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.

    • blueduck@piefed.socialEnglish
      6·
      1 day ago

      I just finished the Cantos this week. I think Hyperion is one of the best sci-fi setups ever conceived. The Canterbury Tales in Space is so hype, and so well executed. I could read it ten times and love it every time.

      The rest of the series is ambitious, but never quite lived up to the first book. There are incredibly interesting ideas, and some excellent parts… but I can’t give the whole thing a 10/10.

      Book four light spoilers

      Aenea spends so much time talking at the reader, and her set up as the savior of humanity pins her character in a corner.

      The discussion on how “humans stopped evolving” was an incredible turn on my view of the Ousters, and helped recontextualize the series as a radical, conservationist epic instead of just an anti-authoritarian one was also A+.

      Since I just read this, I’ve been thinking a lot about how a television adaptation would work. Season one would be just the first book… one pilgrim’s tale per episode. But then I feel like the next three books would need a comprehensive overhaul to streamline the narrative and pick a clearer focus.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        4·
        1 day ago

        I started the second book shortly after reading the first, and I didn’t finish it. I think I prefer to remember Hyperion as a standalone story as it’s so perfect

        • Admetus@sopuli.xyz
          2·
          16 hours ago

          Yeah, I put Hyperion/Hyperion series since the series is not for everyone.

          I personally enjoyed the Endymion books, some people enjoy Fall of Hyperion and leave it at that.