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Well the Bas-Lag books by China Mieville are probably my favourite fantasy books and have played a huge impact on how I create my D&D worlds (thanks in part I already had huge amounts of Steampunk and weird-races in my setting. But his books correlated and melded stuff together so well). The three books are:
Perdido Street Station
The Scar
Iron Council
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Well the Bas-Lag books by China Mieville are probably my favourite fantasy books and have played a huge impact on how I create my D&D worlds (thanks in part I already had huge amounts of Steampunk and weird-races in my setting. But his books correlated and melded stuff together so well). The three books are:
Perdido Street Station
The Scar
Iron Council
Second this.
__________________ Oni
"Each man, one way.
Each horse, one stance.
Each church, one buddha.
Each master to his own technique."
Malazan Book of the Fallen - Erikson
Book of the New Sun - Wolfe
__________________ All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re not unreasonable; I mean, no one’s gonna eat your eyes
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re at an impasse here; maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We’ll all come inside and eat your brains
George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones and the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire series.
Jack Vance - Lyonesse Trilogy
These two I rate above all others. Completely contrasting in style but equally stocked in pure brilliance.
And then...
Raymond E. Feist - Magician, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon
Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
David Gemmel - Drenai series or Rigante, it's all good!
As mentioned above, Erikson is absolutely brilliant but like Mieville, the style and demands upon the reader may not be to everyone's taste. Hobbs' Assassin trilogy is still my favourite by her, although I still highly rate both the Liveship and Soldier Son trilogies.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
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He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder. Tad Williams
Book thread, so I have to plug Scott Lynch's books: The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies. Also, another book I enjoyed was The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. If you don't have an aversion to harsh language and violence, I would strongly recommend trying to find Heroes Die, Blade of Tyshalle, and Caine Black Knife by Matthew Woodring Stover.
I'll strongly second Malraux's recommendation of Malazan Books of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson. The best epic fantasy series going, imo. Each book is doorstop huge, and the cast of characters and plot events are very large and very complex. But, if you have any love for epic fantasy, it's hard not to get immediately swept up in the grandness and scope of Erikson's vision.
First book is Gardens of the Moon.
Other great series --
-- If you like Robin Hobb's Liveship trilogy (for me, her weakest), and you haven't tried her Assassin trilogy, you should. Wonderful books, wonderful characters, and although the tone is at times fairly depressing, they are not overwhelmingly so. Her Fool trilogy, a later sequel of three to the Assassin books, is also recommended. Another added bonus is that all three trilogies take place in the same world, so the world you're seeing in the Liveship series has some shared context with these other series.
First book is Assassin's Apprentice.
-- Another staple epic fantasy series is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Epic and engrossing. Warning: really, really, really dark at times. Not a series for the faint of the heart. Another complaint is that it's been taking him a very long time in-between books (Neil Gaiman recently wrote an amusing blog post about this subject, castigating fans who demand a faster turnaround time...I'm too lazy to link it however), but if you're just getting started, there are still four large and wonderful (and depressing, I can't emphasize that enough) books to get through before you run out of material.
First book is A Game of Thrones
-- Switching gears - Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. An unbelievable amount of books (approaching close to 30 now, I believe), and fairly amazing how often Pratchett delivers a wonderful book. The series starts out as humorous fantasy parody, but around the tenth book or so, Pratchett really comes into his own as a wonderful story teller and commentator on life, who just happens to write humorous and engrossing fantasy stories. Impossible to describe briefly, but there are numerous web resources to give you more information, if you are so inclined.
First book is Colour of Magic (although it's a poor starting point, as the above-mentioned web resources will tell you)
-- Steven Brust's Jhereg series is another great set of books. Also hard to describe, and Brust tends to be more experimental than some of the other authors listed above, but he's always entertaining.
First book is Jhereg.
-- My perhaps most controversial recommendation is Robert Jordan's A Wheel of Time. Often lambasted (somewhat deservedly) for some of the later volumes in which not much happens, it still represents a vision and scope and execution rarely pulled off in fantasy books. On the merits of the first three books alone, I think it deserves a recommendation. The series continues even after the author's death, with the next book (presumably third from the end) coming out later this year.
First book is Eye of the World.
Some other quicker recommendations --
- Glen Cook (most people like his Black Company books, I personally like his Garrett, P.I. books more)
- Megan Whalen Turner (a trilogy with the first book, The Thief. Aimed at a more teenaged or younger audience, still is a wonderful set of books)
- Lois McMaster Bujold (I don't recommend her fantasy, but her sci-fi series about Miles Vorkosigan is a wonderful read)
- Neil Gaiman (I like his Sandman comic books better than his fantasy novels...but I loved Sandman, so his fantasy novels are still pretty good. American Gods is a good starting pickup)
JON MARCO The Eyes of God
The Devil's Armor
The Sword of Angels
DAVID GEMMELL (all his books are linked in one way or another, but I have tried to group these as best I can to give the best impact.)
Morningstar
Knights of Dark Renown
Waylander
In the realm of the Wolf
Hero in the Shadows
Winter Warriors
The first chronicles of Druss the Legend
Legend
The Legend of Deathwalker
The King Beyond the Gate
Quest for Lost Heroes
White Wolf
The Swords of Night and Day
Ironhand's Daughter
The Hawk Eternal
Sword in the Storm
Midnight Falcon
Ravenheart
Stormrider
Lion of Macedon
Dark Prince
Lord of the Silver Bow
Shield of Thunder
Fall of Kings
Ghost King
The Last Sword of Power
Wolf in Shadow
The Last Guardian
Bloodstone
I sorta don't know what to do with these two: Echoes of the Great Song; you could probably read that after The Swords of Night and Day. Dark Moon; maybe after Echoes of the Great Song.
The beauty of Gemmell's work is that you will see glimpses of his other tales if you have the eyes to see them. As you read more of his books, you will not just see his fantasy world, but a multiverse open up to you.
Of course, someone will eventually post that I am completely wrong in my grouping, but in my defense, some of the links in his books are quite incestuous; in that they link over and back and it sometimes difficult to know where to start). In any case I hope this helps; Gemmell's books are a wonderful mess to get involved in. I started with Morningstar so that seemed as good a place as any.
Neil Gaiman (I like his Sandman comic books better than his fantasy novels...but I loved Sandman, so his fantasy novels are still pretty good. American Gods is a good starting pickup)
I quite like his American Gods and Anasi Boys. Though for those that don't know it is modern fantasy.
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I'm in the middle of reading Ship Of Magic (Liveship Traders) series by Robin Hobbs, and I like it a lot. Looking for other books that are great too.
There's lots of great fantasy out there, but if you're looking for something along the same lines as the Liveship Traders books...
Well, Hobb's Assassin and Tawny Man series on either side of that in the same world are worth reading (same world, slightly before and slightly after), and the last book of the unrelated Soldier Son trilogy just hit paperback (I'm about halfway through it), and Hobb isn't any kinder to her protagonists in her other series.
Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series (both of them) are also quite good.
Brandon Sanderson's Elantris and his Mistborn trilogy. He's the guy who's going to be finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, so if you ever got sucked into that and are wondering about the guy chosen to finish it, you might take a flyer there on general principles.
Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books (Curse of Chalion, Hallowed Hunt, Paladin of Souls). Her Sharing Knife series isn't nearly as dark, and is sort of a romance in a fantasy world, but it's Bujold, so it's good.
For something more light-hearted, I'd go with
Most of Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels (and all the Khaavren romances)
Anything by Terry Pratchett
I almost forgot to mention a great trilogy about a paladin, The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.
I think i've heard of this book. Thanks to everyone that's made recommendations so far I would still appreciate more recommendations if any newcomers to the thread has any that haven't been mentioned yet.
I'm a big fan of Steven Erikson, Glen Cook, and George R.R. Martin among those who have already been mentioned.
Another series I enjoyed a great deal is the Guardians of the Flame (starting with the Sleeping Dragon) by Joel Rosenberg. I don't hear many people mention Rosenberg anymore, but in my opinion that series has some of the most interesting, layered characters in fantasy. Who doesn't love Ahira Bandylegs and Walter Slovatsky?
The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series by Greg Keyes is also worth a look. Not quite as engaging (in my opinion) as the others, but entertaining and well written.
So many good names and so many questionable exclusions....
Let's see, of names I haven't seen.
C. J. Cherryh. Like Hobb her writing can be quite dense, but you like Hobb so that's not a problem. A bit more Sci-fi than Fantasy, but not so much you have to worry about finding them.
Patricia McKillip so terse and complex it's hard to believe.
Katherine Kerr. Katherine Kurtz. So close together, you can't miss either.
Harry Turtledove. More into alternate history fiction, but has his share of alternate history mixed with fantasy.
I think i've heard of this book. Thanks to everyone that's made recommendations so far I would still appreciate more recommendations if any newcomers to the thread has any that haven't been mentioned yet.
I'm currently reading it too, it's quite interesting. Personally I couldn't get through Robin Hobb's "Soldier's Son" trilogy, I found it too depressing, significantly more so than than a Song of Ice and Fire, although I did enjoy the Assassin's Quest, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man books (even though I didn't read them in order). I also enjoyed the earlier Ki and Vandian Quartet written by the same author under a different pseudonym (Megan Lindholm), even though they are quite different, more low key and not really "heroic" fantasy like the books with FitzChivalry, but then again, neither are the Liveship Traders books.
I'd also recommend some older stuff not really mentioned, Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword" and "Three Hearts and Three Lions" are both very good, and a lot more tied into mythological roots than modern fantasy. The Howard Conan stories are very enjoyable if you're into that sort of thing. There's a lot of short stories so you can find you fairly easily if you are. Micheal Moorcock wrote huge piles of Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery of various levels of quality, my favourite being "The War Hound and the World's Pain" although the Hawkmoon books "The History of the Runestaff" are very good and probably closer to traditional fantasy.
I would still appreciate more recommendations if any newcomers to the thread has any that haven't been mentioned yet.
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