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So I'm terminally bored with the internet, and I haven't read a good book in forever. Since ya'll (you know, the two or three people who still look at their livejournals) are interesting and well-read folk, what's something you've read recently that you'd recommend?
Dark fantasy
-Anything by China Mieville (Aries beat me to Perdido Street Station, but Iron Council is my favorite, and The Scar is quite good...)
-The First Law Trilogy I mentioned above (these books are cynical-kind of if Epic were populated by real, very flawed people)
Epic fantasy
-The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson (actually a series of 10 books, the last couple aren't out yet; definitely my favorite recent fantasy, but long [the first book is the shortest at 500ish pages, some of them top 1200])
-The Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker (actually a trilogy; I consider this to be pretty dark, too; lots of philosophy and politics)
Non-epic fantasy
-The Gentleman Bastard books by Scott Lynch (I don't really know why I like these so much, but I do; compelling characters, fast reads, but the writing's nothing fancy; fair warning, the second book ends on a cliff-hanger and the third isn't even finished yet dammit)
-Heroes Die by Michael W. Stover (I think this is a love it or hate it kind of book; it's fantasy framed in sci-fi and the main character is kind of an asshole)
Who knows what these fit in
-To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust (the story of the battle between God and Satan from Satan's point of view)
-The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazney (I don't think there's a subgenre of fantasy for this; a little bit Epic, but not in your typical swords and sorcery way, definite classic)
-Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America by Robert Charles Wilson (future but not sci-fi, could maybe be considered dystopian; I'd say this one is character-driven with very good writing)
Sci-Fi
-The Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold (overall fun, fast reads, some are better than others, I think the quality goes downhill toward the end)
-The Culture books by Iain M. Banks (my favorite is Use of Weapons, in fact I need to reread it; all of them that I've read are really, really good and are a pleasing mix of serious, dark, witty and humorous)
-The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons (four books, sometimes a bit pedantic, but worth it I think; a really interesting world and set of characters)
Just a little bit of category clarification: I've seen most of these books described as 'dark' at one point or another, but I define 'dark' as much by writing feel as by what goes on in the books. If your definition is along the lines of "favorite characters are likely to die or worse" then almost everything up there would count, including A Song of Ice and Fire.
(Er, I have not read all of these recently, for the record. And Roger has read about half and can vouch for them as being worth reading. I've got more, but that's my current pick of the litter.)
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