• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Looking for Fantasy Lovers' Expertise

A

AmyPenthesilea

kickbox
Hello, I am on the search for bigger and better things within the Fantasy realm, it seems like this forum has a lot of Sci-Fi as well, which I am sure I could learn to appreciate. I am new to this site, but all of my old haunts are leading me in circles and I need to get my hands on something new! All suggestions are very appreciated. The authors I adore most are Sharon Shinn, Elizabeth Haydon, Diana Wynne Jones, Garth Nix, Jennifer Roberson, Michael Crichton, Jacqueline Carey and Robin McKinley. (And if you haven't sampled some of these authors I highly recommend them!)
 
Hmmm, try Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series - start with Guilty Pleasures.

Or Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series - start with Bitten (Kelley has a fantastic site www.kelleyarmstrong.com where there are some free online novellas which might interest you to get a flavour of her work).

Katherine Kerr is an exceptionally talented female author - start with Daggerspell.
 
Hey Amy,

Here's a big old list I put together last time somebody asked this question!!!

Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson.
Book 1 - Gardens of the Moon
Book 2 - Deadhouse Gates (I am currently reading this)

The Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker
Book 1 - The Darkness That Comes Before
Book 2 - The Warrior Prophet (next on my reading list!)

Winds of the Forelands by David B. Coe
Book 1 - Rules of Ascension
Book 2 - Seeds of Betrayal
Book 3 - Bonds of Vengeance (I am currently reading this as well)

Akari Spirits by John Marco
Book 1 - The Eyes of God
Book 2 - The Devil's Armor
Book 3 - The Sword of Angels (comes out in May 2005)

Keys of Power by Simon Brown
Book 1 - Inheritance
Book 2 - Fire and Sword
Book 3 - Sovereign

Fifth Ring by Mitchell Graham
Book 1 - The Fifth Ring
Book 2 - The Emerald Cavern
Book 3 - The Ancient Legacy

Chronicles of Blood and Stone by Robert Newcomb
Book 1 - The Fifth Sorceress
Book 2 - The Gates of Dawn
Book 3 - The Scrolls of the Ancients

Sileria by Laura Resnick
Book 1 - In Legend Born
Book 2 - In Fire Forged
Book 3 - The Destroyer Goddess

Tears of Artamon by Sarah Ash
Book 1 - Lord of Snow and Shadows
Book 2 - Prisoner of the Iron Tower

Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone by Greg Keyes
Book 1 - The Briar King
Book 2 - The Charnel Prince

Sceptre of Mercy by Dan Chernenko
Book 1 - The Bastard King
Book 2 - The Chernagor Pirates
Book 3 - The Sceptre's Return
 
For humorous fantasy, you can't go wrong with Terry Pratchett. The more Tolkien/fantasy stuff you've read, the funnier he is.
 
soxfan said:
For humorous fantasy, you can't go wrong with Terry Pratchett. The more Tolkien/fantasy stuff you've read, the funnier he is.
Click to expand...

Tanya Huff and Jim Butcher are good at including humour in their stories too :D
 
Dave Duncan Appreciation Thread will give you an idea of what people think of him. I really liked his "A Man of His Word" series and the ongoing "King's Blades" series. I think I included his Web site in the thread.

Another terrific writer to whom I was introduced via this excellent forum is Guy Gavriel Kay. The Sarantine Mosaic is excellent, two strong books that evoke life in Byzantium, but with deft touches of magic and other worldliness. Great characters and relationships drive assured storytelling. If you like Sharon Shinn, Kay will be a revelation.

Stephen R. Donaldson is a must-read fantasy writer, although he is difficult, writing in a very 60s-70s anti-hero mode, but the hard-to-like protagonist is surrounded by very likable cast of heroes and heroines that make the difference. While his Covenant books are the "classics," you might try a "briefer" encounter in the two-book "Mordant" series: The Mirror of Her Dreams/A Man Rides Through.
 
You know, I really love Melanie Rawn's writing. Everyone raves about her Exiles series, though I haven't read that. I LOVED her Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies as well as a book she cowrote with Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliott called "The Golden Key."

For sci-fi, I have really been enjoying Timothy Zahn's writing.
 
Some good chocies listed, however i want to point out again that the Malazan series by Erikson is not limited to two novels (if you order online) these are available now:

Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides

Bonehunters (forthcoming)
Reapers Cale (forthcoming)
Toll of Hounds (forthcoming)
Dust of Dreams (forthcoming)
The Crippled God (forthcoming)


Blood Follow and Healthy Dead are two novellas out released in UK by PS Publishing, and being rereleased as special editons by NightShade later this year. Also another novella Night Of Knives set in the Mazalan world will be written by Ian Cameron Esslemont an be released by PS publishing as well.

I agree with most that are listed but:

Chronicles of Blood and Stone by Robert Newcomb
Book 1 - The Fifth Sorceress
Book 2 - The Gates of Dawn
Book 3 - The Scrolls of the Ancients
Click to expand...

I think this is one of the worst series written in a long time.

fantasybookspot.com
 
I second the motion on Guy Gavriel Kay, adding the Saratine Mosaic (2 volumes) to recommended reading.
 
Forgot to mention Marion Zimmer Bradley in my initial post -- I particularly like her Mists of Avalon, as well as its two prequels (The Forest House, Lady of Avalon).
 
I would recommend Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy (the assassin ones) and perhaps Steven Brust's books (most of his are all the same series) as well.

~Ratt~
 
A couple of authors

Anne Bishop-The Black Jewel Trilogy
Anything Laurell K. Hamilton
Katie Macalister-Ashling Grey Series-very funny
Kelly Armstrong
 
I haven't read these in years, but George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice novels are impressive. Light on magic and heavy on warfare and treachery, these books are far more than your average fantasy saga.
 
Almost all of those mentioned so far have been epic fantasy, so here are a few suggestions for branching out:
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer
The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
Heroes Die by Matthew Stover
Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance
The 1st Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Suggestions of Erikson, Martin, Bakker etc I of course heartily agree with, as with Greg Keyes and JV Jones, who while not quite as good are still decent authors. Recommendations of authors like Clemens though are a bit questionable IMO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top