want fantasy novel recommendation

[Darkwolf71]

I would certainly recommend reading the Fritz Lieber and R.E. Howard books in english.

Somebody recommended Daughter of the Empire, but I always thought that the Riftwar saga was the better of the two series. Both are good, I just prefer the latter. Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master, Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon. Written by Raymond E. Feist

 

[Atlatl Jones]

Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos books (except arguably Teckla and to a lesser extent Phoenix). The Book of Jhereg is the first three books in the series by publication date.

I second this. The Vlad Taltos books are tons of fun, and are short, easy reads.

Roger Zelazny in the original English would also be good reads. The writing is clear, but he occasionally uses poetic language, which might not be clear in a literal translation. Lord of Light is excellent, and the first five books of the Chronicles of Amber are fantastic.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin would be another classic read.

The Lord of the Rings is indeed an intimidating book, but have you read The Hobbit? It's written in a less longwinded style, and is a really fun adventure story.

 

[Raul]

Try this one

Skien of Shadows by the Wandering Men a group of outdoor adventuring writers. It is a collection of five novellas that are threaded with one another for a shattering conclusion. Fast paced and fun read.

 

[GreenLantern]

Somebody recommended Daughter of the Empire, but I always thought that the Riftwar saga was the better of the two series. Both are good, I just prefer the latter. Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master, Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon. Written by Raymond E. Feist

That would be me. I'm a big fan of Feist, and I am quite fond of the Riftwar books. That said, I think his best work was with Janny Wurts, whom me worked with on the Daughter of the Empire Trilogy -- very evocative setting, great political intrigue, and a terrific plot and characterizations as well.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I would go farther than a Wizard of Earthsea by LeGuin and go for the whole original trilogy. The books are short in length but really deliver a full story. The later books after the trilogy seemed to me to be more of a "I need more money" thing.

I am surprised no one has mentioned the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony. This is not a typical fantasy series but it can be interesting. The main thing to watch out for before reading it is that there may be parts that might not make as much sense to those not familiar with the English language because Anthony relies on puns and other language tricks to add a higher level of humor on top of the main story. This is not to say the main stories arn't good in thier own right, just that there is an extra layer available. Also while there are 20+ books in the series it is not really a continuing story but rather individual novels all set in the same world.

Another series to consider is Ann McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. Sure there are tons of books now but again most just share a common world. Try starting with the Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums trilogy. Each book is short and they give a good overview of the world. They also work really well as a stand alone trilogy. If you like them you can move on to many of the other ones with ease.

One last thing to try would be the Thieves World stories. This is a shared universe set up by Robert Lynn Asprin and written in by a number of authors. The original books are a collection of short stories where each author focuses on one particular character which is theirs but can also use the other characters if needed. Again this has turned into a large series but it not necessary to read everything to appreciate it. The advantage to this is that you can sample the stories by many authors and see if there are any that you like enough to try some of their individual works.

 

[Rackhir]

Konichi wa.

Glenn Cook has a couple of terrific fantasy series.

The Black Company series tells the tale of a mercenary force that goes to work for the Bad Guys!

The Dread Empire series by Cook is another great one. Recently reprinted in two omnibus (multiple books in one) volumes.

The Garret novels. These are basically Film Noir fantasy novels, complete with a hard boiled detective, mob bosses and dames who mean trouble.

As much as I like Prattchet's stuff, they aren't necessarily a great choice for a non-native speaker since there's a lot of puns and "in-jokes". But you might still enjoy them. They are short for the most part and they could teach you a lot. I would try "Guards,Guards!" or "Small Gods" first.

David Webber has a fantasy trilogy out there. The first two books are terrific reads, the third isn't nearly as good though. The first two books are "Oath of Swords" and "The War God's Own". If you're inclined to try some science fiction, his Honor Harrington books are some of my favorite books ever written (they do start getting political in the last couple of books though). He's got a lot of other great Science Fiction novels as well.

Steven Brusts books are good, but do start getting political towards the end of the series. I can definitely recommend the first few books though. You should probably avoid the "Phoenix Guard" series, they're written as a fantasy version of "The Three/Four Musketeers" and have heavily archaic language.

Zelazny has another two book fantasy series. Changling and Madwand that I really liked. They are kind of old so you might have trouble tracking them down. Lord of Light by Zelazny is also a terrific book, it's based on Hindu Mythology and makes a nice change from all of the pseudo-medieval europe based fantasies.

While normally, I wouldn't recommend this, Terry Brooks "The Sword of Shannara" is him plagiarizing The Lord of the Rings, only in simpler language and without all the background. So it might be more suitable for you, yet still give you an idea of what Lord of the Rings is like. Then again you might be better off just watching the movies.

The first couple of Anita Blake Vampire hunter books by Laurrel K Hamilton are terrific. The later books start veering into bad porn though.

Larry Nivens has a couple of fantasy novels. One is "The Magic Goes Away". They aren't strictly speaking fantasy, but the Dream Park Novels are set in a Super-Disney Land/Live Action Roll Playing Game Park, where real people basically run through a "fantasy" adventure done with holograms and other special effects. Dream Park is the first Book. The California Voodoo Game is the third. The second books isn't that interesting, so I'd skip it.

The Myth-Adventures books by Robert Asprin are very funny. While there's a lot of puns, most of them aren't crucial to understanding the plot. There's also an absolutely terrific comic book adaptation of the first novel, that manages to be better than the book in every way. It was done by Phil Foglio

http://studiofoglio.com/Merchant2/m...F&Product_Code=STF208&Category_Code=The_Books

You might want to check out his Girl Genius web comic as well. It's "steampunk" or "gas light fantasy". Very funny and a great story over all

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/

the story starts here

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104

David Eddings "Belgariad" series is a great read.

 

[sckeener]

I highly recommend

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Winn Sanderson
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

I'd type more about them...but I'm pressed for time...I'm sure someone else can chime the merits.

 

[Dioltach]

I think that for someone whose command of English isn't perfect, you might want to steer away from some of the novels suggested here. They might be great reading, but you'd probably miss out a lot by not understanding everything, or else have to struggle to read them.

I'd suggest the Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander (starting with The Book of Three): short sentences, clear language, and on top of that believable, likable characters and a great story.

 

[Aus_Snow]

The Earthsea trilogy, by Ursula LeGuin.
The Broken Sword, by Poul Anderson.

They are both classics, in my opinion. And they are what come to mind at the moment. I'll see what else looks good in my library.

 

[Kunimatyu]

Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser is a great series -- you've chosen well!

Unfortunately, few books in all of fantasy are as good.

The "Thieves' World" series would be good to try -- it's a group of short stories set in a seedy Middle Eastern-like city. Many different fantasy authors contribute.