Fantasy!

[Wilde]

I have just recently gotten into reading fantasy and I'm surprised how many people I know also read fantasy/science fiction (albeit, mostly in private so I never knew)! So, I thought I'd see if anyone at the FORT does as well.

I'd like to know which series would be worth a look. I've heard that some can get..um...graphic. I'm not interested in those.

So far, I've read:

LOTR
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman (Pretty good, conversation a bit stilted)
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (Really liked this one, good plot but slow in places because of over description)
Mists of Avalon by Zimmerman (Ah, I hated this book! I don't know why everyone liked it so much)
First few books of Anne Rice vampire series...I can't keep going after Tale of the Body Thief. I liked the first two, especially the Vampire Lestat, but now I'm bored.

I just started a series about King Arthur by Courtway Jones. The first book was called In the Shadow of the Oak King. Really fast pace and Jones is an actual historian so it had some interesting factoids.

[Mantenna]

Oh boy. I love the works of R.A. Salvatore! I'd especially recommend the Icewind Dale Trilogy. The first book starts off a little slow, but quickly builds to the point where you simply cannot put them down. They're a little bloody at times, but not sickeningly graphic like some I've tried to read. After that trilogy, he has several other books carrying on the series (The Legacy of the Drow, The Silent Blade, and Sea of Swords are the ones I can think of at the moment.) They are easy reads, but excellent, IMO.

[Stargazer]

Oh boy. I love the works of R.A. Salvatore! I'd especially recommend the Icewind Dale Trilogy. The first book starts off a little slow, but quickly builds to the point where you simply cannot put them down. They're a little bloody at times, but not sickeningly graphic like some I've tried to read. After that trilogy, he has several other books carrying on the series (The Legacy of the Drow, The Silent Blade, and Sea of Swords are the ones I can think of at the moment.) They are easy reads, but excellent, IMO.

I can't believe that there is another R.A Salvatore fan! My best friend and I read him religiously in High School (back when most of those books were being written!). We'd make a run for the book store whenever the next one was coming out. The background of Drizzt was really good too. I believe it was called the Dark Elf Trilogy. I'm afraid that I only got up through the Legacy of the Drow. I recently talked to my friend who informed me that he had written two more books since we were reading him. I've been meaning to go see if my local Barnes and Noble carries them.

BTW, when we were reading him we wrote him a fan letter. He was still a newly published fantasy author at the time and wrote us a page long, handwritten reply. I always thought that was the nicest thing.

Wilde-If you like LOTR, I believe you'll like R.A. Salvatore. It's written in the same vein as LOTR.

[nausicaa]

BTW, when we were reading him we wrote him a fan letter. He was still a newly published fantasy author at the time and wrote us a page long, handwritten reply. I always thought that was the nicest thing.

What the... He wrote you back? Page-long? Hand-written?! *pouts furiously* So envious, so incredibly envious...

Ah-hem. Anyhoo, back on topic - Discworld by Terry Pratchett.

[Stargazer]

What the... He wrote you back? Page-long? Hand-written?! *pouts furiously* So envious, so incredibly envious...

Like I said, he was a new author at the time, so its possible that it was one of the first fan letters he ever received We were just lucky.


BTW, my friend read his other series, The Cleric Quintet, and really enjoyed them. I tried but didn't like them as well. So, you might want to give that series a try after you've read the others (definitely start with the Icewind Dale trilogy).

[haejin]

Garth Nix rules. 'Nuff said. Read the Sabriel-Lirael-Abhorsen series. It's the best.

[haejin]

Orson Scott Card! Start with "Ender's Game" and you'll be an addict for life. Extremely good.

[MHayes62]

Orson Scott Card always does the same thing to me with his series, I absolutely love the first book, then the rest go downhill fast. Enders game is one of the greatest sci fi books I’ve ever read. I also loved Seventh Son (Tales of Alvin Maker book 1). And although technically Enders Shadow is book 5 of the Ender series, it starts back at the beginning of Enders Game from the viewpoint of Bean, so it acts like a new series to me, and it is wonderful. The thing that all these series have in common is by the end of the series, they have lost their way, and are no where near the caliber of the first book. But having said that for any of you who have read and loved Enders Game, I highly recommend Enders Shadow, it shines an interesting light on a great story from a different angle.

[nausicaa]

Just make sure you read "Ender's Game" first, before venturing to read "Ender's Shadow". The latter is good, but well...only if you know the backstory already.

...And isn't Card more sci-fi than fantasy? Or is it more fashionable nowadays to lump them all together under the uber-lit guise of "speculative fiction"?

Um, I don't have any wonderful suggestions. I'm a notoriously uneducated fantasy reader. Fer 'sample - Robert Jordan's celebrated "Wheel of Time" series bored me to tears. I had read/skimmed over the first 2 books furtively during Alg/geo class and decided I'd rather pay attention to the actual class instead. Oh, and I should mentioned Alg/geo was my most hated subject...

[MHayes62]

Card is definitely more Sci-Fi than fantasy, but the line blurs so much because many authors write both. Piers Anthony The Apprentice Adept series definitely has elements of both space and technology based science fiction, and magic and monster based fantasy. It is also one of my favorite series of books. Although I’d have to say my favorite Piers Anthony series is the incarnations of immortality, where in every book,

Spoiler for book plot
A mortal takes on the job of an immortal being, such as Death in the first book, or immortality, fate, war… in others.

I had to put in the spoiler space, because I won’t even read the back cover of a book before I buy it. Just in case it gives away something I’d rather be surprised about. Does any one else do this? My wife says I’m a freak for the habit, but ever since a book gave away a major plot twist that didn’t actually occur until half the book was over, I haven’t read a back since.