Looking for sci-fi/fantasy recommendations

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Name the most important piece of background info that is required to appreciate Small Gods.

I think you need to get used to the way Discworld is written. Small Gods just doesn't work on it's own. You want to know about the Gods for one.

[dickloraine]

Because there are that much infos about the gods before? Offler is just used as a joke in light fantastic and the "games" the gods play is only ever used in the rincewind books (and never expanded beyond that). Most about gods is explored in - you may be surprised - Small gods. We are not talking about Malazan here. The gods are totally unimportant in most discworld books.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think you need to get used to the way Discworld is written. Small Gods just doesn't work on it's own. You want to know about the Gods for one.

• Since the style of the rest of the books is very different to The Colour of Magic your first objection is null.
• Small Gods does work on its own.
• No background knowledge of the Gods of the Discworld is required to read Small Gods.

And those were your best arguments?

(Apologies to OverHaze - I've just got really tired of JSWolf's obsession with this.)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

• Since the style of the rest of the books is very different to The Colour of Magic your first objection is null.
• Small Gods does work on its own.
• No background knowledge of the Gods of the Discworld is required to read Small Gods.

And those were your best arguments?

(Apologies to OverHaze - I've just got really tired of JSWolf's obsession with this.)

I've gotten tired of others saying to start anywhere. It's OK to spoil the series. I did like the first two books. That's why I continued on.

Most people who have said not to start from the beginning did so and continued on. So if they can get past what they call as not good, why do they think others won't be able to?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've gotten tired of others saying to start anywhere. It's OK to spoil the series.

Starting somewhere else will not "spoil the series".

[Update:

Indeed, I'm just reading A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett (a collection of essays), and on page 88/89, as part of a speech he gave at the 2004 WorldCon, Terry Pratchett, the author of the Discworld series, said this:

"My first novel was published by the first publisher I sent it to. And so I've been learning as I go, and I find it now rather embarrassing that people beginning the Discworld series start with The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, which I don't think are some of the best books to start with. This is the author saying this, folks. Do not start at the beginning with Discworld."

Let me repeat that last bit for and with emphasis:
"This is the author saying this, folks. Do not start at the beginning with Discworld." ]

[Mort1997]

I agree with Paul. Small Gods would be a good place to start. I personally started with Equal Rites (a long time ago!) and I find that Terry Pratchett books are written in 'clusters' involving a set of characters around the same world. To be too set about the order in this set of books removes the fun and starts to feel like set course work for an exam module.

[mbkimberley]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

I have read many books over this last year (including the first six Malazan books) and I have come to the annoying conclusion that I have loved none of them. I liked some of them, I really liked a few of them (Tigana, Memories of Ice, Midnight Tides) but not loved.

So I am looking for recommendations! I want something I will look forward to reading at night, not something to merely help me sleep.

My four favourite books of all time are in order, Anathem, A Deepness in the Sky, A Fire Upon the Deep, Let the Right One In.

I like big concepts, interesting likeable and outsider characters.

Any recommendations?

Try The End of All Things by John Scalzi, it is pretty good

[JSWolf]

Even if you don't read in order, you should at least read the specific character arcs in order. That means when you come to reading about Rincewind, you'll be reading the first two books.

But, if you don't read in order, you do spoil some things. For example, Death. Death has parts in a lot of books not as a main character. You learn about Death as you read along. I know Death is a main character in some books, but mostly he;'s a background character. If you read out of order, you don't get that. That's part of the reason for reading in order.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mbkimberley

Try The End of All Things by John Scalzi, it is pretty good

The entire Old Man's War series is good.

[OverHaze]

Right so I start with Small Gods. After that I'm thinking the Guards or Death books?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

Right so I start with Small Gods. After that I'm thinking the Guards or Death books?

Mort would be a good second book. And then perhaps read The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. They are both good, just not quite as good.

The Colour of Magic, in particular, is good if you've read a lot of fantasy, as parodies of various author's characters turn up throughout.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

Right so I start with Small Gods. After that I'm thinking the Guards or Death books?

You don't want to jump into Death without having read some of the books that come before that have Death in them as a secondary character to get to know a little of Death.

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

Don’t know Erikson, but Keith Laumer (Retief!) is pretty amusing...

On a side-note; anyone know of a book/series of military sci-fi that follows an enlisted person, rather than Officers?

I mean, sure, there are enlisted characters in, say Elizabeth Moon's Familias books or Weber's Honorverse, but they are not the main characters.

Apropos of both humor and enlisted military, I quite liked Harry Harrison's Bill the Galactic Hero series. Unfortunately, only the first book has made it into electronic form.

Originally Posted by Mort1997

I agree with Paul. Small Gods would be a good place to start. I personally started with Equal Rites (a long time ago!) and I find that Terry Pratchett books are written in 'clusters' involving a set of characters around the same world. To be too set about the order in this set of books removes the fun and starts to feel like set course work for an exam module.

The first Discworld book that I read was Hogfather after I saw the made-for-TV movie. I loved it, but as I was still reading paper and several of the earlier books were out of print, I read much of the later series before finally getting ebooks of the earlier ones. I don't feel like I would have enjoyed the books more in a different order.

[OverHaze]

I just finished The Colour of Magic and LOVED it. If this is the weakest of the Discworld novels I can't wait to see them at their best. Small Gods is next then I have to decide what sub-series to go with. Which of them deals the most with The Discs larger concepts and magical science?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

I just finished The Colour of Magic and LOVED it. If this is the weakest of the Discworld novels I can't wait to see them at their best. Small Gods is next then I have to decide what sub-series to go with. Which of them deals the most with The Discs larger concepts and magical science?

So pleased to hear you loved it. While Small Gods won't (IMO) spoil any of the earlier books, as you've started with The Colour of Magic, you might be better off continuing with The Light Fantastic, which directly follows on from the end of The Colour of Magic.

And it'd make JSWolf happy