The Chalion series by Lois McMaster Bujold is excellent.
Glen Cook’s Garret series is good (Sweet Silver Blues is the first, they all have metal related names); basically a “private eye” in a fantasy world.
For another old but good series if you can find it I recommend the Lord Darcy books by Randall Garret. Basically, a detective series set in an alternate universe where Richard the Lion Hearted survived, rationalized, scientific magic rather than technology predominated, and the Plantagenets still rule the “Angevin empire”.
For a while I was turning to Simon R. Green’s NightSide series in between more serious endeavors. It was a good fluff series. But the best light fantasy has to be Tanya Huff’s Keeper Chronicles. She also has another series centered on vampires called the Blood Books. Both are good, in my opinion.
…in this thread. That’s what happens when you start getting older :D.
Enthusiastic second. A personal favorite of mine as well. Heavy on the fae, but well done in that regard ( unlike, say, de Lint, who I can’t get into ).
The HELL the Amber series is overrated. You CAN’T overrate it! It’s TOO DAMN GOOD! Many people regard Zelazny as the best fantasy writer of all time (yah, better than Tolkein, who simply was not as good a prose stylist as Zelazny, nor as original a thinker). Mark Twain once said the difference between a words that suffices and just the right word is the difference between the lighting and the lightning bug. Well, Zelazy is the lightning in fantasy writing, for the most part. Tim Powers is actually on par with him, but he does not really write series, except for the Last Call trilogy.
I am surprised at its lack of mention here. Maybe we are older than most and none have read it.
Been ages since I read through it but I recall it being, among my die hard fantasy friends, considered one of the finest fantasy books ever.
Admittedly there were points in the series that dragged but overall they moved along well and were a fully realized, detailed world with complex characters.
To me the biggest barrier was rooting for an anti-hero. I recall times being distinctly fed up with Thomas Covenant’s bullshit. In another way though that was interesting.
Overall a worthy read and one I would say any serious fantasy fan should have under their belt.
The Amber series is great and I love Zelazny but Tolkein is the base from which all fantasy is judged.
Apples and oranges really. There just is not a lot of comparison to be made between the two.
Still, as a fully realized world Middle Earth is hard to beat (and I say that admitting the Lord of the Rings is not my favorite fantasy series).
My favorite series is the Sword of Shannara series (because it was given to me by my brother and was the first “real” book I read that got me to love reading) and theRiftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist.
It has been 20+ years since I read either so keep in mind I was young when I read them but they totally hooked me into reading.
Don’t let the movies and TV series sway you. Read the books.
Again been ages since I read them so not sure how they are published now. When I got my set my older brother re-numbered the series for me into chronological order. I forget the order now though (IIRC my set started with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and my brother placed The Magician’s Nephew first…can’t remember the whole order now).
As an aside, and not sure it is fantasy strictly speaking, I strongly recommend Watership Down by Richard Adams. A book best for tweens it is still enjoyable for adults. Really, really great book. Nor fantasy as such but don’t let that or the description that it is about rabbits stop you. A true classic and great fun.
Your older brother secretly hates you. Read them in the order they were published. If you try to introduce someone to Narnia via the Magician’s Nephew, they will hate you forever. It is a prequel book and only of interest to people who are already familiar with the series as it explains why the wardrobe can take people to Narnia and how the White Witch got there.
Yup, I’ll second the Gentlemen Bastards series. I enjoyed them a lot. Also, Abercrombie’s First Law, already mentioned.
For those into really high fantasy, I also strongly recommend the Gormenghast series (well, the first two - avoid the third). It is at about the other end of the scale - it ain’t for everyone by all means, some folks hate it with a passion, but in my opinion it’s a work of utter insane genius and totally absorbing.
I’m curious about this “Unbeliever” series. What’s it like?
I’ve got a few of these books on hold at the library right now. Currently, I have a hold on:
Thomas Covenant is a man from our world who somehow finds himself pulled into another world. The “Unbeliever” refers to his attitude throughout almost the whole series that he’s hallucinating the whole thing.
The first series is really good, the second is good. I haven’t read the third at all. Be warned, though…it’s HARD to sympathize with Thomas Covenant. He’s a dick and an asshole (for what may be good reason, but still…) and he does things to other characters that are almost unforgivable.
Terry Pratchett is awesome, but he doesn’t start out that way. His first few books range from awful to meh. Fortunately, you don’t have to read them in order, and by Mort he’s got his stride going.
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files are also meh for the first few (though not bad, necessarily. Just meh). They pick up by book four, and start piling up the awesome. At one point he defeats evil necromancers by riding a polka-powered zombie t-rex, which I don’t think can possibly be topped by anyone.
Oh, and on the subject of Robin Hobb- I don’t know if it’s because I read them in the wrong order, but I liked the Tawny Man books much better than the Farseer ones.
I don’t know how I forgot the Dresden Files! Maybe I don’t think of them as Fantasy, but they are great. It’s “Urban Fantasy” so stuff happens in modern day Chicago, but it’s a fantastic series. Sort of Raymond Chandler meets every folk tale known to man…kind of, but *heavy *on the Raymond Chandler. I agree that the first few are good not great, and then the series just gets better.
Agreed, but I really do think you need to read Farseer first (and it’s not like those books are bad.) Maybe I am wrong though. It seems like a lot of people have read them the other way.
I made this exact same thread here a couple years ago, i wish i could remember who recommended the Malazan books so i could thank them. It is complicated, but the payoffs are worth it.
