Thread: Accepting suggestions.

Hello.

Currently I am reading the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix. I read the first book, Sabriel, on loan from my library and then purchased the box set as a result.

My favorite sort of books, besides classical literature, are books of fantasy. Often I go the library or the bookstore and stare blankly at the fantasy wall at the seemingly thousands of titles, and I know that most of them will be boring, cliched, pointless... And it is such a chore to find the few that are not.

• Tanith Lee's Unicorn trilogy was an unexpectedly good set. And in some ways it rings with the same timbre as Sabriel (though not necessarily the rest of the Abhorsen Trilogy).
• Edith Patteau's East is also a good work, though I have never read the folktale it is based upon.
• Marcus Sedgwick's Book of Dead Days shows that sometimes you can judge a good book by a good cover.
• Elizabeth Knox's Dreamhunter Duet is one of my favorite book sets.
• John C. Wright's Chronicle's of Chaos trilogy was good in many ways, though I was put off by the jouvenille sexual situations (they reminded me of several scenes of anime fanservice I have had to endure).

The purpose of this post is to try and find other fantasy books of quality that others may have read. If you have read some of the books I have, feel free to comment as well.

One final quick note: I enjoy Tolkein's work. But I do not enjoy the myriad clones of his work that have (and continue do) inevidbly spawn from it.

D

Try reading Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! by Terry Brooks, and Pyramid Scheme by Eric Flint and Dave Freer.

There are also the Dragonlance books.

I looked up Magic Kingdom for Sale -- SOLD! on Wikipedia and the short version of the story reminds me of something I have been meanning to read by Mark Twain where someone from Mark Twain's era goes back in time to the days of King Arthur.

I was curious if there was any correlation.

Regardless, I appreciate your input.

You're referring to the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. No, I don't think there's any correlation.

I have too many classics to read... I will have to add that to my list.

How depressing.

Absolutely. It's one of the truly great American novels. It's a fun story in its own right (the movie with Bing Crosby is fun, too and it's amazing this hasn't been remade with modern tech and sensibility), it's a withering attack not just on The Church and the British Class system but that entire mindset, it's a truly unique love story... and it's one of the very early examples of science fiction.

Passage after passage makes us think about things: like transplanting modern tech into older world systems for one... isn't that much of what the MidEast dustup is all about?
And about the nature of prejudice and self-satisfaction sketched out large and loud.


And, of course, gizmo geek heaven. Could a handful of men with firearms defeat the whole of armored chivalry? Well, yes and no.

A good companion piece, as fresh and entertaining today as when written, and equally full of Twain's bile/wisdom on the human condition, is "The Prince And The Pauper".

In this one it's not just one guy switching worlds... it's two guys switching into two very different worlds. And fun to watch how each copes.

I would see this as the seminal fount of all the "switcheroo" high-concept comedys like "Freaky Friday", and "Goodbye Charlie" and such, where people magically switch places.

And did I mention that both books are a gold mine of medieval historical detail?

If there's such a thing as The Greatest American Writer, I think Twain is the guy to beat for the trophy.

Boy, that's hard to disagree with. If you look at Twain's body of work and the consistently high quality of both the prose and the ideas, he beats just about anyone. I have a complete collection of his short work here and it's just phenomenal. His longer pieces speak for themselves, and I've seen a fair bit of his journalistic work. People will throw out Steinbeck and Hemingway and Faulkner, but I think Twain helped them to form (or at least informed) their works, and did more for American letters than anyone before or since.
As a fantasist, he was nonpareil. As a reporter, he had a keen eye for detail and didn't flinch from the truth. His short stories match O. Henry, Bierce, Poe, or anyone else you'd care to name, and he wrote in every genre imaginable.

Well, I have put off purchasing that particular Twain book but after such a passionate review maybe I should not wait any longer. Though it will still have to be placed on a growing list.

As far as "The Prince and the Pauper" is concerned...

Originally Posted by lin

A good companion piece, as fresh and entertaining today as when written, and equally full of Twain's bile/wisdom on the human condition, is "The Prince And The Pauper".

In this one it's not just one guy switching worlds... it's two guys switching into two very different worlds. And fun to watch how each copes.

I would see this as the seminal fount of all the "switcheroo" high-concept comedys like "Freaky Friday", and "Goodbye Charlie" and such, where people magically switch places.

And did I mention that both books are a gold mine of medieval historical detail?

... I have grown up in a world of poor imitations of this storyline and it has rather sapped my desire to wade into yet again, even if this is the original. Blame the media if you wish. I always do. (Hmm. That line sounds like a snappy signature line doesn't it?)