More Recommended Reading

Recently, I've been buying up and reading any fantasy novels I can get my hands on that I can remember from past "Book Recommendation Threads." Well, I'm starting another one!

I would like your opinions on some good fantasy literature so I can record it for later use. I am trying to increase my awareness of authors beyond your basic "pulp-fantasy" stuff and would appreciate any recommendations you can give. A brief history of what I have read:

Tolkien
Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit

D&D Paperbacks
Just about every FR, DL, and Darksun novels out there plus a few other oddments (Ravenloft, Birthright, etc.)

Eddings
Belgariad & Malloreon
Elenium & Tamuli

Jordan
9 of the Wheel of Time books (there's a 10th one out that I will likely pick up)

Brust
All of the existing Taltos series

Martin
All of the existing Song of Ice and Fire series

Cook
The Black Company books through Shadow Games (I'd finish it, but I haven't found a copy of Dreams of Steel yet)

Weis & Hickman
The Deathgate Cycle

Alexander
The Black Cauldron & related books (7 or 8 of them, I think)

What I have recently purchased but haven't read just yet:

Lord Foul's Bane, first book of the Thomas Covenant series
Shadow & Claw, first half of the Book of the New Sun

I would also like to get peoples opinions/reactions/feelings on the following books that I have though about reading;

Zelzany's Amber chronicles
Lieber's Lankhmar books
Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea books

Your recommendations will be most appreciated.

The first set of the Amber books is pretty cool and well worth a read. The second set is more average and seemed to have alot to do with the fact that the first series was very successful, so I'd better write another at some point.

Good luck finding Dreams of Steel, it's tough to find the older books.

I'll admit right away, The Thomas Covenant series is not for everyone. I read it through but have never felt the least urge to pick them up again.

Apok said:

Recently, I've been buying up and reading any fantasy novels I can get my hands on that I can remember from past "Book Recommendation Threads." Well, I'm starting another one!

I would like your opinions on some good fantasy literature so I can record it for later use. I am trying to increase my awareness of authors beyond your basic "pulp-fantasy" stuff and would appreciate any recommendations you can give. A brief history of what I have read:

Tolkien
Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit

<Snip!>

Zelzany's Amber chronicles
Lieberman's Lankhmar books
Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea books

Your recommendations will be most appreciated.

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You MUST read Tolkien's The Silmarillion... See villians (and a hero or two) that could (Did!) cow Sauron, learn the history of the Elves "Fighting the Long Defeat", etc., etc., etc.!

Anything by Zelazny is pretty good, expecially Jack of Shadows (which is where I think the Shadowdancer Prestige Class came from)! Amber is good, especially if you like plane-hopping campaigns.

The Lankhmar books are lower magic, but still high fantasy, and generally well-recommended by RPGers. The Earthsea books I never cared for, although many did. I never found them useful for RPGing. YMMV.

Some of the Zimmer-Bradley books (Marion's, or her brother's) seem to me to have been re-writes of somebody's AD&D game, so a lot of the "Dark Border" series will fit right in.

The "Godstalk" series (of which I've only ever seen two volumes of what I suspect is a trilogy) was excellent, but I suspect the author either had a falling out with the publisher, died, or somesuch, and they are now long out of print...

Apok said:

Lieberman's Lankhmar books
Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea books

Your recommendations will be most appreciated.

Click to expand...

It's just Liber, not Liberman.

But i'd recomend Earthsea definitely. Especially the first three, less so the fourth, but yes to the fifth. but the fifth makes little sense without the fourth.

but i personally was bored stupid by liber's Lanhkmar stuff. Is Gary Gygax a good writer because he uses big words? Neither is Liber.

Re: Re: More Recommended Reading

Olive said:

It's just Liber, not Liberman.

But i'd recomend Earthsea definitely. Especially the first three, less so the fourth, but yes to the fifth. but the fifth makes little sense without the fourth.

but i personally was bored stupid by liber's Lanhkmar stuff. Is Gary Gygax a good writer because he uses big words? Neither is Liber.

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It's actually spelled Fritz Leiber.

You forgot to mention Pratchett, he's one of my favs.

Also "Jack of Shadows" by Zelazny is a must.

Robert E. Howard's Kull, Conan and Bran Mak Morn are pretty much staples of the genre. Plus, there's lots of Authurian stuff you could scare up on a search engine. All of this falls more on the traditional side of the genre, and may be too low-magic for some folks, but the authors that you have on the list all read it before they became writers themselves, I'd venture...

You've certainly hit a lot of the high notes.

I thoroughly enjoyed all ten Amber books, although I prefer the first five to the second five. If you ever decided to play the Amber diceless RPG, however, the second set adds a lot to the game.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are great, and he's certainly one of my favorite authors overall. They start out as Conan parodies and grow into a rich and unique body of work as the series progresses -- while still remaining very, very funny throughout. If you want to start at the very beginning, The Colour of Magic kicks things off (but you can really start just about anywhere, as the books are not rigidly sequential).

The first eight books of Piers Anthony's Xanth series are great. Somewhat basic, but also very innovative and clever in some surprising ways. After book eight (Golem in the Gears, I believe) it's pretty much all bad puns and juvenile sex humor, but YMMV.

John Christopher's Sword of the Spirits trilogy is generally classified as YA fiction, but the themes and tone are both very mature. Dark and compelling, and well worth tracking down.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Have fun with your growing list.

Utterly awesome and epic series is Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's presently on the fourth book and counting. Dense, exciting, bloody, vast in scope, easily the equal of Martin. American publishers apparently have turned it down because they feel it's too complicated for Americans. Get it on Amazon or go to Canada/UK.

Gardens of the Moon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0553812173/reviews/026-4397744-6418008

Deadhouse Gates (will make you cry - in a good way):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0553813110/reviews/026-4397744-6418008

Memories of Ice:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0553813129/reviews/026-4397744-6418008

House of Chains:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0593046269/reviews/026-4397744-6418008

Apok said:

Cook
The Black Company books through Shadow Games (I'd finish it, but I haven't found a copy of Dreams of Steel yet)

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If you Join the Science Fiction Book Club you can get all the Black Company books collected into 4 hardbacks - 2 sets of 3 book omnibus editions and 2 sets of 2 book omnibus editions.