looking for fantasy adventure books recommendations
- Thread starter Enoch26sf
- Start date
Fallen Seraph
First Post
Well the Bas-Lag books by China Mieville are probably my favourite fantasy books and have played a huge impact on how I create my D&D worlds (thanks in part I already had huge amounts of Steampunk and weird-races in my setting. But his books correlated and melded stuff together so well). The three books are:
- Perdido Street Station
- The Scar
- Iron Council
Oni
First Post
Second this.
rgard
Adventurer
Herremann the Wise
First Post
I would specifically recommend the following:
George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones and the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire series.
Jack Vance - Lyonesse Trilogy
These two I rate above all others. Completely contrasting in style but equally stocked in pure brilliance.
And then...
Raymond E. Feist - Magician, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon
Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
David Gemmel - Drenai series or Rigante, it's all good!
As mentioned above, Erikson is absolutely brilliant but like Mieville, the style and demands upon the reader may not be to everyone's taste. Hobbs' Assassin trilogy is still my favourite by her, although I still highly rate both the Liveship and Soldier Son trilogies.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones and the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire series.
Jack Vance - Lyonesse Trilogy
These two I rate above all others. Completely contrasting in style but equally stocked in pure brilliance.
And then...
Raymond E. Feist - Magician, Silverthorn and Darkness at Sethanon
Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
David Gemmel - Drenai series or Rigante, it's all good!
As mentioned above, Erikson is absolutely brilliant but like Mieville, the style and demands upon the reader may not be to everyone's taste. Hobbs' Assassin trilogy is still my favourite by her, although I still highly rate both the Liveship and Soldier Son trilogies.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
Kez Darksun
Explorer
Book thread, so I have to plug Scott Lynch's books: The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies. Also, another book I enjoyed was The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. If you don't have an aversion to harsh language and violence, I would strongly recommend trying to find Heroes Die, Blade of Tyshalle, and Caine Black Knife by Matthew Woodring Stover.
I'll strongly second Malraux's recommendation of Malazan Books of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson. The best epic fantasy series going, imo. Each book is doorstop huge, and the cast of characters and plot events are very large and very complex. But, if you have any love for epic fantasy, it's hard not to get immediately swept up in the grandness and scope of Erikson's vision.
First book is Gardens of the Moon.
Other great series --
-- If you like Robin Hobb's Liveship trilogy (for me, her weakest), and you haven't tried her Assassin trilogy, you should. Wonderful books, wonderful characters, and although the tone is at times fairly depressing, they are not overwhelmingly so. Her Fool trilogy, a later sequel of three to the Assassin books, is also recommended. Another added bonus is that all three trilogies take place in the same world, so the world you're seeing in the Liveship series has some shared context with these other series.
First book is Assassin's Apprentice.
-- Another staple epic fantasy series is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Epic and engrossing. Warning: really, really, really dark at times. Not a series for the faint of the heart. Another complaint is that it's been taking him a very long time in-between books (Neil Gaiman recently wrote an amusing blog post about this subject, castigating fans who demand a faster turnaround time...I'm too lazy to link it however), but if you're just getting started, there are still four large and wonderful (and depressing, I can't emphasize that enough) books to get through before you run out of material.
First book is A Game of Thrones
-- Switching gears - Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. An unbelievable amount of books (approaching close to 30 now, I believe), and fairly amazing how often Pratchett delivers a wonderful book. The series starts out as humorous fantasy parody, but around the tenth book or so, Pratchett really comes into his own as a wonderful story teller and commentator on life, who just happens to write humorous and engrossing fantasy stories. Impossible to describe briefly, but there are numerous web resources to give you more information, if you are so inclined.
First book is Colour of Magic (although it's a poor starting point, as the above-mentioned web resources will tell you)
-- Steven Brust's Jhereg series is another great set of books. Also hard to describe, and Brust tends to be more experimental than some of the other authors listed above, but he's always entertaining.
First book is Jhereg.
-- My perhaps most controversial recommendation is Robert Jordan's A Wheel of Time. Often lambasted (somewhat deservedly) for some of the later volumes in which not much happens, it still represents a vision and scope and execution rarely pulled off in fantasy books. On the merits of the first three books alone, I think it deserves a recommendation. The series continues even after the author's death, with the next book (presumably third from the end) coming out later this year.
First book is Eye of the World.
Some other quicker recommendations --
- Glen Cook (most people like his Black Company books, I personally like his Garrett, P.I. books more)
- Megan Whalen Turner (a trilogy with the first book, The Thief. Aimed at a more teenaged or younger audience, still is a wonderful set of books)
- Lois McMaster Bujold (I don't recommend her fantasy, but her sci-fi series about Miles Vorkosigan is a wonderful read)
- Neil Gaiman (I like his Sandman comic books better than his fantasy novels...but I loved Sandman, so his fantasy novels are still pretty good. American Gods is a good starting pickup)
First book is Gardens of the Moon.
Other great series --
-- If you like Robin Hobb's Liveship trilogy (for me, her weakest), and you haven't tried her Assassin trilogy, you should. Wonderful books, wonderful characters, and although the tone is at times fairly depressing, they are not overwhelmingly so. Her Fool trilogy, a later sequel of three to the Assassin books, is also recommended. Another added bonus is that all three trilogies take place in the same world, so the world you're seeing in the Liveship series has some shared context with these other series.
First book is Assassin's Apprentice.
-- Another staple epic fantasy series is George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Epic and engrossing. Warning: really, really, really dark at times. Not a series for the faint of the heart. Another complaint is that it's been taking him a very long time in-between books (Neil Gaiman recently wrote an amusing blog post about this subject, castigating fans who demand a faster turnaround time...I'm too lazy to link it however), but if you're just getting started, there are still four large and wonderful (and depressing, I can't emphasize that enough) books to get through before you run out of material.
First book is A Game of Thrones
-- Switching gears - Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. An unbelievable amount of books (approaching close to 30 now, I believe), and fairly amazing how often Pratchett delivers a wonderful book. The series starts out as humorous fantasy parody, but around the tenth book or so, Pratchett really comes into his own as a wonderful story teller and commentator on life, who just happens to write humorous and engrossing fantasy stories. Impossible to describe briefly, but there are numerous web resources to give you more information, if you are so inclined.
First book is Colour of Magic (although it's a poor starting point, as the above-mentioned web resources will tell you)
-- Steven Brust's Jhereg series is another great set of books. Also hard to describe, and Brust tends to be more experimental than some of the other authors listed above, but he's always entertaining.
First book is Jhereg.
-- My perhaps most controversial recommendation is Robert Jordan's A Wheel of Time. Often lambasted (somewhat deservedly) for some of the later volumes in which not much happens, it still represents a vision and scope and execution rarely pulled off in fantasy books. On the merits of the first three books alone, I think it deserves a recommendation. The series continues even after the author's death, with the next book (presumably third from the end) coming out later this year.
First book is Eye of the World.
Some other quicker recommendations --
- Glen Cook (most people like his Black Company books, I personally like his Garrett, P.I. books more)
- Megan Whalen Turner (a trilogy with the first book, The Thief. Aimed at a more teenaged or younger audience, still is a wonderful set of books)
- Lois McMaster Bujold (I don't recommend her fantasy, but her sci-fi series about Miles Vorkosigan is a wonderful read)
- Neil Gaiman (I like his Sandman comic books better than his fantasy novels...but I loved Sandman, so his fantasy novels are still pretty good. American Gods is a good starting pickup)
Sagawork_Studios
First Post
JON MARCO
The Eyes of God
The Devil's Armor
The Sword of Angels
DAVID GEMMELL (all his books are linked in one way or another, but I have tried to group these as best I can to give the best impact.)
Morningstar
Knights of Dark Renown
Waylander
In the realm of the Wolf
Hero in the Shadows
Winter Warriors
The first chronicles of Druss the Legend
Legend
The Legend of Deathwalker
The King Beyond the Gate
Quest for Lost Heroes
White Wolf
The Swords of Night and Day
Ironhand's Daughter
The Hawk Eternal
Sword in the Storm
Midnight Falcon
Ravenheart
Stormrider
Lion of Macedon
Dark Prince
Lord of the Silver Bow
Shield of Thunder
Fall of Kings
Ghost King
The Last Sword of Power
Wolf in Shadow
The Last Guardian
Bloodstone
I sorta don't know what to do with these two:
Echoes of the Great Song; you could probably read that after The Swords of Night and Day.
Dark Moon; maybe after Echoes of the Great Song.
The beauty of Gemmell's work is that you will see glimpses of his other tales if you have the eyes to see them. As you read more of his books, you will not just see his fantasy world, but a multiverse open up to you.
Of course, someone will eventually post that I am completely wrong in my grouping, but in my defense, some of the links in his books are quite incestuous; in that they link over and back and it sometimes difficult to know where to start). In any case I hope this helps; Gemmell's books are a wonderful mess to get involved in. I started with Morningstar so that seemed as good a place as any.
The Eyes of God
The Devil's Armor
The Sword of Angels
DAVID GEMMELL (all his books are linked in one way or another, but I have tried to group these as best I can to give the best impact.)
Morningstar
Knights of Dark Renown
Waylander
In the realm of the Wolf
Hero in the Shadows
Winter Warriors
The first chronicles of Druss the Legend
Legend
The Legend of Deathwalker
The King Beyond the Gate
Quest for Lost Heroes
White Wolf
The Swords of Night and Day
Ironhand's Daughter
The Hawk Eternal
Sword in the Storm
Midnight Falcon
Ravenheart
Stormrider
Lion of Macedon
Dark Prince
Lord of the Silver Bow
Shield of Thunder
Fall of Kings
Ghost King
The Last Sword of Power
Wolf in Shadow
The Last Guardian
Bloodstone
I sorta don't know what to do with these two:
Echoes of the Great Song; you could probably read that after The Swords of Night and Day.
Dark Moon; maybe after Echoes of the Great Song.
The beauty of Gemmell's work is that you will see glimpses of his other tales if you have the eyes to see them. As you read more of his books, you will not just see his fantasy world, but a multiverse open up to you.
Of course, someone will eventually post that I am completely wrong in my grouping, but in my defense, some of the links in his books are quite incestuous; in that they link over and back and it sometimes difficult to know where to start). In any case I hope this helps; Gemmell's books are a wonderful mess to get involved in. I started with Morningstar so that seemed as good a place as any.
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