Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (Recommendations similar to Dresden and/or Codex Alera)

What should I read?/new to this/ Looking for book reccomendations/finished Butch

Hello everyone, this is my first post here.

I'm a huge fantasy fan, and I've been avidly reading since I was a little boy, but recently I seem to have lost the knack for picking a good series. So, basically what I'm asking is if anyone's got a good recommendation for someone with my particular taste.

I find that I've particularly enjoyed Goodkind's books, along with Feists "Magician" series. I love both the Wheel of Time books and George R R Martin's work. Farland, Brooks, Nix (Abhorsen trilogy) and Modesitt Jr. also list among my favourites.

However, recently I've stumbled upon the likes of Donaldson and Erikson - which I've found less to my liking.

I'm just asking in case anyone finds their own taste to be similar to mine and feels that I've maybe missed a series that I would enjoy. Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
JagHeart said:
Hello everyone, this is my first post here.

I'm a huge fantasy fan, and I've been avidly reading since I was a little boy, but recently I seem to have lost the knack for picking a good series. So, basically what I'm asking is if anyone's got a good recommendation for someone with my particular taste.

I find that I've particularly enjoyed Goodkind's books, along with Feists "Magician" series. I love both the Wheel of Time books and George R R Martin's work. Farland, Brooks, Nix (Abhorsen trilogy) and Modesitt Jr. also list among my favourites.

However, recently I've stumbled upon the likes of Donaldson and Erikson - which I've found less to my liking.

I'm just asking in case anyone finds their own taste to be similar to mine and feels that I've maybe missed a series that I would enjoy. Thanks in advance for any advice!
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Well, I would recommend the following:

The Sun Sword Series - Michelle West
The Dragon Prince & Dragon Star Series - Melanie Rawn
The Symphony of Ages Series - Elizabeth Haydon
The Farseer & Tawny Man Series - Robin Hobb
The Renshai Chronicles Series (Beyond Ragnarok is first) - Mickey Zucher Richert
 
I find that I've particularly enjoyed Goodkind's books, along with Feists "Magician" series. I love both the Wheel of Time books and George R R Martin's work. Farland, Brooks, Nix (Abhorsen trilogy) and Modesitt Jr. also list among my favourites.
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You will find that you are a rarity on this forum to list all those as your favs:)

The "norm" is to like maybe one or two of them and to dislike the others.

I've enjoyed all of them cept for Brooks(didn't like) and Nix(haven't tried").

For what it's worth i'd recommend:

J V Jones "Book of Words" trilogy.
Kate Elliotts "Crown of Stars" series.
Melanie Rawn's "Dragon Star" and "Dragon Prince" trilogies.

Oh and if you loved Feist make sure you have read his Empire trilogy that he wrote with Wurts.
 
And for something a little darker, but where the 'good' guys are still good, try the Crhonicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook.
 
I'd also recommend you look into the Memory, Sorrow, Thorn series by Tad Williams. It is not one of my major favorites, but I know a lot that like the books you listed also think highly of this series.

And perhaps the Belgariad. It's easy reading, and there are much, much better writers around. But I found it to have a fun and easy read to it that was quite enjoyable.
 
I've read many of the series you liked within the past year.

A couple you might like are:

Carol Berg's Rah-Kirah trilogy.

Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy.

I second the Robin Hobb recommendation. The Farseer trilogy and Tawny Man trilogy were just great. Currently I'm reading Goodkind and am on book 3 and enjoying it very much.
 
new to this

hey i just started reading some fantasy books and i want to read something new but i dont know much about whats good and all that. can someone recommend something to me maybe with like wizards and dragons and all that whatever you know thanks bye
 
Check out the recommendations thread, there are loads of goob books mentioned. There is even a thread for people who are new to fantasy.
 
Although, you might want to decide what sort of things you prefer. Some people love long books that break into trilogies, while others prefer something shorter, more self contain.

It might also help to know the kind of fantasy you might prefer like urban, high fantasy, epic fantasy...etc.
 
algernoninc said:
Nightside : I would also like to find out more about this one.
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Within this thread it's best compared to Butcher's Dresden Files meets Gaiman's Neverwhere. I would say the Nightside Novels are not as good as either of those, but they are all pretty short and can be quite entertaining. So in other words they are good popcorn sci-fi/fantasy. Main character is a private investigator with a "talent" for finding things who has ties to a place called the nightside, a magical pocket universe (i guess) that most don't know exist that is laid ontop of modern day London, where you can buy just about anything for a price, and attracts odd and powerful beings from through time and space.

The books are funny and take interesting twists all in a nice noir style detective story with each book focusing on one main case and therefore wraps up with good resolution at the end of each. There IS quite a bit of character delevopment that stretches out over the course of the series and new characters come and go with a larger plot developing in the second half of the series.

I've read all but the latest in the nightside series. If you like Dresden and neverwhere and love a good laugh with a smartass protagnist in an outlandish and brizzar setting then give at least the first 3 a read, might take you 3-4 days.
 
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if you're just starting out with fantasy you could start where so many others got hooked by reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings... there's a dragon under the mountain they say.

speaking of dragons, i just finished reading Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey again after 20 years. picked it up on a whim, intending to read only a few pages, and ended up reading the whole thing. forgot how much i liked the Pern series!

- dave
 
Well I'd just like to thank everyone for their recommendations; I'll be sure to check all of the books you've brought up.

And just to say, I actually have read the Jonathan Stroud books, and would in fact count them amongst my favourites too. I knew I'd forget one!

Again, thanks a lot everyone.
 
JagHeart said:
Well I'd just like to thank everyone for their recommendations; I'll be sure to check all of the books you've brought up.

And just to say, I actually have read the Jonathan Stroud books, and would in fact count them amongst my favourites too. I knew I'd forget one!

Again, thanks a lot everyone.
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If you liked Jonathan Stroud and Garth Nix I can tell you will like Carol Berg.

However, I liked the Nix the best of all, of those three.

I also enjoyed Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series (5 books), although it straddles scifi and fantasy, and the ending was kinda anticlimactic, which is true of most series.

One book I really, really, really liked was Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, which is out on digital and will be out in paper next Spring. So look for it when it is out. It was a super book with a suprise---"gotcha" ending!
 
I merged four of these recommendation threads/"What should I read next" threads into to one thread, since they are all asking basically the same question and all cropped up in the past day or so.

So, new members and everyone else, please take a peek around the forums before posting a thread, especially something like a recommendation thread since just about everybody coming here is looking for something good to read. As a little perspective, the forum has been active for nearly a decade so you'll find a lot of cool (and sometimes dated) conversations.

We've got a pretty nifty Search function if you want to find a book with say, wizards, in it. Just click it, key in "wizard" (or whatever else you want to search) and a bunch of threads are likely to be returned.

Furthermore, a very large and comprehensive Recommendation Thread sits as a "sticky" at the top of this forum. You can likely find some really interesting topics, specific ones at that, providing good suggested readings.
 
Books similiar to The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher?

I just finished up Small Favor, having gone through the series in the last week roughly. Really loved it and was wondering if there's anything similiar out there. I really like how it managed to be very humorous while still maintaining tension and a real plot.
 
The Felix Castor series by Mike Carey. Two of them are out in the US so far (The Devil You Know and Vicious Circle) while three are out in the UK. There are six books total planned in the series with the fourth on the way early next year.

Kind of a similar premise- Castor is a somewhat down on his luck exorcist/investigator operating in London. However in Carey's London, the dead have started to rise in various forms for the past decade so the general public is a bit more accepting and aware than in Butcher's series.

Maybe not as LOL as Butcher's work, but Castor definitely has a sarcastic wit that comes through very well.
 
The Charlie Parker series by John Connolly might be mentioned, starts with "Every dead thing" and is now 7 books.

Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series, starts with "Already dead"

Maybe Dean Koontz's series about Odd, starts with Odd Thomas, the 4th book has just been released this May.
 
Try Kim Harrison's books. Start with Dead Witch Walking. My second favorite supernatural series next to Dresden.
 
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