Fantasy books

[Sjur]

I am pretty new to reading, and I started because I wanted to read the story of Game of Thrones.
I have read ASOIAF an the hobbit.
Currently I am reading Left hand of god.
Some books on my list: LOTR, Silmarillion, HP, A knight of seven kingdoms, Malazan book of the fallen, The first law, Long price quartet, the axe and the throne.
Any thoughts on the list, and any tips besides it?

[BowedBent&Broken]

read the wheel of time series. you won't be disappointed

 

[Esa1996]

Here are some series that I've read and enjoyed, in order of preference:

Wheel of Time (My all-time favorite book series)

Malazan Book of the Fallen (Really hard to get into but really good once you do)

Stormlight Archives (Action scenes only equaled by Malazan)

The First Law (ASOIAF on a smaller scale)

Kingkiller Chronicles (Only one POV character, but he’s probably the most complex character I’ve ever read about in a book)

The Second Apocalypse (ASOIAF with lots of magic on a smaller scale)

 

 

[LongRider]

Click on the 'home' link for the forums, scroll down to 'Literature' and dive in.  Many, many great reviews, discussions and recommendations for fantasy.             

[Joan Jett]

GRRM said that he got inspiration from the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. Apparently there's lots of similarities between the series and asoiaf. 

[Orphalesion]

Personally, the fantasy novels I can recommend above ALL others are the Diskwolrd Novels by Terry Pratchett. They are humourous, but they still feature all the things fantasy and good literature in general is known for; darma, interesting characters, intrigue, difficult choices, epic quests, battles etc. And all that with 90% of the unecessary fat removed. My personal favourites among them are the Novels concerned with the Witches of Lancre (Wyrd Sisters Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies and Carpe Jugulum) and those that feature Death (who is one of the nicest people you will ever meet) as a main character.

These books are very clever in that they turn many tropes and archetypes inside out. They are much more lighthearted than AsoIaF and much shorter, but I'd say they are of equal complexity.

And similar to that; The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle, don't let the sappy movie fool you, the original book is clever and very melancholic.Not as complex, but very powerful and haunting.

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, imagine a story set in Harrenhold when it was still inhabited. It features characters of similar (or greater) complexity and strangeness as ASoIaF

The Narn I Hin Hurin, an expanded version of the story of Turin Turamba by Tolkien (about the lenght of a novella), sadly unfinished (a bit in the middle is missing) but the proof that Tolkien, had he so chosen could have created the "Dark Fantasy" genre long before it became fashionable. If you end up having trouble keeping interested in the Silmarillion, I'd recommend reading this to get back into it. 

The Elric of Melinbone series by Michael Moorcock, it seems a bit....cliche from a modern point of view and comes closest to what people imagine when they hear "fantasy" but it features very grey morality and a protagonist I personally would categorize as a villain. Actually in that way it is similar to the Narn by Tolkien.

 

 

[Lion of the West]

I support Joan Jett in that you should read Tad William's "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn". Its a great series with many similarities to Asoiaf.

[BalerionTheCat]

Joe Abercrombie (The First Law) has the same dark, cynical, violent, deceptive feel as TWoIaF. I recommend it.

"Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" and "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" are good read too IMO.

[RedShirt47]

If you like the Malazan books then I'd recommend The Black Company by Glen Gook, it's pretty dark and gritty and has a good few books to keep you going.

The Dresden Files books are reasonable good too, humour, action, likeable characters and 15 books so far.

[Good Guy Garlan]

The criminally underrated Douglas Nicholas series (I don't think the series has an official name). It starts with Something Red, followed by The Wicked, and then Throne of Darkness. It's got everything we love about Asoiaf (wintry supernatural terrors, political intrigue at courts, magic threats from the far East), but Nicholas uses the faux-medieval language far better than Martin, IMO.

Also, the Gentleman Bastards and the Broken Empire series are pretty good as well. 

And then if you wanna take the piss of it all, read The Magicians trilogy. 

[hiemal]

Gene Wolfe: Urth of the New Sun. The single greatest work in modern fantasy, IMHO.

Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow, Thorn. As mentioned, inspirational to GRRM

Roger Zelazny's Amber. A Friend of GRRM's, and if not an inspiration I'll eat my shorts.

H.P. Lovecraft: Cthulhu Mythos. GRRM (and almost all modern horror and dark fantasy)  inspirational

Michael Moorcock: Elric saga. Also GRRM inspirational. The anti-tolkien. His works are short, stark, and awesome.

(a few others I suspect of being inspirational and know are worth reading  include C.S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy, Julian May's Pliocene Exile, Saberhagen's Swords series, and Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant)

 

Someone above mentioned Terry Pratchett (Seven rest his soul): I absolutely second that. His books are laugh out loud funny. Christopher Moore is likewise sidesplitting, but his books are less traditional fantasy, but always fantastic.

 

 

[Axell Redhand]

I would say whatever you put on your 'to read next' list would depend on what you like -the most- about A Song of Ice and Fire. Knights and battles. Dragons and magic. Politics. Would you like books about political intrigue with no magic? Would you like stories about magic with no knights and big battles?

One of my personal favorites is the Grail series by Bernard Cornwell (Harlequin, Vagabond, and Heretic). The trilogy, like Cornwell's Sharpe series, inserts a single fictional main character into actual historical battles during his adventures. In my opinion it's some of the best historical fiction around. Especially if you love to read medieval battle scenes. But the story itself, outside the battles, is excellent.
Cornwell also wrote the Last Kingdom series, which has been turned into a GOT-like television show. The show is quite good, and the books are excellent. The reading order is on his website (bernardcornwell.net).

While it's largely considered 'young adult' material, the Dragonlance series includes many fine works. All the books take place in the same world, though at different times and they're not all required reading to understand the rest. In my opinion the best of this series is The Legend of Huma (as well as its two follow-ups, Kaz the Minotaur and Land of the Minotaurs). Lord Soth is also excellent, especially if you also find that you enjoy the Ravenloft setting. The Dragonlance setting is pretty rich and interesting, and if you find you like any of the books you'll find plenty of great lists of what to read next and what connects to what.

There's also some tremendous fiction in the various compilations Martin has edited: Rogues, Songs of Love and Death, Warriors, Dangerous Women, etc. Get any/all of those for some highly enjoyable short stories. In fact, you should also grab Martin's own compilations of his own short stories (Dreamsongs I and II) as well as his novels Fevre Dream and Dying of the Light - both of which are excellent. Dying of the Light is actually one of my favorite works of fiction.

If you enjoy The Silmarillion - grab The Children of Hurin when you're finished. Absolutely worth reading.
Of course, anyone here will likely recommend works by the greats: Asimov, Howard, and Lovecraft. I've found all three authors are harder to come by these days.The best compilations of Howard's works are:

The Conquering Sword of Conan, The Bloody Crown of Conan, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, Kull: Exile of Atlantis, Bran Mak Morn: The Last King, Crimson Shadows, and a few others you can easily find searching for those titles.

 

[Xray the Enforcer]

We have an entire section of the site dedicated to other literature. Plenty of recommendations and discussion there.

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/forum/11-literature/