Top 15 Fantasy Books To Read

[cral12]

Anthony Ryan - Blood Song

July '13 release

Gets great reviews on "GoodReads" - anyone check it out yet?

[CaptainCrunch]

50 shades of Grey?

[dammage79]

I've been trucking on the Drizzt series forever. Life kind of got in the way the last couple.of years and I cannot for the life of me remember if I'm two or three books behind now. Not sure if I've read charons claw yet.

Either way, if you want to walk into Fantasy I recommend the Dragonlance series to start. Try to stick to the Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman range as the other side stories are pretty light IMO. I guess some of the Dragon Biographies are good.

And then dive into Salvatores Drizzt books.

I remember reading the wheel of time a long, long time ago but lost interest. May have to dive in again.

[Wastedyouth]

Scott Lynch's Gentleman #######'s series is awesome. Give it a read.

[killer_carlson]

Terry Brooks: Sword of Shannara, Elfstones of Shannara, Wishsong of Shannara

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Terry Brooks: Sword of Shannara, Elfstones of Shannara, Wishsong of Shannara

I think those for me would fall into the category of books that were enjoyable when they came out mostly because there wasn't much fantasy available; these days there's a lot out there that's way better. They have their place in the history of the genre but if you haven't read them I wouldn't consider them "must reads."

[annasuave]

Cral12 makes a good point. I find some of my best reads by creeping other peoples' goodreads pages. Anyone willing to share their handle and give me another page to creep?

I'll go first - I'm Anna Suave

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

Scott Lynch's Gentleman #######'s series is awesome. Give it a read.

I just wish he didn't rival GRRM for publishing delays.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I just wish he didn't rival GRRM for publishing delays.

In Lynch's case though it has been due to mental health issues and family problems so not really his fault - GRRM on the other hand is slow from over-commitment and poor planning.

[Resolute 14]

I know. Would rather he was healthy and writing more books!

[Knalus]

Raymond E. Feist. His riftwar books, especially Magician. Perhaps not top 15, but really good, and worth a mention.

[Knalus]

Katherine Kerr also is a decent author not mentioned much in the last 10 years or so. Her Celtic themed Devvery cycle was quite good. A lot better than the terry brooks level IMO.

[Knalus]

A more recent author, David Farland had a great series of books in the Runelords. Similar to Robert Jordan, and Brandon Sanderson.

[Knalus]

A MUCH older author, but so much fun, is Edgar Rice Burroughs and his Martian Tales. I was totally not expecting that to be as much fun as it was.

[V]

I stopped reading WOT back in the day on Winter's Heart (10?), because I just found it plodded on and on with no hope of resolution. Now that it's been completed I've tried to pick the books up again, but I only made it to Book 5. I wonder if I could pick it up at 11 and finish it. Would I be missing much?

[Knalus]

I am in the middle of a re-starting from the beginning. Picking up at book 11 would not be the easiest, but you've read the first ten once before... perhaps after a thorough reading of summaries on wikipedia or some other spoilerific site? But I think book 6 is really important to read. And it is still a good, full book with lots happening in it. Book 9 also contains some really good stuff. 10 should not have been written, and 7 & 8 could have been stuffed into one book. 11 really starts to pick up again.

I am currently halfway through 12. My first go around was a long time ago, though, and I read up to book 8. It has taken me a year to get through from book one to 12, and I am hoping to be done by the end of the year.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Knalus

Raymond E. Feist. His riftwar books, especially Magician. Perhaps not top 15, but really good, and worth a mention.

I liked Feist's first few books but thought he really went downhill after a while. I haven't read any of his recent stuff. The original Riftwar series and the series he did with Janny Wurts about the other side of the rift are worth reading though.

[AltaGuy]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Terry Brooks: Sword of Shannara, Elfstones of Shannara, Wishsong of Shannara

Those books are such a huge rip-off of LOTR that it's embarrassing. Valemen = Hobbits.

I know most fantasy borrows heavily from LOTR, but those books are something else. And then they just got weird with all the sailing to and fro across oceans, etc. Come to think of it, I actually read quite a few of them.

[AltaGuy]

Started reading Malazan since troutman recommended it.

Through two books, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I like that, although there is much explanation forthcoming, I feel like he might actually get there and has something of a plan in mind. Deadhouse Gates was pretty ruthless in its ending!

[Cain]

Also was recommended the Malazan series by a different website, was pleased to see it here also.

I'm now almost done book 6 of it and have enjoyed it quite a bit thus far.