05-20-2012, 07:03 PM | #46 |
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Cherryh's The Paladin is available as a $5 ebook from one of my favorite publishers, Baen.
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05-20-2012, 11:16 PM | #47 |
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Nothing I can think of compares to Tolkien, but that's already been mentioned.
The Nightland by Hodgson is epic. The price is freeeee! |
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05-21-2012, 12:12 AM | #48 |
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05-21-2012, 12:21 AM | #49 |
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05-21-2012, 01:22 AM | #50 |
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05-21-2012, 03:25 AM | #51 |
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For me, it would have to be something by Guy Gavriel Kay. Though I don't know whether I would vote for Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, The Last Light of the Sun, or Under Heaven.
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05-21-2012, 03:28 AM | #52 | |
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Quote:
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05-21-2012, 08:57 AM | #53 |
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05-21-2012, 09:24 AM | #54 |
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05-21-2012, 09:32 AM | #55 |
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My TBR list is groaning under the pressure of all of the great books listed here!
My favourite stand-alone fantasy novels would be American Gods, Tigana and Lord of Light, off-hand, but I will have to think a bit more about this one - I'm sure that there are more that I would like to add to that list. |
05-21-2012, 09:38 AM | #56 |
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"Bridge of Birds" by Barry Hughart. Set in Ancient China with a Fantasy twist and funny!
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05-21-2012, 05:04 PM | #57 |
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Bridge of Birds
Lovely story, but not stand alone. See "The Story of the Stone" and "Eight Skilled Gentlemen" for further adventures of #1 Ox.
My favorite I think is either "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers or "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny. Can't decide....gotta flip a coin...... |
05-21-2012, 05:08 PM | #58 |
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The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch. Although there is a sequel, this book stands on it's own.
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05-22-2012, 06:02 AM | #59 |
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These aren't "best" anything books, but it feels like we're kinda slightly past that anyway, what with the number of people who've listed a number of books. Instead I thought I'd mention a couple that I hardly ever see...eh...mentioned, but which I really, really enjoyed.
Sheri S. Tepper's The True Game (actually three short stories: King's Blood Four, Necromancer Nine and Wizard's Eleven, but available in a single volume) is a fantasy book most of the way through, although by the very, very end the classification becomes ambiguous). Very different, very original (both then and still today) and very recommended by me. Sadly only one short story seems available as an ebook and I can only find the omnibus in paperback. Also by Tepper, The Marianne Trilogy was probably the first book (also available in a single volume) I read which could be classified as urban fantasy (I think - I'm not generally concerned with genres, except to stay far, far away from paranormal romance and such crap). To quote the Kindle Edition blurb: "When Marianne's parents died, leaving control of their fortune to her feared older brother, she struggled to make her way as a student in America - and her old home began to seem as unreal as a fairy tale, her childhood there as distant as a dream . . . Until the Magus came to claim her, and the Black Madame to destroy her, and the Manticore to hunt her down through the streets of another world - for there is magic in Marianne's blood, and magic in her soul. And in a battle fought in an everchanging world of warped time and wicked magic, it is the souls of Marianne and her family that are the ultimate prizes.". The three volumes (Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore; Marianne, the Madame, and the Momentary Gods; Marianne, the Matchbox, and the Malachite Mouse) are available from Tepper's Amazon store, but the single-volume edition seems only to be available in second-hand paper at a rather steep price. Again very different (Tepper does different very well indeed, which is something I appreciate greatly) and very good. |
05-23-2012, 02:15 PM | #60 |
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Funny.. I started reading a Guy Gavriel Kay book - the first book of the Fionvar tapestry - but wasn't that interested and dropped it (which doesn't happen for me very often). Maybe I'll give it another go.
I'm not going to say it's quite "the best" but I like Phylis Eisenstein's Tales of Alaric the Minstrel. Technically it's two books, but they are pretty small - shorter in total than most single books. Grabbed from wikipedia: 1. Born to Exile (1977) 2. In the Red Lord's Reach (1989) They aren't available in ebook yet technically. I like 'em enough that I actually proofread / edited up the poor digital versions (IIRC they started out as poor pdf files) floating around on the internet against my paperbacks to create my own digital epubs of 'em. Wish they had a proper release. I'm also fond of Of Mice and Men by William Tenn. Technically it's sci-fi but the main character is a barbarian. About a future in which people are reduced to living like rats in the walls of a giant alien civilization. Last edited by GreenMonkey; 05-23-2012 at 02:33 PM. |
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