July 17, 2013 7:21 AM EDT
in the topic
Recommend a book in the forum
The Lounge
Some have already been mentioned of course but I'd suggest, in no particular order:
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (and The Wise Man's Fear)
A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin
If you like heroic fantasy then practically anything by David Gemmell (of particular note is Legend and the Rigante novels)
The Belgariad / The Malloreon - David Eddings
Raymond E. Feist's novels. Particularly Magician.
If you liked Lovecraft then you may as well read The Complete Chronicles of Conan - Robert E. Howard
Compared to Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes, some of these books are extremely light-hearted and definitely not of the same quality of writing. For example, Eddings isn't a particularly great author - by his own admission before I'm savaged by some of his fans - and his stories are cliche but I consider him to be brilliant when it comes to writing his characters and writing humourously. Just don't be expecting too much from them and his books will be a delight. In Edding's own words he wrote these books for young adults, so if you're looking for a serious book I'd say overlook Edding's.
Someone else here recommended R. Scott Bakker's works. They're good books however his failing is that he tries very hard to make them serious yet his main character is essentially a Mary Sue. Kellhus is unbeatable due to his mastery of the Logos. In books such as Edding's, which can have serious themes but aren't particularly serious books, a Mary Sue can be acceptable. In an epic like Bakker's Prince of Nothing it starts to feel a little stale. That's just personal opinion though. His writing style is very good nonetheless although Kellhus aside, I wouldn't say his characters are particularly memorable.
The Name of the Wind is an excellent novel. I really like Rothfuss and his books are definitely worth the read. As for Gemmell, practically anything he wrote is gold if you're just looking for a silly heroic fantasy yarn. Probably my favourite fantasy author. His books aren't particularly serious yet they often include serious themes and he writes his characters well in a number of his books. Particularly Sword in the Storm. Feist is pretty much a mainstay in the fantasy genre, his book Magician is probably one of the few I'd consider iconic. Worth a read.
Anyway, wow, sorry for that wall of text.