Best Fantasy Trilogy/series/Book?

regi

I liked the tales of the bard too

I don't think anyone's mentioned the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake - classic!

DapperGent

Originally posted by Regi
I don't think anyone's mentioned the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake - classic!

I found it really difficult to get into.

It's worth trying again I take it?

ixoy

I love "A Song Of Ice And Fire" as well, like most here.

Have fond memories of Dragonlance (well prinicipally of Raistlin, the most badass nerd of all time!).

Also love Robin Hobb's work - all of them, although haven't read "The Golden Fool" yet.

Steven Erickson's books are great and wonderfully convoluted and epic - spread over multiple continents, with gods being ripped from heavens, and double- and triple-bluffs....

WoT was good up until "Lords of Chaos" after which it became crap, turgid, and something we're all going to finish regardless....

Raymond E. Fesit has some great stuff. I loved the original trilogy as well as the latter quartet aka Riftwars III. However, the Krondor trilogy left me cold. I hope the new Conclave series (presumably Riftwars IV) is a return to form, although have yet to read it.

Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast is definetely worth a read, if you like your fantasy done in a sort of visual haunted style. Lots of descriptive passages, not that much action. It's great set building but the characters are a little flat, besides Steerpike. The TV series, for that matter, takes elements from the first two books of the trilogy (Titus Groan and Gormenghast).

However, I must ask why people aren't mentioning the wonderful Janny Wurt's "The Wars of Light and Shadow" series? Beautifully written, set on a world developed in extreme detail. The magic system is unlike anything I've seen in fantasy and very complex, intertwining traditional methods of invocation with concepts such as geophysics and metallurgy as well as name magic. The characters make me ache and there's a massive saga feel to it. Plus it's nice and big The saga is to be split into five sections, sorta arcs. Some of these arcs have individual names, but they're part of the overall story.
The first arc is "Curse of the Mistwraith". The second arc is "The Ships of Merior" and "Warhost of Vastmark". The third arc is called "The Alliance of Light" and gets even longer at four books with: "Fugitive Prince", "Grand Conspiracy", "Peril's Gate" and the, as yet unreleased, "Stormed Fortress" (due August 2004 ). Every fantasy fan should check it out, assuming you don't need action every single page and can appreciate evocative descriptions and beautifully created worlds and characters!

Boro

I really liked all of Janny Wurts work. The books she wrote with Fiest (daughter of the Empire, etc) are among my favourite. I kinda lost my way reading the War of Light and Shadow though, I got up to the Warhost of Vastmark and then got bored waiting for the next installment. I had actually forgotten about getting back to them

I really enjoyed Terry Goodkind's books. They are like a combination (IMHO) of Feist and Jordans writing styles, except with darker overtones (mord sith/torture, etc). I thought the pillars of Creation (the latest) was rubbish though - absolute pap. Hope the next one is going to get back to the good stuff.

My current favourite series though is Steven Erikssons 'Fall of the Malazan' series. Brilliant, 'nuff said.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i actually liked goodkinds latest alot, cept for the whole pro capitalist, boo communism undertones (undertones, hah!). he should keep his political bloody propoganda out of the story

goodkind seems to descend into pornography alot of the time, granted i like a bit of adult realism in a novel but he does take it quite far.

can't wait for the next though

skittishkitten

Terry Goodkinds newest release in the Sword Of Truth series is called .... The Naked Empire ...... I've mine on order .... just found out about it today .......now I'm anxious to get it !

OH ..... and what is this one called "Debt Of Bones " ?? I don't remember it being part of the original set ! Don't tell me I've missed it somehow !!!:rolleyes:

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

debt of bones was released in the "legends" book, a collection of short stories from a few diff fantasy writes, robert jordan and pratchett both put stories into it.

i think debt of bones is about wizard zorander (zedd) and when he raised the barriers...

it's defo something about zedd anyway, i remember that much

ixoy

Does Terry Goodkind get better after the first two books? Frankly, I was quite bored by "Wizard's First Rule" and "Stone of Tears" (or whatever). Found it derivative at times (too much of: Event A leads to Event B leads to Event C plotting - very simplistic). The attempts at being "adult" - ohh look it's an S & M sequence - felt like they were trying too hard. I just felt the first couple of books smacked of someone who wrote like he thought his work was much better than it was. So, having said that, do you think I'd like any of the next books? Or should I stick with the hundred or so series I'm currently involved in and way behind with anyway

Maguined

Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy, read it when i was realy young and got pretty upset when the poor little otak died

skittishkitten

Originally posted by ixoy
Does Terry Goodkind get better after the first two books? Frankly, I was quite bored by "Wizard's First Rule" and "Stone of Tears" (or whatever).

Actually if you didn't like the first two , chances are that you won't like the rest . But I do like him ..... ALOT

AND WHAT's WRONG with a blonde curvy creature leading men around on a collar and leash !?

Scruff

Originally posted by ixoy
I love "A Song Of Ice And Fire" as well, like most here.

Have fond memories of Dragonlance (well prinicipally of Raistlin, the most badass nerd of all time!).

Had completely forgotten about Dragonlance. I loved it so much when i read it years ago that i "forgot" to give the chronicles trilogy back to my mate who owned it...

WoT was good up until "Lords of Chaos" after which it became crap, turgid, and something we're all going to finish regardless....

Nope, not i. bought and read up to the 8th one and have decided he's got enough of my dosh for what is now a tedious,convoluted ramblings of a stor from an author who completely lost the plot(s).
Which is an awful pity cause i loved the first 3 books.

ixoy

Originally posted by Scruff
Nope, not i. bought and read up to the 8th one and have decided he's got enough of my dosh for what is now a tedious,convoluted ramblings of a stor from an author who completely lost the plot(s).
Which is an awful pity cause i loved the first 3 books. [/B]

Scruff, I salute thee! I wish I had your courage instead of the need to know how it all turned out. If it ends with "And the Wheel of Time turned once more", I shall advise RJ never to come within a 100 mile radius of me....

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

im probably going to finish it.. although I may just wait 5-6 years and buy em all in paperback then..

echomadman

Trilogy would be thomas convenant, first chronicles by staphen donaldson

Series, Katherine Kerrs Deverry books are excellent.

stand alone book.... hmmm...... not many of them in the fantasy genre
at a pinch i'd say the hobbit, obviously taken as a stand alone and not part of teh middle earth universe

ixoy

Originally posted by echomadman

stand alone book.... hmmm...... not many of them in the fantasy genre
at a pinch i'd say the hobbit, obviously taken as a stand alone and not part of teh middle earth universe

Check out J.V. Jones' "The Barbed Coil" for a superb one-off fantasy novel.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i loved the barbed coil.!

granted i can't remember what it was about or anything so trivial as that, but i remember it was a great book

Funky

the Cloakmaster Cycle series of books (think theyre forgotten realms or dragonlance not sure its been so long) rock, 6 books long and written by a few different authors but brilliant reads

lordgoat

ok hey all, been reading this thread and i'm appalled at some of the comments, how can anybody like the wheel of time series granted its starts of really good (well after you get over the pile of crap in book1 - which he has now split into two books???) but after the shadow rising it goes to pieces for a story that was originally meant to be 5 books he's milk it unbelieveably, have bought or read any of these since the disgrace that was path of daggers - 400 pages and nothing happens, Another author guitly of this is goodkind but at least jordan has a good story and likeable characters (Mat and Perrin) Goodkinds' got nothing.

davis eddings - cock - both the belgarion and mallereon are identical with the elenium and tamuli swap the names a bit and you're grand he even uses the same character descriptions in opposite books - what a cheapskate. but i must sat the actual original story is quite good.

Otherland - the best most original fantast/sci fi series in years its up there with the gap series, stephen donaldson's an amazing author i recommend the thomas covenant books to anyone who knows there fantast books and hasn't read them. Williams misery sorrow and thorn are excellent books as well the first book kinda drags but the series is exceptinoal.

Feist in my opinion is the best fantasy author out there at the moment, the first riftwar books are timeless, you get loveable characters, gripping plot and its all over in three books we a well rounded ending. Then if you read his triology with janny wurts the empire books you get the other side of the riftwar with some killer crossover characters. His new krondor books are kind of a gimic in my opinion but the serpentwar saga (4 books)are definitely worth the read and the first book in conclave of shadows is wonderful.

At the moment i'm reading the liveship traders by Hobb its decent, quite like her assassin triolgy and can't wait for the last part of the fools errand books.

J.V. Jones is also a very good read - someone mentined the barbde coil - defenitely worth a look for a stand alone book.

And last but not least the hobbit is your ultimate fantasy book, 200 pages of wondeful story.


sorry for the rant, heed me read fesit you won't be dissappointed, might not check this for a while but if you need to pester me over my comments - cabbagy@camous.ie - knock yourself out,

later,
goat.

lordgoat

Stephen King's gunslinger series - only four books in it and not close to being finished but they are well worth the read, completely different from anyother fantasy i've read. Not a fan of King's at all but these deserve merit.

ai ing

everybody seems to have forgotten about terry pratchet - the discworld series, the best humurous fantasy series ever. So my top three would have to be
1. Lotr (of course)
2. Discworld
3. Thomas Covenant

By the way my favourite George RR Martin book would have to be Dying of the light- but its not in a series so just pretend i didnt mention it

Dakeyras

Thought i'd throw out my two cents since i agree with some of whats been posted but not all and a few that no-one has mentioned.

As has been said you can't think of a fantasy trilogy without thinking of LoTR, great books and are what so much that followed is based upon. But if i had to pick a favorite trilogy i'd have to go with Feist and the riftwar trilogy. Magician was the first fantasy i ever read and its still one of my favorites. Great world, great characters and thourogly enjoyable. Though the serpentwar series and the rest i don't think compare at all.

Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant I had to force myself through, I thought ‘if I keep reading this is going to get better’ it never did. Characters you couldn’t emphasise with and a story that left you not caring whether his whole world was destroyed left me cold. Terrible.

Robert Jordan started out with a good story but it has just gone ridiculous now, each book moves the story along slightly though its such a task to read, there seems to be Jordan fans who are fanatical about all his books, the story is good, though if he had condensed it it would work better. But as long as people buy them I think he’s just going to keep churning them out till he dies. He’s happy, the die hard fans are happy, publisher’s happy, don’t fix what ain’t broken. So I think look forward to an unending wheel of time. ~~sniff~~ ~~snort~~

George R R Martin and Stephen Erikson have already been covered by someone, two great writers with great series. Check em out if you haven’t already.

David Gemmell is simply my favourite author, great characters, worlds and stories. The only drawback to him is that the same reoccurring points come up in his stories, the duality of man, nature of good and evil, how each is contained in everyone, the warriors that walk the grey lands between white and black. But simply the best read of any heroic fantasy and maybe any fantasy out there, the reoccurring points and situations (anyone up for another siege?) never tire me and his characters are so three dimensional they leap of the page at you. Highly recommended to anyone who hasn’t given him a go. And in his latest book Druss takes another stroll onto the pages, cracking stuff.

I’ve been babbling for ages but I’ll leave my thoughts on a stand alone book short and sweet. I read some good suggestions but no-one mentioned Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, simply one of the best stand alone fantasy books out there.

I’ll leave my already over long post there.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

no, the wot die hard fans are crying softly under their blanket covers in the corner, wishing that robert jordan had never written the last 3 books.

*sigh*

Dakeyras

Originally posted by Mordeth
no, the wot die hard fans are crying softly under their blanket covers in the corner, wishing that robert jordan had never written the last 3 books.

*sigh*

and so they should be. though watch you don't damage the blankets. and i don't think there's any pulling something decent out of the wot now. It has grown into a monster that i don't think even Jordan has any control over. but one can hope, though i'm not one of them.

Sarky

Perhaps, in the next book, every single minor character will be killed? That would speed things up no end. One can hope...:)

Capt'n Midnight

follow on's to one good book..

Helleconia - (Brian Aldiss (SP))
Saga of Exiles - (Julian May)

Alice in wonderland / through the looking glass

Could say Foundation series -'cos anything involving mind reading is fantasy IMHO

River God (not the modern one) - (w Smith) -(OK it's really SiFi)

---

For the poles
Magician / LOTR

ixoy

Originally posted by Sarky
Perhaps, in the next book, every single minor character will be killed? That would speed things up no end. One can hope...:)

I'm signing you on for Jordan's editor. I heard a rumour he didn't have one - you'd never have guessed the way his books speed along with so much happening from one to the next!

I can't be ar$ed reading the latest book because I know nothing will bloody happen. The cast of eight thousand will shuffle around Randland a bit and plan a few more battles and a few seals may crack :rolleyes: George R.R. should come in and just butcher the lot of them - he knows how to have big casts without deflecting from the need to move the story. Ditto for Steven Erickson - his story spans multiple continents and stuff happens still on a big scale...

Sarky

Thanks, but I'd only do something silly like add in a giant robot with laser eyes. Or a Jar Jar-esque character...:eek:

avatar

The Thomas covenant books (yes, EVEN the second trilogy, in fact, White gold Wielder is my favourite book of the six)

The Farseer Trilogy is pretty good too.... LOTR (duh). Also, the Earthsea series, Belgariad, and 'His Dark Materials' trilogy (More commonly known as the Northern Lights trilogy)....

If you think about it though, LOTR is only the third part of a trilogy.... (The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings).... that'd have to be my favourite trilogy (if you think of it as one)

avatar

oh yeah, and Echoes of the Great Song and Dark Moon by Gemmell are my favourite books ever.... but since neither is related to each other (or, for that matter, anything else) and aren't in fact IN a seris, forget i mentioned them....

Cable

For those of you who love a great read and think lotr was the best fantasy trilogy ever try reading Robert Jordans Wheel of Time colllection spanning i think 11 books.....
its an amazing read
the critics describe it as :

"Jordan opens us up to the world Tolken started"

im telling ye, pick up a copy. the first chapter is though to get into, but once you get into it you'l just wnat to know what happens next