Solid fantasy reads

[Homyrrh]

I've had brief exposure to some of the more well-known fantasy series, but was looking to again start with some other-worldy literature.

I've either read entirely, rad in (nominal) parts, or am at l, at the least, familiar with the following (plots, characters, etc.):

'A Song of Ice and Fire' - George R.R. Martin
'The Lord of the Rings' - J.R.R. Tolkien
'Chronicles of Narnia' - C.S. Lewis
'The Dark Tower' - Stephen King (someone can finally spell their ENTIRE name...)
'The Wheel of Time' - Robert Jordan
'Inheritance' - Christopher Paolini (ugh...)

I've spent a moment or two in my life staring at the covers of the following, but have done litle else:

'Sword of Shannara' - Terry Brooks
'Discworld' - Terry Pratchett

I'm sure several on here will swear by one series or another; my personal favorite is George Martin's magnum opus (for reference). Any recs? Why?

[MarkHockley]

Well, I'm going to have to risk embarrassment and quietly direct you towards my own novel, The Magic Lands. It's not really like any of the titles you mentioned, but it is definitely in the fantasy genre!

[PeterL]

"Conjure Wife" by Fritz Leiber beats all of those. You might also want to look at Lord Dunsany's works.

[Homyrrh]

"Conjure Wife" by Fritz Leiber beats all of those. You might also want to look at Lord Dunsany's works.
From my brief Amazon search...some creepy ****.

[Charles Darnay]

I'd have to recommend Discworld for its sheer brilliance. However, although it is fantasy, it exists in a different vein the most of the others on your list.

For more "traditional" fantasy....I recommend "Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind.

If your want "not-quite-all-out-there-fantasy-but-still-fantasy" - a complex genre to be sure...also ill-defined....check out the works by Niel Gaiman and Susana Clark.

[JBI]

Those all are second rate novels at best. The best author who writes what I would call fantasy is hands down Italo Calvino. He most surely is the most original, that's for sure.

[Homyrrh]

Those all are second rate novels at best. The best author who writes what I would call fantasy is hands down Italo Calvino. He most surely is the most original, that's for sure.
My entire post consisted of second-rate novels? Hmph. Rather brash, I'd say.

[Niamh]

I'd highly recommend the BitterBynde Saga By Cecilia Dart Thornton. It takes in a lot of celtic mythology. Wonderful trilogy.


I've read nearly all of the Shannara series (just not the latest ones). If yo are going to read these, start with the elfsones and just skip the Sword of Shannara. Its too lord of the rings. Only real difference is, they are trying to recover something not distroy something.

[moose gurl]

Perhaps it was because I was in 8th grade when I read them for the first time, but the DragonLance series has a special place in my heart. Sure, they aren't the best literature, but the stories are fantastic, and if you really get into it, it can be ultimately entertaining. I also really enjoyed The Dark Tower and The Wheel of Time, but the original DragonLance trilogy is what brought me in to fantasy literature and I think all fantasy lovers should give them a shot. They are incredible fantasy books...The first trilogy is "Dragons of an Autumn Twilight," "Dragons of a Winter's Night," and "Dragons of a Spring Dawning." I wouldn't recommend any other DragonLance works, because the one's I've read (other than those 3) were just crap. I didn't like Terry Goodkind, Terry Brooks, or Paolini either, but to each his own.
Hope you find something you enjoy.

[JBI]

Geez, did I say second rate, should have said at least 6-7th rate. None of those authors are very original, and most of them lack in maturity, depth, and coherent structure. I've read parts of all of those, so I feel comfortable to comment.

[believin]

Two excellent fantasy writers who are not as well known as they should be, especially in the US, are Geraldine Harris (http://showintale.blogspot.com/2007/04/geraldine-harris.html) and Diana Wynne Jones (http://showintale.blogspot.com/2007/04/diana-wynne-jones.html). I've heard that both have had some trouble with disputes with publishers, which has kept Jones from gaining a bigger market in the US, and kept Harris's books from enjoying a much-deserved reprint. (You'll have to find Harris's The Seven Citadels in the out of print section, I think.)

Both are very good writers. Jones is prolific. Harris has one very noteworthy series, and most of the rest of her work is nonfiction. Her series (The Seven Citadels) is, to me, the best fantasy series ever written.

[Oniw17]

I would recomend Keith Taylor's bard series, since it incorporates history and mythology with some degree of accuracy.

[mtpspur]

Lord Dunsany and/or Clark Ashton Smith. At the very least you'll have your vocabulary expanded. Forerunners in the genre and rarely matched. Try anything by them. If not your cup of tea it will at least help mold what sort of fantasy you like.

[togre]

A series I really enjoyed was Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. It is 3 books (4 volumes). A friend gave me the first book (The Dragonbone Chair) and I got so hooked I had to buy the others myself. Great adventure.


I also have read some of the Dragonlance series (a while back). They are kinda second rate, but I enjoyed them. They are like potato chip--fun but not alot of substance. Worth a try.

Pleasant reading!

[Lioness_Heart]

Can't remember the name of the series, but the first book is Magician by Raymond E. Fiest. They're really good if you want something slightly lotr-ish but original as well. My favourite is the second of the series, Silverthorn but he's written loads in different trilogies all based around the same world/set of characters. They don't have much in the way of a moral message, but they're well worth reading just for enjoyment.

[Nightshade]

Ive recently been reading A.Lee Martinez 's books and they are funny, Tad Williams always great, Patricia A. McKillip, some of her books are really good .
Robin mckinley I always enjoy....
:D

[Niamh]

Can't remember the name of the series, but the first book is Magician by Raymond E. Fiest. They're really good if you want something slightly lotr-ish but original as well. My favourite is the second of the series, Silverthorn but he's written loads in different trilogies all based around the same world/set of characters. They don't have much in the way of a moral message, but they're well worth reading just for enjoyment.

thats the rift war saga. Loved reading those.

[aeroport]

I was getting into Raymond E. Feist for a while back in middle and high school - I haven't read an enormous amount of fantasy, but from what I have his works stand out the most favorably. I would recommend the three Riftwar Legacy books: Krondor: The Betrayal; The Assassins; and Tear of the Gods. Most of his books take place in the same world, and so one might do well to start with the first - Magician - but it's pretty long and I never had time to finish it. His most recent that I've read is Talon of the Silver Hawk, and I did not find it as interesting; I thus do not endorse anything he's written since then.

EDIT: Sorry - didn't see the previous Feist mentions.

[moose gurl]

I also have read some of the Dragonlance series (a while back). They are kinda second rate, but I enjoyed them. They are like potato chip--fun but not alot of substance. Worth a try.


I totally agree. I realize they are second rate but as I said, they are very nostalgic to me (I was pretty young then), and mindlessly entertaining. A great little notch in the fantasy genre.

[Charles Darnay]

Geez, did I say second rate, should have said at least 6-7th rate. None of those authors are very original, and most of them lack in maturity, depth, and coherent structure. I've read parts of all of those, so I feel comfortable to comment.

Just because you don't like them doesn't give you the right to degrade others' opinions (especially without justification). However though, I would have to agree that Calvino trumps them all IN MY OPINION - he pretty much trumps anyone for me.....and yet, I wouldn't reccomend him to someone specifically looking for fantasy.....yes, he can be called a fantasy writer but he is fare to separate from what most people term "fantasy"

[Homyrrh]

Just because you don't like them doesn't give you the right to degrade others' opinions (especially without justification). However though, I would have to agree that Calvino trumps them all IN MY OPINION - he pretty much trumps anyone for me.....and yet, I wouldn't reccomend him to someone specifically looking for fantasy.....yes, he can be called a fantasy writer but he is fare to separate from what most people term "fantasy"
He wasn't trumping my opinion; in fact, he provides good basis for his own, but I just disagree.

Someone recommended the The Rift War Saga to me awhile back; I should finally look into it I guess.

[JBI]

Just because you don't like them doesn't give you the right to degrade others' opinions (especially without justification). However though, I would have to agree that Calvino trumps them all IN MY OPINION - he pretty much trumps anyone for me.....and yet, I wouldn't reccomend him to someone specifically looking for fantasy.....yes, he can be called a fantasy writer but he is fare to separate from what most people term "fantasy"

Now, if you were to state the obvious reason for not recommending Calvino to, as you put it, "someone specifically looking for fantasy", then you would show your agreement with my speculation into the lack of depth in the majority of fantasy literature (especially those named at the beginning of the thread). He is only separate because he isn't cliché, and isn't mediocre. As I see it, the difference between Magical Realism, and fantasy, is that that the Magical Realist author knows how to write.

[Equilibrium]

I've had brief exposure to some of the more well-known fantasy series, but was looking to again start with some other-worldy literature.

I've either read entirely, rad in (nominal) parts, or am at l, at the least, familiar with the following (plots, characters, etc.):

'A Song of Ice and Fire' - George R.R. Martin
'The Lord of the Rings' - J.R.R. Tolkien
'Chronicles of Narnia' - C.S. Lewis
'The Dark Tower' - Stephen King (someone can finally spell their ENTIRE name...)
'The Wheel of Time' - Robert Jordan
'Inheritance' - Christopher Paolini (ugh...)

I've spent a moment or two in my life staring at the covers of the following, but have done litle else:

'Sword of Shannara' - Terry Brooks
'Discworld' - Terry Pratchett

I'm sure several on here will swear by one series or another; my personal favorite is George Martin's magnum opus (for reference). Any recs? Why?

Well I agree that these are superb:

The Lord of the Rings
Chronicles of Narnia
The Dark Tower

I've read each several times, sure some might say that LOTR or CON are not original in todays literary environment but I think they were quite original in their time.

I've also read 90% of the discworld novels, the humour is great and some of the characters are very memorable. If you do read them I recommend you start with the earlier works and move through in roughly chronological order, you couldn't say they're a series but the world does move on through the books and some of the characters and the main city (ankh-morpork) develops over several books. If you didn't want to read them all i'd be happy to recommend specific books.

As mentioned, also worth a look is the riftwar saga by Raymond E. Feist, personally I don't rate all the books that highly but the magician (first book) is excellent, also the merchant prince is quite good. I didn't like the darkness at sethanon though but everyone else i've spoken too about the series always mentions this book first as being good - I find the plot which is made up of superlative stacked on superlative stacked on superlative quite hard to swallow. I like highs and lows in my stories.

I've read some dragonlance but i can't really recommend it wholeheartedly, there are some good books but I think you have to pick them out of the dozens of poor ones.

Finally Gene Wolfe, two books the Knight and the Wizard - Worth reading. A sort of mix of fairy tale, Norse myth, and Arthurian chivalry.

[moose gurl]

I've read some dragonlance but i can't really recommend it wholeheartedly, there are some good books but I think you have to pick them out of the dozens of poor ones.


I agree with that as well. As I said, I only really enjoyed three out of about 300...but those three, IMO, are great fantasy reads. I wouldn't go beyond those, though, because the franchise gets pretty terrible, as some people have mentioned.

[Erichtho]

How about Faust 2? :D

[mortalterror]

Back when I used to read genre fiction I was very fond of Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber, and the entire Amber series in fact. I'd also recommend Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series.

[PeterL]

Back when I used to read genre fiction I was very fond of Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber, and the entire Amber series in fact. I'd also recommend Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series.

I enjoyed many pieces of the Amber series, but it was infected with the same disease that is typical of most of the fantasy sub-genre: inadequate endings. Zelazny did manage to complete the Nine Princes part, but the later novellas greatly lacked resolution. He switched from writing novels to writing a serial.

[valleyjune]

Apart from the already mentioned, I would propose the Ender's series by Orson Scott Card, although I could describe it more more as science fiction and not exactly fantasy.
Clive Barker's and Pulman's works, as well. Pulman resembles more some of the authors you mentioned as for the worlds he describes and his style of writing.