Fantasy fiction on dev bookshelves--your opinions?

Philocthetes

Join Date 10/2003

+153

Fantasy fiction on dev bookshelves--your opinions?

I've just been involved in some minor threadjacking in the July FAQ and even though I kept aiding and abetting digression over there, I actually think it might be worth trying a new thread to host some discussion of fantasy fiction in general and what titles folks might most like to see as dog-eared copies on dev bookshelves. I'm also nearly as interested in reading about authors, titles, or series that folks might wish had never been in an Elemental dev's hands.

J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) is much-mentioned and not always in warm terms. Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time) comes up occasionally, as do David Eddings (Belgariad) and Terry Goodkind (Sword of Truth). I believe we might be able to do some useful volunteer work for the forum-watching devs by discussing big-name authors like these in the context of our hopes for Elemental.

I'm also hoping that some of us, devs included, can introduce each other to writers we haven't found yet but might really like. For example, I think Martha Wells is a seriously under-appreciated fantasy author and I'd love to see some recommendations from people with a similar opinion of her work. And because I'm a fan of dialectical analysis, I'd be just about as interested in reading posts from someone who'd read at least a couple of Wells' novels and found her to be unworthy of the ink and paper spent in her name.

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CapnWinky

I thought I had thrown out a "How about discworld?" in there, but I guess it was one of those posts that got eaten...

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I really like the David Eddings stuff.

Also like:

Glen Cook (Garrett; The Tower of Fear; not so much on the Black Company)

Steven Brust

Thomas Covenant

Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser

All of these have common theme: kick ass characters that you just plain LIKE to read about. Vlad, the Dead Man, Silk, ...

That being said, as I get older I tend to gravitate towards scifi. My current favorite: Alastair Reynolds.

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Pls check out fantasy fiction by David Gemmell.

None of his books were rated lower than 4.5 stars out of 5 possible in Amazon. Love his writing style.

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Noone mentioned Michael Moorcock's Elric stories?

Le Guin (Rocannon's World, Earthsea) is definitely one of my favorites.

Sapkowski's Witcher stories are funny too. Dark, but nice.

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Philocthetes

Join Date 10/2003

+153

Quoting Brizey,

reply 27

... That being said, as I get older I tend to gravitate towards scifi. ...

I switch back and forth between 'science' fiction and fantasy constantly. Last year, I fished for space opera titles over at the GalCiv2 forums and had barely gotten started digging through the suggestions before I suddenly started wanting spells instead of stardrives in my fiction.

Quoting LDiCesare,

reply 29

Noone mentioned Michael Moorcock's Elric stories? ...

I was wondering about that too, especially given the important role the occasional elemental plays in some of Elric's adventures, the awesomeness of Melnibonean dragons, etc.

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I've read alot of Fantasy books, almost every one listed here. Although there are a few listed here I'll now have to check out.

One of my favorite set of books is The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, follwed up with The LiveShip Traders trilogy, and the Tawny Man trilogy.

I also enjoyed the DeathGate Cycle by Margaret Weiss & Tacy Hickman.

And the Dragon Prince series by Melanie Rawn, although it tends to drag on abit towards the 6th book.

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OsirisDawn

Join Date 09/2004

+30

Thomas Covenant series: Donaldson

How in the name of anything can you call that good. I read the first 6 books and its just dragging along. It has no story to speak of, just scenes tacked together. Not one single person in this book is in any way believable.

The others on your list are good.

On topic:

Jim Butchers Calderon series is fun to read.

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Quoting OsirisDawn,

reply 32

Thomas Covenant series: Donaldson

How in the name of anything can you call that good. I read the first 6 books and its just dragging along. It has no story to speak of, just scenes tacked together. Not one single person in this book is in any way believable.

To each his own I guess. I absolutely love the Covenant series.

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Philocthetes

Join Date 10/2003

+153

@OsirisDawn: You aren't off-topic when you crit Donaldson. I'm kinda more interested in people's reasons for loving or hating a book than in the book list itself. I never read past the first Covenant trilogy and have pretty mixed feelings about it, mainly because I prefer my anti-heroes to be flirting with evil instead of struggling not to be pathetic. But I give Donaldson a hat-tip for the basic freshness factor of putting a depressed leper in the protagonist's slot.

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I'm another 'not really a fan' fan of Donaldson. The Thomas Convenant books are certainly original in the protagonist slot, but i get rather depressed reading those books. I read the first trilogy, and the first (or two) book of the second one, but I just couldn't go on. Still have the books on my shelf somewhere, but unless I really don't have anything else to read or reread, I won't go back to them. The other serie I read from Donaldson, Mordant's Need, I found much more enjoyable... It also has a rather unlikely hero, and has also some really depressing parts, but it isn't as bad as the Thomas Covenant books. Also, Mordant's Need has a really original magic system...

The Robin Hobb trilogy of trilogies was something I also enjoyed reading.

On the SF side of things, I really like the books by Peter F. Hamilton... If you enjoy books thick enough to build a house with, be sure to check him out...

Also, Lois McMaster Bujold (Miles Vorkosigan serie), Elizabeth Moon (The Seranno Legacy and Vatta's War) and Anne McAffrey (The Chronicles of Pern if you consider these SF, and Tower and the Hive serie) are some really enjoyable writers.

Back to fantasy, if you like some horror with your fantasy, you might like Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake and Meredith Gentry series) and Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld). These three series take place in a recognizable modern world but with the twist that vampires, werewolves and other magical / demonic creatures do exist which make for some original stories. Although I do have to warn you that the later books by Laurell K. Hamilton contain a rather large portion of sex... If this is bad or good, I leave to the reader... but I certainly wouldn't mind if it wasa bit less...

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Anyone here ever read the bartimaeus trilogy?

It's one of my favorites, although I have no clue how it would relate to elemental in any way.

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Wintersong

Join Date 07/2006

+235

Waiting... and waiting... and even more waiting... and yet no one must have read and/or like Louise Cooper, Barbara Hambly, L. Sprague de Camp... and even Stephen King has one that is, at least curious, altough I liked it.

My all time favourites would be the original Darwath Trilogy by Barbara Hambly and also her "The Ladies from Mandrigyn" book. Michael Moorcock's Elric stories are also great as well as Erekose's, but I love the style in "The history of the Runestaff". More lighthearted and fun, and also one of my all time favourites.

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