# More Fantasy Recommendations, please! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563 "2012-08-05T23:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/41 "2012-08-08T19:09:13Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My point is, once you’ve read the Belgariad, you’ve essentially read ALL of Eddings’ series, as he seems to have just one template for a series. He ALMOST did something different in The Elenium, but fell back on formula by the middle of book 2 or so. Still, I think his one template is pretty entertianing once. > [@](#): > > Mercedes Lackey? I’ve only read a couple of stories by her that were marginally acceptable. Yes, I’ve read Valdemar books. Not acceptable. My daughter used to work in a used book store, and would bring books home for us to read and then return them, so it was sort of like having our own private lending library. I read several Lackey books and I am to the point now where even if I can read them for free, I won’t bother with them. I wasn’t paying any money to read them, but I was spending my time. I’m with you. I haven’t found anything she’s written that I found remotely palatable. Oh, I disliked The Name of the Wind, too, and am not sure what people see in it. The small handful of pages that were taking place in the Present were pretty entertaining, but adolescent Kvothe pining over the least interesting woman he’s ever met and generally being more talented than he has any right to be was just annoying. And that was like 96% of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/42 "2012-08-08T19:20:33Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > The best one line description for a fantasy series i ever heard was about Valdemar - “My Little Pony goes to war!” Is that a [problem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJbAT1wzS8U)? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/43 "2012-08-08T20:19:34Z")
I just discovered Abercrombie in July and have read them all. Thank goodness he has something else coming out in October. I started reading [The Lies of Locke Lamora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lies_of_Locke_Lamora) by Scott Lynch earlier this week after I finished Abercrombie’s Heroes. It’s very good fun so far. I have Amazon to thank for this recommendation. **Edited: Oops, Lynch was your #9 and I did not even realize it.** Gene Wolfe is pretty much the best. I’d actually recommend _not_ starting with Book of the New Sun despite the above suggestion and the fact that it was the first Gene Wolfe I ever read. Start with [Pirate Freedom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Freedom). If you like that (and you assuredly will), read [The Wizard Knight](http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_Knight) books. These take a little more effort than Pirate Freedom, but it is a pretty natural progression from the former to the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/44 "2012-08-12T18:08:55Z")
About 200 pages into Mistborn. Seems like a workable concept for a video game, but it’s too gimmicky and sloppily written to work as a book. I might finish it anyway. My local Barnes has The Briar King, which will be next if the beginning does not induce involuntary cringing. Otherwise LOTR. If anyone has more suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Low fantasy is generally better 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/45 "2012-08-12T18:12:12Z")
> [@Paladud](#): > > About 200 pages into Mistborn. Seems like a workable concept for a video game, but it’s too gimmicky and sloppily written to work as a book. I might finish it anyway. Think of it as part one of a longer book, since the whole trilogy makes up one story. There are some neat twists along the way that change the way you view things. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/46 "2012-08-13T06:57:50Z")
Ah. I finished Mistborn, and haven’t bothered to pick up and read the sequels. I really don’t want to know that someone is pushing or pulling this or that metal, every single time. A one time explanation is good, with maybe some reminders, but I don’t need the details of how something works (in either magic or technology) every time it’s used. David Palmer informed the reader of every single adjustment that the narrator made to her airplane in “Tracking”. Most people aren’t pilots, and neither know nor care that his narrator turned this a tenth of a degree, and pulled that lever. This serial was what finally motivated me to quit renewing my subscription to _Analog_, because I figured that the editor should have done some editing and cut out about 90% of the technical stuff and focused on the story. And that’s what I want. I want the story to have enough details to make sense, but not so many details that it’s an instruction manual. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/47 "2012-08-13T09:39:19Z")
Harry Turtledove can be quite good: The Misplaced Legion, Agent of Byzantium, and The Case of The Toxic Spell Dump. Avoid the Krispos series. I didn’t enjoy his World War series. Martin Scott’s Thraxas books are a fun quick read. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/48 "2012-09-30T16:38:10Z")
Bump! I finished Mistborn. It boggles my mind that this has 4.5 stars on Amazon. The fantasy class war is handled considerably better in the Geneforge series (indie computer RPGs, strongly recommended - all five on Steam for $20 iirc; Mac versions exist but are much pricier). Currently re-reading Perdido Street Station (which is a lot better than I remember it - I have even less sympathy for Mieville’s politics now, but my English was inadequate the first time around) and The Blade Itself. Looking forward to the new Abercrombie and maybe Tom Wolfe. Still welcoming suggestions 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/49 "2012-09-30T17:30:34Z")
I’m super-curious what you think of “The Briar King”; are you still planning to read it? ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/50 "2012-10-01T22:01:28Z")
The “Briar King” starts off great and is very strong for the first 3 books. Then it falls off a cliff for book 4. I don’t know what the hell happened. Did he lose interest, did he mean to write a six book series but the publishers insist he wrap it up, i don’t know, but it’s so dissapointing i honestly couldn’t recommend starting it. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/51 "2012-10-11T15:29:19Z")
I’ve recently finished _Acacia_ (in the US, _Acacia: The War With the Mein_) by **David Anthony Durham** and enjoyed it a lot. Big fantasy with 7 or 8 point of view characters. I found it engrossing but I’m taking a break to read some other stuff before starting volume 2. Here’s his [webpage](http://www.davidanthonydurham.com/novels/acacia.html) with some reviews of it. ---
**Author:** ![Seamack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@Seamack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seamack)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/52 "2012-10-12T08:16:23Z")
Haven’t seen this mentioned in the thread so far > **[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Strange_%26_Mr_Norrell)** > > Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the debut novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. Published in 2004, it is an alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Its premise is that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centred on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundaries between reason and unreason, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Dane, an... not by any means your typical fantasy read but as I fantasy fiction fan, I feel it ticks all the right boxes. By no means similarly… > **[Julian May | The Saga of Pliocene Exile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_May#The_Saga_of_Pliocene_Exile)** > > The Trillium series began as a three-way collaboration. After the first book, each of the three authors continued the series on her own. ticks even more of the right fantasy boxes. Strictly speaking it’s more sci-fi BUT it really is epic fantasy underneath. I’d rank either of these just below GRRM and Abercrombie ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/53 "2012-12-01T18:10:50Z")
Finally got around to the Briar King. Halfway through the first book and will not be buying the second. The writing feels weak (perhaps as a consequence of reading it concurrently with a run through Abercrombie) and I do not care for the characters at all. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/54 "2012-12-01T18:25:38Z")
While not strictly Fantasy C.J.Cherryh’s Foreigner series reads much like a fantasy. She also writes many fantasy novels although they are mostly aimed at young girls. Another sci-fi author I like who also writes fantasy is L.E. Modesitt Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563/55 "2012-12-01T23:11:04Z")
> [@Suil\_Dubh](#): > > I can recommend you NOT read Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s “Death Gate Cycle”. > > I started reading this series years ago in high school but never got around to finishing it. Awhile ago while visiting my folks, I found my copies of the first few books in storage, and so I decided to try and read through them again. > > I remember now why I gave up in the first place. The whole series was poorly plotted, characters were flat and unbelievable with unconvincing motivations, despite the fantasy setting everyone spoke in 20th Century vernacular, there were trite stereotypical fantasy tropes everywhere, etc. etc. etc. > > So I gave up again. _sigh_ I really wanted to like this series, too. The idea for the setting (four worlds created out of a sundered Earth, each world based on one of the traditional elements) was neat, and the Keith Parkinson covers were attractive. Too bad. See I had the opposite experience. I thought it was cool the way the good guys and the bad guys slowly switched places. Yeah it was cliched but I thought it had a lot of interesting twists, and I remember buying the last book and staying up that night finishing it. One of the few books I’ve read in one sitting. Disclaimer: I haven’t read it since I was a teen, and some (but not all) of the stuff I liked back then I’ve re-read recently and it _sucked_ - most of the _Forgotten Realms books_, Dave Eddings and RA Salvatore come to mind. So my taste in books has changed and broadened much since. But I do remember it as being a cut above most run of the mill fantasy. Recently I’ve read JV Jones’ Sword of Shadows series, which I thought was pretty good. The last book wasn’t the expected conclusion though, so I’m not sure if there’s more or if it’s just supposed to be _really_ open ended. It’s the sequel to the _Baker’s boy_ series, which I also liked. Her stuff is a bit dark but the characters feel more realistic that most fantasy cliches. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-fantasy-recommendations-please/630563.md?page=2)