Fantasy book suggestions please

[Talwyn]

Any book by David Gemmell is a fantastic read

[luvB5]

You might like the Jim Butcher, Dresden Files series. Very noir urban fantasy and funny to boot. Racher Caine's Weather Warden series is good. Also, Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking series. Kelly Armstrong's stuff deserves a strong mention too. It's a good time for fantasy right now. In a classic mood: Fritz Leiber's Gray Mouser series works well.

[Karachi Vyce]

The Thomas Covenant books are well worth the read, but I find I have to be in the right state of mind. I'm more of a traditionalist at heart and I want my heroes likable. There are a lot of times I just can't like Covenant. This isn't a criticism of the books -- it's part of what makes them unique. I devoured the first trilogy when it came out and I've read it several times since. There are just times when I won't enjoy them because Covenant is beyond a flawed hero.

I've read the first book, haven't bothered with the rest.

He's more than just unlikable, he's despicable. He RAPED someone little more than a child. And then just pisses & moans the rest of the book about him being a leper.

Screw that.

Oh, and Donaldson's writing in that is so oddly dense and archaic at times that it just gave me headaches.

[WorkerCaste]

The Thomas Covenant books are well worth the read, but I find I have to be in the right state of mind. I'm more of a traditionalist at heart and I want my heroes likable. There are a lot of times I just can't like Covenant. This isn't a criticism of the books -- it's part of what makes them unique. I devoured the first trilogy when it came out and I've read it several times since. There are just times when I won't enjoy them because Covenant is beyond a flawed hero.

[AaronB]

A truly excellent fantasy book series that I would enthusiastically recomment id "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by Stephen R. Donaldson. This series was a trilogy (starting with the book, "Lord Foul's Bane").

The story deals with a modern day man who has become very ill and his life has been collapsing around him. His wife has left him and he struggles alone until one day he is injured and collapses. When he awakes, he is in a unknown land where his wedding ring (which he never removed) has magical power being made from white gold (rare in this new land).

Convinced he is in a dream, he behaves pretty badly. But the residents recognize him (and his ring) as a savior prrophesized to them from legends.

This series is really entertaining and is certainly a fantasy series (fight against evil, orcs, demons, magic, etc).... the series was so popular that ultimately a second trilogy sequel was also written... but the first was the best.

Hope some of you give it a try... you won't be sorry.

There is now a third trilogy coming out as well. I think that two of the three books are already out. The major problem I have with Donaldson is that he is way too descriptive some times. Having said that, I do like the books.

[jonodan]

A truly excellent fantasy book series that I would enthusiastically recomment id "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by Stephen R. Donaldson. This series was a trilogy (starting with the book, "Lord Foul's Bane").

The story deals with a modern day man who has become very ill and his life has been collapsing around him. His wife has left him and he struggles alone until one day he is injured and collapses. When he awakes, he is in a unknown land where his wedding ring (which he never removed) has magical power being made from white gold (rare in this new land).

Convinced he is in a dream, he behaves pretty badly. But the residents recognize him (and his ring) as a savior prrophesized to them from legends.

This series is really entertaining and is certainly a fantasy series (fight against evil, orcs, demons, magic, etc).... the series was so popular that ultimately a second trilogy sequel was also written... but the first was the best.

Hope some of you give it a try... you won't be sorry.

[Lunan]

i started a new thread, he deserves it

[Karachi Vyce]

[B5sweepsfan]

I would like to recommend the Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony.

I would also like to second Jan's recommendation of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. The Last Herald Mage Trilogy is my personal favorite of that series.

[B5sweepsfan]

[QUOTE=OmahaStar;40247]I'm reading the "Southern Vampire" series now.

I've read several of that series. They are excellent! Very well written and funny. Especially if you are a red-neck, like me!

[Shr'eshhhhhh]

My recommendations are :

Kim Newman's wonderful Anno Dracula series starting with "Anno Dracula" then
"The Bloody Red Baron" and "Dracula Cha Cha Cha" . His "Back In The USSA" is equally good if you want a taste of his writing style without commiting yourself to a multi book series.

"The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers is also a cracking good read, it has a Peter Hinchcliffe era Doctor Who thing going for it and going by that seal of Rassilon (I have one tattooed to my left shoulder) avatar of yours Lunan you may enjoy that sort of thing .

[babylonlurker]

Terry Brookes has some entertaining series.

Shannara starts off rather derivative of LotR in my opinion, but develops its own voice over time.

Could be why I never got "caught" by the Shannara series , gave up after the first book.

[Radhil]

I'll second the Terry Brooks nomination, but only as far as the two series mentioned - the Landover series and the *original* Word and the Void trilogy. The Shannara series of series starts out great if derivative, moves into somewhat original and moving, from there dives into mostly mediocrity with bursts or chapters of decent moments.

If you'd like modern fantasy, I've been burning through Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Wizard PI in downtown Chicago, with all the sarcastic charm. There's some holes here and there but it manages really well. He also has a purer fantasy series called Codex of Alera, but it's only up to two paperbacks yet. They follow the only fellow in a world of magical forces to not have any. Pretty decent so far.

I'm also a fan of Jacqueline Carey, so I'll plug her. If you want pure fantasy she has a two-book set called the Sundering, it's a kind of Lord of the Rings piece set from the view of the dark side, and it turned out really really well in my opinion. She's more known for her Kushiel's trilogies, one completed, one in progress. These are lighter on fantasy and heavier on sex, set in a kind of altered-history ancient Europe, and the heroine is a young woman touched by a god to find pleasure in pain, trained in spycraft and thrust into politics and worse. As a concept it sounded like rubbish when I first picked it up, but it' damn damn good.

That's all I've got for now.

[NotSoWize]

George R. R. Martin's series (I believe the series is called Fire and Ice?) is really dark, but really good. The downside is that it is not complete and might not be finished for several years.

I highly recommend the first three trilogies by Robin Hobb. The first is the Farseer Trilogy and is made up of Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, and Assassin's Quest

That is followed by the Liveship Traders series which is set in the same world but features new characters in a new setting and then the Tawny Man trilogy which revisits the main characters from the first trilogy. I think Hobb got better with each series, but even the first is much better than average fantasy IMO.

They are all excellent if you are into well developed characters and stories that involve as much plotting and politicking as swords and sorcery. I would say that Robin Hobb writes in a fairly similar style as JMS does, character comes first and a nice mix of drama, comedy, and action.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

George R.R. Martin's recent series is reallllllyyy good. I think the first book is A Clash of Kings. Forget the series title though. That's the series I'd recommend to you most. It's really in depth. If Wheel of Time is to Star trek, then this series is to B5, is how I'd compare it.

I also enjoyed the first Shannara books, but couldn't get into the subsiquent ones.