[Novels] Sell me on sword and sorcery books

[mhensley]

Anyways, give Darkness Weaves and Dark Crusade by Karl Edward Wagner a try.

They are about the Immortal, Cursed Swordsman, Kane. Both books have plenty of political intriguing as well as dark sorcery, rich supporting characters, and bloody violence.

Darkeness Weaves is a grossly overlooked masterpiece of the genre in my opinion.

I second this recommendation. I love Wagner's Kane novels and wish that there were more of them. Bloodstone is my favorite though.

 

[WayneLigon]

Am I off base here? What do you like about the genre? Maybe I have been reading the wrong s&s stories? Or is s&s not for me?

Well, let's back up first: What do you mean by 'Sword and Sorcery'? Are you in fact talking about the older style of fantasy adventure such as Howard and Leiber, or just fantasy adventure in general - because they can be very different. That discussion has been gone over and over many times in other threads, so you might want to search for them.

Now, if it's Howard and Leiber's style of S&S: Teflon Billy has the right of it. You're looking at apples and oranges in terms of literary style. In most early fantasy (it's even more pronounced in early SF), there just isn't a lot in terms of depth of characteriztion, though Leiber has much more than Howard does in most cases. We find out a lot more about what Fafhrd and the Mouser want from life in latter books; Conan, not as much (it's there, certainly, but you have to look for it harder - Conan is famously a simpler character than many others. There's not much he wants or expect from life, but by God he knows how to go about acheiving what he does want).

 

[Miar]

Ok, my literary pedigree is as follows:

I read a lot of classics. Steppenwolf and The Brothers Karamazov and Kafka's works are among my favorite books. I also read fantasy, my favorites are the Song of Ice and Fire series, the Amber series and anything by Gaiman.

Love Zelazny but detest Martin over all... I would go and check out a bunch of reviews on..

Steven Erikson - one of my current favorites, there seem to be those who love Erikson those who love Martin and those that like them both.. there often compared to each other but are quite different I find.

Glen Cook's Black Company Series - dark military fantasy (predecessor to Erikson)

Scott Lynch - Fantasy.. Ocean's 11.. kind of thieves tale but better

China Mieville - part of the new weird movement might find some Kafka influence in there

Joe Abercrombie - good well told fantasy, hits somewhere between the classic stuff and Erikson/Martin

P.C Hodgell - "Dark of the Gods", dark fantasy - retired university lit prof good writing...

Jeff Vandermeer - short, heavy, thick, wordy -part of the new weird movement as well if you like language you have to chew on this is good..

On the Zelazny note if you had missed it his book "Manna from Heaven" which came out after his death contains a couple short Amber stories which occur after the other Amber books.

 

[Melan]

Sword and Sorcery books are, in fact, all about the action. Blood, swords, demons, monsters, battle. Manly men with big ass swords. If your looking for subtlties and deep thought, you won't be finding it in s&s.

Ugh... actually, a lot of subtleties can be found in sword&sorcery, you just have to look for them because they are subtly hidden in the adventure fiction. Consider, for example, Clark Ashton Smith's writings (which are the polar opposite of Conan tales) or Catherine L. Moore's Jirel short stories (which are all about ambiguity and erotic tension), both recognisably S&S. Actually, you can even find some in Howard - just buried under mighty thews and snake cults.

 

[Ringan]

Thanks for all the replies so far, now I have things to add to my reading list!
I hadn't been aware that there were two definitions of sword & sorcery, but books in either category are helpful! It's also good to see fellow readers of the classics.

 

[T. Foster]

S&S may well not be for you. But before you give up on it altogether, try at least to read more Conan stories (but only those actually written by Robert Howard, not by anyone else, including "posthumous collaborations" -- Del Rey recently released a 3-volume series of Howard's original Conan stories that is what you should seek out), more Lankhmar stories (volumes 2-4 are, IMO, the real meat of the series), and early Michael Moorcock (the Lancer Books editions of Stealer of Souls and Stormbringer, before Moorcock expanded and revised/re-wrote the Elric Saga in the 70s). If you can get into those, there are lots more good recommendations above (and in the back of the 1E AD&D DMG, though that list includes a lot of stuff that wouldn't be considered "swords & sorcery" by most critics and obsessive-compulsive pigeon-holers). If not, then swords & sorcery probably just isn't for you...

 

[Darkness]

Moved to Media Lounge.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Try some of David Gemmell's works. I think the Waylander series would be a good start.

Not just "Yes", but "Hell Yes"

I wish I had thought to suggest Gemmell. The Waylander series is top flight stuff.

Also check out Legend (known as Against the Horde in Europe for some reason).

 

[BadMojo]

Not just "Yes", but "Hell Yes"

I wish I had thought to suggest Gemmell. The Waylander series is top flight stuff.

Also check out Legend (known as Against the Horde in Europe for some reason).

I'm not entirely sure if we're talking about Sword & Sorcery (Howard, Smith, Moorcock, Wanger) or just fantasy in general.

Authors like Howard who wrote for magazines primarily aren't going to have 300 pages to devote to character development like Martin does.

I'm curious how the OP felt let down by "Ill Met".