Thread: Fantasy

In my personal opinion, the Sword of Truth series is by far my favourite, and I do not agree with BobthegreatJohn. While the series may fit into the category he said it was under (I'm too lazy to look it up. If you don't know what it is, you'll have to look for it...if you care.)it is so much more. It is full of drama, and packed tightly with action.
And as the series goes on, the morals of the books become more clear and life-changing; after reading Faith of the Fallen, my life utterly changed, for the best. This is not to say all will take away the same feeling I did when I read it, and the rest of the books, but it is definitly worth the read

I think that you should pick up the Sabriel trilogy by Garth Nix. The books are Sabriel, Lilrael, and The Abhorsen. They are all excellent books taking place in a time of magic and death.

h, Tolkein...

well, of course.
he wasn't mentioned as there is no point.
everyone knows he's the beast, and it's blasphemy to even compare others to him…

I love the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind as well...Tolkien, I actual get bored a lot when I read his books. The only one I seem to like is the Hobbit, that's it. I admire his highly skilled world builting and all, but I just have a problem with his talented description and songs at *times*.

Another author I love, but not many people know of is Anne Bishop, her dark jewels triliogy is one of the best fantasys I've read, I love it.

And Stephen King is of course, one of the very, very best fantasy writers. (his books are considered fantasy, depite what some people thinks. It's fantasy, because it can't be real...)


-Laura

.

"Sword of Truth" was a decent diversion, but I think that was pretty much a one-book series. As previously stated, it's just too predictable.
Karen

Don't start this series... I thought it would go somewhere. but all it did was spit the same plot at me in almost every book.
steps to Sword of truth.
1. Richard discovers something
2. He gets captured
3. He discovers a truth about himself and the way his power works
4. He escapes. Goes at the bad guy
5. While escaping Richard does something that opens a can of worms for the next book
6. Bad guy escapes ...
7. You think everyone will live happily ever after.

The first book is the best every thing after ... you see Goodkind beating a dead horse.
Yes I am bitter ... I payed money for those books.

Originally Posted by Karen

I enjoyed Neverwhere.......Door was a great character^^.

Also, if you like Gaiman, then you probably already know this, but "Good Omens", his colloborative novel with Terry Pratchett, was really good. Kind of like wha the movie "Dogma" would have been like if it was actually well-written.

I agree with you on that 100%. While I'm not saying that Dogma's script was a hack-job, but only one thing really tickled me in that whole movie, and it was that little disclaimer in the beginning that even God had a sense of humor and that if you don't believe, just look at the duckbilled platipus.

That said, I enjoyed Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere", but that colloborative novel "Good Omens" is just one of my favorites. Good, funny stuff. I adored Crowlie and Arizaphale (the southern pansie! Haha!) and I love Agnes Nutter, even if she barely showed up in the book. It was this book that gave me a better appreciation of the word "Nice" and whenever I come accross a 5 letter word in a crossword described as "More exact" I now know just what the answer is. X'D

I love Hobb, her books are excellent, and her characters are developed incredibly well. Then again, they'd have to be, considering that they're what drives her books.

Eddings is another of my favourites, but I'd recommend that you stick with his first series, the Belgariad. After that, everything else seems rather similar. Even if he does have a wonderfully wry sense of humour.

The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist is also a great series. The characters are endearing, and it's definitely worth a read.

I noticed, however, that no one has mentioned Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's an amazing series, very well written, and I highly recommend them.

Hobb is a wonderful author. I have yet to read Fool's Fate, though. Will do so as soon as it's out in paperback.

Also, Anne Bishop is definitely someone to check out. She's not the best author around, and the worlds she creates tend not to be described very well, but she really knows how to craft characters that you fall in love with. Take a look at the Black Jewels Trilogy and Tir Alainn series.

If Terry Brooks was mentioned earlier, I missed it. I love his books, particularly the Heritage of Shannara series.

And some more....

Dark Elf Trilogy (R.A. Salvatore)
Otherland series
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series (both Tad Williams)
Redwall series (Brian Jacques) (yes, I know they are children's novels, but they're still fun to read)

Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvator
Dragonlance series by Weis and Hickman. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...169406-4171032
Of course the works of J.R.R Tolkien. If you haven't read anything by him (yeah right) start with "The Hobbit" then move on to "Lord of the rings" and finish with "The Silmarillion". "The Silmarillion" is Tolkien's finest work, because he never intended to publish it. It was for him, to create a mythlogy for england. And not even an ancient culture could of done better.

I've never read Jordan, but I can't say I'm inclined to. He smells a bit like Eddings to me, and I hate Eddings with a fury only matched by the legendary beserkers.
However, I do recommend Cecilia Dart-Thornton: The Bitterbynde Trilogy. A delicious Celtic-Australian mix of stuff.
Steven Erikson: The Malazan Book of the Fallen series. These books are genius. I have to say, Erikson is what all modern fantasy should be like; mature, well-plotted, funny (at times) and brilliant. Just brilliant.
Douglas Adams, if he counts as fantasy. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Also, try tracking down the radio play of Hitchhiker's Guide, it's great.
Phillip Pullman: His Dark Material's Trilogy. It's aimed at children, but it is one of the single most brilliant and heart-breaking things I've ever read.
Harry Potter. Don't ask why. It's like eating really sweet food. You want to stop after the third mouthful, but then you've read the whole series and you have to take the weekend off to recuperate.
Terry Pratchett: anything you can find. He's funny, he's touching, he's mysterious, he's great.
John Wyndham, great at freaking you out with walking plants that kill and eat you and scary children that read your mind.
That's all, for now. I insist, most politely but firmly, that you at least attempt this list.

I strongly suggest that you read The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay, really good trilogy.

An excellent series is The Magic of Xanth, by Piers Anthony. I've read the first two books, and I've been looking for the third.

There are tons of books in the series, and it's really excellent.