Fantasy Recommended Reading

[Darth Shoju]

So my other thread about "Essential Moorecock" got me thinking; what would all you fans of fantasy litterature recommend as good reading? I've read Tolkien's works extensively and, for better or worse, a lot of D&D novels. I'd like to be much less of a fantasy n00b, so I'd love to hear what you folks recommend. Other notable series I've read are Tad Williams's Memory, Sorry and Thorn series and I've started the Wheel of Time (yes, it is long...I might look for summaries of some of the more redundant books).

Thanks!

 

[Sugarmouse]

In my humble opinion?

Villains by Necessity - by Eve Forward
The Elenium Trilogy - by David Eddings
Grunts - by Mary Gentle
The Malazan Books of the Fallen - by Steven Erikson
A Song of Ice and Fire - By GRR Martin
The Wheel of Time - By Robert Jordan (Stick with it - it gets tedious, but then speeds up again.)
The Death Gate Cycle - by Weis and Hickman

Possibly stuff by China Mieville.

Other people will fill in the list, I am sure.

 

[Pants]

My list:

A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin
- A Game of Thrones
- A Clash of Kings
- A Storm of Swords
- A Feast for Crows

The Black Company by Glen Cook (3 initial books, can't remember the names right now)

The Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
- Gardens of the Moon
- Deadhouse Gates
- Memories of Ice
- House of Chains
- Midnight Tides
- The Bonehunters

Any Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

The Prince of Nothing by R Scott Bakker
- The Darkness that Comes Before
- The Warrior Prophet
- The Thousandfold Thought

Any of RE Howard's Conan Stories

 

[Storm Raven]

Okay, of the top of my head, here's some that will probably be enough to keep you busy for a while.

By Fritz Leiber, the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books: Swords and Deviltry, Swords Against Deathp, Swords in the Mist, Swords Against Wizardry, Swords of Lankhmar, Swords and Ice Magic, and The Knight and Knave of Swords.

By Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword, High Crusade, Roma Mater, Galicenae, Dahut, The Dog and the Wolf, and Three Hearts and Three Lions.

By Andre Norton, her Witch World books: Witch World, Web of the Witch World, Three Against the Witch World, Warlock of the Witch World, Sorceress of the Witch World, Trey of Swords, Ware Hawk, The Gate of the Cat. (That would be a start, there are a couple dozen other books by Norton set in the Witch World).

By Robert Howard, any of his Conan stories.

By Ursula K. LeGuin, the Earthsea books: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Furthest Shore. The other books in the series (Tehanu, and The Other Wind) were written much later, and have a different tone. Some people like them, others don't.

By Evangeline Walton Prince of Annwn, The Song of Rhiannon, The Children of llyr, and The island of the Mighty.

By Lloyd Alexander, the Chronicles of Prydain: The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King. Also The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain.

By Patricia McKillip, the Hed series: Riddle Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, and Harpist in the Wind. Also The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, and The Changeling Sea.

By Richard Cowper The Road to Corlay, A Dream of Kinship, and A Tapestry of Time.

By Joel Rosenberg, the Guardians of the Flame series: The Sleeping Dragon, The Sword and the Chain, The Silver Crown, The Heir Apparent, The Warrior Lives, The Road to Ehvenor, and a couple others.

By Orson Scott Card, the Alvin Journeymaker books: Seventh Son, Red Prophet, Prentice Alvin, Alvin Journeymaker, and so on.

By John Bellairs The Face in the Frost.

Some other time I'll look through my collection and see what else suggests itself to me.

 

[Darth Shoju]

In my humble opinion?

The Wheel of Time - By Robert Jordan (Stick with it - it gets tedious, but then speeds up again.)

I'm on book two right now and it has certainly been entertaining so far.

The Death Gate Cycle - by Weis and Hickman

Oooh yeah forgot that one. Read it a few years ago and I found it quite entertaining. Good call!

 

[Darth Shoju]

Okay, of the top of my head, here's some that will probably be enough to keep you busy for a while.

By Fritz Leiber, the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books: Swords and Deviltry, Swords Against Deathp, Swords in the Mist, Swords Against Wizardry, Swords of Lankhmar, Swords and Ice Magic, and The Knight and Knave of Swords.

Yeah I'll definately do more Leiber. I read the one where the Mouser is turned literally into a mouse and they both hook up with those chicks with the clear flesh. Which one was that?

The Broken Sword[/i], High Crusade, Roma Mater, Galicenae[/i], Dahut, The Dog and the Wolf, and Three Hearts and Three Lions.

He's certainly well-spoken of on the boards. Thanks for giving me some titles to attach to his name.

By Robert Howard, any of his Conan stories.

I've read a lot of Conan comics, but I'm going to have to read some of the original stories.

That was quite the comprehensive list. Thanks!

This is great stuff guys, keep it coming.

 

[xmanii]

Literally, the list is never ending.... here is a list of books that no one posted when I started this post. (I'll edit to add others as I think of them).

Belgariad series by David Eddings
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist (along with Daughter of the Empire trilogy coauthored with Janny Wurts)
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
Xanth, Incarnations of Immortality, and Adept series by Piers Anthony
Chronicles of Gor by John Norman

*edit to add:
The Black Company by Glen Cook

Also, if you have access to the DMG (1E), EGG has a bunch of books listed that are good reading.

*more
Amber series by Roger Zelazny

 

[takyris]

I'd come at it from a different angle, sort of. I don't think there is one recommended reading list, but there are ones that can start you out well on an area.

So, fordifferent genres:

- Military -- I don't know the military fantasy genre well enough, and I think others could do it more justice. If you want grim, GARDENS OF THE MOON. If you want tactics, I'd go with LEGACIES, by Modessit. But this isn't my genre, so take this with a grain of salt. Maybe Cook's Black Company series?

- Epic -- Start with Jordan's WHEEL OF TIME. Like it or not, it's a decent bellweather for whether you're going to like epic fantasy in general. If you like it, try Eddings (I'd go Belgariad, then Mallorean, then stop), Brooks (no idea -- I only read the first few), Goodkind (in order, as far as is fun for you), or Douglass (WAYFARER REDEMPTION, or maybe the greek gods series, which I haven't read).

- Political -- Start with Martin's GAME OF THRONES to see if it's the kind of thing you like. If you like it, try Keyes (BRIAR KING) and... hm. Oddly blank here. What other political-machination fantasy is out there? Maybe Modessit's RECLUSE saga, though that's more theory than machination? Maybe Jude Fisher's Fool's Gold series...

- Gaming -- Start with Feist (Riftworld, staring with MAGICIAN:APPRENTICE and moving on as far as you care to go), then hit Moon (DEED OF PAKSENARRION) and/or Hayden (RHAPSODY).

- Romantic -- Melanie Rawn's DRAGON PRINCE. If you like it, try Anne McAffrey's PERN series (or the spinoff series with the little dragons).

Please note that I'm not saying that I love all of these. I'm trying to hit as many genres as possible and go with ones that I've at least read, so people in love with individual genres probably know more than I do.

 

[Huw]

Unless you object to reading children's/young adults' books, I'd add:

Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. He's done others, but that's his best
Artemis Fowl series: Artemis Fowl, The Arctic Incident, The Eternity Code, The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer, plus some spin-offs.
His Dark Materials: Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.

 

[Aus_Snow]

There's so much good stuff already listed, and I haven't read quite the amount of fantasy that others here apparently have, but there's one other fairly prominent fantasy author I'd recommend: David Gemmell.

Yeah, he's not exactly literary, and after a (short) while, his books seem to resemble one another rather a bit. But even so, I would suggest checking out Legend, if nothing else - see if you like the style. If so, maybe try Waylander, then others. Then you'll know what all those Gemmell and Drenai references are about, for starters.


Some other authors not already recommended in this thread, whose books you might find to be interesting excursions (or not): Clive Barker, Tanith Lee, C.S. Lewis, Michael Moorcock, Guy Gavriel Kay.