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Dread Polack
I'm trying to immerse myself a bit in the setting. I'm looking for recomendations for good SR novels. I read "Fade to Black" a while back, and it was pretty bad. It was mostly okay until it completely fell apart at the end (must've run out of time and/or ideas).

Dread Polack
HullBreach
The Secrets of Power trilogy was pretty good, and introduces some of the movers and shakers in the canon world.
Schaeffer
Run Hard, Die Fast by Mel Odom is the first one that popped into my mind. I'm a big Argent fan, and my main PC is a heavily cybered street sam. It was nice to see one in action as the main character. cool.gif

emo samurai
2xs and Shadowplay. They're by Nigel D. Findley; enough said.
Wolfshade
Can't remember the writer, but I enjoyed Headhunters. Heads you win Tails you lose was good and twisted
JesterX
QUOTE (Schaeffer)
Run Hard, Die Fast by Mel Odom is the first one that popped into my mind. I'm a big Argent fan, and my main PC is a heavily cybered street sam. It was nice to see one in action as the main character. cool.gif

Argent isn't the main character of Run Hard, Die Fast... It's Jack Skater who is the main character.

Argent is found only in Nigel Findley's novels I think.
Schaeffer
QUOTE (JesterX)
QUOTE (Schaeffer @ Aug 14 2006, 09:33 AM)
Run Hard, Die Fast by Mel Odom is the first one that popped into my mind.  I'm a big Argent fan, and my main PC is a heavily cybered street sam.  It was nice to see one in action as the main character.  cool.gif

Argent isn't the main character of Run Hard, Die Fast... It's Jack Skater who is the main character.

Argent is found only in Nigel Findley's novels I think.

Mel Odom's stories about Jack Skater and his crew are really good, too. But I like Argent in Run Hard, Die Fast a little better. Here's a review:

http://www.sfsite.com/04a/run54.htm
Chrome Shadow
I liked Fade to Black...

Also, besides the ones mentioned earlier I liked Wolf and Raven, and Dead Air...

Black Madonna...

I liked them all...
PlainWhiteSocks
If you enjoy short stories, Into the Shadows might be right up your alley. All the stories are linked, and in introduces some characters that appear elsewhere in canon.

X-Kalibur
I also found the Mel Odom novels quite good reads, in addition to those I liked "Wolf and Raven", "Ragnarok", and I think there was 1 more book that had Wolfgang in it and 1 more that had the mage from Ragnarok in it. I just can't think of names.
HullBreach
QUOTE (PlainWhiteSocks)
If you enjoy short stories, Into the Shadows might be right up your alley. All the stories are linked, and in introduces some characters that appear elsewhere in canon.

Almost forgot about that one!

It makes for a series of nice quick reads. I used to have new players read one or two of the stories to get them familiar with the game's "feel"
ronin3338
2XS was, IMHO, the best by far, but any of the books by the late Nigel Findley are worth reading.

Into the Shadows is great for folks who don't have time for a whole novel.
BookWyrm
Gotta be Stackpole.
Findar
Any of Findley's books are awesome.
Chrome Shadow
^ And Charrette, Dowd and Smith...
KosherPickle
Burning Bright, the only canonical fiction written, is a must-read. It details the events leading up to Bug City.
mattxyzed
For anyone into playing mages Dowd's Burning Bright has to be the undisputed champion. As people have mentioned Stackpole, Findley, and Charette are consistently good. My least favorite are the ones involving a ton of earthdawn tie ins.
eightball1011
I always suggest Changeling to anyone who is interested in SR and anyone who is starting out. It tells about the awakening/goblinization, gives a little insight into spells, and basically describes how this is supposed to work. Taking a low level ganger type character and making him into someone well known and connected. No better story line IMHO.
Demonseed Elite
I like 2XS and Burning Bright. I only wish all the Shadowrun novels had lived up to those two.

I just re-read Who Hunts the Hunter. Ugh. That was painful. I do not recommend that one. It's the only Shadowrun novel I'm aware of that includes the sentence, "His tool is quite large." And the author isn't talking about a hammer. indifferent.gif
emo samurai
QUOTE (Demonseed Elite)
It's the only Shadowrun novel I'm aware of that includes the sentence, "His tool is quite large." And the author isn't talking about a hammer. indifferent.gif

He's talking about a gun, right? *sobs*

I'm definitely reading Burning Bright now. I love magic.
HullBreach
LOL this thread just made me spend a bunch of money on old SR novels on Amazon.
emo samurai
Muhahahahahahaaa, my comic book store has a bunch of them. Suck no shipping costs, mothafucka!
mfb
QUOTE (Demonseed Elite)
I just re-read Who Hunts the Hunter. Ugh. That was painful. I do not recommend that one.

i bet it's not as bad as Shadowboxer.
Demonseed Elite
QUOTE (mfb)
QUOTE (Demonseed Elite)
I just re-read Who Hunts the Hunter. Ugh. That was painful. I do not recommend that one.

i bet it's not as bad as Shadowboxer.

I haven't read Shadowboxer. I don't think I will.
Critias
I actually prefer it to Who Hunts the Hunter, if only because 'Boxer at least has kind of a Shadowrunner team, going on a Shadowrun, etc, etc. It's still crappy -- make no mistake -- but it felt more like Shadowrun and less like a White Wolf novel (weretigers, strippers, etc).
Ophis
I started reading Shadowboxer and put it down about a quarter in, it was so dull...
Enigma
Shadowrun has some horrible fiction, and honestly most of it is so terrible as to deserve nothing more than being used to prop up an uneven table. Personally, I like dark atmospheric writing, which is why I like Fade to Black, Who Hunts the Hunter, and obviously all of Nigel Findley's books (2XS is probably best, not that House of the Sun is in any way shabby).

Honestly, Caroline Spectre is a terrible, terrible writer and should go back to flipping burgers or whatever it was she did before doing her ten-minute writing course by correspondence - I could only finish any of her Shadowrun or Earthdawn books after multiple attempts and forcing myself to finish them.

Burning Bright is quite good, but not excellent, however it is the best in terms of playing mage characters, although it is a SR2 book not SR4 (or even 3).

Mel Odom is probably the best for reading a book about how a shadowrun team comes together - his earlier books are better than his later ones.

Wolf and Raven and Shadowboxer are together far too terrible to ever read. As a GM I actually ask new players if they have read either of these books, and if they say "oh yeah, weren't they COOL!!!" then I change the game venue and don't tell them about it.
mfb
QUOTE (Demonseed Elite)
I haven't read Shadowboxer. I don't think I will.

i only ready maybe a third of it myself. it's hard to say, exactly, because towards the end of my attempt, there was a lot of screaming and clawing of eyes from sockets. i lost my place a few times.
Chrome Shadow
So far, the novel that I least like is Psychotrope. Like four months finishing it...
Hocus Pocus
burning bright is the best novel for me. Just compensation i liked as well as the anthology (which was my first novel) most were pretty nice.some where boring, finely's books i had to labor to read through as i recall, what normal took me a day or two took me a week
t-morton
I have read almost all the sr books that have been printed and still own most of them. as a whole i can say ive injoyed them all, Having said this i will also have to admit that about half were not what could be called pleasant reads but all added to my knowledge of the sr world making my story lines better.
SL James
I liked Dead Air, even if it was just the novelization of a simsense movie.
Cenobite
Shadowplay and Changeling remain my favorites.
Critias
Dead Air was one of my favorites, along with the Dirk stuff. It's hard not to like the Secrets of Power Trilogy, I think, because it was my introduction to the setting (and a lot of other people's, as well, I'm sure).
PenAgain
*getting myself into trouble*

I liked Ragnarock, Crossroads, and Burning Time [Hate me for it if you must, but I like Kenson]. I liked (most of) the Dragonheart Trilogy. I found Spector's work to be... curious.

My least favorite SR book so far (anyone have an extra/spare/unwanted Steel Rain? It's all I need still...) was probably Streets of Blood.

I think it was Streets of Blood. Was that the Jack the Ripper one? Meh.

--PenAgain
Reading Aftershock right now... Liking it except how the authors can't decide if it's 2063 or 2070... a much better Jean Rabbe work than my contact with her in Dragonlance (Trilogy of the Fifth Age was MASSIVELY UNGOOD)
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