MedievalMan Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 Since reading Feast, I haven't had much time to put towards reading. Read a few non-fiction since then, kinda want to read a new fantasyish novel. I'd like something with a twist- like ASOFAI, something more gritty and inspiring, not typical young villager boy turned uber hero fare. I've already read a lot of fantasy (Jordan, Goodkind, Tad Williams, Roger Zelazny (Amber), Tolkien, etc). So far I've found: The Black Company (Glen Cook) I'd prefer something that isn't part of some mega-sized, unfinished series. Any suggestions? -Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom the Merciful Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 If you want to read fantasy that's also a serious book, try R.Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy. That one is best you can read nowadays, closely followed by Steven Erikson's Malazan books (which are pretty hard to get into, TBH). I must say that ASOIAF is slightly above, still. Black Company is cool. Very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Multaniette Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch The Darkness That Comes Before - R. Scott Bakker The Light Ages - Ian MacLeod The Iron Dragon's Daughter - Michael Swanwick Iron Council - China Mieville The first couple are epic fantasy and the rest are urban. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 MedievalMan I'd prefer something that isn't part of some mega-sized, unfinished series. Mult The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch The Darkness That Comes Before - R. Scott Bakker Are not these two unfinished? Bakker is a finished trilogy which is a part of a bigger series so it is unfinished. Lynch wrote just one book, are not there more to come in the series? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 The Lies of Locke Lamora is a stand-alone book. The characters will go on to have more adventures, but the story that begins on Page 1 is concluded by the final page. Apparently the second book will also be more or less stand-alone, but ongoing story elements will begin to seep in somewhere around Book 3. With the year drawing to a close, I can confidently say it is the best fantasy novel I read released this year (with the caveat that I only read about three or four that came out this year). Agreed, despite being marketed as a trilogy, Prince of Nothing does have a huge number of unresolved subplots at the end of Book 3, enough to classify it as a seven-volume series rather than three shorter series. Malazan Book of the Fallen is reasonably close to completion (Book 7 of 10 is out in April), but it's still three years or so until the final book. However, the first three books or so are realtively self-contained before the ongoing storyline elements really start to kick in. Good, completed series: The Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney (five volumes, starting with Hawkwood's Voyage). Think of GRRM with guns and slightly more cliches as a quick description. The Fencer Trilogy by KJ Parker (starts with Colours in the Steel). Enjoyable trilogy built around the three standard elements in a fantasy hero's arsenal (sword, bow, armour). Plus after reading it you'll be able to make a suit of full plate and build a working trebuchet. Educational and fun. The Book of Words Trilogy by JV Jones (starts with The Baker's Boy). There is a sequel series, but this is incomplete and only deals with a few elements from the first series. This series is good, mixing a Gormenghast vibe with the vast castle with some great GRRM-esque humourous dialogue and character interplay. The Dying Earth by Jack Vance (starts with The Dying Earth; you can get all four books in one volume). Simply magnificent. Cugel is one of the best antiheroes in all of fantasy. The Lyonesse Trilogy by Jack Vance (starts with Suldrun's Garden, but again you can get all three books in one volume). More traditional fantasy than Dying Earth, but with similar brilliant writing, witty dialogue and excellent characters. Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott (starts with King's Dragon, consists of seven books). Solid, GRRM-lite medieval fantasy series with some great characters. The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton (starts with The Reality Dysfunction); an SF series, but one I find goes down very well even with fantasy fans who normally dislike SF. Worth reading just for the Predator-esque jungle battle sequences; worth staying for the sentient space habitats and relentlessly impressive worldbuilding. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (starts with The Shadow of the Torturer); a somewhat complex literary series, but with some great writing and ideas; you can get the four books in two ominbus editions. The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake (starts with Titus Groan); along with Tolkien, arguably one of the most influential fantasy stories of all time, available in omnibus. The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman (graphic novel series, starting with Preludes and Nocturnes and running to ten books). The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett (self-contained novels set in the same world; the best one to start with is probably Guards! Guards! or Small Gods). Humorous and satirical and informed by a vast number of literary and mythological references. Single-volume fantasy stories: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Perdido Street Station and The Scar by China Mieville. Neverwhere, American Gods and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The Barbed Coil by JV Jones. Watchmen and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore. The Postman and Glory Season by David Brin (SF). The Prestige, The Extremes and The Separation by Christopher Priest. Fevre Dream, The Armageddon Rag, Tuf Voyaging, Dying of the Light and Windhaven by George RR Martin. The Lions of Al-Rassan, Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, The Last Light of the Sun and The Sarantine Mosaic duology by Guy Gavriel Kay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 WOW! Werthead This is impressive! I am going to cut&paste your post and safe for my future reference. Thanks a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneeye Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 Sometimes a new fresh thread is more fun than sifting through 30 pages some of which are years old. is crown of stars any good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 Sometimes a new fresh thread is more fun than sifting through 30 pages some of which are years old. is crown of stars any good? This entire forum isn't even years old. Nothing here is very old at all. And no, Crown of Stars is not very good. And I disagree with Mister Manticore -- I enjoyed The Postman very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 9, 2006 Share Posted November 9, 2006 Sometimes a new fresh thread is more fun than sifting through 30 pages some of which are years old. People's opinions change, so having a new recs thread every now and then is okay by me. Others may disagree. The stickied recs thread should be a first port of call though. is crown of stars any good? It's okay, but not spectacular. Elliott has a reasonably good story and tells it well, but the series is overlong at seven volumes (it could have been fitted into four or five) and one of the central characters, Liath, is unbearable, although thankfully she is off-stage a fair bit later in the series. The Postman is a pretty good post-apocalyptic story and it is thankfully nothing like the movie (literally the movie has one scene in it from the book and very roughly the same premise and that's it). I thought the AI and super-soldiers worked reasonably well in it. Uplift remains Brin's best work though (particularly Startide Rising and The Uplift War). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott (starts with King's Dragon, consists of seven books). Solid, GRRM-lite medieval fantasy series with some great characters. What is your definition of medieval fantasy? Would you call Memory Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams medieval fantasy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimmer Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 Which is useless. A list of tens of titles without any discussion is certainly not what the OP was looking for. Couldn't agree more. No discussion is a good idea, so we don't get sidetracked on whether Thomas Covenant's world is real or not, but having a list of 300 books with no explanations is beyond worthless to anyone. We just need a sticky thread where everybody posts mini-reviews of their favourite books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 What is your definition of medieval fantasy? Would you call Memory Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams medieval fantasy? I supposed MST is. However, Crown of Stars can very comfortably called a medieval fantasy because it goes beyond the traditional cliche of being set in a secondary world which is a knock-off of Europe in the Middle Ages, it is actually set in a parallel-history version of Medieval Europe with the map slightly altered. Check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisW Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 I'd like something with a twist- like ASOFAI, something more gritty and inspiring, not typical young villager boy turned uber hero fare. Don't know if it's twist like aSoIaF but the Caine Novels by Matthew Woodring Stover are pretty gritty and inspiring. For more light fare perhaps the Vlad Taltos Novels by Brust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 I supposed MST is. However, Crown of Stars can very comfortably called a medieval fantasy because it goes beyond the traditional cliche of being set in a secondary world which is a knock-off of Europe in the Middle Ages, it is actually set in a parallel-history version of Medieval Europe with the map slightly altered. Check it out. OK, thanks. Since the series are complete, I think I am going to start collecting it and then read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Couldn't agree more. No discussion is a good idea, so we don't get sidetracked on whether Thomas Covenant's world is real or not, but having a list of 300 books with no explanations is beyond worthless to anyone. We just need a sticky thread where everybody posts mini-reviews of their favourite books. Well, there are lots of mini-reviews in the "what are you reading this month" threads. Also, books that are really popular at present will have their own threads (such as Lies of Locke Lamora) where you can see fairly quickly whether the consensus is yay, or nay. And don't you want to be cool and read what the rest of us are reading anyway? And although the sticky thread has 300 gazillion books, if the same book is recommended independently by lots of people, chances are it's worth checking out. If you want a capsule summary and capsule reviews, you can go to Amazon.com. In addition, there are tons of SF review sites one can browse for recommendations, e.g. Jay Tomio's site, fantasybookspot, Inchoatus, sfreviews.net, Stego's site. In fact, it seems half the people in the Literature forums has their own review site. I have never had any problem finding books to read - the problem is in paring down my list! :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Hello. This is now the permanant Fantasy Recommendation Thread, for discussion and recs of fantasy works (we have a seperate one for SF: we'll see how much traffic that one gets and possibly amalgamate the two later on if there isn't enough room for both). Obviously discussion of David Brin should now be taken to the SF thread. This one is for teh fantasy. A few rules: whilst recommending popular authors is fine, in-depth discussion of the merits of say Robert Jordan, Steven Erikson, Scott Lynch or Scott Bakker or other popular authors should be taken to their own non-stickied threads. A brief exchange on how Scott Bakker reminds the reader of Frank Herbert is okay, a five-page deviation of if Bakker or Erikson does magic better would perhaps be done better in its own topic. Let me or another mod know if you think posts should be moved into their own thread or another existing one. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
house of black and white Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Hey guys, new here. I'm currently in the middle of reading AFFC. Once im done I want something very similar to AFFC, A finished serious preferably, with out elves and orcs and all that. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Multaniette Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 ^ Monarchies of God - Paul Kearney Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steve Erikson The Prince of Nothing - R. Scott Bakker The Sun Sword Saga - Michelle West The Black Company - Glen Cook in this order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Finished series in that vein? I second Monarchies of God and would throw in Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series as well. Malazan Book of the Fallen is good but incomplete. Book 7 (of 10) comes out in April 2007. Prince of Nothing (trilogy) is complete in itself, but it is also the opening three books of at least a seven-volume series and there are a few cliffhangers and unresolved elements left over. The next series doesn't start for at least a year (in the US and Canada) and not until May 2008 in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Any hope of deleting the useless posts in this thread now that it's stickied? (Including mine!) Off the top of my head, some of the best fantasy: 1. Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 2. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin 3. The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany 4. War of The Newts by Karel Capek 5. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain 6. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift 7. Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake 8. Le Morte D'Artur by Thomas Mallory 9. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 10. the Complete works of H.P. Lovecraft 11. The Chronicles of Nanrnia by C.S. Lewis 12. The complete Conan stories by Robert E. Howard 13. The complete Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber 14. The complete Dying Earth by Jack Vance 15. Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson 16. The Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker 17. The Moon Pool by A. Merritt 18. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay 19. The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle 20. The Once and Future King by T.H. White 21. Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirlees 22. Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein 23. The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula K. LeGuin 24. The Princess Bride by William Goldman 25. The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford 26. Replay by Ken Grimwood 27. The Last Hot Time byu John M. Ford 28. Watership Down by Richard Adams 29. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie 30. Little, Big by John Crowley 31. The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers 32. Perdido Street Station by china Mieville 33. Lamb by Christopher Moore 34. Sandman by Neil Gaiman 35. Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock 36. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin 37. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges 38 The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman by Angela Carter 39. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende 40. The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe 41. The Riddle-Master Trilogy by Patricia McKillip 42. Silverlock by John Myers Myers 43. The Worm Ourouborous by E.R. Eddison 44. Time and Again by Jack Finney 45. Cities in Flight by James Blish 46 The Time Quartet by Madelaine L'Engle 47. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey 48. Dracula by Bram Stoker 49. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson 50. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 51. Ghost Story by Peter Straub 52. Grendel by John Gardner 53. The Land of Laughs by Janathan Carroll 54. The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce 55. Anno-Dracula by Kim Newman 56. The Book of Knights by Yves Meynard 57. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski And I'll cobble this together and try to limit it to 100 entries at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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