Fantasy Books

[Pape_27]

Yeah...I'm surprised that no one really keyed in on this one. It certainly has it's flaws, but it will always be near the top for best fantasy series.

very hesitant to add that series to any must read list til its done... same for grrm song of fire and ice...

Both series are fustrating because of the sheer amount of time it's taken to get new material

[Myrddinman]

very hesitant to add that series to any must read list til its done... same for grrm song of fire and ice...

Both series are fustrating because of the sheer amount of time it's taken to get new material

Totally understandable. At least the end is near...well for WoT anyway

[Tom318]

Totally understandable. At least the end is near...well for WoT anyway

Did he manage to write an ending?

[Myrddinman]

Did he manage to write an ending?

From what I understand, the ending has already been there and it was just a question of how long it was going to take to get there.

Brandon Sanderson has copious notes and Harriett (Jordan's companion and editor) who he dictated the ending to while still in the hospital before he passed. After his death, there was so much material to wrap the series up, that Brandon had to split it into 3 more books, two of which he has written and released. He is now working on the last book currently.

[markymarksta]

I concur with some of the above posts; Raymond E. Feist. He's writes fast paced action with great character development inherent in every novel. Start with The Magician, however I would be surprised if you have not read it already.

I recently read 'The Painted Man' (I think it may be titled The Warded Man in the US) and The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett. It was fresh and interesting.

The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski (Polish writer) was also fresh and enjoyable.

Looks like I will have to read some of the OP's suggestions as well.

[SynalonEtuul]

Harry Potter, sorry but I did enjoy the books they got alot better as they got older.

Haha, why apologise? They are legitimately good books.

The Eragon Series, some co-workers told me it was a must read and I did enjoy the books.

I read Eragon and Eldest, but I stopped reading because of a few points. Firstly, the magic system is possibly the most boring system of magic I've ever encountered in any work of fiction. Secondly, certain things broke my willing suspension of disbelief; why didn't Durza, a powerful Shade, just use one of those boring words of power to kill Eragon, as he had no magic training at that point. If this was explained somewhere, I missed it.

If you like Piers Anthony try out his Blue Adept series: Split Infinity, Juxtaposition and The Blue Adept. One of the best mixes of science fiction and fantasy out there.

I tried reading that series, but I couldn't get past the first half of the first book. Stile is a complete Mary Sue. He's brilliant at everything, clever, physically able, attractive, has a beautiful robot woman fall in love with him...then he travels to the magical world and finds out he's a mage and tames the impossible-to-tame unicorn that's also another beautiful woman who promptly sleeps with him. I almost burned the book in disgust. Aren't there more sequels than just the ones you mentioned, though? Like, I think there are some that deal with his children and his children's children etcetera.

Stephen R. Donaldson (Thomas Covenant Series)
Lord Foul's Bane
The Illearth War
The Power That Preserves

Oh my god, I love these! So many cool characters, such a great setting...ahh, but Hile Troy, my favourite, I weep for you ;__; Did you read the next trilogy? I'm halfway through it and it is even better than the first.

If you are willing to try sic fi fantasy then the latest Culture novel by Ian M Banks is out. If you wanted to start nearer the beginning I woul skip 'consider phlebus' and go with 'player of Games'

Ahh, The Culture! I am also a fan. I've read The Player of Games and Use of Weapons, and I've just started Consider Phlebas; obviously, having read only the first few pages I'm hardly an authority on the subject, but I'm confused as to why so many counsel against reading it first. The ambiguous setup of the Iridans versus The Culture seems like an excellent introduction to the setting, one which I suspect would be more exciting to new readers as their understanding develops - a nuance which would be lost on older readers, such as myself.

I personally recommend the following:

Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician trilogy, comprised of
The Magician's Guild
The Novice
The High Lord
I also understand there to be other prequels/sequels

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch - only the first two have been published, with the third (of a planned seven) having been delayed about 3 years now.
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Red Seas Under Red Skies

Of course, possibly my all-time favourite series is one nobody has ever heard of. Other than my father, who introduced me to the books, I've only encountered one person - online and in real life - who had read them. In fact, he was an EU player of this game with a character called Obsidian. Hopefully he still plays, but I wouldn't know as I play on Ghallanda and he is most assuredly on Cannith. Anyway, the books were called The War of Powers, and originally consisted of 6 novels which were condensed into 2. If anyone has read them, or is inspired to read them by this post, I would be very interested in hearing about it.

[SilkofDrasnia]

Raymond E. Feist
u need to read them all lol dont forget the ones by Janny Wurts (empire series) as they about Pug aka milamber) when he got captured by the baddies in the riftwar . there whole load that continues the story its a rather good series

Tad Williams
the dragonbone chair (its a triligoy) Stone of farewell, to green angel tower

terry goodkind
sword of truth series - trust me the book have nothing whatsoever to do with the suck arse tv series that was canned

david eddings -the belgariad series followed by the mallorean (need to be read in order they followe same group of people then The Elenium series followed by The Tamuli they also go together but not with first 2 series his dreamers series suck skip it

mercedes lackey
all the books that take place in the valdemar world the bardic one are good to n some other she worth looking into http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Lackey

robert jordan
wheel of time his last book in the series is been written by another author as he died before finishing it.

david gemmel
drenai series

guy gavriel kay
Tigana and fionavar tapestry

C.S. Friedman
the coldfire trilogy

robin hobb
as mentioned by a previous poster

Stephen R. Donaldson.
not fan of the man himself but he did write some good books covenant series (3 series) also mordants need (two books) and the gap series (this is a sci fi series tho)

troy denning
prism pentad series was not bad it take place in the dark*sun dnd setting

gordon r d ickson
dragon knight series

robert asprin
thieves world anthology- very very good stories by various authors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thieves%27_World also his Myth series (Another Fine Myth, Myth Conceptions etc

heh we in a ddo game forum n no ones mentioned this ... i cant believe it lmao

micheal moorcock
Elric of Melniboné stories - they rather dark xD but i loved em

melanie rawn
the dragon prince and dragon star series (they go together) also ambrai- loved her work xD

margaret weis tracy hickman
deathgate cycle and rose of the prophet trilogy

leo frankowski
the cross-time engineer (about a guy from our time that ends up in the past because some future people dont properly close a time portal n hes stuck in the past because when they find out he changed to much history already

christopher stasheff
wizard in rhyme series and star stone(2 books)

barbara hambly
the darwath trilogy and the windrose chronicle

i have read an own every one of these books barring a few that have been damaged with time n i havent replaced yet and they all worth reading (i have more but cant be bothered to go look in my book room n dig thru all the shelves


edit:

Ursula K Le Guin
earthsea books

TH White
once n future king

Anne McCaffrey
pern books

Lloyd Alexander
chronicles of prydain

Piers Anthony
incarnation series

dont know why these slipped my mind ...

[Lost_Leader]

From what I understand, the ending has already been there and it was just a question of how long it was going to take to get there.

Brandon Sanderson has copious notes and Harriett (Jordan's companion and editor) who he dictated the ending to while still in the hospital before he passed. After his death, there was so much material to wrap the series up, that Brandon had to split it into 3 more books, two of which he has written and released. He is now working on the last book currently.

And he has already done a great job on the two he has written. The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight did a great job wrapping up the obscene amount of loose ends that R.J. had. It seemed that for his last 4 or 5 books, really since Fires of Heaven, the story was getting out of control. Each novel had more and more tangents with nothing getting finished. Kudos to Mr. Sanderson for herding that pack of cats.

As a long time WoT reader, Sanderson's great job using R.J.'s notes made me want to read his work, and I was very happy I did. Mistborn is brilliant, and with a sequel trilogy on the horizon, I am very excited. Elantris was a fun read, and Warbreaker was very unique, though not my favorite of his works, it was still a good read.

[SilkofDrasnia]

And he has already done a great job on the two he has written. The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight did a great job wrapping up the obscene amount of loose ends that R.J. had. It seemed that for his last 4 or 5 books, really since Fires of Heaven, the story was getting out of control. Each novel had more and more tangents with nothing getting finished. Kudos to Mr. Sanderson for herding that pack of cats.

As a long time WoT reader, Sanderson's great job using R.J.'s notes made me want to read his work, and I was very happy I did. Mistborn is brilliant, and with a sequel trilogy on the horizon, I am very excited. Elantris was a fun read, and Warbreaker was very unique, though not my favorite of his works, it was still a good read.

i agree he did a great job on the two books so far towards completing jordans work but i didnt find his own work "brilliant" but its was good n i enjoyed it very much

[lazylaz]

Here's a few you might like, I don't think anybody has mentioned them yet.

Katherine Kerr's Deverry books, starting with Daggerspell.

Michael Scott Rohan's Winter of the World trilogy and the stand alones.

The Book of Words series by J V Jones, starting with The Baker's Boy and then just keep going from there into her next related series.

Just about anything by David Gemmell (RIP).

I second just about everyone else's suggestions.

[Ganolyn]

Originally Posted by Ganolyn
If you like Piers Anthony try out his Blue Adept series: Split Infinity, Juxtaposition and The Blue Adept. One of the best mixes of science fiction and fantasy out there.

I tried reading that series, but I couldn't get past the first half of the first book. Stile is a complete Mary Sue. He's brilliant at everything, clever, physically able, attractive, has a beautiful robot woman fall in love with him...then he travels to the magical world and finds out he's a mage and tames the impossible-to-tame unicorn that's also another beautiful woman who promptly sleeps with him. I almost burned the book in disgust. Aren't there more sequels than just the ones you mentioned, though? Like, I think there are some that deal with his children and his children's children etcetera.

You have to finish the books to know why all that is. I don't know about any more books, the only ones I read were the first three which finish off Stile's story.

[Iftan609]

The best fantasy books ever The Moriguesec
ration and The Morigu:The Dead most complex battle scenes I've ever read. No other books even compare

[SilkofDrasnia]

You have to finish the books to know why all that is. I don't know about any more books, the only ones I read were the first three which finish off Stile's story.

theres more books etc but piers anthony just has a younger target audience so.. kinda like cs lewis does

piers anthony

* 1 Split Infinity (1980)
* 2 Blue Adept (1981)
* 3 Juxtaposition (1982)
* 4 Out of Phaze (1987)
* 5 Robot Adept (1988)
* 6 Unicorn Point (1989)
* 7 Phaze Doubt (1990)

[SynalonEtuul]

You have to finish the books to know why all that is. I don't know about any more books, the only ones I read were the first three which finish off Stile's story.

I don't know if some in-universe justification would even make it seem better. He was still the boring, impossibly-good-at-everything hero that reeks of author wish fulfillment.

[SilkofDrasnia]

I don't know if some in-universe justification would even make it seem better. He was still the boring, impossibly-good-at-everything hero that reeks of author wish fulfillment.

stiles is a goody goody its his nature but the next story of the next generation is better (mach/bane)

btw the 27 xanth book briefly visits phaze in cube route

[Nysrock]

People have already mentioned some of my favorite series so I will go into some they missed.

Paul Hoffman
The left Hand of God: Trilogy
Currently only the first in the series is out but very good.

Brent Weeks
The Black Prism
First in a new trilogy. Author of the Night Angel trilogy that others mentioned and I love to read.

Richard Kadrey
Sandman Slim ,Kill the Dead and Butcher Bird
Not really a typical fantasy book as it can get pretty dark and deals with Hell and such but they are all great reads.

Gary Gygax
Gord the Rogue Series
Set in Greyhawk this series is another one that is fun to read. There was also a second series set in Greyhawk that followed a Wolf Nomad named Mika that was also good. Older books but a must read if you can find them.

Paul Kidd
WhitePlume Mountain, Descent into the Depths of the Earth and Queen of the Demonweb Pits
All are fun reads that use some old Greyhawk modules as the setting. Who doesn't want a sentient Hellhound pelt?

[MeliCat]

Maybe you like TERRY PRATCHETT'S "Discworld" Novels ... I read them all and enjoyed them a lot.

I would argue this is more social commentary than fantasy. Very clever. And his writing has got better over time. Doesn't really segue with the OP books although I do agree that Pratchett is excellent.

I got recommend Scott Lynch 'the lies of Locke lamora' over lunch so I may give that a go. And I've been reading these bizarre collected short stories of this Lord Darcy character who is this strange mix of history, magic and murder mystery.

It's only that I like also so many of the OP books that I stuck my nose in here. Fantasy tastes can be so varied.

EDIT:

Ahh, The Culture! I am also a fan. I've read The Player of Games and Use of Weapons, and I've just started Consider Phlebas; obviously, having read only the first few pages I'm hardly an authority on the subject, but I'm confused as to why so many counsel against reading it first. The ambiguous setup of the Iridans versus The Culture seems like an excellent introduction to the setting, one which I suspect would be more exciting to new readers as their understanding develops - a nuance which would be lost on older readers, such as myself.

Get back to me when you finish it as I think you'll see why we say that. :P I think 'Consider Phelebus' is an example of an earlier book where an author definitely gets better later on. 'Look to Windward' and 'Excession' I really like too in the Culture books.

Shame you have had bad sci fi book experiences Jakarr - hope you have better at another point in time as if you do indeed like sci fi movies/TV there are some really good sci fi books out there (like for example another author I won't currently recommend is Neale Stephenson with something like 'Snow Crash'..). I understand though if you just want to focus on what you know you will enjoy for the moment.

[Ganolyn]

I don't know if some in-universe justification would even make it seem better. He was still the boring, impossibly-good-at-everything hero that reeks of author wish fulfillment.

Well, there is stuff for all tastes. I personally couldn't get through the Pern stuff. It was boring to me and I'm not a big fan of Thomas Covenant or Elric either.

[Philibusta]

I had so many suggestions when I read your question, OP....

Most of em have been mentioned.

However, if you like the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels, you might also enjoy the Ravenloft books also published by TSR.

I’ve only read three or four of them on this list* (I didn’t know there were THIS many myself) but the ones I remember (Vampire of the Mists, Knight of the Black Rose, I Strahd…maybe one more)

Vampire of the Mists (September 1991), by Christie Golden
Knight of the Black Rose (December 1991), by James Lowder
Dance of the Dead (June 1992), by Christie Golden
Heart of Midnight (December 1992), by J. Robert King
Tapestry of Dark Souls (March 1993), by Elaine Bergstrom
Carnival of Fear (July 1993), by J. Robert King
I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (September 1993), by P. N. Elrod
The Enemy Within (February 1994), by Christie Golden
Mordenheim (May 1994), by Chet Williamson
Tales of Ravenloft (September 1994), Edited by Brian Thomsen
Tower of Doom (November 1994), by Mark Anthony
Baroness of Blood (March 1995), by Elaine Bergstrom
Death of a Darklord (June 1995), by Laurell K. Hamilton
Scholar of Decay (December 1995), by Tanya Huff
King of the Dead (March 1996), by Gene DeWeese
To Sleep with Evil (September 1996), by Andria Cardarelle
Lord of the Necropolis (November 1997), by Gene DeWeese
Shadowborn (March 1998), by Carrie Bebris and William Connors
I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (June 1998), by P. N. Elrod
Spectre of the Black Rose (March 1999), by James Lowder and Voronica Whitney-Robinson

*list copied from Wikipedia

Also, I recommend the Mithgar novels by Dennis L. McKiernan. He writes in a particularly older-world style I found very enjoyable, very much added to the feeling of reading “ancient tales”. Take a look at:

Into the Forge
Into the Fire
Tales of Mithgar (short story compilation)

Those are the ones I’ve read so far. He’s got other works too.

[Ashurr]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it as I didn't read the entire thread, but Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" are some of the best modern works "Detective Fantasy" I've ever read.