[OT] Which do you think are the best fantasy novels/authors?

[barsoomcore]

These threads keep popping up, and I keep plugging the same three names.

Glen Cook
It's very rewarding, after fifteen years since The Black Company was published, to see his name getting mentioned a lot in these sorts of discussions. I never read any of his other books -- I'm sure they're great, but as far as I'm concerned, The Black Company is the one. I love those crazy guys and girls -- anyone notice how pretty much any woman who comes within a mile of the Black Company always turns out to be completely insane? Just something I noticed.

Steven Brust
Another fifteen-year saga, watching this incredibly talented author slowly become better and better known. My admiration for Brust's skill is immense. Honestly, I think he's one of the most talented writers in the English language today. He can make the English language do anything. The Vlad books are great (and getting better) but for a real treat, read The Sun, the Moon and the Stars and Agyar. Both go places fantasy almost never goes.

You might say neither is a fantasy novel, fair enough. Read them anyway.

Steven Erikson
Until I picked up Gardens of the Moon, reluctantly, only on the recommendation of a much-trusted friend (the fellow who once introduced me to Horatio Hornblower), I would have sworn I would never read another epic fantasy series again. Tried and failed to read David Eddings. Tried and failed to read Robert Jordan. Tried and failed to read Tad Williams, Guy Gavriel Kay and George R. R. Martin. Always I felt like I'd read it before, like there was no real reason to read these books.

Erikson has changed all that for me with his Malazan Books of the Fallen. House of Chains, the newest one (available at amazon.co.uk) isn't the emotional powerhouse the last two have been, but instead fills in a lot of details and sets up massive confrontations for the future, while completing a grim and tragic cycle in a family's destiny. It's great. But Memories of Ice? Man, I had to put that book down every now and then and go for a walk along the beach -- I was too upset to read any more. A nervewracking, shattering book. And Deadhouse Gates, before it, was a 600-page car crash, a horrible tragedy of a book that illustrated so beautifully how hard people will struggle to survive -- and how little it matters sometimes.

Steven Erikson. This is the man whose books you should be reading. Buying, however you can, and reading. I can't say it loudly enough.

Read Steven Erikson.

And for those discussion LotR's status as a novel or an epic romance -- I believe the term the Professor himself used was fairy story. I believe it's the best term.

 

[CCamfield]

Glen Cook
It's very rewarding, after fifteen years since The Black Company was published, to see his name getting mentioned a lot in these sorts of discussions. I never read any of his other books -- I'm sure they're great, but as far as I'm concerned, The Black Company is the one. I love those crazy guys and girls -- anyone notice how pretty much any woman who comes within a mile of the Black Company always turns out to be completely insane? Just something I noticed.

A lot of Cook's earlier work isn't all that great in my opinion, but you really should give a Garrett PI novel a try sometime. They're a lot of fun - cross pretty traditional fantasy with hard-boiled detective novels. The carnivorous unicorns and his vampires in the first book are particularly good, but unfortunately I think it's out of print.

 

[Terraism]

Re: Eddings

I have no idea if this is true. I am certainly willing to believe it, as reading the Belgariad was one of the most painful experiences of my life. I don't think it could be considered anything better than competent, by any novel-writing standard, and any reasons for it's continued popularity elude me.

I know I've always enjoyed the series for the characters - yeah, they might be a little cliched, but I swear, there's times when I'm reading thosse and realize that I know some of them...

 

[mmu1]

Steven Brust
Another fifteen-year saga, watching this incredibly talented author slowly become better and better known. My admiration for Brust's skill is immense. Honestly, I think he's one of the most talented writers in the English language today. He can make the English language do anything. The Vlad books are great (and getting better) but for a real treat, read The Sun, the Moon and the Stars and Agyar. Both go places fantasy almost never goes.

Just got his newest one, "The Paths of the Dead" today, incidentally. It's the follow on to "500 years later", and it's a pretty good read so far.

 

[Kip the Bold]

Just thought I'd throw in some of my favorite fantasy authors:

Tolkein The grand old master. If he hadn't written Lord of the Rings, none of us would be posting on this message board today.

Robert Jordan Yes, the Wheel of Time has gone on for too many books. Yes, it drags occasionally. But it really is a pretty good series and provides lots of inspiration for DnD.

George R.R. Martin The Song of Ice and Fire is the one of the best fantasy series I've read in a long time. I hope he doesn't screw it up by continuing the series for too long, like some other people.

Robin Hobb The Farseer trilogy and the Liveship trilogy were both pretty good fantasy series.

Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn was a pretty cool fantasy series. Not the best thing I've ever read, but it kept me entertained. There are an eeire number of similarities to Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, but that's a topic for another thread

Terry Pratchet I thought I would hate Terry Pratchet. Humor and Fantasy? Nah, that's gotta be lame, I thought. I was glad I decided to try it anyways. The discworld series is almost all good. Most of his books tell pretty good fantasy stories with a wacky sense of humor. Small Gods is probably one of my favorites. Also, Good Omens co-written with Neil Gaiman is excellent.

Fritz Leiber Fahfard and the Grey Mouser are what I would like all my PCs to be like 90% of his stories are great, the other 10% are passable.

R.A. Salvatore I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but when I was a teenager I totally loved the Dark Elf trilogy and the Cystal Shard trilogy. Senseless scimitar slashing slaughter. Good times, good times. I haven't actually read anything by him in years, Starless Legacy Night or something was the last book I read and it totally blurred together with the one before it.

J.K. Rowling Ok, Harry Potter is not on the same level as the Lord of the Rings or a Song of Ice and fire. But I was entertained by this series, I'll admit it. There are far worse things out there.

Neil Gaiman I've only read two real books (plenty of comics, though) by him, Small Gods and Stardust, but they wer both very good.

H.P. Lovecraft Good, evil, creepy weird fun.

Well, thats all I can think of right now, I am sure there are more.[

 

[Kip the Bold]

Not exactly on topic, but these are some fantasy authors that I dislike...

Terry Brooks Sword of Shanara was OK, but it seemed like every other book he wrote was just Sword of Shanara all over again. Stopped reading his books somewhere around the 2nd book of his second series.

Donaldson I don't know. I had heard good things about him, and bad things. I couldn't get 1/4 of the way through the first book. Thomas Covenant just is not cool. I might try it again, someday.

Moorcock I know, I know, blasphemy. I kinda liked some of the Elric series, but almost everything else I've read by him (Corum, assorted others) was basically garbage.

Well, I am sure there are more that I dislike but these are all I can think of right now.

 

[WizarDru]

What do you find so objectionable about Lackey? She's actualy one of my favorite fantasy authors, and (IMO) even if you don't like her writing, her world is pretty cool. I didn't mention her here because I wouldn't say her works are "great literature" or anything... they are just fun.

Except maybe for The Last Herald Mage... that series pretty much managed to depress the heck out of me time and time again. Still, I do see Vanyel as being both one of the most (at the same time, strangely) heroic and one of the most human characters she has wrote about.

Well, seeing as The Last Herald Mage was the only thing that I've actually managed to read by her, that may be it. I hated "Magic's Pawn", and couldn't drag myself to read anything else by her. A cursory inspection of "Arrow of the Queen" did nothing to change my perspective.

I had the same problem with Vanyel that I did with Thomas Covenant....I couldn't stand them. Both being whiny, and both retreating in different ways and directions, but neither having any qualities I could appreciate. Unlike TC (where I stopped reading the book shortly after he performs an act I just couldn't stomach), I finished "Magic's Pawn"...but I found it irritating enough that I avoided the rest of the series, and Lackey in general. I also don't particularly like her style, but that has nothing to do with her talent. Her writing, however, struck me mostly as thinly-vieled romance novel work, with a fantasy world stuck in. A friend, who finished the series, told me the next book was considerably better...but then told me the third book was even worse.

 

[Tsyr]

Well, seeing as The Last Herald Mage was the only thing that I've actually managed to read by her, that may be it. I hated "Magic's Pawn", and couldn't drag myself to read anything else by her. A cursory inspection of "Arrow of the Queen" did nothing to change my perspective.

I had the same problem with Vanyel that I did with Thomas Covenant....I couldn't stand them. Both being whiny, and both retreating in different ways and directions, but neither having any qualities I could appreciate. Unlike TC (where I stopped reading the book shortly after he performs an act I just couldn't stomach), I finished "Magic's Pawn"...but I found it irritating enough that I avoided the rest of the series, and Lackey in general. I also don't particularly like her style, but that has nothing to do with her talent. Her writing, however, struck me mostly as thinly-vieled romance novel work, with a fantasy world stuck in. A friend, who finished the series, told me the next book was considerably better...but then told me the third book was even worse.

That's Vanyel for you. He _IS_ a whiny little bugger in the first book. He isn't in the next two. His character developed beyond that. In the second book he's heroic. In the third he's downright noble.

The third book is really depressing, yes, but he's not near as angsty as in the first... until the very end, where some really, really, really bad stuff happens to him.

Arrows of the Queen was the first book Lackey wrote... her style was a bit different then. I didn't enjoy Arrows of the Queen all that much, either.

And you do have a point... her stores do tend to come off (sometimes) like a romance novel... That's not always true, of course, but it does happen sometimes. She definetly writes more about the people and less about the whiz-bang of the world, that's true.

But you really shouldn't judge Lackey just by Magic's Pawn... It's a book of pure angst. No denying that. It's not indicative of her work as a whole.

If you don't think you like Lackey, I urge you to go find a copy of "Storm Warning" in a used bookstore and give it a read. It's one of her better series. Some parts of it won't make a ton of sense if you aren't familiar with the Mage Winds series... the characters of Elspeth, An'Desha and Firesong, for example... but I (stupidly) read it before the Mage Winds series, and still managed OK.

 

[Imhotepthewise]

You asked my opinion. None below will win a literature award. They are just what I like.

I also agree with many other authors others have suggested, but will not repeat them.

Norman, John (please don't bother to flame: this is one of MY favorites, doesn't have to be yours). Get out your highlighter and eliminate any paragraphs that deal with a woman's natural inclination for slavery. Read the rest. A large story arc about the fall from one's ideals and realizing that to survive against the worst of enemies, a person must see themselves for what they really are. When times are bad, I read favorite sections of several of the novels. The battle on the Central Cylinder with Pa-Kur in Tarnsman. The Battle of Turia in Nomads. The Ubar's Race in Assassin. The sea battle with Cos and Tyros in Raiders. The stockade of Sarus in Hunters. All of Marauders.

Alan Burt Akers/Dray Prescot - A fantasy world that’s full and interesting. Dray is a paladin in spite of himself. Fun.

Edgar Rice Burroughs - Mars, Venus, Africa, etc. Lots of kewl ideas without any base in logic. Again, Fun.

Poul Anderson (R.I.P.) - Hrolf Kraki's Saga is another story I read for inspiration. Great heroes with great faults.

Master of Five Magics. Can't remember the author off the top of my head.

Robert Adams. Horseclans. Lots of genres combined for some entertaining, sometimes repetitive, stories. Great characters, great fun.

 

[Tsyr]

Unlike TC (where I stopped reading the book shortly after he performs an act I just couldn't stomach

Would that have been right about 100 pages into the first book?

I remember that scene...

It sorta set my hatred for the series too, though I did finish reading them (I have a personal problem with not finishing a book series I start, no matter how much I hate it).