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I was right in the middle of making a post in this thread earlier today when the storm knocked the power out. Gosh!

A few years ago my sister gave me the complete Bitterbynde series by [url="http://www.ceciliadartthornton.com/homepage.html"]Cecilia Dart-Thornton[/url]. They are well written and entertaining. Thornton likes to go on and be "wordy" a bit too much, but it can be overlooked, IMO.

She combines different elements of Irish, English and Scottish folklore in the books, and tells the story of the main character Ashelinde throughout all her incarnations. Well, I shouldn't say anymore in case anybody is interested in the books.

The Ill-Made Mute
The Lady of the Sorrows
The Battle of Evernight

I've just started William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. Jury is still out as early days, but he's never let me down yet.

William Gibson - Official Website

Ah, I see I can read an excerpt from the book at Gibson's website. The synopsis looks pretty interesting.

*goes to check it all out*

I have a feud with my library, so I am limited in what I can read at the moment. Stupid library...

Here are a few of the many Fantasy books that I loved:

Jack Vance - The Lyonesse Triology which is superb High Fanatsy. The man is a bonified wordsmith. His Dying Earth series is a fun read especially Cudgel's Saga and Rhialto the Marvelous, but you have to start in the beginning with The Dying Earth which is a collection of short stories, then The Eyes of the Overworld which introduces you to Cudgel who is quite chaotic in this book, but in Cudgel's Saga it is much more tongue in cheek.

John Bellairs - The Face in the Frost. I came across a copy in a pharmacy store years and years ago. I re-read it this past October. It stands the test of time.

Glenn Cook - Yes I have read the Black Company, etc., but I especially love his Garrett, P.I. series. Think of it as Film Noir Fantasy. His first book of the series Sweet Silver Blues has been reprinted and I strongly suggest reading the books in order because the ones that follow will refer back to that which has gone before.

Jim Butcher - His Dresden Files, series. Don't let the Sci Fi TV series define for you these works. Butcher's writng is far superior though his latest work Proven Guilty, IMO, is the weakest offering. This is also a Film Noir Fantasy feel, but set in modern Chicago, unlike Cook's world.

Ursula K. LeGuin - The Earthsea Trilogy. Great concept and excellent writing. Avoid the fourth book that came much later. It is nothing like the triology.

Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes. Another wordsmith.

Ringworld

Ferrick wrote:Here are a few of the many Fantasy books that I loved:

[Ursula K. LeGuin - The Earthsea Trilogy. Great concept and excellent writing.

Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes. Another wordsmith.

Of your choice list I'd have to choose these two as being the most special, with Bradbury as being a 'nose past the finish line'. Highly recommend William Gibson too (have listed a link on my thread, you can read a bit of the first chapter. He too is a wordsmith), but when I stop to think of all the fantasy and sci-fi writers I have read, well, I get almost tired. There have been alot and I think for many people now computer games are expanding that world. We are lucky. We have the fabulous books, and some excellent games too. I would love to see Larry Niven's Ringworld produced as a game...
Ringworld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ringworld Larry Niven.

The main protagonist is Louis Wu, a periodic adventurer-genius in the midst of celebrating his 200th birthday. Despite his age, he is in perfect physical condition due to a combination of superior genetic makeup, advanced medical technology and boosterspice, a drug that extends human life. He extends his birthday by teleporting ahead of the terminator from party to party across Earth, but it so happens that he is bored with life and eager for new challenges, so Nessus has little difficulty recruiting him. The character Nessus is a Pierson's Puppeteer. Essentially Puppeteer's are xenophobic, only a very small minority of Puppeteers interact with "potentially dangerous" alien species. Nessus, being a "mad" Puppeteer, is given the task of assembling a team to explore the Ringworld, to see if it poses a threat to his species.

Ringworld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fantasy Books Recommendations.

Anybody got any good fantasy book recommendations? When I say fantasy, I mean dragons and wizards and crap obviously.

I'm looking just for anything to read in general, but more on the mature side. Harry potter and Eragon like stuff both proved to be rather boring after the first book or two, and I just didn't bother later.

Currently here's what I've read-

Terry Goodkind- the first six books of Sword of Truth (Was good, but got REALLY slow after a while). Gave up on it.
Terry Pratchette- All except the Colour of Magic in the discworld series.
JRR Tolkein- Everything.
Neil Gaiman- The Sandman, all of them.
Forgotten Realms- A couple books, nothing spectacular from them.
Dragonlance- I would think everything, though there's too many to count as it is.

And what I'm currently reading or preparing to read are the Guardian of the Flames Anthology and the Black Magician Trilogy. Dunno how good they're gonna be, but meh.

So I hope you can tell my sorts of preferences by now, so if you know anything good that you think I'd like, feel free to tell me.

I would recomment book series called "A Tale of The Malazan Book of The Fallen" by Steven Erikson.
Excellent series, which isn't completed yet. By now there are seven books, each around 900 pages. In addition to some traditional fantasy things the black humour in the books is fantastic.

It's not very big deal if you don't read the books in order, but still I suggest so, as previous books may explain something which would otherwise confuse you in later books.

Have you checked the thread I started about fantasy books? There are some very interesting suggestions there.

I have not red Tad Williams yet, but from what I have heard his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn serie is amongst the very few who could be compared to Tolkien in terms of quality.

In the other thread I suggested Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. I enjoyed that book very very much and I am always willing to suggest it to people who want something more intelligent than the typical quest to save the world from the very very evil monster.

@Kipi, thanks I'll check those out.

@Gilliat, must have missed that thread before, I'll be sure to peruse that one.

We've had several threads over in SYM about fantasy over the years, dating back to 2001. (Just do a search on "fantasy" in SYM, and see what appears.) Some were pretty fun debates. I remember being attacked for saying that Tolkien was unoriginal, and in some ways mediocre, which he was. I also wrote this:

James Branch Cabell was an early 20th century Virginian with a very different view, both romantic and ironic. His writing style was colored by medieval French sources, of whose poetry and prose he was a master translator. He wrote 25 books(!) in one long series, detailing the history and descendants of two fictional fantasy characters, Dom Manuel and Jurgen. The prose is brilliant, the mind behind it, learned as all hell, the humor (when it occurs) excruciatingly funny. Talk about contextual depth: one of Cabell's books is nothing but a lineage for his two main characters. Cabell also focuses on a quality not found in Tolkien and Eddison: the sadness of evanescent pleasures taken by mortals.

Here's a brief sample of his prose:

"From what you tell us, Emperor Jurgen," said all the demons, "your wife was an acidulous shrew, and the sort of woman who believes that whatever she does is right."

"It was not a belief," says Jurgen: "it was a mania with the poor dear."

"By that fact, then, she is forever debarred from entering Hell."

"You tell me news," says Jurgen, "which if generally known would lead many husbands into vicious living."

"But it is notorious that people are saved by faith. And there is no strong faith than that of a bad-tempered woman in her own infallibility. Plainly this wife of yours is the sort of person who cannot be tolerated by anybody short of the angels. We deduce that your Empress must be in Heaven."

Cabell also had a sly way with sexual innuendo. It actually got what was probably his best book (and a favorite of Mark Twain), Jurgen, banned in New York City by the Society for the Prevention of Vice. It took a group of the most prominent writers and intellectuals of the day to take the matter to court, before the ban was lifted.

Raymond E. Feist - his books follow a chronological order telling a story of three brothers, pretty good fantasy story I would recommend it to anyone to read it.

Here are his books in reading and chronological order:

-Magician
-Jimmy the Hand
-Honoured Enemy
-Murder in LaMut
-Daughter of the Empire
-Silverthorn
-A Darkness at Sethanon
-Servant of the Empire
-Krondor the Betrayal
-Mistress of the Empire
-Krondor the Assassins
-Krondor Tear of the Gods
-Prince of the Blood
-The Kings Buccaneer
-Shadow of a Dark Queen
-Rise of a Merchant Prince
-Rage of a Demon King
-Shards of a Broken Crown
-Talon of the Silver Hawk
-King of Foxes
-Exiles Return
-Flight of the Nighthawks
-Into a Dark Realm

I also love John Caldwell's Chaos-series about the half-orc Skandar Graun, who's kinda blunt, a bit stupid, but always hammers his way out of rough situations with his flail. I can't give you a list of his books, cuz I'm not sure they're translated to English.....its a hungarian series. Didn't know that until a year back.:laugh:

Just to note, I have merged the Fantasy threads started by Gilliatt and Siberys.

Carry on

I would recommend three trilogies by Robin Hobbs.

Start with the Farseer Trilogy, then The Liveship Traders Trilogy and finally The Tawny Man Trilogy. The three are connected, but each stand alone as well, altough I would suggest reading them in the order above is the best way.

Among the Fantasy books, i like the series of Harry Potter are the best fantasy writing since Tolkien. I like The Deathly Hallowsb best,followed by The Order of the Phoenix. Now commences another long wait to see what Ms. Rowling will pen next. This series is in my " must need" list. Lately I found a recent deal for Harry Potter Boxset Books 1-7 for $117 instead of $195. Is it a good price? I plan to buy them.

link removed as per GB's rules on advertising

The list of Book suggested by Ferrick is great. I like these books, especially Jack Vance..:laugh:

Obvious ones to start: Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

After Tolkien I enjoy both Feist (especially the Riftwar Saga) and George R R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. There are plenty of others but those stand out.

Just don't mention Harry Potter as I hate the series with a passion

Like Bluesky, I have a special fondness for Terry Pratchett. he appeals to my extremely warped (and oft sadistic) sense of humour.

Another author I really like, though he's more correctly sci-fi than fantasy (I find the line between the two can be blurry) is Ian Banks

I haven't read proper space age sci fi for a while. I was always a fan of Larry Niven! I prefer swords and sorcery (not forgetting buxom wenches) to more futuristic titles but Niven was always a good read. I especially loved his Legacy of Heorot & Dragons of Heorot (which was called Beowulf's children in the U.S. I believe).

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books were good.

Loki[D.d.G] wrote:Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books were good.

I personally didn't like those, though it has been some time I last read any book from the serie.

Perhaps I should try to locate couple of those from local library...

Kipi wrote:I personally didn't like those, though it has been some time I last read any book from the serie.

Perhaps I should try to locate couple of those from local library...

I believe there are 4-5 books in the entire series.