Fantasy Books

[Kintoun]

I was thinking of grabbing some good fantasy books from my college library and so wanted some input as to what the BEST reads some of you have gone thru. Be it a fun read, education read, it's all good to me. But I was leaning towards fantasy medival setting rather than sci-fi (they bore me quite a bit). And list the BEST books you have read with a short description so I know what to expect, thx.

[Morte]

You should try the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. Here is a description of book number one (Assassin's Apprentice):

Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father's gruff stableman. He is treated like an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him sectetly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz's blood runs the magic Skill--and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family. As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.

She is a really good writer. If you have a really large amount of time, you should read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, which is currently nine books (very large ones), and still rising. It is a bit too extensive to summarise here, but they are really good books.

[UBIK]

wheel of time= very long, very good!

[Kintoun]

Do you guys think that playing the PC game Wheel of Time would spoil any of the story to Wheel of Time book series? That game got killer reviews and I was planning on playing it in the near future.

Damn my library only has book 5 and 6, stupid crappy college.

[Edited by Kintoun on 05-11-2001 at 06:38 PM]

[UBIK]

cant help you with that kint, never played it

[Morte]

As far as I know it doesn't have anything to do with the story line. The main character in the game doesn't appear anywhere in the books as far as I know.

[Talka]

Bah! Buy Dragonlance books! Buy them by the dozen! I have near 60 of them, and all are as good as the original 3!

Start with the trilidy, then move to the Chaos war, then move to Age Of Mortals/Dragons

Dragonlance books are simply... my favorite. Any are free to think otherwise, but if you are smaller then me, beware flying fireballs..

--Talka

[Dogmeat]

Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchet. Thank you.

:)

(can you tell I'm a pratchett junkie?)

[BelDragos]

Raymond E. Feist.

You have to read all the ones you can and in the order he wrote them. I strongly recogmend them.

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Anne McCaffrey: Pern series is great. Myth/Fantasy with some science in the later part.

Stephen Donaldson: Thomas Covenant series. Myth/Fantasy with some great twists to it.

Patricia McKillip: Riddle Master of Hed series. Myth/Fastasy. Good story and makes you think.

[Kintoun]

Heh cool, I recognize a lot of these writers and books posted here. Without even remembering or knowing tho, I have read a lot of these books back in Jr High School. Dragon Riders of Pern I remember well. I enjoyed that quite a bit. I loved all the LoTR (of course), and also entire Witch in the Wardrobe series (there is lots more after the 1st book, and they rock). Thx for all the input, I'll go grab some books now =). But damn I was looking forward to reading Wheel of Time, but oh well...

[Morte]

Then why don't you read them? They are really good. It is really interesting to read about all the political currents and plotting going on, many factions with their own goals and interests, although this is not as present in the first books as it is in the later books. Especially the Forsaken, or Chosen depending on your point of view, are interesting, mostly because they are evil.

[Saint Faucet]

Please tell me WoT gets better after the first book. I've just finished "Eye of the World" and I absolutely HATE all of the characters except for Perrin. I'm having a hard time justifying the purchase of the next book in the series due to these feelings.

Oh and my vote for book to check out:
"The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers.
Supernatural, time-traveling, fantasy adventure with Egyptian mysticism, werewolves, body-swapping and 17th/18th century poets thrown-in for fun.

[Wrentia]

Some fantasy suggestions

Fred Sabberhagen - The Lost Sword series
Anne McCaffrey - The Pern series
Piers Anthony - The Incarnations of Immortality series
David Eddings - The Belgariad, The Mallorian, The Elenium, The Tamuli
Raymond E. Fiest - Any of the books dealing with the Riftwar saga.
Michael Moorcock - The Elric Saga
Terry Brooks - The Shanara series
Hickman & Weis - Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy
Roger Zelaney - the Amber series
JRR Tolkien - Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Still the master after all these years

-Wrentia

[BelDragos]

Very good list sis. I have read most of them myself and I agree with you.

[Xylenix]

Harry Potter!

[Dogmeat]

I'll second the Piers Anthony, the Terry Brooks, and of course the Tolkien :)

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Ah, Amber, I forgot about them, yes a good series. If you would like some funny Sci/Fantasy check out the Myth Inc. series. I also like Piers Anthony, he Adept series is very good as well.

I think I like Jordan's Wheel of time series better on tape, the narrator is quite good and I just chouldn't stand the thought of reading 8 or 9 books that thick. The boy can write, but listening to him is better.

In general I don't much like Robert Silverberg but he does write one very good 3 book series. Lord Valentine's Castle, Majipoor Chornicles, and Valentine Ponifex.

[Dyson]

There's some really great tongue-in-cheek fantasy by Patricia Wrede (name's pronounced "read-ee"). She's not as well-known, but is one of my personal favorites... "Enchanted Forest Chronicles" and the 1st "Mairelon" are great (the 2nd one isn't as spiffy).

Read Wrede read Wrede read Wrede!

[Geoffrey]

For everybody who loved The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings (I was fortunate enough to have a mother who read me The Hobbit when I was very young, so I've had Tolkien around me for a long time. Thanks Mom! :) ) I'd suggest trying out the Silmarillion. It's not as accessible, but it is truly amazing how wonderfully Tolkien worked out the history of Middle Earth. It also has some of his best stories. The chapter of Beren and Luthien is unforgettable.

[Slitherrr]

Piers Anthoy, Asimov, Terry Pratchett, all great stuff. Big fan of Anne McCaffrey too. I like all the Lord of the Rings, but I didn't care for the first few pages of Silmarillion... Carried to slowly for my taste.

[z_man93]

Slight tangent here, Lord of the Rings movie looks bad-ass... even though I am still sceptical as I too grew up on Tolkien

[Wrentia]

The thing that excites me about the LOTR movie is all the production people have a real love for Tolkien's work, which leads me to believe we might be witness to something really special. At least I hope so. The trailers and behind the scenes stuff on the web site are great. I am extremely hopeful that LOTR leads to more fantasy movies with substance.

-Wrentia

[Kintoun]

Lets just hope we don't get another Dungeons and Dragons movie. OMG.

[vilk]

Gene Wolfe, starting with his first two books in a collection called "Shadow & Claw."

[drugarth]

fanasty books ye say?? the best?? ok here it goes :

easy read,fast paced: David Gemmel:- Waylander, Druss the legend (and the other Drenai novels)
R.A. Salvatore:-forgotten realms: dark elf trilogy and the other drizzt novels

mediocre paced, easy read: Feist: Magician and the rest of the series :-)
robin hobb: the assassin serie


more involved story line, longer read: Robert Jordan -Wheel of time
Tad williams: -Memory sorrow and thorn

[Binzaf]

*copy*

*paste*

all of Wrentia's list. personelly i dont like Tolken. i know adventure's take a dump every night. dont want to read about it. doh cant remember the Gor series author. if you hit a page that descibes taht chess game skip ahead 6 pages. ;) hmmmm and of course another vote to terry prachett. gotta love humor :) damit now i am pulling blanks on authors. LOL my book colection puts alot of library's to shame. but jusmoved and had to leave some behind and others still packed hehe yes i am feeling lazy :) not going to go look.