Fantasy Novels???

starflake

Hi!

Can anyone recommend some good fantasy novels?? Beside the Lord of the rings and such... Maybe some vampires or Werewolves???? Just looking for something different!!

Thanks!

starflake

oh also if anyone can let me know of any good online book review sites???

tHE vAGGABOND

I have just started into the Nightwatch trilogy. Its often called the Russian lord of the rings. Thats not fair really, as its not like Lord of the Rings at all apart from the fact that its a fantasy book. Its more like the Russian 'His Dark Materials, as its set in a modern day type world with regular type people who happen to have weird and wonderful powers.

I'm about 65% thru book 1 'nightwatch' and its amazing thus far. One of the best books Ive read in years..

Captain Ginger

Pretty much anything by David Gemmell is great, also Raymond E. Feist has a couple of good books.

None of them have vampires though, but amazing books all the same, lots of war and battles.

Dades

Check out this thread, and in particular this post.

Dades wrote: »

...buy Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, and Pullman's His Dark Materials!!

The Magician Trilogy is okay, but doesn't clean the boots of George RR Martin's stuff.

Also George RR Martin's Fevre Dream is all about vampires.

who's yer one?

+1 for Nightwatch. it's not usually the kind of thing i'd read but i got into it really easily! havn't gotten to the next book yet though

i reccommend Frank Beddor's Looking Glass Wars- alternative take on the Alice in Wonderland story. completely flips the story on its head-the mad hatter is this awesome vigilante guy woith swords + stuff. \o/ I didn't realise it is actually a childrens book (well ,young adult)til i tried to find the second one and there it was in the kids section. but don't let that put you off, cos it is really well written, not dumbed down kiddies-tale type.

As for book review, i usually just check out Amazon, they have readers reviews and in most cases you can read the first few pages online before you head off and buy it. (personally i never buy on amazon anymore since i accidently used .com instead of .co.uk and ended up paying 15 quid P+P on an 8 quid book, but thats more to do with me being kind of dim....)

starflake

Thanks a Mill guys! Im off down to Chapters after work to do some investigating!:D

The_Minister

We have a science-fiction/fantasy forum, which focuses alot on literature. You might find some goodies there.

Tar.Aldarion

The prine of nothing trilogy, the malazan series, a song od ice and fire series, his dark materials trilogy. None have vampires or warecolves but they are superb.

You have read Dracula right? Incredible book.

randomchild

Yeah Martin and feist are amazing. If you want vampires read Stoker's Dracula.

*melanie*

i loved Neil Gaimans Neverwhere...its an amazing read... http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/Neverwhere/

LoLth

as already said,

a song of ice and fire by george r r martin (though it appears to have ground to a halt)

The malazan series by stephen Eriksson (one of the best series I have read so far)

there are very few decent vampire or werewolf novels or series of novels out there. suprisingly, most seem to be more humour based novels. I recently did a search for some and ended up with Vampyre , Children of the night and I am legend.
of these, only I am LEgend was in any way good (excellent in fact). the other two were very very childish , though vampyre did have an interesting premise, just not well executed.

LoLth

/slaps self in forehead

its not a fantasy series but it is about vampires: the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley.

should have thought of that sooner. I've only read it about 4 times....

starflake

Thank you! I'm going to give it a read! looks like my kind of thing! thanks a mill to everyone for their suggestions! I'm going to go and buy soo many books! Exciting times!

raah!

Hummm, I hear alot about Raymond E Feist these days, and there is a copy of Magician in my room. Is this part of a set? Wouldn't mind another fantasy series to read while I wait for the next installment of 'a song of ice and fire'.

ixoy

raah! wrote: »

Hummm, I hear alot about Raymond E Feist these days, and there is a copy of Magician in my room. Is this part of a set? Wouldn't mind another fantasy series to read while I wait for the next installment of 'a song of ice and fire'.

Yes it is. It's followed by:

The Riftwar Saga

* Silverthorn (1985)
* A Darkness at Sethanon (1986)

The Empire Trilogy

* Daughter of the Empire (1987) with Janny Wurts
* Servant of the Empire (1990) with Janny Wurts
* Mistress of the Empire (1992) with Janny Wurts

Krondor's Sons

* Prince of the Blood (1989)
* The King's Buccaneer (1992)

The Serpentwar Saga

* Shadow of a Dark Queen (1994)
* Rise of a Merchant Prince (1995)
* Rage of a Demon King (1997)
* Shards of a Broken Crown (1998)

The Riftwar Legacy

* Krondor: The Betrayal (1998)
* Krondor: The Assassins (1999)
* Krondor: Tear of the Gods (2000)

Legends of the Riftwar

* Honoured Enemy (2001) with William R. Forstchen
* Murder in LaMut (2002) with Joel Rosenberg
* Jimmy the Hand (2003) with S. M. Stirling

Conclave of Shadows

* Talon of the Silver Hawk (2003)
* King of Foxes (2004)
* Exile's Return (2005)

Darkwar Saga

* Flight of the Nighthawks (2005)
* Into a Dark Realm (2006)
* Wrath of a Mad God (2008)

Demonwar Saga

* Rides a Dread Legion (2009) Planned release in March, 2009
* Return of the Demon King (2010) Not yet published

Chaoswar Saga

* A Kingdom Besieged (2011) Not yet published
* A Crown Imperiled (2012) Not yet published
* Magician's End (2013) Not yet published

... so plenty there for ya if you like the first one!

Dades

Jasus, I read the first three, but didn't know there was all that to follow.

raah!, you'll be somewhat underwhelmed by Feist having already read "Ice & Fire". Still a decent read though, even if it takes half a book to get going.

kismet80

For Werewolf / Vampire stuff Kelley Armstrong is good, and her website has some short stories that are good,

Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth Series - the only thing i will say is that the start of the series is stunningly brilliant but the last books arent as good,

David Eddings, - the Belgariad is excellent but the stuff that he wrote with Leigh later on is pretty poor,

If you dont mind reading some teeny stuff LJ Smith writes fairly exclusively about vamps

There are a few good irish authors out there too
Orla Melling writes some stunning irish fantasy
Michael Carroll is not bad

Loving Anne McCaffery at the moment too,

ixoy

kismet80 wrote: »

Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth Series - the only thing i will say is that the start of the series is stunningly brilliant but the last books arent as good,

Thought it was a pretty poor series myself, but if you want a taster, it'll be coming to TV in November as a full TV series.

raah!

heh, That's alotta reading there. Might just read the two that follow it though.

Overwhelming? how do you mean? that sounds pretty good ! . I am quite partial to an auld epic battle scene.

FruitLover

Mightn't be your cup of tea, but Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is a lighter take on the fantasy theme (imagine a world where the politics of dwarves and trolls not getting along are considered! How about werewolves and vampires in the police force? Humourous outcomes abound)

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

ixoy wrote: »

Thought it was a pretty poor series myself, but if you want a taster, it'll be coming to TV in November as a full TV series.

I wonder if they'll keep the rape scenes true to the books. goodkind 's his rape

Yazacoo

Omg I love Feist. He is so amazing.

You should Check out Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson.

The Dark Tower series is good- loads of different genres,

And a new fantasy book which I just love, quick easy and fun, is called
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss- seriously well worth a look.

And although its not fantasy- Issac Assimov's Foundation series. Fwa man just Fwa.

eoghan_dubhdara

ive read the riftwar legacy by raymod e feist. and ist very good. you should try "brass man", or "The line of polity"- forget the author. its about spaceships and a man who has the internet in his head for wherever he is.

ixoy

eoghan_dubhdara wrote: »

ive read the riftwar legacy by raymod e feist. and ist very good.

Au contraire, it's quite good. It's not the best of fantasy out there but I think the series are a great introduction into the world of fantasy as they're very accessible and yet still manage to contain the epic scope.
After that, you can graduate onto Erikson and Martin who I would never recommend as an entry point into the genre.

you should try "brass man", or "The line of polity"- forget the author. its about spaceships and a man who has the internet in his head for wherever he is.

Neal Asher's Agent Cormac series is very good and indeed there's three more books after those two but this topic I thought was to focus on fantasy. And the term is gridlinked - it's far more evolved than the Interweb

clicli

If you want vampires and werewolves I go for Anne Rice, Laurrell K Hamiltion, Sherylon Kenyon or Stephanie Meyes

kismet80

Yazacoo wrote: »

And a new fantasy book which I just love, quick easy and fun, is called
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss- seriously well worth a look.

I just finished this yesterday and i have to say i just love it, the only problem is that the second book isnt out till 2009 grrrrrr,,,

Diane Wynne Jones is pretty good too, her adult stuff is funny and the humour is good, its slightly twisted with a funny take on it,

fitz0

Try Robert Jordans Wheel of Time series. Its a pretty epic story (11 books with one more to come.) Although RJ himself sadly died last year, the final book is being written according to the notes he worked on right up to his death. I hope it works out because I really love this series.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

fitz0 wrote: »

Try Robert Jordans Wheel of Time series. Its a pretty epic story (11 books with one more to come.) Although RJ himself sadly died last year, the final book is being written according to the notes he worked on right up to his death. I hope it works out because I really love this series.

please, don't..
save yourself the trouble. The first five books are awesome, the next 3 books are so-so, the two books after that were dire, the one after that was so bad... so ..so..so bad. I haven't read the latest one, and I plan to read the last chapter of the last one.
but seriously, don't put yourself through this.. it starts off so brilliantly, you fall in love with all the characters and the world and then jordan ****s all over you.

fitz0

Hmm I thought the plot picked up again towards the end. i actually loved the last book. Maybe Im just easily satisfied but Im actually looking forward to the last book of the series.
I do admit that books 6,7 and 8 and maybe 5 were pants but Ill forgive that because I love the story overall.

DenMan

Books that I would really recommend, they opened me eyes that's for sure.

The Belgariad by David Eddings

1. Pawn of Prophecy (1982)
2. Queen of Sorcery (1982)
3. Magician's Gambit (1983)
4. Castle of Wizardry (1984)
5. Enchanters' End Game (1984

The Malloreon by David Eddings

1. Guardians of the West
2. King of the Murgos
3. Demon Lord of Karanda
4. Sorceress of Darshiva
5. The Seeress of Kell

And also Belgarath The Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress. And for reference The Rivan Codex.

Happy reading.