Your fantasy/sci-fi progession

[Grack21]

Heh, I read The Silmarillion as a kid and was WTF IS THIS SHIT and then read it as an adult and consider one of the best books ever. Ahh time.

[Liadin]

Ohhhh Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper books are personal favorites. I don;t know why they don't get much attention around here. Well, I think I know why, but I'll be polite about it. Great books, one of the few authors that did the raised by wolf things without it turning trite or into furry porn. Chester I've heard of but never read. Abbey wrote a couple decent D&D novels. Nothing special, but nothing terrible.

Also you make me feel old. I was in college when Sara Douglas came out.

Juliet Marillier I;ve been emaing to read for a while but don;t know where to start.

Well, this is the really embarrassing part of the Sara Douglass story: only the first one was actually out in the U.S. when I started reading them (recommended by a friend who also read weird and often crappy fantasy; at one point she was reading Newcombe although she said she only read the scenes with the villains). So I ordered them from a bookstore in Australia. (Er, at least it wasn't Goodkind?)

For Marillier you should definitely start with Daughter of the Forest. Arguably her best work (and little romance compared to many of her later works, if you prefer stuff that doesn't feel romance-novel-y). The Sevenwaters Trilogy is excellent (and all three work very well as standalones since each book picks up with the next generation), although her later stuff is enough of a step down that I'd mostly just recommend to people who are looking for fantasy romance. Well, Heart's Blood is a decent "Beauty and the Beast" retelling, but her later works just feel more commercial to me while the original Sevenwaters books are lyrical and unselfconscious.

The thing that sticks out most about Chester's books was that for each book in the trilogy, virtually every sentence in the back-of-the-book blurb had multiple mistakes in it. It was hilarious and maddening at the same time. The books themselves were, as far as I can recall, your standard mediocre fantasy with elves, long-lost heirs and plots that stretch credibility. The Abbey I liked, the Linskold I barely remember.

[Galactus]

Around age 10: The Hobbit, LOTR, the Silmarillion. I pretty much read anything by Tolkien i could get my hands on at that point.

Age 12 or so: Eddings. Started scouring the SF-shelf (no fantasy shelf yet!) at my local library for anything I could find: Asmimov, Heinlein, Simak, a bunch of kids SF you've probably never heard of. Read Donaldson at this age and was unable to sleep for a week afterwards. Oh yeah, Alexander as well.

14 or so: Jordan, Katherine Kerr, Elizabeth Moon, still basically scouring any new fantasy release I could find. (Including some Stephen King but didn't like him much) Ender's Game. Feist (although only Empire trilogy at this point, didn't evne know there was anything else until I got to highschool) Richard Adams.

I read Martin during first year of high school (I think I joined the board in my second year?) expanded into comic books at that point, Watchmen. Tad Williams, Robin Hobb. Basically kept reading anything I could get my hands on in the library as soon as it came out (which gave me something of an idiosyncratic reading order since they might get a book a decade after it was published)

[Datepalm]

I was definitely an SF fan first - Clarke, Heinlein, David Brin, Zelazny, McCaffery (I was going by a friends dad bookshelf.) and also Animorphs, and Historical fiction - I particularly remember Wilbur Smith and Margaret George and a trilogy about Alexander the Great. Only started really reading Fantasy in the 6th grade with Eddings, though I read Narnia and Pullman before that, it never quite clicked for me as a genre. Then I think it was Jordan>Martin>Dragonlance (you work with what you have)>Brooks>Maggie Furey (I swear i've never heard this series mentioned anywhere, but it got translated into hebrew, so it can't have been that bad), etc, and then I discovered ordering stuff from the internet and branched out into like Meiville and stuff.

[Galactus]

Maggie Furey (I swear i've never heard this series mentioned anywhere, but it got translated into hebrew, so it can't have been that bad),

Haha, it was translated into swedish too! Yet I've never heard anyone talk about it. Ever.

[Datepalm]

Haha, it was translated into swedish too! Yet I've never heard anyone talk about it. Ever.

Aha! A review! Proof someone, ever, has read this book in English. It seemingly regards the book as mostly positive, in an id-satisfying cheesy sort of way. OTOH, it also includes sentences like:

Men looking for the grittiness and seriousness of Martin or Kay or Turtledove should probably steer clear

Kay?!

and

Sex as a metaphor for power runs as a thematic strand throughout this whole novel, sometimes subtly, often brazenly. It's not a nuanced and mature handling of the topic, a la Jacqueline Carey

:dunno:

[Borque]

Kay?!

Well Kay is gritty. Compared to say, The Belgariad.

My own progression was slightly jumpy, read a lot of other stuff in between these:

A Wizard of Earthsea at around 10-11

Lord of the Rings at 13

The Silmarillion, The Hobbit at 13-14

The Belgariad at 16ish, followed by some Feist and Donaldson. Also read lots of SF around then - Herbert, Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Aldiss, Vance and Zelazny among others. Then a break for a few years, until a friend got me into the WOT (gave up around book 7 though), which led to Martin, which led to this board, which led to Kay, Hobb, Bakker, Mieville, Wolfe and more.

[MinDonner]

My parents were big Tolkien geeks (yes, they even used to dress up as hobbits and go to Oxenmoot, and there was and still is a map of Middle Earth up on the wall by the dining table in their house) so there's never been a time when I've not been exposed to fantasy. Sci-fi took a bit longer, at least in book form (ie. not counting Star Wars, Dr Who, Star Fleet, etc etc etc) cos there just didn't seem to be any kids' SF books available (Vardo aside, as discussed elsewhere) - so, didn't start reading that until maybe age 11 and Nicholas Fisk.

Pre-GRRM, I was kind of going off traditional fantasy, probably due to some ill-advised reading choices and overexposure to crap, but after that my interest perked right back up again.

[kuroishi]

At 10 my cousin lent me his copy of the Fellowship of the Rings, so that was my real start in the genre. After that he lent me the rest of his fantasy collection which basically amounted to Moorcock's Eternal Champions books and a few standalones and Howard's Conan books. And his brother lent me his Star Wars books (the first Zahn trilogy and The Truce at Bakura). My introduction to the genre.

Moorcock might have been a bit too much for a 10-years old... (I recall being horrified at the time by The Ice Schooner in which

one of the hero's friend is castrated and left to die of blood loss in the snow, and the hero goes crazy in the end

)

In middle school I began to track down series I could find in french. Read every translated Tolkien or Moorcock book, also Fritz Leiber, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman's non-Dragonlance books (Death Gate Cycle, Rose of the Prophet...). A lot of Forgotten Realms books too. I tried to read some Dragonlance but never got into it, I don't really know why when you consider what I was reading at the time.

My sister and I also collected every single Pern book we could find, and she had The Mists of Avalon so I read that too.

Due to my limited collection I used to re-read a lot in middle school.

By the beginning of High School I discovered Eddings and Feist, then started to read Pratchett, and Jordan, Zelazny or Robin Hobb by the end. I must also have read Dune and my first Vance novels (the Tschai books, which didn't leave me a deep impression at that time, though I do love Vance now).

University : I discovered Kay and Martin in my first year (also OS Card), then decided that I should start reading in english, which allowed to discover more authors and books, then came on this board, which again led me to discover much, much more.

[DireLlama]

I remember reading The Hobbit with my class when I was at primary school, but I didn't really get into any reading myself until I was around 12-13, when I went through The Hobbit/LOTR set. I ended up reading those at least once a year for a while. Over the next few years, I didn't read much aside from LOTR rereads, and I think Harry Potter and Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy.

Probably around the age of 17 or so I picked up The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, and found them very hard going. But at the same time I loved the content. On subsequent rereads I found it much easier.

But otherwise, I didn't really read much. While I was doing my degree I picked up Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn (a fantastic trilogy) and Ben Counter's Soul Drinkers series (not so good) as holiday reading, but I think they were the only things I read over that timeframe.

Then, when I finished my last exam last summer, I was wondering what to do. I have a friend who took any opportunity to recommend ASOIAF, so I went out and bought AGOT. After spending most of that day reading it I think I ordered ACOK, ASOS and AFOC that night.

After finishing ASOIAF, I followed it up with Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, along with Ravenor and a reread of Eisenhorn. Then I charged through the first 12 Wheel of Time books, followed by Mistborn and a Silmarillion reread. (As a side note, listening to Blind Guardian's concept album Nightfall in Middle Earth is even more powerful if you've just reread the Silmarillion. Majestic!)

Next up is Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God, The Way of Kings, and of course an ASOIAF reread ready for ADWD.

[Ranzadule]

All through childhood: Arthur, Grimms fairytales, OZ and whatnot

Read Narnia with parents about age 8. Started collecting Comic Books, everything Marvel and Batman.

Tarzan and some westerns next on my own.

Hobbit and LoTR around age 10.

Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum, Castle Brass age 13

Found D&D just after finishing Eternal Champion read, about 14 (1980) ish.

Read pretty much only fantasy until I was 40 and discovered Starship Troopers. IT was then that I realized that Scifi was not Star Wars only. I believe after reading for the last 5 years, that Heinlein and Bradbury are some of the most brilliant men and philosophers of the 20th Century. Other Than Martin, I read no more fantasy. I am reading Dresden (only up to bk 3 so far) and scifi classics. Going to give Dune a go over the summer.

Edit to Add:

I re-read Moorcock in my thirties and added Von Bek and whatnot at that time. Got a lot more out of it then.

I also left out the Horseclans. I loved those books in my 20s. Same is true of the Gotrek books in my 30s. I also really enjoyed Abnetts Horus Rising.

I forgot to mention Stephan Sullivan and the Ree Sosbee and their really good Legend of the Five Rings novels.

I also forgot to mention Theives World, which I read as they came out and the Gord books, also read as they came out. I tried Shannara but got tired of it in the Elfstones.

[SkynJay]

One. I'm jealous of people who had parents into LoTR. My dad gave up on them when he borrowed my copies. In fact the only books of mine he likes are Christopher Moore.

Two. Damn I am glad there are more and more Star Wars books on this list. Zahn is a good author that i think people should read more of.

Three. I am not even old, but I am jealous of the the people Half a generation behind me who got Potter as a starting point.

Four. I am surprised no one else had early Pern in their progression so far.

Five. I have no idea why I am making a list with numbers. So I will stop now.

[Borque]

Thanks for reminding me I did actually read som Pern stuff early on. Apparently not very memorable though.

[Nukelavee]

The first scifi I know by name that I read was "At the Gates of Time", by Neal Barret Jr. Bought it for 10 cents at the age of 9. Mom picked me up a book of early hugo winners a little while later...so, Niven, Asimov, Ellison...so much that was cool, so much that was WTF?!?!?!?!

Around 11 or 12, I was reading Gates of Ivrel, by Cherryh, Joan D Vinge, Pern books, Haldeman, every anthology I could grab, Conan, Elric, Red Sonja, Under a Calculating Star...

ummm, The Crimson Chalice, The Final Arena, Stewart's Merlin series..LoTR by grade 7

[Zach H]

Preteen I got my genre start through Star Wars books, with the occasional Crichton thrown in there as well. Late teens Salvatore's DemonWars and Lord of the Rings introduced me to epic fantasy. Around 20 Ice and Fire and Mike Stackpole's Dragon Crown cycle. 21 or so Matt Stover's Caine books. Blade of Tysahlle in particular was the book I most credit for slapping me into reading not just for the world and for the adventure, but all that literary stuff as well. Not long after Stover I went to Wolfe, Peake, Harrison, VanderMeer, Mieville, Borges, Le Guin, Moorcock, Ballard, Link, etc. And it's probably worth mentioning that my interest in "serious" sf/f in my early 20s likewise coincided with my becoming interested reading literary non-genre fiction as well.

Having said all that, though, I still pick up a Star Wars book every now and then.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Middle School: Star Wars Books. Clive Cussler. Crichton.

Freshman Year: Goodkind. I didn't know better, leave me alone.

Sophomore Year: Jordan, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms

Junior Year: Robin Hobb, Dune. LOTR. Brooks. What's funny is that at this point in my life I was rereading like crazy. I think I reread WOT like five times in over two years.

Senior Year: Martin...and thus I grew up.

[Horza]

Tolkien when I was nine or ten, loved the hell out of it despite not understanding what was going on. Earthsea shortly after. An Aunt had a great YA collection so I read other great stuff like Madeleine L'Engle, Bridge to Terabithia, the Chronicles of Prydain and Stig of the Dump. Douglas Adams followed in early adolescence and I've never recovered since.

[Grack21]

Im trying to remember what it was that turned me off to scifi for so long. Asimov and Heinlein bore me to tears and I figured out Card was a nutcase pretty early, but I KNOW there was something specific that made me go ICK SCIFI for almost 17 years. It's like it was so bad I erased it from my mind. I can almost picture the damn things to but thery're like, all blurry.

Maybe I'm insane.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

I started reading the Xanth and Myth (Robert Asprin) books when I was in 4th or 5th grade, so 1997-98 or so. These led me into the fantasy section of my local Barnes and Noble as a 13 or 14 year old picking books purely based on cover art. I picked up The Eye of the World this way and was hooked. I devoured WOT through my 7th and 8th grade years, along with Goodkind, more Asprin, random SF (I was always a fantasy guy, but some sci fi interested me), Brooks, and Feist. By the time I graduated high school I'd gotten into all of above plus Martin, Erikson, Hobb, Cook, and others I dont remember.

In college I read a lot more good literature and dropped most of the above. I stuck with Martin (obviously), Erikson, some others, and branched out into most of the new names that we discuss here. The best fantasy discovery I made totally randomly was The Lies of Locke Lamora, which I bought in a train station in Germany (in English) out of a simple need to have something to read for a few hours.

Nowadays I mix in more sci fi and gen lit along with all my fantasy. I'm also getting into apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic books, so if anyone has any recommendations for good post-apoc I'd love to hear them.

ETA: how could I forget Tolkien? I read him for the first time around 9th grade, though I never finished the Silmarillion, sadly.

[Nearly Headless Ned]

4-6

My dad read me the likes of The Hobbit,Watership Down and Danny Champion of the World.

7-10

Start reading Lord Of The Rings,White Fang (Jack London)Fighting Fantasy Game Books,Choose Your Own Adventure and Lots of Asterix and Obelix.

11-15

Start to read almost exclusively SFF & Horror. Aldis,Eddings,Moorcock,Chronicles Of Prydain,Mary Stewart,Douglas Adams,Feist,Brooks,Barker,Piers Anthony(Not the Xanth stuff, I seem to remember an anthology called Battle Circle including one story called Sos The Rope?)James Herbert,King,Orwell,Roger Taylor,Peake,LeGuinn and Harry Harrison.

16-35

Despite an interest in various playwritghts (Shakespeare,John Ford,Pinter,Stoppard,Ayckbourn)my tastes began to narrow (with a few exceptions) towards fairly generic fantasy. Katherine Kerr,Weiss and Hickman,RA Salvatore(I'm playing a bit of D&D at this point)Jordan,GRRM,Goodkind(Gave up when I read GOT and thought to myself 'what the fuck am I doing reading this shit?')Tad Williams,David Gemmell,the sorely missed Robert Holdstock to a real nadir of the likes of Julia Gray,Maggie Furey,Fiona Mckintosh and the abyss that is Newcombe. Oh and I liked Ann Rice at the time.

Since then I discovered various forums like this one who made very useful recomendations and that has led me to far more skilled authors than some I've previously mentioned. People like Daniel Woodrell,Banks,Bradbury,Vance,Mieville,Bullington,Abercrombie,Shirley Jackson,Ishiguru,KJ Parker,Angela Carter,Henning Mankell,Grace Krilanovitch,Scott Lynch and Cormac Mcarthy.