# What is the most gripping novel you've ever read?  Fantasy or otherwise?



## Twook00

What is the most gripping novel you've ever read?  How long did it take you to read it, and why do you think it grabbed you so well?

It doesn't have to be your favorite book, or even one you liked, but one you just couldn't put down until the end.


----------



## Fluffypoodel

Watership Down. Richard Adams captures what it means to be human while only using bunnies and bunny behavior. There were points when I didn't know what was going to happen next that left me on the edge of my seat because you want these characters to succeed so much. When failure means that everything you have lived for, built and believed will fade away. A very good book that I would recommend to anyone.


----------



## kayd_mon

Agatha Christie's _And Then There Were None_. There are many books that I have read and re-read with zeal, but that was one that gripped me, thrilled me, scared me, and entertained me in a great way. I am a sucker for her books, to be honest, and that one, reading it as a child, was special to me. 

I can almost say the same of _The Hobbit_, as that book opened my imagination like nothing else had. It is also the book that I have re-read the most.


----------



## CupofJoe

Clive Cussler's "Raise The Titanic" I was about 9 and it was the first "grown-up" book I bought with my pocket money... it had a cool looking ship on the cover... It was my introduction to Techno-thrillers and I loved it. I spent an entire weekend glued to it. I tried rereading it a dozen years ago and it was terrible [but still better than the so-bad-its-good film]
In Fantasy it was David Gemmel's Legend. It is still one of my favourite books. I was a very martial teen and it all made a lot of sense to me then...


----------



## Wanara009

_Wiro Sableng_ series by Bastian Tito (I only got the book recently. However, it was turned into a TV series that I watched religiously as a child). This series is basically what lit my love for my country in the first place. Then its followed by _Taiko Ki_ and _Miyamoto Mushashi_ by Eiji Yoshikawa (which I pick up after playing Samurai Warrior 2 for the first time and I've been glad of my choice ever since). Then _Buru Tetralogy_ by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Heavy stuff and perhaps one of the best work of literature ever produced by my country). Then _The Leviathan Trilogy_ by Scott Westerfeld for its imaginative alternative history setting in a world where a lot of alternative history writers just use "What if the Nazi..." scenarios. 

The _Animorphs_ series is also a staple of my childhood, despite all its flaws. I loved it because it deconstructed popular conventions associated with coming of age, reluctant hero stories that I despise so much.

After that, _Dreadnought_ by Cherie Priest. It starts slow but it quickly pick ups. I also love the steampunk technology and aesthetic presented in the book. I have it right next to me as I'm typing this.

Then _John Dies at the End_ by Jason Pargin aka David Wong and the _Lupus_ series by Hilman Hariwijaya. Two word: F***ing hilarious. 

On the 'bloody funny' side, I have _Kambing Jantan: Sebuah Catatan Pelajar Bodoh_ (Roughly translated to Male Goat: A Memo of Stupid Student) series by Raditya Dika (It was later adapted into two volume comic book [which is also very funny] and a movie [which is kind of 'eh...']). This book details true (and often hilarious and just downright stupid) events that happened to the author while he is studying in Adelaide. Hit particularly close to me since I'm also an Indonesian student studying in Australia. 

There's also _Anak Kos Dodol_  (roughly translate to Lunkheaded Boarding House Kid) by Dewi Reika (it also got a comic book adaptation) which also details the true and funny events that happen to the author when she left home to study in a prestigious university in Yogyakarta and must live a boarding house. Again, it hit close to home for me since I'm also living away from home to study in university.

Huh... I think I'm just too easily gripped.


----------



## Xaysai

Rant, by Chuck Palahniuk. 

The only book I've read front to back in a single day.

It was just so strange and dark, I needed to know what happened.

Then, when I found out what happened I was like


----------



## Twook00

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is mine.  My wife and I both read it in a weekend (separately).  It's so real, you just get lost in it.

Hunger Games gripped me, but I didn't really enjoy reading it.  I just needed to get it done I guess...


----------



## Ireth

The Twilight books, especially _Eclipse_ and _Breaking Dawn_ were captivating in the same way a train wreck is--horrible, but you can't look away.


----------



## Twook00

Ireth said:


> The Twilight books, especially _Eclipse_ and _Breaking Dawn_ were captivating in the same way a train wreck is--horrible, but you can't look away.



Speaking of... Did anyone watch the BCS Championship last night?  XD


----------



## The Writer's Realms

Xaysai said:


> Rant, by Chuck Palahniuk.
> 
> The only book I've read front to back in a single day.
> 
> It was just so strange and dark, I needed to know what happened.
> 
> Then, when I found out what happened I was like



Awesome book! Easily my favorite Palahnuik novel. 

I would have to say that I have never been more hooked to a novel since my childhood years with The Dragonlance Chronicles.


----------



## myrddin173

The most gripping novel I ever read?  It is tough to say since I read books quickly even when I am not enthralled to them.

I would have to say Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I started reading it around 10 or 11 am the Saturday it came out and did not stop reading until I finished it at about 8:30 that night.  And then I read it again the next day...

As for why it gripped me so... Well, do I have to say?


----------



## Steerpike

For some reason, books by Michael Connelly and Robert Crais (particularly Connelly's Harry Bosch books and Crais' Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels) are almost impossible to put down. Both these guys are great at setting up chapters so that they end on a compelling note, and even though you planned to stop reading for the night you end up saying "well, crap, I better read one more chapter."


----------



## Sparkie

John Grisham's _The Appeal_ I suppose.  Read it in a day.  Didn't like it that much, but never mind.

As far as fantasy goes, I'd say _Before They Are Hanged._  I got over halfway through that installment on the day I got it.  Some people dump on that book, but I liked it better than both _The Blade Itself_ and _Last Argument Of Kings._


----------



## Shockley

It's a race between _Captain Blood_ by Rafael Sabatini or _The Club Dumas_ by Arturo Perez-Reverte. One is pure action and the other is a literature buff's dream, wrapped in mystery and the occult.


----------



## Sheriff Woody

Twook00 said:


> The Road by Cormac McCarthy is mine.



I couldn't get into that book at all. I don't even think I ever finished it. 

The movie, on the other hand, is spectacular.


----------



## Twook00

Wow, I've not heard of half these books.  I'm going to add them to my booket list.



Sheriff Woody said:


> I couldn't get into that book at all. I don't even think I ever finished it.
> 
> The movie, on the other hand, is spectacular.



It's one of my favorites.  The writing style is jarring though, so I can't fault anyone for disliking it.


----------



## Nebuchadnezzar

The Davinci Code.  Read it in a day because I couldn't stop turning the pages to see what happened next.  It's not my favorite book by any means and now that I know what happens it's not worth re-reading.  But Dan Brown definitely knows how to hook you from page one and doesn't let you go until the end.


----------



## FatCat

Rainbow Six, a long book but so very awesome.


----------



## aliciamarie

I would have to go with The Road by Cormac McCarthy or the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I always read books extremely quickly, but I had to slow myself down because I would be so intrigued I would read it faster than my mind would comprehend it.


----------



## afrisch

My assigned book in 11th grade literature: "Dante's Inferno."  It just pulled me in and kept me there, going down into every level of Hell.


----------



## Philip Overby

I'd say "The Green Mile" by Stephen King.  It's one of only a handful of King books I've read (why I have no idea, I really like what I've read by him, but I just read more fantasy in general).  The book's characters were so strong it just made me want to keep reading to see what would happen to them next.  

Other than that, I'd say Chuck Palahniuk's books are page turners.  I've never gotten bogged down in any of his books.  Haven't read "Rant" but I'll have to check it out sometime.  Also, I'll second some of the Dragonlance books.  When I was a teenager, I could put those books down.  Those and _The Cleric Quintet_ by Salvatore.  I must have read all five of them in like one year.  Which is pretty remarkable for a 16 year old that loved video games.  

Nowadays, I'd say the closest I've come to a gripping book that I wanted to continuously read would be "A Game of Thrones" and Joe Abercrombie's "First Law" series.  However, I just want to note that we're living in a pretty remarkable time as far as awesome fantasy writers go.  There's no excuse not to find something that grips you.  There are just so many good writers cranking stuff out now.


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne

I burned through _A Game of Thrones_ and their sequels, despite their incredible length. Totally captivated. Charles Stross's _Timelike Diplomacy_ (which is an omnibus of _Singularity Sky_ and _Iron Sunrise_). Mmm... _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_, but obviously that had six books' worth of buildup to it. (My wife and I had two copies and read them in a marathon sessions on release day, taking about 10 hours to get through.) Pretty much anything by Bujold.

Oddly, the books I _tend_ to go through real fast are technical books. In fact one of the greatest books I've ever read is _Code_ by Charles Petzold, which explains the concepts underlying computers (and basic electronics) in such an awesomely clear way that even though I first read it eight years after graduating college, I felt like I learned more from the book than I did from four years of computer science classes. (I'm not saying that I _did_ learn more, just that it felt that way.  ) I burned through it in less than two days.


----------



## David Ivanov

Possibly my all-time favorite novel is Gogol's _Dead Souls_.  Hilariously funny stuff.  Also a big fan of Dostoevsky's _Crime and Punishment_, great psychological thriller.  

As far as fantasy novels, some of my favorites are the original _Black Company _series, and more recently I was very impressed with _The Way of Shadows_ (the Night Angel Trilogy book 1 by Brent Weeks) and Scott Lynch's _The Lies of Locke Lamora_.  Another non-fantasy recommendation from the sci-fi realm would be _Old Man's War _by John Scalzi.

Actually I could go on at great length about some of the better books I've read over the years, so I'll just quit now.


----------



## David Ivanov

FatCat said:


> Rainbow Six, a long book but so very awesome.



I loved Rainbow Six in general, but I thought the ending was very weak and a bit anticlimactic.


----------



## SionR25

Lots of books on here it looks like I need to add to my 'to read' list. Haven't even heard of some.
Have to say that my favourite has been 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. Absolutely amazing. I got it a few years ago and din't manage to put it down till I was finished. When the second in the series came out I wasn't just happy that the story continued but that I got to reread the first.


----------



## Cheezyb10

The Maze Runnereasily


----------



## TWErvin2

*The Five People You Meet in Heaven *by Mitch Albom.

In truth it would qualify as fantasy. 

It's about an old WW II vet who is a maintenance guy at an amusement park. He dies trying to save a little girl in the midst of a ride accident. From there he meets five people in heaven that were in his life in some way, and learns some tough lessons about them and himself. A well-told story with a strong message(s) about: Our impact the lives of others, Self Sacrifice, Forgiveness, Lost Love, and Self Worth.


----------



## David Ivanov

TWErvin2 said:


> *The Five People You Meet in Heaven *by Mitch Albom.
> 
> In truth it would qualify as fantasy.



Interestingly, in about 2007 I wrote a never-published book in response to Albom titled "Five People You Won't Meet In Heaven," but it's more of a theological thing that would likely bore you to tears.


----------



## PlotHolio

This is an easy one for me.

Kate Griffin's _A Madness of Angels_.

It was the first real Urban Fantasy novel I'd read in a long time. Lately, publishers have been releasing crappy Paranormal Romance novels as Urban Fantasy.

It's told in first person perspective by a magically-gifted man who wakes up to find he's not dead anymore and he's sharing his mind with childlike supernatural beings called the Blue Electric Angels. The narrative was interesting, most notably because the author manages to successfully blur the line between the main character and his mysterious guests.

Secondly, the magic system is one of, if not the most original that I've ever seen. It's very streetwise. For example, there's a magical bus that can take you anywhere. However, it only appears when you're extraordinarily miserable, have just about resigned yourself to having to walk to your destination, and are far enough away from the bus stop that you have to run to get there before it pulls out.


----------



## Rho

'The long Walk' by Richard Bachman (AKA Stephen King) A story he wrote well before he became a house hold name, contains some real thought provoking stuff. Although it's quite brutal and can be a bit disturbing at times, it's well worth a read.


----------



## The Kyngdoms

For me, without any doubt, it was The Road (Cormac McCarthy).  Once I picked it up I pretty much couldn't stop reading it.

When I was a lot (lot!) younger, I had a similar experience with Feist's The Magician.  I think I read it in a couple of days.


----------



## Scorks

Fellowship of the Ring - captivating! I also stayed up all night long and read The Prisoner of Azkaban when I was younger. I was terribly grumpy the whole next day. Completely worth it!


----------



## Rho

The Kyngdoms said:


> For me, without any doubt, it was The Road (Cormac McCarthy).  Once I picked it up I pretty much couldn't stop reading it.
> 
> When I was a lot (lot!) younger, I had a similar experience with Feist's The Magician.  I think I read it in a couple of days.



Crikey! a couple days to read a weighty book like Magician is pretty impressive. Took a slow poke like myself several months if I recall.


----------



## Konrad

Actually, when I think back maybe it was a tie... For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms. 

I know for some these days apparently uncool to dig Hemingway, but I was 17 and these two books not only got me reading, but they set me on the road to writing for a living. I've worked as a journalist/investigative journalist and foreign correspondent (although now I'm a risk consultant, which is not much different) all of my life, and I'm sure that's why. 

The Road and No Country for Old Men were up there as well... Not sure if anyone here is familiar with Suttree, but that is one helluva book, as is Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion (the prequel to The English Patient). 

With regard to fantasy--there are a number of short stories... Everything from Gaiman (think the Shadow short story--my memory slips tonight to Only the End of the World Again and Bay Wolf) to Martin's fantastic tail of Viking's battling it out at sea (not sure of the title, but it's in the collection he recently put out--Warriors I, I believe) to some of the old Elric tales. 

Come to think of it, I'll read just about anything Elric. Not sure why...

K


----------



## Fae

I've read some cool stuff but the memorable ones would have to be Twilight-for the hunky wolves, Harry potter-for the its brilliance and Charlaine Harrises Dead series for its humor which I always appreciate. My absolute favourite might not even be among these, maybe I forgot it.


----------



## Steerpike

Konrad said:


> Come to think of it, I'll read just about anything Elric. Not sure why...



Because Elric is awesome.


----------



## crash

The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst. Great atmosphere and tension, and a very gripping story even if you know what will happen at the end (the novel's set in 1937/38 Warsaw, we all know what happens in 1939). The ending is inevitable and bittersweet, the hero is in a sort of Cassandra like situation, but it's not a let down at all.


----------



## Riellfhe

Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series is a good one too. As is Gaimans Sandman series. 

EDIT: Content within this post deleted by moderator. Member referred to Self-Promotion


----------



## The Unseemly

A very peculiar book, called _Przygody Dobrego Wojaka Szwejka_ (translated from Polish: Adventures of the Good Warrior Szwejk), by Jaroslav Hasek. It's one of the few books that for almost it's entire length I laughed until I cried; that sort of very odd humour which I like. It's about a man who's an official idiot, and how he gets about in life, set around the period of WW1 (1914-ish). The book, behind the humour, however, showed me so much about how we all are just another idiot who tries to make the best of his/her life.


----------



## ThomasCardin

I have to agree with The Road, could not put it down.

Also could not put down Hugh Howey's Wool Omnibus.

When I was a teen I remember reading The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson in one sitting as well.


----------



## kayd_mon

I already posted on the first page of this thread, but I am completely captivated by The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites; I'll have it finished tonight, and then I'll know for sure.


----------



## druidofwinter

for me probably Mistborn, THE HERO OF AGES. i must confess i teared up at the end, the sheer scale was humbling. i highly recommend it!


----------



## Mason

Undoubtedly, Game of Thrones for most captivating fantasy book. For non-fantasy book A Thousand Splendid Suns by Kholed Husseini was one of the most satisfying books I have read. I knocked it out in 2-3 days.


----------



## Lancelot

One of the foundation series by Isaac Asimov "Foundation and Earth". I can't say which detail because it is a spoiler, but at the reveal, I stopped reading and smiled. I kept smiling and thinking for about 20 minutes. I just had this big stupid smile on my face that wouldn't go away. Then I read that again and again. The same couple of paragraphs over and over. It was wonderful. IF you love Sci-fi or detective novels you should read the Robot series beginning with "Caves of Steel" and then go on to the Foundation series.


----------



## Impatience

_Magician_ by Feist is one I'll have to agree with, it was the first fantasy book I ever read, assigned by my teacher in High School.  It's probably the only book I've read several times over.

_Fairy Tale_ also by Feist.  No, I'm not trying to promote Feist here   But, this was the first "horror" book I had ever read and I was pleasantly surprised.  Definitely a page turner for me.

_Unincorporated Man_ by Dani and Eytan Kollin was a very recent book that I just couldn't put down.  Some of the ideas of what the future could be were exciting to read about.  Some really good imagination going on in there.


----------



## ecdavis

The most gripping one I read was 'Misery' by Stephen King.   I know it's not Fantasy, but I feel it was King's most focused novel and I think I read it in a marathon of 18 hours.   

Recently, one of the most gripping novels I've read was R.A. Salatore's "Homeland" which was on the origin of his main character, the Drow Drizzt.  I was surprised at the book because much of his other stuff in the series seems to be less intense and almost like they were made for a young audience.   But 'Homeland' seemed much more mature and you really felt the growing tension throughout the book.   I read it in two days time.

Also, C.J. Cherryh's fantasy books all tend to grip me.   I liked "The Dreamstone"  and "The Tree of Swords and Jewels" as well as all of her "Morgaine" series.   Cherryh really got me interested in Elves and Celtic stories.   I read all of her stuff in a day or two period of time.

Of course there is also Tolkien, but he grips most people...

ecdavis


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne

You know, another I forgot about: _A Deepness in the Sky_ by Vernor Vinge.


----------



## blondie

For me, the most captivating novel I've read so far is Stellar Transformations, a Chinese wuxia fantasy in the process of being translated into English. It was recommended to me by a friend and I read through the whole 1500+ page translation in 3 days.

Btw, I'm sorry for reviving an old thread. Please delete this message if it violates any rules of the forum.


----------



## acapes

The first one that comes to mind is _The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle_, which I couldn't stop reading across the couple weeks it took to finish - hard to stop to go to work etc.


----------



## stephenspower

The Sun Also Rises and Slaughterhouse-Five are the only two books I've read not just in one sitting, but at the end of each I went back to page one and reread them in the same sitting.


----------



## wordwalker

_Name of the Wind_, Patrick Rothfuss. As to why-- well, when I finished I described it with:



> It's that feeling when a scene in a book works beyond working, when you don't just lose track of time, you regain enough awareness to become afraid that something will interrupt you and end the one perfect chance you'll have to find out what comes next all in one sitting. When you hold your hand over the page to stop your eyes from moving down and killing the order of things.  When you remember why you read.


----------



## soulless

Overall I'd have to go with Steig Larssons's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I got very involved in reading the novel and surprised myself by reading it faster than I thought I would for a largish book.  The sequels also were quite involving for me.  Fantasy wise I think it'd be Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere which I finally got around to reading just before the radio drama came out last year.


----------



## Caged Maiden

Ellen Kushner's _Privilege of the Sword_.  OMG  I loved it.  I didn't even realize it was first person.  I went back to have a look at it because I remember loving it so much, and I was thrown for a loop when I wanted to incorporate some of the tone in my own book... because i couldn't convert her FPOV into my TPOV.  WOW!

It's romance a bit, but a fun sort of alt-earth fantasy.  I love the rawness, the tone, everything about it.  If you like a little grit in your romance (which I most certainly do) this book is hands-down the best I've read.


----------



## acapes

soulless said:


> Fantasy wise I think it'd be Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere which I finally got around to reading just before the radio drama came out last year.



Really enjoyed _Neverwhere_ too - read it once a year, ace book.


----------



## Ronald T.

Over the years there were quite a few novels that gripped me by the lapels and wouldn't let go...in both Science Fiction and Fantasy.  But most recently, I would say the top honor goes to THE NIGHT ANGEL TRILOGY by Brent Weeks. I absolutely couldn't get enough of those characters.  I can only hope Weeks decides to do more with these fantastic, bigger-than-life heroes and heroines.  It would be a true gift to readers like me who enjoy such powerfully gifted protagonists.  A tip of my hat to Brent Weeks.


----------



## Ronald T.

Very well said, wordwalker.  Clearly, NAME OF THE WIND touched your soul, as it did for many of us.  But few could've described the impact with such an eloquent and heart-warming sense of being drawn into the author's world.  As you suggested...that's the gift...that's why we read.  And as writer's, that's the powerful emotion we hope to touch in the hearts of others.


----------



## Gurkhal

Asoiaf, hands down, seven days a week.


----------



## Ronald T.

I know how much most people love G.R.R. Martin's -- A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE.  I only wish I was one of them.

Gurkhal mentioned Martin's Asoiaf, and I agree with him that Martin is an exceptional writer.  His skills are second to none.  But I have a problem with George R.R. that stopped me from reading beyond book 2 in the series.  I bought the first three books prior to the beginning of the TV series.  I really wanted to love these books, but couldn't.  And the reason is simple.

By the time I reached the end of book 2, I realized that Martin possesses an almost maniacal joy in killing off his main characters.  And this is something I simply can't abide.  An author can punish his primary characters, can have them injured, wounded, stabbed, and beaten nearly to death.  He can take them to the brink of death again and again.  But if he takes pleasure in the random -- wouldn't it be fun to kill off this beloved character -- decision simply to shock his audience, then he's lost my interest in his writing forever.

When I read Tolkien's trilogy the first time, I put down my book and couldn't go back to it for more than two weeks.  This was when Gandalf fought the Balrog in the Mines of Moria, and fell to his death in the bottomless chasm.  At least that's what I feared at the time.  I only continued when my wife and a close friend suggested that things were not what they seemed.  It wasn't long before I was rewarded with Gandalf's return.  But for those two weeks I was heartsick.

Since then, I've noticed that I become so immersed in the stories I read that the characters become real people to me...so real, that to lose one of them is like losing an actual friend or family member in a real-life death.  The pain is unbearable.

But it seems Martin has little if any attachment to his own protagonists.  Perhaps it's because he has such an endless gift for creating well-defined, well-rounded characters, that none of them seem that important to him.  But as a reader, they are very important to me.  If I'm going to invest myself, heart and soul, into a protagonist, I have to know they are going to be around for more than two or three chapters.  Otherwise, what's the point?  Why put myself through such misery?

There are other great writers out there that can draw me into a story every bit as well as Martin can.  And with them, I don't have to let the author punish me over and over again with his cruel decisions.  It simply isn't worth the price I must pay.

Perhaps I'm just too much of a soft-hearted fool.  I don't know.  But if Bilbo or Frodo were killed in the first few chapters, I would've stopped reading the Hobbit and LOTR.  That would have happened as well if Rand al Thor was killed a quarter of the way into Jordan's WOT series.


----------



## Nazata

The most gripping novel I've ever read was _The Name of the Wind_.
I started reading it on a long trip from Dublin to Indonesia, and ended up spending the first two days of a holiday in one of the most beautiful and all-round exciting places in the world reading this novel, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.


----------



## kennyc

Twook00 said:


> The Road by Cormac McCarthy is mine.  My wife and I both read it in a weekend (separately).  It's so real, you just get lost in it.
> 
> .......



I was going to mention this one. I almost couldn't put it down.


----------



## Cambra

The _Brothers Karamazov_ made an impression, I also liked _Fight Club_, though that is a novella... _The Three Musketeers _was one of my favourites as a girl... _The Secret History_...

More traditional fantasy well_ ASoIaF_ was an eye opener and I really loved the first _Kushiel trilogy_ as I did Robin Hobb's original _Assassin_ series...


----------



## acapes

Cambra said:


> Robin Hobb's original _Assassin_ series...



That's another great one, I was dragged through that story (all the books, really) it was emotionally taxing at times but the ending was really worth it I reckon


----------



## Garren Jacobsen

The Litigators is a good one. It's had me hooked so far. I also devoured all of the Dresden files.


----------



## acapes

Brian Scott Allen said:


> The Litigators is a good one. It's had me hooked so far. I also devoured all of the Dresden files.



The Dresden books are heaps of fun I reckon, I'm flying through them now - something very appealing about the fantastical appearing in novels full of crime conventions.


----------



## Cambra

acapes said:


> That's another great one, I was dragged through that story (all the books, really) it was emotionally taxing at times but the ending was really worth it I reckon



I cried when a certain character died and I haven't done that for _years_....


----------



## acapes

Cambra said:


> I cried when a certain character died and I haven't done that for _years_....



I was shattered too! Sometimes I think it's one of the more grueling reads in fantasy, but I still love it


----------



## Cambra

acapes said:


> I was shattered too! Sometimes I think it's one of the more grueling reads in fantasy, but I still love it



Kudos to Robin she struck gold with that... It helps if you have pets.


----------



## Zara

The Hunt for red October is a thriller by Lee child
Gone girl
The Magicians

would be mine. and Little Women


----------



## ThinkerX

Been so many.  The most recent one to really hit a nerve was 'The Flicker Men' by Ted Kosmatka.  Via a variant of a baseline QM experiment, it slammed very hard into the issue of who has a 'soul.'   Argument supported by things I'd noted long ago and wondered about pertaining to anthropology and religion.  The 'solution' was both logical and chilling. The further implications...'can of worms' doesn't even begin to cover it.


----------



## Russ

Zara said:


> The Hunt for red October is a thriller by Lee child
> Gone girl
> The Magicians
> 
> would be mine. and Little Women



I think Tom Clancy wrote Hunt for Red October.  Great book too, as was Red Storm Rising.

I found Perdido St Station by Melville really carried me to the end.


----------



## Steerpike

The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky
Lolita, Nabokov
Victory, Conrad
Moby Dick, Melville
Gormenghast, Peake

More recently,  thrillers by Lee Child, Robert Crais and Michael Connelly are gripping in other ways - compelling page turners.


----------



## Stephyn Blackwood

Sparkie said:


> As far as fantasy goes, I'd say _Before They Are Hanged._  I got over halfway through that installment on the day I got it.  Some people dump on that book, but I liked it better than both _The Blade Itself_ and _Last Argument Of Kings._


_Before They're Hanged_ is also my favourite of the First Law trilogy, however it still doesn't come anywhere close to _The Heroes_ in terms of how it gripped me.


----------



## Gospodin

_Dhalgren_, Samuel R. Delany
_DUNE_, Frank Herbert
_Xenogenesis_, Octavia Butler
_Embassytown_, China MiÃ©ville
_The City and the Stars_, Arthur C. Clarke


----------



## Steerpike

Oh yeah, Dahlgren is excellent. And Butler is always worth reading.


----------



## Clearmadness

The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson.


----------



## BenjaminLocke

The first book that ever grabbed me and made feel like I couldn't leave was blackout by Chris Ryan although that feeling soon wore off. Id have to say Stephen Kings 'Dark Tower' books have gripped me like none other, particularly the earlier books in the series. My current read though, Brandon Sanderson's 'Final Empire' has got its hooks in good right now!


----------



## tiggywinke

Possibly "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris.  What a twisted book.    It's better than the book version of "Silence of the Lambs," but not better than the film.


----------



## AndrewLowe

DUNNNEEE by Frank Herbert


----------



## Ben

I wish it was something a little more high brow, but Davinci Code is probably the one I really couldn't put down - every single chapter ended on a cliffhanger, to the point where I would groan audibly when I reached the end of a chapter.

Several books I wanted to read faster but paced myself to savor more because they were so good.

I loved fight club movie and thought I would be into Chuck P's books, the first one I picked up was Lullaby, it didn't work for me and I never went back, but I think I will give Rant a try based on what I've read on this board.


----------



## Geo

For me it has to be Seventh Son (Orson Scott Card). I started and couldn't put it down. Fortunately, it's not too long, because I didn't sleep until I was done. Of course I had to run to get the second one (Red Prophet) because the end it's just such a tease.


----------



## NerdyCavegirl

Harry Potter, I'd finish every book the day I got it, and Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Even my mom loved them, and I thought they'd be too much fantasy for her. Those books really make you think.


----------



## Chessie

Oh, I have a few novels that ravished my soul and I couldn't put down:

-Witch Fire (Banned Series) but only the first book because I didn't like the others
-ALL of Narnia novels
-Gone With The Wind
-And Then There Were None 

*Hunchback Of Notre Dame* I star this one because it's truly a masterpiece of literature. I stayed up for days reading that tome and to this day, I'm still mad at the priest. Awesome novel and my absolute favorite.


----------



## Heliotrope

The Martian, surprisingly... I read it in a day.


----------



## T.Allen.Smith

Chesterama said:


> ...Witch Fire (Banned Series)


Banned? By who?


----------



## Incanus

T.Allen.Smith said:


> Banned? By who?



Perhaps it is just the name of the series?  "The Banned Series".  No idea.


----------



## T.Allen.Smith

Incanus said:


> Perhaps it is just the name of the series?  "The Banned Series".  No idea.


Ah... That makes sense. I hope you're correct.


----------



## Incanus

T.Allen.Smith said:


> Ah... That makes sense. I hope you're correct.



You and me both.  The world of Fahrenheit 451 should only ever be fiction.


----------



## Geo

Incanus said:


> Perhaps it is just the name of the series?  "The Banned Series".  No idea.



In fact the name of the series is "The Banned and the Banished"


----------



## Chessie

It is Banned and the Banished. The first book was amazing and I finished it in less than two days. The second book was alright...well, okay. And I never made it past chapter 2 in the third book. Sigh. I'm just not good with series in general though.


----------



## Ronald T.

I know how much most people love G.R.R. Martin's -- A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE.  I only wish I was one of them.

Gurkhal mentioned Martin's Asoiaf, and I agree with him that Martin is an acceptional writer.  His skills are second to none.  But I have a problem with George R.R. that stopped me from reading beyond book 2 in the series.  I bought the first three books prior to the beginning of the TV series.  I really wanted to love these books, but couldn't.  And the reason is simple.

By the time I reached the end of book 2, I realized that Martin possesses an almost maniacal joy in killing off his main characters.  And this is something I simply can't abide.  An author can punish his primary characters, can have them injured, wounded, stabbed, and beaten nearly to death.  He can take them to the brink of death again and again.  But if he takes pleasure in the random -- wouldn't it be fun to kill off this beloved character -- decision simply to shock his audience, then he's lost my interest in his writing forever.

When I read Tolkien's trilogy the first time, I put down my book and couldn't go back to it for more than two weeks.  This was when Gandalf fought the Balrog in the Mines of Moria, and fell to his death in the bottomless chasm.  At least that's what I feared at the time.  I only continued when my wife and a close friend suggested that things were not what they seemed.  It wasn't long before I was rewarded with Gandalf's return.  But for those two weeks I was heartsick.

Since then, I've noticed that I become so immersed in the stories I read that the characters become real people to me...so real, that to lose one of them is like losing an actual friend or family member in a real-life death.  The pain is unbearable.

But it seems Martin has little if any attachment to his own protagonists.  Perhaps it's because he has such an endless gift for creating well-defined, well-rounded characters, that none of them seem that important to him.  But as a reader, they are very important to me.  If I'm going to invest myself, heart and soul, into a protagonist, I have to know they are going to be around for more than two or three chapters.  Otherwise, what's the point?  Why put myself through such misery?

There are other great writers out there that can draw me into a story every bit as well as Martin can.  And with them, I don't have to let the author punish me over and over again with his cruel decisions.  It simply isn't worth the price I must pay.

Perhaps I'm just too much of a soft-hearted fool.  I don't know.  But if Bilbo or Frodo were killed in the first few chapters, I would've stopped reading the Hobbit and LOTR.  That would have happened as well if Rand al Thor was killed a quarter of the way into Jordan's WOT series.


----------



## Michael K. Eidson

In my youth, the biggest page-turner for me was Michael Moorcock's "Stormbringer." I couldn't wait to reach the end of the book, and when I did, it killed me.


----------



## Hazardous27

The Kingkiller Chronicle without a doubt. Those two books just suck me right in to the world and I laugh, feel heartbroken and happy for characters in it in a way few other stories can manage. The Doors of Stone cannot be released fast enough.


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

Um...does the book that I'm working on right now count? I wrote 20+ pages in about three days; I'm still excited to find out what happens next!


----------



## DragonOfTheAerie

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> Um...does the book that I'm working on right now count? I wrote 20+ pages in about three days; I'm still excited to find out what happens next!



It's awesome when that happens!


----------



## TheCrystallineEntity

^Now I've written roughly 40 pages, and I'm still writing today even though I'm feeling icky.   The plot thickens! A character who was thought to exist is revealed to be made up by another character! How in the world did I come up with that one?!


----------



## neodoering

_War of the Worlds_.  Tolkien was a grabber, too, but I was _terrified_ all through _War_.  Couldn't put it down.  The human race was on the brink of extermination, and no one could prevent it!  What would _I_ do under those circumstances?  

I was about ten years old when I read this, and it blew me away and got me hooked on Wells.


----------



## Demesnedenoir

LoTR for me, probably because I was younger and books were more able to enthrall then.

More recent, Game of Thrones... waiting for the next books kind of broke the enthrallment, however. LOL.

Going outside fantasy... Heart of Darkness, Conrad could write like a SOB.


----------



## Eyeofdreeg

I remember Double Cross being excellent growing up. Worth checking out if you can find a copy.


----------



## Demesnedenoir

A good reminder, it's been forever since I read it... I might have to revisit that one.



Michael K. Eidson said:


> In my youth, the biggest page-turner for me was Michael Moorcock's "Stormbringer." I couldn't wait to reach the end of the book, and when I did, it killed me.


----------



## Michael K. Eidson

^The two largest influences on my writing are Michael Moorcock and Roger Zelazny. I can't say I've read _everything_ by both authors, but I've read a right good chunk of them.


----------



## Russ

Michael K. Eidson said:


> ^The two largest influences on my writing are Michael Moorcock and Roger Zelazny. I can't say I've read _everything_ by both authors, but I've read a right good chunk of them.



I have been climbing the Moorcock mountain for more than 30 years.

I don't think I know anyone who has written everything he has written.


----------



## GypsyTraveller

ASOIAF. Compelling story, compelling and relatable characters, always interesting, never boring; a vast intricate world.


----------



## Nomadica

Taken series by Erin Bowman. Not everyone liked this writing stile but I did. The story starts with so much mystery and keeps you asking questions at each step, yet it's fast paced. One thing to note is that it got a lot darker as it went than it was in the first book which I didn't expect. I was pregnant when I started the series and through the last half of the series I'm balling my eyes out but I couldn't put it down. Then I wondered if my baby was going to be born depressed.


----------



## Rkcapps

Recently The Sentinel Mage by Emily Gee but from my youth, Raymond Feist's Magician or anything by David Gemmell. He had a knack. He's missed


----------



## CupofJoe

Rkcapps said:


> ... or anything by David Gemmell. He had a knack. He's missed


Too true!
Twenty[?] years ago I read a long interview with him and he seemed like a really decent human being. And then there is that being able to write....


----------



## Gurkhal

For me its got to be "A song of ice and fire", best stuff I've read so far.


----------



## pmmg

This looks like an old one. 

I am really hard to please. Sometimes that is good, most times not. I can only think of one book so far where upon reading it, I had to get knees my knees and say "I am not worthy!". I have to hand it to Mr. Martin. His book hits on all cylinders. It was obvious from even the opening. I cant say its my favorite book, but the mastery of the art is beyond what I have seen in others. Somethings that come right to mind in the opening scene is describing the sweat-worn leather on a sword handle, and the taste of iron as a character climbs a tree with a knife in his mouth.

I think my favorite story ever, and if I was to ever read one twice, this might be it, was Watership Down. I had no expectation of liking this, but the world of he created was just brought to life on so many levels, and yet was not a complex tale at all. I don't think is was master of the craft on display, but I never read a simpler, yet very deep story. 

Drifting off those two, I feel I must add the bible. Sure its a kind of a mess, but it resonates. What can you do?

I also remember liking very much the first Dune book. Been a long time since I read it, so I am not sure if I would still enjoy it as much today. I would have to read it again, but after four Dune books, I feel I am kind of done.

The author who I think most influenced my own writing, and I will say all of them have influenced it in some way, and Robert E. Howard. I don't write like him really, but I did look to his path in writing as a way to shape my own.


If I was to fault Mr. Martin any, it would be that he spends a lot of time describing fashion. There could be less of that I think.


Oh, and I have to add to add Shakespeare (Sorry, Mrs. Barnes). I cant say I like all his stuff, but the stuff I do like, I've not found anything else like it.

And I suppose I should add, that my favorite author is actually a woman named Leslie, who I met on another writing site. She has a gift. I am not sure if she has the desire to conquer the publishing world though.


----------



## Demesnedenoir

GRRM's strength is also his weakness... details. His best work, IMO, is the opening few chapters to Game of Thrones. Here he is tighter with his words, knowing he needs to get us into the story before he hammers us with world building and background info. He avoids the pitfalls of the young fantasy writer well. Writers have a tendency to want to describe what they reference, and worse, a whole lot of critiques will ask for this info when it's best not to be included until later. But that's another topic, LOL.


----------



## TheStranger

It would definitely be Red Rising by Pierce Brown for me. Its a Sci-Fi series set in the distant future. I read the first line of the Prologue and I was hooked. I bought the entire trilogy, then and there.


----------



## Laggy

Jeffrey Archer, hands down. Not a Penny More, not a Penny Less, Prison Diaries, Kane and Abel and Shall We Tell the President.


----------



## ScorpionWoman

J.R. Ward's _Blackdagger Brotherhood _series. Although based in a world much like our own it was fabulous. Until her books I had never even entertained the thought of re-reading a book. I love how she has multiple series that she allows to overlap in subtle ways.


----------



## Kittie Brandybuck

Opal Plumstead. It was amazing.


----------



## Hir i-Chorvath

The City Between Series by W.R. Gingell. I've re-read them so many times and I always have to get them the minute it comes out and I don't stop for anything until I've finished. This extends to skipping school and I don't care what I'm missing when it's happening. 
I've done the same thing for Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives.


----------



## TheKey1111

A Game of Thrones, book 1. Intricate world, thorough character development, good dialogue and the scenes formed easily in my minds eye, quite the masterpiece.


----------



## S.T. Ockenner

Steerpike said:


> ven though you planned to stop reading for the night you end up saying "well, crap, I better read one more chapter."


That happens to me a lot, whenever I'm reading a book that I find remarkably interesting.


----------



## S.T. Ockenner

Steerpike said:


> Because Elric is awesome.


Who's Elric?


----------



## CupofJoe

S.T. Ockenner said:


> Who's Elric?


I'm guessing Elric of Melniboné


----------



## Insolent Lad

When it comes to fantasy, The Lord of the Rings probably kept me turning pages as much as anything I've read (and there were quite a few pages to turn).  Way, way back, A Princess of Mars may have gripped me pretty hard.

Also way back, Cooper's Leatherstocking novels, despite all the flaws I can see in them now, were quite engrossing. Any and all of Raymond Chandler's detective novels were good at holding my attention. My tastes in mainstream (at least these days) don't really run to gripping adventure but more to the novels of Evelyn Waugh (who is, stylistically, pretty much my model).


----------



## Rosemary Tea

The Woman Who Loved Reindeer by Meredith Ann Pierce. I checked out of the library when I was in middle school to have something to read in homeroom. Homeroom was boring, just roll call and announcements, and the teacher didn't care what you did as long as you answered when your name was called and didn't disrupt, so I would keep a library book for homeroom reading only, and usually take several weeks to finish it. But that one was such a page turner that the very day I checked it out, I was up well into the night finishing it (and not finishing my homework!). That was the one time, ever, that I literally could not stop reading a book once I started it.

Several years later, I ran across that book again and decided to reread it, more slowly this time. Same result.

I haven't had that same experience with any adult books, but a couple nights ago, I was casting about for something to read and decided to retry the Outlander series. I own the first six of the main novels, and over a decade ago, I read the first three all the way through, and part of the fourth. Then I was moving, got distracted with that, and never went back to it. They were good the first time around, and if anything, they're even more absorbing the second. I suppose some might quibble with defining those as fantasy, but if time traveling through standing stones isn't fantasy, I don't know what is, and there's certainly intricate world building involved.


----------



## mannersmanners

This is not fantasy, but the most gripping book I've read of late is Thomas Pynchon's Bleeding Edge. I wish he'd publish just one more book, seeing as he is in his eighties now. I'm sure there's plenty of unpublished material he can whip up into a book after more than six decades of writing.


----------



## Stevie

The Hunt for Red October. 

Mind, I was stuck on an areoplane over the Atlantic at the time. And this was back in the day,  when you all got to watch the same movie on a big screen at the front of the cabin.  Picked it up in the departure lounge, just about finished it by wheels down at Heathrow. I do like a good techno-thriller from time to time.


----------



## Datar

_City of Lies_ by Sam Hawke. I didn't finish it particularly quickly, but every time I read it, my heart was beating up to my throat.


----------



## neodoering

Twook00 said:


> What is the most gripping novel you've ever read?  How long did it take you to read it, and why do you think it grabbed you so well?
> 
> My all-time favorite page-turner was one of Anne Rice's vampire books, _Blood and Gold_.  If you've read the earlier vampire books this one will grab you and not let go until the end.


----------

