What to read while waiting for the next P.S. Power book

[FloatingOrb]

Artemis fowl starts strong but goes a bit nutters after the demon book. If you pick them up, don't bother past that one. It's the fifth I think.

Other genius stories. The ell bonsai books come to mind. As does the Kinsella universe. Both sci fit.
Not sure if Galaxy Unknown would count. The main is a super strategist and it's more of a pseudo military novel.

If you like galaxy unknown you can try Honor Harrington. Just get those books used if you can, they are many and pricey.

The web serial Breanus is about a superhero inventor. Or is it brennus, I can't remember.

Another web serial to try is Starwalker. It is about a sentient spaceship.

Then there is of coarse Please don't Tell my Parents I'm a supervillain. It is about a young (middleschoolish) super genius inventor just coming into her power. People call it a children's book, but I had great fun reading it. Has several mature topics in it. Like bugs bunny.

If you don't mind sex, a lot of sex, then Niel Teasdale's Aneka Jansen series could scratch your itch. Hehe. It is a woman who wakes up in the far future and finds out she was turned into a robot by alien robots. It is actually really cool and the sex isn't that bad. Neil retires Lesbians, so if that bothers you steer clear.

Soon I Will be Invincible is yet another super genius inventor story. Only this guy is a true villain. Really good book.

The Wandering Engineer. In the far future humanity had access to super cool tech like nanites. Only admirals of the fleet had the codes to make the dangerous stuff like more nanites. They get into a horrific war with aliens and both sides pretty much wipe each other off. Our hero is an engineering admiral who was in stasis and survived the war and wakes up to a post apocalyptic galaxy. Check it out, it has some neat concepts in it.

Emperor Mollusk vs The Sinister Brain. This is pure comedic gold. An alien squid took over earth and became its benevolent dictator and faces a new rival to his power.

Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles. Similar to Aneka Jansen only with much less sex.

The Windup Girl. Probably the best Book mentioned here, but not one I loved. Set in a grim not that far future earth full of rampant genetic engineering, it is not a story about a super genius. It is more about the fallout caused by them. It was good, so good, but made me very sad.

Fatigue is clouding my mind preventing me from thinking of several others. I'll be back with more probably tomorrow/today.

[daniel1948]

I have not bothered to read all ten pages of this thread, so forgive me if I'm repeating suggestions others have already made.

I really liked The Golden Compass. The movie was dreadful, but the book was wonderful. The next in the series was good, but not as good, and the third and last, though still good, was not as good as the second. It's hard to describe. Set in an alternate universe, a young girl comes into possession of a device that, with skill, can answer questions. Lots of adventures.

Temeraire was a really fun book. Set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, it mostly parallels actual history, except that there are talking dragons, which give both sides an air force. The central characters are the title character, a dragon, and his handler/pilot. The dragon is a delightful "person."

Discworld is a wacky alternate universe, created by a god with more imagination that mechanical competence. The writing has a very Douglas Adams feel to it, though there is no resemblance in the plot lines to Adams's books. There are a lot of books in the series.

A book I really enjoyed when I was in my 20's or 30's was The Idiot by Dostoyevsky. I also greatly enjoyed The Brothers Karamazov, also by Dostoyevsky. Another favorite of mine from my early years was Shakespeare's King Lear. I especially loved the part where he rages against the storm. "Blow winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow! You cataracts and huricanos, spout til you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! Thou sulfurous and thought-inciting fires, singe my white head! Crack nature's molds! All germens spill at once that make ingrateful Man!" (Quoted from memory, so probably wrong, but you get the idea.)

Back to the fantasy genre, the John Carter on Mars books are a lot of fun. The main character finds himself, suddenly and inexplicably, on Mars, where the reduced gravity means that he's far stronger than the people there. Lots of wild, hair-raising, and suspenseful adventure. The first novel in the series is A Princess of Mars. The author is Edgar Rice Burroughs. Highly recommended.

And while I'm on the subject of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the original Tarzan book (WHICH IS NOTHING AT ALL LIKE THE STUPID MOVIE VERSION!!!!!!!!!) is a really great and fun book. Unlike the movie, the Tarzan of the book is intelligent and articulate. Raised by an ape, he finds by accident the hut he was born in and his parents' books. He teaches himself to read and becomes highly educated. You really should read this if you have not already. The second book, IMO, is not as good as the first, but it is still good, and worth reading.

And on the subject of great books from which stupid movies were made, another is Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

I'll stop here, for now.

[FloatingOrb]

I liked Tarzan...

This is digging back awhile but Anne Mcaffrey, the author of Dragon riders of pern has a series of smart ships. I can't remember if it was any good.

I Robot and the Foundation books by Asimov should count.

The emperor's conspiracy by... Zellman I think should count as well.

And that's about it for supergeniuses of the techie persuasion.

On to my request. I have a thing for super powerful main characters like Tor or Pug, bonus points if the are not human, and I am running out of books to scratch that itch.

I'm also looking for books from the villains perspective.

[ArgyrosfeniX]

[Mark]

Since you mentioned SM Reine I checked amazon and a bunch of her earlier stuff is free including kindle box sets.

For powerful characters:

If you haven't read everything by Fel then head over to www.weavespinner.net now!

"Mortal Coils" by Eric s Nylund. Fiona can literally kill anyone (even unkillable eternal immortals).

"Orphans of Chaos" by john C. Wright. Reality works different for each of the children. Amelia is a vast multidimensional horror whose 3d cross section happens to be a busty blonde schoolgirl. Colin operates on dream logic and can bend and break rules like the Matrix. Quentin is a Warlock who commands the hidden spirits of the world. Vanity can find secret passages that lead anywhere. Victor can build nanotech war machines in his bloodstream, and oh yea, the speed of light doesn't apply to him or his beam weapons".

"Timegods' World" by L. E. Modesitt jr.. "Timedivers dawn" and "the Timegod" in one book. Both are about total badasses with the power to time travel at will. Loki destroys a star cluster (millions of stars) starting a million years in the past. Laying waste all the worlds and civilizations that had existed there in order to stop one alien species.

"Hammer of Darkness" L. E. Modesitt jr.. A powerful psychic refuses to play the part of a God. You should look carefully at the hints of whats going on in the background because when they finally piss him off he uses time travel to retroactively set up his endgame.

"The Forever Hero" L. E. Modesitt jr.. A feral child is rescued from the ecologically devastated ruin of old earth and grows up to be a total badass. Possibly immortal. And not afraid to Nuke.

"The Book of Night with Moon" and "To Visit the Queen (Cat Novel)" by Diane Duane. Cat wizards.

"A Night in the Lonesome October" Roger Zalazny. POV of Jack the Ripper's Dog.

"Master of Whitestorm" by Janny Wurts. badass.

"Curse of the Mistwraith (The Wars of Light and Shadow, Book 1)" by Janny Wurts.

"The Black Gryphon (Mage Wars) by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. Main character is a Gryphon wizard during a magic war.

[FloatingOrb]

I just read Niel Teasdale's Ugly and I really like it.

I have read most of his (her? I never actually found out Niel's gender somehow) work and I think Niel is getting much better. The most obvious was that the sex in this entry was much less of a distraction. Maybe this is unfair, but I always thought sex scenes are usually a crutch when people have trouble sticking to the story proper. They often don't have much of a purpose beyond BOOBIES! I know this does not apply to everyone, I think most of Powers scenes actually had a point in them, and not just a meaty one.

Overuse of sex rant aside, I would actually recommend Ugly to people who like superhero novels. The genre is sadly sparse compared to other fantasy, and it is a worthy read. Not as good as Wearing the Cape though. Honestly I find the best stuff to be either super expensive, like the 11 dollar Vicious, or a web serial.

Some more recommendations since I have been neglecting this thread.

The Final Formula by Becca Andre: A modern fantasy where magic has been reintroduced (sorta) to the world. Alchemists are regular humans that have a talent to use the magic (essentially mana) in worldly objects (grass, rainwater, the blood of tortured innocents...) but have a really bad reputation. One that is totally justified. It follows the story of Addie, who woke up in the burning ruins of the Alchemica with no memories except for various alchemy formulas. I really liked it.

The Dreamers curse, Book two of the Artifactor by Honor Raconteur: I love this woman's work. The original has been recommended here, but essentially it follows the kingdoms greatest artifactor, a person who not only is a mage but an inventor of magic. Like her other books, her characters are the cool bit and the magic system is not bad either.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: Oh boy, where to begin. Essentially it follows what is left of a spaceship. The spaceship was a sentient Carrier, which essentially means it was host to tens of thousands of Corpse Soldiers. Think Robo Zombies each housing the intelligence of the Spaceship. When she (it? more on that later) is betrayed by her emperor her control over her Ancillaries is desynced and her consciousness splits, allowing her to survive her ships destruction. She then goes on a crusade to prove the emperor is mortal and thus end his reign. Not because the emperor is evil, he is too hands off for that, but because she is Pissed. One warning, Everyone is a She in this book. Not that everyone is female, just our narrator does not really recognize narator. If you read it, just ignore the gender pronouns or you will go nutters.

The Angels Pride (the Fallen Angels) by Steven Lindsay. This book is super long, and is honestly a bit clunky. But oh is the premise good. Essentially follows several devine beings, all being subjugated by the angels of heaven, as they break free from the heavenly (and hellish) prisons and start to rebuild thier kingdoms on earth. It gets too complicated at times, but it is just such a great premise. Cheap too.

Domains of the Chosen by CPD Harris. Really dark gladiator fantasy. What if gods walked the earth in Roman times, and had very few moral qualms. Enter a world full of magical horrors and an elite few of super battle magicians with absolute power of thier domains. If you wish to become one of the chosen, and be one of the few people allowed to practice magic (read, recognized that no one can stop them) you have to compete in the Arena and earn your place. Follows the story of a Paladin type character and a glory hound Amazones character. There is some horror throughout all of it, but the final scene of the second book is honestly nightmare worthy.

Fey by Mike Lee. An old war veteran in the far future comes across a Faerie. Some essentially dark space Faerie have set thier sights on earth, and the only thing stopping them is the earth Faeries. This is not a war novel though, just the story of veteran helping what is essentially tinkerbell get off a space station and on her way back home.

I am begging to realize I should make a website or blog with my recommendations/reviews if I keep this up. These posts are getting long.

[daniel1948]

[FloatingOrb]

Thanks all, those look good.

Temerare is a great series. I am a member of a group of history buffs, we get together and play EU4 a lot, and that series was right up our alley. The What If scenarios of Napolean, Charlemaign, Caesar (etc), having an air force are really fun.

[Shadelit]

Codex by Butcher was awesome for fantasy when his main is the Dresden books.
The Edge series and Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews also well worth it.
The series for Suttle starting with Bumble was great. Everything after that its just... too much. And yes I have her series for the vampire queen and even the lost High demon girl to the God Wars. She just makes it really hard to read the entire thing with the way she makes her main female characters these uber god powered things that get mentally raped, abused, used, discarded unless their Soulmates want some nookie. Even then if She doesn't they still proceed to more or less rape her until shes crying and molesting right back. That is what I really don't like about most of Suttles stuff.
Alot of my problem is I spent eight nine bucks for a physical book. I will NOT pay that for a tensecond if that download. Half the print price sounds reasonable to me but that rarely if ever happens.

[manddscott]

I just finished the most recent book in the "Chronicles of Zanthora" series recommended earlier in this thread. I would definitely recommend the series except for one thing... It is not finished yet! Here I am wanting the next two or three books to come out already, and who knows when they will?