Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Hi.
I'm looking for great books with middle-aged MCs.
Could you recommend me some titles please?

Thank you.💜

First thing to come to mind is Kings of the Wyld

thank you Chris. :)

First Book in Series

Heroes Die
The Blade Itself #1 (Most of the MC's in the First Law series)
The Prefect
Space Team
Legend
Hyperion
Jhereg
Aftershocks
Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors
The Feedback Loop
Altered Carbon
Relic
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
Dark Matter
Old Man's War
Patient Zero
Moon Called
The Silent Corner
Death Qualified
The Sparrow
Stillhouse Lake
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Sleeping Giants
Carpe Demon
Sandman Slim
The Sword-Edged Blonde
Something from the Nightside

The House in the Cerulean Sea - a standalone where the MC is 40 years old

oh! Thank you Soo!!! That's awesome.

I also wanted to ask you if Bujold's Vorkosian has any middle-aged MCs or her Sharing Knife.
I remember you reading that with Iain.

Yes to both. My fav character in Vorkosigan Saga is Miles. It starts off when he is younger but it follows him as he gets older. The series features other MC's and there's a range for them. Most of them will be mid-30's+. If you read that one, I recommend starting with The Warrior's Apprentice.

I didn't mention any of the ones that start with young and gets older. lol

Sharing Knife - Dag is an older man. Fawn is young. They're the main characters for the series. They're great characters.

Dreamer's Pool - Blackthorn & Grim are older characters. =)

Not sure if you only want fantasy or SF as well. Here are my fantasy faves:
Paladin of Souls
City of Blades
NK Jemisin's The Broken Earth trilogy
Wyrd Sisters

Soo wrote: "Yes to both. My fav character in Vorkosigan Saga is Miles. It starts off when he is younger but it follows him as he gets older. The series features other MC's and there's a range for them. Most of..."

I loved Dreamer's Pool and need to continue with the series.

And I'll add those two of Bujold also to my list. Thank you. :)

I'm putting together a master list of books with Middle-aged MCs - traditionally published and Indie both and will try to read as many of those as possible.

And I honestly wonder why there aren't any lists about this topic on GR.
I for one feel the need to read about older more down to earth characters too once in a while. Not only young rash MCs who make me wanna smack them upside their heads occasionally.

If you remember any other titles please tell me those too.

Oh. And do you have any idea about The Black Prism. Is the MC older?

Then there is Sword in the Storm I know Waylander has an older MC but not sure about this,

Silvana wrote: "Not sure if you only want fantasy or SF as well. Here are my fantasy faves:
Paladin of Souls
City of Blades
NK Jemisin's The Broken Earth trilogy
[book:Wyrd Sisters|34..."

Both fantasy and SF are good. Thank you. :)

I didnt know about Wyrd Sisters and City of Blades. The others are among my all-time favorites.
If you remember any others let me know please.

The Black Prism - From what I remember, yes.

Soo wrote: "The Black Prism - From what I remember, yes."

Thank you. :)

There are a couple lists I found for older protagonists.

Old(er) Women in SFF

Another Older Protagonists list
"A vile and cowardly ort of feces recommends mature protagonists"
The title was too extra to not include.

I do so love books with older protagonists. They're so sensible.

Melissa wrote: "There are a couple lists I found for older protagonists.

Old(er) Women in SFF

Another Older Protagonists list
"A vile and cowardly ort of feces recommends mature protagonists"
The title was too..."

Agree with you.

Laura wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Not sure if you only want fantasy or SF as well. Here are my fantasy faves:
Paladin of Souls
City of Blades
NK Jemisin's The Broken Earth trilogy
[book..."

For SF:
Planetfall series by Emma Newman, or at least the first two books : [book:Planetfall|24237785] and After Atlas. I have yet to read the rest.

Lady Astronaut series but more on the later books. I however will strongly recommend the Hugo winning novelette The Lady Astronaut of Mars.

Other fantasy/genrebender recs Wild Seed and The City & the City.

I have seen some threads discussing older/mature protags in SFF in other groups, but need to do some digging.

Dittoing Eames' Kings of the Wyld, N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy, Mary Robinette Kowal's Lady Astronaut Series, Scalzi's Old Man's War and more. So nice to see all the recommendations!

A note on TJ Klune's House on the Cerulean Sea, which I could also not recommend more. It is a big fuzzy hug of a book, and I came out of it loving everyone.

Also, everyone whose tossed Lois McMaster Bujold's books in, you are all folks after my own heart. I'm going to add my own thoughts on to that...

For the Vorkosigan saga, I'd actually recommend starting with Shards of Honor and Barrayar.
The first two books introduce Miles' parents, in their 30s and 40s respectively, as they have their meet-cute in the midst of an unexplored alien planet--on opposite sides of a pending war. Also, I tried introducing my local book club to Miles with Warrior's Apprentice to gentle them in--and the ones who took my advice and read the "prequels" first enjoyed it a lot more than those who didn't. Though you can start cold with Miles, the payoff is more if you get the background, and you definitely get more invested in the characters. Even Bujold recommends reading everything in chronological order. Plus, I love love love Cordelia.

Bujold's books in the World of the Five Gods, especially The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls feature protagonists in their 40s or so. Bujold has described some of her stories as second coming-of-age stories, "because growing up isn’t something you do once and then stop; it’s a continuous-flow-process over a person’s lifetime." I also love the Penric Novellas, set about 100 years or so before the Chalion books, but Penric (like Miles, actually) starts out about 18, and each story he gets a little older. Bujold is wonderful at writing episodes in a person's life, rather than world arcs.

Going to add a few more books on:

Jane Lindskold's Child of a Rainless Year features a protagonist just turning 51, and discovering a potentially magical heritage she never suspected.

Pretty much every book by Carol Berg features a protagonist in their 30s or later, and the story is told from the middle outwards, where discovering the past of the character and world is integral to surviving the future.

Madeline Miller's Circe and Genevieve Gornichec's The Witch's Heart both feature immortal goddesses whose characters feel more middle-aged than young. Both books explore themes of love, betrayal, self, and motherhood on the backdrop of Greek and Norse mythology, respectively.

Not fantasy, but still a really fun book: Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow features a middle-aged Russian aristocrat confined to house arrest in a fancy hotel after the Russian Revolution. It's a touching story and a fascinating peek at an interesting time in history.

I can think of many series and authors who follow a character from say mid-twenties or so and keep going up their lives. Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, even James S.A. Corey's Expanse all start off with their characters fairly young, but they keep getting older. Expanse especially, with a 20 year time jump in the middle. And Butcher's character work with Dresden just sneaks up on you...second to Miles, he's probably my favorite character ever.

All of my books in my library are in boxes right now, so I'm afraid that's the best I can do for now. May revisit this thread later!

Really cool to see everyone else's recommendations! Excited to check some out.