Books Recommendations As An Introduction to Fantasy?

[Nehetsrev]

And Bujold is from Minnesota too, so that makes her doubly awesome as an author!  *grins cheesilly*

[Xaltotun]

Wow, you will be swamped by the options, and here are even more:

Philip Jose Farme - World of the Tiers series: fantastic, original, and really, really readable. Brilliant stuff and fantasy at it's best.

Talbot Mundy - Tros series: Not so much fantasy, more the adventures of an warrior set in Roman times, but brilliantly written from a barabrian's point of view in an ancient setting. I couldn't put it doww.

ER Eddisson - The Worm Ouroborous and other titles by this author: traditional fantasy in the Lord of the Rings genre but written with a very gothic style and language of it's own. Hard to get into but well worth persevering with as in my opinion, makes Lord of the Rings look like a story for kids.

RE Howard - Conan the Barbarian: not the orginal fantasy, but certainly the archetypal and really, really engrossing and easy to read. His stories bowl you along and are easy to read.

Michael Moorcock - almost anything my Moorcock is certain to set you on the road, but his best, in my opinion are his stories on the Books of Corum, History of the Runestaff and anything about Elric, Prince of Melnibone, oh, and anything about the Eternal Hero - what a concept!

Have fun soaking all of this in.

[Kenderfriend]

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.

What I was going to say before i found that someone already did ...
Gotta love Earthsea... then there's the obvious ones like LOTR, Dragonlance...(especially the 'twins' trilogy and 'dragons of spring dawning/autumn twilight/winter ... err whatever it was called) as well as Shannara, Wheel of Time, Discworld, Arthurian Legends if you want ancient stuff There's also a russian series -Night watch, Daywatch etc...
Emm... read some David Eddings awhile ago, quite good stuff, and Orson Scott Card is a great writer. There's probly more but I can't think of them all right now...
Filmwise, theres a 'Studio Ghibli' which is anime, they have some good stuff, which I'm mentioning because they've done Earthsea, and I like Spirited Away too.

Yep... I've probly missed out something really good but... hope this helps

[Falonthas]

63 posts over 3 plus years and only Ro mentioned the easiest vaccum into fantasy there has ever been written

dragonriders of pern by mccaffrey sucks you in from the prologue
for the sci fi your there
for the fantasy your there and they are so effortlessly intertwined

dragon prince and dragons fire trilogies by melanie rawn pull you right in as well and dont need background behind the reads

dragonlance chronicles are an easy step from these and the realms books from salvatore fill the deal
by that time any of those mentioned would not be considered to hard or to heavy but just more worlds to fill your hungry brain

[Nehetsrev]

Personally, I could never get into McCaffrey's Pern, or any of the Dragonlance stuff.

I started with authors like Piers Anthony, Andre Norton, and Larry Niven predominantly in my first few months of sci-fi/fantasy reading.  But that was waaaaaay back when.

[Link092]

I started with the collector's addition of the R.A. Salvatore series.... then sort went this way and that, reading Ann Rynd, Tamora Peirce, and a slew of other short novels I found in the library. Ann Rynd and R.A. Salvatore had to revisited, because I was only 10 or so at the time, and I either missed the whole plot, or didn't know what was happening. (Ann Rynd confused the heck out of me at ten....).

Now, I can say I've finished all of R.A. Salvatore's works, as well as Terry Goodkind (good series, if you like objectivism themes...), J.K. Rowlings works, just because everyone else was doing it. ;P, and about 23 other novels of which I can't think off right now... I had to stop reading once I jumped into early college... I'm putting off recreational reading until I'm about 25.... *looks at Beowulf, The Iliad, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Canturbury Tales, and Shakespeare.... and wretches*

[jadewillow]

Hands down the most intricate and character rich "fantasy" I've ever read is the "Song of Fire and Ice" series by George R.R. Martin. Currently 4 books, his is working on the final fith. If she likes romances and stories that revolve around character development, it does not get much better in any genre. It is also not over the top as far as "fantasy" goes.

HBO has bought the rights to do a series as well. No firm date yet though.

George R. R. Martin's Official Website

[Nehetsrev]

Here's one I'm enjoying at the moment:

"Dies The Fire" by S.M. Stirling.

Not fantasy, so much, but good sci-fi if you like post-apocolypse sort of stories.

[Link092]

Here's one I'm enjoying at the moment:

"Dies The Fire" by S.M. Stirling.

Not fantasy, so much, but good sci-fi if you like post-apocolypse sort of stories.

That is an AWESOME book! I finished a while back.... but I'm still trying to think of what would cause all of those things to happen simultaneously......

[Polak76]

I haven't read the full post, however, my suggestion for your wife would definitely be the david eddings series (belgariad & malorean)

Most women love this series.  Eddings does a fantastic job capturing all the traits women love...romance, children, parenthood, family, women power (Go Polgara)..etc.

My personal favorite is Magician and all other Feist's books.  It's easy reading with a lot of substance.

I think dragonlance is great, however, more suited towards males as with most DnD related genre.
Robert Jordan's 'wheel of time' is good, however, it really does get long in the tooth by book nine...er....actually more like book 5.

There are many other cool books such as Stephen Donaldson's 'Mirror of her dreams' & 'A man rides through it".  These I place in league with Eddings and these also have a modern twist to them which may make the transition a little easier to fantasy.

Once she's into them, you may want to try Cecilia Dart Thornton's books beginning from the "Ill made Mute".  This is fantasy in its purest form and I place her alongside Tolkien for difficult but beautifully written fantasy.

Thats my two bobs worth chosen based on your requirements.

Cheers,
Polak

[Pseudonym]

@Polak, i'd almost agree with you on Cecilia Dart Thornton but she lost me when she, admittedly with quite lovely prose, described the hero's flowing, cardamon-hued tresses before she detailed his martial prowess or rippling thews. A big no-no in my book of what makes good fantasy.