Your Favourite Novels and Their Authors

[Stormbringer]

I originally intended to start a thread of this nature way back in August 2018, but never got around to publishing it. Here's my second attempt.

One of my favourite novels of all time is called The Crusader by Michael Eisner. It was published in 2003 and it is (I think) the only novel he ever wrote. It's about a Spanish crusader knight who returns with PTSD from the Holy Land and slowly reveals his harrowing story to a monk over a long period of time, through a series of discussions they have. It has a really gripping story and fantastic character development. I picked it up from a Waterstones bookshelf one day (probably in 2003), read the first page, found myself hooked and bought it right away. To this day it remains one of the best novels I've ever read, and most successful impulse purchases I've ever made. Strange that the author never wrote anything else, but there you have it. I have read it twice.

The Lord of the Rings is, of course, a classic and I am totally in love with the story, the prose style and the fictional world in which the story takes place. I am on my second read-through.

[Drarok]

I really enjoyed the Necroscope series of books when I was younger. They're set in a world where psychics (plus other ESP talents) and vampires are real. (Be careful of the wiki page, there's spoilers abound).

It ends up spanning a multiverse, several generations, and all sorts of locations. The first book itself was a bit meh when I went back to it years later, but I suppose that happens quite often as authors hone their craft. There's a hell of a lot of books in the serieseseses!

[Hatredsheart]

Lord of the Rings, 20+ readings so far.
Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant 15+.
Anything by Joe Abercrombie or Terry Pratchett.

[Stormbringer]

Lord of the Rings, 20+ readings so far.

[Strudel]

Anything by Tolkien (I've read LotR at least 10 times, the Silmarillion a couple of times, and the complete Histories of Middle-Earth. Even Farmer Giles of Ham!), Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials is definitely one of my favourite books of all time and I hope they don't fuck up the TV show), Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick, Terry Pratchett, probably a couple of others that I'm forgetting now.

I've not read any fiction in forever; I just don't have the time or enthusiasm for it at the moment.

[Maturin]

I'm not sure about individual novels, but my favourite book series is Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander novels. Not only is he a great storyteller in general, but the prose itself is some of the highest quality I've ever read.

Herbert's original Dune is also an absolute masterpiece.

[Mantis]

Hard to say what my favourites really are, but Philip K Dick is probably one at the top of the pile that I immediately think of when pondering it.

[Hatredsheart]

Lord of the Rings, 20+ readings so far.

That is over the course of 4 decades though, not that big a deal.

[Strudel]

I'm not sure about individual novels, but my favourite book series is Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander novels. Not only is he a great storyteller in general, but the prose itself is some of the highest quality I've ever read.

Herbert's original Dune is also an absolute masterpiece.

Dune is a good shout. I love that book; it gives you such a sense of being present during something important. Obviously it's a big epic story, but you really feel like it's real and you're there to experience it.