Good, recent Fantasy books

[Olive]

I'm completely out of the loop fantasy-wise and the recent award short lists are pretty sci-fi orientated.

Is there anything good that's come out in the last few years which I should check out?

 

[mmu1]

In no particular order of preference:

R. Scott Baker's "Prince of Nothing" trilogy is fun and well written.

Steven Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series is also pretty good. (though I've heard from a lot of people who it just didn't grab)

Tad Williams' "The War of the Flowers" is a nice modern fantasy.

Steven Brust has had several Draegera / Vlad Taltos books.

Lois McMaster Bujold's "The Curse of Challion" is excellent.

Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" is another good modern fantasy.

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell" by Susanna Clarke is great.

Gene Wolfe's "The Knight" isn't bad, and Wolfe is almost always worth checking out...

Tim Powers also had a couple of new books out in the last few years - "Declare" and "Three Days to Never", and while many of his books can be hard to pin down - is it fantasy, or supernatural thriller, etc. - I like to think of them as modern fantasy. (and he's worth recommending on general principle anyway - "Anubis Gates" and "Last Call" are great, great books)

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I'm beginning to feel like a complete shill for her but Kate Elliot's newest series The Crossroads is just damned good. The first book is Spirit Gate and somehow it gives off the Exalted sort of vibe. Very unique mixture of tropes and has a more Asian-derived than European feel in many ways.

As always I recommend the Runelords if you haven't already read that series. The fifth book is out in hardcover but I'm waiting for softcover like the others.

Naomi Novik's Temeraire series is quite interesting and you can pick up all three published books in paperback in the States. Though it's not quite so much blatant fantasy as alternate history fantasy, and no real magic. Though I just couldn't resist the Napoleonic Wars on Dragons. This is a book where Napoleon invents airmobile infantry tactics in the 19th century.

 

[PhoenixDarkDirk]

I like Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series.

I also agree with the recommendations of Temeraire, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell, and American Gods.

 

[Olive]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Reactions below...

R. Scott Baker's "Prince of Nothing" trilogy is fun and well written.

Steven Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series is also pretty good. (though I've heard from a lot of people who it just didn't grab)

I haven't read either of these and Erikson is so prevelent that I should really read something of his sometime.

Tad Williams' "The War of the Flowers" is a nice modern fantasy.

To be honest most modern fantasy leaves me a bit cold...

Steven Brust has had several Draegera / Vlad Taltos books.

I read half of something of Brust's one time and it didn't grab me at all - Jhereg I think. Should I try other stuff?

Lois McMaster Bujold's "The Curse of Challion" is excellent.

Read this and liked it a lot. Read Paladin of Souls and wasn't quite so impressed.

Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" is another good modern fantasy.

Read it. It's 5 years old! I was really thinking more of the last few years, not this century!

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell" by Susanna Clarke is great.

Yup - fantastic book. Anyone read the short stories one?

Gene Wolfe's "The Knight" isn't bad, and Wolfe is almost always worth checking out...

Like Erikson, I've never read any and always thought I should.

Tim Powers also had a couple of new books out in the last few years - "Declare" and "Three Days to Never", and while many of his books can be hard to pin down - is it fantasy, or supernatural thriller, etc. - I like to think of them as modern fantasy. (and he's worth recommending on general principle anyway - "Anubis Gates" and "Last Call" are great, great books)

Not huge on Powers. I've read Last Call and liked it but couldn't get into the rest of that series. Like I said above, not huge on modern fantasy.

I'm beginning to feel like a complete shill for her but Kate Elliot's newest series The Crossroads is just damned good. The first book is Spirit Gate and somehow it gives off the Exalted sort of vibe. Very unique mixture of tropes and has a more Asian-derived than European feel in many ways.

That sounds cool!

As always I recommend the Runelords if you haven't already read that series. The fifth book is out in hardcover but I'm waiting for softcover like the others.

Nope, never read that.

Naomi Novik's Temeraire

I read this and I was left fairly cold. Read to me like kidult fiction, a bit Harry Potter and the setting just didn't grab me.

I like Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series.

Yeah, I'm hearing a lot about that. It's modern right? With a noir edge? Doesn't sound much like me but I might give it a go. The problem is I also heard you need to read the first two cos number one isn't all that. I'm unlikely to work my way through too books in a genre I'm not wild about.

 

[Soel]

Tim Lebbon's Dusk is a good read. Very bleak and unforgiving setting, with lots of decidedly mature context.

Here's his website. The sequel, Dawn, is coming soon...
http://www.noreela.com/

 

[mmu1]

Hey, you said "the last few years", not "the last couple of years". Five counts as "a few".

Though you clearly have no appreciation for good books, anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter.

 

[00Machado]

I read half of something of Brust's one time and it didn't grab me at all - Jhereg I think. Should I try other stuff?

I'd look at the other suggestions first if by other stuff you mean more vlad taltos books. I read a few more of the vlad taltos books after Jhereg, and ended up liking the first one the best. So if you didn't like that one, maybe you won't like the others any better.

I do highly recommend his To Reign in Hell. An interesting fictionalization and re-imagining of the war in heaven/fallen angels story.

You might also try his Phoenix Guards, though for me, that was a hard one to get through. Too much old style prose, I'd say, and a setting dynamic that I have a bit of a hard time grasping at times. The three musketeers vibe was fun though.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I read this and I was left fairly cold. Read to me like kidult fiction, a bit Harry Potter and the setting just didn't grab me.

It's not a very well thought out setting, and there are elements that have a definite HP vibe but as a complete wre for the Napoleonic Wars and Dragons seperately I couldn't resist the temptation of the Grande Armee carrying out an airborne invasion of Britian via dragon.

 

[Mallus]

If you haven't read any Gene Wolfe, then you owe it to yourself to pick up his Book of the New Sun. They can be read as fantasy, or science fiction, or both, or simply as great literature.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Claw-F...7042425?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176999021&sr=8-1

I also enjoyed Bakkar's Prince of Nothing and Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. And by enjoyed, I mean 'they're the only good fantasy I've read in ages'.