What to read!

Fitz · Post by **Fitz** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 1:05 pm

Truth be told i LOVE reading fantasy books. Don't care for too much else but I go through fantasy like no other. As of tomorrow im going off for a long trip and figure i'll be reading even more than usual so I thought what a better place to ask for suggestions than good old GameBanshee. To give you an idea so far this is what I have read: Every book Raymond Feist has written, all Terry Goodkind, all Tolkein, and Farseer Trilogy (just purchased Liveship trilogy too). As you can see I like to find an author i love and read everything they got. So except for those have not read a thing, AND if anyone knows some good assasin books that would be awesome!!! The assasin/thief/stealth books and parts of books always my favorite. Well thanks for the help

hopefully i'll get some good suggestions

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 1:18 pm

Books by R.A. Slavatore are quite good, and if you want assassin books, his character Artemis Entreri is well written.

McBane · Post by **McBane** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 1:18 pm

I would recommend Glen Cook's The Black Company... I will list others later.....

/-\lastor · Post by **/-\lastor** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 2:01 pm

I really advise the War against the Chtorr series of David Gerrold, it isnt about any assasins but it's in the near future. The whole series is brilliant but I think they're out of print and that biatch of a writer has his fans waiting for the last book of the series for over 10 years.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 6:52 pm

If you like fantasy, The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is also quite good. And yes, I agree with mental_nomad, Pratchett rocks !

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 6:57 pm

Part of a post I made a few months back, when someone had a similar question:

Pratt and de Camp's The Incomplete Enchanter. This was an enormous hit, both when it first appeared in the 40's, and later when it was reissued in the 70's. Basically, the plot involves a small group of government-funded scientists who are slowly going stir-crazy from isolation. They cook up an equation that will take them into alternate dimensions powered by mythologies, cultural or manmade--and end up traveling to such places as Ragnarok, Spenser's Fairie Queene, Orlando Furioso, the Irish Mythos, and the Kalevala. There were six relatively short novels in all, and I think all six have been rereleased together. I've only read the first five, but recall the first, second and fifth being highly amusing.

You might also want to try Pratt and de Camp's Land of Unreason. This was another book of theirs from the 1940's, a fantasy about a low-rung diplomat who gets stolen by a drunken gnome in place of a babe, and brought to the kingdom of Oberon and Titania. (His Scottish hosts put out a container of milk for the faerie folk on the proper night, but our hero drinks it to sooth his nerves, and leaves a glass of scotch in its wake.) His adventures are a delight, including an unusually prescient satire on Maoist philosophy...and there's a wonderful twist to the end that for once doesn't leave you thinking, "Sure, I only saw that seventy-five pages ago."

Check out Jack Vance's fantasy novels. He's been a mainstay of great fantasy writing since the late 1940's--left it after about ten years, then returned within the last decade or so to produce rich, wonderful novels as though he'd never gone.

Chanak · Post by **Chanak** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 7:03 pm

@Fitz:

I agree with dragon wench; the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan are a good read, and they'll keep you busy for a while. As an interesting little side read, I'd also recommend George MacDonald's Phantastes. Another one to try is Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster Of Hed.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 8:57 pm

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. I know it's not quite fantasy, but it is still a great read. Also, along similar lines, Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide is a great series.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 9:08 pm

Originally posted by Aegis
Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. I know it's not quite fantasy, but it is still a great read. Also, along similar lines, Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide is a great series.

Vonnegut isn't fantasy? Nearly everything he wrote was fantasy. But it wasn't the stereotyped garbage that features hordes of elves, dwarves, and any single wizard throwing more power around than earth has natural resources for the next several hundred years.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 9:22 pm

Maybe I should've said "not quite typical fantasy"... Is that better, oh Toothless one?

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 9:54 pm

@ fable

And here I was expecting you to recommend Jurgen again

Fitz · Post by **Fitz** » Mon Jun 17, 2002 11:29 pm

HAHA! wow thanks I didnt expect so many good ideas. Went out bought some of The Black Company and Pratchett too, cant wait

thanks again

Krynus · Post by **Krynus** » Tue Jun 18, 2002 12:04 am

This is probably more Science Fiction than Fantasy, but I would recommend reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. It has a lot of social commentary on the world today, and is a very interesting book to read.

Beldin · Post by **Beldin** » Tue Jun 18, 2002 12:27 am

If you enjoy SF: Anything by Larry Niven (for example: The Ringworld series) or "Ender" by Orson Scott Card.

for "FF" (="Funny"Fantasy): T.Pratchett, R.Asprin (the "Myth" series) ,

and finally "Real" Fantasy: David Eddings

,

No worries,

Beldin, the Hunchback

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Tue Jun 18, 2002 2:15 am

Well (oh no, the well-disease!), if you haven't read Salvatore's books about Drizzt yet, I highly recommend them, especially if you like BG and the Forgotten Realms. And then don't miss the five books about Cadderly.

Steven Donaldsson is a good author IMO, start with his books about Thomas Covenant (sp?).