Fantasy Book Recommedations

[mornish]

Hi everyone!

I'm going up to Santa Barbara this weekend, so I need some good books :)

Series' that I like are the Sword of Truth series (Terry Goodkind), Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), A Song of Ice and Fire (George R.R. Martin), The Wheel of Time series (Robert Jordan) and books like that.



If anyone has any recommendations or want to have book discussions please post here :)

-Miles

[yoopers]

Frank Peretti books.

[dudewithasock]

I've mentioned it before on here - I absolutely love the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman (in order: Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, Crown of Shadows). These books, while at their core a fantasy trilogy with a sci-fi-ish backdrop, are also extremely dark and psychological, and you get extremely attached to certain characters that you almost feel guilty sympathizing with. Great series.

For a lighter and more cliched fantasy series, try The Belgariad (5 books) and the Mallorean (another 5 that continue the story of the first 5) by David Eddings.

[mornish]

I've mentioned it before on here - I absolutely love the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman (in order: Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, Crown of Shadows). These books, while at their core a fantasy trilogy with a sci-fi-ish backdrop, are also extremely dark and psychological, and you get extremely attached to certain characters that you almost feel guilty sympathizing with. Great series.

For a lighter and more cliched fantasy series, try The Belgariad (5 books) and the Mallorean (another 5 that continue the story of the first 5) by David Eddings.

awesome, I'll try out coldfire

[pkittle]

If you like British humor (Monty Python, for instance), you'd probably enjoy Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Or, for that matter, Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

I also highly recommend Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy.

[forrestunifreak]

awesome, I'll try out coldfire

Yeah definitly, I've read all of them.


I think I heard about the series from dudewithasock too. :p

[Mikefule]

http://www.sfsite.com/05a/ke127.htm

The King of Elfland's Daughter, by Lord Dunsanay.

It's a long time since I read this. Makes a nice change from Tolkien and pseudo-Tolkien.

[kington99]

If you like British humor (Monty Python, for instance), you'd probably enjoy Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Or, for that matter, Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

I also highly recommend Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy.


I was going to reccomend Pratchett's Discworld series, must have read atleast 25 of them by now. Couldn't stand Hitchhiker's but I understand I'm going against the tide of public opinion.

[wobbling bear]

hey, hey "Iron dream" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Dream
after that you won't read fantasy books the same way :p
(I was a SF fan then I got bored when editors mixed up SF and fantasy : with the notable exceptions of Jack Vance and Sprague de Camp I simply don't like most of "fantasy" books)

[PKHodgie]

Darren shan demonata series, very good series about demons and the human world, easy to read. I would recommed them, just be aware that they have a lot of blood and guts in them. But still very good.

[maestro8]

Bring your physics book.

How can you indulge in fantasy when you've yet to grasp reality?

[ridingwithscissors]

If you like British humor (Monty Python, for instance), you'd probably enjoy Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Or, for that matter, Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

I also highly recommend Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy.
+1 to all three.

[caudy]

I read some of Raymond E Feists books. I really enjoyed those. There's a set of three: The Magician, Silverthorn, Darkness at Sethanon. Pretty engrossing stuff.

[phlegm]

Bring your physics book.

Physics books were some of my favorite fantasy books as a teenager! :p

Now, I just prefer the fantasies in my head. :D

[mornish]

Darren shan demonata series, very good series about demons and the human world, easy to read. I would recommed them, just be aware that they have a lot of blood and guts in them. But still very good.


not really a fan of that series, a little boring to read because it is written pretty simply.


I have yet to start on the Ursula Leguin series, although I probably will.



I've also read all of the Salvatore books, which I liked.

[Naomi]

If you like British humor (Monty Python, for instance), you'd probably enjoy Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Or, for that matter, Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

I also highly recommend Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy.



I found Pratchett to be fine in small doses. Not a challenging read by far, and once you have read a couple, others seemed to be just more of the same.

Anyone read "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant?" I did enjoy those.


Nao

[Mikefule]

I found Pratchett to be fine in small doses. Not a challenging read by far, and once you have read a couple, others seemed to be just more of the same.

Anyone read "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant?" I did enjoy those.


Nao

You surprise me, Nao.

To me, Pratchett has a real sense of what fantasy is all about. It's not po-faced and earnest. His magic is more than "electricity by another name". His witches feel "real": "You're not walking right for rain; you sort of walk in between the drops," said Granny Weatherwax. (I paraphrase).

The Thomas Covenant books left me cold. So formulaic.

[Naomi]

You surprise me, Nao.

To me, Pratchett has a real sense of what fantasy is all about. It's not po-faced and earnest. His magic is more than "electricity by another name". His witches feel "real": "You're not walking right for rain; you sort of walk in between the drops," said Granny Weatherwax. (I paraphrase).

The Thomas Covenant books left me cold. So formulaic.



I expect that you will be far from the last person I surprise. ( I hope!) For me fantasy has to be something I can feel part of. I need to almost become an observer at the scene itself, my chair, the room, has to disappear. I need to become a member of the band having the adventure, rather than just a reader. I find I cannot do that with Pratchett. Certainly Pratchett has the comedy, but for me that comedy detracts from the fantasy.
I read half a dozen of the Discworld series, but with each succeeding book, it became a little more of a chore to read it. Finally they bored me.

If the Donaldson books left you so cold Mike, why did you read more than one?

I read Covenant a long time ago, when I was a teenager. Maybe if I re-read them now I might feel differently. I still retain a good picture of them which I do not wish to destroy, so I will probably take your comment as a suggestion I do not re-read them.

For similar reasons I do not watch "Films of the Book", if I have enjoyed that book previously, or wish to read it in the future. It would destroy my own personal fantasy and replace it with that of someone else, neatened, tidied, and massaged into something they can more easily put on film.
I still KNOW what Bilbo really looks like, and could not name a single actor who starred in LOR.

I probably take these things to extremes. I never read the credits of a film. I do not wish to become too familiar with actors and actresses. It is difficult at times, their names and photographs being plastered on every available surface. I would much rather not know what Jack Nicolson looks like, because the film then loses much of its fantasy ( or reality?) for me. I end up holding my own Oscars, noticing that a certain bit was not acted well. It is no longer the man with no name, but Clint Eastwood in a costume. I remain partially successful, but not of course with the biggest names. However I have retained a fairly substantial gap in the useful knowledge I would take to "The Weakest Link".

Maybe I seek and expect too much?

Nao

[Mikefule]

If the Donaldson books left you so cold Mike, why did you read more than one?


It's so long ago, I can't remember how many I read.

There was a phase when I read lots of fantasy and "sword and sorcery".

Lord of the Rings: clumsily written, sometimes overwrought, but Tolkien clearly "lived in" his fantasy world.

Sword of Shannara (etc.) (Terry Brooks): Lord of the Rings rewritten by someone who wished he'd thought of it first, but lacked the background in real mythology and languages. Bordering on plagiarism.

Thomas Covenant books (Stephen Donaldson): I read this as a book by someone who had clever ideas but no inner vision of the world he was describing.

The King of Elfland's Daughter (Lord Dunsanay) a short stand-alone novelette that had a special charm and mystical quality.

Neq the Sword/Var the Stick/Sos the Rope (Piers Anthony): Give me strength!

Conan the Ballbearing (and 300 other books) (Robert E Howard): Mildly homo-erotic romp with no depth.

Brak the Barbarian (John Jakes): Conan, but lacking the intellectual depth and psychological insight. (:rolleyes: ) Look out for the word "ichor" which occurs 126,325 times. (In chapter 1.)

Dragon Song/Flight/Dance/Fart etc. (Anne McCaffrey): They should have shot her after the first. (Chapter!)

The best "fantasy" I have read for a long time is the Iliad (in English translation, of course!) It really is worth reading, and takes you into a world of gods and warriors that the writer really believed in.

[evil-nick]

+1 for Pratchett's Discworld. It's true that sometimes the comedy can take you out of the story a bit (One book has a section that's something like "In a million other universes he didn't do X. In a million other universes, he did Y. In a million other universes, this was a very short book"). On the other hand, some of the characters are just awesome. I'd recommend the Sam Vimes series: Guards Guards!, Men At Arms, Nightwatch,The Fifth Elephant, Thud!, and for the kids "Where's My Cow?" (My wife and I just picked that up for our forthcoming child ;))

I'd also recommend Neil Gaiman's American Gods... Very good book.

Or if you like a bit of math in your action, Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson. Amazing book.

[Into the blue]

Mark me down as a Pratchett fan too.

Ook.

[Det-riot]

terry brooks shanara books are great.

Also look into the gunslinger series by Stephen King. It's fantasy, even though its by King

[pkittle]

I'd also recommend Neil Gaiman's American Gods... Very good book.

After a week-long public vote on Neil's blog, he announced that he's giving a free download of American Gods to anybody. Don't know the format or anything, but check his site (neilgaiman.com) as he's not yet posted details.

It's a great book. But I haven't yet run into anything he's written that I didn't really like. Stardust is closer to "fantasy" than American Gods, and is a lot of fun, too. The recent film version of Stardust is quite good.

[harper]

An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore. (Oh, maybe it was just a movie.)

[mornish]

so, I just read the Heritage of Shannara series by Terry Brooks, and the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson.

Now I'm out of books again :(


At least I still have a bunch of Barnes and Noble book cards, I'll have to get over there again soon.

[Det-riot]

so, I just read the Heritage of Shannara series by Terry Brooks, and the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson.

Now I'm out of books again :(


At least I still have a bunch of Barnes and Noble book cards, I'll have to get over there again soon.
the shanara series are huge, you should have been fine for at least 3 months!

[mornish]

the shanara series are huge, you should have been fine for at least 3 months!

haha, it's not that huge when you can't ride :(

[Det-riot]

haha, it's not that huge when you can't ride :(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannara#List_of_Novels

you read all of those?

im surprised you read them all that quickly

[dudewithasock]

awesome, I'll try out coldfire

Did you ever?

I'm still recommending them as my favorite book series.

[mornish]

Did you ever?

I'm still recommending them as my favorite book series.

Oh yeah, I finished that series.

It was pretty good, definitely on the upper end of the fantasy books.

I still like the Sword of Truth series more though.

[mornish]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannara#List_of_Novels

you read all of those?

im surprised you read them all that quickly


Oh, I just read the heritage of shannara.

[dudewithasock]

I just bought the first novel of the A Song of Fire and Ice saga: A Game of Thrones. I've heard it's amazing, so I'm excited to dive in!

[Det-riot]

I just bought the first novel of the A Song of Fire and Ice saga: A Game of Thrones. I've heard it's amazing, so I'm excited to dive in!
it is amazing, i loved it

[forrestunifreak]

Anybody ever read the book Foundation and Empire?

It's kinda like Scifi/fantasy I guess... maybe a little more on the sci-fi side.

[Hazmat]

Well i know there are Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft books which is somewhat based on the games. :D