Please! A good dark fantasy novel? Best book of your life kind of good?

Question

Please, for the love of fiction, can somebody please recommend a good fantasy series (preferably) or single novel even. I have 2 weeks of holidays and need something to hold me until... Now, I've already read the Song of Ice and Fire, and Name of the Wind, I have Wheel of Time and Malazan, but really am thinking twice about them, because they don't start very well. If by page 50 or two chapters in the book is drawling with no sign of imminent development, that's where i leave off.

Please, something gripping - captivating - with a 'best-book-I-ever-read' feeling. Nothing ancient and sleep-inducing like LOTR/Dune. I don't mind the Sci-Fi, if it's not too Sci. Nothing for children(twilight), please, like HP or Percy J or Earthsea... No romance (sword of truth - richard-kahlan)

Doesn't have to be very long. Doesn't have to be epic fantasy. Modern fantasy is good, if it's good. With some comedy, doesn't have to be funny ha-ha, sarcastic funny or ironic funny is good too. Some politcal intrigue is nice, (still nothing like Dune where I feel like I'm memorizing a constitution of intergalactic relations), elves are always good, no dwarfs/gnome/goblins as main protagonist.

Some violence... gore...so on is good but not cumposlory... I should probably give a list of things i've tried...

GRRM; Rothfuss; Mistborn; Runelords; Gunslinger; tithe; Anne Rice before she went religious/blasphemous; wilbur smith; the briar king thing...sword of red ice or the books about the different colour ice with Rafe; coldfire...

Near the bottom line - anything approaching song of ice and fire goodness to hold over till when? 25/12/2012? Please!

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!! Help Me!! Not twilight! And not Vampire diaries neither!

Answer 1

The absolute best fantasy series I've ever read is the Kushiel series by Carey, the adventures of a girl who is raised as a courtesan/spy in a setting based on medieval France. The series is dark with some very explicit, adults only, content. The very best SF series I've ever read is the Miles Vorkosigan series, the adventures of a space mercenary admiral who needs an extra dose of cunning to overcome his extensive physical impairments. You could start with the first book that's actually about Miles, The Warrior's Apprentice, but it's better to start with his parents, introduced in Shards of Honor.



Other excellent SF includes the Merchant Princes series by Stross, about a family with the power to travel between this world and other worlds. Definitely no shortage of political intrigue, with appearances by actual political figures very thinly disguised. The famous Hitchhiker's Guide series is great if you're looking for humor and satire. The Reality Dysfunction series by Hamilton is another good long SF series with loads of adventure. The Hyperion tetralogy by Simmons is a bit slower in terms of slam-bang action, but with more thought-provoking themes.

Answer 2

I recommend the Kencyrath series by P.C. Hodgell. Dark of the Gods, Seeker's Mask, To Ride a Rathorn, and Bound in Blood. Dark of the Gods is actually an omnibus of Godstalk and Dark of the Moon, the first two (short) novels. There's also a book of short stories called Blood and Ivory that fill in some of the history. This is an amazing dark fantasy series. The Kencyrath are 3 races chosen and bound together by the 3-faced God to fight Perimal Darkling, a force of evil and chaos that swallows entire universes. Under the Darkling taint, inanimate and animate, living and dead, good and evil, flow together, and nothing is pure or whole again. The Kencyrath have lost many battles and retreated down the Chain of Creation, abandoning world after world, growing more and more bitter that their god doesn't see fit to give any more aid to the struggle. After an enormous internal betrayal, the Kencyr are stranded on Rathillien. The story focuses on Jame, a young woman with remarkable gifts and a knack for causing trouble, who may or may not be the avatar of the god's 3rd face. If she finds the other 2 avatars, the final battle may be at hand. But first she has to recover her memories, finish her apprenticeship to a notorious thief, settle a trade war, rescue a blind hunting cat, outwit a mad priest, resurrect a minor god, and escape a demon or two. There's no drawling in these books. :)

Answer 3

His Dark Materials

Inheritance Cycle

Mozart's Sister

Mermaids Singing

Inheritance Cycle

Ink Series

Artemis Fowl

Abundance

Time Traveler's Wife

Answer 4

Read The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker.

Answer 5

The best book(s) I've read in as long as I can remember is The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. They are "can't put them down" good. Check em out!