Good suggestions. I definitely am in with Andy Weir, John Scalzi, and several others mentioned.
I’d also add that @orald brought up a very good idea, short stories. Phillip K Dick has a bunch of fantastic short stories that aren’t quick reads, typically around 200 pages or so.
I’d also throw Terry Pratchett in the ring. His stories are fun, short, and well told. Take a swing at Going Postal and see how that fits.
I just finished up book 3 of the First Law series and I cannot recommend it enough. I haven’t been this engrossed by a series and its characters since my first reading of Game of Thrones.
Oh wait! I can recommend a fantasy like series, known as the Gormenghast series by British author Mervyn Peake, though it is neither short nor concise but it is crazy atmospheric, or so I considered the second book in the series Gormenghast.
If you are looking for a bound fever dream give it a try. This is the only fantasy stuff I have read other than LoTR and the Silmarillion. All the other stuff seems like dreck to me.
(ducks and covers)
No one talks about it much, but I love Butcher’s fantasy series, the Codex Alera as well. Really hit a lot of nostalgia notes for me.
Oryx and crake by Atwood? I think it was easy to read.
Second the Stephen Brust recommendation. Also, Glen Cook has a sparse style. There’s the Black Company series, for one, and a few great standalones: Tower of Fear, the Dragon Never Sleeps.
If you don’t mind waiting awhile for the next book, I thought his new series was good
Oh, thanks! Hadn’t been keeping up with things recently and haven’t seen that. Looks like fun.
The Black Company series, fantasy as told from the POV of the mercenaries that the bad-guys hire to do their dirty work. Very down-to-earth, dark-gray morality, grim but funny.
Frequently builds up the anticipation for long boring segments, then says ‘then we took the castle’ or ‘that 5000 mile journey was long’ and moves on to more interesting things.
If you’re up for some urban fantasy, I quite like Ben Aarnonovitch’s Rivers of London series:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/51937-rivers-of-london
They’re fairly quick reads, and for me they feel like reading a TV-series.
The PKD short story anthologies are some of my favorite books.
Yeah, Gormenghast is just about the exact opposite of the kind of writing the OP asked for. (But, I’m with you–it’s why it’s some of the only fantasy that works for me…)
Thanks guys. I have to say I didn’t expect the thread to gain so much traction so quickly - I thought this kind of request would be somewhat niche, but maybe I was wrong.
I’ll probably start with Black Company because I’ve been told it has many similarities with Malazan (of which I managed to get through first 3 books and intend to finish it some day), but I really appreciate all the other suggestions too.
Can I only post laconic writers in this thread?
Agreed. When I started reading this thread Vlad Taltos jumped immediately to mind. I should really do a reread, I’m pretty sure there are a few newer ones I never got around to . Unfortunately my book backlog is starting to rival my game one and I feel a little guilty when I choose a reread over a new book.
Me three.