darker UF than Aaronovitch, - start with A Madness of Angels.

Or (how could I forget!) Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus series, starting with Fated.

I've recently started reading (listening rather) The Riyria Revelation. I've found the series to be a nice change from all of the other fantasy I have recently read. It's a bit more fun and relaxed. The witty humor is fantastic and the cast of characters is memorable. Looking forward to finishing off the series soon.

I would also recommend The Way of Kings by Sanderson. (Riyria or this would be my favorite series I've started this year)

I'm also always ready to throw out Joe Abercrombie. By far and away my favorite author from the past year or two.

As far as contemporary goes... I'm at a loss for suggestions.

There was another thread not that long ago about fantasy books with a modern settings. They are rare, and rarely good.

Magician - Raymond E Feist

Was mentioned and one I forgot to include.

If you want more of a typical high fantasy..

Earth Sea - Ursula LeGuin
Magician - Raymond E Feist
Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
The Riyria Revelation - Michael Sullivan
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn Trilogy - Tad Williams

If you want something darker and/or more gritty...

Prince of Nothing - Scott Bakker
First Law - Joe Abercrombie
Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
Chronicles of The Black Company - Glen Cook

Assasin / Thief type?

Night Angel - Brent Weeks
Vlad Taltos Series - Steven Brust

Horror/Western/Fantasy/SciFi

Dark Tower - Steven King



I know you said Joe Abercrombie and I can't stress this enough. He is by far my favorite author right now. There may be mixed reviews but I think you'll find most people like the books, and the other people absolutely love his books. Unless you are turned off by "grittiness" then you have to at least enjoy his books. It's a fact! Malazan is another very good series. But it's a very hard series to read. THICK. Holy crap are there a lot of POV characters. It's very good, but sometimes you feel like your underwater struggling for air while reading it. It's not a recommendation for first time readers or new to fantasy readers.

If you enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora then you might take a look at Among Thieves (Tales of the Kin #1) by Douglas Hulick. I found the first couple of chapters to be somewhat weak, but it quickly turned into (imo) a real page turner with some good similarities to Scott Lynch's work.

Meanwhile, imo Abercrombie's first work is clearly a first work. But I still found it readable and entertaining, and most importantly, it continued to improve as it went along. Some people clearly love it from the start, but if you don't, there's still a good chance that it will grow on you if you don't mind the grittiness. And his more recent stuff is among the best out there, I think, so imo it's definitely worth it to catch up.

Awesome, thanks a lot for the suggestions, ill definitely look into a bunch of these books.

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Originally Posted by Bren18

I've recently started reading (listening rather) The Riyria Revelation. I've found the series to be a nice change from all of the other fantasy I have recently read. It's a bit more fun and relaxed. The witty humor is fantastic and the cast of characters is memorable. Looking forward to finishing off the series soon.

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Thanks for recommending Riyria. I think the audio books are quite good - I really like the narrator that Recorded Books picked. I'm pretty sure they are going to use him again for The Crown Tower - and this time they are going to come out at the same times as the print, which will be nice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scaleb

Hello everyone,

Would anyone know some great contemporary fantasy books? I like things that take place in the modern world with people who have powers.

I enjoyed the Dresden books but not really that crazy over them.

I absolutely loved Chronicles of amber, I enjoy books with conmen and such in it which is why I loved lies of locke lamora (even though its not technically "contemporary).

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You should check out Clive Barker's Imajica, Great and Secret Show and Evervillle. Barker's known mostly as a horror writer, but I think these books are more dark fantasy. They take place in the modern world during the 1980s and 1990s, and while I can't remember if they have any actual con men in them, they do have mostly morally ambiguous characters.

Definately check out the Clive Barker ones mentioned above, I would add Weaveworld to that as well. Also try anything by Neil Gaiman, especially Neverwhere and American Gods.

I haven't read Tad Williams' new book, Dirty Streets of Heaven, but it looks to be along those lines. Or maybe Sandman Slim novels by Richard Kadrey.