I don’t know about you- but I have quite a few authors with multiple books on my TBR that have been there forever. I’ve been thinking a lot about why I’m so hesitant to jump in and wondering if it’s just that I don’t know where to start. I’m enlisting your help to get me started on some of these books! Let me know if there’s one that’s better than the others or books that make for good introductions to these authors and their worlds.
Robert Jackson Bennett – Everything he writes sounds exactly like something I need in my life. I even own his Divine Cities omnibus. Still haven’t read him.
Chuck Wendig – I think I actually have read a short story by Wendig, and that was what put him on my radar initially, but I never ended up committing to any of his novels. Now Wanderers is coming in July, and I’m positively giddy with excitement because it sounds epic.
Neal Stephenson – I see Stephenson’s books everywhere. But I feel like people are pretty mixed on whether they like them or not. To top it off, from what I understand, his books are all like 800+ pages long. Where is the best place to start?!
Claire North – The book she’s probably most recognized for is The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, but for some reason that book doesn’t appeal to me so much. These others do.
Nancy Kress – Let’s be clear. I want to read all the Nancy Kress books. I don’t know if it’s her beautiful covers, or the descriptions or the possibilities for discussion, but every time one of her books pops up in my GoodReads feed. I add it. Please, someone tell me where to start!
Joe Abercrombie – This is perhaps the most embarrassing one to admit to, because I love dark fiction and everyone recommends him as one of the top grimdark authors. I think his blurbs are not doing his books justice. Every time I look at one of them it turns into a TL;DR. But now he has a new one coming out and I really just need to get on the bandwagon.
Other authors I need recommendations for: Brandon Sanderson (I know, I know), John Scalzi, and Richard Morgan. Have you read any of these authors? Can you tell me a good place to start? Do you have any authors that have been on your TBR for way too long?
Hamlets & Hyperspace 
Foundryside by RJB is pretty cool and so is 84K by Claire North though the writing style takes some getting used to. Abercrombie is awesome, his First Law trilogy is brilliant as are Best Served Cold, Sharp Ends and Red Country. I haven’t read his YA trilogy though.
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Thank you! I think I will have to bump Abercrombie up my list for this year. Foundryside look awesome and I think book two is about to come out so maybe I’ll start with those.
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If you like dark, great characters and sarcasm then you’ll like Abercrombie.👍📚😀 Ah, I read the sequel wasn’t out until early 2020, hopefully I’m wrong.
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I stand corrected. I swear I’ve seen the second book kicking around on Edelweiss or NetGalley, but I think you are correct.
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Well, I thought I remembered seeing somewhere that it’s 2020, I could be wrong though and have got mixed up as I do have my Jon Snow moments.😂😂😂
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😂😂 You and me both apparently!
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Great post, I should do this too because I have some *big* authors I’ve never read either. I loved Foundryside and City of Stairs, they are so different from each other. 84K was my first Claire North and I hated it, so I can’t recommend that one! As far as Wendig goes, I hear Blackbird is one of his best, but I haven’t read it yet. Wanderers is getting great reviews also😁
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Drew mentioned the writing style in 84K was difficult to get used to, was that what put you off or was it something else?
I have such high hopes for Wanderers. It sounds like it could be a Stephen King novel, which is part of why I’m so excited. I’m debating if I want to try and squeeze something else in by Wendig before it releases so I can adjust my expectations if needed.
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And I would love to know who’s on your list of authors- you should totally do a post like this!
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More to add to mine too! I’ve only read Foundryside on this list.
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Seems like Foundryside might be a good place to start. If you try any of them- let me know!
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It’s a great thief story.
Will do!
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I think a good place to start Sanderson is the mistborn trilogy, which is a series set in the cosmere. But if you don’t want to commit to the cosmere yet, you can start with Skyward which is set in a whole other universe and is ya instead of adult !
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I’ve heard great things about Mistborn! It was between that and Way of Kings, so I’ll have to give Mistborn a try. I think I’ve been hesitant on Sanderson because his books seem to have lots of magic, which is usually not my thing. (I know- I write a fantasy book review blog and don’t like magic, there’s something wrong with me.)
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Ohh, I’ve heard from a lot of people that way of kings is probably not a good place to start. It’s HIGH fantasy if you know what I mean. And I think there are Easter eggs about the other series there. Same, I say my favorite genre is fantasy, yet I’m not reading the huge ones that really are fantasy. I’m trying to get better about that and finally read the priory of the orange tree!
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I’m right there with you! I feel like I haven’t read any of the biggest authors! I like the hidden gems of fantasy I guess.
So noted about Way of Kings! I’ll start with Mistborn and see how that goes.
Is your review up for Priory yet? I’m reading it now and would love to know what you thought!
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Ohh no, I haven’t even read it yet :(( I’m sorry for being misleading! But, sameee, I haven’t read tolkien her even though I want to, but I kind of don’t..
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I don’t want to say Tolkien is “overrated”. I just don’t think LOTR has aged all that well.
I will say that The Hobbit is one of my favorite books. If you need a place to start with Tolkien, that’s the one I recommend!
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Omg thank you for the recommendation! I
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I hope you love it if you try it! It’s definitely much easier to take in because it’s much shorter than LOTR and the pacing is quicker because of it. Plus it’s all hobbits, Gandalf, and dwarves, which if we’re being honest, were all the best character types from LOTR.
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Hmmm me two bits:
Robert Jackson Bennett – Foundryside
Neal Stephenson – Anathem
Claire North – Touch
Nancy Kress – Tomorrow’s Kin
Joe Abercrombie – the first law trilogy
Brandon Sanderson – the myst trilogy
Arrrrr!
x The Captain
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Thank you!! These sound like great picks. I need to knock a few of these off my TBR.
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