Author Topic: Books Recommendations As An Introduction to Fantasy? (Read 1541 times)

darkwulf365 · « **Reply #20 on:** March 18, 2006, 03:39:05 pm »

I'm a David Eddings freak so I wholeheartedly reccomend him (Except for the Redemption of Athalus, not bad, but not what I was expecting).

And, if she's of a comic turn of mind, she could try any one of Terry Pratchett's books on Discworld (The Hogfather being one of my favorites). Although they are more like humor in a fantasy setting, it's a refreshing change from all the other "serious" books.

SquareKnot · « **Reply #21 on:** March 18, 2006, 04:37:50 pm »

Thanks to everyone who's responded so far. This gives me a lot to go on. I've only read about 1/3 of the books people have mentioned, so your ideas are moving me in directions I wouldn't have gone on my own. I just got back from the library, so we'll see how it goes.

Thanks again.

ttdavet · « **Reply #22 on:** March 18, 2006, 07:36:17 pm »

no one has mentioned yet Ursula Le Guinn's Earth Sea Trilogy. A literary classic that has stood the test of time. Short thoughtful books that bring many readers into the fantasy genre gently.

SuperMunch · « **Reply #23 on:** March 18, 2006, 09:05:18 pm »

Earthsea is great for newcomers to fantasy, it's a quick read and it's not "techie" (as in requiring prior knowledge of what sterotyped classes are).

Mists of Avalon is a chick-book, and that's not a bad thing - epic story from the female point of view written by a woman. A very nice tale - I read it for an ex-girlfriend of mine, I finally grokked her after reading the book.

Belgariad is awsome and I love Silk - Freldo's inspired on him in some ways.

Hobbit, Lord of the Rings is great in terms of scope and the epic storytelling side of things. The Silmarillion is a must if she likes the world but isn't that easy a read.

Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are good but require a little bit of prior knowledge of the concept of RPG races and classes.

Doc-Holiday · « **Reply #24 on:** March 18, 2006, 09:19:06 pm »

I liked the "Shanara" series personaly

NEXUS7 · « **Reply #25 on:** March 18, 2006, 11:03:06 pm »

we I'm going to upset you all, I would say don't read moden fantasie its all mind roting pap,
I hate the 5 books of (funny made up name) where some farmer/mage kid etc saves any thing at all ever.

I say go back to the start pre-tolkin, try tresher iland, or the count of monticristo, there are classic grate works.
Which just put 99.9999% of moden fantasie to shame go back to the start in with the ok fantasie,
A kaneticat yanky in the caurt of king arthuer, the lion which and wardrobe there ae so meny.
Then (not tolkin keeps her away from elfs dwarfs etc)try the earth sea books, or lord valintines castle.
The princess bride was a book befor a grate film. Then Micky Morrcock or the books of amber
(not an elf in sight)

well that's my take, keep her away from the graduate - fantasie -word prosesing writers who's distation is an out line of there 12 book fantasie epic.

ps
you could use harry potter as well,
rats elfs got in ..

Eloyn · « **Reply #26 on:** March 18, 2006, 11:31:42 pm »

Author - Brian Jacques..... >.>

minerva · « **Reply #27 on:** March 18, 2006, 11:50:58 pm »

From a woman's perspective and an avid reader.
If she's into simple ploted romance books then she might have a hard time with the complexity of some of the modern fantasy plot lines. For simplicity of read, and yet a decent story I liked Deborah Chester's Sword, Ring and Chalice series or Jennifer Fallon's Hythrun Chronicles. A step up in complexity would be Terry Goodkind's Series, though IMHO only the first 4 books are good, with the series opener Wizard's First Rule on my all time favorite list of reads in any genre.Sara Douglass has a nice series, The Wayfarer's Redemption and for really complex twisting plots, George R Martin is good. I loved his Song of Ice and Fire Series. The Dragonlance books are great as well.
For interest sake, The Hobbit ismy least favorite of the LoTR books

akata · « **Reply #28 on:** March 19, 2006, 01:44:04 pm »

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minerva - 3/18/2006 11:50 PM

A step up in complexity would be Terry Goodkind's Series, though IMHO only the first 4 books are good, with the series opener Wizard's First Rule on my all time favorite list of reads in any genre.

i like his lates 2 as well Chainfire, Naked Empire. but agreed that everything between temple of the wind and Naked Empire are only good as toilet paper

Deacon · « **Reply #29 on:** March 19, 2006, 04:02:11 pm »

Salvatore!

I loved him, even his Star Wars stuff is great!

crazedgoblin · « **Reply #30 on:** March 20, 2006, 12:24:36 am »

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Varnart - 3/18/2006 7:57 AM

I agree with Dragonlance too.

War of the Spider Queen by R. A. Salvatore and another author for each one of the six books.

There's also a great series in Portuguese, but I don't know if it's already translated. I'll write it here just in case: "Crónica de Allaryia"(Chronicles of Allaryia in english) by Filipe Faria.

I also enjoyed Eragon and Eldest, especially the second, both by Christopher Paolini.

"Sabriel" by Garth Nix.

I didn't like LotR all the much, but that's just me.

i agree eragon is a decent book and eldest to

xXDenizeNXx · « **Reply #31 on:** March 20, 2006, 02:22:26 am »

Anything By Margaret Wiess and Tracy Hickman (Dragon lance authors) is good also Robin Hobb, George RR Martin, R A Salvatore, Ed Greenwood etc etc as everyone else has previous;y said are all gret reads. But as an Introduction to fantasy as Nyralotep said couldn't go past LOTR or the Hobbit. The chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis are also good starter books and written in really simple language as they were targeted at a younger audience. If your wife is an avid reader and likes a good plot that twists and turns try Kate Forsythes series the witches of Elian. Really good but a little hard to get into at first is all, because the writing style is all in ye auld wytch type speak lioke thet laddee see heh here is the url http://members.ozemail.com.au/~kforsyth/
Hope whatever she decides upon she enjoys anyways, speaking from experience it's better if ya wife is on side and not like mine and wards herself with gralic and a cross everytime she meets one of my "D&D geek" friends.

mumbles · « **Reply #32 on:** March 20, 2006, 02:47:23 am »

I dont know if anyone else likes them , but any of the Disk world series ... ive read most of them even though it takes me rather a long time to get through them , but i thought they were good. there by Terri Pratchet i believe (excuse the spelling).

Harlas Ravelkione · « **Reply #33 on:** March 20, 2006, 03:18:12 am »

If brick-books don't scare you away on sight take a look at Steven Erikson's series: Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Lord of the Rings was my favourite until I read those books, and the series is still evolving. It is darker than most other series. Expect cruelty, not many happy endings, very realistic personas and tough choices... but also heroism and courage beyond belief, new and amazing races and a world and magic system that are just awesome.

Harlas

steverimmer · « **Reply #34 on:** March 20, 2006, 10:59:54 am »

I have to second Harlas. These are some of the best books I've ever read and this is someone who's always been put off by fantasy books, as so many are..... erm well you get my meaning

Faldred · « **Reply #35 on:** March 20, 2006, 11:08:57 am »

I'll second the Earthsea books, especially the first two, as good intro books. But for someone who reads "romance" type novels, something like Mary Stewart's "The Crystal Cave", "The Hollow Hills" and "The Last Enchantment", which are the story of Merlin in the Arthurian legend, and "The Wicked Day", which is Mordred's story, might be the best place to start.

As for things like Jordan's "wheel of time" series, I gave up after three chapters into Book #1. I prefer Feist's Riftwar novels (Magician, Silverthorne, Darkness at Sethanon) -- and I'm not surprised to see Feist influence here in Layonara (especially in place names).

Varnart · « **Reply #36 on:** August 03, 2006, 02:05:03 pm »

Just thought I'd ressurect this thread with a book I read recently... "Epic" by Conor Kostick. It's about a VR game world. The story itself could be better, though it isn't bad, but it certainly isn't nearly one of the best. But it's worth reading just for the idea itself, and for some funny things inside (don't want to spoil it).

LynnJuniper · « **Reply #37 on:** August 03, 2006, 02:25:43 pm »

Hrm..*goes out and buys all these books*

Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen, and the His Dark Materials series

crazedgoblin · « **Reply #38 on:** August 03, 2006, 03:00:07 pm »

Quote

Harlas Ravelkione - 3/20/2006 11:18 AM If brick-books don't scare you away on sight take a look at Steven Erikson's series: Malazan Book of the Fallen. Lord of the Rings was my favourite until I read those books, and the series is still evolving. It is darker than most other series. Expect cruelty, not many happy endings, very realistic personas and tough choices... but also heroism and courage beyond belief, new and amazing races and a world and magic system that are just awesome. Harlas

gonna have to look into these

darkstorme · « **Reply #39 on:** August 03, 2006, 09:07:04 pm »

I can't believe it took 20+ messages on this thread to get to Terry Pratchett. But best not to start her on that, or Salvatore's writing will seem juvenile by comparison. Pratchett's writing is tremendously mature, and VERY funny.

I agree totally on the Earthsea front - that starts a lot of kids on fantasy ,though I'd tout FR over Dragonlance in terms of how many good writers they have on their side.

And although it's about 5 months too late, I'll make a small snarky comment on NEXUS7's contribution. As much as the Count of Monte Cristo is a good book, you've clearly never read the original Princess Bride, or you wouldn't be expousing its genius quite so much. The Goldman edit, from the mid-50s, I believe (well after Tolkien) is the version that eventually got made into the film, because it edited out the long, boring chapters that were essentially extended analogies for political struggles that Morgenstern had experienced.

Furthermore, I suspect that you've not read any GOOD authors of modern fantasy, (though your dismissal of Tolkien makes me doubt your taste in general), or you wouldn't be so dismissive of an entire genre. Regardless, I'd recommend a return to "modern" fantasy, no matter how dismissive you may be of it. You might be surprised at what they've come up with.

Addendum: To expose myself as flamebait (if I'm going to flame, it's only fair that I take what I dish out) as much as the Narnia series is an entertaining set of childrens' books, it's essentially a heavy-handed set of analogies to Christianity. I would never consider it serious fantasy - nor did Lewis. And Lewis was a good friend of Tolkien - so once again, we come around to your dismissal of the grandfather of modern fantasy... and the origin of the D&D mythos.

Also, while Harry Potter is a great story, the writing, while solid, is simple. Pratchett, Tolkien, Goodkind, Lackey or Le Guin are all writers with a mature narrative voice. (There. Now I've made myself a target. *laughs*)