The Sword and Laser discussion

I apologize if this ha been done.
I was thinking about how I started reading sci fi fantasy, and the first two full length novels I read were t the crystal shard and start wars rogue squadron.
What are your favorite licensed books?

The Dragon Age books by David Gaider -- Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne etc. -- were pretty good. Also I've enjoyed some of the Eberron books and some of the Warhammer novels.

I liked Kenobiand Darth Plagueis, both Star Wars Book. Star Wars books vary quite a bit in quality, but these two are really good.

If you liked Bioshock, there is also BioShock: Rapture. It is not too bad.

I created a separate thread for it, but the two Infinity Blade novellas are pretty decent. Being written by Brandon Sanderson has a way of doing that...

I've really enjoyed all the Halo books I've read, especially the collections of short stories where you get to see so many facets of the universe.

I enjoyed the original Dragonlance trilogy a long time ago. Also James Blish adapted some of the original Star Trek scripts into short stories back in the late 60's and they were pretty well done.

Sean wrote: "I've never been steered wrong by a Warhammer novel written by Dan Abnett."

I keep coming across people who feel similarly. I will have to finally get around to reading the copy of Horus Rising I picked up from the used book store a couple years ago.

I've also enjoyed several of the Star Wars Clone Wars and Old Republic-era books. (Although it's be nice if Obi-Wan and Anakin didn't have to be present for every single major event in the Clone Wars.

I'll second Rogue Squadron.

I've always been curious about Dan Abnett's novels. His comics are fantastic. I'm a bit leery of jumping into a game universe.

I've always been curious about those warhammer books, but I know nothing of the setting. is there a primer on that or a recommended starting place?

Tastykimchi wrote: "I've always been curious about those warhammer books, but I know nothing of the setting. is there a primer on that or a recommended starting place?"

The big thing to keep in mind is there are two Warhammers -- Warhammer (the fantasy setting, like a grubbier D&D) and Warhammer 40,000 (far future space fantasy with Space Marines vs. Orks and Chaos Demons and who knows what else).

(And in the Warhammer 40K universe there's also the Horus Heresy series, which is set thousands of years in the past and tells of a major event in the shaping of the setting.)

I haven't actually read much WH40K, but I've heard good things about Dan Abnett's books in particular -- the Gaunt's Ghosts series as well as Ravenor and Eisenhorn.

As far as Warhammer the fantasy setting, I've enjoyed some of William King's Gotrek & Felix books -- Trollslayer et al., kind of classic sword & sorcery about a suicidal dwarf and the scribe chronicling his adventures -- and I just recently finished Matthias Thulmann: Witch Hunter by C.L. Werner.

A lot of the series have been collected into big 3- or 4-book omnibus collections.

My impression is that most of the series are pretty much standalone -- just check descriptions & reviews and pick a starting place that piques your interest.