Favorite fantasy author

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Teraswaerto:
It's a bad idea to start with the third book, as the story is very much ongoing. The third book happens parallel to the second, so it'll work somewhat okay to read the third before the second (but both 2. and 3. absolutely NEED to be read before House of Chains), but you really should read Gardens of the Moon first to understand what's going on. If you bought it already, surely you can deviate from your principle this once and order the the first book Online if it's not available otherwise.

I was hoping this wouldn't be the case. Sigh. But seeing as I cannot find the other volumes, and I already have #3, I suppose ordering the others Online makes sense. What really irks is having this nice fat juicy tome of a book sitting here now and having to wait before I can read it. Sigh.

Thanks for the warning.

[Breschau]

Of the authors in the poll the only one I've read is David Gemmell. But that's cos I just don't read much anymore.

When I was younger I read, as I say, Gemmell and also Ursula Le Guin, Mary Stewart (I think anyway) and Terry Pratchett. There may be others that I've read one book by and forgotten.

Pratchett's the only one I've kept reading, and I've read almost everything he's written (passed over a couple of his children's books). I could probably read books by the others and find them enjoyable enough, but they were a bit too fantasy-by-numbers (esp. Gemmell, I don't remember the other two so much) for me to get excited about.

I've also become a big fan of Neil Gaiman - both his comics/graphic novels (Sandman being the main one) and his "regular" novels and short stories (30 odd short stories from Smoke & Mirrors, along with Neverwhere, Coraline, American Gods).

So it's Pratchett and Gaiman that I am thinking of when I tick "Other" in the poll

[Arryn]

FYI, in case anyone's curious, Steven Erikson's books are not in stock at either Amazon or B&N. Getting them shipped might take 2-3 weeks. Ick. Guess I'll have to make some time this weekend to try a few of the larger used bookstores locally.

[olaf73]

I voted Martin and Hobb. Those are the two best authors I have read, hands down.

I started reading the WoT books when they were on book 7 or so, so I got the first one, liked it, then picked up the next 5. And read em all in a relatively short period of timeMistake. I would say books 1-3 were good, or at least worth reading. After that though...it became like the Everquest of fantasy literature. Incredibly diminishing returns with more and more demands on the reader. Also like EQ, I continued to buy the books even after I realized I wasnt enjoying them, just kind of hoping it would get better. It hasnt. I stopped reading at book 8, but I think I have 9 and 10 somewhere.

Another series that started out promising, for me anyway, but ended up crappy was the Sword of Truth books. Kind of corny from the get go, but very much a page turning experience for me. Then the series just got weird, with all of the domination/sex innuendo. Not too mention boring as **** in the recent books.

I want to pick up the Malazan books, but I am having a hard time finding a decent hardback copy of the first one here in the US. I despise reading paperbacks, especially the mass market small ones.

I hadnt heard about a Runelords movie. Thats cool. The books were just ok though, IMO. I liked the first one a lot, but then the series just kind of got corny to me. Still, more fantasy books into movies is a good thing. I would kill to see some of my Favorites adapted to the big screen.

olaf

No mention of The Worm Oroborus by ER Edison?

While not 'good' per say. It's an original gangsta.

[Karacan]

And then there's the grandfather of Sword And Sorcery Tales, Fritz Leiber.

I just ran across a new edition of his four Swords Of Lankhmar collected books, which means they're avaiable.

If you ever wanted to know where Pratchett got his initial ideas from (read Colours Of Magic after that, and you'll see what I mean), what the codeword "Fafhrd" in Baldur's Gate II meant and why every serious author mentions Leiber in a foreword of his books, well, here's the time. They're great, light read.

[Jasper]

Originally posted by Arryn:
Please try to be a little more understanding before you post insulting lines like

quote:

---

If you have trouble getting any of these authors, you simply haven't tried.

Also try to consider that some of us have real lives and we do not have unlimited amounts of time to spend on chasing down obscure books.

---

Obscure books?! It took me all of _TWO_SECONDS_ to search for and find his books on amazon.com, where I found Mythago Wood used for $.99. It took me about a minute to determine my local small town library has Mythago Wood on the shelf.

If you're having trouble, you haven't tried -- this isn't an insult, it's the truth. Let me guess, you didn't even try looking in the library? The public library in Houston even claims to have it...

[ January 24, 2004, 00:47: Message edited by: Jasper ]