name your favorite fantasy books

[Maverick]

Spurred by the idea of this thread.
Mine would be Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books and Raymond Feist's books starting with Magician: Apprentice.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Well as I posted in the aforementioned thread, I am reading the Wheel of time right now for the first time. Very entertaining.

 

[Geekbabe]

lol,Beauty and the Beast,gotta get the movie on DVD since my daughter got me a really cool Beast Figuirne for my collection


Seriously,I think Robert Heinlein's "Time enough for love" rocked

 

[Maverick]

Originally posted by: baffled2
lol,Beauty and the Beast,gotta get the movie on DVD since my daughter got me a really cool Beast Figuirne for my collection

I'm still waiting on the wheel of time figurines

 

[Supermercado]

I haven't read a lot of fantasy, but I'll vote for Wheel of Time. Reading it through again for the third time.

 

[StevenYoo]

Originally posted by: Shiva112
Spurred by the idea of this thread.
Mine would be Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books and Raymond Feist's books starting with Magician: Apprentice.

WoT and the Feist books are great.

But my absolute faves are these series:

1. Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson (currently 3 books, book 4 out in december)
2. Song of Ice & Fire by George R.R. Martin (currently 3 books, book 4 out in april)
3. The Black Company series by Glen Cook (10 books, finishing up book 10 right now)
4. Redwall series by Brian Jacques (i think there around 14 or so books currently. I know it's kid's stuff, but i love his style)

other series i've enjoyed:
The Belgariad, The Malloreon, and the ELenium by David Eddings (didn't read the Tamuli, head too many bad things about it)

The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (pretty good series, nice and easy read)

Wheel of Time by Bob Jordan

only read the first book in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Also quite good.

only read the first book in Harry Potter, which i enjoyed.

*EDIT: added some more blurb
After finishing the Glen Cook, I'm FINALLY gonna start on Terry Pratchett's Discworld series... which i think has 30 or so books, hehe.

I'm dying to read Robert Aspirin's work. I hear he's a slightly less-funny Terry Pratchett. What are everyone's opinions on him?

I just bought this series called the Everien series by Valery Leith. anyone know anything about this series/author as well? It has really nifty cover art.

Anyone ever pick up a book just because the cover art looked cool?

 

[Maverick]

Originally posted by: GuybrushThreepwood

Originally posted by: Shiva112
Spurred by the idea of this thread.
Mine would be Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books and Raymond Feist's books starting with Magician: Apprentice.

WoT and the Feist books are great.

But my absolute faves are these series:

1. Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson (currently 3 books, book 4 out in december)
2. Song of Ice & Fire by George R.R. Martin (currently 3 books, book 4 out in april)
3. The Black Company series by Glen Cook (10 books, finishing up book 10 right now)
4. Redwall series by Brian Jacques (i think there around 14 or so books currently. I know it's kid's stuff, but i love his style)

other series i've enjoyed:
The Belgariad, The Malloreon, and the ELenium by David Eddings (didn't read the Tamuli, head too many bad things about it)

The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (pretty good series, nice and easy read)

Wheel of Time by Bob Jordan

only read the first book in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Also quite good.

only read the first book in Harry Potter, which i enjoyed.

Sweet I'll definitely start reading some of those...I'm on my third round of WoT right now (in preparation for book 10) After book 10 I'll need something new to read. I'll look into some of your suggestions

 

[StevenYoo]

Originally posted by: Shiva112

Sweet I'll definitely start reading some of those...I'm on my third round of WoT right now (in preparation for book 10) After book 10 I'll need something new to read. I'll look into some of your suggestions

Perhaps I should have explained what some of these series are about.

Wheel of Time is good. Good amount of action, lots of magic use, nice magic system. However, forgive me if i offend everyone, but i just don't like the way Jordan is so politically correct. Empowering women is good and all, but he does it too much, IMO.



George R.R. Martin's stuff is awesome. It's dark, it's grim, it's nitty-gritty.

It's violent and vulgar and real. It doesn't have the kind of action you'll see in WoT.

It's conspiracy under conspiracy and politics and stuff. He also kills off lots of characters. There's not so much magic in this series, but he's starting to touch on supernatural stuff in his 3rd and hopefully in his 4th book.

Don't worry, there are evil beings and weird beasts in it, if you need your monster fix.



Steven Erikson is just plain ol' GOOD. He has the grimness and seriousness of Martin, but at the same time TONS of magic being used.

His magic system is also VERY inventive. I imagine he thought out this system for YEARS.

There are no cliche things like elves and dwarves in this stuff. This ain't yo daddy's fantasy.

There are LOTS of races, all of which he made up. The names are also really cool.

I recommend this series to EVERYONE. This series was recommended to me by fellow ATOT'er LanEvoVII. He's also a Malazan Book of the Fallen whore.

However, this series is only available through www.amazon.co.uk. But these books are SO DAMN WORTH IT. I kid thee not.



Erikson borrowed lots of ideas from Glen Cook's Black Company series. This is another WONDERFUL fantasy series. The Black Company is a mercenary company selling their swords. Not good nor evil, they just wanna get paid. The series goes through the evolution of the Company as it tries to discover the origins of their ancient organization. REALLY good stuff. Lots of magic and action in here too.


Seriously, WoT is pure doggy doo doo compared to the likes of Martin, Erikson, and Cook. I'll still read WoT book 10, but it won't be the same ever again...

 

[davestar]

nice picks guy! unfortunately i've read almost all of them. i'll have to look into steven erikson and glen cook however (haven't heard of them).

my personal favorite authors/series are:

David Eddings (though he's writing some questionable stuff in his old age, now) (Belgariad & Mallorean)
George R.R. Martin (Fire and Ice)
Robin Hobb (Farseer and Liveship Traders)

And since this thread could be helpful as a "discover a new author" vehicle, check out:

C.S. Friedman (Coldfire Trilogy) - fairly dark and morally ambiguious, has a Faust-like plot/characters and very interesting magic

Stephen R. Donaldson (Mordant's Need) - kinda romantic, yet also twisted

Stephen R. Lawhead (Dragon King Trilogy and Endless Knot?) - I have very fond memories of the Dragon King Trilogy from when I was younger, might have to re-read that, very archetypal story - and great because of that.... the Endless Knot puts a Celtic variation on fantasy novels, recommend it highly (more adult-oriented than the other series)

Not that these guys (and gal) aren't popular in their own right, but they don't have the buzz that Martin, Jordan, and Goodkind have now, so maybe you haven't heard of them.

Btw, anyone read Micheal Scott Rohan? I'm tempted to check out his stuff, but it's quite hard to come across, so I'l wondering if it's worth the effort.

Don't let this thread die! I could use some distractions from my senior year in EE. Oh yeah, NO SCI-FI allowed!

 

[Mucman]

I am going to ignore everyones suggestions because I want to get some work done this semester

Series that have lowered my grades and made me more anti-social than usual :

Robert Jordan : Wheel of Time series
David Eddings : Belgariad and Mallorean
Brian Jacques : First 3 books of the Redwall series
Piers Anthony : Xanth series (seems like most people don't like it though)
JRR Tolkien : Lord of the Rings
Douglas Adams : Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series

here are some non-series books :

David Pratchet : Small Gods
Neil Gaiman : Stardust
Mercedes Lackey : Firebird

 

[StevenYoo]

Originally posted by: davestar


C.S. Friedman (Coldfire Trilogy) - fairly dark and morally ambiguious, has a Faust-like plot/characters and very interesting magic

Hmm.. I think i'll check out this Coldfire Trilogy. It sounds like my kind of series. I love bad-ass characters that have no fixed moralities.

 

[fatalbert]

LOTR and WoT are my favorites,

though I also enjoy the Belgeriad and Mallorean

 

[LanEvoVI]

Hehe...me and Guybrush Threepwood have very similar tastes in reading material for some reason

Anyway, I'll second every recommendation he made.

Is it just me or does this type of thread pop up about every 2 weeks?

 

[Spoooon]

only read the first book in Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Also quite good.

I thought it was entertaining but the more I read the more painfully aware I was that it was merely a Wheel of Time clone.

Wheel of Time starts out great, but goes downhill. Though it picked up a bit with the release of the last one, can't remember what it was called.

A series that I recommend is the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams. Wonderful stuff.

 

[Targaryen]

Steven Erikson's books are available also through www.amazon.ca, price is a little cheaper if you live in the states. I'm going to order the first book when I get paid. Tired of waiting for the next Martin and Rowling book =[

 

[radiocore]

Terry Goodkind, Sword of Truth series

 

[Anubis]

Tolkine - LOTR/ Hobbit
Dark Elf Trilogy - cant remember the author
WOT - jordan

 

[Electric Amish]

Tolkien

Anything by RA Salvatore.

amish

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Ursula Le Guin - Earthsea trilogy
Sheri S. Tepper - Northshore, Southshore
Stephen Donaldson - Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
Margaret Weis/Tracy Hickman - Dragonlance Legends
Roger Zelazny - Unicorn Variations

 

[BigJohnKC]

Tolkien is the only fantasy author I remember reading.

 

[ElFenix]

tolkien

george rr martin. hopefully he'll keep the magic levels down... thats one of the biggest problems with WoT, you never really feel like rand is in any real danger. also why mat is the most interesting character, because hes mortal and not some superbeing.

harry potter.

 

[Electric Amish]

Ursula Le Guin - Earthsea trilogy

Oh, that's good stuff too!

amish

 

[LordSnailz]

Ender's Game - Orson Scott

 

[Garet Jax]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Terry Brook's three Shannara trilogies (9 books). I have read most of what has already been posted, but (with the exception of LOTR) Brook's books are my favourites.

I am working through the wheel of time right now.

The best single book I have read was Tigana (by Brooks as well I think).

 

[LanEvoVI]

Paul Kearney - Monarchies of God

Another good series that i'm in the middle of reading at the moment. Highly recommended.