Action/Adventure Aficionados discussion

Cheryl gave me an idea for having a thread where we can make recommendations for members who are new to this genre. If you want a specific recommendation based on your tastes and what you're in the mood for, just post some details here, and the members can help you out.

There are lots of things we consider to be action and or adventure ... typically these books are characterized by a pace that starts swift and continually gets faster and faster (more frantic) and wider and wider in scope and almost always involves things that blow up, fly, magnetically hook things and other gadgets and good olf fashion combat, from mano y mano to bullets and grenades to blasters and sword.

Knowing what you like helps when there are a lot of things that we feel either belongs here, or fits because of something in the nature of the read.

I'd ask what do you like.

Other than that, these books that I think come with all the fun of a good A/A read.

Anything fiction by James Rollins
the Dirk Pit Novels by Clive Cussler
Good old fashioned war and espionage by Alistair MacLean

There are so many others I could recommend as well. What do you like?

In the fantasy genre WITH action and adventure,Chronicles of The Black Company

Classic. Lots of swordplay and told from the point of view of a bystander (of sorts...). Not your normal "scullery boy destined to be King" type of thing.

Jim Butcher's Dresden files: One of the best out there currently. A modern day wizard working as a detective in Chicago. And more.

Splitter

I'll second the Dresden Books, lots of action. Harry seems to get the (proverbial) snot beat(en) out of him every book!

The Steven Hunter books are pretty action oriented. So are Vince Flynn's books. Harold Coyle's books are usually good combat oriented reads.

There are good action books in many genres from it's on "action genre" to epic fantasy.

pre-world war 2 intrigue & adventure across europe, russia, the ottoman empire, africa, or australia. i don't care which era prior to world war 2, i'm just not looking for cold war stuff (read enough of that already) and i don't want no stinkin' nazis hanging about. and settings that do not heavily feature north america and especially not asia (orientalism really annoys me, possibly cause i'm half-asian).

a tall order, i know. but hey just thought i'd toss it out there.

Have you read The Lost World? It's set partly in late Victorian England and South America (The Lost World).

The Lost World

no i haven't. although i did enjoy your review of it. looking at the description again, it looks right up my alley. thanks for the suggestion LD!

You're welcome. It's free on Kindle (and probably Nook) too.

I think for someone who has never read A/A before, a good place to start would be with a sampling of the earlier authors ... maybe what one could consider "classic A/A".

Alastair MacLean: lots of war/espionage, great books. I think The Golden Gate and Where Eagles Dare are probably my favorites here, one WWII and one set in the 70s.

Desmond Bagley: Anything he wrote in the 60s and 70s. The High Citadel is my personal favorite but I like all of them.

Wilbur Smith: The Eye of the Tiger (a classic treasure hunt)

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "You're welcome. It's free on Kindle (and probably Nook) too."

I checked and unfortunately it isn't free on Nook.

You might find "Lost World at Project Guttenburg or at a different free sight. I'd try a google search for it.

Here is a link to the book on Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/139

any Dirk Pitt novel, Clive Cussler reaches across many clasifications Dirk is half James Bond half Indiana Jones (dont judge Him by the Sahara movie)
most of his novels start with maritime arciology and involve treasure hunts and global scale plots

Yea, Raise The Titanic!, Treasure and Inca Gold I thought were all better than Sahara. Don't get me wrong, I liked Sahara, but it was in the okay but not as good as the other's range for me.

Just finished this one and I'd recommend it to any "action aficionado" new or long time.

Sable

I'm loving Monster Hunter International, and, it's definitely got an A/A ring to it. Can anyone recommend other books that are similar to this?

Correia has I think 3 in that series and also a second series. It's more a thirties noir feel (it call the Grimnoir chronicles LOL).

Does that one start with Hard Magic? Or is that a different series?

Heh, nevermind. My answer came in the auto-link... I guess it does.

LOL. I've read that one but my "backed-up reading status has kept me from going further.

We could toss Hounded in with this bunch, though it's a little different and not as much action.

Hmm. Hey guys, what do you guys consider to call "action/adventure" type of novels?
'cause it looks like I have a another version
:\

what's your version? We're pretty open. Generally we're talking about Clive Cussler books (Dirk Pitt), James Rollins, that kind of thing. If you look under the "Books" sub-group there are lots of things we consider action adventure. There's even a thread to discuss what should be in and what should be out.

Anyway, what do you call "action/adventure?" It might not be as far off as it seems.

Oh, I was thinking like the Lightning Thief or the Young Samurai...is that okay?
I'm kind of childish, that's why :D

Hellokittyjedi wrote: "Hmm. Hey guys, what do you guys consider to call "action/adventure" type of novels? cause it looks like I have a another version
:\"

There are a lot of sci-fi/fantasy that fit in that category, but my personal A/A list (no sci-fi) are mostly books by Desmond Bagley and Alastair MacLean. I also consider the Clive Cussler books A/A ... some of the Wilbur Smith books fit there and James Rollins is another.

Hellokittyjedi wrote: "Oh, I was thinking like the Lightning Thief or the Young Samurai...is that okay?
I'm kind of childish, that's why :D"

Your kidding right? (I peaked at your profile) I'm not sure I'd call it childish. Those sound like fun books. Having not read them, I have no idea why they wouldn't be included here. Is there action and adventure?

Hellokittyjedi wrote: "Oh, I was thinking like the Lightning Thief or the Young Samurai...is that okay?
I'm kind of childish, that's why :D"

I personally love the Percy Jackson series, Lightning Thief etc, plus the new series. Although YA it definitely does have action, and yes I think I'd consider it Action/Adventure, just a slightly different form to Clive Cussler/James Rollins and others. I haven't read the Young Samurai, so can't comment on that.

btw...welcome to the group!

Well, I'd call Monster Hunter International action adventure too, and it's a long way form Cussler and Rollins.

(and welcome, Yes! Sorry, where are my manners.)

hmmm I must check out Monster Hunter International. I've read some comments here on it, and read the synopsis and it sounds like something I'd like.

It ROCKS! (and I don't usually say that). Lock and load, go get the monsters...high caliber, rapid action and characters you can like! (kind of Noir-ish). From what I've read the first two are a blast. I can testify to the first one, (almost done with it). It's really fun!

Great, thanks! I've added it to my 'to read' list and will see about getting it this next week.

I hope you like it as much as I am. It's fun.

Hellokittyjedi wrote: "Oh, I was thinking like the Lightning Thief or the Young Samurai...is that okay?
I'm kind of childish, that's why :D"

Hellokittyjedi, there is no age restriction on the A/A genre. I love reading YA books and I will happily add some of them to my personal A/A bookshelf. You are more than welcome here!

Hellokittyjedi wrote: "Oh, I was thinking like the Lightning Thief or the Young Samurai...is that okay?
I'm kind of childish, that's why :D"

My sons have read The Lightning Thief and liked them, said they full of action.

I checked out your bookshelf and see you're reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter what's your opinion of the book. Thinking of reading it soon since the movie is coming out soon.

OOOH...Yea, you'll like MHI and James Rollins. Not necessarily in that order. I have had fun with all of them.

OOohh....well.... ouch... that's a tough one. Hmmmmm... Ice Hunt by James Rollins. If you like that one, then their all good reads. The Sigma Force Series is a good solid series, and, the volume and complexity that many tomes allows pushes it above the stand alones, but book against book, the stand alones are probably more fun. If that makes sense.

Subterranean is also good. I've just started Deep Fathom and it's started with the same quality and excitement as the other Rollins' books.

Monster Hunter International is as good a read as any of them. Very similar in pace and scope of story. It's just MHI is Urban Fantasy if you will, but, some how "Fantasy" sounds too Panzyish for this book. So, if you like the supernatural and things that go bump in the night, MHI may work better for you.

You really can't go wrong here. There all good. The only Rule of order is, read the Sigma Force Books in order starting with Sandstorm other than that... close your eyes and pick a name from a hat. It's a good read.

This is turning into a great list... I'd completely forgotten about Alastair MacLean! Loved his books when I was in my teens... But it was Ian Fleming that first introduced me to A/A (Casino Royale)...

Personally, I always enjoyed Michael Crichton's books too... the less famous Airframe is one of my favourites.

Yes, you could keep reading from this list and stay happy for a long time.

Michael Crichton is one of my favorites as well. Airframe is one of his that I haven't read yet...guess I'll have to check it out.

I found The Andromeda Strain to be a bit dry, but I've liked the other books I've read. his writing changed and developed as he got used to writing and the stories and characters got deeper and richer as we went along.

Another one by Crichton I liked was Congo

Yes, Congo was a good one.

The Andromeda Strain The Andromeda Strain is a favorite of mine, but I'd not call it an action read. I do find it compelling but it's a matter of taste.

Your right. The Andromeda Strain was pretty much a Science Fiction-Thriller. Very cerebral. At the time I read it, I was caught up in the very technical and clinical details. It made one heck of a movie though. It's not fair to consider it an Action/adventure story.

I'd also say that The Andromeda Strain came out in 59, or the 1960s. Like we found out with "Gold Finger" (Ian Flemming) and "The Day of the Triffids," What was popular was a slightly different style of writing than what we get today.

It was 1969. Yeah the movie (the one in '71 not the unspeakable horror that was made for TV later) is also one of my favorite movies.

But as we said, not action.

Yea, I'd say it was a pre-cursor to what we now call a "techno-thriller." and 69, not 59. Like with Bond, the story was heavier on the narrative, lighter on the dialog. And the movie was pretty cool. I remember watching it on TV in the 70s.

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) runs it from time to time now. Saw it recently.

I was actually refering to the book by John Wyndham, which is one of my favorite classic sci-fi-fantasy-horror novels. The movie was, fun, but classic monster movie trash... there was a remake though... but I heard it was not that good.

Yep. In fact it was a book published in 1951 written by John Wyndham. originally the Twilight zone mad a version of it for Tv then the older movie that you saw where triffids looked like aspargus spears that followed the sound of an Ice Cream truck. They made a newer more accurate movie that was okay.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I have some things written, but nothing "book quality." This seems to be everybody's favorite (of those who read it. It was originally posted on a Matthew Riley thread.

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2...

I'm sure you'll find it entertaining and, at the same time, realize why I don't have anything at the library with my name on other than an Overdue notice from 1978. (But I'm not claiming that.)