AdmundfortGeographer
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Fantasy authors worth the reading.
- Thread starter DrunkonDuty
- Start date
Particle_Man
Explorer
Gene Wolfe is good (His Wizard-Knight series counts as fantasy, right?).
As is Lois McMaster Bujold (loved The Curse of Chalion).
As is Lois McMaster Bujold (loved The Curse of Chalion).
Don't forget Wolfe's Book of the New Sun...
Shadow of the Torturer
Claw of the Conciliator
Sword of the Lictor
Citadel of the Autarch
They are fine, fine books.
I'd like to recommend the Goblin series by Jim C. Hines: the first, Goblin Quest, starts out like a parody: it's very much a dungeon crawl from the point of view of the weakest monster in the dungeon, but it doesn't fall into cliches. The next two books, Goblin Hero and Goblin War, carry on where the first left off, but are more like true adventure stories than parodies.
I recently read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and I enjoyed it tremendously.
I recently read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and I enjoyed it tremendously.
Fallen Seraph
First Post
Not really classic fantasy but... I quite enjoy the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
Naomi Novik, definately.
Scott Lynch, for the Lie of Locke Lamora and it's sequel; his website says he has about a dozen of the Gentleman Bastard books planned.
Charles de Lint, especially the Newford books.
Patricia Briggs. She tends to do 2-book series, save for her Mercy modern fantasy books. I think right now I've read everything she's done except for The Hob's Bargain and I've liked them all.
Lynn Flewelling: the Nightrunner series and the related Tamir trilogy.
Lawrence Watt-Evans, still going strong with the Ethshar books; good mostly light-hearted fantasy. His Wizard Lord series is also good.
Peter F Hamilton - Best space opera I've read in years and years. Huge, galaxy-spanning events, titanic planet-scale engineering, etc.
Jim Butcher - The Codex Alera is fantasy but D&Ders will get just as much good from his Harry Dresden series.
Simon R Green - The Nightside books and his new Shaman Bond series. Quick, frothy books that resemble each other a great deal but the concepts and names he just tosses out there should keep you in plot hooks for several months or longer. He really, really loves the word 'Appalling', just to warn you.
Charlaine Harries - The Southern Vampire books (and soon a TV series from HBO). Good treatment of the undead and lycanthropes; set in an alternate modern day, but plenty of info and hooks for D&D.
Greg Keyes, especially his Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series that should be wrapping up pretty soon, here.
Kate Elliot - Spirit Gate and Shadow Gate, Crossroads books 1 and 2. Good fantasy setting. She takes a long time setting up characters, delving into their backgrounds and motivations, and still manages to tell a good adventure story. Especially good for templates of power groups and how they interact, different culture's approaches to the same problems, superstitions, etc. Her previous series, Crown of Stars, is also worth checking out but I like this series much better.
Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind, Kingkiller book #1. Excellent fantasy world, with some very nice variations on certain themes (especially dragons and alchemy).
Scott Lynch, for the Lie of Locke Lamora and it's sequel; his website says he has about a dozen of the Gentleman Bastard books planned.
Charles de Lint, especially the Newford books.
Patricia Briggs. She tends to do 2-book series, save for her Mercy modern fantasy books. I think right now I've read everything she's done except for The Hob's Bargain and I've liked them all.
Lynn Flewelling: the Nightrunner series and the related Tamir trilogy.
Lawrence Watt-Evans, still going strong with the Ethshar books; good mostly light-hearted fantasy. His Wizard Lord series is also good.
Peter F Hamilton - Best space opera I've read in years and years. Huge, galaxy-spanning events, titanic planet-scale engineering, etc.
Jim Butcher - The Codex Alera is fantasy but D&Ders will get just as much good from his Harry Dresden series.
Simon R Green - The Nightside books and his new Shaman Bond series. Quick, frothy books that resemble each other a great deal but the concepts and names he just tosses out there should keep you in plot hooks for several months or longer. He really, really loves the word 'Appalling', just to warn you.
Charlaine Harries - The Southern Vampire books (and soon a TV series from HBO). Good treatment of the undead and lycanthropes; set in an alternate modern day, but plenty of info and hooks for D&D.
Greg Keyes, especially his Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series that should be wrapping up pretty soon, here.
Kate Elliot - Spirit Gate and Shadow Gate, Crossroads books 1 and 2. Good fantasy setting. She takes a long time setting up characters, delving into their backgrounds and motivations, and still manages to tell a good adventure story. Especially good for templates of power groups and how they interact, different culture's approaches to the same problems, superstitions, etc. Her previous series, Crown of Stars, is also worth checking out but I like this series much better.
Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind, Kingkiller book #1. Excellent fantasy world, with some very nice variations on certain themes (especially dragons and alchemy).
Last edited:
Wombat
First Post
It's funny -- I tell people that I like fantasy ... but there are not a lot of fantasy authors that I really like.
Tolkein, yes; Gene Wolfe, Guy Gavriel Kay, Charles de Lint, Ursula LeGuin, very definitely, Jim Butcher, but not his most recent Harry Dresden books (I was good up through about book 6); a lot of classical Arthurian material (Chretien de Troyes, Mallory, von Eschenbach, Marie de France, etc.).
Moorcock? Liked him as a teen, but he wears thin for me quickly. Fritz Lieber is still fun, but Zelazny is now off my library shelves. Pratchett can be a lot of fun, but easy for me to overload on. Salvatore? No thanks. Martin & Jordan? Ditto. Hobb? Never tried, but I feel like I should. KJ Parker? Hit & miss. Cook and Howard? Not to my tastes.
So, as you can see, I am a very mixed bag in these tastes, but prefer the thoughtful over the bloody & gory ... though I dearly love Edward Gorey
Tolkein, yes; Gene Wolfe, Guy Gavriel Kay, Charles de Lint, Ursula LeGuin, very definitely, Jim Butcher, but not his most recent Harry Dresden books (I was good up through about book 6); a lot of classical Arthurian material (Chretien de Troyes, Mallory, von Eschenbach, Marie de France, etc.).
Moorcock? Liked him as a teen, but he wears thin for me quickly. Fritz Lieber is still fun, but Zelazny is now off my library shelves. Pratchett can be a lot of fun, but easy for me to overload on. Salvatore? No thanks. Martin & Jordan? Ditto. Hobb? Never tried, but I feel like I should. KJ Parker? Hit & miss. Cook and Howard? Not to my tastes.
So, as you can see, I am a very mixed bag in these tastes, but prefer the thoughtful over the bloody & gory ... though I dearly love Edward Gorey
Welverin
First Post
Steven Brust, particularly the Vlad Taltos novels.
Pants
First Post
Well... I kinda look at Malazan as a big, Micheal Bay-ish style fantasy. Cool, superpowered fights with lots of explosions, kinda cool, paper thin characters built up out of pretty cliche archetypes and lots of stuff that, generally, doesn't make much sense but is cool to look at.
I also dig the sense of history in his books, the fact that he reveals it bit by bit, just enough to keep you interested, but not enough to overload you.
He's certainly not perfect and I'm not surprised that many are put off by his style, but I'm with him till the end... unless he REALLY starts sucking or something.
I also dig:
Martin - Writes slow as all hell, but he also has some of the best characters ever.
R. Scott Bakker - The Prince of Nothing - He strikes me as a cross between Erikson and Martin, with Martin's character styles, grittiness, and politicking mixed with Erikson's over-the-top superhuman abilities. Really good stuff.
Scott Lynch - The Gentlemen Bastard's Sequence - Lynch may not have the best characters or the most innovative plots, but he can sure write some witty dialogue, great escapades, and thrilling adventure. Everyone I've introduced the books to has loved them.
Joe Abercrombie - The First Law - I've only read the first book (all three are currently out) and it was fun, with some good characters and some interesting twists on the standard fantasy formula. I've got the second one waiting for me.
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