How is the Fantasy series by Butcher? I really like the Dresden books.
I just discovered this topic and decided to join it, but I hope nobody expects me to read all 191 previous pages to catch up!
But nonetheless it looks like a fun topic so I'll start here, and I apologize in advance if I duplicate anything or missed on something.
I just read my first Jim Butcher novel,
Changes which I think is the latest Dresden novel. It was okay but a bit wordy and maybe a bit too self conscious too, in short nothing that inspired me to read back from the beginning of the series or want to get the next installment.
I'm not a fantasy fan, or maybe I'm a recent fantasy fan, so by no means have I explored the field. Originally I was a SF fan (a million years ago) but I burned out, and most of the last couple decades I've been reading thriller/suspense and mystery novels. I've recently discovered a few witch-werewolf-vampire-fae etc. novel series and I vastly prefer those set in the present era but in an alternate reality, often combining other genres in their fantasy.
I have two series to recommend, and I suggest you should Google the authors and if any of this appeals to you then start with the first novel in the series and read in order. The Hollows series by Kim Harrison, about Rachel Morgan, a detective witch who works with local law enforcement agencies and faces threats both mundane and supernatural in origin.
The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning, "Alina is dead and her sister Mac has returned to Ireland, the country that expelled them, to hunt her sister's murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, she descends into an epic battle between humans and Fae immortals as the Sinsar Dubh turns on her, and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves. Mac's journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and make a choice that will either save the world ... or destroy it." (I think this series is concluded after the 5th volume.)
It bugs me that there's a third series by a different author that I really liked too, but I can't remember her name. (Female authors seem to dominate this sub-genre of fantasy.) Now I move on to subjects
not related to fantasy.
My big recommendation and I would be astonished if they have not already been already discussed in this topic, the Millennium series by Swedish author Stieg Larsson:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. This suspense series is probably the most awesome I've ever read, has already been made into movies in Sweden, and now currently debuting an American remake just this month (December 2011). I recommend first read the books and then see the movies. The trilogy is awesome, the movies are.... okay. (I want to make it clear I'm recommending the books not the movies, and only saying that they were so good they had to be made into movies for people who don't appreciate reading books.)
The most recent novels I've enjoyed: SF/history genre
Blackout and
All Clear about time travelers from 2060 who became trapped in 1941 and 1945 WWII era England, and their struggles to get back to ... (ahem) the future. The two novel series is more about what it was like to live in WWII England than about the mechanics of time travel, heavier on history and lighter on the SF aspect (although a fair serving of chaos theory and time travel paradox). Each is about 500 pages and there is no ending for the first (
Blackout) but rather proceeds right to the first chapter of the second (
All Clear) so MUST be read in sequence!
I'm currently reading a novel by Eric Van Lustbader,
The Testament, which is okay but nothing I'd encourage. I'm currently waiting for
The Affair, the latest Jack Reacher series novel by Lee Child (a series I totally recommend, and suggest reading them in order of publishing date).
It will be interesting to follow this topic and I'm sure I'll get some new ideas and receive some interesting replies on my recommendations.