I know the title is very vague so I apologize. I have always wanted to read books but never got to doing it because I don’t know which book to read. It also doesn’t help that I have a terrible attention span from using social media too much.
When I was a teenager I read the Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson and it’s spinoffs, and the Hunger Games. And I loved them all and they are nostalgic to me. I don’t know what exactly my preference is but probably something sci-fi or fantasy that is just extremely fucking immersive. I just want to escape reality. I yearn to be immersed in an interesting fictional universe.
by Direct-Difficulty-69
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The Nathaniel Cade series by Christopher Farnsworth.
4 books: Blood Oath – The President’s Vampire – Red, White & Blood – Deep State
A vampire (Nathaniel Cade) is captured, tortured, then sworn & forced to serve the presidency due to an ancient blood oath. His job is to defend the country from paranormal threats & supernatural creations (unbeknownst to the general public), all while having to adjust to working with his new partner/handler; Zach Barrows. Zach is now exposed to a world of secrets & sights not many ever will see. It’s hidden politics meets paranormal doom, and everyone is in danger, especially the President!
…Also…
Out of the Earth series by Jake Bible. 4 books: Out of the Earth, Out of the Sky, Out of the Fire, & Out of the Stars.
Giant monsters emerge from the earth and start the end of the world as we know it. A higher intelligence has other plans though and humanity is forced to make dire choices in order to survive, if that’s even possible?!
This series follows a variety of characters, in different positions of power & locations across the country, as they all struggle through the chaos & destruction in a desperate attempt of survival.
Sci fi? Iain Banks culture series. Try- the player of games, the hydrogen sonata, matter, or my favourite – ‘excession’. Excession is just such a brilliant sci fi novel. I’ve read it 7 times now…
If you like that then read all the others, then read it again, trust me, they are wonderfully imaginative
I just started Roadside Picnic. And it’s goooood
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Can’t recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman enough its fantastic (also one of the best audiobooks ive ever heard)
Nice old-school fantasy “Legend” by David Gemmell or a fantasy/western series called Jon Shannow also by the same author
Enjoy a bit of 80s rock white a side of dungeon and dragons check out Kiñgs of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
Sci-fi have you heard about Warhammer would recommend starting off with something simple like Gants Ghosts series by Dan Abnett
I really enjoyed “Abarat” by Clive Barker. It has an alternate universe with a load of strange characters.
I fondly remember enjoying Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus Trilogy (now ‘Sequence’ with 4 books, but I haven’t read the last one).
It’s from the perspective of a summoned djinn (like a genie). It’s funny and uses A LOT of footnotes. He’ll be going through some things in the plot and then go off on a tangent at the bottom of the pages where he starts talking about random experiences he’s had with other creatures and people in his long history.
Think of it like Harry Potter meets Pokemon in London, but the main character is Pikachu and he actively works against Ash/Harry.
Read one of the original Horus heresy books, it’s essentially pulp fiction sci-fi for teenagers and autistic adults. After that progress to a book like blindsight which is sci-fi space horror or old man’s war or chameleon (my favourite books).
Hard core sci-fi is generally boring, incredibly intelligent but largely has very badly written storylines incorporating engineering and astrophysics descriptions.
Read Mistborn the final empire by Brandon Sanderson and that will have you on the path to reading the original Mistborn trilogy and then the wider Cosmere books (a shared universe of novels). It’s not the only starting point but it’s a great one. Thank me later 😊
One of my all-time favorites was The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams(?). It is a relatively short novel, and at least for me, it was an awesome page turner.
Another one of my favorites is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Cline has a very interesting way of drawing readers into a nerd wonderland. It is flooded with common and obscure references, love, hate, and wonder.
The book I am currently reading is The Man Who Wouldn’t Die by A. B. Jewell. He writes about a private dick named Fitch as he solves the mystery of a man who is tweeting messages from beyond the grave.
How about the Inkworld books by Cornelia Funke? They’re like adult fairy tales, not to mention a major love letter to books in general. In them, characters get read right out of the pages of books into the real world, and vice versa – characters also end up literally stuck *inside* the story they’re reading, complete with magic and fairies and castles and evil rulers. How’s that for immersive!? 🙂
Japanese salaryman turns into an evil skeleton overlord, funny shit happens (horrifying too) [[Overlord]]
stephen king!!! Later is amazing. Carrie, the shining, IT, cujo, a buick 8, under the dome, the stand, mr mercedes, the long walk, the running man, needful things: just throw a dart at his section in the library and try it. Hes kind of a slow burn at first but a REALLY amazing writer
Discworld – start with book 8, Guards! Guards!.
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(sorry, I said book 6 at first — I think book 8 is the best starting place. earlier books are fine and some are really good… but I think to really get uninterrupted traction on the series, Guards! Guards! is your best starting place)
I once again urge everyone to read The First Law Trilogy. Best books Ive ever read
Read the tanner series by Remington Kane
Read the red rising series by pierce brown, it’s an epic space opera the first book is a little similar to hunger games and the chapters are pretty short so the first three books are pretty crushable
Genesis echo by d. Hollis anderson – great new sci fi, if you like those you’ll like this
Wheel of time will pull you right in and not let you go until you’ve read 14 or 15 books, some of them pretty long
If you want to dip your toes in with a short story to get started, The Emperors Soul by Brandon Sanderson really captivated me when I read it (and comes in a compendium of short works that I found quite enjoyable, a huge world to get lost in if you end up enjoying his work)
The Witcher series is fun. Dark tower is cool as hell. DCs The Sandman graphic novel or audiobooks
I would also recommend Herman Hesse books like Steppenwolf, narcissus and goldmund, demian.
Harry Potter.🥰
Read comic books! For a small fee you can subscribe to Marvel Unlimited, which is access to every marvel comic up to about 3 months ago.
Though it had its ups and downs. I really enjoyed X-Men’s recently completed “Krokoan Era.” It was designed so new readers can jump right into it, so long as they had a basic understanding of the characters. It starts with “House of X/Powers Of X.” It’s intended you read issues from each series next to each other. So read number one of HoX, then number one of PoX, and continue like that.
My sweet summer child, you are in for a treat!
I would advise you to start with a book YOU love. You might need to read a few before you find one that clicks. YA – esp. YA fantasy – tends to be shorter, and punchier. I love it because it gets to the damned point unlike a lot of adult fantasy.
* The Secret History by Donna Tartt is hilarious. It’s set in a university and is… sort of a mystery but really is more like a slice of life and mild satire. Not fantasy, but very, very good.
* Everworld by KA Applegate. These are getting reprinted and are very well written (for the most part) YA books about Greek and, well, other mythology. You may also like their Remnants series or Michael Grant’s Gone series. Personally I found them a bit too odd for me, but YMMV.
* It’s Time, Cassandra Klein by Karen Brooks
* The Conch Bearer by Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni. Both of these veer towards middle grade but are very enjoyable and would be a good starting point.
* If you liked HP, I recommend Tamora Pierce’s books, both Emelan and Tortall. I will say they don’t have quite the same mystery boarding school plot of HP, but they are similar. And, personally, I feel they’re better written, but that’s just me.
* Burn by Patrick Ness
* Such Sharp Teeth by Rachael Harrison.
* Leech by Hiron Ennes – this is nice and short and might be a good jump to SF.
I would recommend starting with short stories in several genres, by different authors. Personally, I find scifi thought provoking and mind expanding sometimes, but everyone has their own thing. Try it, you may like it.
Science Fiction.
If you make it 1/3 or the way through Dune and it clicks with you, then you’ll have plenty of reading of Frank’s original work.
For Fantasy, I would pick up the Black Company, or this amazing book I just finished called the Lies of Locke Lamora. Both great world building and character driven fantasy stories.
Robert Jordan- Wheel of Time. It’s a bigun
His Dark Materials.
My favorite and first “real” book series I got immersed into is the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. She does a great job of world building and it’s a very easy read. I went crazy with them in middle school and I started re-reading them recently (I’m 24now) and I still love them. Very emotional and have some pretty heavy situations. I’ve bawled my eyes out more than a few times. AND ITS SO LONG!!! There’s so many books and special editions and manga. (Also it’s about stray cats that live in clans and spiritual junk. Wanted to add this at the end cause sometimes the animal perspective puts people off but I think it’s cool)
If you want immersive and easy, try anything written by Neal Shusterman. Arc of a Scythe (great trilogy) or Unwind are both good. Both are rather brutal though.
If you want immersive, you want the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. Hands down one of the absolute best series ever. Each of her trilogies is in the same world but can be read standalone too. Fitz’s story will definately take you away from this reality.
Also, if you want scifi, I’d go with the Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs trilogy. Starts with The Never Paradox. Sucked me right in and I finished in 4 days. I did not sleep much at all, I just could not put it down.
The grayman series by mark Greany
Try the audiobooks Project Hail Mary and, Dungeon Crawler Carl. You can play phone games or fold laundry or do dishes or whatever while listening.
Rhapsodic is doin’ it for me.
(There are also spicy scenes, fyi)
Currently reading Stranger in the Woods about a hermit who lived in Central Maine alone for 27 years with no fire and no contact with anyone. He stole from camps. If you know how cold it gets here, you would know this is almost unbelievable but true.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. That city feel so alive and vibrant, the way the dialogue is written feels like real conversations and the plot is incredible. If you’re looking to get lost in a world and don’t want a huge barrier to entry then the Gentlemen Bastards series is a clear winner.
Futuristic violence and fancy suits by Jason paragin
Wheel of Time
I read a bunch of Greek Mythology for some reason before Harry Potter came out as a little kid.
Now at 30yrs old all I read are auto/biographies so yeah I’m not a great source for advice
Ah I have just the thing for you, it’s this interactive flow-chart I’ve built that you can follow depending on your preferences: [https://hardcover.app/blog/science-fiction-fantasy-flowchart-2010s](https://hardcover.app/blog/science-fiction-fantasy-flowchart-2010s)
Try the Giver Series or Divergent Series.
I’ve been reading the Indiana Jones books, which are fun adventure novels. They feel similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. These are based on the characters. They are not the movie books, which might be good too but have never read them. The reading order is below.
Peril at Delphi
Dance of the Giants
Seven Veils
Genesis Deluge
Unicorn’s Legacy
The Interior World
Red Rising series sounds right up your alley. An epic space adventure with incredible characters and works building. Check it out.
Have you considered listening to audiobooks?
can’t go wrong with asimov’s *I, Robot*. very digestible since it’s multiple shorter stories that make up the book. especially eerie in our time where autonomous police robots patrolling NYC and delivering pizzas and driving themselves into walls.
Fantasy: if you’ve never read Lord of the Rings, it is an amazing universe and a classic. The Hobbit is a must, read the appendices of both. If you want more, there’s [The Silmarillion](https://amzn.to/3PTrA2e) and tons of smaller books.
Another vote for Sanderson. I haven’t read the Mistborn series. However I’m currently working my way through [The Stormlight Archive](https://amzn.to/3PBfskZ) (on Oathbringer) and it’s the first world I’ve found myself lost in in a long time. I plan on reading Mistborn afterwards.
I was a huge Warcraft nerd, having grown up on Warcraft 3 lore and found the books to be really good. It might just be because I loved the games though. Not sure how they hold up to people who haven’t played the games.
Star Wars also has a HUGE amount of content. I remember reading the Jedi Apprentice books as a kid and loving them.
If you like big books with alot of politics and a giant universe of books I would recommend Dune by Frank Herbert.