Fantasy/RPG Novels

[The Yen Man]

I'm currently reading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George Martin, and find it very good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire

And as a couple others have mentioned, the The Finonavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay is awesome! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I liked David Eddings back in the day when I was in junior high. I've read almost everything the guy's written. They're a lighter read, but still very enjoyable.

[llama64]

I'd recommend just about anything from Neil Gaiman.

The Sandman series (graphic novels) are fantastic. Stardust is surprisingly good (but re-written by a moron for the recent movie). Currently reading through Anansi Boys and am loving it.

[Super-Rye]

Well my favorite series is George R.R. Martin's 'A song of Ice and Fire'. I just started reading Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' and it's amazing, I'm hooked and he's just a fantastic writer. Those are by far the 2 best fantasy writers out there.
Chris Paolini's 'Inheritance Cycle' is a very simplistic series but a very entertaining read.
The 'Wheel of Time' saga I've just read the first book...it was ok. Jordan's a good writer but after the first one I didn't really want to read the second right away, although I do want to read it.
Lastly David Farland's 'Runelords' series falls under the same category as the Jordan series. Read the first book, I thought it was really good except this time I read most of the second book and I won't lie I just don't want to finish it at the moment. It's not boring or poorly written. Infact it was very entertaining, however I just felt like I needed a change so I picked up the Steven Erikson book 'Gardens of the Moon' and now I'm off on my way with another great series.

[PYroMaNiaC]

Just finished Goodkind's Confessor series. I enjoyed the entire saga. I've moved on to Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's series. Amazing characters. But maybe just a tad to much sex for hardcore fantasy readers.

Tad Williams is not one of my favorites, but I did manage to plow through the Otherland series and was glad I did.

It should probably be noted that I've only ever met one book I couldn't actually finish reading because it was so bad. I'll read and find something to enjoy in almost everything I pick up.

[Ashartus]

A lot of good suggestions have been made so far (I'm a huge fan of Erikson and Martin in particular, though I wish Martin would pick up the pace). Legend by Dave Gemmel (RIP) is well worth reading too. Another author I haven't seen mentioned here is Dave Duncan - who actually lived in Calgary for many years - he's more towards the 'lighter' end of the fantasy spectrum, but writes some very enjoyable novels in original settings.

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

If you want an easy read, Eddings The Belgariad series was good. You can rifle through them.

And I concur about Guy Gavriel Kay - he is an excellent author. Tigana, The Lions of Al Rassan, etc are all really, really good.

I really didn't care for the Covenant series but I have friends who absolutely love them. I've also read most of the Erikson series. They're definitely good, but I don't think I rate them as high as Troutman or CaramonLS.

As far as Jordan goes (may he rest in peace), the first 3 or 4 were good, then they really started to drag. I used to buy them as soon as they were published, but I still haven't bought the most recent one that was released a year ago.

Get the CP book club to do a fantasy book and I would be in (what ever happened with that?)

All of David Eddings books are good. Like Bobblehead said, an easy read and very descriptive. The characters have very distintive and amicable personalities.
If you have a screwed up sense of humour: Piers Anthony.

[Resolute 14]

Piers Anthony has long been my favourite author. His screwed up sense of humour is what got me into reading in the first place. And really, who else can write an entire book about what colour of panties a mermaid will choose as the central question in a wager with a Demon for one's soul? The first 15 Xanth books are classics.

Other great Anthony books: Battle Circle, Tatham Mound (a historical fiction, very good), Total Recall (the movie seems lame compared to his novel - which was written after the movie), Incarnations of Immortality series - gotta love a biography of Satan.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by troutman

CaramonLS and I can't recommend highly enough The Malazan Book Of The Fallen, by Canadian authour Steven Erikson. Best fantasy series ever - dark, funny, mature, grand military campaigns, complex plot and characters.

http://www.malazanempire.com/site/index.shtml

Oh god... do you have any idea what you've done?

I picked up Gardens of the Moon and started it yesterday... I can't tell you how dismayed I am that I now have to read ten books to complete this series, plus five more by another author in the same world once they are all finished.

Definitely looks like a good series.

[onetwo_threefour]

In the vein of light comic relief fantasy, there's Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. It's more comedy than fantasy, but the setting is a fantasy setting.

There are a couple of other decent female fantasy writers I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Judith Tarr. I would recommend the Hound and the Falcon series first. Her books are actually historical fantasy, in that she uses real historical settings and characteres rather than made-up worlds, but infuses them with elements of magic.

Marion Zimmer Bradley retells the Arthurian cycle from the perspective of the improtant female characters and fleshes out the fuller story.

I also liked Roger Zelazney's Amber series. Many call it a classc, some hate it. I found it an enjoyable idea, albeit with some repetitive elements.

I also liked Stephen King's fantasy series and tie-ins. The Dark Tower Series. Probably more than half his back catalogue ties in to the Dark Tower in some way.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Piers Anthony has long been my favourite author. His screwed up sense of humour is what got me into reading in the first place. And really, who else can write an entire book about what colour of panties a mermaid will choose as the central question in a wager with a Demon for one's soul? The first 15 Xanth books are classics.

Other great Anthony books: Battle Circle, Tatham Mound (a historical fiction, very good), Total Recall (the movie seems lame compared to his novel - which was written after the movie), Incarnations of Immortality series - gotta love a biography of Satan.

I named my son Parry after that character. (he's quite sympathetic and I loved the name when I read the book)

Did you ever read the old Phaze and Mode series? They weren't bad either. (Although I haven't read them sinc I was about 14)

[Resolute 14]

The Apprentice Adept series, yup. Those were great. The Bio of a Space Tyrant series is also pretty good, albeit sci-fi, especially in how he related cold-war political influence to who controlled which planets in the solar system.

And nice... does your son know he's named after the devil?

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

The Apprentice Adept series, yup. Those were great. The Bio of a Space Tyrant series is also pretty good, albeit sci-fi, especially in how he related cold-war political influence to who controlled which planets in the solar system.

And nice... does your son know he's named after the devil?

He's only eight months old... So not yet. At least I waited until my second son!! Didn't want to jinx anything the first time around.

[Resolute 14]

Hope you didn't name your first kid Damien...

And, at least you didn't name him Bink.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour

I named my son Parry after that character. (he's quite sympathetic and I loved the name when I read the book)

Did you ever read the old Phaze and Mode series? They weren't bad either. (Although I haven't read them sinc I was about 14)

I am somewhat guilty of this too, my son's middle name is Mishra from the Magic The Gathering series.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Hope you didn't name your first kid Damien...

And, at least you didn't name him Bink.

Nah, just an old Gaelic name I liked, Kiernan.

Even with Parry, I came up with the name, and only remembered where it came from later. I just always thought it was a cool first name. (At least I wasn't naming him after Perry Farrell)

And at least I didn't name him Dor. (or Hiatus)

[troutman]

I know an Arwen.

Aeneas knows a Sorsha.

[Resolute 14]

Finally, finally, there appears to be a release date for A Dance With Dragons!

Only five months to wait...

http://www.amazon.ca/Dance-Dragons-G...0183618&sr=8-1

[FanIn80]

How is that Lost Chronicles series, anyway? Anyone started reading it? How does it compare to the first Chronicles (and even the Legends) series?

[ernie]

Many others have mentioned my favourites as well:

George R. R. Martin

Robert Jordan (I knew he would die before finishing the damn series when he started writing prequels and he did. Hopefully he did indeed give copious notes to his wife to finish the last book)

Eriksson. Good series. I actually just started the second book.

Scott Bakker....it is not an easy read though.

Eddings is an easy read but just read the Belgariad series. Every other series he (and his wife) has written is the same...surprise the kid is a god! Stay away from the Redemption of Althalus at all costs!

Another favourite is Tad Williams. Really enjoyed is Memory, Sorrow, Thorn series and his more science fiction Otherland series I thought was superb. He has a new series called Shadowmarch. I've read the first book and enjoyed it. Haven't read the second.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Finally, finally, there appears to be a release date for A Dance With Dragons!

Only five months to wait...

http://www.amazon.ca/Dance-Dragons-G...0183618&sr=8-1

He hasn't given it to the publisher yet, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

http://grrm.livejournal.com/

By the way, he has been posting the first chapter for each of the main characters in ADWD, right now it is the Jon Snow chapter.
http://www.georgerrmartin.com/if-sample.html