Good Fantasy Books

[Jihforce]

Alrighty, I just realized that I haven't read a decent Fantasy book in about 5 months or more....Soo I was wondering which would any of you recommend.

I just read the following over the last year:

1)a Game of Thrones
2)a Clash of Kings
3)a Storm of Swords
4)Wizards First Rule
5)Stone of Tears
6)Interview with a Vampire

Got any more recommendations? Anyone?
PS-No I won't read Harry Potter books. So don't even go there. And I've already read Most of the Dragonlance books too.

[jujubees]

Well, there's the REST of the Terry Goodkind series ... :blite:

If it's been 5 months since you read the last one, it's safe to proceed to the next one. His books were just NOT made to be read back-to-back.

[Thunder]

this one is super old...but it's one of my all time favorites that I picked up and read not too long ago.

It's an old Dragonlance novel called

The Legend of Huma, by Richard A. Knacck...it's really good...I highly recommend reading it if you haven't already.

[sho.gun]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

:thumbup:

[welfareloser]

now you're in trouble, i'm already long-winded, and you just asked about my favorite subject...

yeah, legend of huma was decent.

the best dragonlance novels (other than the first two trilogies, of course) are the elven nations trilogy - that really kicked butt.

also, in forgotten realms, the avatar trilogy (tantras, waterdeep and i forget the name of the other one.)

and the dark elf trilogy.

MISTS OF AVALON. it's a long book, but worth it. it's in 4 parts, and part 2 sucks, but parts 3 and 4 TOTALLY make up for it.

stephen king and peter straub wrote a book 20 years ago called the talisman, and it rocked. very long, of course. also good, a SHORT one by stephen king and very traditional fantasy style, is ... poop ... i think it's called through the dragon's eyes but it might just be dragon's eyes.

the dark tower series by stephen king. book 1 is very creepy and good, and can be read by itself. book 4 is stunningly good. books 2 and 3 are... different. i liked em, you might not.

and you really should read harry potter. :D i have not gotten so excited about a book since i first read dragonlance in the early eighties - that MEANS something dude.

do not read the moonshae isles trilogy (forgotten realms.) some of the worst pulp i ever did see.

i've been told some of the planescape novels are cool, but never checked em out myself.

if you haven't read the stand by stephen king, i loved it, and the uncut version (1200 pages) is a significantly better story than the cut (800 pages) version.

the "merlin" trilogy... i fergit what it's actually called, and i'm not at home, but i'll look it up and report back tomorrow night. anyway, it's by mary stewart... it's a trilogy... the first book is called the crystal cave.

and of course, the narnia books and the lord of the rings...

now, margaret weiss and tracy hickman have written some true stinkers of late in dragonlance, but they have two trilogies from the early nineties that ROCK - the darksword trilogy and the rose of the prophet trilogy.

that's just the tip of the iceberg... i'm sure i'll be back to spout of some more later whether you want me to or not...

[attgig]

going with the clasics

jrr tolkien & cs lewis :)

lord of the rings is coming out soon...might as well brush up :)

[Jeffbx]

Originally posted by welfareloser
stephen king and peter straub wrote a book 20 years ago called the talisman, and it rocked. very long, of course. also good, a SHORT one by stephen king and very traditional fantasy style, is ... poop ... i think it's called through the dragon's eyes but it might just be dragon's eyes.

the dark tower series by stephen king. book 1 is very creepy and good, and can be read by itself. book 4 is stunningly good. books 2 and 3 are... different. i liked em, you might not.

and you really should read harry potter. :D i have not gotten so excited about a book since i first read dragonlance in the early eighties - that MEANS something dude.

if you haven't read the stand by stephen king, i loved it, and the uncut version (1200 pages) is a significantly better story than the cut (800 pages) version.


Welfareloser doth speaketh the truth....

Stephen King is one of my favorites, and the Dark Tower series is amazing. He & Peter Straub have also just released another book, Black House. I haven't read it yet, but I'm buying it as soon as I have some time to sit & read.

Don't discount the Harry Potter series - they're actually VERY good.

Also, if you haven't, try some Clive Barker - he's a friggin genius. A little long winded & pretentious sometimes, but the stories are top notch. Start with Imajica. It's long, but I think they sell it in two volumes now so as not to scare people away....

[onalamwar]

Try Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series (don't forget The Hobbit)

There's also Terry Brook's Shannara series

And anything by David Eddings (start with The Belgariad series)

Good stuff!!

[Jpeace121]

Originally posted by att gig
going with the clasics

jrr tolkien & cs lewis :)

lord of the rings is coming out soon...might as well brush up :)

Definitely. I just picked up a one volume collection of the Lord of the Rings at CostCo (its a membership wholesale club, if youve never heard of it). It was paperback, but only $12. I gotta get it read again before the movie breaks.

[Sir_Froggy]

Originally posted by welfareloser
also, in forgotten realms, the avatar trilogy (tantras, waterdeep and i forget the name of the other one.)

and the dark elf trilogy.


dark elf trilogy is excellent...or try any Forgotten Realms by R.A. Salvatore he's got tons of good ones
also i think Spellfire is a good book forgot who author was oh and i think Elminster:The Making of a Mage was good (or was it The Making of the Mage? oh well)

but for the books by R.A. Salvatore i think u should start from the beginning it would make more sense and would be better that way...

also u can get the first 2 sets cheaper cuz they have the 3 in 1 thing now collectors or something like that....

[welfareloser]

and always try half.com first (with a new customer coupon) and if it's hard to find, ebay or alibris (they usually have a coupon floating around somewhere...)

there were some other good books in the vampire series - i read them over five years ago (and now i can't find the box with those books... grrrrrrr...) so my memory is fuzzy but i believe there were 4 and the 4th one was really the best.

also not bad are the finders stone trilogy (azure bonds, sword of the saurials, and sumpin else) and the ... poop ... okay, the halfling's gem, something about dwarves, it's another trilogy...

i just got black house shipped to me, and i have to read king leopold's ghost by some dude from california, and i have to finish the blind assassin by margaret atwood and get it back to the library on time (yeah right... i think i am the sole financial supporter for the library of whatever town i live in) and then lord of the rings before the movie comes out...

if you are looking for something different and not a trilogy, "iron dragon's daughter" by michael somebodyorother.

i concur on david eddings!!! he has two series of five, and the second one is better.

piers anthony also wrote this series of five about some of the greek gods, and the personalities they would ahve as they visit earth today. i forget the name of the series, but there is being a green mother, with a tanled skein, on a dark horse...

anyway, then i get to read black house. i am kind of afraid it will suck. the talisman is excellent, but stephen king isn't very consistent, and his last book sucked, and i think peter straub's solo books are mediocre, so... *fingers crossed*

[mojo]

"i invented the internet" by al gore
"no new taxes" by george bush
"i did not have sexual relations with that woman" by bill clinton
"finding the real killers (on the golf course)" by oj simpson
"i spell good" by dan quayle
"i'm still a black man" by michael jackson
"ishtar was a good movie" by warren beatty and dustin hoffman

[GraingerGuy]

Both the riftwar series and the serpantwar series by Raymond E. Feist rock. I really like the way he writes.

I have to agree with welfareloser, Harry Potter is something to start reading. I didn't think it was going to be any good, but then I started reading it and got hooked. :D

The rest of the Terry Goodkind like jujubees said is also a good series to read....except I didn't like the last book he wrote...I don't think it's all that good.

And anything from Steven Brust...:D He's good!

[Jeffbx]

Originally posted by welfareloser

piers anthony also wrote this series of five about some of the greek gods, and the personalities they would ahve as they visit earth today. i forget the name of the series, but there is being a green mother, with a tanled skein, on a dark horse...


Wow, I had forgotten about them...

The Incarnations of Immortality series -

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/series/-/61/mass_market/002-0759075-8804814

[Devhux]

Excellent choices here people.

I'm currently starting book 3 of the Sword of Truth series (Terry Goodkind). I do like Terry's writing style quite a bit.

I've read the first Harry Potter book (The Philosopher's Stone), and it was far, far better than I expected..... can't wait to read more.

I am one of the few people in the galaxy that hasn't read Lord of the Rings yet though.........*shame on Guru*

[Showtime]

Now i dont read as much as i used to read. From memory I still love the classics and many other books that came after.
*TLOTR/The Hobbit -J.R.R. Tolkein
The Hobbit is probably the best read of any book out there. Spend a few hours with it and the whole magic and mystery of Middle-earth will come to life.
As long as the Lord of the rings is, it feels like it needed more chapters. Maybe that is biggest compliment to be given...
He had another book called the Simarillion(?) and you have to be pretty hyped on the whole mid earth thing to read it. I read it(twice) and it felt like a history book(it is one basically). If you enjoy the simarillion(?) than i suggest trying the bible. Especially the parts about "Jacob begat ........begat(is that the right word)."
There are others but some are by the "master" himself and others are edited and finished by others(some outright written by other "authors"). Skip unless your hardcore :P.
*Narnia series(7 books) -C.S.S Lewis
Sparked my interest in reading. Classic a wonderful series for young and older readers. My fav is "The Boy and His Horse."
The Black Cauldron- Lloyd Alexander
A cool little series to read after Narnia.
*Xanth/etc- Pierse Anthony
I first picked up Xanth in 4th or 5th grade and went through periods where id read them and periods where i had no time for these childish fantasy novels. My warning with all of his ongoing series(Xanth/Blue Adept/etc) is that there are a lot of books and they start getting a little crazed as they go on. I personally like the early Xanths(1-8), but from people ive talked to they seem to like whichever they read 1st(must be like 2x-3x of them by now). Wherever you start reading the previous ones will feel ancient(he ages the characters quickly and it goes on for generations) and the ones that follow eventually get redundant or silly or both.
Blue Adept i read cuz i ran out of Xanths. It was different from Xanth but interesting and well written. I only recommend the 1st 3-5 of these because it gets looney tunes really fast.
He has written many booksand we've all seen "Total Recall."
Not all is childish and fun many of his books deal with adult subject and contemporary themes(child abuse/etc). "Bio of a Space Tyrant" is a good read that comes to mind. You will like his stuff or hate it(initially) the middle ground is for readers who initially like his books and later become confused with his writing.
*River of Dancing Gods -Jack L. Chalkner(?)
Another series that starts getting silly after the initial 3-4 books(as if fantasy novels arent silly to begin with). Its one of those mixed modern times enters fantasy lands and he throws in small twists for an interesting read.
*Author Michael Moorcock has a dark series about an eternal champion that a lot of people like. I didnt love it but would recommend the sampling of.
*Two Authors that i picked up at the same time were David Eddings and Raymond E. Feist. Both good reads with good characters. Feists "Magician:Apprentice series is one of the better series to come out. The whole "Riftwar series" is worth a read which will lead to "The Serpentwar Saga." The later "saga" with the pretty covers was such a let down. He full on tries to make it like a romance novel and than with all the fighting and drama he totally blows the ending.
David Eddings has a few series that i enjoyed. The "Elenium" is a good read involving "3 Muskateer" type knights and a "Indiana Jones" type heroe. The "Belgariad" is another nice series but gets a little weird when he tries to tie it all up with the main characters biographies.
Sorry bout the length it was a nice trip down memory lane and a nice diversion from the current tragegy.

[Showtime]

Incarnations(i think thats what the series is called) by piers anthony is a great read. Its about death(actual death) and fate and time(father time :) ), etc. They are all given human identities and is a very interesting trip through the mind of mr. piers.

[welfareloser]

so nobody else has mentioned robert jordan... am i gonna get beaten bloody if i pipe up with an enthusiastic "he SUCKS" ???

i sat through book one of his series, finally had to give up halfway through. his dialogue was trash - it was full of cliches, and very stilted and unreal sounding - his characters were flat and clicheed, and he writes his women characters like he's never even met one. i hear that his strengths are good solid histories, and attention to detail (apparently, by book 7 or wherever he is there are about 40 different story lines going every which way) and it sounds like i might enjoy that part, but i just can't get over his weaknesses.

a neat short story collection is "a dragon lover's treasury of the fantastic."

and OMG, how could i have forgotten the death gate series by weiss and hickman?!?! it's seven books, starting with dragon wing. good, but you have to pay attention or you lose track of people and places.

OMG OMG how could i forget joan d vinge?!?! the snow queen and the summer queen. they are in my top five. she also wrote a series of two or three, i forget, that was really neat, called catspaw, psion, and somethin else, i forget, they are sci-fi and not fantasy.

[Sir_Froggy]

oh also a good Dragonlance novel is The Soulforge
it's bout Raistlin as a kid and growing up etc.

also Brothers in Arms which is the one after it (squel?)

[Jihforce]

Harry Potter?!?!?
Is it really THAT good? I mean, SERIOUSLY!!! I'm trying not to jump on the bandwagon on this one. It just seems like a kids book...
By the way everyone, thanks so much for the suggetions. All of you have mentioned tons of books that I actually saw this weekend at Barnes and Nobles. I figured this was a good time to get suggestions since I'm trying to gear up for the winter :) Lots of reading to be done during those "cold nights" :P
So what do u all think of the Lord of the Rings movies that are coming out??? Think its gonna live up to the book?

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by Jihforce
Harry Potter?!?!?
Is it really THAT good? I mean, SERIOUSLY!!!

yes, yes, and YES!!! it is that good. the writer has an excellent sense of humor, there are no wasted words, the dialogue is realistic and clever. it's a good book that also happens to be easy enough for kids to read. the woman is a genius. you won't be disappointed. and each of her books is better than the last.



Think its gonna live up to the book?

i think it will do as good a job as a movie can do. they went all out, from actors to sets to (most importantly) writers, and i think LOTR is going to be THE definitive fantasy movie.

well, along with harry potter. from the trailers, i'd say that's another movie where they did EVERYTHING right. these two movies are teh make it or break it on fantasy movies, the studios know it, and they want their instant empires. if harry potter 1 is good, they have an instant audience for 2-7. and lotr is also a minimum of 3 movies. and they are good for kids, families, geeks like me, dates, ... everyone will see these movies. so november and december are going to be goooooood months, and i ain't talkin bout the smoked turkeys...

[brainsmile]

Piers Anthony is my vote