Fantasy Novel Recommendations

[dmspen]

Try the Reclice series by L.E.Modesitt. Interesting ideas...some people can control Order and some Chaos. But Order is black and Chaos is white.

Light Fantasy from Jim Butcher, The Dresden Files, stories of a modern wizard. There was a bad TV series on for 1 season. The books, of course, are better.

[FatDog]

There was a bad TV series on for 1 season. The books, of course, are better.

Hey - I kind of liked the show.

Try the Garrett PI series by Glen Cook.

My wife turned me onto the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fford. Start with "The Ayre Affair".

Another family favorite is Raymond Fiest series starting with "Magician" There are several books in the series and they 'grow' over time as the success of the series was un-planned. There are also "Servant of the Empire" and "Mistress of the Empire" which are companion books in the same `verse.

Elizabeth Haydon has three books Rhapsody, Destiny, Prophecy which I enjoyed.

[FranchiseBlade]

Robin Hobb's Fool's Errand series is one of my favorites. Of course I could 2nd the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin.

I just started The Briar King, so hopefully it will be good enough to recommend once I read more of it.

[GA Russell]

Night Life of the Gods by Thorne Smith

Available from the MR library. (IMP, so you'll probably need calibre to convert it.)
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...t=Thorne+Smith

[caleb72]

I think Raymond Feist with "Magician", "Silverthorn" and "Darkness at Sethanon" would match quite well as would the companion trilogy "Daughter/Servant/Mistress of the Empire" written both by Feist and Janny Wurts. Actually the latter is even better in my opinion.

I don't know if I would bother going any further in that universe though. I started getting bored enough that I dropped Feist from further reading after a while.

Now if you like these, you could probably give the Wars of Light and Shadow series by Janny Wurts a run. There's 8 in the series from what I can see. I only read the first 3 and moved on to something else, but I found the first 3 to be very good.

Regards
Caleb

[Gadget_girl]

For more of a modern urban fantasy, the October Daye novels by Seanan McGuire are quite good. Fey races with good & bad intentions, bit of a detective mystery.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdom's & The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin are a recent favorite of mine. Very character driven, plenty of magic & old gods to go around. I guess that makes it Fantasy.

I've also read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson recently. Entertaining, gritty, magical, & Fantastic come to mind when describing this one.


I'm not particularly fond of authors who write a long series, where it feels like they should just get to the point already. These books move along quite nicely. Until you get to the end, then you just want more.

Most of my other fav's have already been mentioned. But I will reprise,
The Warded Man (Peter V. Brett)
The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
Dresden Files (Modern Urban Fantasy)

[natasha_fawn]

Highly recommend Heroes Die by Matthew W. Stover. (Especially if you enjoyed Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, which I heartily second.)

The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. (10 thick books, the 10th is coming out pretty soon.)

The Prince of Nothing series by R. Scott Bakker.

I second Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles. Anything by Zelazny, actually.

[pdurrant]

I've just remembered that the last time this was asked I made a list of the recommendations. See this post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...038#post455038

[AndrewH]

I forgot to mention two of my favorite authors, Charles de Lint (I liked The Little Country the best) and Guy Gavriel Kay (anything he writes is superb).

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by AndrewH

If you're looking for something different*, I recommend:

• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (I'm currently reading this)

* These books are not fantasy you're used to. They are not Robert Jordan, R. A. Salvatore, George R. R. Martin, or even Tolkien.

I've really enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but I know plenty of people who really hated this book.

Originally Posted by Elflaede

The Painted Man by Peter V Brett is very good.

The Painted Man is the best book I've read last year. This next book in the series (The Desert Spear) is even better in my opinion.

Originally Posted by FranchiseBlade

Robin Hobb's Fool's Errand series is one of my favorites.

Anything by Robin Hobb

Other recommendations:
The Black Magician's Trilogy by Trudi Canavan
The Age of the Five by Trudi Canavan
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, first book in a new series
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King

[Kiwimick]

The Belgariad series by David Eddings got me hooked on Fantasy. I also enjoyed the Book of Word series by J V Jones
Memory Sorrrow and Thorn by Tad Williams
I second/third the Magician and Empire series by Ramond E Feist although he has written so many books around that universe it gets kind of confusing regarding reading order

[gollu]

This thread is a kind of an enigma to me. There are recommendations for series that are absolutely great (IMO of course) and there are other praises for authors I'd never dare read again, even if that's the last book remaining after WWIII.
It becomes even more perplexing when someone mentions 3 books in a single post- one that I hate, one that I love and one new to me. Should I give it a try?
Decisions, decisions...

[BecomingMe]

Let's see, I've read, re-read and worn out my copies of the Belgariad (as mentioned previously)and Mallorean series done by David Eddings. I enjoy the Wheel of Time series(also previously mentioned)...and Really liked Carol Nelson Douglas's Sword and the Circlet series (though most is out of print, but hoping that she can release them)...
Oh, I LOVE The Shining Falconby Josefa Sherman (took russian folktales and made them into a compelling book)
I am a fantasy nut, so I'm looking at all of these titles...

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by gollu

This thread is a kind of an enigma to me. There are recommendations for series that are absolutely great (IMO of course) and there are other praises for authors I'd never dare read again, even if that's the last book remaining after WWIII.
It becomes even more perplexing when someone mentions 3 books in a single post- one that I hate, one that I love and one new to me. Should I give it a try?
Decisions, decisions...

Don't ever try to understand other people's taste in literature, it'll just drive you crazy

[FranchiseBlade]

Originally Posted by gollu

This thread is a kind of an enigma to me. There are recommendations for series that are absolutely great (IMO of course) and there are other praises for authors I'd never dare read again, even if that's the last book remaining after WWIII.
It becomes even more perplexing when someone mentions 3 books in a single post- one that I hate, one that I love and one new to me. Should I give it a try?
Decisions, decisions...

I think Fantasy and people's appreciating for it is very strange indeed. I love to read Fantasy, but most Fantasy books published I don't like. Some of the ones I read, I only like certain things about. For instance I may like the characters and the writing but not really the story, or the level of magic, etc. More often I'll like the story, but not really the writing, or characters.

I will say that in general I like more gritty fantasy, usually with a low level of magic, and characters that aren't so two dimensional. I like intrigue and things to be less formulaic.

That said there are certain books I like that are exceptions to all of that.