recommended fantasy books?

Yes, ten years, give or take. I only have around a hundred pages left of The Great Hunt to read but then again, more than two years have passed since then and I am not sure I remember enough of what happened to carry on reading without re-reading book II first. A nice synopsis of the first two books would be useful...
Delays can be extremely annoying but it wouldn't surprise me if even that wasn't a bit of marketing strategy to raise the fans' expectations. If that is the case, it is a rather risky thing.

There are a lot of websites that have synopsis, discussions, etc. Almost like it's the Bible or something. So many theories and such. Why not read some other series rather than put so much effort into who killed Asmodean. But, when a new one comes out, I don't mind borrowing their work, lol.

Heh. :P so, who DID kill Asmodean?
There is quite a Robert Jordan paranoia going on, zillions of sites and so. If I find a synopsis that can tell what happens in ten words or less, I'll give it a go.

Well, I can help you with the last three installments.....Not much, other than the last few chapters of Winters Heart. And you're on your own there. :p

oh, wow. i haven't really read most of the responses, but perhaps i'd check out all the books mentioned, good or bad. :p

by the way, anyone knows more fantasy books that are written for children? i don't mind books for adults, but they usually contain sex and bad words, and while i'm already legal, my mental state still prefers not to read those in print.

Heh, I've been trying to remember just why the "Great Horn" was so important but I must admit I am at a loss here. Something about raising the great army of the dead. Hmm...now where have I read that before :P

There is a cute fantasy book written for children called "The Thief of Always" by Clive Barker. Yes, the same Barker who gave us the Hellraiser series and the Books of Blood (I am somewhat of a horror lit freak), but this time all gore is absent and the story is aimed at children. It features a little boy that is bored out of his wits at school and with his daily routine until one day he finds this amazing house where every child's desire is promptly satisfied and there are no nagging adults bossing the kids around. However, to everything there is a dark side...and I shall not reveal it.
From the same author comes the entertaining "Abaratt", a series of books about this little girl who travels to a fantasy world in which there are twenty four islands. Each island is an hour, so in some it is always noon, in others deep night, dawn, etc.

These books are nice, in a way. Of course they are not "high" fantasy and won't drown the reader with sub-plots within sub-plots or provide a detailed description of how the fantasy cosmos operates, and adult reader might find them over-simplistic and even formulaic.

The obvious choice is "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S Lewis. They need no introduction...I loved them when I first read them and I still find myself going over the pages, from tale to tale, with a silly smile all over my face. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an edition containing the original pictures, which makes it all the more charming.

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Originally Posted by Nocturnal

Yes, I have heard that The Wheel of Time ends up lagging out after a few books. I really did enjoy The Eye of the World, the first book, because it had the potencial of developing the characters into maturity, assisting their different processes of evolution. A good premise, but I do admit that 10 books is a bit too much.

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I agree w/ you 100% :p

(Ah... Fantasy) Tamora Pierce writes really good fantasy books. Most of her series are set up in an imaginary land of Tortall and usually involve people with magical powers. REALLY Cool :cool:

Mercedes Lackey writes really good ones too...

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Originally Posted by Admin

I dislike RA Salvatore's works too, I dislike his writing and his characters. The only thing I like is the prevalence of magic and the battles/wars, but, how every character has like 10 amazing magical items is a little annoying. Whats the point if they're so common? Too often his books read like a narrative from a game.

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Just a point we would like to mention: DD games do not have terribly bad and just plain hack-and-slash narratives. Quite a few of the gaming groups do play rather emotionally rich, intriguesque, very interesting plots with not much combat.
A number of them would make a quite a good book - but, we would have to mention that it would be changing the medium - from playing to reading. (compare it to making a film adaptation of a book) DD games are not meant for reading - they are meant for playing - much more interesting then.

Oh, and a good fantasy book - "Krabat" by Ottfield Preussler.

hi

Ive recently gotten into reading fantasy books, and I would totally recommend something by David and Leigh Eddings. Their books are really interesting, and although there are collections of books like the Belgariad and the Mallorean, I would reccomend The Redemption of Althalus as a starting poit, as it is very easy to read, but at the same times weaves intricate imagery in the mind. Although its quite a big book, it does not take long to read, I think i finished it in like 3 days lol. Hope you enjoy reading it if you find the time!

~maria

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Originally Posted by underground

oh, wow. i haven't really read most of the responses, but perhaps i'd check out all the books mentioned, good or bad. :p

by the way, anyone knows more fantasy books that are written for children? i don't mind books for adults, but they usually contain sex and bad words, and while i'm already legal, my mental state still prefers not to read those in print.

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I'm not into that, but obviously the Chronicles of Narnia is a good series of books for kids. Also I think the redwall series is geared toward minors. Dave Duncan, an author whom I've recommended for his adult stuff, is writing a series for minors called the King's Daggers

Mercededs LAckey, well they are good just umm avoid definetly Fairy GOdmother (its a romance with fantasty too much sex)
ummm I love the Robin Mckinly books but I have a feeling they are more girl orientated books.
Terry Pratchett is fantatstic
and Piers anthony's Xanthia books are sort of similar in a round about way and again no sex even though this is a major joke point in the books being The Adult Conspiracy :D

Robin McKinley certainly isn't 'girl-oriented'. 'Sunshine' is right there behind 'I am Legend' as the best vampire book I have read.

have you ever read Beauty??? that is girl oriented as is Spindles end and I only said I have a feeling, there are no boys in my family so I only have steryotypes to go on....:D The robin hood one cant think what its called somthing SHerwood is good.

The beasts of eld was a good book to umm Patricia A. Mckillip

Since Beauty's a rehashing of the old Grimm's fable, I doubt I'll ever be reading it.

Hasn't she done 'two' takes on that particular legend?

I wouldn't say that the Redwall series is entirely geared towards minors, a lot of them would get confused over the many dialects spoken in the books. Sometimes, I can hardly keep them straight! I'll second Piers Anthony's Xanth books, keeping in mind that there's a lot of tounge-in-cheek mention of sex but still no sex. The Arthur ledgends are great, try The Pendragon Chronicles by Mike Ashley and Roger Zelzany's Amber series.