The QQ Thread for Book & Audiobook Recommendations

[tehelgee]

In this thread, we want your best books and audiobooks. Give us a list, a deep review, or just a spare thought or two.

To start, I would certainly recommend both of Jim Butcher's more well known series; Codex Alera, and The Dresden Files. These are pretty well known to many of you, but maybe a greenhorn or two haven't seen them mentioned yet.

Also, I am absolutely not making this thread because I want audiobooks to listen to at work.

 

[Elite_Noob]

In this thread, we want your best books and audiobooks. Give us a list, a deep review, or just a spare thought or two.

To start, I would certainly recommend both of Jim Butcher's more well known series; Codex Alera, and The Dresden Files. These are pretty well known to many of you, but maybe a greenhorn or two haven't seen them mentioned yet.

Also, I am absolutely not making this thread because I want audiobooks to listen to at work.

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The spellmonger series by Terry Mancour has like 13 books average 20 to 30 hours per book

TLDR: retired warmage turned spellmonger (guy who sells magic for money, ie anti-pest /fire wards, finding lost sheep, general village handiman type stuff)
Has to deal with goblin invasion thats led by a goblin super shaman that wants to genocide everyone, i dont mean a few hundred gobbos i mean millions, said warmage is quite fond of living so fights back i cant say much more without spoilers but its a great series,

no lit rpg or system or isakai nonsense the magic system feels scientific and the MC is not a omni-competent gary stu

 

[Mousemat]

[NSFW] Beware Of Chicken (xianxia): https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/beware-of-chicken-xianxia.13790/
It is on audible as a SFW audiobook series with 4 books so far. properly the highest quality slice of life chill isekai I know of. it avoids most of the common problems, like the MC seeming discontented from the world, everything always going their way, harems (cause they often lacks substance) and lack of plot progression.
it actually feels like the books end where they should, instead of just being a random cut in the story as happens sometimes where webfiction is published in book form.
Edit: also on kindle.

 

[Slayerseba]

The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski is the greatest modern fantasy you can find. The books were so good they were adapted into the phenomenal game series and incredibly bad Netflix show. Also Jay Kristoff Empire of the Vampire is quite a nice high fantasy and of course I would lie if I said that Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere wasn't a masterpiece.

 

[tehelgee]

[NSFW] Beware Of Chicken (xianxia): https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/beware-of-chicken-xianxia.13790/
It is on audible as a SFW audiobook series with 4 books so far. properly the highest quality slice of life chill isekai I know of. it avoids most of the common problems, like the MC seeming discontented from the world, everything always going their way, harems (cause they often lacks substance) and lack of plot progression.
it actually feels like the books end where they should, instead of just being a random cut in the story as happens sometimes where webfiction is published in book form.
Edit: also on kindle.

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I saw that one, and wasn't too sure about it. I'm not generally fond of stories where a protag's power is via a creature and not their own power.

 

[Yuhabahha]

Anything by:
Roger Zelazny
Jack Vance

The master and commander books by Patrick O'Brian, yes of Russell Crowe movie fame, there's an entire series of books. 20 of em in fact.

Steven Erikson's Malazan, its book dark souls basicaly, and by that I mean the style of how it presents the world, throws you in the middle of it and lets you figure things out.

Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy.

Janny Wurts Mistwraith series.

As an aside for those looking to jump into 40k books,
most anything by Chris Wraight, Dan Abnett, and Adp (aaron bowden) is usualy a solid choice.

Oh, the Dune books up and including God Emperor of Dune are also a good if somewhat tragic/bitersweet tale.

 

[Mousemat]

I saw that one, and wasn't too sure about it. I'm not generally fond of stories where a protag's power is via a creature and not their own power.

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The MC has power of his own. Though this isn't a story of individual power.

 

[riotous living]

You could try listening to The Wheel of Time if you really want to kill some time while working. It's a classic epic fantasy and has some pretty sick worldbuliding. Depending on your needs the length may be a plus; it's over 19 days worth of audio. I found the narrator was pretty good, and you can listen to it free on YouTube (or use a client that allows downloads).

 

[Kage]

Oh boy where to begin?? Well for starters to get it out of the way The Lord of the Rings is a must read for anyone, as is Starship troopers both are hallmarks of their respective genres made by men that pioneered their genres.

If you want male fantasy taken to the 11th degree then go read the Paladin of Shadows series by John Ringo (they make for a good audiobook listen as well), fans of this author know just how batshit this series can get but to his credit they are fun reads.

For a good fiction book, that is absolute gem in both book and even more as an audiobook I suggest Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. The book that made him a household name, it is one of the best books about how gritty and insane the high end dining world can be. If you have ever worked in food or just curious to see how it compares to media adaptions like The Bear to name a show... I recommend it whole heartedly.

Audiobook wise: I say to look no further then the Red wall series by Brian Jacques (RIP), I believe for most of his books that made into audiobooks he had a full cast of VAs do the lines for all of the characters of the book and had musical scores added in for ambiance. They may have been made for kids but a lot of those books had mature topics like death, sacrifice, war, PTSD, famine, and genocide. Shit gets pretty brutal whenever the author isn't making absolute food porn with his descriptive takes on feasts and food in general.

For a good Mil Sci Fi series that is worth a listen, go for The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell. Some of the best mil stories ever written in my book especially if you like space battles that have nuance and a pinch of realism mixed in. I have read the whole the series and in the process of listening to it and it never disappoints with good suspense, political intrigue, PTSD, and war.

 

[AllyDoodle]

You could try listening to The Wheel of Time if you really want to kill some time while working. It's a classic epic fantasy and has some pretty sick worldbuliding. Depending on your needs the length may be a plus; it's over 19 days worth of audio. I found the narrator was pretty good, and you can listen to it free on YouTube (or use a client that allows downloads).

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I could never get into them unfortunately. By halfway through the first book I wanted to pimp slap most of the main female cast everytime they open their mouths because I found them so annoying.

 

[riotous living]

I could never get into them unfortunately. By halfway through the first book I wanted to pimp slap most of the main female cast everytime they open their mouths because I found them so annoying.

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Robert Jordan didn't seem to know how to make strong female characters without also making them extremely abrasive. I know he also had some arguments for gender roles being somewhat equalized as a result of the resident wizards (Aes Sedai) being exclusively female for centuries, but it never came across properly in the books. Generally the only who weren't annoying towards the end were Moraine, Min, and some side characters like Verin. Still a decent listen if you're not fully focusing on some of the dialogue though

Edit: I forgot that the cardinal rule of worldbuilding is that it must contain the author's barely disguised fetish; Robert Jordan is the fucking goat at this. Barely a book goes by without a few instances of women (especially the very powerful mages) spanking other women as... discipline. I'm fairly certain he was intensely interested in femdom/dominatrix type stuff, and so when he was trying to write attractive women that fascination would often leak into their characterization.