Do "Dark Tower" books count?

Ok, just in case they don't, I would like to name Witcher series. Yeah, what else could be the first entry on a GOG forum? XD

Seriously though, Witcher books IMHO are the most mature piece of literature I've read (some Eko books aside). And not mature in the sense of adult content like sex and violence, but mature in it's story and themes brought to the reader.

What is also worth praise is how well everything is tied together. Story, characters, various world details and even those mature topics. If there is some character passing by at one moment, you can be almost sure that you will meet this character later. And that would influence the story or show some events from different perspective. There numerous "easter eggs" when someone mentions something and only later it is revealed that it had some more deeper meaning. Like the first chapter of "Hour of Contempt" starts with a messenger, who have some important messages for King Radovid and some others. And just by coincidence he meets Ciri, Jennifer and later even Geralt (actually because Geralt follows Ciri and Jennifer). And in just the first chapter through that guy, who seem to have nothing to do with main characters, we learn a great deal about the world and about some events that would be important later.

Also most of Witcher novers characters are rather intelligent. In comparision to them people from Game of Thrones look like imbeciles.

Well, I could talk about Witcher novels for long, but I'm here for a giveaway. For Cosmic Star Heroine to be exact.

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. I like all his "First Law" books, but I enjoyed this one specially. It's like a Count of Monte Cristo with RPG elements (and when I say RPG elements, I mean those pen and paper sessions where the party carefully planned a mission/expedition, someone fumbled on the execution, everything went to hell and bloodshed started...)

I'm reading right now the Hyperion books. Good ones, but these are sci-fi. Recommended, though.
I'm in for a random game. Or no game at all. Whatever you decide :)

Thanks for the giveaway!

I'd recommend Katharine Kerr's Deverry Cycle. They're set in a pseudo-Celtic fantasy world which felt enjoyably different to me than a lot of mainstream high fantasy. The basic premise of the story is of souls reincarnating through time to try and achieve destinies which were broken in previous lives, and its story-telling is non-linear, jumping about through characters across different lifetimes. Its system of magic is novel and greatly enjoyable to read about. The introductory segment also introduced me to the concept of P/Q-Celtic languages, which along with the pronunciation guide later proved helpful to me in approaching Welsh and bonding with Welsh speakers, and launched my interest in Celtic languages more broadly than just my native one.

As well as that, I'd recommend Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books. I think they were actually the first fantasy books I read after The Hobbit/Harry Potter, and they probably had a greater impact on my future enjoyment of the fantasy genre than the former two did - I think I definitely owe my enjoyment of worldbuilding to her.

(I'm pretty agnostic to the giveaway itself, I mostly just wanted to share those.)

I love the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan, even though there are some boring ones in the middle. And I love most of the books by Michael Moorcock.

I´m in for Minit or a game of reasonable price :)
(please tell us what price is reasonable)

EDIT: Forgot to give a reason why I like it. Well, let´s say that The Wheel of Time has a lot more soul than similar products :) All main characters are more or less likeable and don´t throw kids out of windows. Nobody gets raped. Nobody´s head gets crushed like an eggshell. And so forth.

Sweet GA, thanks for your generosity.

I'm currently reading The Black Company books by Glen Cook. The series follows an elite mercenary unit, The Black Company, last of the Free Companies of Khatovar, through decades of struggles in a decadent world.
I discovered the books because I heard that a TV show was planned, but it seems almost abandonned. A new book should be released in September : )

If you decide I won something, I would like to pick something from the current sales.

Thanks again.

I really enjoyed Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson. It's a fix-up novel that combines a few short stories he wrote set in an alternate history in which people use magic instead of technology, with the main characters being a witch and her husband who's a werewolf. They first meet while doing commando operations during WWII, which in this setting involved a Middle Eastern empire that used flying carpets for an airforce and was unleashing genies as massively destructive weapons. I almost mentioned Anderson's The Broken Sword, which is probably his greatest fantasy novel, but this one was just a lot of fun.

I'll enter for Cosmic Star Heroine or an independent game at a reasonable price :)

Best fantasy book I ever read - The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski.
And the second one is the Narrenturm also by AS, but I didn't finnish it yet.
The Witcher is well known here, I suppose.
So I can tell few words about Reinmar from Bielava aka Reinevan.
A young man, unhappily in love with Adela. Master of Alchemy and Magic, who wants to get revenge for his brother.
But what completely destroyed me completelly and why I love this book:
The scene when Reinmar with his friend Sharley tried to exorcise Samson the Little Honey.
This one scene is worth of read this book. No doubt. I can't say more - I don't want to make spoilers ;)

I'm in for everything random, doesn't matter what, but only not Minit.

Best regards :)

Thanks for throwing such generous giveaway, BeatriceElysia.
Not in, but I hope you get a lot of good recommendations for your future reading.

I do not read much fantasy (I prefer so called hard science fiction), but - to my surprise - I really liked Andrzej Sapkowski's Hussite Trilogy, even more than the Witcher saga.
This trilogy is set in during Hussite Wars period in XV century on the borderland of Czech Republic and Poland. Although the setting is historical there is a strong presence of supernatural and mystical powers and the main character shares a bit of similarity with Geralt with his sorcerer/alchemist skills.

The series has a distinctive Sapkowski's style with dark world, grey characters/antiheroes.

Unfortunately it looks like it has not been translated to Croatian nor to English, but if you know German or other language it has been translated to I can strongly recommend it as it is good written series presenting interesting setting with fitting characters.
If you are interested you can check the international editions here:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/7038935-narrenturm

Edit:
While I was looking for translations someone already recommended this series, but I remembered another well written book in the interesting historic setting Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
In XIX around the time of Napoleonic Wars Magic as an art returns to England with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Relations and rivalry of those two man is written up with use of pastiche of XIX century writing styles. On one hand this makes it a bit more difficult to read in original, but on the other hand it makes it a richer and more rewarding experience. Wonderful, clever and interesting.

Regarding the giveaway, I would like to be in for Desktop Dungeons Enhanced Edition

The fantasy books I've been waiting for are the third and maybe the final of the Kingkiller Chronicles series by Patrick Rothfuss. I really enjoy the first two, Name of the Wind and Wise Man Fear. One part is the main character, Kvote, a self loathing self exiling hero and the other part is the way the author never seems to waste lines.
And the second one is Japanse light novel series, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash. While it just one of the proliferation of Isekai - japanese term of transported to a new world- with immature male protagonist and some girls, the way the story built is not stereotyphical. Some isekai can be felt like the author wanted to flaunt their knowledge in a pompous way but I never felt it reading this. They suffer together, dealt with death, self doubt and growing in the best they can do. And because they are light novel, great for quick read.

I've recently finished and enjoys two Neil Gaiman works, Stardust and American Gods and just entering the first chapter of Gardens of the Moon, from Steven Erikson Malazam series

Generous as always, BeatriceElysia!

My answer is a bit obvious, but nobody can ever take the first place from The Lord of the Rings.
I say this out of admiration for Professor Tolkien, both as a writer, as a person and as a scholar.
His knowledge of Epic, medieval lore and everything concerning the modern European ancestors is probably still unmatched, and he recreated those tales in a contemporary key with all the strongest points of Arthurian Myths, Nordic sagas, fairly obscure stories like The green Knight... all add up to the greatness.

I read everything there is to read from Tolkien, his other works are excellent, especially The Silmarillion and the Hobbit for a younger audience, but in my opinion The Lord of the Rings has it all, to go with the say “no stone was left unturned”.
Many criticize him for being “too traditionalist”, but I believe that is really not true; while he is in the form, he is not in the content.
Italian literature professors usually despise him for the same reason, for his “living in the past with obsolete values” but they are just an amass of pompous ignoramus that think their own culture is superior to others. “There is no love in LotR”- say that to the Elf maiden who sacrificed immortality and doomed herself to an eternity of wait in the halls of Death until judgment day for the (Hu)man she loved; “Thre are no strong female leads”- tell that to Eowyn, who rebelling to tradition marched to battle and defeated the greatest evil in existence after Sauron himself, and all while retaining her femininity, not by transforming in an overpowered supergirl like in today's trends; “there is no hint to racial conflict”- nonsense, since the greatest act of friendship came from two formerly sworn enemies.
I could go on for all day!

Also, besides being an erudite and the greatest storyteller of his century, J.R.R. Tolkien was also awfully brave and dedicated. He wrote his masterpiece in the trenches while fighting the Central Empires in World War I, using toilet paper when he didn't have any better supports and putting all his efforts in his art even under bombs and surrounded by death. I doubt the sense of overwhelming power and dread of the dark army was born out of nowhere.

Last but not least, the entire contemporary fantasy genre owes everything to him. Games, books, pen and paper RPGs... all have been heavily inspired by LotR.


About the giveaway... I'd like to enter for a reasonably priced indie game, Nex Machina to be precise. Completely different from the topic we are discussing, but still! XD
I am also fairly interested in Minit and This is the Police, in case I don't qualify for the big prizes.
Thank you for another great chance!

A hearty +1 for zlaywal's recommendation of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. He showed that good story-telling can lift up even an otherwise pretty generic fantasy story into something truly remarkable.

Steven Erikson's Tales from the Malazan Book of the Fallen - which he also mentioned - are also very much worth reading; the first one doesn't show it so much, and the final ones lost their direction a bit too much for my taste, but the 2nd through 6th one are some of the most intense and wonderfully multi-layered fantasy reading I've encountered.

What I'd like to recommend myself would be:
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
One of those rares breaths of originality and freshness that I haven't encountered nearly often enough in recent fantasy. It blends technology into a fantasy world where the gods were undeniably real, and develops a tale that isn't "epic", but still matters.

Bonus recommendation:
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Everyone writing the cliché main character of thieving street-rat can only hope to do it half as well.

To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust
You shouldn't need more than just the opening sentence to become an instant fan of everything Steve. And he won't let you down.

Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip
McKillip invents hauntingly strange fairytales out of whole cloth, but for some reason it's the very... 'bare' Winter Rose which has haunted me most.

Trader by Charles de Lint
Almost any book or short story collection set in Newford is a worthy starting point, but Trader might be the most accessible. If you doubt you like "urban fantasy", this should be the final test.

As for the giveaway: None of the three games for which you have codes appeal to me, and I don't like to just ask for a specific game from my wishlist. But if you'd happen to see something on my wishlist which you can personally recommend and which would otherwise meet the requirements for the giveaway, then I'd like to be in for that, though preferably only the next time it's on sale. (But if that's not work you want to put in, then I'm also totally fine with being out.) Either way, thank you very much for your generosity with this giveaway, and I hope you'll take a look at some of my recommendations. (Oh, and if you know any of them already and like or dislike them in particular, I'd be very happy to recommend more in the same vein, or in the opposite direction.) :)

I'm a rather hard-to-please reader given that I'm bored by the usual fantasy tropes, but I would highly recommend The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie.

It's not for everyone given the gritty and bleak setting juxtaposed with dry humor, unusual main characters e.g. the Barbarian/Philosopher who hates to spill blood, the cripple turned torturer with a tender heart, the fatherly wizard who may be hiding something, etc. It's populated by morally ambiguous characters with mysterious motivations set in a world of absolute monarchy replete with all its corruption, decadence, and power struggles. The quality of writing is first rate, though the first 2 acts may be a slow burn but it all comes together in the action-packed third act.

There are 2 later books titled Before They Are Hanged and Last Arguments of Kings together which comprise The First Law Trilogy which get better and better, and some details in the first book become important in the third book.

I would love to enter for Cosmic Star Heroine.

Thanks for the lovely giveaway, Beatrice! I'd like to be in for:
This is Police Original
game 01- Hyper Light Drifter
game 02 - VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
game 03 - Ori and the Blind Forest

As for an awesome fantasy novel, every time someone asks for recommendations with those criteria (and even sometimes when they don't :D), I have to mention "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell". It's a really awesome book. People have called it "Harry Potter for adults", and that's a label I've heard used for a couple of books (notably also the Dresden files series), in this case, I think it really fits. Not adults in the sense of "Oh, now we also have free license to cuss and mention sexual intercourse and boozing", but great casual humour (something I loved about the early Harry Potter books) contrasted with deep themes, all wrapped up in an engrossing psuedo-historical story that interweaves real life victorian England (and as someone who is usually bored of that setting thanks to Steampunk, it means a lot that I love this book, and ended up constantly googling whether a specific character was based on a real person, or just made up).

Aside from that, all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, but especially some of the later ones- but I'd be surprised if people haven't read those or know about them :D. Lean a lot heavier on the humour, with a lot of hilarious prose and observational stuff, but it is still incredible writing, and a lot of biting insightful satire. Specific books that I loved were Night Watch, Thief of Time, Monstrous Regiment and The Truth, but if someone actually hasn't read Discworld before, I'd say they'd love going through them all.