# Point me towards some good trashy fantasy fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2011, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723 "2011-12-19T10:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/21 "2011-12-20T11:33:47Z")
> [@spanna](#): > > David Eddings - Belgariad & Mallorean > Maria V Snyder - Poison Study > Raymond E Feist - The Riftwar Saga & The Empire Trilogy (Loved the Empire Trilogy) > > I only read The Alera series this year and loved it so we may have different tastes I would agree with Eddings - both are good reads… I have had Feist recomended to me but have yet to read. You could Give Rober Jordan - Wheel of Time a go - no dragons more sword and sorcery type. For fun - Terry Pratchett - Guards Guards - its got dragons in it… and Piers Anthony - Xanth - Land of Magic with dragons - mostly on the perifery but some have dragons as a main part of the story. ---
**Author:** ![YoDoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e68b1a/32.png) [@YoDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoDoc)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/22 "2011-12-20T12:14:37Z")
Coldfire Trilogy - C.S. Friedman ---
**Author:** ![BlueKangaroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BlueKangaroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueKangaroo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/23 "2011-12-20T15:46:31Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Hambly wrote the Dragonsbane sequels right after her ex-husband, her soul mate, died. He was her ex for legal reasons, but she still loved him very, very much. She was in a great deal of pain when she wrote those books, but she had a contract. ANY book that she wrote during that time would have been very painful to read. > > Or at least this is what I’d heard. Interesting. That would, in particular, explain _Knight of the Demon Queen_. **bldysabba** , your spoiler is only sort of right. Might be worth a re-read, if you’re that type. ETA: Oh, also, **YoDoc’s** recommendation is very good. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/24 "2011-12-20T16:04:33Z")
I always liked Brian Daley’s _Doomfarers of Coramonde_. There was a somewhat less good sequel, _Starfollowers of Cormamonde_. The characters are all over-the-top caricatures (almost Mary Sues) with powers and abilities, but that’s what you _want_ in trashy fantasy, right? And there’s a dragon named Chaffinch (ironically), although he’s a “bad guy.” And they drive an M-113 APC into Hell. _Actual_ Hell, not metaphorical. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/25 "2011-12-20T17:19:41Z")
Trashy? The [Gor series](http://books.google.com/books?id=WAZYPgAACAAJ&dq=0345275837&hl=en&sa=X&ei=e8PwTqTYAeaeiQLauMCqDg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA) by John Norman. Edgar Rice Burroughs for kinksters. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/26 "2011-12-20T17:28:25Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > …Has anyone read Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next or Last Dragonslayer books? I read ‘Shades of Grey’ by him and loved it, but unfortunately it’s only the first book of a trilogy that is not rushing towards completion. I read _The Eyre Affair_ earlier this year. It had its moments but was mostly meh for me. Dunno about “trashy,” but… _God’s Demon_ by Wayne Barlowe is a very interesting book about a top demon in Hell leading a rebellion against Satan in order to return to God’s presence in Heaven. Very interesting - even rather touching by the end. Barlowe is better known as a sf/fantasy illustrator - his _Barlowe’s Inferno_ is an unsettling, illustrated tour of Hell (owing a lot to Dante, of course) that goes well with _God’s Demon_. _The Last Unicorn_ by Peter Beagle is a good short stand-alone fantasy novel. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/27 "2011-12-20T17:30:01Z")
[_The Worm Ouroboros_](http://www.amazon.com/Worm-Ouroboros-Illustrated-Dodo-Press/dp/1409950336/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324401961&sr=1-1), by E. R. Eddison, is among the first true high fantasy novels. It’s a classic of men with huge muscles who can take out entire armies, mysterious dark-haired ladies with secrets to hide, big battles, intrigue, and larger-than-life everything. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/28 "2011-12-20T17:37:17Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I read _The Eyre Affair_ earlier this year. It had its moments but was mostly meh for me. The \* Eyre Affair \* is probably the best of the Thursday Next books. After the first, the “Book World” takes over and it’s just so precious and twee that it really ruins the surreal bizarreness of Thursday’s actual world. Shades of Grey is much better – the world is surreal but there’s a strange logic underlying it all. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/29 "2011-12-20T17:49:10Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > The \* Eyre Affair \* is probably the best of the Thursday Next books. After the first, the “Book World” takes over and it’s just so precious and twee that it really ruins the surreal bizarreness of Thursday’s actual world. Eh, I particularly liked the “Book World,” and I seem to recall enjoying the third volume the most. To each his own. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/30 "2011-12-20T18:14:36Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Shades of Grey is much better – the world is surreal but there’s a strange logic underlying it all. The world was fantastic. I’m not much for world building as a rule if it’s given precedence over the story, but Shades of grey did the world building as such an organic part of the story, and the world was so consistent and unique that I really walked away from the book very impressed. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/31 "2011-12-20T18:57:32Z")
> [@BlueKangaroo](#): > > Interesting. That would, in particular, explain _Knight of the Demon Queen_. > > **bldysabba** , your spoiler is only sort of right. Might be worth a re-read, if you’re that type. > > ETA: Oh, also, **YoDoc’s** recommendation is very good. I am indeed that type, and will pull it out again. Have also added the Coldfire trilogy in the to-read stack. > [@Sailboat](#): > > I always liked Brian Daley’s _Doomfarers of Coramonde_. There was a somewhat less good sequel, _Starfollowers of Cormamonde_. > > The characters are all over-the-top caricatures (almost Mary Sues) with powers and abilities, but that’s what you _want_ in trashy fantasy, right? And there’s a dragon named Chaffinch (ironically), although he’s a “bad guy.” > > And they drive an M-113 APC into Hell. _Actual_ Hell, not metaphorical. Sounds fun. Added. > [@standingwave](#): > > Trashy? The [Gor series](http://books.google.com/books?id=WAZYPgAACAAJ&dq=0345275837&hl=en&sa=X&ei=e8PwTqTYAeaeiQLauMCqDg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA) by John Norman. Edgar Rice Burroughs for kinksters. Much as I love me some Tarzan, I could never quite get into his other books, and the Gor series just seems to be similar, but, as you say, for kinksters. Think I’ll give it a pass 🙂 > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I read _The Eyre Affair_ earlier this year. It had its moments but was mostly meh for me. > > Dunno about “trashy,” but… > > _God’s Demon_ by Wayne Barlowe is a very interesting book about a top demon in Hell leading a rebellion against Satan in order to return to God’s presence in Heaven. Very interesting - even rather touching by the end. Barlowe is better known as a sf/fantasy illustrator - his _Barlowe’s Inferno_ is an unsettling, illustrated tour of Hell (owing a lot to Dante, of course) that goes well with _God’s Demon_. > > _The Last Unicorn_ by Peter Beagle is a good short stand-alone fantasy novel. God’s Demon seems to be set in a hell very similar to Mike Carey’s Sandman spin-off “Lucifer”. I wonder if that came from Dante, since that’s where their version of Lucifer was from. I quite liked The Last Unicorn. Very well written. > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > [_The Worm Ouroboros_](http://www.amazon.com/Worm-Ouroboros-Illustrated-Dodo-Press/dp/1409950336/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324401961&sr=1-1), by E. R. Eddison, is among the first true high fantasy novels. It’s a classic of men with huge muscles who can take out entire armies, mysterious dark-haired ladies with secrets to hide, big battles, intrigue, and larger-than-life everything. That’s an interesting recommendation. And only 3$ for the Kindle edition. Will get it. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/32 "2011-12-20T20:57:46Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > Bujold has written some fantasy. I like her Chalion books, but I did not like the first Sharing Knife book. She also has a book called The Spirit Ring, set in alternate renaissance Italy. You might try the rest of the Sharing Knife quadrology [4 books, quad, right? 😕] ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/33 "2011-12-20T21:02:56Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Trashy? The [Gor series](http://books.google.com/books?id=WAZYPgAACAAJ&dq=0345275837&hl=en&sa=X&ei=e8PwTqTYAeaeiQLauMCqDg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA) by John Norman. Edgar Rice Burroughs for kinksters. I enjoyed the first 5 or so. After that Norman became _way_ too obsessed with the whole breaking-a-slave thing. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/34 "2011-12-20T21:24:06Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I enjoyed the first 5 or so. After that Norman became _way_ too obsessed with the whole breaking-a-slave thing. I understand that there are thirty novels in the series. I think I made it through the first six and gave up. I was a teenager at the time and I got pulled in by the cover art (Boris Vallejo). ---
**Author:** ![Bloodless\_Turnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Bloodless\_Turnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloodless_Turnip)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/35 "2011-12-20T21:25:35Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > I am indeed that type, and will pull it out again. Have also added the Coldfire trilogy in the to-read stack. > > Sounds fun. Added. > > Much as I love me some Tarzan, I could never quite get into his other books, and the Gor series just seems to be similar, but, as you say, for kinksters. Think I’ll give it a pass 🙂 > > God’s Demon seems to be set in a hell very similar to Mike Carey’s Sandman spin-off “Lucifer”. I wonder if that came from Dante, since that’s where their version of Lucifer was from. > I quite liked The Last Unicorn. Very well written. > > That’s an interesting recommendation. And only 3$ for the Kindle edition. Will get it. That book is available for free also, since it’s so old I presume. [link](http://www.manybooks.net/titles/eddisoneother060602051.html) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/36 "2011-12-20T21:46:08Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I’m reading the Thursday Next series now. They’re lots of fun but I wouldn’t call them trashy or fantasy. Not sure what I’d call them, actually. SF for book nerds? > > Have you read any Tim Powers? You’d probably like _The Anubis Gates_. I’m not sure it would be reasonable to characterize anything Tim Powers has written as “trashy.” ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/37 "2011-12-20T21:47:08Z")
> [@Bloodless\_Turnip](#): > > That book is available for free also, since it’s so old I presume. > > [link](http://www.manybooks.net/titles/eddisoneother060602051.html) Ah. I really should have thought to check myself, but you saved me some needless expense. Thanks for pointing that out! ---
**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:** [December 20, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/38 "2011-12-20T21:47:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Interesting. That would, in particular, explain _Knight of the Demon Queen_. Yes. I was VERY excited when that book came out, as _Dragonsbane_ has been one of my all-time favorite books. What a disappointment the next two books in the series was. I think that she was in the “anger and denial” stages when she wrote those particular books. I read her website and livejournal occasionally, so I sometimes know what she’s doing and feeling. I’ve tried to like the January series, but I just can’t get into it. I’ve been buying digital copies of her fantasy works that are set at least partially in another world, such as the Untutored Mage and the Windrose chronicles. She’s written some Further Adventures of her old characters, and I need to figure out how to get them onto my Nook, as they’re only available online. The publishing house that offers her digital copies needs to have a HUMAN proofreader go through the books, though. The software seems to think that “th” = “m” and vice versa. So instead of “me” the word is rendered as “the”, or the other way around. Very distracting. But I keep buying up the older books, as I know from experience that I’ll read dead tree versions to tatters. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/39 "2011-12-20T21:48:28Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Trashy? The [Gor series](http://books.google.com/books?id=WAZYPgAACAAJ&dq=0345275837&hl=en&sa=X&ei=e8PwTqTYAeaeiQLauMCqDg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA) by John Norman. Edgar Rice Burroughs for kinksters. It’s worth noting that the warriors in Gor ride around on giant eagles. They figure most prominently in the first book, Tarsman of Gor, (the giant eagles are called “tarns”) and the kink is toned way down in the first book compared to the later books. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723/40 "2011-12-20T21:50:50Z")
> [@spanna](#): > > Raymond E Feist - The Riftwar Saga & The Empire Trilogy (Loved the Empire Trilogy) I’m not a fantasy fiction kind of guy but these are REALLY good! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/point-me-towards-some-good-trashy-fantasy-fiction/606723.md?page=3)