Just started reading/listening to audiobooks after agreeing to read the first 3 books of ACOTAR for my wife. Since then I have read The Will of the Many and Red Rising. I plan on reading the rest of the Red Rising trilogy and then the Shadow of the Gods, but was hoping to get some good fantasy, Sci-Fi, or mystery/thriller recommendations.

The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie has been good. I'm on book three and really enjoying it. Its less daunting than anything by Brandon Sanderson, who is another writer that will get mentioned a minimum of 10 times on this thread.

I've been listening to several of the John Grisham audiobooks the past few months.

matt dinniman's dungeon crawler carl series
craig alanson's expeditionary force series
james s a corey's expanse series
dennis e taylor's bobiverse series
liu cixin's three body problem series

Philo B 93 said:

---

The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie has been good. I'm on book three and really enjoying it. Its less daunting than anything by Brandon Sanderson, who is another writer that will get mentioned a minimum of 10 times on this thread.

---

I've seen Sanderson recommended a lot but one of his audiobooks is 44 hours long which is crazy

jr15aggie said:

---

If you think you will enjoy a series that is fantasy/sci-fi/black comedy all rolled into one, then check out the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

I just started last month and now I'm in book 3. It's like the author put Dungeons & Dragons, Hunger Games, Ready Player One, & Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy into a blinder!

---

I've heard Dungeon Crawler Carl is a great one to read when you need a break from the super intense fantasy/sci-fi's will definitely add it to my list.

I will add my vote to the Mistborn Trilogy. For anyone either new to fantasy or new to Sanderson, The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) is where I always point.

Great characters, completely unique world like nothing you've ever experienced, completely unique magic system unlike anything you've experienced, and a fantastic plot.

I'm not as big of a fan of the 2nd and 3rd book of the trilogy, but I love Mistborn Era 2.

Whether you go on with the series or even Sanderson, the first book can stand on its own as one of the biggest "must-reads" in fantasy.

ETA: For audiobooks, I will always recommend the Dresden Files if you are looking for shorter, fast-paced books. A world that starts small and slowly grows over the course of the 17 books to one of the biggest fantasy worlds out there. But the true genius of this series is the character work. No other book has characters I love more than the Dresden Files. I could give you a proof as to my love of the characters, but that would be a massive spoiler.

for some quick and easy mystery/thriller with some SciFi, Blake Crouch has hit the spot with me. Dark Matter, Recursion, Wayward Pines Trilogy are all pretty fun books.

For audiobooks specifically, a good way to pick is by narrator. Wil Wheaton is a great listen and he reads many of John Scalzi's books. (Starter Villain is a lot of fun and pretty quick.) Wil also narrated Andy Weir's The Martian. Ray Porter's narration of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary is fantastic, too. (Project Hail Mary really should be experienced in audiobook. The music and sound effects enhance the experience greatly.)

I'd also highly recommend the audiobook editions of Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries series. Kevin Free makes the Murderbot SecUnit almost human.

I just finished the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files and The Cinder Spires series). It's a complete series and I found it very entertaining but rarely if ever mentioned among the more popular ones I see on here. If you get into Dungeon Crawler Carl, it's great, but don't expect the same from his Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon book ( too dark for my taste ).

The Expanse series for great scifi

It's a really good series. Very slow start for the first half of the first book, but then the rest is really good. I may need to reread it some time soon. I haven't read it in over 10 years.

Do you know the story about why he wrote the series?

Lathspell said:

---

It's a really good series. Very slow start for the first half of the first book, but then the rest is really good. I may need to reread it some time soon. I haven't read it in over 10 years.

Do you know the story about why he wrote the series?

---

I don't know why he wrote the series. It was a slow build. I liked that though in this case. You don't really get the whole story at first and it builds each book.

Of course, I like the Dresden Files but The Cinder Spires also has promise.

Have you tried The Powder Mage Trilogy? (it's actually 6 books but the first 3 wraps up one arch then continues a new one in the next 3 but with many of the same players). Brian McClellan also has started another good series called Glass Immortals.

Butcher got in an argument on an old chat forum with someone else on what is most important for writing a good book: the idea or the author. Butcher said a good author can write a good book about anything. When the other guy kept disagreeing saying the idea was more important, Butcher asked for 2 completely different subjects and he would write a book incorporating them. The other guy gave him Pokemon and the lost Roman legion.

And we got the Codex Alera.

Similarily, the first book of the Dresden files was some sort of argument with his professor that nobody's first book is good enough to publish.


Someone needs to bet him that he can't finish out the Dresden files in 5 years.

Storm Front came from him finally conceding to using his teacher's plotting sheets and exercises to prove to her that he didn't need to write the way she wanted him to.

I recommend the whole Mitch Rapp series to anyone who will read them, starting with American Assassin

I guess Butcher proved his point!

Lathspell said:

---

Butcher got in an argument on an old chat forum with someone else on what is most important for writing a good book: the idea or the author. Butcher said a good author can write a good book about anything. When the other guy kept disagreeing saying the idea was more important, Butcher asked for 2 completely different subjects and he would write a book incorporating them. The other guy gave him Pokemon and the lost Roman legion.

And we got the Codex Alera.

---

I'm in the middle of something else right now, but do you recommend that series?

I have a niece who is a nut for Pokemon, would she enjoy that series?

Backyard Gator said:

---

Lathspell said:

---

Butcher got in an argument on an old chat forum with someone else on what is most important for writing a good book: the idea or the author. Butcher said a good author can write a good book about anything. When the other guy kept disagreeing saying the idea was more important, Butcher asked for 2 completely different subjects and he would write a book incorporating them. The other guy gave him Pokemon and the lost Roman legion.

And we got the Codex Alera.

---

I'm in the middle of something else right now, but do you recommend that series?

I have a niece who is a nut for Pokemon, would she enjoy that series?

---

It is an excellent series. Hero's journey type thing. Magic is prevalent but the MC can't access it when the story starts so has to use his wits. The magic is derived from Shintoism which is part of the inspiration for Pokmon. I read it before I heard the story and Pokmon never entered my head, but it was after my time. Either way I highly recommend it.