Fantasy Recommended Reading

[Darth Shoju]

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.

Lewis, Moorcock and Kay are definately on my list (kay is from Winnipeg like me and as I recall he helped edit and assemble the Silmarillion, right?). I'll definately look into the others.

 

[Joshua Randall]

- 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)

Just wanted to point out that Eddings is about as different a writer than Jordan as one can possibly be. Eddings' books are breezy and humorous. Jordan's books are... not.

 

[Richards]

I'd also add some Gene Wolf - specifically, his "Book of the New Sun" series (Shadow of the Torturer, Claw of the Concilliator, Sword of the Archon, Citadel of the Autarch, and Urth of the New Sun) and his "Latro" series (Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete).

For some "swords and ray guns" action, Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars" series is still pretty cool (A Princess of Mars, Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars, The Chessmen of Mars, Thuvia Maid of Mars, The Mastermind of Mars, and several more whose titles I can't conjure up at the moment).

Johnathan

 

[Storm Raven]

I'd also add some Gene Wolf - specifically, his "Book of the New Sun" series (Shadow of the Torturer, Claw of the Concilliator, Sword of the Archon, Citadel of the Autarch, and Urth of the New Sun) and his "Latro" series (Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete).

For some "swords and ray guns" action, Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars" series is still pretty cool (A Princess of Mars, Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars, The Chessmen of Mars, Thuvia Maid of Mars, The Mastermind of Mars, and several more whose titles I can't conjure up at the moment).

I specifically didn't suggest these because of the science fiction elements that are such a big part of the stories. However, they remain good books, and if someone were to ask me to suggest a list of good fantasy tinged science fiction, they would be at the top of the list.

 

[Storm Raven]

Just wanted to point out that Eddings is about as different a writer than Jordan as one can possibly be. Eddings' books are breezy and humorous. Jordan's books are... not.

I agree. I find Eddings to be reasonably diverting and enjoyable. And find Jordan to be long-winded and dull.

 

[Wombat]

My favourite fantasy?

Tolkein (yes, even with the poems) -- The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, & The Silmarillion
Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books (all of them)
Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by the Rev. C.L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
The Once & Future King by T.H. White
Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory
Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger
King Arthur by P.J.T. Haar
(a host of other Arthurian tales ... I won't get too carried away here, but definitely not including The Mists of Avalon.)
Almost anything by Guy Gavriel Kay, but especially The Lions of al-Rassan
The Fafhrd & Gray Mouser stories of Fritz Leiber (though I drop out with the Rime Isle sequence)
various odds & ends of Lord Dunsany
a fair amount of Tanith Lee (especially Tales of the Flat Earth and The Books of Pardys)

That seems pretty good for the moment.

 

[Eridanis]

On top of Tolkien, Cook, and Kay, I'd recommend:

- Julian May's Plieocene Exile series (4 books): Begin with the Many-Colored Land. It's fantasy flavored with science fiction, or SF flavored with fantasy; I'm not sure which has the upper hand. But if you like time-travel, exploring ancient cultures, psionic hunters on flying mounts, telepathic exploration of the stars, cities of alien fey, and cutthroat politics, I'd heartily recommend it. It's followed by a stand-alone book and a prequel trilogy; start here first, though.

- Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels (nine? ten? books, now?): begin with Jhereg. You'll know it by the "dragon" on the cover that looks just like my avatar. Lead character is a human assassin in a world populated by... well, they're not humans, but Dragaerans. Witty wordplay, derring-do, awesome magics, gritty setting and well-drawn characters are the hallmark of this series. The world of Dragaera is explored in other books (Brokedown Palace and the series that begins with The Phoenix Guards), as well, if you like this. The books are narrated in first-person, and keep in the back of your head that Vlad doesn't know everything he thinks he knows...

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Storm Raven and Wombat have already listed a few that I also highly agree with:

The Face in the Frost - John Bellairs

The Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. LeGuin

LotR, The Hobbit - Tolkein


Here are my additions and all are superb:

Something Wicked this Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

The Majipoor Chronicles - Robert Silverberg (some sci-fi elements but definitly strong fantasy)

The Lyonnesse Trilogy - Jack Vance

The Dying Earth Series - Jack Vance

The Amber Series - Roger Zelazny

The Man of Gold - M.A.R. Baker

The Dresden Files series - Jim Butcher

 

[Pants]

- Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels (nine? ten? books, now?): begin with Jhereg. You'll know it by the "dragon" on the cover that looks just like my avatar. Lead character is a human assassin in a world populated by... well, they're not humans, but Dragaerans. Witty wordplay, derring-do, awesome magics, gritty setting and well-drawn characters are the hallmark of this series. The world of Dragaera is explored in other books (Brokedown Palace and the series that begins with The Phoenix Guards), as well, if you like this. The books are narrated in first-person, and keep in the back of your head that Vlad doesn't know everything he thinks he knows...

I'm reading this now and I'm finding the writing to be decidedly... dodgy. Dodgy enough that's its inhibiting my reading a bit. Hopefully it gets better.

 

[Templetroll]

Here are some I've enjoyed not mentioned above

Tim Powers Drawing of the Dark

Robin Hobb The Farseer Trilogy

Richard Adams Shardik and Watership Down

Andre Norton Quag Keep , the first D&D novel, first with a group of gamers dragged into the game world. There is a second one that was done just a year or so ago, no idea if that is good as I have not read it yet, but I plan to.

E. R. Eddison The Worm Ouroboros

Fred Saberhagen The Books of the Swords and The Books of the Lost Swords

Lawrence Watts-Evans The Lords of Dûs series and the Legends of Ethshar series.