Top 15 Fantasy Books To Read

[photon]

Yeah I've been waiting till I finish it to start a spoileriffic discussion thread. Almost half way through, been ok, hard to expect more when it's basically the "resolve these 350 plot lines that have been spun off and juggled" book.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by troutman

Perdido Street Station
China Miéville
http://www.sfsite.com/07b/ps108.htm

If you're one of those people who avoid the Fantasy genre from fear of even the slightest whiff of wizards or elves, here's a well worthy quest: make haste to where your bookstore stuffs the countless Tolkien spawn and rescue a copy of Perdido Street Station from the mediocre horde. This is a novel that has more in common with the work of that similarly named fellow, Melville, than any mere commercial conjuring of fairyland.

I would highly recommend this book as well. Mieville makes you think and comes up with some pretty gut wrenching choices.

Malazan is an amazing series. I've made it to book 8 and am planning to start the series from scratch.

I blazed through the first couple novels and as long as I was consistently immersed in the world, you could easily follow the plot line and characters. However, when you go years in between hearing about certain characters and certain events, it becomes difficult to pick back up.

Just listen to Troutman, he won't steer you wrong in your reading choices.

[jammies]

I can read almost anything but I couldn't get thru Perdido Street Station. It was like witnessing a family argument in a foreign language between people you don't know - obscure, irritating, and ultimately nonsensical.

[Pacem]

I'm a big fan of the The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. Book 4 was tough to get thru. It is Stephen Kings writing a love story. I put it down half way thru on my first attempt. Attempt #2 I went right thru it and actually enjoyed it.

[Bobblehead]

I should receive the final Wheel of Time - A Memory of Light very shortly. I have all the rest of the books, might just as well complete the series on the bookshelf.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah I've been waiting till I finish it to start a spoileriffic discussion thread. Almost half way through, been ok, hard to expect more when it's basically the "resolve these 350 plot lines that have been spun off and juggled" book.

I thought book 1 was good, books 2 through, say, 7 or 8 were some of my favorite fantasy books ever, then the last of the Robert Jordan written books were passable. Haven't read any of the Brandon Sanderson books yet.

Where/how would people rate the last 3 - a return to the best of the series? OK; on par with the poorer of Jordan's? The weakest yet?

[JerzeeGirl]

Originally Posted by Mike F

I thought book 1 was good, books 2 through, say, 7 or 8 were some of my favorite fantasy books ever, then the last of the Robert Jordan written books were passable. Haven't read any of the Brandon Sanderson books yet.

Where/how would people rate the last 3 - a return to the best of the series? OK; on par with the poorer of Jordan's? The weakest yet?

Imho, the final 3 books were well done - he wrote them based on notes and outlines from Jordan and was fairly true to Jordan's own voice. I had quibbles with how he wrote Matt (and he seemed to be more true to the character as Jordan wrote him in the final book).

If you've read the rest of the series, you really should grab the last 3 and follow the series to the end. I've read them since 1990 and can't even begin to express how happy I was to get a conclusion.

Photon, get reading! I finishe AMoL 2 days ago and am dying to discuss it!

[troutman]

I did not know there would be more from Erikson:

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

Erikson stated he had signed a deal to write two more trilogies and six novellas;[15] Erikson planned to use the novellas to continue the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach storyline[16] while one of the trilogies would be a prequel to the main series, detailing the history of Anomander Rake and Mother Dark.[15]


Kharkanas Trilogy: Novels
Forge of Darkness, (2012)

http://www.sfsite.com/10a/fd377.htm

Forge of Darkness is brilliant and far exceeds any and all expectations that readers of The Malazan Book of the Fallen (TMBOTF) could possibly harbor. After reading Forge of Darkness, I stand in awe at the sheer scope of Steven Erikson's imagination and the profundity of the writing contained in this magnificent narrative.

Steven Erikson is the best writer on the planet.

[Mazrim]

At this point, everyone who has read at least to book 8 or 9 of Wheel of Time should finish it off just for completion sake. (skip 10 honestly...what a waste of time that was!)

I've used this username on the Internet since about 2001...when I started reading the series. Funny to think it would be 12 years before I could read the end.

On that note, I'm going to probably avoid this thread until I've finished the last book.

[Ashartus]

I'd given up on the series after book 10 (for the second time - I also quit after book 3 when I heard it might go 6 to 8 books...) but started a re-read after Sanderson took over and I knew it would get finished. I'm just about done book 11 now, definitely an improvement over 10. It's a bit of a frustrating series with some great parts but way too much bloat. I think that's just Jordan's nature though; I remember reading an interview with him where he'd go on for pages to answer a simple question. It wouldn't be at the top of my list as a recommendation for someone to start due to its length and the wealth of good new fantasy authors that have popped up lately, but I am looking forward to getting some resolution to the story.

[The Coppernian One]

Originally Posted by Finny61

When at your local bookstore, check out Patrick Rothfuss. The Name of the Wind is the first in the series.

Endorse this completely. This was a great book and was followed up by Wise Man's Fear. I'm eagerly awaiting that third book.

I'm also currently just finishing the Wheel of Time series and recommend that also. As was said, it does drag a bit around book seven but then picks up again.

Also already mentioned, the Malazan series. Very good.

It may not be to everyone's taste, but I also like the Prince of Nothing series by R. Scott Bakker.

[The Coppernian One]

Originally Posted by Mike F

Haven't read fantasy in a while, but...

Books 2-8 (or so) of the Wheel of Time are at the top of my list. Haven't read any of the Brandon Sanderson ones, though.

May be just lingering fondness from my childhood, but David Eddings' Belgriad, Mallorean, Elenium, and Tamuli series were all great.

For anyone interested in low magic fantasy, Jennifer Fallon's Second Sons trilogy was very good.

Where a lot of people get their fantasy start from DragonLance and Forgotten Realms, Eddings is where I got mine. I really enjoy those series, but didn't finish The Dreamers series.

I also enjoyed some of his other works like The Losers, Regina's Song and The Redemption of Althalus.

Also going to echo the negative sentiments around the Sword of Truth series. The first few were really good and then it got sermony and he started repeating plot lines which really annoyed me.

[photon]

Yeah my fantasy start was more Eddings and Terry Brooks and Stephen R. Donaldson than D&D stuff, though I did read Salvatore.

Funny though, went back and read some Eddings a while back and as I should have expected it wasn't the same.

[dammage79]

Could try the Ravenloft Series, Soth gets spun off into that realm which was cool

[The Coppernian One]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah my fantasy start was more Eddings and Terry Brooks and Stephen R. Donaldson than D&D stuff, though I did read Salvatore.

Funny though, went back and read some Eddings a while back and as I should have expected it wasn't the same.

I have pretty much all of them on the shelf but have avoided reading them for just that purpose. I will one day, but not quite yet.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah my fantasy start was more Eddings and Terry Brooks and Stephen R. Donaldson than D&D stuff, though I did read Salvatore.

Funny though, went back and read some Eddings a while back and as I should have expected it wasn't the same.

They are pretty basic, but an easy, fast read and I still find the characters fun. I reread it (just the Belgariad) last summer and was glad I did.

As long as you view it like a summer blockbuster movie instead of an Oscar candidate you can enjoy it.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by troutman

I did not know there would be more from Erikson:

So between Erikson and Esslemont, that brings the Malazan world to no less than 21 books.

I liked the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, though I think it was neither as good as you believe nor as bad as Dissentowner does, but I would like to see Erikson try his hand at an entirely new world and concept.

[Knalus]

I'm only on book 4 of the Wheel of Time book series, re-reading it for completion's sake like a great many of you on here as well. Book 4 was for me, the meat of what the world and series was about. Every time I thought about the book series after the first few times of reading it, it was the settings found in book 4 that I was thinking about.

[Charcot]

I'm not sure if this is what you mean by fantasy, but I loved the Terry Pratchett Disc World series. I started off with some skepticism and truth be told the first and perhaps second book were OK but nothing special.

However after that Pratchett consistently wrote some of the funniest, warmest and most engaging books I've read. He develops some superb and complex characters over the many books in the series. Each book tends to tackle one idea and explore it e.g. religion, politics, race and even newspapers.

They are easy to read but not because they are simple, but rather because they are brilliantly written.

[Meelapo]

The Malazan Book Of The Fallen is incredible. My advice to anyone reading the series is don't get too caught up with stuff that you simply don't understand. Everything gets explained eventually. That being said I'm just on book #3 but so far I'm loving it.

This series is very fantasy and "magic-y" compared to something like A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). If you're looking for something like that then dive in.

I'm not sure if this is considered fantasy but I'm on the first Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher. If you like fantasy with a bit of comedy thrown in try this. The books are very short compared to standard fantasy fare so you're not going to put a whole lot of time investment into the series before you know if you like or don't like it.

Next series I'd like to try is the Repairman Jack series or Shannara. Apparently that series is pretty much a LotR rip off, which to me isn't a bad thing.