best fantasy books

valen

Scruff wrote:

1) George RR Martin - A song of Ice and Fire *

*Remains here as long as the forth coming Feast For Crows doesnt let the whole side down.

Ah. You've not read the new one then ? Don't. Leave the series as enjoyable in your mind. His latest one is .... sad. You are left feeling that the guy just wasted years of his life. And you just wasted a few days of yours. Too many words, not enough story, and no conclusion.

Kinda like the way you would tell people "Watch Highlander. But stay away from Highlander3. It'll make you think the others were bad too.".

John

Kikikins

The best books Ive ever read are Robins Hobbs Farseer Trilogy. Ive also read the Tawny Man Trilogy and the Liveships. Shes also written a number of books under the pen name Megan Lindhom but Ive never read them. Has anyone else? If so are they worth reading?

Somnus

One of my favourite fantasy books,like other people also mentioned, has to be Magician by Raymond E. Feist

Canis Lupus

Has anyone read the Dark Tower series by Steven King? First book was a bit odd but second book was much improved. I have obviously only read the first two but it makes a nice break from the usual fantasy fare.

Whiskeyjack

The Malazan Book of the Fallen, a series by Steven Erikson.Incredibly detailed, realistic characters, a gripping plot and startling originality.Everything you could want from a fantasy series.

!_Brian_!

Anything by Raymond E. Feist. C'mon face it, the man is a legend. In my opinion the greatest fantasy writer ever. His concepts of the races magic etc are so close to what my ideas of them were he might as well have been in my head.

Robin Hobb is fantastic as well. Fitz's books were amazing but I htink I might lean ever so slightly towards the liveship books. She's an amazing author.

Anyone read Trudi Canavan? A reletive new comer if I remember rightly with her Black Magician Trilogy. Great read.

Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind are probably the 2 authors that introduced me to the whole genre and while they top notch I find they can go on a bit a times and you find yourself reading only to get to the good parts.

Terry Pratchett. The man has just done so much for me. Wicked!

George RR Martin, Kate Elliot and Julia Gray are worth a mention too.

ur-lord

I have to say, having read nearly all the books mentioned in this thread. My favourite author is David Gemmel for his non fussy, all out, full on FUN. His books are total fantasy without getting too worried about clichés, or avoiding the norm. Personally I think a good fantasy book needs a healthy dose of clichés to keep it ticking over. His new book “Troy” the first of a few, is a real page turner that leaves you excitedly awaiting his next instalment.

Scrumpyjake

lord of the rings- being the daddy of them all
first chronicles of thomas covenant - 2nd were in comparison pretty poor
memory sorrow and thorn
a song of fire and ice - so far but feast for crows was in comparison to the others very mediocre
farseer trilogy - being written in the first person made it stand out from others
magician - the rest of series were pretty ****e

meditraitor

valen wrote:

I've read a helluva lot of books over the years. And yeah, I'd have to agree with you on this.

I read the first one. Got confused. Enjoyed it, but go "damn, that was a hard read" - it's like reading book sixteen of the Wheel of Time, you feel lost. But, that's what he wants you to feel. You've jumped into his world, and it's already got 400,000 years of history.

I then found book five in a book shop in the US, just before a long flight. Loved it. He tells many interwoven stories - any given book is written like Pulp Fiction - timelines are skewed. There are maybe 50 interesting characters per book. Sometimes they only get a page of his time - but in another book, they'll get 300 pages, so there is great pleasure in re-reading the older books, to get more out of the whole world, and the stories he pulls out of it.

There are no "good" guys and "bad" guys. Just humans, and beliveable immortals I've ever come across, and the most human gods. You don't get to the end saying "DAMMIT, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT". You get to the end going "Wow. That rocked. I want another story now".

It's not a series like you are used to; many books share the same characters, but some books might only have three guys you've heard of before.

I read his "Chain of Dogs" book, and cried like a baby at one stage (if you've read it, you'll understand). Right after, I read the new George RR Martin book. I'd liked his other three. Compared to Erikson, the writing is childish, the story is sloppy. What took him 800 pages to write, is about 200 worth of story. I was really annoyed by the end of the book. Especially at the wee footnote, that tried to explain why we waited so long for a book that wasn't very enjoyable. Then, I got a hold of Erikson's House of Chains, and I'm gripped.

Strongly recommendly reading.

john

Just reading these again as the the Bonehunters is out on the 1st of March, cant wait:) , definitely the best fantasy I have ever read!

HEATZ

ann maccafferys dragon riders of pern is one of the best
i cant understand how no ones mentioned em yet?

and anything by terry brooks or margaret wies,tracy hickman,elisabeth ann scarborough and david gemmel

Daxy

I am BRAND NEW to fantasy novel, in fact, brand new to reading in general. I started with Terry Goodkind SoT series, and am currently working on Robert Jordan WoT series (book 7). I have been reading peoples opinions on many different sites to find out what I should read next - I see that these series are getting a lot of crap! I LOVED / am loving them both! They can move slow at points, but I feel like am living two lives while I am reading, it's an amazing way to get away from the world for a while.

My question is - has anyone read both of these series? and if so, can you tell me what is better? My friend told me that I started with the best, and I can only go down from there, but that's not what I'm reading online!

Any opinions from people who have read both of these series and know where I am coming from would be APPRECIATED! What do I read next, that won't disappoint me!?

Hakumei Naru

"The Farseer Trilogy" ~ Robin Hobb
"The Liveship Traders" ~ Robin Hobb
"Legend" ~ David Gemmel
"Echoes of the Great Song" ~ David Gemmel

I'm currently reading volume two of The Liveship Traders. This trilogy is even better than Farseer. I'm almost finished the book. Good thing I bought volume three today.

Zapp Brannigan

Can anyone give me the order of The Malazan Book of the Fallen? On play.com it doesnt give the details of which book is No. 1 etc.

ixoy

Slurms wrote:

Can anyone give me the order of The Malazan Book of the Fallen? On play.com it doesnt give the details of which book is No. 1 etc.

Sure. Published:

1. Gardens of the Moon
2. Deadhouse Gates
3. Memories of Ice
4. House of Chains
5. Midnight Tides
6. The Bonehunters (latest release - only in HB or large trade paperback) currently.

To Be Published:

7. Reaper's Gale
8. Toll the Hounds
9. Dust of Dreams
10. The Crippled God

.. It's a good sign that he's already got all the books named. Shows he has a direction for the series!

Playboy

Has to be the Prince of Nothing series. Much better and more intelligent than anything that Jordan, Erikson or Martin has to offer. I cant understand why there isnt more hype about this guy. He wrote the triology in 3 years so practically no waiting between books. I implore people to check it out ... you wont be disappointed.

ixoy

Playboy wrote:

Has to be the Prince of Nothing series. Much better and more intelligent than anything that Jordan, Erikson or Martin has to offer. I cant understand why there isnt more hype about this guy. He wrote the triology in 3 years so practically no waiting between books. I implore people to check it out ... you wont be disappointed.

Excellent - just started it today! Is it just the three books? These days trilogies almost seem "small".

Playboy

ixoy wrote:

Excellent - just started it today! Is it just the three books? These days trilogies almost seem "small".

Ye its just 3 books atm. He has just finished writing a stand alone novel and then he plans to set another series of books in the same world as the prince of nothing series.

niallb

HEATZ wrote:

ann maccafferys dragon riders of pern is one of the best
i cant understand how no ones mentioned em yet?
l

I'll second Anne McCaffrey. Pern is a great world.
Ursula LeGuin is also a favourite of mine.

CJ Cherryh is another worth reading not mentioned so far.
Most of her stuff would be better called Sci Fi, but the Morgaine stories
are excellent fantasy.

niksar

I was searching the internet for the name of the next book in the "Well of Echos" series after Tetrarch (which I discovered was Scrutator), when i stumbled on this forum and felt that I had to join as there are a few books that are not mentioned here which I feel are worthy of it

• The Cosmic Trilogy - C.S. Lewis
• Mordant's Need - Stephen Donaldson
• Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel - Susanna Clarke

The Cosmic Trilogy is a bit obscure but is certainly well worth the read if you like C.S. Lewis and are after something more adult than the Narnia books. The individual titles are: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.

Mordant's Need is two books: The Mirror of Her Dreams, and A Man Rides Through. Both good reads.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel is a great book that is pretty recent. It's written in almost the same way that it would be written in the time in which it is set (1800's) and has a really classic feel to it, like reading Sherlock Holmes or something.

On an extra note I want to add points to the Rhapsody trilogy of books which have already been mentioned, I just couldnt put them down. Highly recommended!

Cheers.

ur-lord

Hi niksar,
thanks for the input. Stephen Donaldson is on the list for the Thomas Covenant books which are great. I havent read Mordant's Need what is is like?

Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel is I agree a great read, but one of the best, I not sure.

Im told George R Martin is meant to be a good read, has anyone read it?

ur-lord

Tar.Aldarion

ur-lord wrote:

Im told George R Martin is meant to be a good read, has anyone read it?

Read the A Song of Ice and Fire series. They are truly amazing books.
It's amazing how much I didn't want characters to die etcetera, great writing.

ur-lord

yea, Ive heard there meant to be good. I need to finish this bloody wheel of time series first though, really starting to dislike the way its dragging out.

niksar

Maybe it's just the style that Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was written in that appealed to me so much, it was just so nice for a modern book to be written that way it really helped set the scene.

Mordant's Need follows the story of a woman who is transported from our world to a medieval/fantasy world (ie. Thomas Covenant) where mirrors have magical properties are the source of all their magical arts. Her transportation there was an attempt to find a champion from another world to help them win a war for survival which they are on the the not so successful side of. They don't know how to send her back and she seems pretty useless to the war effort, but as the story progresses it becomes apparent she has a hidden power .

To be honest I think i actually enjoyed it more than The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which I kind of had to force myself through some parts. If you have read Thomas Covenant you will like the same sort of harsh reality of the setting.

Anyways, I'm a pretty tired so thats about as articulate a description as I can give at the moment

niksar

Oh, and no one seems to have mentioned The Axis Trilogy or The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass.

Thats another couple of trilogies that had me going to work without any sleep.

*Just ONE more chapter...*

ur-lord

It is with the deepest regret that I must inform you that David Gemmell has died, at the age of 57.

David had heart bypass surgery around two weeks ago, and although showed signs of recovery, passed away this morning (Friday 28th July, 2006).

Our thoughts are with his wife Stella and his two children.

Zapp Brannigan

Bought Gardens of the Moon yesterday and read the 1st 50 pages last night. Very interesting, I like the way he's thrown you into the world with no explanation of anything!

Sarky

Slurms wrote:

Bought Gardens of the Moon yesterday and read the 1st 50 pages last night. Very interesting, I like the way he's thrown you into the world with no explanation of anything!

Gardens Of The Moon is probably the weakest book so far, because he's starting off so many plotlines and it's a bit unfocused-seeming as a result. It gets much, much better. The next book, Deadhouse Gates, is stunning. The Chain Of Dogs is just an amazing event. Oh, and have a look for Knight Of Knives by Ian Cameron Esslemont once you've gotten as far as about book 3. It deals with the 24 hours between the prologue and chapter one of Gardens. It won't provide many answers, but it'll make your questions a bit more important.

Demondaze

Glad to see all the Erikson love in here.

I'm just starting Memories of Ice after whipping through Deadhouse Gates and Gardens of the Moon. Really compelling stuff, and doesn't suffer from the slow-pace that put me off of the Wheel fo Time.

Great characterisation too, I had a soft-spot for Tattersail after only a few pages in GotM. My only point of contention is that I'm on Book 3 now and I still only have the vaguest idea how magic works in the series or how the warrens, folds and so on interact. Or maybe I'm just not paying enough attention.

Sarky

Demondaze wrote:

My only point of contention is that I'm on Book 3 now and I still only have the vaguest idea how magic works in the series or how the warrens, folds and so on interact. Or maybe I'm just not paying enough attention.

Most of the gods even seem a bit confused on what the deal is with magic in that world.

It's explained a bit more in later books, particularly Bonehunters, but so far it's still quite mysterious. And I have to say I like it that way. It's a refreshing change from wizards going to school and learning spells like Fireball. And sweet Jebus, the power some of those people can wield is damned impressive. The Malazan world is not a friendly place.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

Read the A Song of Ice and Fire series. They are truly amazing books.
It's amazing how much I didn't want characters to die etcetera, great writing.

but they did die

martin's a ****er