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Best Fantasy Books
For those that are into fantasy books, which would you consider to be worth reading? Ive already read alot of Dragonlance and a few other various ones, but haven't looked much further than that. Ive also had a recommendation to read The Wheel of Time, but im not so sure I wanna jump into a 10+ book series...
If you like Comedy Fantasy, I HIGHLY reccomend Terry Pratchett 
Terry Brooks!!
Start with 'Sword Of Shannara' and go from there; I think there are 14 books total in the series, spanning hundreds of years but you won't need to read them all in order to follow the story. Each book is it's own.
Terry Brooks
Playboy mags. I have lots of fantasies over them
David Eddings Belgariad & Malloreon (8 or 9 books total)
David Eddings Elenium (4 books I think)
Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time (Unfinished Epic, 11 books now or so)
Terry Brooks is really good as Ygrene said, if a bit depressing.
Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga
If you enjoyed Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance books, you should read their Deathgate Cycle series (they even have an incarnation of Fizban)
Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books (First is To Green Angel Tower)
Frank Herbert's Dune series is amazing.
Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series...
That's probably enough for now, all of those are amazing reads.
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| Originally posted by Masonious David Eddings Belgariad & Malloreon (8 or 9 books total) |
The Black Company
Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson
Lord of the rings? 
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Masonious Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Masonious Frank Herbert's Dune series is amazing. |
Dune
Dune by far
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| Originally posted by Sunsnail Dune by far |
I won't be staying 
Surprised not to see this one mentioned:
George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire"
Book four (A Feast for Crows) comes out in November, and there are meant to be 6-7 books in total. Probably the finest fantasy being written at present (unless Robert Jordan picks up the pace significantly in the next book or two of "The Wheel of Time").
I'd also second Tad Williams's "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" (although the first book is The Dragonbone Chair, not To Green Angel Tower as mentioned). And although Jordan's WoT has been maligned of late, the series is still worth reading, in particular the first half dozen volumes.
But if you're not ready to jump into a ~10,000 page epic, and you'd like to read something that's already completed, your best bet is Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Just bear in mind the first volume starts slowly. If you like MS&T (and even if you don't), go with A Song of Ice and Fire next (first book is A Game of Thrones).
Also recommended:
Robin Hobb's "Farseer" trilogy
And of course Dune is great, but that's really science fiction rather than fantasy.
Cool keep em coming, im probably gonna pick one up when I get back.
DragonBone Chair by Tad Williams
I've read almost all of the things mentioned in this thread including dragon lance, terry pratchet, terry brooks, wheel of time, dune series, eddings, lord of the rings, martin, and many others so you might want to pay attention here.
The stuff people suggested
Dune - first of all, its science fiction. Second of all its hard to read in the sense that you have to really think about what youre reading to understand and really get into it. Opressive, especially the later books in the series like children of dune and so on. Saying that, the first Dune book I really enjoyed.
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time - First book rocks,the rest are stretched too thin over too many pages with too many annoying aspects to be worth your time. You wont regret reading the first one though, Ive read it 3 times so far.
Terry Brooks - pass on it, theres much better books by better writers.
Eddings - same
Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga - the man is a terrible writer, I liked him when I was 14, reading him 8 years later is like reading something a kid wrote. Story is too predictable, too formulaic.
Tolkien - Too britishy and cold. Im a huuuge lotr fanboy btw, but objectively its true about his writing.
Dragonlance - basest. fantasy. crap. ever. This is coming from a guy that read probably about 20 books from it. Forgotten realms is much better.
My recomendations:
Gardens of the Moon
This series will kick your ass. I've read more fantasy than most people, and reading this series I was just amazed at the complexity of the world and brilliance of the author. I honest to god read some of the books in the series in under a week, and these ones are 600+ pages long. If you have to choose one series, pick this up. Just don't blame me if you get the urge to burn/wipe your ass with any of dragonlance books you might have foolishly bought once you get into this one.
Oh and the author doesnt like to directly explain his world, so dont get discouraged if you dont get what the hell is going on when you start reading it. If you stick to it, you'll thank me later.
A game of Thrones
Very nice, draws you in, great characters, atmospheric. The author has the balls to kill off characters, and it fully works. Also highly recommended, 2nd on my list.
Terry Pratchett His Discworld series is not in the same category as the above two because its a humour fantasy series, while the other two are dramatic. Its a light enjoyable read where you dont have to think, with most books standalones.
My favourite so far is "The Times" - (from the back cover) "William de Worde is the accidental editor of the Discworld's first newspaper. Now he must cope with the traditional perils of a journalist's life - people who want him dead, a recovering vampire with a suicidal fascination for flash photography, some more people who want him dead in a different way and, worst of all, the man who keeps begging him to publish pictures of his humorously shaped potatoes."
Also, "Monstrous Regiment" - " Polly Oliver has disguised herself as a boy to join the army of Borogravia, which is always at war and bursting with patriotism, though the Borogravians are often less than clear on why they are fighting. But then, as followers of a god who believes that cats, babies, and cheese are abominations, they are used to contradictions; they mostly pray to their duchess, who may be dead. Their latest war has interfered with the commerce of Ankh-Morpork, which has dispatched Sam Vimes to bring matters to a "satisfactory" conclusion."
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if u like cyberpunk, anime, and sumerian mythology, get Snow Crash. Best book I've ever read :P
Oh, speaking of Tolkien, Lord of the Rings is of course good, but The Silmarillion is better. And a short read. Helps to be familiar with LotR first, though.
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