hmm, gulo gulo, although i find Terry Goodkind stangely addictive, i would point out that they have a fairly graphic S&M tone. just in case Estilicon doesn’t like that kind of thing.
i quite like Sherri S Tepper, she wrote a mammoth book about some sort of fungus with God-like powers “Raising the Stones”. it’s better than it sounds, although most people recommend you read “the Visitor”. i havn’t, so i can’t comment
I prefer Eddings Sparhawk series, but that’s just me.
Jordan gets silly after book four.
Herbert’s Dune? It’s on the sci/fi fantasty line, but an oldie and a goodie.
of course Terry Pratchet should also be mentioned, although strictly not truly “fantasy”, definitely worth a look-see.
Steven Brust - anything based on his Dragaeran world.
Raymond E. Fiest - Got me started on fantasy books with Magician: Apprentice and the the Rift War Saga. Avoid his newer works like the plague, especially the latter half of the SerpentWar Saga.
Elizabeth Haydon - The Rhapsody Trilogy, excellent series IMO. Excellent writer.
Frank Herbert - Dune Series… Classic. A fantasy story in a sci-fi setting.
David Eddings -The Elenium. Read it a long time ago but I really enjoyed it
I tend to like fantasy in modern (or at least not medieval) settings, so let me throw out some names not yet mentioned.
John Crowley is a fantastic artist and his Little, Big may be the best fantasy I’ve read. Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale is another literary fantasy with some absolutely gorgeous prose.
On the lighter side, one of my all-time favorite books is Who Censored Roger Rabbit, by Gary Wolf, the unremembered original to the Who Framed Roger Rabbit movie. The plot is far more clever than the movie and it’s a good mystery as well with two of the least likely suspects in crime novels.
For about five or six years I read no fiction because everything I read kept me thinking, “So what? Some jerk just made this crap up.” Then I was introduced to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. Now I’m hooked. I cannot recomment them strongly enough.
I like John Morressy’s Kedrigern stuff. Only problem is, unless you can find them haunting used book stores, most of the novels are out of print, although Meisha Merlin Publications are bringing out a three-volume omnibus. The first one is already out, and it has the first two novels and several short stories. The next volume should be sometime this summer.
What I like about them is that they’re well-written and are a refreshing change from the traditional wizard genre. Morressy makes amusing puns and references in passing, without overdoing them. There’s been a few Kedrigern short stories in the last couple years of F&SF, so you could go to a library and see if they have that particular periodical.
I just realized that nobody has mentioned Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It’s a version of the Arthurian legend from the point of view of Morgaine, who is not remotely an evil, manipulative witch. Excellent, classic fantasy.
And if you like these alternative point of view stories, check out Wicked by Gregory Maguire. It’s the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from her POV, and it turns out she’s neither wicked, nor a witch, and not even from the West.
Technically it’s Sci-Fi, but it’s got a strong enough fantasy flavor that we read it in a course I took on fantasy literature. The teacher was a big Ursula LeGuin fan, and we also did A Wizard of Earthsea, which is definitely fantasy, and which is the first volume of the Earthsea trilogy that by now is up to at least four books.
Off the top of my head I would recommend Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and the Merlin series by Mary Stewart.
Another good one is Spindle’s End by Robyn McKinley- a nice twist on the classic Cinderella story.
When your local Dark Lord send out the Orcs to do battle, just how do the Orcs feel about this? Ms. Gentle points out that they feel much like any other footslogger. Very funny, especially when the Orcs manage to acquire modern automatic weapons. :eek:
The Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. Basically, an alternate history of post-revolutionary War america if folk magic was actually true.
A. A. Attanasio did a series re-telling the Arthur legends, but throws in some quantum mechanics and cosmology to explain the sorcery (basically applying Clarke’s law to Merlin). It covers little people, Norse mythology, unicorns, dragons, and magical swords. Kind of odd, but at least the cover art is interesting.
Finally, the best series I’ve come across lately is the “Banned and the Banished” by James Clemens. Some interesting takes on elves, dwarfs, and ogres, plus a well-done epic storyline.
For some one-off books, if you like the Diskworld books, you’d also like Good Omens (Pratchet and Neil Gaimen), about the Biblical Apocalypse. No really, it’s a comedy! The Anti-Christ is the hero, for God’s sake (pun slightly intended).
And as long as I’ve brought up Gaimen, his American Gods is a nice read as well.
Not a real big name, but I have a couple of books by Diana Wynne Jones that are just hilarious. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a tourist’s guide that includes about every modern fantasy cliche, I think especially lampooning the Sword of Shanarah series (which isn’t bad itself). It’s set up as an encyclopedia, though, so not really a novel. Then there’s her Dark Lord of Derkholm which wrapped a story around all the cliches, but the catch is that the main villian is forcing the inhabitants of a magical dimension to act them out for his “tours of fantasyland”.
Here are my recommendations;
Kay - the fionavar tapestry
Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Donaldson - Thomas Covenant (both chronicles)…can’t believe that you despise them
Friedman - Coldfire trilogy
Vance - Lyonesse series, Dying Earth
Pratchett - DiscWorld (for a different take on fantasy)
Silverberg - Lord Valentine, Majipohr (sp?)
Weiss & Hickman - DeathGate Cycle
Barker - Imagica (might be pushing the qualification of Fantasy)
these are just a few of the top of my head
For some reason I never got into Moorcock, Brooks, Feist and Goodkind…
I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. I, in fact, would rather reread the first five rather than the last five. Two exceptions to this would be the chapters titled 'Dumai's Wells' in #6 (Lord of Chaos) and 'With the Chodan Kal' from #9 Winter's Heart. The new one? Crossroads of Twilight? *feh* I am, however, a completionist, so I will continue.
More suggestions:
Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quartet- this is some classic stuff
Frank Herbert’s Dune series, if you just want to be confused and weirded out as time goes on.
I’ll second the recommendation of MZ Bradley
And something noone has mentioned, yet- Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series. You just can’t beat half-angel, sado-masichistic, medieval-like court intrigue. Jocelyn is hot. Seriously hot. g
Sara Douglass! I loved (almost said LUUURRRBED!) the entire Tencendor series. 6 books originally published in Australia as a double trilogy (the Axis trilogy and the Wayfarer Redemption trilogy)
I, too, await the fourth installment of A Song of Ice and Fire…supposedly due out late this year. Also due out this year- The Order of the Phoenix (#5HP) and Kushiel’s Avatar (the last in the Carey trilogy). Not a bad year for fantasy reading, all in all.
The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories are the real thing. You should be reading them and not my post.
Indeed I am compelled to enthuse over the ‘old ones’ who are responsible for most of this.
Jack Vance, Lin Carter, Poul Anderson and L. Sprague DeCamp too. (Unbeheaded King rocks!)
Sure the stories are a little dated now and not the ‘deepest’, but for me they do the trick. These guys knew how to deliver the goods in one tight short story.
I think the fantasy short story is a neglected medium.It just seems a gateway for an author to establish themself and then crank out countless volumes in a series of diminshing quality.
I’ve only recently returned to reading a series…damn you George R.R. Martin, I will have my revenge!!
And Guy Gavriel Kay, please write another like Lions of Al-Rassan. Bloody book made me cry.
IMHO, no fantasy background is complete without reading Ray Bradbury.
My favorites: The Martian Chronicles and October Country.
The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon is a trilogy which keeps the reader occupied for quite awhile. It is sort of a sword/sorcery tale, but is rooted in the gritty reality of the life of a woman soldier.
Also:
Jack Whyte’s retelling of the Arthurian tale, The Camulod Chronicles.
But Mary Stewart’s version is my favorite.
Have really been enjoying author Connie Willis. Her Doomsday Book is fantastic.
Alessan, you probably also liked A Song for Arbonne, considering your username. I think Song is Kay’s second best novel, though all of them are excellent.
Not sure if the OP is into graphic novels, but Neil Gaiman’s Sandman could certainly qualify as fantasy, and it’s an amazing read.
All the books that I’m going to reccomend have already been reccomended (curse you dopers, and your excellent taste in books. ).
Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy. Excellent series. I think it gets of to a slightly shaky start - some people don’t like the first book much, although I loved it - but is one of my favourite series. She then follows it with the Liveship Series, which is good but not amazing. After that is the Tawny Man series, which is a return to form. (If you’re going to read them you should definitely read them in that order, despite the fact that there’s little apparent connection between the Farseer and Liveship trilogies). As has been mentioned they’re rather depressing, but only because she can really make you care about the characters.
George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire: Amazing. The setting is admittedly fairly unoriginal, but the characters are very well done, the plot is excellent and he’s not afraid to kill people off.
The Prydain Chronicles (which are not in fact called the Black Cauldron series) are pretty good.
The tales of Alvin Maker by Orson Scott Card: Slightly frustating in that there’s no sign that he will be finishing the series in the near future. His answer as to when he will write the next book has been “Eventually” for quite a while now. Otherwise they are very good books.
Terry Pratchett: Amazing author. Might want to skip the first few books, at least to start with, as they’re not his best. Try starting with the Guards books. (The first of those is ‘Guards! Guards!’ I think).
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