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Next fantsy book? Newbie fantasy-reader need advise!

J

Jonas R. Hamre

New Member
Greetings!

This is my first post on this forum, and I really hope I will stay, although I'm not a very experienced bookworm, so some advise from you guys would be great. Hope my English is readable (I'm sure, but my first post on a forum must contain that sentence, sorry). Thanks!

Now on to the topic. Can't say I've ever been a bookworm. Can't say I've ever spent more time reading books than using the computer. Can't say that I liked fantasy a few years ago (hated it). But now, however, after the release of The Lord of the Rings movie, and some really interesting role-playing games, I've started to get interested. I'm soon finished reading The Lord of the Rings (a book I love) in my native language (Norwegian). Not to forget The Hobbit; I actually thought it was almost as good.

But when I finish The Lord of the Rings, what should I then read? There are too many fantasy books to choose between. So I'm looking for advise. Harry Potter? Nah, I don't think so, but maybe later. Narnia? Sounds interesting, but is it a children-book?

By the way, do you know about a site for books, something like a database, where users can vote and post reviews, just like IMDB.com? Do you know of a list of best (fantasy, maybe) books ever (based on user votes, for instance)? Something like that would also be great, but your advise will also be highly appreciated. (I've tried Google, but found nothing I liked.)

I could short this out very much: Looking for a very good fantasy book, can you help me?

Thanks!

Edit: OK, it's quite embrassing. I noticed you had a whole bunch of links here. I'll have a look. :)
 
You might check out www.terrygoodkind.com.

That is a web site for the fantasy author Terry Goodkind but it has a forum where people discuss all fantasy books and many other topics. If you are looking for a fantasy book this is definitly the place to check.

Click on the NEWS link and then on the JOURNEY BOOK link and you will find the forum.

Hope this helps =)
 
I can second Terry Goodkind, a good author and the Sword of Truth series is very good.

Also I think Robin Hobb is a good author. Her books are easy to read, very interesting and so absorbing, that if you weren't a bookworm before her stuff you would be afterwards :)

rune
 
Go with A song of Ice and Fire!!!
I personal think that its bettert than the lord of the rings, though its not as fantastic as the lord of the rings, if you get my meaning. Robin Hobb is also very good. If you want something more like the RPGs that you have played then go with something from R A Salvatore or another author of "Forgotten Realms" books.
 
Thanks for good advise. I'll check them all out. My local library has a lot of the Robin Hobb-books. Just have to finish LotR. :) But have any of you read the Narnia-books? I started to get interested...
 
I've read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I enjoyed it but it did seem a little like a kids book, but good nonetheless.
 
Hi there Jonas, welcome to the forum.

As you have stated, there are plenty of links here, and with an enthusiasm like yours it is to be hoped that this site will be the one people mention when someone asks 'is there something like IMDB for books?' - so get reviewing :eek:)

Now then, not sure why nobody has mentioned these in this thread yet...but have you tried 'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Philip Pullman? It is very very highly rated and I think you may enjoy it.

As far as Narnia goes, I love it, and am re-reading it this month for a book group. Fenrys states above 'I enjoyed it but it did seem a little like a kids book' - this is becuase it is a kids book. The genius that is CS Lewis wrote the book for a relative, much in the same manner of Lewis Caroll, and it is a much loved childrens set of books. I think you should give them ago, and am always surprised when people say they haven't read them. Lewis himself was a good friend of Tolkien and actually asked Pauline Baynes (who had recently illustrated Tolkien's 'Farmer Giles of Ham') to do the images for the Narnia Chronicles.

I shall shut up now and leave with this quote, taken from the encyclopedic 'Companion to Narnia' by Paul Ford with regards to the distinction between Lewis and Tolkien:

"Although Tolkien, like Lewis, began his storytelling spontaneously, he polished his stories like gems, revising time and again for inconsistencies. So thorough was his subcreation that he was able to devise whole histories and languages, and to people his novels with characters whose roots went deep into Middle Earth. Lewis, however, was less a subcreator than he was a storyteller. He let the pictures of Narnia flow from his mind through his pen..."

Whatever you do decide to read, enjoy.

Mxx
 
Originally posted by murphyz
Hi there Jonas, welcome to the forum.
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Thanks. :)

As you have stated, there are plenty of links here, and with an enthusiasm like yours it is to be hoped that this site will be the one people mention when someone asks 'is there something like IMDB for books?' - so get reviewing :eek:)
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OK, maybe I'll try later on, then. But I must have read some books before I can start reviewing. ;)

Now then, not sure why nobody has mentioned these in this thread yet...but have you tried 'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Philip Pullman? It is very very highly rated and I think you may enjoy it.
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Sounds very interesting. Found a box for a good price at Amazon.co.uk. Prices in England is great. Half price compared to Norway, almost. So think I'll read most of the books recommended in English, although I need some in Norwegian, too, for school.

As far as Narnia goes, I love it, and am re-reading it this month for a book group. Fenrys states above 'I enjoyed it but it did seem a little like a kids book' - this is becuase it is a kids book. The genius that is CS Lewis wrote the book for a relative, much in the same manner of Lewis Caroll, and it is a much loved childrens set of books. I think you should give them ago, and am always surprised when people say they haven't read them. Lewis himself was a good friend of Tolkien and actually asked Pauline Baynes (who had recently illustrated Tolkien's 'Farmer Giles of Ham') to do the images for the Narnia Chronicles.
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Very well, I'm happy to hear that. I guess a childrens books in english are written with less complex English, which is quite perfect. If you see my list below, LotR is there in english, and that will be a quite heavy challenge. Most of you guys are English/American, right? 'Cause with all of Tolkiens poetry and stuff, I'm sure it's much better in its orginal language. So:

Ahh, then I'll have something to read. Robbin Hobb's books I can borrow at my local library. :) Now I have something to read.

Thanks again for good replies. :)
 
Hi Jonas, welcome to one of the best bookforums on the net.

I'm not a big fantasy-fan, so I can't give you any recommendations (other people are of much more help in that department), but what I do want to say is this: Please read LotR in English. It's not the easiest book to read in its original language, and it'll take you quite a while to finish it, but it is all worth it, trust me.

I'm from holland myself, and I read several parts of LotR in Dutch, before reading the entire thing in English. The Dutch version was good, of course, but it wasn't until I read the English version that I was completely blown away by the sheer brilliance of Tolkien's storytelling.

Please read it in English, and you'll fully understand why this is the 2nd most-read non-reference book ever (after the Bible).

Cheers, Martin :D
 
Originally posted by Martin
Please read it in English, and you'll fully understand why this is the 2nd most-read non-reference book ever (after the Bible).
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Says who?

Mxx
 
Hi Martin,

I did not "mention" it, but I wrote a list of books I've decided to get. I will buy and read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in English very soon. I know very well how it is, and I actually tried to read it English before I had started to read it in Norwegian. I found the English version better, even though there were much I didn't understand.

But that's about a year ago, and I'm sure it will be better. But I will finish the Norwegian version first, at least, since I'm so close to the end. Thanks. :)
 
Hi Jonas,

I'd definitely recommend the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake and deserves more recognition as a classic than it gets in my opinion.

The character work in these books is fantastic. It has moments of humour, surprise, shock, intrigue, and the list goes on. If you want something that walks a different path to traditional fantasy then this should be first on your list.
 
Hi Melter,

Thank you for your advise. I'm pretty sure I'll never get to read all this, but Gormenghast sounds good and cool, and it seems like I can get the hole trilogy for a very good price on Amazon.co.uk. I'll order some books in a few days, and Gormenghast could be one of them... Saw they had made a movie, ehm, mini-series of the novel. Would be nice to see that afterward. Nice score at IMDB, too. :)
 
Murphyz

I absolutely do not know who said that about LotR, but I read it somewhere, and it sounded like something that could somewhat accurate (come to think of it, I think I read it in the 'library'-section of this very website).

Anyway, I was just trying to make a point, to convince Jonas to someday read it in English, as that is the only language in which the reader can be fully blown away by the all-encapsulating and descriptive narrative. Am I wrong?

Cheers, Martin :D
 
*scoots off to find a list of the most read fiction books ever*

darn. listofthemotreadfictionbooksever.com didn't work....I may be some time.

Mxx
 
Jonas - I can highly recommend the Narnia series - start with the first - they are fantastic. They are pretty different than Lord of the Rings though. You can plow through them pretty quick. I also loved the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. Those all are in the kids category I assume.
 
Originally posted by hvtgotclue
Jonas - I can highly recommend the Narnia series - start with the first - they are fantastic.
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Which are you classing as the first?

The Magician's Nephew or The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe?

Mxx
 
I was talking about the The Magician's Nephew. Honestly I don't think that one necessarily get's you but I always like to have the background info.

I guess I read LW&W first and went back and read them in order. I was so hooked that I didn't do anything else but read them for 2 weeks until I was done. Still if I hear songs that were popular at that time it will bring back to the feeling I had then.
 
Okay. Just some people would class LWW as the first as that was the first one written, others class MN as the first, and Lewis himself suggested to read it first, so they are usually published nowadays in the 'recommended order' and not the 'published order'.

I would agree to read MN first.

Mxx
 
If it's children's fantasy ...

... the various Redwall novels of Brian Jacques are excellent reads for adults and children. It was very satisfying to discover them and my sons were happy to have Dad find interest in something they read first (rather than the other way around).

Dave Duncan has written some good fantasy also. Link to Dave Duncan's fantasy books You'll find samples and covers of all his work; very informative professionally built Web site.

He built his reputation with the "A Man of His Word" series, which is most fantastical, but really raised the bar with the "Tales of the King's Blades" that is more realistic, swords and sorcery rather than imps and goblins of the earlier series. "The King's Daggers" is a spin-off of the Blades, and definitely toned down for younger readers. My youngest son rereads the Blades books, and he's a very picky reader.

O
 
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