What are the "Classic" Fantasy novels?
- Thread starter nikolai
- Start date
s/LaSH
First Post
All Tolkein. Duh.
I think that the following are probably pretty important too (not books, series; does anyone write standalones these days?):
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Say what you will about it, people will nevertheless say it.
David and Leigh Eddings' Belgariad, etc. Drawing on myth and archetypes, they've build a story that's just fun to read.
Robert E. Howard's Conan tales. Not novels, but nevertheless hugely important to the genre.
Terry Pratchett's Diskworld. Full of Big Important Themes and really funny stuff.
There are probably others, but I'll let others come up with them.
I think that the following are probably pretty important too (not books, series; does anyone write standalones these days?):
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Say what you will about it, people will nevertheless say it.
David and Leigh Eddings' Belgariad, etc. Drawing on myth and archetypes, they've build a story that's just fun to read.
Robert E. Howard's Conan tales. Not novels, but nevertheless hugely important to the genre.
Terry Pratchett's Diskworld. Full of Big Important Themes and really funny stuff.
There are probably others, but I'll let others come up with them.
Silver Moon
Adventurer
Anne McCaffrey's Pern series
Asprin and Abbey's Thieves World series
Piers Anthony Xanth series
Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series.
Asprin and Abbey's Thieves World series
Piers Anthony Xanth series
Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series.
Dark Jezter
First Post
R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels. IIRC, he's the highest-selling modern fantasy author behind Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks.
Orius
Unrepentant DM Supremacist
No one has mentioned it so far, so I'll add Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea. It's been around for a while, long enough to have influenced D&D at any rate.
Personally though, I only read the first book and found it horribly boring. But the other posters have already mentioned Jordan, Martin, Eddings, and Salvatore, and they're not exactly univerisally loved (shrug).
Personally though, I only read the first book and found it horribly boring. But the other posters have already mentioned Jordan, Martin, Eddings, and Salvatore, and they're not exactly univerisally loved (shrug).
Zelany's first five Amber books, the Lord of the Rings, and possibly Howard's Conan books (which I haven't read myself). Maybe a handful of other things. But I'd certainly argue that nothing less than twenty years old is a classic yet, and certainly nothing in an ongoing, tightly-coupled series (Jordan's WoT, GRMM's SoIaF, Rowling's Harry Potter) can be considered a classic yet.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
I tend to think of classics in the genre as 'those that did it first'.
Lord of the Rings. -- The seminal fantasy novel for most of the modern age. The first fantasy book that I am aware of to acheive mainstream recognition as literature worthy of critical acclaim, and thus open up the idea of fantasy lit to more people.
For decades, science fiction was a ghetto of literature, something you didn't tell people you read. Fantasy was the ghetto of the ghetto; you could go to a gathering of SF fans and Fantasy was the Pleasure That Dare Not Speak It's Name. LOTR helped break that.
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison -- Classic work of imagination on several levels; possibly the first fantasy book to include historical timelines and such detail work.
Earthsea -- A classic for being a gentler tale of magic and involved emotions. The world and concept of magic were refreshingly original and the presentation was first rate.
A Wrinkle In Time -- And the associated books; classics for the depth and bredth of pure imagination involved.
Conan -- Conan definately belongs to that 'been there first' catagory, and certain in regards to D&D in particular. Pretty much whatever you've done in a D&D campaign, Conan was there first and did it better. You can almost feel the burning flame of Howard's imagination on the pages, a flame that burned for much to short a time.
Elric -- And associated books. A classic for taking a moribund genre, mired in pale imitations of Conan and King Arthur, ans shattered almost all the genre conventions of the time. Instead of the hero being the muscled warrior slashing down the effete mage, the hero was an anti-hero, was an effete mage, etc etc.
The Fahfrd and Grey Mouser -- The original buddy team of fantasy heroes.
Works from the great classics: Shelley, Verne, Wells, Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, Ray Bradbury
The Swords and Sorceresses series edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley -- Some of the first tales featuring female protagonists.
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany -- Dunsany is one of the first fantacists of the modern era. Pretty much all his stuff is important to an understanding of the genre, esp The Gods of Pegana.
The Deryni Series by Katharine Kurtz -- One of the first fantasy books to deal with persecution.
Lord of the Rings. -- The seminal fantasy novel for most of the modern age. The first fantasy book that I am aware of to acheive mainstream recognition as literature worthy of critical acclaim, and thus open up the idea of fantasy lit to more people.
For decades, science fiction was a ghetto of literature, something you didn't tell people you read. Fantasy was the ghetto of the ghetto; you could go to a gathering of SF fans and Fantasy was the Pleasure That Dare Not Speak It's Name. LOTR helped break that.
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison -- Classic work of imagination on several levels; possibly the first fantasy book to include historical timelines and such detail work.
Earthsea -- A classic for being a gentler tale of magic and involved emotions. The world and concept of magic were refreshingly original and the presentation was first rate.
A Wrinkle In Time -- And the associated books; classics for the depth and bredth of pure imagination involved.
Conan -- Conan definately belongs to that 'been there first' catagory, and certain in regards to D&D in particular. Pretty much whatever you've done in a D&D campaign, Conan was there first and did it better. You can almost feel the burning flame of Howard's imagination on the pages, a flame that burned for much to short a time.
Elric -- And associated books. A classic for taking a moribund genre, mired in pale imitations of Conan and King Arthur, ans shattered almost all the genre conventions of the time. Instead of the hero being the muscled warrior slashing down the effete mage, the hero was an anti-hero, was an effete mage, etc etc.
The Fahfrd and Grey Mouser -- The original buddy team of fantasy heroes.
Works from the great classics: Shelley, Verne, Wells, Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, Ray Bradbury
The Swords and Sorceresses series edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley -- Some of the first tales featuring female protagonists.
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany -- Dunsany is one of the first fantacists of the modern era. Pretty much all his stuff is important to an understanding of the genre, esp The Gods of Pegana.
The Deryni Series by Katharine Kurtz -- One of the first fantasy books to deal with persecution.
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