1. LOtR 2. 1st & 2nd Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever 3. Malazan Book of the Fallen 4. Wheel of Time 5. The Dark Tower (save for the last chapter of the last book--terrible ending IMO) 6. The Black Company
The Hyperion Cantos is STUNNING! Vernor Vinge Zones of Thought starting with A Fire Upon The Deep is also amazing.
The Stormlight Archive. The Way of Kings and The Words of Radiance are the 2 books I've read so far. Amazing epic fantasy novels and I don't even care for the fantasy genre! Sent from my LGL52VL using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Vince Flynn's, "Mitch Rapp" series......CIA / spy / bad ass Michael Connelly's "Bosch" series.......L.A. detective / cold case / a no BS kind of guy
The Daniel Brown books about Robert Langdon. I always like a good story that makes you think a long the way. David Baldacci's series with The Camel Club.
The Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold About 15 books. Start with Cordelia's Honor which contains 2 books, Shards of Honor & Barrayar. This might be regarded as a space opera series, won multiple Hugo Awards. Miles Vorkosigan is the star of the series. Born with birth defects because is assassination attempt while he was en utero. Cordelia is his mother and Cordelia's Honor is the story of his parents. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosigan_Saga Better than: C.J.Cherryh Foreigner Universe series.. Read both of them.
My favorite 'series' of books was the Foxfire series back in the 70's. What started as a masters thesis on 'how they did things in the old days' it became a series of books on how to live using skills our grandparents/great grandparents used. Interesting AND useful.
The guy that invented Scientology was also a Science Fiction writer before he wrote 'Dianetics', founded a Religion, and got filthy rich. He wrote a "Decology" (he invented the word) a ten book series called "Mission Earth". Can't really be described in a quick summary. Hero's, villains, freaks. Racism, sexual deviations of any and every kind. Rumor is that he was whacked out of his mind on speed while writing it. It shows. It's a crazy ass series of books. John Travolta liked them so much that he named his son Jet after the series hero Jettero Heller. Fast paced for a 10 book series, almost set like a Space Opera. Very quick summary to begin each book, and an 'Oh no what will our hero do Now?' ending to each book. A lot of harmless fun, not for those easily offended.
Charles Stross on the Merchant Princes Series: How I Built A World Charles Stross Fri May 3, 2013 11:00am Charles Stross on the Merchant Princes Series: How I Built A World Looks like fantasy at the start but is more science fiction explained later. Some people complain about too much politics and economics.
Mick Herron series about British spies and the mundane office work.... a riot lol in addition many of the books read like a 80's action movie, with the odd private eye from wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Herron Zoë Boehm series[edit] Down Cemetery Road (2003) The Last Voice You Hear (2004) Why We Die (2006) Smoke and Whispers (2009) The Slough House series (Jackson Lamb)[edit] Slow Horses (2010) Dead Lions (2013) The List (2015 novella) Real Tigers (2016) Spook Street (2017)[8] London Rules (2018) The Drop (US title: The Marylebone Drop) (2018 novella) Joe Country (2019) The Catch (2020 novella) Slough House (2021) The Last Dead Letter (2021 novella) Bad Actors (2022) Standing By The Wall (2022 novella) Standalone novels[edit] Reconstruction (2008) Nobody Walks (2015) This Is What Happened (2018) The Secret Hours (expected 2023) Although not part of the Slough House series, Reconstruction and Nobody Walks use some of the same characters and provide some character backstory. In story terms, Reconstruction is set before Slow Horses, whereas Nobody Walks comes after The List and before Spook Street. I didn't read them in order and still survived ...lol 9/10
If you're still on the lookout for something epic, I have the perfect recommendation for you - the Harry Potter series. It's a total classic and has everything you need to get completely hooked - magic, adventure, and characters you'll fall in love with. There are harry potter books, so you can keep the excitement going for a while. Trust me, getting lost in the wizarding world is an absolute blast.
GROAN! How long would I have to write to list better SF than that? The Merchant Princes series by Charles Stross The Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold The Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card I read two Harry Potter books just to see why such a big deal was being made of it. I have about as much chance of understanding why people voted for Donald Trump.