The World of Layonara
The Layonara Community => Just for Fun => Topic started by: Polak76 on August 09, 2006, 10:43:05 PM
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Greetings all.
Lately I've been in reading mode and have been churning though many of my collections. God its been good.
In the last year or so I've re-read David Eddings, Raymond E Feist, Tolkien, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks and Weise & Hickmann. I forgot how much I missed them, especially my favourite series Magician with good ole Pug and Thomas.
Anyway I've taken a break from Fantasy and jumped over to Dan Brown's Divinci and just started the Anne Rice's Vampire series. Whilst they are a great read I already miss Fantasy.
Can anyone out their add some titles that they believe are a Fantasy MUST READ??!!
Its about time I try a new author.
Others I've already read are, Cecilia Dart Thornton, Robin Hobbs and Steven Donalson to name a few.
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Stephen Erikson's series: "Malazan tales of the fallen". 6 books are out and 4 are in the coming.
The best fantasy I have read thus far.
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Read David Gemmel (who sadly passed away earlier this month). I strongly suggest you start with 'Legend' which is a novel about the defense of a fortified pass. It is a brilliant book. It even spawned a computer game (which used to run on my vic 20! (for those of you who don't know what a Commodore Vic 20 is i suggest you look in history books)).
Anyway Gemmel has written loads of good books.
And if you want something beyond humourous then it needs to be Terry Pratchett
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David Gemmel rates as one of the scariest authors. Not for his writing, which was 'muscular heroic storytelling', but for his Author Picture and Biography. The man was a giant at 6'6, who really did look like he game from the wrong side of the tracks. But his characters really appealed to me.
And for something completely different from read:
Janny Wurts "Curse of the Mistwraith" Series... There are three trilogies in that series. Emotive stuff, if you can get past the overly flower language. She has improved greatly since the 'Daughter of the Empire' stuff.
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Again -- Ian Irvine, a shadow on the glass series.
It's great to read how the characters develop, one of my character's personality is based on a character in that book.
Edd.
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I suggest everyone check out the works of Lord Dunsany. If Tolkien is the father of fantasy then he is the grandfather. Most of his works can be found free online as the copyright has expired. His short stories are a great way of introducing anyone to fantasy.
If anyone reads his books and decides to name characters based upon them, please don't - I have already claimed that right a long time ago. ;)
Also everyone who has reader happy fluffy fantasy like Dragonlance should go and look at The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson. Many people have commented on the fact the Lord of the Rings is a harsh dark series of books. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever maks LotR look like the care-bears picnic of cuteness! The hero can't even claim to be a anti-hero and at the start of series has no saving graces at all. These books rock!
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Barbara Hambly's Winterlands series.
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Visceral.
Also, my recommendation of Guy Gabriel Kay, Rick Cook, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. :)
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Actually I might try those other Stephen Donaldson chronicals. The ones I've read are, 'A man Rides through it' and 'mirror of her dreams'. They were fantastic concepts and well written.
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Oh and while we're on a favorite books, how about favorite characters.
I'm a mage fan over warriors so it would have to be a contest between Pug (Milamber) from the Magician series, Nakor again from the Magician collection or Raisltin from Dragonlance. I think Raistlin however is my number 1.
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I'm old school...I still like curling up with my old Robert E. Howard "Conan" books...anything by Piers Anthony...The "Pern" series...the "Shannara" trilogy...and for a twist, try "Eyes of the Dragon" by Stephen King...yes, King wrote a purely fantasy story!
OH! And never let me forget the Nehwon Mythos stories...Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are the greatest!!
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Actually the Shannara books are one of those series that I'm missing books randomly. I might have to pick that one up again and complete it.
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if you want a bit of D&D try The three swords by Fritz leiber
or you can go for Piers anthony's Xanth books Swell Foop is best iv read so far book 25, but so you dont get confused, start with #1 A spell for chameleon
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You should defintely read the "Nine Princes in Amber" series by Roger Zelazny. These novels were so imaginative, surprising and filled with rich characters. Highly entertaining and thought provoking. Two thumbs way up.
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I can't believe no-one has mentioned either Stan Nicholls or George R.R. Martin.
Must agree with Nibor21 with David Gemmell being number 1.
Yes, must accept Conan as being no 1.
If you have time to hunt out some more, i'd also recommend early Joel Rosenberg, Kenneth C. Flint, Jack Whyte (more historical fiction than fantasy but still good). . .
Favourite characters from fantasy books?
Conan as the quintessential barbarian
Tark (of the Golden Tide)
Harald Swiftaxe
Waylander
Raistlin Majere
Silk or Mandorallen (tough call)
Fafhrd and Grey Mouser
Jarlaxle (Artemis gets his @rse kicked every time!)
Druss
Mmmmmmm, maybe Elric?
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George R.R. Martin's "song of ice and fire"
good times.......goooood times
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Stephen Erikson's series: "Malazan tales of the fallen". 6 books are out and 4 are in the coming.
The best fantasy I have read thus far.
Sleep deprived but I finished volume 8 last night! Now I need to wait until volume 9 in September 2009!
I have to concur with Harlas though, the best.
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any one read Terry Goodkind? :)
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No, but my favorite series are the Wheel of Time (Until Robert Jordan died and he never finished the 13th book! :( ), The Wayfarer Redemption by Sarah Douglass, Eragon, Eldest and now Brisingr by Christopher Paolini ( I just can't get back into it since I havent read the first two in a while)... some of the Terry Brooks such as Magic Kingdom for Sale- SOLD!, Black Unicorn, etc., Harry Potter. Yeah, I like my fantasy books! :)
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Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan, George RR Martin, L.E. Modesitt Jr, , Raymond E. Feist, Janny Wurts, Robin Hobb, Stephen Donaldson, Tolkien and many many others line the shelves of my bookcases.
However, none of those have kept me turning pages until the wee hours of the morning (on working days even) like Steven Erikson does :)
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R.A Salvatore
The Dark Elf Trilogy (with the main focus on the first book, Homeland)
- If you fall in love with a tree hugging Dark elf, then read the rest of the series.
War of the Spider Queen (6 book series by 6 different authors, all approved by R.A. Salvatore)
R.A. Salvatore writes his fight scenes better than I have found in any other fantasy novels. He paints a picture of the battles like no other. Either way I am also a dark elf junkie...*grins*
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Alright! I love fantasy books... :D
This is gonna be a long one. :p
Some of my favourites are JRR Tolkien (LOTR, Hobbit, Silmarillion etc.), Dragonlance by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Terry Brooks is pretty good with the Shannara books...
Hmm... Piers Antony's Xanth is quite funny, but sometimes I thought there were a bit too many puns. ;)
Orson Scott Card is also a very good writer, I've read the whole Alvin Maker series... it's good and very different in my opinion. It's actually American History but with a fantasy twist.
No-one can leave out 'The acts of King Arthur and his noble knights'... that's a classic, it's an amazing book and if you like fantasy and haven't read that... read it! :) Remember, without Merlin, there wouldn't be a Gandalf.
P.S. Sorry folks but I just hate Harry Potter, it just annoys me for some reason. . . *hides under the table*
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George R. R. Martin ranks top on my fantasy book list, though it's certainly not for a younger audience.
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Not sure if anyone's mentioned it here, but I'm currently reading the Deverry series by Katherine Kerr, great stuff and right up my street as it's a very celtic-ish fantasy. :)
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Joe Abercrombie (http://www.joeabercrombie.com/) - do yourselves a favour! (NB. Not for our younger, more impressionable players)
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Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series. Wizard noir. Can't be beat.
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I am shocked that no one has included Terry Pratchett in this list, but perhaps I just missed it. Anything from him is good, and you can usually follow his books across five categories throughout: the wizards, the guards, Death, the witches, and other (for books like Going Postal and Monstrous Regiment). All good.
Also, this may seem a shock, but the guy who wrote The War of the Ancients trilogy for Warcraft is not bad. Richard A. Knaak I believe his name is.
And, hm, when my mom used to read fantasy more often she really enjoyed Charles De Lint.
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Thing with Terry Pratchett is, in my personal opinion of course, that if you read a couple of his books in a row (I read 8 in a row), you don't want to read any more.
They did crack me up though, so it's been a few years now, maybe I should give them a try again!
And as a side note, there's a new volume in the Wheel of Time, but people probably know this already!
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For those who liked the tension between modern world and fantasy/supernatural in Jim Butcher's wizard noir series with Harry Dresden but want a female protagonist, try Kelley Armstrong.
Kelley Armstrong is the author of the Otherworld series. In terms of authoring, she's still quite young in the game, and has only been publishing novels since 2001 or so. However, in eight or nine years she's cranked out ten novels in the series, and there's another coming.
What I like best about Armstrong's fiction, I think, is that she has not yet become stale or static. Just when you think you have her pinned down, she'll change the game again, and you'll find yourself staring into yet another corner of her vivid imagining of a modern supernatural world.
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John Scalzi:
Old Man's War
The Ghost Brigades
The Last Colony
Admittedly more sci-fi than fantasy, but easy and short reads, thought-provoking and entertaining.
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I liked the characters alongside Raistlin too.
Playing good old DnD a friend of mine being the DM brought a Soth Knight character into play late one Sunday evening. Unfortunately we ( ten of us) had all read the books, realised what/who it was and ran for our lives. No paper tearing that night at least but one mad DM!
the Alvin Maker series is pretty good.
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A tip for the Mature audience, all of Robert E. Howard's novels about Conan the Cimmerian have been released in one, big, ~1000 page book. Get it.
It's called "Conan - The Complete Chronicles"
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Mentioned in other thread..but Lois M. Bujold's (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Lois+M.+Bujold&x=0&y=0) Sharing Knife Series, and Curse of Chalion.