# Recommend me some fantasy novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 25, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909 "2007-08-25T18:24:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909/81 "2007-08-30T15:22:37Z")
They might be characterized as science fiction, but Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom books are pure fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909/82 "2007-08-30T16:18:54Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Actually, I have. Lots of sex ( in case that offends people ), some of which is quite kinky, but fairly good. [/QUOTE] Well, they were published by Playboy. I’m sure lots of sex was a pre-requisite. But you still get disembodied spirits, demons, magic, battle scenes, and a queen trying to get her throne back from her evil twin sister. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909/83 "2007-08-30T16:56:54Z")
Quoth **Malthus** : > [@](#): > > Has anyone mentioned the Fafhurd and the Grey Mouser series by Fritz Lieber? They are classics of the genre. They’re also very difficult to find. All I’ve read is “Ill Met in Lankhmar”, which would have been enough to get me hooked on the series, if I could just get my hands on them. Quoth **rjk** : > [@](#): > > For TPWombat and others who want consistent magic, there’s Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy. Practitioners of the various branches keep to themselves, but the hero must learn them all. Oh, yeah, I should have mentioned this one, too. The writing isn’t the greatest, but he makes up for it with his magic system(s). And physicists will enjoy a lot of inside jokes in the series (Hardy is a physics professor by day). Like, for instance, at one point the protagonist literally summons a demon tasked with separating out fast-moving water molecules from slow-moving ones. Quoth **Epimetheus** : > [@](#): > > Unless it contains magic (not Psionics, which is decidedly scifi) it is Science Fiction (Sci-Fi). Rather an odd distinction, there… Any other kind of magic makes something fantasy, but if the magic is psionic, it’s science fiction? Fans of speculative fiction need to just admit that psionics is a kind of magic. And it can fit quite well into fantasy: Off the top of my head, both the Jhereg books and the Bahzell Banakson books contain psionics, and are both unambiguously fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909/84 "2007-08-30T17:08:20Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Quoth **Epimetheus** :Rather an odd distinction, there… Any other kind of magic makes something fantasy, but if the magic is psionic, it’s science fiction? Fans of speculative fiction need to just admit that psionics is a kind of magic. And it can fit quite well into fantasy: Off the top of my head, both the Jhereg books and the Bahzell Banakson books contain psionics, and are both unambiguously fantasy. [/QUOTE] I didn’t make the distinction up. Psionics come from the brain, not from some mystical force outside. Sure, it doesn’t conform to our understanding of Physics, but neither does some of the other “science” in Science fiction, such as faster than light space ships or copying your brain into a computer. You would have to classify those as magic too. And then, what wouldn’t be magic and considered fantasy except some book that conforms exactly to our level of understanding of physics. Like a John Grisham Novel. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909/85 "2007-08-30T17:25:21Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Quoth **Malthus** :They’re also very difficult to find. All I’ve read is “Ill Met in Lankhmar”, which would have been enough to get me hooked on the series, if I could just get my hands on them. [/QUOTE] I have three volumes of these stories – Swords’ Masters, The Knight and Knave of Swords, and The Three of Swords. Apparently they comprise the six volumes of the Fafhrd stories. I thought maybe they were treasures, but Amazon sellers are offering them starting at a penny. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909/86 "2007-08-30T17:47:14Z")
Seconding The Young Wizards series, also don’t miss [The Book of Night With Moon,](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Night-Moon-Diane-Duane/dp/0446606332/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7767541-4448651?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188496059&sr=1-1) and [To Visit the Queen](http://www.amazon.com/Visit-Queen-Cat-Novel/dp/0446673188/ref=pd_sim_b_1/103-7767541-4448651?ie=UTF8&qid=1188496059&sr=1-1), books set in the same universe, sort of an offshoot of her Young Wizards series. Also seconding The Dragon and the George, Earthsea, Conan, Darksword Trilogy, Darkover, both [Robert Asprin’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Asprin) MYTH series, (There is MYTH Adventures and M.Y.T.H. Inc.) as well as his Phule’s Company books, and the Sword of Truth series. What about Madeleine L’Engle’s [Time Quartet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Quartet), if you are willing to look at Young Adult fantasy? Also try [Mercedes Lackey’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Lackey) [The Halfblood Chronicles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Halfblood_Chronicles) and each of these: Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (1990) with Ellen Guon Summoned to Tourney (1992) with Ellen Guon Bedlam Boyz (1993) with Ellen Guon (prequel) Beyond World’s End (2001) with Rosemary Edghill Spirits White as Lightning (2001) with Rosemary Edghill Mad Maudlin (2003) with Rosemary Edghill Bedlam’s Edge (2005) with Rosemary Edghill Music to My Sorrow (2005) with Rosemary Edghill What about the Gryphon trilogy from Andre Norton’s [Witch World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_World)? I bet you can still find secondhand copies of those books. The Crystal Gryphon (1972) Gryphon in Glory (1981) Gryphon’s Eyrie (1984) with A. C. Crispin The Thieve’s World books aren’t bad, collections of short stories. I recommend [Lythande](http://www.amazon.com/Lythande-Marion-Zimmer-Bradley/dp/0886771544/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7767541-4448651?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188495252&sr=1-1) and [The Gratitude of Kings](http://www.amazon.com/Gratitude-Kings-Marion-Zimmer-Bradley/dp/0809500485/ref=sr_1_1/103-7767541-4448651?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188495306&sr=1-1) by Marion Zimmer Bradley. If you can find any of the Magic in Ithkar series, BUY THEM! I bought [Magic in Ithkar 4](http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Ithkar-Franklin-Robert-Adams/dp/0812547195/ref=sr_1_4/103-7767541-4448651?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188495403&sr=1-4), and have been searching for the rest ever since. Also, you might try [Peter Moorword’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Morwood) The Demon Lord, The Horse Lord, and the Dragon Lord books, from his Book of Years series. Another good series is set in[Forgotten Realms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Forgotten_Realms_novels), The Empires Trilogy: Horselords, by David Cook, Dragonwall, by Troy Denning, Crusade, by James Lowder. I don’t know if you’d like any of the Drizzt books, or the Legacy of the Drow series or not. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909/87 "2007-08-30T17:55:27Z")
Ack! Also look into the Forgotten Realms [Songs and Swords](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Forgotten_Realms_novels#Songs_.26_Swords) books by Elaine Cunningham: Elfshadow Elfsong Silver Shadows Thornhold The Dream Spheres ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909/88 "2007-08-30T19:40:35Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] Well, the first book, [Bridge of Birds](http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Birds-Novel-Ancient-China/dp/0345321383/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8542943-8242225?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188254197&sr=8-1), has been recently re-released, and is available new at Amazon. For the second, The Story of the Stone, I’ve got a spare copy I could send to you - contact me via PM or email if you’re interested. Can’t help you with a cheap alternative for Eight Skilled Gentlemen. [/QUOTE] Oddly, both Bridge of Birds and Eight Skilled Gentlemen are both available at Amazon.ca, but not Story of the Stone. I’m almost through Bridge of Birds right now. What a hoot! I’m loving it - funny, moving, atmospheric and inventive. And very different from most fantasy. Somewhat reminiscent of the Kai Lung stories: [Kai Lung's Golden Hours: Bramah, Ernest: 9781587152092: Books - Amazon.ca](http://www.amazon.ca/Lungs-Golden-Hours-Ernest-Bramah/dp/1587152096/ref=sr_1_7/701-5884321-6017121?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188502721&sr=1-7) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-fantasy-novels/416909.md?page=4)