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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Serge" data-source="post: 371702" data-attributes="member: 4049">Tadd Williams.  His trilogy, beginning with The Dragonbone Chair is one of the best fantasy stories I've ever read.Glenn Cook's Black Company stuff is interesting, although the quality of his writer waned in and out during the first few books of his cycle.Harry Turtledove, known for his Sci-fi, has written a few alternate histories that feature fantasy elements.  One, Heart of Darkness or something like that, is well written and very interesting.  I haven't finished the series yet.As far as older stuff, Ursela LeGuin's material is very interesting, but dense.  Approach with caution and an open mind.  Of the Earthsea Cycle, the first and fourth books are the most "genre fantasy-like."I recently a book entitled Threshold by Caitlin Kiernan.  It's similar to Lovecraft except it's very well written.  Instead of some narrator telling you everything, Kiernan actually shows the story more so than writing it.  Her characters seem alive and they are relatively complex.  She has another book called Silk which I've yet to read.Although not fantasy, I recommend Anne Rice's The Witching Hour.  Arguably her best novel, TWH does a superb job with the concepts of witches, ghosts, and hauntings.  Don't bother with the sequels.  Same with The Vampire Chronicles.  The first two are spectacular and the third, Queen of the Damned would have been excellent had the end clearly not been so open for sequels.If you're interested in The Outer Planes, I strongly recommend Paradise Lost by John Milton.  His Satan is a temper-tantrum throwing child with cosmic powers.  Great stuff.There are more, but I can't think of them off the top of my head (I'm at work).As for Goodkind...  Well, I think the main problem with his books is that he's on a conservative soap-box the entire time, never describes what his protagonist looks like 'til the end of the first book (some failed Everyman attempt), creates his world as he goes along, and, rather than having complex characters to complement his gritty/violent/S&M world, they are all your typical characters that change or discover new things just to promote the story line (Emperor Jangang).  Not to mention that he shamelessly bites Robert Jordan...  Still, I continue to read his stuff primarily because I want to know what the Hell he plans on doing to resolve the increasingly ridiculous story he's come up with.  If anything, I suppose that's what matters; he's found the way to keep people like me who think he's a hack coming back for more.Later!</blockquote>

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