Fantasy novels and series!

L

Logain

Asha'man
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Who here likes fantasy novels/series and what ones do you read?

My favourite series would have to be Wheel of Time although it has gone downhill since Book 6. Kate Elliots Crown of Stars comes up a close second. I also like:

Book of Words/Barbed Coil/Sword of Shadows - J.V. Jones
Discworld novels - Pratchett :lol:
A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. MArtin
Tales of Einarinn - Juliet E. McKenna
Farseer Trilogy/Liveship Traders - RObin Hobb
Artifacts of Power/Shadowleague - Maggie Furey
KAtherine Kerr's Deverry Series'
Robert Rankin's absolutely insane books of which Armaggeddon the Musical is the best :cool:
Lyonesse - Jack Vance
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn - Tad Williams
Also David Eddings and Davis Gemmell and of course J.R.R. Tolkien. Plus many more.
 
alas, I read only Tolkien and Jordan. not enough money to buy others. and Logain, don't you think that Logain should've killed Taim at the end of book 8? (that sounded really weird)
 
Martin's ASOIAF is really the only fantasy I really like outside of Tolkien. His character development is superior to Tolkien and the story is more believable IMO.
 
Fantasy is sorely lacking imagination these days.
The US writers seem to endlessly copy Tolkien's works or imagery from it.

Too many books trying be clever but making the same 2D plots.
For this I hated Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time', Terry Brook's stuff.

They all copy tired formulas...
I hardly read most fantasy paperbacks now, because they are soooo Boring and similar.

I recommend 'The Shadow of Arrarat' by Thomas Harlan, though.
And 'A Game of Thrones' by George R Martin.

Rare gems in a sea of crap.
 
I like Weber's Honor Harington stuff, and Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan. Both are pretty much candy floss, but what have you. My favorite of the moment though is the Belesarius series by Flint/Drake. All are very Civ-like. My alltime favorite after LotR is Thomas Covanent by Stephen Donaldson, though LeGuin's Earthsea, Lewis' Narnia, and Brin's Uplift deserve mention.

J
 
Jordan and Martin are best although Jordan has been declineing.
Book 10 was good except the ending. It was likw the total opposite of book 9!!!!
Also Martin does have the best plot developement i've read.
 
I have been told that
Mervin Peak - Ghormenghast
should be a major work. Didn't read it, though. Anybody can make a comment?
 
Originally posted by CurtSibling
Fantasy is sorely lacking imagination these days.
The US writers seem to endlessly copy Tolkien's works or imagery from it.

Too many books trying be clever but making the same 2D plots.
For this I hated Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time', Terry Brook's stuff.

They all copy tired formulas...
I hardly read most fantasy paperbacks now, because they are soooo Boring and similar.
Click to expand...

They all tried to copy formulas? Everyone copies Tolkien's imagery? SURE, buddy.

Where the heck do you think Tolkien got HIS ideas? He got them from a) common human themes and b) pre-existing mythology. Tolkien was just the first one to do it, and the best. That DOES NOT mean that everyone is being uncreative, just that there are only so many themes that one may work with. As to not reading most fantasy paperbacks... I agree. Just pick a couple series with different basic themes and stick with them. Dune, LotR, and to some extent The Wheel of Time (though somewhat similar to Dune) are good for this.

I just hope that I get a good rebuttal for all this.
 
Originally posted by Noldodan


They all tried to copy formulas? Everyone copies Tolkien's imagery? SURE, buddy.

Where the heck do you think Tolkien got HIS ideas? He got them from a) common human themes and b) pre-existing mythology. Tolkien was just the first one to do it, and the best. That DOES NOT mean that everyone is being uncreative, just that there are only so many themes that one may work with. As to not reading most fantasy paperbacks... I agree. Just pick a couple series with different basic themes and stick with them. Dune, LotR, and to some extent The Wheel of Time (though somewhat similar to Dune) are good for this.

I just hope that I get a good rebuttal for all this.
Click to expand...

No.

I hardly deserves a decent rebuttal.

I was referring to the current crop.
Obviously, Tolkien drew ideas from anceint European culture and legends to creat middle earth.

I have read all of Tolkien's main works. Do you even have to tell me he used reference?

Credit me with some savvy.

But deny it if you will, but I have read too many fantasy books which copy this tired 'unwilling hero saves the day' formula to the death.

And you say there are only so many plot ideas...Utter bladder!
There is as many formulas as your mind can think up. Endless worlds, if you can envisage them.

It is just Authors are lazy and cannot be bothered, or they know sticking to trend will get a sure-fire sale.

The mind can dream up limitless worlds and ideas, but to many writers or artist seek to copy already tapped-into tales,

Don't preach to me about the modern fantasy genre.
It is like the superhero comics genre, full of hacks and no imagination.

Good day.
 
Originally posted by CurtSibling
Credit me with some savvy.

And you say there are only so many plot ideas...Utter bladder!
There is as many formulas as your mind can think up. Endless worlds, if you can envisage them.

It is just Authors are lazy and cannot be bothered, or they know sticking to trend will get a sure-fire sale. Good day.
Click to expand...

You get the saavy. And I did NOT say that there a limited number of plot ideas, just a limited number of themes. I must have misunderstood your comment about "copy old formulas", I interpreted that as themes, not plot. Sorry about that. As to the "unwilling hero saves the day" bit... you're right about that. Thats why I only stick to a few series.
 
Originally posted by smalltalk
have been told that
Mervin Peak - Ghormenghast
should be a major work. Didn't read it, though. Anybody can make a comment?
Click to expand...

The Gormenghast trilogy (Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone) is indeed a major work. However, it isn't to everyone's taste.

Part of the reason is that Peake was by training and inclination an artist first and foremost. His preference is therefore description rather than plot development. Some readers find the Gormenghast books to be incredibly static. So, if you want something fast-moving, go elsewhere.

If, on the other hand, you are a fan of detail, description and layering, it's well worth the effort.

Finally, if you are turned off by the grotesque, give Peake a miss. He was deeply affected by some of the sights he saw as a WW2 war artist (especially by the death camps), and much of his writing has a despairing, necrotic feel to it. Virtually all of the characters are outlandish, hardly any of them have any redeeming features. The nominal hero, Titus, is a nonentity - the real focus is Steerpike, the amoral antihero. In no way could the trilogy be described as "feel-good" or "escapist".

Very much an acquired taste. I adore the books, but then I am a trifle weird.;)
 
Originally posted by Noldodan


You get the saavy. And I did NOT say that there a limited number of plot ideas, just a limited number of themes. I must have misunderstood your comment about "copy old formulas", I interpreted that as themes, not plot. Sorry about that. As to the "unwilling hero saves the day" bit... you're right about that. Thats why I only stick to a few series.
Click to expand...

No problemo, Nold.

I agree you must dig deeper to find the good novels these days.

But there are some good ones.
 
@Illustrious:

I guess, I should give it a try sometime. On a looong day. Hasn't it got at least a thousand pages?


It seems popular nowadays, to write longer even longer books and series. Maybe as a result of the widespread use of wordprocessors.
 
Discworld is awesome, I can't recommend it enough, every bit as addictive as CFC or Civ.

A very high quality trilogy people might overlook as it was initially marketed towards young adults was "His Dark Materials" by Phillip Pullman- The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. A fascinating blend of fantasy and theology and really really well done.
 
PS- Alot of the old series are still probably the best thing you can read. I was always a fan of heroic fantasy and can heartily recommend:

Anything by Michael Moorcock but especially his grail quest novel "The War Hound and the World's Pain" and the Elric series.

Robert E. Howard's original Conan stories in series form.

Edgar Rice Burrough's "Barsoom" Mars novels, especially "Princess of Mars" the first one.

Fritz Leiber's tales of the Grey Mouser and Fafhrd.

MacDonald's "Phantastes" is a challenging read but very different and very very good.

Lord Dunsany's works- you probably have to check them out of the local college library, but his fantasy stories were the inspiration of diverse authors including finally;

HP Lovecraft- The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and the Doom that Came To Sarnath compilations are "wierd" tinged fantasy at their best.

I envy everyone who can still look ahead to their first read of any of these books.
 
Some excellent choices Sultan! :goodjob: I have read many of them.

I have also read the Gormenghast trilogy, many years ago. What Illustrious said is very true. It is indeed a major work, but your head has to be about a half-bubble off-center to really get into it. ;)

Another fantasy series I have read and liked is Katherine Kurtz' Deryni series. Set in a medieval period, it is based on the question: what if "magic" were real? It does get rather heavy into religion, but that is largely a side-effect of her original hypothesis (and of her personal interests).
 
I realy like the George R.R. Martin books. Truly excellent story telling.
Also Raymond E Fiest's Riftwar and Daughter of the Empire series. The others have been stretching it a little thin.
I have always like Robert Jordan, even before Wheel of Time when he was doing Conan the Barbarian novels. Love my barbarians, Conan and Groo above all.
David Eddings is like Vanilla Coke, too sickly sweet to be any good. Half his characters are gods that roam the earth, find half the force of creation (Bhelliom) and never lose a battle, surprise surprise!. Snore.

Discworld is a fave. Unfortunately the books only take about 4 hours to read but 2 years to write.
 
Originally posted by CurtSibling
Don't preach to me about the modern fantasy genre.
It is like the superhero comics genre, full of hacks and no imagination.

Good day.
Click to expand...

I'm respectfully disagreeing Curt!

I'd say Robin Hobb's liveship traders with those living ships was very imaginative...
Tad Williams' Otherworld series was very creative and amusing (maybe more scifi than fantasy though...)
Srephen Donaldsons' chronicles of thomas covenant's lead character is the most complex mix of good and evil I've ever read about...

There's a lot of authors that probaly borrow from others, but that don't mean their books are crap....
 
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