Fantasy Books??

[HeadHunter]

oK Only recently i have started to properly read books and as such dont really know the good ones...

So I ask if you people can recomend some good Fantasy Books and writers i should be keeping an Eye on??

Thanks :)

[secant]

Of course Harry Potter is wonderful but I assume from your avatar you have already considered those books, and I am guessing I don't even have to say LOTR, which is the ultimate.
Stephen R. Lawhead, author
The Pendragon Cycle is his best: Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur, etc. but he is an excellent writer and branches into historical fiction as well as fantasy, often blending the two.
Not a fantasy, but you might like Watership Down by Richard Adams, which is action adventure as well as good literature
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
The Narnia Chronicles by CS Lewis and his space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength
and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is very fun comedy
These are the classics. If you read these, then you'll be able to tell the good ones from the bad ones and avoid the fate of a certain Eustace Clarence Scrubb who never read the right sort of books.. (you must read them if you want to know the origin of Mr. Scrubb and what his fate turned out to be)

[HeadHunter]

i saw most of them on the TV does that count :p

Thanks for suggestion tho really :)

[secant]

No, I don't think it counts, HeadHunter :D
If you are just starting to properly read books, then learning to tell literature from crap would help you. If you read some really good books, you will be able to recognize the good stuff, and thus, distinguish it from the crap. Especially if you are looking at the fantasy genre, which is 85% rubbish, IMO.
And as everyone says, the books are better. Really. You will experience them in totally different ways from the films, which can only shadow the books, usually. (Especially Hitchhiker, The Narnia Chronicles and Watership. The film/TV versions of those that have been made really are crap, although hopefully there are some good ones on the way.)

And you are perfectly welcome...

[HeadHunter]

Cool...i will keep those in mind...tho currently i am deeply ingrossed with Garth Nix's 3 part Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen

Which people have said are very simplistic books but i find them great :D

BTW, Farscape Rocks :D

[Mat]

Try The Song of Fire & Ice series from George R. R. Martin...

The Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords

It's probably the most satisfying fantasy series I've read...

[secant]

Originally posted by HeadHunter

BTW, Farscape Rocks :D
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
You just made a friend...

[HeadHunter]

hehe yeah i wasnt sure about the avy till i saw the location...i should have known but i had a terrible mental lapse...plus didnt want to bring back the memories of it being cancelled :waa:

[Skyhex]

i think Terry Pratchett's books are good

[secant]

Originally posted by HeadHunter
hehe yeah i wasnt sure about the avy till i saw the location...i should have known but i had a terrible mental lapse...plus didnt want to bring back the memories of it being cancelled :waa:

It's coming back! briefly, but it's coming back.
Here's a thread:
http://www.comingsoon.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27602&highlight=Farscape

And another thread:
http://www.comingsoon.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28365&highlight=Farscape

[HeadHunter]

yooooo DDDDUUUDDEEEEEE thats awsome :D

[DragnFire22]

Fantasy?

Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" series is great.
As is "The Death Gate Cycle", a books series by Margaret W. (her last name escapes me :() and another fantasy author....

[Mat]

Originally posted by DragnFire22

As is "The Death Gate Cycle", a books series by Margaret W. (her last name escapes me :() and another fantasy author....

Weis

[DragnFire22]

That's it! Thank you!

[HeadHunter]

cool thanks

[fineus fog]

anything by raymond e. feist is nrmally good

[HeadHunter]

and thing in particualr that stands out

[LordofKings]

ERAGON i heard was good, similar to LOTR, but very good.

[garion22]

David Eddings "The Belgariad" is excellent! Got me hooked on Fantasy. Dragonlance is great too!

[Mat]

David Eddings is alright... just stay away from his horrid stand alone novel The Redemption of Althalus

[Anglachel_Sword]

JRR Tolkien
:applaud: :applaud:

[Yuney]

The Forgotten Realms by R.A. Salvatore are kind of like LOTR in a way. There are dwarves, wizards, dark elves, barbarians. They are a really good series of fantasy books. Probably the best I've come across. I think there are a total of 22 books in the series.

[DragnFire22]

Originally posted by Anglachel_Sword
JRR Tolkien
:applaud: :applaud:

Don't you mean "J.R.R. Tolkien"? Considering that his first name isn't "Jrr".

[Big_Daddy2]

Originally posted by Yuney
The Forgotten Realms by R.A. Salvatore are kind of like LOTR in a way. There are dwarves, wizards, dark elves, barbarians. They are a really good series of fantasy books. Probably the best I've come across. I think there are a total of 22 books in the series.

Jeebus...

22 Books...

I had a friend recommend some books, and that was the series he mentioned. Doesn't he do Forgotten Realms?

[Yuney]

Originally posted by Big_Daddy2
Jeebus...

22 Books...

I had a friend recommend some books, and that was the series he mentioned. Doesn't he do Forgotten Realms?

Yep the 22 books are the Forgotten Realms. They are broken down into about 5 different sub groups though. Very good books. You should check them out. :)

[Big_Daddy2]

Where does a guy start...which sub group?

[Yuney]

The books I started with were The Dark Elf Trilogy which includes Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn. These introduce you to the main character Drizzt thats in all the rest of the books so I would start with that one. Sooo good... Let me know what you think about em if you do read em! :)

[Big_Daddy2]

The Dark Elf Trilogy...ya...thats the name of the books a friend mine told me about, right around the time I bought The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

[Boro]

The Hobbit.

[UnicornBlood3]

Originally posted by LordofKings
ERAGON i heard was good, similar to LOTR, but very good.

Lok is right. I'm only about half way through it but Eragon is really good so far. You should really check it out HH.

[khimarhi]

The Dark Elf Trilogy by R. A. Salvatore is AWESOME

[khimarhi]

Actually you can't go wrong with anything by R. A. Salvatore or any book that has Drizzt in it.

[LordofKings]

Originally posted by UnicornBlood3
Lok is right. I'm only about half way through it but Eragon is really good so far. You should really check it out HH.

i haven't read it but i will soon. i heard the author is very young, and that more are to come for the series. also i looked at the Maps in the book, very cool and CLEARLY VERY similar to lotr maps

[Yuney]

Originally posted by khimarhi
Actually you can't go wrong with anything by R. A. Salvatore or any book that has Drizzt in it.

Yep that pretty much sums up my feelings on the books too. :D I just wish they would turn the series into films... I think they would be great on the big screen.

[HeadHunter]

aaghh so many books :D thaks for the idea's guys

I am tempted to have a look at the Keys to the Kingdom series

[Mat]

I just started The Briar King by Greg Keyes...

It's a pretty good dark fantasy in the spirit of George R.R. Martin.

[Drizzt240]

Man, just look at my name. I love R.A Salvatore and I love the character Drizzt. My SN is Drizzt240 practically every where. I haven't even finished all the Drizzt books yet (I'm on Starless Night) because I had to stop to read school assigned books (Damn you Huckleberry Finn!).

Drizzt! Drizzt!!!!! Drizzt!! Drizzt Do'Urden OWNZ!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, my friend also recomends Dragonlance.........

[James2183]

Good to see some people are into Raymond Feist fans on here.

Best series in the Fantasy Genre I think

Magician is the best book ever. Great characters, epic story telling and has both sides of the war.

The follow up books Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon are great additions to the RiftWar Trilogy.

You then have Prince of the Blood and The Kings Bucaneer which are set a while after Sethanon and are prequels to the next series, The Serpent War saga which is on a larger scale than the Rift War and is almost as good.

You have spin off books as well but they are not as good compared to the rest so only read them after the main ones.

You also have The Empire Trilogy which is awesome. Its set in the other world of the Tsurani and gives you a totally new outlook on the Rift War.

The good thing about Feist is that he is not scared to kill off major characters, something David Eddings is affraid to do.

If you dont fancy his books I would suggest either David Gemmell or Robin Hobb.

[eclipsedman]

You can't beat the Dune series

[anaria22]

The Vladimir Taltos series by Steven Brust. They're immensly funny books.

[Colorado Cajun]

The Once and Future King

Shadow Moon and Shadow Dawn

The Princess Bride

[Alien]

I've skimmed this thread and haven't seen anything on The Wind On Fire trilogy so why did you start reading that?

[HeadHunter]

Originally posted by Alien
I've skimmed this thread and haven't seen anything on The Wind On Fire trilogy so why did you start reading that?

funny thing is i actually haven't read any of the books people have said (i am sure i will eventually - there all good suggestions)

but i was in the book store looking for Sabriel by Garth Nix in Hardback and i saw the wind on fire books....i looked at one and saw it was #3 so i had a look at the first book and thought....hey i need a book to read right now so i bought it.....just a spur of the moment thing really....

so far all the books i have been reading have been spur of the moment...i bought Mister Monday in a motorway sevice station of all places :D

[Alien]

Which covers did you get for The Wind On Fire trilogy? Was it the 'S' shaped ones?

[HeadHunter]

yeah....

just finished it....was a good book....have to get the next part now :grin:

[HellaGood]

I hate The Wind Singer, but Slaves of the Mastery is amazing and then Firesong is really good with a fantastic climax!

[HeadHunter]

I will find out when i read them....

...why did you hate the first one.....plus if you hated it....why cary on??