I am having a bit of trouble deciding where next to take my attention in terms of Books to read. I have read all of Clive Barker’s stuff, and frankly he should finish the books of the art. But I digress. I have read the entire Sherlock Holmes series, short stories and novellas, and was quite impressed. LOTR i have done and enjoyed. Three Musketeers, and the Count of Monte Christo were cool. I am up to date on the entire Wheel of Time Series, as well as the Goodkind knockoffs. The Chronicles, Legends, Dragons of a Summer Flame, the new Dragonlance saga, got all of them down too. Dark Elf Trilogy, Icewindale Trilogy, Legacy fo the Drow, done it. Ender’s Game? Got it. Loved it. Neil Gaiman is the only author that has never let me down. I am REALLY at my wits end, and I need recommendations on good sci-fi/fantasy. I have sort of darker tastes, but PLEASE, no Ann Rice recommendations. That woman and her husbands crappy-teenage-poetry give me seizures.
My favorite SF right now is the Liaden Universe series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and I haven’t pushed it on the MB lately, so I figured I can safely mention it here. The books are Partners in Necessity, Pilot’s Choice, Plan B and I Dare.
In fantasy, check out Steven Brust (Jhereg, Taltos, Dragon, Phoenix, Yendi, etc.). Also, Alice Borchardt has a trilogy, The Silver Wolf, Night of the Wolf and The Wolf King that I like a lot. She is Ann Rice’s sister, but I’ve never read an Ann Rice book, so I don’t know if the style is similar or not.
I don’t know if it’s to your taste or not, but I just finished re-re-reading Julian May’s Saga of Pliocene Exile, Intervention, and Galactic Milieu series. I recommend it to everyone, every chance I get.
I also highly recommend The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Geez I can’t believe no one mentioned this, but since you seem heavy in the fantasy reading you should pick up Donaldson’s The Chronicals of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, series. There are six books in total and they are very original. I would argue that the hero, Thomas Covenant, is one of the most realistic/obnoxious characters ever written (given his circumstances of course.) It’s worth a look.
FTR I am also a fan of Neil Gaiman, but I feel Neverwhere surpasses American Gods by a long shot.
“A Song of Ice & Fire” series by George R.R. Martin. 3 books out so far. 4th late this year or early next year. Should be 7 books in the series. Great series. I cannot reccommend highly enough. No character is safe and Martin knows how to move the story along.
Also, if you have only read Ender’s Game, I would recommend its sequel, Speaker for the Dead. Great book. (Subsequent books not as good. I have not read Ender’s Shadow or its follow-ups yet, though.)