Reccomended Reading: Fantasy Novels

I was thinking about this today at work... instead of working which is nothing new... How many times have you had a hankering for a great fantasy book and go to the bookstore only to be assaulted with hundreds of books that you have no idea if their worth it?? You look at the flashy cover and see the blurb on the back and maybe even read a few pages and become intrigued... Then you get it home and promptly sit down to read it and realize that it isn't even fit to use as kindling. As for me the answer is too many times... Luckily all of the guys I game with (Eosin, Nightstick, Edsel and the boys) are really avid Fantasy readers so I tend to pick their fickle brains to see what they liked and what they didn't. However I would like to see what everyone else is reading and what they think is great fantasy fiction. So for simplicity let's omit the "Classics" like Tolkien because I think most of us can agree that he is responsible for shaping modern fantasy as we know it. Instead let's look at modern masters of Fantasy... So with that I will start off with some of my favorites!

George RR Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series
Michael Moorecock- Elric Saga, Count Brass, History of the Runestaff
Fritz Leiber- Fafhrd and Gray Mouser sagas
Robert Asprin- ED. Thieves World Series, "Myth" Series
David Gemmel- I like most of his books but in my opinion they all tend to run together as he is a formula writer, not that it is bad, just repetitive...
Robert Newcomb- Fifth Sorceress

I know there are more but I am having brain glaze right now... but it is a start.... :stupid:
So what are you reading??

The Vlad Taltos books by Steven Brust are excellent: Jhereg, Yendi, Teckla, and so on. Really good stuff.

The other "series" of books set in the same world are also very good, and written in a Dumas-esque style (along the lines of the 3 musketeers). The Phoenix Guards, Five-Hundred Years After, and so on.

The Chronicles of Amber are sci-fi/fantasy by one of the best authors either genre eer had to offer, Roger Zelazny. Additionally his books about Dilvish the Damned are more traditional fantasy fare. All of his books are about very high powered people.

David Eddings wrote two pentologies that are very good, the first series is called The Belgariad and consist of Pawn of Prophesy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, and Enchanters' End Game. The second series follows the first and is called the Mallorean.

You already mentioned George R R Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" but it's so damn good I have to mention it too. If you haven't read these books you are really missing out. However, he is not done with the series so that means waiting... and waiting... and waiting for the next installment.

-Dave

I really liked Jhereg for the conspiracy in it, and somewhat for the fantasy crime-lord aspect, but a lot of it (especially dialogue) just seemed too modern, and a lot of the rest too alien. I guess I like fantasy to be in a fantastic but recognizable world.

I have the same gripe with Eddings, although to be fair, I've only read one book of his, and it was in the middle of a series.

Oddly enough, I don't have that problem with the Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg. I guess it's because the characters with the modern sound to their speech came from our (modern) world. The natives of the fantasy world don't seem so modern.

Other than that, Leiber, Howard, and Moorcock, I find myself reading a lot of stuff that's not quite fantasy, but is fairly close. Lovecraft, Burroughs, Wells, and Verne spring to mind.

For a laugh, I'd recommend Craig Shaw Gardner's "A Malady of Magicks" and related books. They're about a wizard who develops an allergy to magic, and his randy apprentice, and they're full of such wisdom as "Even for a wizard there will often come times when someone close to you, perhaps even your spouse, criticizes your habits by comparing them to those of animals. This is distinctly unfair to the animals, who have far better habits than we in many areas. When, for example, have you seen a frog collecting taxes or a squirrel running for electoral office? Present arguments like these to those people who criticize you. If they still do not see the wisdom of your ways, you may then feel free to bite them."

I listed my favorites, with explanations, in the FH bibliography. :hex:

What's FH??? I have never heard of it :shock: :bounce:
Actually reading another thread on this board made me think if this today. After I left work I was banging my head to try and remember Jack Vances name while at my FLNBS.... In fact it got so bad that I came home, looked up the thread and am now armed to go tomorrow at lunch to get the Tales of the Dying Earth

This is a warning rather than a recommendation, but if it saves one person then it will have been worth while.

"Dark Is The Sun" by Philip Jose Farmer is one of the worst-written books I have ever read. If you see it in your friendly local fantasy/sci-fi bookshop, don't buy it. I'm not kidding; it's truly execrable -- it reads like something written by an enthusiastic and inventive, but woefully literarily inadequate fourteen-year-old dungeon master. I've managed to drag myself almost half way through it, but I don't think I can take much more ham-handed exposition and ludicrously wooden dialogue.

Bleeagh.

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Originally Posted by Fitz

This is a warning rather than a recommendation, but if it saves one person then it will have been worth while.

"Dark Is The Sun" by Philip Jose Farmer is one of the worst-written books I have ever read. If you see it in your friendly local fantasy/sci-fi bookshop, don't buy it. I'm not kidding; it's truly execrable -- it reads like something written by an enthusiastic and inventive, but woefully literarily inadequate fourteen-year-old dungeon master. I've managed to drag myself almost half way through it, but I don't think I can take much more ham-handed exposition and ludicrously wooden dialogue.

Bleeagh.

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As far as I have been able to ascertain that is par for the course for Mr Farmer.

-Dave

The Thomas Covenant series was pretty good. Don't remember the author off-hand though. I also liked The Annals of the Black Company by Dan Cook. The Belgariad was okay. Loved the characters, wasn't particularly fond of the story.

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Originally Posted by mangahunterd

What's FH??? I have never heard of it :shock: :bounce: [/I]

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ummmmmmmm, lets see.......

Does the title of this thread mean anything?..... HINT

:hush: But then again, it wasn't all that long ago that I was askin that question..... :stupid:

OOOOOOOPS, :rolleyes: Or is this what they call SARCASM? :winkgrin:

In all seriousness though, Fantasy Hero. :snicker:

But then again, You already knew that! :think:

BTW - Will you be at Edsels for the next session?

I enjoyed:

Rose of the Prophet trilogy (Weiss and Hickman), as well as the original Dragonlance books.
Dragon Price trilogy (Melanie Rawn)
Chronicles of an Age of Darkness: The Wizards and The Warriors, The Women and the Warlords, etc (Hugh Cook)

I also would have included many of the others already mentioned on this thread.
Grunts (Mary Gentle)
Discworld series (Terry Pratchett)

I also enjoy Dianne Wynne Jones.Anybody who includes a talking,dimension-traveling, female elephant in one of her books (see the novel The Merlin Conspiracy for details) is a fine writer in my book.
I'd also recommend The Dark Lord of Derkholm and it's sequel The Year Of The Griffin.Those books are clearly inspired by her previous book The Tough Guide To Fantasyland (which neatly skewers most fantasy fiction).

I recommend the Deed of Paksenarion by Elizabeth Moon. She has been (rightfully, IMHO) compared to Tolkien. Yes, she's that good.

This trilogy (which begins with Sheepfarmer's Daughter) was originally published in paperback, and has just (finally) been re-released in a single-volume giant hardback.
GREAT read.

For a very different type of fantasy, read Randall Garrett's Too Many Magicians or Lord Darcy Investigates.
This is a fantasy series where magic works in the modern day, alongside technology.
These are out of print as far as I know and may be hard to find, but are definitely worth it if you can find them.

The Thomas Covenant books were written by Stephen R. Donaldson. He's just begun a third series set in the same universe. Haven't read that one yet.

I must second the recommendation for the late great Roger Zelazny. ANYTHING that has his name on it is great fantasy, virtually by definition. The Amber series (actually two series of five books each) are all-time classics, right up there with The Lord of the Rings.
Both Amber series have been re-printed in a giant trade paperback (the Great Book of Amber, I think it's called).
There's also an homage series by John Gregory Betancourt, set before the original Amber books. I like it, but I've seen quite negative reviews too.

The Chronicals of Master Li and Number Ten Ox (Barry Hughart) are a great read. It's a trilogy of mysteries set in a semi-mythical China. The three books are Bridge of Birds, Eight Skilled Gentlemen, and Story of the Stone. Bridge of Birds is the best -- I literally couldn't put it down. I set it down at about 3am, went to bed, and then got up a half hour later to finish it. ;)

Bill.

Yeah I knew what FH stood for I was jsut being silly.... Um, Yeah. I had been working on TPS reports all night for Lumbergh....
Don't know about next session though... of course I hear he is running the zombie game so I may have to make a special appearance.... Zombies good....

Anyway... Another book that I had almost forgotten about is called Initiate Brother by Sean Russell. It is pretty awesome and would make for a good Oriental Style FH game setting. It is a Duology and pretty entertaining.

What about "Another Day, Another Dungeon" by Greg Costikyan. The Sequal "One Quest, Hold the Dragons" was only ok though.

Also, the first four stories of Tiger and Del (Sword Dancer, Sword Singer, Sword Maker and Sword Breaker) by Jennifer Roberson. I did not like "Sword Born" all that much, felt like a cop-out. "Sword Sworn" was good though, nicely wrapped things up. But the first four stand on their own.

Robin Hobb, "The Farseer Trilogy," "The Liveship Traders," (for high seas fun) and finally "The Tawny Man." Great fun, though I will admit I have not read "The Tawny Man" trilogy yet, I'm waiting for all three to come out in paperback, thankfully though, that should be the end of this month.

I'll also speak up about George RR Martins "Song of Fire and Ice" series. That bloody rules, but the publication date for book four moved again, it looks like December 30th now, instead of the end of October.

Just finished "Transformation" by Carol Berg, a random pickup that turned out to be pretty damn good. More sorcery and intrigue than combat. Cover art -sucks-, though.

Prior to that was Vernor Vinge's "Deepness in the Sky", which is not fantasy by any stretch but is a very good book.

David Gemmell's "Legend" was good after the first couple of chapters.

Dave Duncan's "Gilded Chain" is a good musketeeresque book with quite a bit of magic thrown in.

Read The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It's a weird mix of genres, much like the official HEROverse setting, but it's predominantly a Wild West story with heavy fantasy elements thrown in, set in a post-apocalypse sci-fi universe.

--yeah, it's weird, but it worked goshdarnit NB

You do yourselves a disservice if you leave out these author's books

Lois MacMaster Bujold's
*The Curse of Chalion
*Paladin of Souls

David Gemmell's http://www.gemmellmania.co.uk/content.php?article=6
***Drenai Tales
*Legend
*The King Beyond The Gate
*Quest For Lost Heroes
*Waylander
*Waylander II - In the Realm of the Wolf
*The First Chronicles Of Druss The Legend
*The Legend Of Deathwalker
*Winter Warriors
*Hero in the Shadows
*White Wolf
*Swords of Night and Day
***Sipstrassi Tales
*Wolf In Shadow
*Ghost King
*Last Sword Of Power
*The Last Guardian
*Bloodstone
***Rigante Tales
*Sword In The Storm
*Midnight Falcon
*Ravenheart
*Stormrider
***Greek Tales
*Lion of Macedon
*Dark Prince
***Others
*Dark Moon
*Echoes of the Great Song
*Knights Of Dark Renown
*Morningstar
***Ombnibuses
*The Complete Chronicles of the Jerusalem Man
*The Drenai Tales [OOP]
*Stones of Power: A Sipstrassi Omnibus
*The Drenai Tales - Volume 1
*The Drenai Tales - Volume 2
*The Drenai Tales - Volume 3
***Graphic Novels
*Legend: The Graphic Novel
*Wolf in Shadow: The Graphic Novel

Cheers

QM

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Originally Posted by Confusion

What about "Another Day, Another Dungeon" by Greg Costikyan. The Sequal "One Quest, Hold the Dragons" was only ok though.

Also, the first four stories of Tiger and Del (Sword Dancer, Sword Singer, Sword Maker and Sword Breaker) by Jennifer Roberson. I did not like "Sword Born" all that much, felt like a cop-out. "Sword Sworn" was good though, nicely wrapped things up. But the first four stand on their own.

Robin Hobb, "The Farseer Trilogy," "The Liveship Traders," (for high seas fun) and finally "The Tawny Man." Great fun, though I will admit I have not read "The Tawny Man" trilogy yet, I'm waiting for all three to come out in paperback, thankfully though, that should be the end of this month.

I'll also speak up about George RR Martins "Song of Fire and Ice" series. That bloody rules, but the publication date for book four moved again, it looks like December 30th now, instead of the end of October.

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On George R R Martins website he has a letter to the fanbase where he dicusses these "release dates". He doesn't even know when the book will be done because he hasn't finished writing it yet, and doesn't know when he will finish it, so there is no way that anyone else can produce a valid release date.

Check it out: www.georgerrmartin.com

-Dave

You know I understand that he basically had to re-write the whole book from scratch but it just seems like he is dragging this thing out... At this point I am wondering if he will ever finish the story.... :straight:
Okay... how embarassing... I have a Masters Degree and I still can't spell Recommended :stupid:

I read an interview of Mr Martin in which he explains that he was going to write two books, until he realized how much story he was ignoring. I will be glad for the effort and time and he is taking on the books, as long as he maintains the level of quality I have seen from him to date.

-Dave

I read the same interview an I do appreciate that he wants to put out the best product he can.. I want him to as well... I am like may other fans, just antsy to see what happens next.... and excited to be able to read it.

I am a sucker for Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionovar Tapestry series. It's cross-worlds fantasy heavily influenced by Tolkienic, Celtic and Arthurian myths. If anything it tends slightly towards the sappy, but he's good enough to get away with it. I shed a tear or two reading the first book of the series.

Although it's old, The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddings is worth a mention because it is exceptionally good yet poorly known. Caveat: the style of English may put off some people.

Incidentally, George R. R. Martin (likely my favourite living author) has excellent taste in books, both within fantasy and without. If you poke around http://www.westeros.org you can find his recommendations, which include Jack Vance, Robin Hobb and George MacDonald Fraser (the author of the Flashman series -- novels about a man named Harry Flashman, who is not a superhero. 10 points if you can name the first novel in which Flashman appeared).

Janny Wurts' War of Light and Shadows series is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, and Raymond Feist's Riftwar books are fantasy's answer to Die Hard.

Although I haven't read it, my local dealer highly recommends Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. In the dangerous business of literature, you have to trust your dealer. I trust mine. I am purchasing this book as soon as I complete my thesis.

Fritz Leiber - Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series - simply the best fantasy ever :winkgrin:

Michael Scott Rohan - Winter of The World trilogy (Anvil Of Ice etc) - fantastic writing and truly wonderful working of apocalyptic Nordic mythology - check the magical creations and see how they would fit an FH campaign

Barry Hughart - Master Li and #10 Ox series - superior quality Oriental fantasy guaranteed to make you grin :joint:

R E Howard - Conan series - under rated classic fantasy literature

Lord Dunsanay - The King Of Elflands Daughter, The Gods Of Pegana etc - stunningly evocative turn-of-the century fantasy tales that inspired authors from HP Lovecraft to Tolkien to Fritz Leiber :cool:

If you're looking for epic fantasy, you can't do better than Tad Williams's "Memory, Sorrow & Thorn" trilogoy composed of The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell and To Green Angel Tower. Excellent books.

A lesser name that some may not be familiar with is Lawrence Watt-Evans. I'm a really big fan of his work, in large part because he concentrates on having his characters act like "real" people. His darker early work, "The Lords of Dus" (The Lure of the Basilisk, Seven Altars of Dusarra, The Sword of Bheleu and The Book of Silence) are very good and have an interesing cosmology. His Ethshar novels (a series of mostly unconnected stories set in a common world) are very different, in that they keep a generally lighter tone. It's too bad Ethshar's been put on the back shelf because I think they filled a niche that seems to be ignored in fantasy today. Finally, his more recent stuff (Touched by the Gods and the "Dragon Venom" trilogy) is also decent.

Also, Steve's recommendations in the back of FH were very good (except for the mean comments about Fionavar which clearly show him to be a communist under alien control :winkgrin: )

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Originally Posted by DRThrush

On George R R Martins website he has a letter to the fanbase where he dicusses these "release dates". He doesn't even know when the book will be done because he hasn't finished writing it yet, and doesn't know when he will finish it, so there is no way that anyone else can produce a valid release date.

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Actually,.. I knew that already. :( I got over excited, I was at amazon.com getting the names of something, and went ahead and looked at their release date, and not checking with the man himself.


edit: Ok, that made no sense. I should have said, I know about Martins site, as well as his practice regarding release dates (It'll be done when it's done) However, I failed to check his website, merely the amazon website, since I was already there.

I loved Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. It is dark and brutal and amazingly evocative for a stand-alone fantasy. I would recommend it to anyone who is enjoying Martin's Song of Fire and Ice. On the strength of Tigana, I tried his Fionovar Tapestry series as well, but I didn't care for it at all.

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Originally Posted by Black_Thaddeus

I loved Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. It is dark and brutal and amazingly evocative for a stand-alone fantasy. I would recommend it to anyone who is enjoying Martin's Song of Fire and Ice. On the strength of Tigana, I tried his Fionovar Tapestry series as well, but I didn't care for it at all.

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I wonder if it has something to do with the order one comes across them. I read Fionavar first (it was written first) and liked it very much (even if it does get over-Tolkeinish at points). But when I read it, I wasn't burdened with comparing it to Tigana, which is a masterpiece.

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Originally Posted by jml

George MacDonald Fraser (the author of the Flashman series -- novels about a man named Harry Flashman, who is not a superhero. 10 points if you can name the first novel in which Flashman appeared).

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That would be Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857). I love Macdonald Fraser's re-working of Flashman. His Pyrates is also very amusing - features a cast of characters that make Jack Sparrow look normal.

But to get back to fantasy, my (non-Tolkien) favourites are:

Ursula le Guin, The Earthsea Trilogy Now a quintet, or more, but the first three are the best - and the first, The Wizard of Earthsea, is the best by far.

David Gemmel, pretty much everything. As someone's already pointed out, Gemmel is a very formulaic writer - read one and you've read them all - but his style is a very endearing pathos. Waylander remains one of my favourite fantasy characters - he's basically the Outlaw Josie Wales with a crossbow. His first book, Legend, came out in 1981, the year I started playing RPGs (so did Ray Feist's Magician, but I largely gave up with him after the Riftwar trilogy, Servant of the Empire and Faerie Tale). To this day, my gaming group describes a particularly intense, descriptive combat scene in a game as "doing a Gemmel". And yes, I have the graphic novels, too - Jon Shannow, the Jerusalem Man, is exactly as I pictured him...

Katherine Kerr - The Deverry Series (now nearing the last of three planned quartets). The first quartet - Daggerspell, etc - is the best, but the whole thing's like a damned soap opera; given the ending to the eleventh book, I can't wait to find out what happens to Rhodry Maelwedd in the last book. The series starts out as an ancient Celtic-influenced low fantasy work, but becomes preogressively higher fantasy as it goes on. The frequent flashback sequences to characters' previous lives (yeah, re-incarnation is in) will either captivate you or irritate the hell out of you. They captivated me.

Homer, The Illiad and The Oddessy. Not the easiest reads, I grant you, but pure brilliance. You should probably get a good, readable modern translation, but it's best to read Homer in the original Klingon...

The Mabinogion. My favourite version is the Everyman Jones & Jones translation.

There are many, many more - Paksennarion, Thieves' World, Thomas Covenant (it's by Stephen Donaldson, to the chap who couldn't remember) and a host of others - but in the interests of brevity, I'll stop there...

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Originally Posted by Beetle

I wonder if it has something to do with the order one comes across them. I read Fionavar first (it was written first) and liked it very much (even if it does get over-Tolkeinish at points). But when I read it, I wasn't burdened with comparing it to Tigana, which is a masterpiece.

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I read Tigana first, was hugely impressed, and was subsequently hugely disappointed with The Fionavar Tapestry.

Song for Arbonne and Lions of Al-Rassan restored his standing in my eyes, though.

I re-read Tigana about once a year. It's a magnificent work.

I have to recommend The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory,though only the first two novels have been published.Not only are they up to her usual standard,but I could swear that the United States was ther inspiration for Armethalieth,the City of Bells,especially after the tragedy that happened earlier this month.

Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun is a classic fantasy series with an atmosphere as unique and compelling now as it was 20 years ago when it was first published. More recent books that I would recommend are Trollslayer and its sequels by Bill King, featuring his epic heroes Gotrek and Felix. These are essentially monster-hunting romps featuring strong characterisation, including a great backing cast, some epic fight scenes, and some great moments of comedy. Fine entertainment. ;)

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Originally Posted by AndyStaples

Homer, The Illiad and The Oddessy. Not the easiest reads, I grant you, but pure brilliance. You should probably get a good, readable modern translation, but it's best to read Homer in the original Klingon...

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Too right. Well, except for the Klingon bit.

Which reminds me. Paradise Lost by John Milton is similarly excellent. It is poetry in Elizabethan English, and it contains some of the best lines ever penned. It also lays out an impressive mythology, one based heavily on Christianity with many classical influences. As far as I'm aware, it is the English language's answer to The Iliad and The Odyssey.

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"Yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible."

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Lines like these make me want to write lines like these.

Can't believe I forgot to mention Katherine Kurtz.
The Deryni books (now at 4 trilogies, at least 2 full novels, at least 3 collections of short stories, and goodness only knows what else) are absolute classics.

Kurtz is a historian by training, and it shows in her work. Really good series of stories. And the first-written trilogy (Deryni Rising, Deryni Checkmate, High Deryni) is being re-issued in hardback.

Another incredibly good fantasy author is Harry Turtledove. He's also a classically-trained historian (is this a pattern with me?)
The Misplaced Legion introduced his world of Videssos, which is essentially the Holy Roman Empire (Byzantium) with magic added.
One of the four series set in this world alternates between Videssos (the Roman Empire analogue) and the Persia equivalent (the name in the book escapes me now).
The series tells the story of the war between these two great powers from the point of view of both sides.

Turtledove's Agent of Byzantium is an unconnected book that deals with an Middle Ages version of Bond, a spy who works for the Holy Roman Empire. Also rollicking good fun.