Shinrei Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hi everyone, As someone who also appreciates command of language in an author (aka how a book is written aka "good" prose), i am wondering what you gals/guys think as to who has the best prose in fantasy (single books or series)? I am aware that something like "good prose" is in no small part a very subjective thing. But i nonetheless would like to hear who you consider to have memorable prose/language. Just FYI: I like prose that is descriptive and varied...it can even be flowery. I know that some people prefer short and to-the-point sentences and think that this is a high art to be able to do that. And again, it is subjective so i will not argue with you, but for me, i like it a bit more...excessive :DBut again, feel free to name any authors that you think have above average prose...even if it does not fit my criteria ;) Thanks in advance. S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hi everyone, As someone who also appreciates command of language in an author (aka how a book is written aka "good" prose), i am wondering what you gals/guys think as to who has the best prose in fantasy (single books or series)? I am aware that something like "good prose" is in no small part a very subjective thing. But i nonetheless would like to hear who you consider to have memorable prose/language. Just FYI: I like prose that is descriptive and varied...it can even be flowery. I know that some people prefer short and to-the-point sentences and think that this is a high art to be able to do that. And again, it is subjective so i will not argue with you, but for me, i like it a bit more...excessive :D But again, feel free to name any authors that you think have above average prose...even if it does not fit my criteria ;) Thanks in advance. S. No one can describe a hem line like Robert Jordan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WrathOfTinyKittens Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 In b4 Bakker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anatúrinbor Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Yeah, Bakker. The most memorable of his (IMO) is the prologue to TDTCB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sci-2 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Spec Fic with Beautiful Prose?I know there's a more recent thread but can't recall the name. This might also help: Passages that give you literary pleasure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anatúrinbor Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Spec Fic with Beautiful Prose? I know there's a more recent thread but can't recall the name. Which fantasy writer do you think has the best prose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Vellum, and presumably Ink (which I haven’t read) by Hal Duncan. (I didn’t like the novel much, but the prose is awesome.) Anything by China Mieville. Start with the Garuda chapter (prologue?) of Perdido Street Station. Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinrei Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 Huh, it seems i suck at the forum search thing...weird. I searched for prose and those threads did not show up. Thanks guys!Also thanks for the comments so far. I will have some checking out to do. Keep it coming, if you don't mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arataniello Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien. Yes. Almost certainly referenced in the previously linked thread, but the Lyonnesse trilogy by Jack Vance immediately spring to mind as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veltigar Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Patrick Rothfuss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Gene Wolfe /thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Vivian St. Black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WrathOfTinyKittens Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Patrick Rothfuss? Seriously? He's not bad, but hardly a contender for "best prose." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liffguard Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 <p>Guy Gavriel Kay has very beautiful prose in my opinion. It's quite lyrical or poetic without being purple.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEvilKing Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Daniel Fox's trilogy with the rather cumbersome title Moshui: The Books of Stone and Water is always my go-to recommendation for prose. Start with the first book, Dragon In Chains. He has a flowing, lyrical style which I really like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ductastic Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 No one can describe a hem line like Robert Jordan. He always made GRRM's food descriptions look rather flat. :lol: Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien. I agree. It might not be a book for everyone due to the sort of book it is but Tolkien's prose is just fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt b Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Gene Wolfe /thread Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter's Knight Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 What about Ellen Kushner? Sure she overdoes it in the Fall of the Kings but Swordspoint and the Man with the Knives were beautifully written in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinrei Posted January 7, 2014 Author Share Posted January 7, 2014 And to contribute some names to my own thread: I quite like Michelle West's prose. Bakker is good, yes. Erikson has some very good passages...and he gets better and better through his career, imo. At the moment i read the second Alamut book by Tarr and she has a way with words as well. But i have a lot of checking out to do...many names i have not tried out yet in all these linked threads. So thank you all!And if more comes to mind, keep it coming... As a question: If i wanted to try out Valente...which of her books is the most like a normal fantasy story? I mean i like convoluted prose, but if the story that it tells bores me to tears, than the prose alone will not keep me reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ᴛɪᴍᴏᴛʜʏ Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Rothfuss has a knack for writing really readable stuff. Part of it probably has to do with the use of larger numbers of short chapters but either way the pages have a way of turning themselves. At the same time he doesn't often write the kind of paragraph or even sentence that likes to dig for itself a place inside of memory. The stuff of his that does get quoted on Goodreads and such I'm just as likely to find cloying as meaningful, but that's a thing of a taste. I've only read Zelazny's Amber stuff but he belongs here. I don't think there's anyone in SFF right now that I read that writes dialogue to the level that he did either, or made character interaction in general as interesting as he did. Starting books is always hard for me, but I was more quickly pulled into the zone with Nine Princes in Amber than maybe anything else I've read, at least in SFF. I haven't read Kay or Wolfe or a lot of the names that usually show up in these threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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