More fantasy books

[Escape]

The song of ice and fire books by George RR Martins is my absolutly favourites also the books by Robin Hobb and Steven Erikson are great.

The song of ice and fire series is on a different level to other fantasy books. After reading this, most others will become shallow school projects and hard to read. Anyone who likes fantasy should buy this asap! I'm just annoyed the fourth book has been delayed by over a year :x

Assassins's apprentice by Robin Hobb is a nice read, the liveship trilogy gets a bit boring though, but she gets it together again in the Tawny Man books.


These books are easier to read because it's not the regular 'hero kicking ass' plot seen in most fantasy books - which I'd normally fall asleep reading oO

 

[thomas]

something similar to steven erikson and george rr martin

I have read fantasy all my life.

Steven Erikson (the tale of the malazan book of the fallen) and
George r.r Martins (A song of ice and fire)

are the to best series i have ever read.
The only sad thing is i can't find any other writer who can match these guyz.

So my question: any1 got any good suggestions for series similar to these two great 1's?

I'd call it seriouse fantasy for grown up peeps,
no good vs evil but something different.
Where the reader has no clue what's going to happen nexst.
Book that have great battles,action and dialogs


Fantasy:
George RR Martin: Song of Ice and Fire - Ace series
Raymond E.Feist: Magician etc Series - Probably my favourite series
R E Feist + Janny Wurts: Daughter of the Empire trilogy - Also superb
Janny Wurts: The Curse of the Mistwraith - She's a lot weaker on her own than with Feist - A reasonable read.
Robin Hobb: Royal Assassin trilogy - excellent series
: Liveship trilogy - I think rather weaker than assassin ones
Mickey Zucker Reichart: Last of the Renshai - Superb series of books, mainly based in norse mythology.
David Eddings: Both of his series are basicly the same (you can even spot the practically same chars) but they are a fun easy read
Terry Pratchett - Books vary in quality - Mostly superb but everyone prefers different ones.
George Lucas & Chris Claremont: Shadow Moon / Dawn - set after the film Willow but very good books (a lot better than suggested by the film).
Terry Goodkind: Wizards First Rule etc - A more mature story like George RR Martin - highly recommended.
Mary Gentle: Ash - Very good book. Purports to be a historian looking back at Burgundy and Carthage and uncovering evidence that Carthage never died when supposed and had Golems etc and wiped out Burgundy hence it not being inthe history books.
Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow, Thorn etc - Very long books but quite good
Otherland: (Scifi/Fantasy/Internet crossover) - Highly recommended but again quite long books.
David Gemmell: Mostly similar stories but well written. Short and easy to read. Some stand out such as the Waylander and Jon Shannow ones.
Stephen Lawhead: Taliesen, Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon - Takes a very magical view on the Arthur tales - Worth reading though
In the Hall of the Dragon King, Empyrion etc - A lot weaker than his Arthurian books.
Bernard Cornwall: A much more rooted in reality view on Arthur and well worth reading.
AA Attansio: Arthor - Arthur again - probably less superior to the above ones
RA Salvatore: Icewind Dale Trilogy, Dark Elf Trilogy + extras, Cleric Quintet - All superb books
Other Forgotten Realms Books: Vary in quality with the author.
Dragonlance books: Quality also varies with author, Legend of Huma is one of the better ones.
Weis & Hickman: Dragonlance Twins and Dragons books - pretty damn good too
Robert Jordan: Wheel of Time - Hmm I have them all but although the story is quite good it's FAR too long and getting boring now. Certain similarities with Terry Goodkind too.
Terry Brooks: Magic Kingdom for Sale - Very funny and enjoyable few books.
Shannara: Read it but never really got into it - lacked something.
Running with the demon etc - Much better than Shannara but still inferior than Magic Kingdom. Still worth reading.
Stephen Donaldson: Thomas Covenant - I think you either love or hate these - Possibly the slowest books I have ever read but pretty good regardless.
Anne Macaffrey: Pern books (Scifi/Fantasy crossover)- Vary in quality but overall pretty good. I prefer her telepath books though.
JV Jones: Bakers Boy - Pretty Good trilogy and worth reading.
A Cavern of Black Ice - Weaker than Bakers Boy trilogy
LE Modesitt Jr: The Magic of Recluce - Pretty good series
The Soprano Sorceress - Weaker than the Recluce ones
Katherine Kerr: Daggerspell etc, Time of Omens etc - Quite good couple of trilogys
Piers Anthony: Never really got into his books - only read a couple and seemed ok but didn't grab me.
Maggie Furey: Aurian series - Not bad but there are lots better.
Allan Cole and Chris Bunch: The Far Kingdoms- An ok read but nothing stands out

i have read nearly all of the books mentioned above, so any other suggestions would be great!
thx greetz thomas!

 

[SilverHood]

The song of ice and fire series is on a different level to other fantasy books. After reading this, most others will become shallow school projects and hard to read. Anyone who likes fantasy should buy this asap! I'm just annoyed the fourth book has been delayed by over a year :x

Well, it depends on the type of fantasy really

I'm personally of the opinion that Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen is better than the Song of Ice and Fire series.

If you haven't read that series Thomas, I'd deffinetly read that next
(can get them pretty cheaply at Amazon)

Mary Stewart wrote a triology about Merlin the magician, first one is called The Crystal Cave I think - very enjoyable read, without the elves and stuff of usual fantasy.

JV Jones: Bakers Boy - Pretty Good trilogy and worth reading.

I've been tempted to buy this series, except for the fact that it sounds like the usual "low born boy becomes powerful, saves the kingdom gets the princesss" sorta book. Is it?

 

[Tasslehoff]

Robin Hobb: Royal Assassin trilogy - excellent series
RA Salvatore: Icewind Dale Trilogy, Dark Elf Trilogy + extras, Cleric Quintet - All superb books
Dragonlance books: Quality also varies with author, Legend of Huma is one of the better ones.
Weis & Hickman: Dragonlance Twins and Dragons books - pretty damn good too.

Might aswell quote him, and just take the books i think are worth reading

These are really quality stories, haven't got much to say about them really. But if you haven't read them, read 'em!

 

[mts]

5 thumbs up for george rr martins a song of ice and fire ;D

 

[Escape]

Well, it depends on the type of fantasy really

I'm personally of the opinion that Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen is better than the Song of Ice and Fire series.

Will be picking up the 3rd book in the Malazan series tomorrow, the first two are pretty good indeed!... as for being better than Song ice/fire, well, I'm not going that far yet

But yes, they are different types of fantasy. Eriksons is alot more creative and I like the whole idea behind warrens(could even work in an RPG oO), the characters are more imaginative too... pretty heavy fantasy. Song of ice/fire is a bit closer to reality and concentrates more on developing the characters, all of whom have their own speech and thought pattern. You can really get into the characters.

Will be busy this month, three more of the Malazan books to read and Song of ice/fire #4 coming out at the end of May oO

 

[plastic]

I recently started reading fantasy books, and I've only read 3 series so far but I recommend them all.

The Sword of Truth - Terry Goodkind.
a Song of Ice and Fire - George RR Martin.
Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb

Currently reading the Liveship Traders series by Robin Hobb which is connected to her previous books. Like others has said, this trilogy might not be as good as the Farseer Trilogy but I would still recommend them, very good books.

 

[Scorn]

I like fairly dark fantasy, so please keep that in mind...

I'd recommend Friedmanns ' Coldfire' trilogy to most anyone. Displays a rather gritty realism not too far removed from the more standard happy-go-lucky fantasy (although what that is I shall leave open for debate)

Going a few steps beyond that is Glen Cooks 'The Black Company' series (if you can find it), very dark and bleak. Provides the reader with a "worms' eye view" of magic warfare. The grunts in the field (the mercenary company known as the Black Company, to be exact) who have little or no magic capabilities are the focus of the books. Very few magical beasties, but a fair share of powerful wizards, and loads and loads of battles, ambushes, conspiracies, etc.
Glen Cooks characters are battle-hardened veterans (that's tautological, I know) so don't expect them to feel guilty if they butcher some enemies after they've put a sleep-spell on them, they'll mention that it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth but then add that it leaves them a lot healthier than if they were to face them head-on.

Continuing the Robert Jordan thread; I really liked the first book, I was pretty excited and looked forward to reading the rest. The second book was pretty good as well. But while I was reading the third book I was getting a strange feeling of deja-vu, which I kept for the rest of the series that I bothered to read (to part 7 or 8). Robert Jordan appears to have a certain formula or recipe which he uses for all of his books, they are all constructed in exactly the same way; quite some stuff happens in the beginning (say, 150 to 200 pages), almost nothing in the middle (say, 600 to 700 pages), and quite some stuff happens at the end (another 150 to 200 pages).
Even character development goes almost to nil after the first two or three books, he just keeps on rehashing the same feelings/prejudices/etc. nothing really new to it. Now I don't really object to a writer using a recipe but if it's that obvious it gets in the way of my reading pleasure (yes, I mean my personal reading pleasure, I'm not going to tell you what to like, ask your mom ;D ), then I do mind.

Just my two cents, good luck in finding more fantasy that you enjoy

 

[flibodob]

I'm kinda suprised that none of you mentioned the King / Straub series, i know its only 2 books but .........


Also if you like the Robin Hobb books check out her alter-ego "Megan Lindholm"

 

[Cask]

George R. R. Martin has updated his website with some new info on the progress of A Feast For Crows. Nice to know he's still working on it and get a bit of insight on how much work he puts into those books. Bit worrying that he seems to be getting complaints about how long it's taking, likely the people complaining would be the first to scream and shout if he rushed it off.

 

[Loops]

The belgariad and mallorean by David Eddings is great, that's two series of five books and belgariad is the first five books.

 

[VidX]

The belgariad and mallorean by David Eddings is great, that's two series of five books and belgariad is the first five books.

Also the Tamulli series, by Eddings is good.

Fire and Ice series is damn good, yeah, Jordans Wheel of Time was good for the firsr 8-9 books, but has died off since. Feists books are great, Magician is one of the best books I've read.

Stephen Donaldson's Unbeliever series of books are good, and his Mordant's Need set is good as well.

Another suggestion is the Death Gate Cycle by Weiss and Hickman, if you've read Dragonlance you'll like it, 7 books in all. Andyou also see a nice guest appearance by a certain loveable character in mouse-colored robes

Currently looking for a nice series to read myself, just finished all of Eddings and Gemmell books in the past month, so getting withdrawal symptoms lol

 

[fajjtiz]

Hmm, Why are everyone praising "Fire and Ice" ? I read the first book and found it utterly crap, don't know what country your from, but if you're a swede ( ) I'd reccomend you to read Jan Guillo's novels about the templar knight Arn Magnuson. Very good books, kept me busy for a few days

 

[SilverHood]

Hmm, Why are everyone praising "Fire and Ice" ? I read the first book and found it utterly crap, don't know what country your from, but if you're a swede ( ) I'd reccomend you to read Jan Guillo's novels about the templar knight Arn Magnuson. Very good books, kept me busy for a few days

Did you read it in Swedish? if so, get the English version.

My brother didn't like the first book either... then he read the second one, and he locked himself into his room for the 4 days it took the read it.

 

[Nausilus^^]

The belgariad and mallorean by David Eddings is great, that's two series of five books and belgariad is the first five books.

Also the series about Bhellium and Ironhawk ( not sure about English names.. only read those in Danish translations sadly :/ ), they're really good too.

Otherwise I've only read Dragonlance (a ton of them though), so I can only recommend it. Not only the famous ones (legend of huma, chronicles etc etc), but especially also the small ones written by various more or less known authors. Just finished 2 books in the Lost Legends series where I read about how Vinas Solamnus founded the Knights of Solamnia and the other where I read about Fistandantilus and the magic of the Bloodstone. Very good reading indeed

 

[Ormorof]

The song of ice and fire books by George RR Martins is my absolutly favourites also the books by Robin Hobb and Steven Erikson are great.

the song of ice and fire books are damn heavy reading though, quite depressing if you ask me

must admit i havent read the whole thread but last few great fantasy books ive read include The Farseer Trilogy (Robin Hobb) and The Wars of Light and Shadow (sounds naff, but pretty good, Janny Wurts)

L.E Modesitt jr has written some great ones too (Magic of Recluce etc)

i suppose Raymond E. Feist and Robert Jordan are too obvious though?

 

[Sar]

Reading the Dragonlance Chronicles atm, which ain't half bad.

 

[SilverHood]

Read the first 2 books in the Baker's Boy Triology - not bad at all.

Started reading the Black Company, by Glen Cook last night.... kept me up til 5AM... takes quite a bit to do that

 

[Rulke]

Quite surprised no one has mentioned Ian Irvine tbh
He's done two series of 4 books each now, both are good
1st book of 1st series
1st book of series 2
2nd Series is same world etc 200 years later but pretty much stand alone.
Also, I had the name first, honest!

Also I can't recommend the Book of the New Sun enough. It's a bizarre book set a million or so years in the future that follows the story of a torturers apprentice but it's easily the most imaginative (if surreal) book I've ever read.

Jack Vance is very good old skool fantasy too.

All the one's thomas listed I'd mostly agree with his assessments and would only add one that I can think of atm; Chris Bunch's Seer King, it's kind of a fantasy version of Napolean, but instead of being an overambitious froggy it's an over ambitious slightly insane demon summoning wizard.

On the flip side, I read the first couple of books by Freda Warrington and some by Juliet E. McKenna. tbh I cant understand why they have 4 and 5 stars respectively on amazon as I found them to be boring and generic, regurgitations of ideas found elsewhere with little or no originality.
/shrug, takes all sorts

 

[Skyler]

Quite surprised no one has mentioned Ian Irvine tbh
He's done two series of 4 books each now, both are good
1st book of 1st series
1st book of series 2
2nd Series is same world etc 200 years later but pretty much stand alone.
Also, I had the name first, honest!

Ian Irvine = win.

The View from the Mirror quartet is simply amazing, and the second series which I'm working on atm is equally grand. Definitely worth getting... purely cause you get up to 8 books about the same world in the same kind of circumstances and get a great deal of action and detail.

Also The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan is a great monster series, although I've not attempted that yet.

 

[fatty]

Well this thread seem to be going well

Books I have read since I last posted and liked!

Chris Bunch - the dragonmaster trilogy - Chris Bunch is an ex american soldier in these books you can see that.

Raymond E. Feist - All fantasy fans will know this guy !!!! Talon of the Silver Hawk part II King of Foxes good book, easy read.

Terry Pratchett - GUARDS! GUARDS! and Monstrous Regiment - Some people don't like, I think they are good books to pass time. Can be very funny always got time for one his books.

George R R Martin - Game of Thrones - Three books in total though the last books is actually 2 books on its own so that makes 4. Written very diffrent to to other writters. He likes killing people.



oooo err and DRAGONLANCE.. great books

 

[Garaen]

I don't think anyway has mentioned "The Dragon Crown War Cycle" by Michael A Stackpole. Brilliant read, i really enjoyed the books although i did have criticism i won't share here because i don't want to spoil anything I would advise reading Dark Glory War first which is the prequel to the series. You don't have to have read it for the Dragon Crown War books to make sense but i feel Dark Glory War adds somethings to the series and gives you better characterisation of the main characters.

 

[Deepfat]

Try "War of Powers" books 1 and 2. Fantastically over the top fantasy with tons of sex in! Not exactly deep stuff but bloody good fun

 

[Nedo]

Hmm...alot of answers and they say most of what I would answer.

Have few more to add though

Eragon + Elder by Christopher Paolini (could prolly be considered children reading and so on but I enjoyed those books alot)

Runelord series by David Farland (loved the half sick approach in this one )

After answering those which prolly could be considered Fantasy "light" I would like to add that Hobb/Jordan/Feist/Kerr are my favorites

 

[Dakkath]

Hmm, I see this thread gets the odd bump every now and again...

I'm surprised that noone seems to have mentioned the Magicians Guild Trilogy by Trudy Canavan...

Enjoyed those immensely

 

[inactionman]

I just read this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...7493/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/202-4467156-3960618

By R. Scott Bakker, it's very good and quite cheap on amazon at the moment (£4). I already have the sequel on my pile of books to be read (below a work book on ITIL, Knife of Dreams, Thud, and Judas Unchained).

Recently read Anasi Boys by Neil Gaiman, that was pretty good.

 

[tierk]

RobIn H0bbs.... @ series of b00ks awesome.

And incase you havent noticed.....Bump Bump Bump!

 

[Ch3tan]

Also The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan is a great monster series, although I've not attempted that yet.

Just started on The Wheel of Time, it will fill the gap until the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series comes out. It is very good, you should find the time Sky.

 

[Skyler]

I know quite a few fantasy book geeks, really bad ones and they all give The Wheel of Time bad reviews. It starts out great, sure.. but he is dragging the series on too long. It's now at the point where he's writing prequels to prequels and filler books which after you've read them you don't feel like anything has happened except you spent time reading it.

I do have the first book of the set here, haven't yet tried to read it though, too busy with the Ian Irvine books that I recommended above. In my opinion put down The Wheel of Time and get what I said.. I can't begin to say how awesome they are.

Problem is still that so many people give so many plaudits to so many books, no one knows what to choose.

 

[inactionman]

Got the new Ian Irvine. It's next on my list to read.

Re: Wheel of time, allegedly the next one is the last one. Knife of dreams was actually ok, and awful lot happened in it, especially when you consider his, normally glacial, plot progression!

Anxiously awaiting the new Steven Erikson book, Reaper's Gale, which is coming out mid next year.

If people haven't read the initial trilogy of books by R. Scott Bakker already, read them. They are well worth reading, and are a bit different.