Geek out with these science fiction picks from guest rater birk

 Magician: Apprentice - This whole series, the Riftwar saga,  is an excellent set of books.  This is only the first in that series.  Good action that develops fairly quickly with epic battles and the contrasting paths of the sword and sorcery.  My top choice for a fantasy series.

 The Dragonbone Chair -Slower to develop than I would normally like, but a very well written, well thought out novel.  It involves and gangly youth name Simon who turns from a dreamer to a survivor in a world torn by war and evil beings

 The Dark Elf Trilogy - Excellent epic tales of adventure and slaying.  The author in these books is particularly well skilled at describing fast and viscous melee battles.  The main attraction is a Dark Elf warrior who skillfully wields two deadly scimitars, one in each hand.  The recommended reading order of these books is in this trilogy

Ringworld - This is a story about a world shaped like a ring that spins around a star.  Very neat concept that allows the people of this world to harvest a great deal of the star's energy.  Not as much violence as I would normally like, but still an interesting and compelling book.

 The Eye of the World - A huge epic tale of a kid named Rand who grows to develop some serious power throughout these tales.  There are something like 11 books in this series and each one is long, so this one is a commitment.  The books are very good however, with a large cast of likeable characters.  Sometimes the author drifts off the path set by the story and takes a while to get to the action, but when it comes the action is very well written and gripping

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian - Conan the Barbarian is a great story told by a somewhat basket case of an author, but very worth the read.  Strong sense of honor is displayed by this "Barbarian" throughout the book, who actually is better behaved than the so-called civilized people he meets.   This crazy author eventually killed himself at a young age, and many other authors have taken up the tale of Conan, but none has done it better than the original.

 The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1 - Excellent story about a futuristic mercenary military unit that utilizes hover tanks and extreme skill to defeat their enemies and survive against difficult odds.  This set is a 3 volume trilogy that contains the early Slammers books

The Great Book of Amber : The Complete Amber Chronicles - This book is the first 10 chronicles of "Amber" a different reality where Kings and magic rule.  Full of court intrigue, plots and characters that never reveal what they are truly thinking, this is an interesting and original series.  A little long on the court intrigues and plots, but still a very good set of books.

J.R.R. Tolkien Boxed Set  - I almost hesitate to say anything really good about Tolkien's epic series, but it is truly the grandfather of all fantasy novels, and paved the way for many excellent books, games and movies.  Yes, the books are slow to develop and Tolkien seems to drift off track with pointless side adventures and endless hardship and moaning from his characters.  However, the epic tale of good versus evil was defined by these novels and Tolkien does a great job of telling the tale, right down the to details of the battles.  Skip "The Hobbit", the real story begins with the Fellowship of the Ring.