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Recommened me a fantasy sword and sorcery medievalish book


Lady Winter Rose

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Requirements are:

fantasy (not urban fantasy, not ever, I hate urban fantasy, and preferably not YA novel), must have it's own world and world bulding

popular (not familiar with current trends, but want America based popular fantasy novel)

could be little bit older, like Elric Saga, but not too old

Sword and sorcery - novel heavy on sorcery, I enjoyed Elric Saga just because of this

Something that has touch of magic, feeling of wonder, like Dragonlance Chronicles, but better written

Preferably medieval-ish setting.

Read: Stardust, ASOIAF, Lirael and related novels, which I ENJOYED, no matter it's urban-esque nature, Memory Sorrow Torn, some Elric based short stories, some Terry Pratchett books, A Dreamer's Tales, Seraphina, Princess bride. And other Croatian based works, which you would not recognise.

 

If I have tall order, please, kindly remind me of it.

 

Thank you in advance.

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7 minutes ago, baxus said:

I'd recommend Mistborn by Sanderson. It should fit your prerequisites pretty well.

Thank you. I think I will give it a try, sounds interesting. It was on my mind lately. But, I would like more recommendations.

2 minutes ago, unJon said:

Lyonesse trilogy by Jack Vance. 

Joe Abercrombie books (not super heavy on sorcery but it's there). Very funny and somewhat cynical/dark. 

Thank you. I will go and find description of Lyonesse, I read some of Joe Abercombe Blade itself, but it was not my cup of tea.

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You might enjoy Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy

Lots of stuff by Brandon Sanderson fit the bill.  Pretty much anything in the Cosmere.

Joe Ambercrombie and Robin Hobb are no-brainers.  Both of them put out excellent stuff.

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2 hours ago, oberonus said:

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan 

Farseer trilogy Robin Hobb

Mistborn trilogy Brandon Sanderson

Stoemlight archive Brandon sanderson

 

 

 

1 hour ago, aceluby said:

You might enjoy Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy

Lots of stuff by Brandon Sanderson fit the bill.  Pretty much anything in the Cosmere.

Joe Ambercrombie and Robin Hobb are no-brainers.  Both of them put out excellent stuff.

 

Wheel is nobrainers, but I don't like to left unfinished series/books, so I left this bit later. I will definitely try Robin Hobb, but her assassin's books would be my only assassins book. I once buy wrong Robin Hobb book and was surprised how good it was. Unfortunately, it was not first in the series, so I decided to find right book, but for some reason I never did.

 

Isn't it funny how only female author suggested is Robin Hobb... Isn't Ursula LeGuin also fantasy writer?

1 minute ago, Hello World said:

You might like Red Queen's War by Mark lawrence (Prince of Fools, etc), haven't read his new series.

Thank you all, I will definitely look those. I managed to find first part of Mistborn in my local store, so currently I read this.

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Le Guin probably did more SciFi overall? Her most famous fantasy are the Earthsea books and while commendable, they are somewhat young adult and they are not quite medieval (the setting is more original and not so directly modelled after actual historical periods).

You should try Abercrombie and Hobb. But Abercrombie is low magic and for me very "modern" in atmosphere (hardly any "feeling of wonder" for me). I am not as fond of Hobb as most others here but the Farseer books certainly meet your criteria and she has an original take on magic (which is far more important to the main characters here than in Abercrombie), so definitely give them a try.

My highest recommendation would be Vance's Lyonesse. All three books are worthwhile, although the first is the best and the second is fairly weak/odd and the ending of the third one is rushed (because the author's health was failing although he recovered). If you like them, you could try the earlier crazy high magic Vance, namely the "Dying Earth" books. They are uneven but pretty cool and at their best better written and more atmospheric than most. (There was a little discussion here on Lyonesse and Vance last year that might be findable.)

McMaster Bujold: Curse of Chalion - very clearly medieval (even the map is mostly borrowed from late medieval Spain) and with a very interesting take on magic/religion. Probably my second highest rec. Her "Paladin of Souls" is a loose sequel, not quite as good but also worth a try.

Guy Gavriel Kay has the explicitly Arthurian Fionavar Tapestry and several other books of his are also closely modelled after certain medieval settings (admittedly, I have only read Fionavar and Tigana which might not be his best work).

If you can take a Norse/Viking setting, very dark and atmospheric, try Poul Anderson's "The broken sword". This is darker than most current "grimdark" but far more stylish and really gets that Saga atmosphere.

I did not really get into the "Riddle Master" by McKillip (I read the first book and have not continued with the sequels) but it is a very original high magic setting, vaguely Celtic/medieval.

You can find some of the old sword&sorcery, early/proto fantasy stuff by Howard (Conan) and Ashton Smith for free on the web, usually shorter prose stories.

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Am I on reddit?  Sanderson and Lawrence and Abercrombie OH MY!

Jo has some good recs, I think Curse of Chalion and its follow up are two of the best fantasy books I have read.  And despite my snark Lawrence is probably a pretty good fit for this request.

(semi)Recent books that fit the thread?  Uprooted by Naomi Novik, bit of a fairy tale feel to it but magical and medievalish.  City of Stairs misses on the Medieval criteria but I am not sure you will find a more beloved series around here (well, outside of the obvious one).  Courtney Schafer didn't get a ton of traction everywhere but is very popular around this forum, start with Whitefire Crossing for a story that starts in a city ran with magical anarchy.  The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke is heavy on sorcery but light on sword (killer wasps though so not lacking in action).

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I also recommend the Jack Vance works including the Lyonesse trilogy, and of The Dying EarthCugel's Saga and Eyes of the Overworld.  If you enjoy them, you might also seek out The Last Castle and The Dragon Masters.  Lyonesse!  Lyonesse audio book!  Cugel's Saga audio book!

Further, based on the books you enjoyed, I would also recommend Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Paksenarrion, an extensive series of books with strong writing, fine world-building and a good story line along with sympathetic characters.

If you enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold's Curse of Chalion, I recommend to you Harry Turtledove, writing as Dan Chernenko, and his books in The Scepter of Mercy series.

If you like Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword books, I recommend The Hammer and the Cross by Harry Harrison and John Holm, a pseudonym for the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey.  There are two sequels that continue the story, One King's Way and King and Emperor.

If you liked ASOIAF, I recommend Glen Cook's The Black Company books.

If you liked Dragonlance, I recommend Raymon E. Feist's Riftwar Trilogy, The Riftwar Saga.  I also strongly recommend the Empire Trilogy he wrote with Janny Wurts.  I do not recommend anything else either of them wrote.

If you liked the Elric series, I recommend to you The Cingulum series by John Maddox Roberts.  He also wrote a Dragonlance mystery, A Murder in Tarsis.

If you seek a good female writer, try Kage Baker, especially her books in The Anvil of the World series.

And of course, another female writer who has a large bibliography of fantasy as you have described is Tanith Lee.

Finally, you might also consider Celia Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy.  Boocoo Magic!

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5 hours ago, Hello World said:

You might like Red Queen's War by Mark lawrence (Prince of Fools, etc), haven't read his new series.

I didn't pay attention... was Broken Empire on her "already read" list?  If not, I wouldn't touch RQW with a ten foot pole.

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