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http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Tril...5127589&sr=8-1

Philip Pullman "The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife," and "The Amber Spyglass" are not very well known, but are some of the best fantasy novels ever written - they are the anti-Chronicles of Narnia, Pullman has written several essays on how the forcefully religious overtones in C.S. Lewis's books were crippling to his story telling (essentially it was just thinly veiled preaching). This book:http://www.amazon.com/Science-Philip...5127924&sr=1-1 was written about his series. There is also a movie forthcoming, for those of you who like to tell your friends that the book was better.

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"I think, therefore I am confused"
-Robert Anton Wilson

Talia_Brie

It might have just happened in Australia, but Martin's books have been published like this:

1. Game of Thrones
2. Clash of Kings
3. A Storm of Swords part one - Steel and Snow
4. A Storm of Swords part two - blood and gold.
5. A Feast for Crows

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Kane

Yeah, must have... A Storm of Swords here only came in one book, with no sub-title.

ArcticJill

'Cotton Wool World' by Anna Westwood
Hi All,
I have just finished reading the above title which I found on the off chance at Amazon. Had no idea what it would be like but was looking for a new author to read. It's an incredable book which made me open my eyes and look at my life! The story follows a woman, disillusioned with what society expects of her and is written in a really unusual way, it sort of has a plot but follows the disjointed thought patterns that occur to the central character during the course of a flight. It is engaging and funny and full of risky issues some writers would be unsure of tackling. It is a book I wouldn't recommend to the faint of heart or strictly religious as it may be taken a touch offensively but it is an honest, original and unparalled work in my opinion. A real refreshing chance but one which may make you sit up and take notice of your own situation!
Jill.

Rob

It seems odd that someone would sign up with a writing forum and straight away post in a couple of threads plugging a book on Amazon. What relationship are you to the author, if any?

Cheers,
Rob

christinec1

couldnt reallty get into robin hobb...no particular reason

redeemption of althalus is fantastic ive read it aout 10 times now...never get bored...

Banzai

Do you think so? I would have said they were very well known. He has won numerous awards for them, and I don't know many people who haven't read them. Perhaps it is just famous in Britain. Still very good, though, even if the first one, 'Northern Lights' (which was published as 'The Golden Compass' in the US, I think), was rather slow to get started.

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"Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you"
-"The Wasteland" by T.S. Elliot

Due on Maple Street

Most of Gemmel's work stands alone by itself. True reading it in order can sometimes give you a better sense of history most of it still stands on its own. Most of them aren't continuations of this set of characters or another, just set in the same historical line. Such as the drenai saga isn't one story just a set of stories in the same world and backdrop. I've read just about all of his stuff that I've found. He one of my favorites along with David Eddings, Feist, Mieville, and the grandaddy of it all Fritz Lieber. Big fan of the Gray Mouser.

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I know that evening's empire has returned into sand, vanished from my hand, left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping

Critique is always welcome. I will try to return the favor.

Lyonidus

I agree with kerr551, raymond e feist and robin hobb are musts but also try wizards first rule, i cant remember the author at the moment but its very good.

DaBags311

Orson Scott Card the Alvin Maker series. Alternate American frontier with folk magic and an emphasis on character development along with an epic story. Although I enjoyed Enders Game, and Enders Shadow even more, I really think Orson came into his own writing Alvin Maker. It just seems like a much more mature work.

Oh, and if you don't enjoy A Song of Ice and Fire that's fine, it's not for everybody, but if you try and tell me GRRM isn't a very very good writer then there we must disagree.

Cy Skywalker

As if Pullman killing off the Supreme Being (or whatever he called him) in the Lyra books wasn't thinly veiled anti-religion preaching?

I liked that series a lit, but the way he pulled the theology into it didn't seem any more subtle than what Lewis did.

If you like modern fantasy go for Jim Butchers's Dresden Files series (the first one is Storm Front) or Charles deLint's books, any. Those two things have very different atmospheres to them, so look and see which looks interesting.

Redemption of Althalus got boring to me. It was written so detatched, I couldn't get into the characters.

A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones.

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My Current Project:
"...it smelled like metaphor, like a rose by any other name..."
http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2202540/1/

bob rulz

That would be Terry Goodkind, the first book in his Sword of Truth series. I haven't read any of it myself, but several of my friends have praised it (at least the first few books in the series).

Lolita Jayne Scarlet

I haven't seen it previously mentioned, but Maggie Furey, her Artifacts of Power series. I personally love the series (what I've read so far) the only thing about the series that bugs me any is the spelling and grammar here and there. I think it's a great story though!

xx Lola

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Kira the wanderer

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and American Gods is amazing. His fantasy just isn't the typical stuff. Bloody insane, what that man can write.

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Fractured: Chapter: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please take a look at these and tell me what you think. Most of the chapters aren't long and I'm lacking critiques. The chapter(s) in bold are my newest ones.

Svalbard

Have to say as others have already, Steven Erikson, you will not get anything as original as his world.

George R.R. Martin, and as Talia said, WTF about Robb Stark. George really likes to upset his reader. Refreshing.

But the all time fav. and the one for easy reading and great cliches, it has to be David Gemmell.

Honourable mentions go to Tad Williams and R.Scott Bakker.