Thread: Recommend me some GOOD, !!ORIGINAL!! fantasy

Okay, recommend me some good, ORIGINAL fantasy besides J.R.R. Tolkien (who I despise) and George R.R. Martin. Don't recommend me Ray Bradbury or J.K. Rowling (I have already read a good majority of their stuff.)

Roger Zelazny, the Amber Chronicles.

How do we know you'll like what we recommend? Go look in your local book store or library and flick through the books in the Fantasy section. Choose something that appeals and hope for the best.

Cheers,
Omni

Stephen Donaldson, perhaps? What do you mean by original?

I would give China Melville a try. Forgive me if I misspelled his name.

Robin Hobb, everything she has written is pure art.
Read the Farseer Trilogy first.

Obviously Magician by Raymond E Feist.

The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings is one of the best written stories I have read.

Other than George RR Martin and Steven Erikson I don't even bother with fantasy anymore. I can't seem to keep myself occupied with the stories.

But George and Steven have intricate worlds that I enjoy.

I suppose you could count Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. Technically it is science fiction, but it is one of the geneses of the whole dragonriders fad.

To be honest, I thought Magician was poor and amateurish. Obviously read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy if you haven't already. I think they're some of the best fantasy I've read in a long time (they're not high fantasy, obviously).

"The Cup of the World" by John Dickinson. It's not well heard of, but it's a very dark and gothic fantasy that's beautifully written.

Robert E Howard & David Gemmel

David Gemmel's where it's at. But for good original fantasy the likes you have not read pick up China Mieville's The Scar or Perdido Street Station. They both start off a little slow, but by the time you close the last page you should be sufficiently impressed.

Scar Night

It's weird but a good story.

I didn't like China Meiville. I read The Scar, and it was a little painful.

I really like George Martin and Steven Erikson. R Scott Bakkar is also in their league I think in terms of world building. These three are at the top of my list I think (I'm reading A storm of swords part 2 at the moment - Robb Stark! WTF?).

I wouldn't call Feist or Gemmell original, though I enjoy them both. I think David Gemmell was among the best (and most prolific) writers of heroic fiction around. What discourages me about reading him now is that I don't know where to start. While his books are often related (eg the Drenai novels, or the Druss stories) there are a sufficient number of standalone books. It's all very confusing.

I really like George Martin and Steven Erikson. R Scott Bakkar is also in their league I think in terms of world building. These three are at the top of my list I think (I'm reading A storm of swords part 2 at the moment - Robb Stark! WTF?).

I'm reading Bakker's trilogy right now... what's A Storm of Swords part two? I've never heard of it.

Oh, and stupid, if you don't like Martin I don't know who I'd recommend, unless it'd be some of that D&D stuff that gets churned out every month, or maybe Eragon.