So I grew up very sheltered and isolated from society and as a result missed out on a lot of pop culture and other common things. I love to read, and I really enjoy fantasy and DnD and those types of things and I’m trying to find and catch up on the great fantasy books/series that every fantasy lover/nerd should know. I’m not as interested in sci-fi, but I’m willing to read the “great” ones too. What would you recommend?
Series I’ve read: The Lord of the Rings The Witcher The Dark Tower The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Dungeon Crawler Karl
Update to add also read: Wheel of Time Most of the Stormlight Archive The Hobbit
I’m just starting my first Discworld book.
Edit: Thanks everyone! Keep them coming, I’m going to make a list with all the suggestions and start working through them.
Ah, I love recommendation posts.
It depends on what you actually enjoyed reading and why. I see you already have a lot of great suggestions. The only author I haven’t yet seen mentioned is perhaps Asimov, although you said you prefer fantasy to sci fi. That’s also my preference, however I find his short stories are worth reading and also low commitment for this reason.
One thing I find useful in recommendations is to know what else people have read and what they think about that. It helps me get an idea of which books I’m more likely to enjoy best or not, especially if I can compare their thoughts to mine about the same books. With that in mind, my thoughts:
Discworld is amazing. Pratchett is a great author. I like that he can write a story that on the surface is just a simple comedy/adventure, but if you are the type that also analyzes what they read you will soon see his stories go much deeper than what they appear to be. He will keep things entertaining and witty but also throw at you a piece of his mind for you to mull over and reflect on various aspects of life. Small Gods is one of my favorites.
I also really enjoyed Dungeon Crawler Karl, and I mean really really really. Hilarious. But it doesn’t have the depth Pratchett has.
On a similar vein, The Witcher- loved the characters and the story is very entertaining, but t can’t say I was blown away as with Pratchett.
I absolutely loved Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy. Now that’s some solid writing. The characters are so well fleshed out, unique, original. Somehow the world and the plot feel realistic, crazy as it sounds for a fantasy book. It may feel a bit slower in pacing than any of the three I previously mentioned, but not slower than LOTR which you have already read.