Recommend five (and only five) fantasy books

[Hypersmurf]

There are many other books I'd mention, but they are first books in a series and it really wouldn't be right to mention them.

... which is why you ensured that none of the others you mentioned were from a series?

-Hyp.

 

[trancejeremy]

World Without End by Sean Russell
http://www.amazon.com/World-without...6648053?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181630063&sr=8-9

Compass of the Soul by Sean Russell
http://www.amazon.com/Compass-Soul-...6648053?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181629949&sr=8-6

The Unwilling Warlord by Lawrence Watt-Evans
http://www.amazon.com/Unwilling-War...6648053?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181630225&sr=8-1

King of the Grey by Richard Knaak

Darknesss Weaves by Karl Wagner

 

[The Human Target]

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.
Thieves' World edited by Robert Asprin
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Honorable mentions to....
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper


That was actually pretty easy.

 

[Brakkart]

Only 5 books and a Trilogy counts as 3? Man that's a tall order. I'm going to go with:

Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest all by Robin Hobb, which form the Farseer Trilogy.

Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden.

Dracula by Bram Stoker.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Only five, huh?

1) Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny (sci-fi/fantasy, perhaps; would it be cheating to list the Amber anthology as one book?)
2) The Eternal Champion, Michael Moorcock (John Daker was always the most interesting of Moorcock's characters to me, even moreso than Elric)
3) Black Sun Rising, by C.S. Friedman (again, sort of sci-fi/fantasy, but featuring one of the greatest characters in fiction ever, IMO, Gerald Tarrant)
4) Saga of Old City, E. Gary Gygax
5) The Crystal Shard, R.A. Salvatore (his best work, IMO, and a great book)

 

[Wild Gazebo]

Alice in Wonderland
Sword of Shannara
Imajica
The Hobbit
A Game of Thrones

 

[Priest_Sidran]

1. Bardic Voices, Mercedes Lackey (Really three seperate books in one volume but very good)
2. Witchworld, Andre Norton (From the Grand Dame of Science Fiction, and from she who wrote Quag Keep)
3. Harts Hope, Orson Scott Card (Awesome fantasy story)
4. Sabriel, Garth Nyx
5. Earthsea, by Ursula K. Leguin

All of these stories have inspired me to want to write/play/dm at one point or another. Andre Norton happens to be the first author I read when I first started reading fiction, so she has a special place in my heart. That said Bardic Voices and its follow up books Four and Twenty Blackbirds, and a Cast of Corbies are perhaps my all time favorite book of any genre).

 

[meomwt]

Only five? Hmm, lets see:

The Dragonbone Chair (first in the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn sequence, a great re-imagining of the fantasy genre, influenced by Tolkien's sources without a complete rip-off of the style)

Perdido Street Station (another fantasy which strikes out on its own course)

Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus (Gothic fantasy at its best, with an ambiguous ending which lets the reader determine the protagonists' fate)

Northern Lights (Pullman's starter on His Dark Materials trilogy which is inventive and playful)

Magician (Raymond E. Feist's first fantasy, which takes place over a periof of years - and feels like it - taking in magic, intrigue, warfare, politics and foreign culture. First read 25 years ago and still an influence today)

 

[sckeener]

Most of my favorites have already been mentioned.

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny
Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson

I'd love to list more...but others are listing them...

 

[WayneLigon]

... which is why you ensured that none of the others you mentioned were from a series?

Storm Front and Jhereg are both the first books and are not really the first third of a book; they are self-contained in and of themselves.