A big Terry Brooks fan here. His Shannara and *Running With the Demon[i/] series are good. I’m not too crazy about the Magic Kingdom for Sale ones though.
Haven’t read this series for awhile, but IIRC it is a bit of a spoof. Zany. If you like the funny stuff, read the Myth Inc. series by Robert Asprin. Hilarious stuff. Thieves world is good too.
Too many. Like 15 or so. Found this out the hard way when they were suggested to me as a good series and I tried to go buy them at B&N. They had like #'s 3, 9, 11-15, but not 1-2, 4-9, or 10. Terrible. (Ok, many of them are collections of short stories but still)
I swear I have read the Amber series like 8 times. Any more and I will Morph into Zelazny. (not that it would be a bad thing) Zelazny is truly a master. A MUST read.
I’ve never met a book by Gene Wolfe I didn’t like.
For a quick intro, I would recommend Soldier of the Mists, which has one sequel, Soldier of Arete.
If you like longer series, the Book of the New Sun series (starting with Shadow of the Torturer) is one of my favorites.
Big sweeping fantasy, deep detailed backgrounds, intricate character development - it’s all there.
(Oh, and another vote for Zelazny. Zelazny and Wolfe - I really like hanging out at that end of the alphabet at the bookstore.)
Well, thanks to another Doper, I discovered
"Daughter of the Forest" by Juliet Marillier.
It’s a trilogy (I mean, the book has two sequels), although I haven’t read #2 and #3 yet as I am saving them as my reward for completing this stupid thesis.
Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown. (Chronologically, they go the other way around, but they’re best read in the order they were published.) She has several standalone novels, mostly fairy tale retellings, which are worth your attention as well.
Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Okay, there’s one catch here: it’s actually a comic book series. But if you’re not a comic book reader, don’t let that stop you. Buy them in trade paperback form and think of them as fantasy novels that happen to have a lot of illustrations. It’s really far too good to pass up. Gaiman also has several actual novels, although they’re all standalones: Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Good Omens (coauthored with Terry Pratchett) and the short story anthology Smoke and Mirrors. All his stuff’s fantasy of a sort, although not sword-and-sorcery.
And I can second the recommendations for early Mercedes Lackey, Philip Pullman, Tamora Pierce, and Weis & Hickman’s Death Gate Cycle (I never did get into Dragonlance, though I tried).
I second Rosebud’s recommendation of Hodgell. Godstalk may well be may favorite novel of all time.
My next recommendation, after I finish gushing about Hodgell, is Barry Hughart’s Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox. It’s an omnibus of *Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, * and Eight Skilled Gentlemen–three exceptionally amusing novels set in a fantasy version of ancient China.
Don’t get too excited, Rosebud. I have a couple of things to tell you:
First, I already have Blood and Ivory.
Are you done hating me yet? Good.
Second, it’s not the next book in the series, although it’s certainly worth buying. It’s a collection of Jame short stories set at various times–it includes “Bones”, a story set well into Jame’s future, and an alternate history type thing with Jame on Earth (at a university :eek: ). I still don’t know when we’ll see the next book in the actual series. Given the fact that I looked for Dark of the Moon for seven years before I found a copy, I’m prepared to wait as long as it takes.
Nah, I don’t hate you Balance 
I’ve read “Bones,” but not the other two (are they totally new?) so any Hodgell I don’t have is Hodgell I want.
I’ve been trying to get hold of Hughart’s Chronicles for a while now and am not having much luck. Loved Bridge of Birds, which is yet another one I found out about on these boards.
(Jame rocks!)
I got Blood and Ivory in the leatherbound edition (along with the other three books) from the now-defunct Hypatia Press a few years ago. The other two stories are totally new, and good reading. Like I said, it’s well worth buying, and I’ll probably buy a copy from Amazon, so I’ll have one to loan out.
I just checked on the Chronicles, and Stars Our Destination Books is sold out right now (they’re the only source for the book). I suspect that people calling and asking about the book will lead them to print another run sooner.
I posted the whole porcupine cookery bit from Bridge in the “Surreal Recipes” thread a few days ago. 
There are only 6 books to the original Elric Saga. Two more were later released to fill in some of the gaps between plot lines. They are all relatively short books, 200 pages or so.
The poster above that encountered 15+, I believe is confusing the Elric Saga with a later re-released collection of writings by Moorcock. He has written many series about several different incarnations of the Champion Eternal. Most, if not all of his work, was out of print and so they were re-released in hard cover compilations, of which there were 15 (or more?).
By him I’d also recommend the series about Corum. Initially just a trilogy called The Swords Trilogy, another trilogy called The Books of Corum was written later.
I’d also second R.A. Salvatore, particularly the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Icewind Dale Trilogy (classic AD&D stuff). He wrote more novels with the same characters, but it’s all down hill after those 6 IMO.
And another second of the Terry Brooks Shannara series.
I’ve heard so much about Fahrfd and the Grey Mouser, I guess it’s about time I went and picked up the books.
Thanks for the suggestions. It’s amazing how many of them I’ve read and forgotten about, but there are lots here I’ve never even heard of. Keep them coming, please!
Oh, and I’m still waiting for someone to comment on the Recluse series…
Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionnavar Tapestry (a trilogy) is breathtaking. I cried while I was reading the second book. Kay helped in the preparation of the Silmarillion, which is pretty much sitting at the feet of the master.
His other books are good, but the Fionnavar Tapestry is outstanding in my opinion.
Thank you, Idlewild. For a moment I thought I’d have to start chewing off body parts.
How many times do I have to say it, folks? Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay. Get it now? Good. Now GO BUY HIS BOOKS.
-BK
<sigh>
I liked the ideas behind Recluce, but I actively disliked nearly all of the characters. The few that I liked at all had relatively small parts, like Krysta in the first book. I quit following the series fairly early. It’s like the Jordan’s neverending heap–the only way I’ll read another one of those is if someone promises me that at least 95% of the characters from the previous books (including all of the main characters) die horribly in it.
You know, what’s-his-name that wrote Tigana is pretty good, too. <g,d,&r>
Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni series is great.
Really breaks out of the whole “elvers/dwarves/dragons” rut.
Wonderful storyteller.
Smeghead,
I cannot believe that you didn’t like Tad Williams’ “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn” books. While the series didn’t have dragons and wizards all over the place it was really well written with a good plot.
Give Tad William another try and pick up “Tailchasers Song”. It is something like a cat version of “Watership Down”.
Slee
If you haven’t read it already, you must try The High House, by James Stoddard. This book is the best fantasy novel for adults that I’ve ever read. It is highly original and totally different from anything that you’ve read before. I guarantee that you’ll be completely hooked after you’ve read the first twenty pages. There’s also a sequel called The False House, which I haven’t read.
The only thing that’s saving you right now is the nice things you said about Jordan.
Awwww, what the hell. ::paw slap:: :wally:
I enjoyed the first series of The Chronicals of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. It’s been years and years and years since I read it, and I never finished the second series.
The series (three books) concerns Thomas Covenant, a bitter man who has leprosy. He insists on going into town to pay his bills in person, even though (and because) the locals are terrified of contracting his non-communicable disease. On one of these trips he is hit by a truck and awakens in a lush green land. He begins to get feeling back in his fingers – what’s left of them; he lost two fingers on one hand to his disease. He believes he is in a coma in a hospital somewhere and his present situation is all in his head. Hey, why not rape that pretty girl? It’s only a dream!
He is misteken for “Berek Half-Hand”, a legendary hero, who has come to save the world from the clutches of the evil sorcerer whose name escapes me at the moment. He finds he “powers” granted to him by his white gold wedding ring (white gold is exceedingly rare and is a metal of power; he was divorced from his wife).
As jmizzou said, some people love the books and some hate them. I’m with the former. I wish Easton Press would print them.
PAW. PAW SLAP. 'Cause, you know, kitty and all. Bloody coding.
Well, skipping those already mentioned, you might try:
Alice Borchardt’s wolf trilogy (Silver Wolf, Night of the Wolf and The Wolf King)
Steven Brust’s Jhereg series
Michelle West’s Sacred Hunt duology and the Sun Sword series that follows it.
Juliet McKenna’s Tales of Einarinn
I liked some of the earlier Recluce novels, especially The Magic Engineer. And I have to back up the Deryni novels.