High Magic Wizardry novels?

[Zaran]

Hi there.

I'm going on a trip next week and I'm looking for a book or two to read while I'm away. I've always had a hard time picking out good fantasy books to read. I especially like stories about wizards. I have read Dragonlance. Deathgate Saga. The Winds of the Forelands. Raymond Feist. Tolkien.

Are there any books of wizards or sorcerers that you think I would like?

 

[jonesy]

If you like Dragonlance, there's the Defenders of Magic trilogy. It's all about wizards. Best DL trilogy in my opinion.

 

[Zaran]

I think I have read that series but I'm not too sure about that. It looks like those books are out of print.

 

[Pbartender]

For something just a little bit different from the usual fantasy magic stories, try Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede.

 

[Zaran]

For something just a little bit different from the usual fantasy magic stories, try Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede.

Sounds interesting but alas I have to be able to purchase a copy. =) It's out of print as well.

 

[jonesy]

I think I have read that series but I'm not too sure about that. It looks like those books are out of print.

Oh? Amazon seems to have all three.

Have you read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?

 

[Nagol]

Glen Cook's Dread Empire series.

The first book is A Shadow of All Night Falling, though I believe there are a couple of prequels.

 

[S'mon]

Rhialto the Marvellous, by Jack Vance. Very high magic!

 

[Pbartender]

Sounds interesting but alas I have to be able to purchase a copy. =) It's out of print as well.

If you don't mind a used copy, you can get the paperback through Amazon for as little as 44 cents, not including shipping.

A brand new copy of the paperback goes for more than $300! Yikes!

Borrowing a copy form the local library is out of the question?

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

There are several terrific YA book series that would fit these goals. YA books means that they are not aimed at adults, but IMO the better YA books stand up well to reading by adults.

I would check out "So You Want to be a Wizard" by Diane Duane, along with the sequels (Deep Wizardry, High Wizardry, etc.) The books are about wizards in the modern world who secretly defend against the forces of entropy, having fantastic adventures (sometimes in alternate primes, sometimes in strange settings in our own universe) along the way.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, Ptolemy's Gate) are a set of books with a really interesting magic system, entirely based on summoning spirits/demons. One of the main characters is a not very powerful but very arrogant and clever spirit. They're fun and very interesting, in a quite high-magic setting.

Finally, for classic tales of wizardry, I would start with Ursula K. LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea trilogy (A Wizard of Earthsea, Tombs of Atuan, the Farthest Shore, later followed by Tehanu.) A Wizard of Earthsea in particular is terrific.