Reccomended Reading: Fantasy Novels

[mangahunterd]

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....
So what are you reading??

[DRThrush]

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

[Captain Obvious]

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."

[Steve Long]

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

[mangahunterd]

What's FH??? I have never heard of it
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

[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.

[DRThrush]

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.

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

-Dave

[War Cry]

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.

[NightStick]

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

ummmmmmmm, lets see.......

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

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

OOOOOOOPS, Or is this what they call SARCASM?

In all seriousness though, Fantasy Hero.

But then again, You already knew that!

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

[garou]

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)

[Southern Cross]

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).

[tancred]

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.

[teh bunneh]

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.

[mangahunterd]

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.

[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.