recommended fantasy books?

[dshadowplay]

a few databases to browse through:
http://www.crooty.com/index.php
http://www.sfbooklist.co.uk/
the second one only has books by single authors but it is immense none the less.

[Kyriakos]

I am not much of a fantasy book reader, but i like a few stories by Lord Dunsany. Search for the short piece titled "Charon", you can find it in the public domain, and it is a great story in my view.

[Pierre Menard]

I remember W.B. Yeats and Borges being fans of Dunsany.
I've always been interested in reading him, I think I'll get on that.

I've got 'Gormenghast' sitting on my shelf as well, and I look forward to starting it. A bit of an underrated classic it seems.

[OrphanPip]

I thought the first book in His Dark Materials trilogy was just alright, but the second won me over, I haven't gotten around to reading the final installment. The variation in style between books reminds me of Moorcock's Elric series.

[Kyriakos]

I remember W.B. Yeats and Borges being fans of Dunsany.
I've always been interested in reading him, I think I'll get on that.

I've got 'Gormenghast' sitting on my shelf as well, and I look forward to starting it. A bit of an underrated classic it seems.

"The workman" is another short you can easily find online

[dshadowplay]

welp, no one asked for it so here it is! standalone novels that meet the same criteria as the series i listed a few pages back. a few sci-fi are sprinkled in too.

dump of list:
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison
The tower at Stony Wood by Patricia McKillip
Sydney J. van Scyoc - Drowntide
Janny Wurts - Sorcerer's Legacy
Master of Whitestorm - Janny Wurts
To Ride Hell's Chasm - Janny Wurts
Talion: Revenant by Michael A. Stackpole
Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
The Etched City, by K.J. Bishop
Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin
Warbreaker by Brandson Sanderson
A Song for Arbonne (Paperback)
LIONS OF AL-RASSAN - Guy Gavriel Kay
ILLUSION-PAULA VOLSKY
Song of the Beast by Carol Berg
The Fire's Stone (Daw science fiction) by Tanya Huff
The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs
The Well of the Unicorn by Fletcher Pratt
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Echoes of the Great Song [Mass Market Paperback] David Gemmell
The Book of Atrix Wolfe [Paperback], Patricia A. McKillip
Martha Wells' Wheel of the Infinite
Try Alphabet of Thorn Patricia McKillip
The Tower of Fear, [Mass Market Paperback] Glen Cook
One for the Morning Glory, John Barnes
Dragonworld by Byron Preiss & Michael Reaves
Tanith Lee's Kill the Dead
David Gemmell - Knights of Dark Renown
Roger Zelazny - Jack of Shadows
Micheal Stackpole, Once a Hero
The Cursed by Dave Duncan
Patricia Briggs - The Hob's Bargain
Villains by Necessity, Eve Forward
The Folding Knife by KJ Parker
China Mieville, Embassytown
Patricia McKillip, Bards of Bone Plain
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti - By Genevieve Valentine
The Fade by Chris Wooding
Against the Dark Background, Iain Banks
The Dispossessed [Mass Market Paperback] Ursula K. Le Guin
Morningstar – David Gemmell
Barbara Hambly - Stranger at The Wedding
Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay
K.J. Parker - The Hammer
Golden Key by Melanie Rawn
Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip
Singer From The Sea by Sheri S. Tepper
Dragons Bane by Barbara Hambly
The Elder Staves" by Steven Oliverez
The Eye of Night [Mass Market Paperback], Pauline J. Alama
Lords of Rainbow - Vera Nazarian
The Languages of Pao by Jack Vance
The Divinity Student - Michael Cisco
Song for the Basilisk [Mass Market Paperback] Patricia A. McKillip
Ombria in Shadow [Paperback] Patricia A. McKillip
Agnus Well's 'Lords of the Sky'
Monument, by Ian Graham
The Sword and the Lion (Daw science fiction) [Mass Market Paperback] Roberta Cray
The Gift by Patrick O'Leary
Shardik [Paperback] Richard Adams
Maia [Paperback] Richard Adams
Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card
Stardust by Neil Gaimon
Orson Scott Card, treason
Low Town by Daniel Polansky
Pride of Chanur by CJ Cherryh
The Paladin [Mass Market Paperback] C.J. Cherryh
Patricia McKillip's, Od Magic.
Changing Fate by Elizabeth Waters
Emerald House Rising by Peg Kerr
Mirage by Louise Cooper
Soulstring by Midori Snyder
House of Shadows by Rachel Neumeier
Kristin Kathryn Rusch's White Mists of Power
Cherith Baldry with The Roses of Roazon
The Reliquary Ring Cherith Baldry
Princess of Flames [Mass Market Paperback] Ru Emerson
Summers at Castle Auburn [Hardcover] Sharon Shinn
The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip
Brother's Price by Wen Spencer
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry
Dave Duncan's Ill Met in the Arena
The Shape-changer's Wife by Sharon Shinn
The Rose Sea [Paperback] S. M. Stirling
The Wizard's Shadow by Susan Dexter
Martha Wells city of bones
Dark Moon – David Gemmell
The Unlikely Ones by Mary Brown
The Ambassador of Progress by Walter Jon Williams
In The Forests Of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip
The Wolf of Winter by Paula Volsky
No One Noticed the Cat by Anne McCaffrey
Samuel Delanney: Nova
Ursula K. LeGuin: Malafrena
Angel Station, Walter Jon Williams

[crusoe]

All Things are Lights - R.Shea

[LitNetIsGreat]

Help! I've gone through this thread about three times and can't see the forest for the forest!

Basically, I'm looking for a decent fantasy series or one off book, that is really well written and devoid of cliche, as much as possible. I've read two of the Game of Thrones series (got the third one here as well) and they are OK but some of the writing is annoying. Don't get me wrong I am enjoying it mostly, and it has been good for a change, but the writing quality is a little repetitive in places so I'm unsure if I am going to continue with it at this stage. It has given me a taste for fantasy style (I think I just really need to escape this damn upcoming winter) so I wondered if there are any recommendations that might immediately spring to mind (please not a list of a thousand books.) I don't mind if it is long - in fact that would be good - something I can bury my head in and when I've finished it might be spring! (Hey I might read Proust instead or as well - thought.) Escapism needed. That and more soup.

[OrphanPip]

Well, I'd recommend a Wizard of Earthsea by LeGuin, The Shadow of the Torturer (it's usually published in omnibus with the second book in the series) by Gene Wolfe, and Perdito Street Station by China Mieville.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I've been touting this book here and there on Litnet, but no other forum is more apt than this: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

[Drkshadow03]

Ditto Orphanpip's suggestions.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Thanks, I'll look those up.

[Calidore]

Help! I've gone through this thread about three times and can't see the forest for the forest!

Basically, I'm looking for a decent fantasy series or one off book, that is really well written and devoid of cliche, as much as possible. I've read two of the Game of Thrones series (got the third one here as well) and they are OK but some of the writing is annoying. Don't get me wrong I am enjoying it mostly, and it has been good for a change, but the writing quality is a little repetitive in places so I'm unsure if I am going to continue with it at this stage. It has given me a taste for fantasy style (I think I just really need to escape this damn upcoming winter) so I wondered if there are any recommendations that might immediately spring to mind (please not a list of a thousand books.) I don't mind if it is long - in fact that would be good - something I can bury my head in and when I've finished it might be spring! (Hey I might read Proust instead or as well - thought.) Escapism needed. That and more soup.

Re. Wizard of Earthsea and Shadow of the Torturer: Both are the first books in a series (the Earthsea trilogy and the Book of the New Sun tetralogy. I haven't read New Sun (though I have it in a single omnibus), but it is very highly regarded. The initial Earthsea trilogy is fantastic, and the volumes are short enough that you may as well get all three.

A few other books that are considered fantasy literature (or should be IMO), and are unlike anything else: The Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake, The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison, the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy by Barry Hughart, and the Mythago Wood series by Robert Holdstock.

[Buckthorn]

I quite enjoyed the Osserian Saga by David Forbes, except that the fourth book didn't get written so it didn't end brilliantly

[LitNetIsGreat]

Re. Wizard of Earthsea and Shadow of the Torturer: Both are the first books in a series (the Earthsea trilogy and the Book of the New Sun tetralogy. I haven't read New Sun (though I have it in a single omnibus), but it is very highly regarded. The initial Earthsea trilogy is fantastic, and the volumes are short enough that you may as well get all three.

A few other books that are considered fantasy literature (or should be IMO), and are unlike anything else: The Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake, The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison, the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy by Barry Hughart, and the Mythago Wood series by Robert Holdstock.

Thanks I've ordered the Mythago Wood book as I came across that one before and was a little intrigued. This could be because I have read the blurb and still haven't much clue! I think I will give the Earthsea trilogy a go after that. I'm still not decided on the Game of Thrones - I'm enjoying parts of it, for example some of the characters like the imp are great, but if another horse 'whickers' or another endless repetition like that, I swear it's going to hit the wall.