Fantasy Recommended Reading

[Zaukrie]

Guy Kay is the best writer, but his books contain little of the fantastic. There isn't one that I have not enjoyed.

George Martin's books interest me the most right now, little fantasy, and my never finish.

Steven Brust's writing is of 2 main schools, the Vlad series are easy to read and very entertaining, the Phoenix Guards books are written quite differently, but great reads.

Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Pasks..is perhaps the best depiction of military life that seems realistic in fantasy, and then gets more fantastic as the series develops.

Julian May's Plieocene Exile series is awesome.

CS Friedman's ColdFire series (or something like that) is original, has some characters that aren't black and white, a great read..

Riftwar saga is very, very good.

There are hundreds to read (and lucky you, you haven't read them yet!).

 

[Joshua Randall]

For more Classics of Fantasy discussion:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=76014

 

[Lockridge]

I'll second the nomination for the Thomas Covenant Chronicles by Stephen R. Donaldson. Warning though: people seem to either love it or hate it.

 

[Mark Hope]

Massive thumbs-up to Guy Gavriel Kay, Robert Howard, Julian May and Clive Barker.

Clive Barker in particular doesn't get recommended enough, as he has an undeserved reputation as a horror writer. Read Imajica even if you never read any other book in your life . Weaveworld is another incredible fantasy by him, as are the Books of the Art (specifically Great and Secret Show and Everville) and the Abarat books. Yes, his stories are grounded in the real world, but they feature parallel worlds, fantastic realms, magic, monsters, gods and dreams all come to fantasmagoric life. His capacity for invention is unrivalled by most "mainstream" fantasy authors and his writing is a beauty to read. Awesome. Simply awesome.

Also agree with recommendations for Stephen Donaldson (but skip the long-winded Covenant series and read the much more tightly-plotted and engaging Mordant's Need books - Mirror of her Dreams and A Man Rides Through), David Eddings (stick with the Belgariad, then stop before wasting time on the Malloreon), Joel Rosenberg (gaming as life - brilliant stuff) and Raymond Feist (The first three books are wonderful - gets a bit samey after that imho). Yeah, and Moorcock of course...

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Another recommendation for Moon's: 'The Deed of Paksenarion'. From a D&D campaign, more or less. You even get to see Hommlet, again more or less.

For something no one else has recommended yet: C. J. Cherryh's Gate of Ivral series. It's got sci-fi elements, but is mostly fantasy. (Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth, and Exile's Gate.)

And Holly Lisle's Faia series. (Fire in the Mist, Bones of the Past, and Mind of the Magic.)

 

[Mark Hope]

For something no one else has recommended yet: C. J. Cherryh's Gate of Ivral series. It's got sci-fi elements, but is mostly fantasy. (Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth, and Exile's Gate.)

Yes, those are excellent! I couldn't recall the names of the books. Very curious, atmospheric feel to them. Original and engrossing.

 

[Brakkart]

No-one has mentioned them yet so I'll add in:

The Book of Words Trilogy by J.V. Jones (Baker's Boy, A Man Betrayed, Master and Fool).

And I'll add another vote for the superb Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb.

And the Discworld novels featuring Sam Vimes are brilliant (not so fond of the other groups of characters though).

 

[mmadsen]

For more Classics of Fantasy discussion:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=76014

I was going to hunt that thread down! The opening post:

The Wizards of the Coast books page generally discusses upcoming Wizards of the Coast books -- so I never gave it a look. Then, one day, a web search brought me to one of their excellent "Classics of Fantasy" articles. I found a number of "Classics of Fantasy" articles in the archives:

Hobberdy Dick
The Hobbit
The Books of Wonder
Tales of Averoigne
The Book of Three Dragons
Watership Down
The Night Land
The Face in the Frost
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Worm Ouroboros
Bridge of Birds
A Voyage to Arcturus
Silverlock
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Collected Ghost Stories
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
The Well at the World's End​

 

[Templetroll]

I'll second the nomination for the Thomas Covenant Chronicles by Stephen R. Donaldson. Warning though: people seem to either love it or hate it.

I loved the first trilogy but the character was so despicable that I never wanted to read anything about him again. Excellent writing to engender such strong feeling.

 

[Lockridge]

I loved the first trilogy but the character was so despicable that I never wanted to read anything about him again. Excellent writing to engender such strong feeling.

And that is what makes the character and writing so interesting - and so polarized.