Books similar to Tolkien?

[Mobius]

Heya, I'm looking for some books to order, something in a similar vein to Tolkien. I like Elves/Dwarves and made up places with strange names...you know the type. I looked into Dragonlance, is it any good?

 

[xane]

Dragonlance is based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, it does not use the standard races but it is still very Tolkien-esque like AD&D is meant to be, still has elves and dwarves tho. The original authors of Dragonlance were Weis & Hickmann, however, the genre has been licensed and there are a lot of books using the "world" (Krynn) and characters they created.

I'd personally read the original series first, called the "Dragonlance Chroncles" (3 books plus one "extra" that came out later), which was followed by "Dragonlance Legends" that focuses on a few of the characters in Chronicles and charts the history of Krynn they live in.

There are further series, "Tales", "Heroes", etc, but most of these are not written by Weis & Hickmann, although they remain as editors. I personally don't think they are any good and just cash in on the success of the genre.

Weis & Hickmann went on to write several other non-Dragonlance series of books, such as the "Darksword", "Death Gate Cycle", "Rose of the Prophet", most are not "elves & dwarves" but are excellent fantasy reading nevertheless.

A similar line to "elves & dwarves" is David Eddings' "Belgariad" series, and its follow up "Mallorean" series, not so much different races but different societies, it is still Tolkien-esque and very well written, although his later stuff is a bit boring and predictable.

This is all a bit from memory, if I think of any more I'll be back !

 

[Mobius]

Thanks Xane, I just ordered A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin, and Gardens Of The Moon by Steven Erikson, if I like them I'll get the other books in the series.

Dragonlance does sound really interesting, but I was confused because there are just so many of them. I'm going to order the "Chronicles" and give it a go.

 

[xane]

Addendum: I forgot to mention, that similarly to the Dragonlance series of books, which are based on an AD&D world, there are those based on other AD&D worlds, most noteably the original "Greyhawk" world created by Gary Gygax (originator of AD&D) and "Forgotten Realms" which is the default world the current editions of AD&D are based on, and used by AD&D games like Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

All these books will be done by a variety of authors, most are quite short, some fall into a mini-series of their own, all of them will be heavily based on AD&D and will involve "elves & dwarves".

 

[xane]

the first book in the Dragonlance Chronicles is Dragons of Autumn twilight, there are 3 original books in the series and a "follow up" that was done much later called Dragons of Summer Flame, you can get the original 3 in a boxset.

 

[Mobius]

I ordered the Dragonlance Chronicles, and Dragonlance Legends gift set, they came to £23.43.

 

[Tom]

Robert Jordan - Wheel of Time

No elves or stuff, but plenty of suspense and action, lots of plot, basically a huge story across a lot of books.

 

[Lazarus]

Terry Goodkind is pretty entertaining

 

[Gowen DownTpub]

I would have to say Raymond E Feist. Start from his first book Magician and work through them, plenty of elves, Dwarfs etc... and they are all great books linking up to one massive story. probably the most expansive and engrossing set of books i've ever read

 

[Mobius]

Hehe, I need to close this thread, its costing me a bloody fortune in books! I've got 5 separate deliveries coming from Amazon, each between 10-30 quid. My postmans gonna love me.

 

[Sar]

Heh, I read Chronicles about 2 months ago, and it's very good. Well worth a read.


I got my trilogy for £1.50 all in though - gotta love car boot sales.

 

[Chilly]

love my student uni - 2 books (mint condition or read once) for a fiver and the bloke buys books off me for £1.50

 

[Mobius]

Working my way through Dragonlance Chronicles atm, its great.

Jerkins, Axes, Goblins...its a nerds wet dream.

 

[Vae]

I'd second the comments about Raymond E Feist's books - truly excellent. I've made more comments a while ago on this thread which also has lots of good recommendations from other people too: https://forums.freddyshouse.com/showpost.php?p=34851&postcount=37

 

[xane]

Don't forget to go on to Legends, it is almost as good as Chronicles, but further series are not by the same authors and IMHO are nowhere near as good.

I still have Chronicles somewhere, I may even get it out for a re-read.

 

[Mobius]

Yep, I just finished the first book and its said book 2, but the title is still the same and it continues the story as if no time has passed, is the very first novel split into 2? I looked a bit further and there are 2 other stories in the trilogy, so I'm not sure if the 3 are split into 6 similar to the Lord Of The Rings...bit confusing. Awesome book though, Raistlin is cool...but so cruel to his brother. And the Old Man who's just arrived is funny. Poor Gully Dwarves.

 

[Mobius]

Spoiler

I can't believe Fizban died

Xane which books come after Legends?

 

[xane]

Technically speaking, what comes after Legends is Dragons of Summer Flame which is the "fourth book in the trilogy" for Chronicles, this was written by Weis and Hickmann, came out a few years ago.

The other Dragonlance series, are not written by Weis and Hickmann, they went on to do other non-Dragonlance series. I think the next series is Tales, then Heros, look up elsewhere, I haven't gone there.

Spoiler

Fizban makes an appearance in another series, called The Death Gate Cycle, which is seven books, and highly recommended, and sort of "elves and dwarves" too, but not Dragonlance.

 

[Rulke]

Books similar to Tolkien?

I assume you've read silmarillion?

If not, begone from these forums!

 

[Mobius]

Of course I've read everything related to Lord Of The Rings. Thats why I wanted something new.

Cheers Xane, I will have to check those out too.

 

[Ailish]

There is an American author called Dennis McKiernan who does some really good stuff, very Tolkienesque but with more fleshed out characters... I'm one of those people who had to drag myself through the LoTR books (Hobbit through the Silmarillion) but I found McKiernan did the same types of things and told the same type of epic stories in a way that was easier for me to care about what was going on.

It isn't the Dragonlance series which I tend to class as afternoon fiction (meaning I can generally cruise through one in about 2 hours) it's actually the 'I have to take this on the bus because I want to know what happens next' kind of book to me.

Anyway my 2p

Happy reading

 

[Tilda]

"Magician" is very good, and has one moment when I was jumping in my chain while reading it was so exciding/cool/just omgwtf that rocks kinda moment

 

[xane]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I'd just like to mention I re-read Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends because I saw a newer series (actually circa 2003) by Weis and Hickmann called "The War Of Souls", first book is Dragons of a Fallen Sun, set on Krynn about 30 years after the first ones, I've only just started the first book and it is as good as the originals.

 

[Mobius]

I have those books. I've finished 6th form now and got about 14 weeks of freedom before I go to look for a job so I'm going to continue my reading. I'm about 1/2 way through Legends at the moment. I've got the War of Souls trilogy as well as The Soulforge and Brothers in Arms - which are both spin off stories involving Raistlins childhood and how he came to get his appearance - still to read.

Lots of reading!

 

[Fana]

Thanks Xane, I just ordered A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin, and Gardens Of The Moon by Steven Erikson, if I like them I'll get the other books in the series.

Those 2 series are excellent - im eagerly awaiting book 4 in Martins series at the moment. Eriksons books are abit more standalone, i.e. each book is a separate story, but they all connect and there is some larger plot moving slowly behind it all. He is also a master of building up to strong endings.

Another very nice series is Tad Williams Memory Sorrow and Thorn - very well written fantasy with a nice although very traditional plotline, its main strenght is Williams gift for personality portraits and storytelling skills. Four books.

There is so much excellent fantasy and sci-fi really that its hard to recomend stuff Although myself i tend to stay away from branded worlds such as roleplaying and movie universes since, imo, those books are often pretty lackluster, with simple stories and bland characters, and obviously only written to make some quick money.

 

[Lamp]

Definitely Raymond E Feist

1. Magician
2. Silverthorn
3. A Darkness at Sethanon

Awesome !

I've read the Dragonlance stuff - didn't rate them as much as people rave about them. REF 4tw