Fantasy-sorcery recommendations

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by artificial

Not to be picky, but I think Magician was originally published as a single volume, and the Apprentice/Master editions came later

My 1982 copy is a single volume.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by m42

The Name of the Wind by Patrick RothFuss.

This was an excellent book but he has been years late with the followup. It was schedule for release in 4/2009 and didn't make it; now it is scheduled for 4/2011, but I wonder if that will hold. The problem with Wind is that it really needs the following books in the planned trilogy. It isn't wholly a standalone book.

Originally Posted by m42

And give Empress by Karen Miller a try. Its not traditional sword/sorcery but I couldn't put it down.

Empress also was excellent, as were other books by Miller. I'm debating about her forthcoming book, however.

[FatDog]

Look for Barbara Hambly's trilogy starting with The time of the dark. The amazon page shows a torn-up cover that looks like my dog-eared copy. But it's not available as ebook yet.

Elizabeth Hayden has several books starting with Rhapsody : Child of Blood, Prophecy: Child of Earth, Destiny: Child of the Sky. It's available on Kindle but I dont know about other formats.

Lawerence Watt-Evans has a bunch of single book but they are all well written and entertaining. Try The Misenchanted Sword or The Spriggan Mirror to see if you like his style. (I just looked on Amazon and he has several series as well.)

Glen Cook has a series of books about Garret - a private eye working in a town with dwarves, elves, talking rats, and well-endowed read-heads, etc. (Kind of like Sam Spade mixed up with Tolken). Try Sweet Silver Blues or Bitter Gold Hearts which I think is the start of the series. Available on Kindle and others like at Books On Board.

[afa]

I second whoever mentioned Joe Abercrombie. I'm nearly done with the last of The First Law trilogy, and it's terrific. It's not sword-and-sorcery, though, more in the Epic Fantasy mould. And it's in keeping with the grittier and more 'adult' trend in Fantasy nowadays, popularised by GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire and Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen.

I haven't read either (yet), but they're very highly regarded, though Malazan is reportedly quite complex and confusing. It starts by thrusting the reader straight into the midst of the story and so takes a few books to have a good idea about what's going on. And GRRM seems to be suffering from major writer's block; his fifth book has been pending for years and keeps getting delayed. And there's another two to come after that...

Regarding The Wheel of Time - it's a pretty good series, but there is an awful lot of filler in there. The first few books are good, but it gets a little tiring in the middle. In particular, Books 8-10 are a drag and virtually nothing of consequence occurs in them. It seems Jordan kind of lost his grip on the story there, and kept introducing new characters and places and story arcs that went nowhere. #11 is good, though, and while I haven't read it yet, I've heard that Brandon Sanderson has done a good job with the twelfth.

[nikkers]

Lois McMaster Bujold's Curse of Chalion , Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt

[A4-]

One of my all time favorites is "Weis & Hickman - the Death Gate cycle"

Here's a list of interesting fantasy series I have on my reader (only first novel listed):

Author -releaseyear- Series name + nr - Novel name

Abercrombie, Joe -'06- The First Law 1 - The Blade Itself
Anthony, Piers -'77- Xanth 01 - Spell for Chameleon
Arthur, Keri -'08- Myth & Magic 1 - Destiny Kills
Brett, Peter V -'08- Demon 1 - The Painted Man
Brittain, C. Dale -'91- Wizard of Yurt 1 - A Bad Spell in Yurt
Brooks, Terry -'86- Landover 1 - Magic Kingdom For Sale-Sold!
Butcher, Jim -'00- Dresden 00 - Restoration of Faith
Butcher, Jim -'00- Dresden 01 - Storm Front
Canavan, Trudi -'01- Black Magician 1 - The Magicians' Guild
Cashore, Kristin -'08- Seven Kingdoms 1 - Graceling
Chalker, Jack L -'77- Well Of Souls 1 - Midnight At The Well Of Souls
Clemens, James -'98- The Banned and the Banished 1 - Witch Fire
Dart-Thornton, Cecilia -'01- Bitterbynde 1 - The Ill-Made Mute
De Camp, L Sprague -'68- Jorian 1 - The Goblin Tower
Donaldson, Stephen -'77- Land 1 - Lord Foul's Bane
Drake, David -'97- Lord of the Isles 1 - Lord of the Isles
Durham, David Anthony -'07- Acacia 1 -  The War with the Mein
Eddings, David -'82- Belgariad 1 - Pawn of Prophecy
Erikson, Steven -'99- Malazan Book of the Fallen 1 - Gardens of the Moon 
Farland, David -'98- Runelords 1 - The Runelords
Feist, Raymond E -'82- RiftWar 1 - Magician
Friedman, C S -'91- Coldfire Trilogy 1 - Black Sun Rising
Frost, Gregor -'08- Shadowbridge 1 - Shadowbridge
Gardner, Craig Shaw -'85- Ebenezum 1 - A Malady of Magicks
Gemmell, David -'84- Drenai 1 - Legend
Gould, Steven -'92- Jumper 1 - Jumper
Hobb, Robin -'95-  Farseer 1 - Assassins's Apprentice
Jones, J V -'95- Book of Words 1 - The Baker's Boy
Jones, J V -'99- Sword of Shadows 1 - A Cavern of Black Ice
Jordan, Robert -'90- WOT 1 - The Eye of the World
Kerr, Katharine -'97- Dragon Mage 1 - The Red Wyvern
Keyes, Greg -'02- Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone 1 - The Briar King
Lawhead, Stephen -'85- Dragon King 1 - In the Hall of the Dragon King
Le Guin, Ursula K -'04- Western Shore 1 - Gifts
Marr, Melissa -'07- Tattoo Faeries 1 - Wicked Lovely
Martin, George R R -'96- Ice & Fire 1 - A Game Of Thrones
McGirt, Dan -'09- Jason Cosmo 1 - Hero Wanted
Mills, K E -'09- Rogue Agent 1 - The Accidental Sorcerer
Modesitt, L E -'91- Recluce 1 - The Magic of Recluce
Nicholls, Stan -'99- Orcs First Blood 1 - Bodyguard of Lightning
Novik, Naomi -'06- Temeraire 1 - His Majesty's Dragon
Paul, Donita K -'04- DragonKeeper Chronicles 1 - DragonSpell
Rohan, Michael Scott -'86- Winter of the World 1 - The Anvil of Ice
Rothfuss, Patrick -'07- Kingkiller 1 - The Name of the Wind
Rowling, JK -'97- Harry Potter 1 And The Philosopher's Stone
Sage, Angie -'05- Septimus Heap 1 - Magyk
Sanderson, Brandon -'06- Mistborn 1 - The Final Empire
Scott, Michael -'07- Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel 1 - The Alchemyst
Sinclair, Alison -'09- Darkborn 1 - Darkborn
Tolkien, J.R.R. -'37- The Hobbit
Tolkien, J.R.R. -'54- The Lord of the Rings
Watt-Evans, Lawrence -'85- Ethshar 1 - The Misenchanted Sword
Weis & Hickman -'84- Dragonlance Chr 1 - Dragons Of Autumn Twilight
Wells, Martha -'93- Ile-Rien 1 - The Element of Fire
Wurts, Janny -'84- Cycle of Fire 1 - Stormwarden
Zelazny, Roger -'70- The Great Book Of Amber

[stargazertony]

Try http://www.literature-map.com/. Not a list of books but if you type in an authors name, it will give you a visual representation of authors who are similar.

[Lastblade]

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres, and The Malazan Book of the Fallen (from Steven Erikson) is on top of my list. It is a complex tale of politics, epic warfare, strange hosts of races/creatures, incredible magic system (which really doesn't get explained until book 6). So far, there are 9 books out (with several offshoot shorter novels from Erikson and his friend Esslemont). The Malazan main story arc supposedly end in book 10, but I am not sure how he can possibly conclude all the plot points.

In any case, I highly recommend this series but it is not for the faint of heart. He doesn't explain a lot of things so you have to pay attention (or go on one of the forums and read up on the synopsis). For example, I was reading book 3 (Memories of Ice) and Book 8 (Toll The Hounds) actually pick up right where 3 left off. In case you are wondering, book 4 thru 7 were mainly about other characters doing other things (or other wars that were going on). Rereading it makes you enjoy it even more as it is so easy to miss things.

Oh, and unlike other authors, Erikson writes fairly quickly too. In the span of time that A Feast of Crows came out (2006), he published 4 books already. Book 10, the Crippled God should be out some time in 2011 (Dust of Dreams came out earlier this year, late last year in UK).

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Khai

Will check it out. I have a phobia for authors with the name 'Terry'. I tried Terry Brooks' "Sword of Shannara" series and I found it incredibly dry and boring.

I read the original Sword of Shannara book when I was in high school and loved it. Years later, I read Terry Brooks' memoir on writing (Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life) and loved it. In that book, he admits that the first book was filled with lots of newbie writing errors. I reread Sword of Shannara, and boy, he wasn't kidding. It took a while before I got into it because that darn druid could go on and on... But once the story (and the characters) got moving, phew! However, since then, I haven't been able to get into one of his books, and I keep meaning to do so. I do have the omnibus e-book edition of Brooks' first three Landover books, and those seem promising. Or maybe I'll just read his memoir again as it's much shorter.

For a completely different style of writing, I recently bought an anthology of Clark Ashton Smith's fantasy stories. It's available in multiformat from Prime Books on Fictionwise. However, his writing style is supposed to be baroque, so I don't know if i'll be able to get into it. Or maybe I'll "Go for Baroque" after all.

[Lastblade]

Don't forget Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. The ending, though, is a kick in the balls.

[wayspooled]

Originally Posted by Khai

I've been really into fantasy books - especially the ones with sorcery/magic and a whole new other world.

Some of the authors that I like are David Eddings and Maria V. Snyder, among others. I honestly enjoyed David Eddings' construction of his fantasy world and that piqued my interest.

If there are any other books that are similar to them, I would greatly appreciate it if you can recommend me!

Oh, and one of my friends recommended that I read Garth Nix and his Abhorsen trilogy. Thoughts?

Thanks!

About the time of David Eddings death, this thread of recommendations popped up.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ter#post481987

[afa]

Originally Posted by Lastblade

Don't forget Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. The ending, though, is a kick in the balls.

The real kick in the balls is the whole of Book V (Wolves of the Calla). That was one hell of a boring and, worse, irrelevant book.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually thought the end was fine. In fact, it was quite fitting. The events leading up to the end, however, were a major disappointment.

[Lastblade]

Originally Posted by afa

The real kick in the balls is the whole of Book V (Wolves of the Calla). That was one hell of a boring and, worse, irrelevant book.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually thought the end was fine. In fact, it was quite fitting. The events leading up to the end, however, were a major disappointment.

I agree. I was shocked after reading through book 7, but after thinking about it for a few months, it all made sense and it should end that way. Kinda like how I felt about the Seinfeld finale. However, I still feel for Roland.

Book 5 does suck, especially coming right after 4 (probably my favorite in the whole series). 6 really isn't much better, imho.

[afa]

I agree completely.

Books 3 & 4 were my favourites, and #6 was pretty mediocre, too.

[neilmarr]

I've for a wee cracker newly released by BeWrite Books called *The Tor* by Liza Granville.

Fantasy ain't my bag, but this one caught me by the short and curlies because it plants its feet so firmly on the ground with its oh-too-real apocalyptic setting and solid characters and storylines. Disbelief is well suspended way before the fantastic creeps in.

Any pals here (over the next twenty four hours or so) who'd like the ebook version, just drop me an email and I'll send it in the format of your choice with our compliments. You can read about the book by popping into our website (linked below) and going to the bookstore section.

Cheers. Neil (ntmarrATbewrite.net -- but use the @ sign)