OT: fantasy fiction fans, any good books that you recommend?

General Knitting
21

I’m putting in a plug for Tamora Pierce. She’s got two separate worlds–the Tortall books & the Circle of Magic books. The latter are a bit on the younger side (except for the most recent). She’s also doing a fantasy audiobook later this year–it was written to be an audiobook, and will come out in print several months after.

Here’s her book list:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/tamora-pierce/

The covers on a lot of them have been redone (thankfully).

I also agree with books by Neil Gaiman. :happydance: I :heart: Neil Gaiman!!

22

Ooh, I loved The Lioness Quartet when I was growing up! I got the first sequal set and wasn’t thrilled with it. I wanted more Alanna books. :pout:

23

All good books have been mentioned, here is another series that is simple yet entertaining. Piers Anthony Incarnations of Immortality series. They are small quick reads, but quite enjoyable.

I also like “Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein” but then I like almost anything by Heinlein.

24

Anything by Juliet Marillier makes for a fantastic read, but her Sevenwaters Trilogy is exceptionally good. Definitely my favorite series ever. :heart:

Also, Anne Kelleher’s Silver’s Edge and Silver’s Bane are excellent books. :slight_smile:

25

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier
Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier
All of the above are part of an amazing trilogy which I STRONGLY recommend. (I’m a book nerd, can’t you tell?)
I also strongly recommend Eragon, which you listed.

If you do read Tithe and like it, I would recommend Valiant, which is also by Holly Black, and The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint.

I am in LOVE with Juliet Marillier’s books, she is an adult historical fantasy writer, whose books are amazing. She is my favorite writer ever, and that’s saying alot, considering how many books I’ve read.

:thumbsup:

26

Nobody has mentioned Robin Hobb but I really like her books. If you haven’t read anything by her you might want to start with the Farseer Trilogy.

I also have really enjoyed all of Katherine Kerr’s Deverry novels. And Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion was great although I didn’t like the follow-up as much. Tigana by Guy Gavriet Kay was one of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read I think.

George R. R. Martin’s book are wonderful also. He really makes every sentence count and the characters are all quite interesting. However, as several people have already pointed out he has yet to finish the series and it is literally years and years between each book. When the last one finally came out it had been so long since I had read the previous one I couldn’t remember what was going on. Unlike many series there was no capsule summary of the plot so far either.

The next volume is supposed to be the last but after reading the current one I’m not sure he can tie up all the loose ends in one more book. Anyone care to take bets?

27

I second the series by Diana Gabaldon - Outlander series It is wonderful and a fast read.

If anyone is interested I could post it in the swap, trade.

Marilynn

28

Yay! Now I’ve wrote down a whole bunch of fantastic books and authors on my book list! :slight_smile: I’ll be checking all these out in the library! Thanks everyone :muah:

29

Douglas Adams is one of my favorite authors. I am surprised, though, that no one’s mentioned Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time!

30

Ooh, yes, all of her books! My favorite was “A Ring of Endless Light” (I think?) It wasn’t as fantasyish as the Wrinkle in Time books, but it did still have some stuff. I also liked how so many of her characters came back in different books.

31

Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan - these were some of the most entertaining and well written books I’ve ever read.

32

I second these:
Robert Jordan although I have only read Wheel of Time.
R.A. Salvatore wonderful stuff!

But noone has mentioned a few that I love.

Michael Moorcock. The Enternal Champion. Very few writers can pen Sci/Fi and Fantasy. This man can.

Dennis McKiernan. Iron Tower Trillogy just to start… this man picked up where Tolken left off… Bloody Brilliant.

and lastly… Melanie Rawn. The Dragon Prince books… wow… such an original world. I obsessed over these when all my friends where lost in Pern. :slight_smile:

33

Ohhh yes, I’ve read A Wrinkle in Time and I think there are sequels, can’t find them in my school library though :pout: . I’ll look for them in our local libraries in Vancouver anyway :wink: .

34

Of what hasn’t been mentioned, Jennifer Roberson has a couple good series finished. The Novels of Tiger and Del and the Chronicles of the Cheysuli, she also has a new series in progress called Karavans that I haven’t attempted yet. Jacqueline Carey has a beautiful trilogy beginning with Kushiel’s Dart, but that trilogy deserves a notice of graphic adult situations, so use your best judgement there. I would also point out Sara Douglass as an author. I’ve only read The Troy Game and the Wayfarer Redemption, but I’ll risk putting her on my list of favorite authors. Finally, Margaret Weis’s Darksword Trilogy is excellent.

In the area of Young Adult Fiction, I’d recommend Redwall by Brian Jacques, if you’re ok with talking animals. Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series is also interesting, but it’s at the young end of Young Adult fiction. So You Want to be a Wizard is the first. Sabriel and its sequels by Garth Nix are also very good. They’re set in a darker world, though. Also, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

For dark historical fantasy, J Gregory Keyes has a wonderful series beginning with Newton’s Cannon that’s an alternate history involving alchemy. That’s really the extent of my knowledge here.

Fantasy reading wouldn’t be fun if there wasn’t some random humor insterted. To that end, Piers Anthony’s Magic Kingdom of Xanth is good for a laugh or two, but I’ve only read A Spell for Chameleon. Robert Asprin wrote Another Fine Myth and a series in the same set of worlds. The series is about the Myth-adventures of a wizard named Skeeve. It’s quite funny. Finally, Terry Brooks’ Magic Kingdom of Landover is also brilliant.

Into older books, my all-time favorite classic is The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I also like the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I couldn’t bring myself to attack the sequels, though. Oscar Wilde’s Portrait of Dorian Grey is interesting, as is Stoker’s Dracula. Actually, watch League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and then read the related books.

There’s a bunch of stuff that was mentioned that I need to second. Anne McCaffrey is my favorite author and I highly recommend anything she has written. I particularly enjoyed The Powers that Be.

Dune needs to be seconded as well, but I’d recommend finding a read along group, because it’s difficult to follow at times and having several someones to discuss it with would make it easier.

Katherine Kerr’s Deverry novels were supremely enjoyable.

I’m also going to second David Eddings, specifically the Elenium, which is really all I’ve read.

Pullman’s His Dark Materials is the other outstanding suggestion that I saw.

I’d caution agains Jordan’s Wheel of Time. There are too many characters and the story keep resetting. Fundamentally, the series has just been on one arc for too long and nothing is getting accomplished. The same is true of Goodkind’s Sword of Truth. I lost interest in both series.

And, this isn’t fantasy but you should read it anyways, the Sharpe Series by Bernard Cornwell. It’s currently my favorite. Peninsular war and Wellington’s Army for the win. :wink:

Cheers.

-Caet

35

Someone already listed Jacqueline Carey and Garth Nix, but let me plug them again.
If you are comfortable with Adult Situations in Fantasy (more graphic than most Romance novels) AND had a fascination with the Da Vinci Code (which to me, could be counted towards Fantasy/Alternate History, but that’s just me) then the Kushiel series is for you. Three books in the original trilogy, each long without being tedious, and very intriguing premise. Plus, she’s writing the second of the second trilogy right now, and isn’t too slow.

Garth Nix writes for children/teens, but his Abhorsen trilogy, beginning with Sabriel, is his finest work. I have enjoyed the “Day” series, beginning with Mister Monday, which is complex and real and set in our world with an attendant “rabbit hole world” the main character gets lost in. Excellent!

If Vampires and Adult situations are your bag, then Laurell K. Hamilton breaks genre boundaries with her Anita Blake series, beginning with Guilty Pleasures. Her writing is addictive, but “jumped the shark” with Narcissus in Chains, some say even before that. I have no problem with some of the plot choices she’s made, though many fans do, and have stopped reading due to them, but the editorial quality of her writing ALSO suffered, which to me is unacceptable.

Sharon Shinn is in the same writing group as Hamilton (that’s one way I find new authors, who do they write with? Check out author websites, like G.R.R. Martin’s for book updates and who THEY read…) and her Angels of Samaria series is complex and the world is skillfully built. If you like Pern, and the Harper Hall books in particular by McCaffrey, you might want to check out Shinn. Start with Archangel.

Let’s see, my favorite author is Sheri S. Tepper. I strongly caution you that she is a feminist writer, and has strong themes developed throughout her work. They are hard to get (out-of-print), but the Mavin Many-Shaped books are wonderful and it’s an incredible world. Start with The Song of Mavin Manyshaped, if you can find it used. The True Game, a bundling of Peter’s books, is still in print, and the three trilogies are related, all short books, but fascinating and I love her work so much it makes me ache. The Jinian series is last, but Peter or Mavin are both good entry points. And then she has many many stand-alone books but, like I said, caution: strong political themes ahead.

Patricia McKillip, but then you will know where my nickname comes from. :slight_smile: Robin McKinley, especially the Hero and the Crown 1st and the Blue Sword 2nd. Joan Vinge, Snow Queen/Summer Queen duology. Rhapsody: Child of Blood by Elizabeth Haydon is interesting, and there are two direct sequels, with more

I second Tamora Pierce, David Eddings (but forget the Younger Gods stuff- total crap. The Belgariad was awesome, the Mallorean was the same series re-written, but still pretty good, and the Elenium/Tamuli is only for helpless fans to get out of the library.)

There are very few authors whose books I buy in hardcover (used to not do it at all) and there are some authors who I used to snap up the day they came out and now don’t even get from the library. McCaffrey and her Acorna series is one example. Must read her early work, forget the later stuff. Piers Anthony, another good example. Xanth fell by the wayside probably long before book 16 or so when I stopped reading it.

Authors age. Their kids need braces. Misery by Stephen King is an extreme example of inside the writing process, when a psychotic fan wants more of the same…

Okay, enough expounding. I love fantasy though, and had to chime in.

36

Ohhh yes, I’ve read A Wrinkle in Time and I think there are sequels, can’t find them in my school library though :pout: . I’ll look for them in our local libraries in Vancouver anyway :wink: .[/quote]

The Wrinkle in Time sequels are A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters.

37

I love Robert Jordan too, I prefer him to Terry Goodkind as I find his books a bit preachy (also don’t read if you are upset by reading about rape etc).
I love Ursula Le Guinn (some of it is more sci-fi than fantasy) as she sets up unusual societies and explores them (I think her dad was an anthropologist or something). I love Terry Pratchett too!
I also like:
L.E. Modesitt
Cecilia Dart-Thornton (bit on the romantic side though)
Jennifer Fallon (Harshini trilogy)
Mickey Zucker Reichert
More for kids:
Alan Garner (The Owl Service ) Welsh legends etc
Susan Cooper (The Dark Is Rising Sequence)
That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, most of the books I’ve read are from the library so I don’t have them lying around to remind me!

38

My favorite has to be ‘The gormenghst Trilogy’ by Mervyn Peake. He writes in a style that is unique. If you can get through the first chapter you will not be able to put it down.

39

The BBC made a “for tv” film of that a few years ago was quite good
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/gormenghast/

40

Yes, I did see the film and was quite surprised at what a good job they did.I still recommend reading the books because there is so much more there for your imagination to dwell on.