Recommend a Fantasy Book to Me

RetroGameView

First Post

• Apr 23, 2014

• #1

Hallo Leute!

I continue to be on my never-ending quest to find books that I love. Lately most of the books I've been reading have been very average and I'd like some recommendations on what might be good.

To begin with, I'll say that for me plot and pacing are important, as is the writing itself. I adore a good writing style. Here are some examples of books and series I enjoy:

Hobbit / Lord of the Rings (of course)
Discworld
Xanth
Codex Alera
Dresden Files
Rogue Agent (first book of this series is the Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills)
Sword of Truth series
Runelords series by David Farland

I will add that I generally don't enjoy it when authors try to make political statements or mix modern politics into their stories. I like to keep my politics and entertainment largely separated.

So with all this in mind, would people be kind enough to offer recommendations of other books and series along these lines I might enjoy? Thank you.

 

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Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator

Staff member

Supporter

• Apr 23, 2014

• #2

The Sword of Knowledge shared-world novels (with CJ Cherryh being the anchor-point author).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Knowledge

Barbara Hambly's Darwath and Windrose novels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hambly#Bibliography

Harry Turtledove's Darkness series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Darkness_Series

Mary Gentle's Ash novels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash:_A_Secret_History

As a fan of the Dresden Files, you might also like the modern fantasy of writers like Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere, American Gods), Clive Barker (Imagica, Weaveworld), and Simon Greene.

I'm also a fan of the earlier works of fantasy- Moorcock's Eternal Champion cycle, Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd & Grey Mouser stories, REH's Conan stories and the like.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2014

Kramodlog

Naked and living in a barrel

• Apr 23, 2014

• #3

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

 

sabrinathecat

Explorer

• Apr 23, 2014

• #4

Sword of Shanara by Terry Brooks

Myth Adventures series by Robert Asprin (similar to Xanth)

Triplet by Timothy Zahn

 

RetroGameView

First Post

• Apr 23, 2014

• #5

Dannyalcatraz said:

Barbara Hambly's Darwath and Windrose novels.

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I read the first Darwath book and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Harry Turtledove's Darkness series.

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I haven't read anything by him before, but I recently picked up a copy of his book Opening Atlantis used.

sabrinathecat said:

Sword of Shanara by Terry Brooks

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I read the original Shanara trilogy and liked it. I also enjoyed the Landover series.

Myth Adventures series by Robert Asprin (similar to Xanth)

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I read some book by him... a Phule's Company book, I believe... I seem to remember enjoying it.

Thank you all for the suggestions thus far. Please keep them coming.

 

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator

Staff member

Supporter

• Apr 23, 2014

• #6

Glen Cook has two series to think about- his Black Company books are well-regarded high fantasy, and his Garrett, P.I. stories are comedic fantasy inspired by and loosly based on the classic Nero Wolfe mysteries.

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

 

D

Dioltach

Legend

• Apr 23, 2014

• #7

If you like The Lord of the Rings, you might enjoy Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. A couple of other series I'll put out there are the Gentlemen Bastard series by Scott Lynch and the First Law trilogy and the stand-alone novels that follow by Joe Abercrombie.

 

sabrinathecat

Explorer

• Apr 23, 2014

• #8

RetroGameView said:

I read some book by him... a Phule's Company book, I believe... I seem to remember enjoying it.

Click to expand...

Myth Adventures does to Fantasy tropes what Phule's Company did to military sci-fi.
You can also read the first 2 books of his Dragon series, but don't read book 3.
In fact, don't read anything where Asprin was collaborating with someone else.

Dragon Flight (and the rest of the Pern novels) by Anne McCaffrey.

Vor novels by Luis McMasters Bujold

 

J

Jhaelen

First Post

• Apr 23, 2014

• #9

If you enjoy well written novels, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Also, The Curse of Chalion (and its sequel(s)) by Lois MacMaster Bujold is just brilliant.

Truly good fantasy novels are rare. I found that generally the best are written by authors who also (mainly) write sci-fi. Imho, they simply tend to put more thought into their novels.

 

Hand of Evil

Hero

Epic

• Apr 23, 2014

• #10

Bazil Broketail by Christopher Rowley

The Royce and Hadrian books (The Riyria Revelations & The Riyria Chronicles) by Michael Sullivan

Kane books by Karl Edward Wagner