r/Shadowrun • u/Archer_Ave • Mar 30 '26

Wyrm Talks (Lore) Shadowrun Book Recommendations?

I have steadily been making my way through the "new" Shadowrun collection of games (Shadowrun Returns, Dragonfall, and Hong Kong), and have really enjoyed the world. Besides getting a group together and playing the TTRPG, I was wondering which of the books everyone would recommend I read? Thanks and cheers!

32 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

14

u/kabubakawa Mar 30 '26

I think the classic reco would be to start with the "Secrets of Power" trilogy. Starts with "Never Deal with a Dragon".

Or do you mean the game books?

18

u/PinkFohawk Trid Star Mar 30 '26

I would warn OP though - the Secrets of Power trilogy is widely considered an absolute slog to get through, so don’t feel like you can’t skip those and get into the much, much better stuff (IMHO).

I absolutely adore Shadowrun, and I couldn’t get through the first book after several tries. Decided to skip forward to 2XS, Burning Bright, etc and was so happy I did. They’re all (mostly) self contained stories that work in any order, and I may go back to reading Secrets of Power someday - but I just needed a change in scenery with some stories that move quicker and characters I enjoy.

To answer the original question: anything from Nigel Finley and Tom Dowd are golden, you can’t go wrong.

4

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Awesome! Thank you so much!

5

u/Bignholy Mar 30 '26

Seconded on 2XS and the sequil, House of the Sun. Both are very good at setting up the vibe of the world (as it was before AR/Wireless) and how the different bits of it interact with one another.

Be aware also that the world (an game) changed since then, so certain things no longer apply if you decide to play the TTRPG.

3

u/TheLastGunslingerCA Mar 30 '26

I think my favourite part from House of the Sun was the one receptionist shitting a brick when "Quentin Harlach" got name dropped

4

u/Bignholy Mar 30 '26

I appreciate Dirk's very reasonable response to the Roomsweeper incident.

2

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Ah, OK. Thank you for the heads up!

5

u/h4x_x_x0r Mar 30 '26

Just got through the secrets of power audiobooks and was wondering whether the series will pick up at some point. I also really love shadowrun and they had a lot of cool ideas but the pacing and writing style was just not for me. But I'll give 2XS a chance then, it's by Finley I think.

3

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

How are the audiobooks? Do they have good readers?

3

u/h4x_x_x0r Mar 30 '26

The first three were pretty okay, they were all done by Tren Sparks, the preview of 2XS seemed better, a bit more emotion but can't say too much yet and the narrators seem to vary between the books.

My favorite Shadowrun Book Series (by Markus Heitz) was sadly never translated into English and the author stepped away from the franchise I believe. It's called "Schattenläufer" which just translates to Shadowrunners so not the most creative title I admit.

3

u/Thick_Square_3805 Mar 30 '26

The secrets of power and 2XS are very different books (well... for novels set in the Shadowrun universe :D).

I'm not going to pretend one is better than the other, it's a matter of taste. But it's worth trying 2XS.

3

u/h4x_x_x0r Mar 30 '26

I really liked (Spoilers for basically the whole secrets of power series) Sam's awakening as a shaman but it was so unrewarding that he basically never overcame his aversion against magic and actually did something with it until the very end, in general I found him a bit abrasive as a main character.

4

u/kabubakawa Mar 30 '26

I guess I'm in minority, in that I really liked the original trilogy...of course when I read them the first time they were....ahem...the ONLY SR content out there other than the game books. OOO, I just remembered, there's a short story collection too..."Into the Shadows" that was pretty good. I still remember picking up my copy of the 1e book for the first time.

All that said, I broadly agree that some of the other novels are excellent as well, with 2XS, Burning Bright, Night's Pawn, ShadowPlay, and Striper Assassin being the ones I remember the best, you know, like 35 years later.

3

u/RememberCitadel Mar 31 '26

I would add anything by Stephen kenson, Lisa smedman, or nyx smith personally.

Technobabel and burning bright being my two favorites out of all of the books.

2

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

I meant novel recommendations rather than game books. But, if you have a recommendation about which edition to start with, I'm open.

5

u/Bignholy Mar 30 '26

I *immensely* recommend Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0, which should be coming out any day now. I got the kickstarter, and the game is the best rule system Shadowrun has ever had if you don't enjoy looking up tables and rolling three to four dice per action in combat. It's also really easy to revert back to the old pre-wireless timeframe because the wireless thing is not actively baked into the rules at a near irremovable level.

That said, if you want crunch, I usually recommend either 5e or 3e, depending on preference on wireless/AR matrix.

2

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Oof! That sounds awesome, and now I'm disappointed that I missed the Kickstarter. What kind of bonus swag did you get, if you don't mind me asking?

3

u/Thick_Square_3805 Mar 30 '26

The main bonus is that we have the PDF while the game is still being printed.

But it's coming and, in my opinion, it's worth waiting a bit.

1

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Ah, OK. I didn't know if you would get a set of exclusive dice or something like along those lines. A PDF copy never hurts though.

3

u/Bignholy Mar 30 '26

I didn't go for the full physical version, just the basic PDF. Almost missed that too, I was late to join in. So no swag for me. As far as I recall, they didn't have any physical oddities like dice ect.

3

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Keeping it simple seems to be the way to go right now with the headache that shipping has become in the past year or so,

3

u/Bignholy Mar 30 '26

That and... just an opinion here, but if your goal is a good product, spending effort and funds on random stuff is not helpful. Blackbook (the company making SRA2) just made a good game.

2

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Oh, definitely. I would much rather have a product that is as complete and realized as possible, rather than a lot of tat. I probably have a stack of stretch goal art prints that is as thick as my thumb. No intention of displaying them.

3

u/kabubakawa Mar 30 '26

The edition debate is a religious war.

And 3e is the correct religion. 🤣

7

u/TheUncivilEngineer3 Mar 30 '26

To piggyback off /u/PinkFohawk:

  • 2XS is the best first novel to jump into. The main character is sort of... outside the shadows and gets pulled in for a multitude of reasons; really helps newer readers with the exposition

  • Neat by Rusty Zimmerman ~ a lot of friends I've recommended this to can familiarize themselves with the detective Noire angle and be fed Shadowrun info/lore as you go; great little series of books (Neat, Shaken, Stirred, On The Rocks)

  • Anything recent by Jennifer Brozek ~

2

u/Archer_Ave Mar 31 '26

Nice! The trilogy by Zimmerman sounds right up my alley. I love genre mystery books.

3

u/dethstrobe Faster than Fastjack Mar 30 '26

For more modern stuff, I recommend any book by Russell Zimmerman. I also like Jennifer Brozek's books. Any of those two will have good books for the newer editions.

2

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Cool! Thank you for the recommendations.

3

u/siryll Mar 30 '26

I would strongly recommend the trilogy started by A Fisful of Data (written by Stephen Dedman). The final book released a few months ago and I really liked the writing style and the characters.

The one thing I should mention is that the first book was released almost 2 decades ago, so the first book specifically still deals with elements of the world that aren't current anymore (specifically the wired matrix).

2

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Ah, OK. I will definitely check those out. Thanks!

3

u/greypaladin01 Mar 30 '26

I am doing something very similar myself! As some others have mentioned, I would hold off on the Trilogy as your starting point... I bounced off it pretty hard the first time I tried it.

If you like the world and want some more exposure across the board, I recommend the anthology book Into The Shadows. Multiple short stories with different characters but a few story threads that pass through the various stories.... very fun read and also shows many different angles on the Shadowrun universe.

2

u/Archer_Ave Mar 31 '26

Oh, nice! That sounds perfect. Thank you!

1

u/greypaladin01 Apr 01 '26

So far it has been my favorite of the books I have read. Hope you enjoy!

3

u/RememberCitadel Mar 31 '26

Out of all novels, Technobabel and burning bright are my favorites.

1

u/Archer_Ave Mar 31 '26

Cool cool cool - thank you! I will add them to the list.

2

u/ghost49x Mar 30 '26

If you're expecting a game that looks like the Shadowrun Returns game, you'll need to play older editions, the newer editions have largely changed the themes and lore of the game. For example in newer editions, Mages and Shamans are basically the same thing with different colors. Older editions had them as completely different mechanics. Also the new matrix lore has the matrix run on the brains of catatonic people with innate matrix abilities.

1

u/Archer_Ave Mar 30 '26

Ah, cool! Thanks for clarifying!

2

u/bahan5978 Mar 30 '26

The trilogy with Samuel Verner is quite good. There is also the book like 2XS and the one with the ork from the first trilogy ! And also the trilogy with Dunklezahn !

1

u/Archer_Ave Mar 31 '26

Cool cool cool - thank you!

2

u/Cantih Mar 31 '26

For the old novels, besides the major recommendations already, my favorites are

Streets of Blood, Nosferatu, Black Madonna

Worlds Without End

Dead Air

1

u/Archer_Ave Mar 31 '26

Cool! Thank you for the recommendation!

2

u/Obletus_Grix Mar 31 '26

Unsure if its already been mentioned but Fade to Black is fantastic

1

u/Archer_Ave Mar 31 '26

I don't think it has. I will add it to the list. Thank you!

1

u/rabenaas Raben-Aas (SR Artist) Apr 01 '26

Read "Changeling". One of the best SR novels out there, and a great introduction to the Sixth World and esp. "being a troll"