OT: good fantasy books

[Xietor]

I wanted to share a few series that I found pretty good that maybe are off the beaten path a bit. So I will avoid the usual and obvious references to Wheel of Time, Tolkien, Feist etc.


1. "When True Night Falls" Trilogy. C.S. Friedman. Technically science fiction, but it is fantasy at heart. Magic and swords. It has a slow start, but has to lay the background. But it picks up fast, and is top notch fantasy.

2. "The Last Apprentice".Joe Delaney. 2 books so far more to come. A little bit spooky. Good read.

3. Magic's Pawn series by mercedes lackey. This is a good trilogy, but it is not for the homophobic. Main character is gay. But good sword and sorcery.

[Teraswaerto]

Mercedes Lackey good? First time I ever hear anyone say that.

I'd recommend:

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
-Low fantasy, lots of political plotting, warring noble houses. Very bloody and ruthless, the good guys are not guaranteed to win or to survive.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
-High fantasy, demigods and ancient races, sorcerers battling demons, armies incinerated by magic. History of the world reaching back hundreds of thousands of years. Reminds me of Dominions actually.

Prince of Nothing by Scott Bakker.
-Weird fantasy, the Dark Lord was killed centuries ago and people no longer believe he really ever existed. His servants still exist though, and they are led by sex-maniac aliens. Very dark and disturbing, but excellent.

[Ubik]

Best fantasy story I ever read is "A song of Ice and Fire" by G.R.R. Martin. Start by reading book 1 "A Game of Thrones" and stop at "A Feast for Crows" waiting for the author to continue the story...

[Xietor]

The g martin books are good early, but his last book, a Feast for crows, was pretty bad. He ran out of steam.

[Evilhomer]

Thats mainly cause he split a huge book up in two parts, and had most of the boring characters in book 1 (last one published).

My vote would go for a "song of ice and fire" for number 1. Other books i have really enjoyed when young would probably be Robert Jordan (first 5 books are good, then he somehow lost himself in the plot), Tolkien (a classic) and Le Guin (earthsea).

[jutetrea]

ditto on RR Martin

The Malazan series was surprisingly good, a bit similar to the black company books in that they take a bit to get familiar with the characters... but it works.

Brust's assassin books are good as well

[PrinzMegaherz]

Song of Ice and fire is great, but I am not a fan of such long stories.
I would prefer:

The Night Watch from Sergej Lukyanenko

It's a perfect blend of fantasy (magic, vampires usw.) brought into our time. It's from a russian author and creates some kind of magic cold war:

In the world of the night watch, there are humans and others. Others are former humans that learned to use magic in one way or the other. However, becoming an other means you have to choose whether to serve the light or the darkness. After both sides nearly annihilated each other, a truce was settled limiting the amoung of good and evil both sides are allowed to do. Both sides have police force that makes sure the other side does not cheat - the night- and daywatch. It's a story about a cold war between those two factions and a detective story about Anton, a young nightwatch member.

[Xietor]

Mercedes Lackey has written many series, most of them not so good. This one particular series actually won a few awards and was good.

[Novi]

Teraswaerto said:
The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
-High fantasy, demigods and ancient races, sorcerers battling demons, armies incinerated by magic. History of the world reaching back hundreds of thousands of years. Reminds me of Dominions actually.

Well, my experience with this book wasn't as thrilling as it was supposed to be according to the countless fans... Yes, it is epical in basically every aspect but exactly that makes it tedious and difficult to read. Too many facts, too little explanations. Took me a TONNE of devotion and time to read.

The very best thing I've read so far is A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin. It might be a pain in the neck for those who yearn for glorious battles and intricate plots but it makes up for that with its depth. Recommended reading. =)

[Teraswaerto]

Yeah, it's true that the Malazan Book of the Fallen is not the easiest read. It's a good idea to re-read a few times to really get into it and understand what's going on. I've started the series from the first book every time a new part has come out.

I like the Earthsea series, read it a dozen times I think.