So for the past year grad school has made it impossible for me to read anything outside of class. I can’t remember the last time I read a book that had a coherent plot and likeable characters that actually do stuff instead of sitting in corners having existential crises. Well, now I’m free, and eager to get back to being a fantasy novel whore, but I’ve been so out of the loop that I don’t know where to start.
For a start, here are some series I’ve enjoyed:
The Farseer Trilogy, The Tawny Man Trilogy (Hobb)
The Symphony of the Ages (Haydon)
A Song of Ice and Fire (Martin)
Chronicles of Prydain (Alexander)
The Demon Child Trilogy (Fallon)
I never liked Goodkind, Brooks, or Douglass. Feist is okay, but I find his books repetitive. I’ve read two Bujold books and liked them both, but I have a feeling she might turn out to be like Feist. Yes, I’ve already fallen into the Jordan trap. I’ve wondered about Eddings and Donaldson - are they any good?
Neil Gaiman is great–check out American Gods and Anansi Boys, and the Sandman trade paperbacks. Douglas Adams, of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is always classic.
I’ve really enjoyed Jasper Fforde’s books, like The Eyre Affair, and Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana and A Song for Arbonne. How about Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell?
I really like Lynn Flewelling’s Hidden Warrior trilogy. The first book is The Bone Doll’s Twin. Her first trilogy is good, too, but I’d read the second one first.
You should check out China Mieville (Perdido Street Staion, The Scar, Iron Council). Its steampusk-ish fantasy, very original and not Tolkeinesque in the slightest. (Mieville is a great admirer of Tolkein but not an imitator).
Oops, forgot to mention Gaiman. I love the Sandman graphic novels. Fforde is a favorite as well.
JS&MN has always intimidated me because of its sheer length. People have been recommending it to me for forever, but for some reason I had no idea it was a fantasy book.
Thanks for the recs so far, guys. The more the merrier!
Just the thought that someone might think Mieville is imitating Tolkien… hee!
How about the classics, caught up on:
Roger Zelazny’s Amber books (at least the first 5)
Gene Wolfe Book of the New Sun series, and Soldier of the Mist
Patricia McKillip’s Riddle-Master of Hed series
Tanith Lee’s Flat Earth series
good timing if you haven’t read Phillip Pullman’s Golden Compass (/ Northern Lights) series
I’m enjoying Steven Erikson’s “Malazan Book of the Fallen” series. The first book is Gardens of the Moon.
I just looked at the Wiki entry, hoping for an enticing summary. Nope. There’s a summary, but it makes the series look hopelessly, unnecessarily complicated.
It is complicated, but since there are no tests at the end of each book, I’m reading them anyway.
A couple of new ones you might enjoy are The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. They read sorta light after the Erikson books, but they’re pretty good.
I’m also enjoying the Bartimeaus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. Young magician, djinn, power struggles, humor, violence, lots of fun.
Jack Vance’s classic Dying Earth works have been collected into a single volume. If you have ever played Dungeons and Dragons you will immediately pick up on where the magic system came from :
Better IMHO, if not nearly as seminal, is his Lyonesse trilogy. Very much the High Fantasy, with wizards, political strife amongst kings and mischieveous faerie. It’s set in an Ireland-sized Hy Brasil in the Bay of Biscay in a fictionalized version of early medieval Europe.
You can always go for Tim Powers, for more modern fantasy. His pirate classic ( complete with Ponce De Leon’s Fountain of Youth and functional Voudun ) On Stranger Tides was just recently reprinted:
I came here to mention Mieville’s Bas Lag books. Without engaging in hyperbole, I think that they’re probably the best fantasy novels of the past 30 years or so, if not longer.
:: looks suspicious :: That’s one of them literature books, ain’t it?
Actually, it is on my must-read list, but for the moment I’m looking for something slightly more adventure-oriented and less introspective. Thanks for the reminder, though - I definitely do want to read it at some point.
Pullman I love - sooooooooo psyched about the new movie. I didn’t know Tanith Lee had written novels - I’ve read one of her short stories, which I liked a lot.
If you can find them, try Hugh Cook’s Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series. Ten books in all, each with a different main character and plot line, but with some intersection between the minor characters and events in the various books. His style is somewhat unique and very hard to capture. Tons of action, plenty of dark humor, and a little bit of romance and sentiment when you least expect it. His books are very violent, sometimes gruesome in the same way as George R. R. Martin’s, but they also have strong messages of redemption. They’re harshly realistic, with characters suffering disease, starvation, and every possible form of brutality.
The first book is The Wizards and the Warriors. It was also published in the United States as Wizard War. Don’t be put off by the generic title; it’s very different from any other fantasy series out there.
A thought, if you’re looking to not-quite-literature, would be Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. (Quit reading after the 6th book and you’ll be alright) Another thought would be George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides, if you want a single volume story. (Though that’s more post-apocalyptic modern society from a survivor angle, from 1949)
Edit: Ah, sorry, didn’t see what you said about adventure. Read Tolkien yet?
Feist is a good way to go, then; check out the other trilogy, The Empire. It’s got plenty of good high points and the low ones level out. His standalone Legends of the Riftwar are also good. His Wiki has lots and lots and lots of information and should help you tailor-pick books. (It really is a model for all other authors out there!)
Great Googly Moogly. She’s written rather a lot of novels. IMO, her earlier ones are the better. Start with Night’s Master (which may be currently out-of-print) – it reads rather like a short story collection, anyway.
Have you read anything by Diana Wynne Jones? She writes YA fantasy novels and she is wonderful. I particularly recommend Howl’s Moving Castle and her Chrestomanci series.
I also recommend Bridge of Birds: A Novel of Ancient China That Never Was by Barry Hughart. That was one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year. I love the way the plot wrapped up in the end. Here’s a review that describes it better than I could.
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