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Fantasy
- Thread starter s.gal83
- Start date
It kind of depends what you're into- I mean a Harry Potter fan might find the Thomas Covenant series too dark or a bore, and a Tolkein fan might find Peake tedious. 
I'd suggest China Mieville for soft sci-fi, more like fantasy in that his world's are unique and he's more interested in ideas than science.
For classic lit' I'd say Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Easily my favorite of dark fantasy literature.
Old school swashbuckling fantasy reccomendation would be any of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books by Leiber.
If you like the dense prose of a Dickens then Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell might be your thing.
Anything by Lord Dunsany.
Anything by Gene Wolfe, particularly the Book of the New Sun series.
Some friends have reccomended Robin Hobb's novels and George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series, but I haven't read them myself.
I'd suggest China Mieville for soft sci-fi, more like fantasy in that his world's are unique and he's more interested in ideas than science.
For classic lit' I'd say Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Easily my favorite of dark fantasy literature.
Old school swashbuckling fantasy reccomendation would be any of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books by Leiber.
If you like the dense prose of a Dickens then Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell might be your thing.
Anything by Lord Dunsany.
Anything by Gene Wolfe, particularly the Book of the New Sun series.
Some friends have reccomended Robin Hobb's novels and George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series, but I haven't read them myself.
Wookiemonster
The*****isBack
What kind of Fantasy do you like to read?
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
The bible is a good start.
silvermoon383
Well-Known Member
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
The Four Forges and The Dark Ferryman by Jenna Rhoads (books 1 and 2 of The Elven Ways set. Book 3 has yet to come.)
Almost anything by Mercedes Lackey
The Darkness Series by Harry Turtledove
The Four Forges and The Dark Ferryman by Jenna Rhoads (books 1 and 2 of The Elven Ways set. Book 3 has yet to come.)
Almost anything by Mercedes Lackey
The Darkness Series by Harry Turtledove
I LOVE Robin Hobb and have read all her books (Well all of them written under Robin Hobb) and would highly recommend her to anyone. I am still in the process of trying to find somewhere that sells her older books she wrote under "Megan Lindholf"
Also Ian Irvine is a good fantasy writer. Unlike traditional fantasy his books generally do not have a good side and a bad side but instead of multiple sides where most of them are in it for personally gain, old rivalries or pure greed. There are some characters who are almost universally good but they are few.
My favourite fantasy author (her books are usually a mix of fantasy/sci fi/young adult) is Isobelle Carmody. Her books aren't easy to find around the world except for in Australia. I've never met anybody who has read her books and not -loved- them. She is AWESOME.
rojse
RF Addict
Go with Pratchett's Discworld series. It's hard to describe - part satire, part fantasy, part humour. Quite intelligent and quite funny. You can read in any order, but I would recommend looking at "Small Gods" (a young man meets his God, currently stuck in the shape of a small turtle) or "Guard! Guards!" (a large dragon is loosed upon Ankh-Morpork) to start with.
Have a look at Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel trilogy - Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, and Kushiel's Avatar. It's set in an alternate Europe, quite intricate and well-written. Be warned, there is a lot of explicit and depraved sex, but saying that, it isn't a cheap erotic fantasy novel at all.
Oh, and have a look for Richard Morgan's "The Steel Remains". He's normally an SF writer, but wrote this fantasy novel last year. It's written in an extremely explicit manner (everything is told in great detail), lots of flawed heroes, and an interesting story.
Have a look at Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel trilogy - Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, and Kushiel's Avatar. It's set in an alternate Europe, quite intricate and well-written. Be warned, there is a lot of explicit and depraved sex, but saying that, it isn't a cheap erotic fantasy novel at all.
Oh, and have a look for Richard Morgan's "The Steel Remains". He's normally an SF writer, but wrote this fantasy novel last year. It's written in an extremely explicit manner (everything is told in great detail), lots of flawed heroes, and an interesting story.
AlsoAnima
Friend
"Terry Goodkind's main characters in his Sword Of Truth series frequently stop to give ranty, self-important speeches espousing a fantasy version of his Objectivist philosophy. The fact that he doesn't consider himself a fantasy writer adds a lot of weight to this one even if the Aesops are invariably broken into little teeny pieces or completely demented to begin with."
I've read a few of her short stories in various anthologies. She's a talented writer. I need to hunt down some of her novels.
Speaking of young adult fiction, I remember loving Geraldine Harris' Godborn series. The world she creates is detailed and lush and fascinating.
gnomon
Well-Known Member
I'll second:
The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
The Belgariad - David Eddings
The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
And add:
The Magician Series and many other related books by Raymond Feist
Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
The Tolkien Reader - it contains Tree and Leaf with a great essay on faerie stories.
More:
Works by William Morris. Predecessor to J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord Dunsany and Robert Howard in developing fantasy literature by deriving tales from the mythology of northern Europe. Good luck finding anything on a shelf or in good condition cheap online. The Well at World's End seems to be kind of pricey in most editions.
Mervyn Peake - The Gormenghast Trilogy. Have fun with that.
Lord Dunsany
Robert Howard
Octavia Butler
Patricia McKillip
Storm Constantine
Ursula K. LeGuin
Michael Moorcock
Charles de Lint
That's a list that covers a wide range of various styles of fantasy from classic folk based, sword and sorcery, high fantasy, urban fantasy, dark fantasy and epics.
If you are into vampire stories just walk into any bookstore with a Fantasy section, close your eyes and pick a book. It will probably be a vampire related story. But if you want to know the popular authors they are:
Stephanie Meyer
Laurell K. Hamilton
Charlaine Harris
oodles and oodles more.
My personal favorites would be Tolkien, Butcher, George Martin, Raymond Feist's Magician books and Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy. That trilogy is a nice read because it is primarily character driven. However, I do not recommend reading all 15+ novels centered around that character.There's a lot of great works out there.
And buy them at my bookstore. I need the business.
Awesome choices. On the theme of dark fantasy I'd also reccomend Tanith Lee, particularly her Flat-Earth Cycle. And if you want a challenge, tackle E.R. Eddison's The Worm Ouboboros, whose archaic prose may be difficult but the world he creates is epic. Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever books are great fun as well.
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Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
Seconded.
If you can get your hands on a copy of Tales of the Dying Earth, it includes the Cugel sagas along with other stories set in the same world.
I re-read it at least once every couple of years.