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Best Novels No One Has Heard Of

Jess A

Archmage
Rachel Neumeier - her series about griffin mages and the like. They are rather interesting. A random find.
 
I got interested with the novel of Gayle Lynds and the title of it was The Coil. I didn't expect that there is a kind of that novel that I must that I enjoyed a lot. It is a dangerous game of spy against spy, father against daughter and killer against prey. It is seemingly an interesting novel.

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Science Fiction Book
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
Dunno if this is on the list yet, but "The Lady in the Loch" by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is amazing. Spooky Frankenstein-esque story set in Scotland in the late 1700's/early 1800's, with Sir Walter Scott as a main character. My mom lent it to me. :D
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Dunno if this is on the list yet, but "The Lady in the Loch" by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is amazing. Spooky Frankenstein-esque story set in Scotland in the late 1700's/early 1800's, with Sir Walter Scott as a main character. My mom lent it to me. :D

I'll have to check that out. I like Scarborough. Her early fantasy work was a lot of fun.
 

Mindfire

Istar
I always say the Codex Alera books could use more press. Jim Butcher's magnum opus I think. I haven't read the Dresden Files, but they'll have a hard time impressing me coming after the Alera series.
 

JCFarnham

Auror
I always say the Codex Alera books could use more press. Jim Butcher's magnum opus I think. I haven't read the Dresden Files, but they'll have a hard time impressing me coming after the Alera series.

You sure? The first few Dresden books are pretty addictive. I'll be honest I've stopped reading them to give myself a chance to read something else but I'm sure I'd go back to them (oh wait I have Death Masks half finished on my shelf ;))
 
Hmmm. I used to love Nancy Springer's early stuff (before she went all horsey and YA, although I am Mordred is a good book.) A bit twee and self indulgent in retrospective but some lovely imagery and clean writing.
Paul Hazel--has anyone heard of him? He wrote a couple of celtic based novels and obviously really knew his myths. Read them just as I was discovering celtic myth myself and really liked them.
Tanith Lee-quite well known then kind of faded off the scene. Deserved to be better known.
Parke Godwin. Moderately popular in the 80's, his King Arthur novel Firelord is one of my favourites even today.
 
I'm pretty sure this hasn't been mentioned yet, but I absolutely loved "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke. It is a novel about magic, specifically English magic. In some ways, this book was more satisfying to me than most of the Harry Potter books because Ms. Clarke includes actual people and events from history to advance her plot. For example, the story is set during the time of the Napoleonic wars, and one of the magicians (there are only two remaining practicing magicians left) is called upon to fight and aid the English campaign against the French. Also, the magic within this world is heavily-tied and dependent upon the Fairy world that lives alongside ours. Ms. Clarke is actually friends with Neil Gaiman and the influence of his work "Stardust" is made obvious in her book as the Fairy realm in hers is the same exact world mentioned by Gaiman in his.
 
I'm pretty sure this hasn't been mentioned yet, but I absolutely loved "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke. It is a novel about magic, specifically English magic. In some ways, this book was more satisfying to me than most of the Harry Potter books because Ms. Clarke includes actual people and events from history to advance her plot. For example, the story is set during the time of the Napoleonic wars, and one of the magicians (there are only two remaining practicing magicians left) is called upon to fight and aid the English campaign against the French. Also, the magic within this world is heavily-tied and dependent upon the Fairy world that lives alongside ours. Ms. Clarke is actually friends with Neil Gaiman and the influence of his work "Stardust" is made obvious in her book as the Fairy realm in hers is the same exact world mentioned by Gaiman in his.

I enjoyed Jonathan Strange but I also found it kind of a slog. The stuff she invented was fascinating and the book was dripping with detail, but the characters all annoyed me, and the story kind of meanders for long periods.

It's the kind of book I'm glad I read, and never want to read again.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
Benjamin Clayborne said:
I enjoyed Jonathan Strange but I also found it kind of a slog. The stuff she invented was fascinating and the book was dripping with detail, but the characters all annoyed me, and the story kind of meanders for long periods.

Totally agree. A very slow read that I put down before the halfway mark.
 

Shockley

Maester
Not unknown, but severely under-read.

The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck. Also, her wonderful translation of All Men Are Brothers, by Luo Guanzhong.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
Shockley said:
Not unknown, but severely under-read.

The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck. Also, her wonderful translation of All Men Are Brothers, by Luo Guanzhong.

The Good Earth is a fine read. Not action packed by any means but a good story with meaning.
 

Shockley

Maester
The Good Earth is a fine read. Not action packed by any means but a good story with meaning.

If you're more into action, then I'd strongly suggest her translation of All Men Are Brothers. It's the book they based the video-game series 'Suikoden' (as well as Bandit Kings of Ancient China) off of, and is epic in its own right. It's about a hundred and eight bandits (some of them having names as awesome as the Black Hurricane, Leopard-Face, etc.) who run around China wrestling tigers, burning down temples, forcing Buddhist monks to eat meat/drink alcohol, fighting a revolution and taking out barbarian encampments. Epic does not begin to describe it, and Buck does a fantastic translation.

Also, Guanzhong's other work - the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, about a massive civil war that lasted just under a hundred years and killed a third of the Chinese population. Also action-packed, and one of the core foundations of Folk Daoism.
 

Neurosis

Minstrel
Hmm.. pretty much all my favourite books?

Viriconium (definitely the most obscure and the best book in this list), Light, The Book of the New Sun, The Heroes, The Cold Commands, Altered Carbon, The Emperor of Dreams, Anubis Gate, The Black Company: Books of the North.
To be fair The Book of the New Sun was voted 3rd best fantasy novel of all time (or something of the like), but no-one I talk to seems to have heard of it.
 
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grimreaper

Scribe
Hmm.. pretty much all my favourite books?

Viriconium (definitely the most obscure and the best book in this list), Light, The Book of the New Sun, The Heroes, The Cold Commands, Altered Carbon, The Emperor of Dreams, Anubis Gate, .
To be fair The Book of the New Sun was voted 3rd best fantasy novel of all time, but no-one I talk to seems to have heard of it.

I did read the beginning of altered carbon . I liked it but couldn't read any further as the book was from the school library and I had to return it.
Then somebody else issued it ........ and lost it.
How's the story like , though?
 

Neurosis

Minstrel
I did read the beginning of altered carbon . I liked it but couldn't read any further as the book was from the school library and I had to return it.
Then somebody else issued it ........ and lost it.
How's the story like , though?

Well its written by Richard Morgan so you know its awesome. Its manages to blend the best of noir detective books with cyberpunk sci-fi all the way through. I loved it, has some great and memorable lines in it too, like that carving he finds on a park bench "Pull on the new flesh like borrowed gloves and burn your fingers once again." The story is great, full of twists and turns and nuance. I highly recommend tracking it down and finishing it, along with the rest of the books in that universe. His fantasy novels are even better (The Steel Remains and The Cold Commands).
 

grimreaper

Scribe
Well its written by Richard Morgan so you know its awesome. Its manages to blend the best of noir detective books with cyberpunk sci-fi all the way through. I loved it, has some great and memorable lines in it too, like that carving he finds on a park bench "Pull on the new flesh like borrowed gloves and burn your fingers once again." The story is great, full of twists and turns and nuance. I highly recommend tracking it down and finishing it, along with the rest of the books in that universe. His fantasy novels are even better (The Steel Remains and The Cold Commands).

Thanks a lot, I will certainly try
 
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