Fantasy books

[kathycf]

I am not familiar with either author, but you can go to this page and read excerpts from several of Flewelling's novels. They look intriguing and as I am always on the look out for new stuff to read I am glad you mentioned them.


Lynn Flewelling's Books

[kathycf]

I did read all of the excerpts from the link I gave. I thought they seemed...ok. I was not hugely impressed but the books didn't seem awful, just not to my taste.

[Avane]

Gilliatt thank you and Sator for reminding me about the Zelazney Amber Chronicles (tho' believe G that you have not yet read them?). This is going to be my summer reading
Lovenbruck and Flewelling, I am sorry Gilliatt but not familiar with. Will have a look at Kathycf's link for Flewelling.
My main man was mostly J G Ballard, loved the imagery of his works, his jewelled scorpions and the post-apocalyptic domain in which he so often wrote, like The Crystal World, The Drowned World (think also a Burning World. Has anyone else read Ballard's Highrise probably one of his wildest, can't begin to describe it.
Ursula K Le Guin and Philip K Dick were also great reads within this genre.

[BlueSky]

One of of my favorite series : The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

[Avane]

Anne McCaffrey, well, the things that come back and back. Dragons!!! Loved that series.

[kathycf]

I was right in the middle of making a post in this thread earlier today when the storm knocked the power out. Gosh!

A few years ago my sister gave me the complete Bitterbynde series by Cecilia Dart-Thornton. They are well written and entertaining. Thornton likes to go on and be "wordy" a bit too much, but it can be overlooked, IMO.

She combines different elements of Irish, English and Scottish folklore in the books, and tells the story of the main character Ashelinde throughout all her incarnations. Well, I shouldn't say anymore in case anybody is interested in the books.

The Ill-Made Mute
The Lady of the Sorrows
The Battle of Evernight

[Avane]

I've just started William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. Jury is still out as early days, but he's never let me down yet.

William Gibson - Official Website

[kathycf]

Ah, I see I can read an excerpt from the book at Gibson's website. The synopsis looks pretty interesting.

*goes to check it all out*

I have a feud with my library, so I am limited in what I can read at the moment. Stupid library...

[Ferrick]

Here are a few of the many Fantasy books that I loved:

Jack Vance - The Lyonesse Triology which is superb High Fanatsy. The man is a bonified wordsmith. His Dying Earth series is a fun read especially Cudgel's Saga and Rhialto the Marvelous, but you have to start in the beginning with The Dying Earth which is a collection of short stories, then The Eyes of the Overworld which introduces you to Cudgel who is quite chaotic in this book, but in Cudgel's Saga it is much more tongue in cheek.

John Bellairs - The Face in the Frost. I came across a copy in a pharmacy store years and years ago. I re-read it this past October. It stands the test of time.

Glenn Cook - Yes I have read the Black Company, etc., but I especially love his Garrett, P.I. series. Think of it as Film Noir Fantasy. His first book of the series Sweet Silver Blues has been reprinted and I strongly suggest reading the books in order because the ones that follow will refer back to that which has gone before.

Jim Butcher - His Dresden Files, series. Don't let the Sci Fi TV series define for you these works. Butcher's writng is far superior though his latest work Proven Guilty, IMO, is the weakest offering. This is also a Film Noir Fantasy feel, but set in modern Chicago, unlike Cook's world.

Ursula K. LeGuin - The Earthsea Trilogy. Great concept and excellent writing. Avoid the fourth book that came much later. It is nothing like the triology.

Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes. Another wordsmith.

[Avane]

Originally Posted by Ferrick

Here are a few of the many Fantasy books that I loved:

[Ursula K. LeGuin - The Earthsea Trilogy. Great concept and excellent writing.

Ray Bradbury - Something Wicked This Way Comes. Another wordsmith.

Of your choice list I'd have to choose these two as being the most special, with Bradbury as being a 'nose past the finish line'. Highly recommend William Gibson too (have listed a link on my thread, you can read a bit of the first chapter. He too is a wordsmith), but when I stop to think of all the fantasy and sci-fi writers I have read, well, I get almost tired. There have been alot and I think for many people now computer games are expanding that world. We are lucky. We have the fabulous books, and some excellent games too. I would love to see Larry Niven's Ringworld produced as a game...
Ringworld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ringworld Larry Niven.

The main protagonist is Louis Wu, a periodic adventurer-genius in the midst of celebrating his 200th birthday. Despite his age, he is in perfect physical condition due to a combination of superior genetic makeup, advanced medical technology and boosterspice, a drug that extends human life. He extends his birthday by teleporting ahead of the terminator from party to party across Earth, but it so happens that he is bored with life and eager for new challenges, so Nessus has little difficulty recruiting him. The character Nessus is a Pierson's Puppeteer. Essentially Puppeteer's are xenophobic, only a very small minority of Puppeteers interact with "potentially dangerous" alien species. Nessus, being a "mad" Puppeteer, is given the task of assembling a team to explore the Ringworld, to see if it poses a threat to his species.

Ringworld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Siberys]

Anybody got any good fantasy book recommendations? When I say fantasy, I mean dragons and wizards and crap obviously.

I'm looking just for anything to read in general, but more on the mature side. Harry potter and Eragon like stuff both proved to be rather boring after the first book or two, and I just didn't bother later.

Currently here's what I've read-

Terry Goodkind- the first six books of Sword of Truth (Was good, but got REALLY slow after a while). Gave up on it.
Terry Pratchette- All except the Colour of Magic in the discworld series.
JRR Tolkein- Everything.
Neil Gaiman- The Sandman, all of them.
Forgotten Realms- A couple books, nothing spectacular from them.
Dragonlance- I would think everything, though there's too many to count as it is.

And what I'm currently reading or preparing to read are the Guardian of the Flames Anthology and the Black Magician Trilogy. Dunno how good they're gonna be, but meh.

So I hope you can tell my sorts of preferences by now, so if you know anything good that you think I'd like, feel free to tell me.

[Kipi]

I would recomment book series called "A Tale of The Malazan Book of The Fallen" by Steven Erikson.
Excellent series, which isn't completed yet. By now there are seven books, each around 900 pages. In addition to some traditional fantasy things the black humour in the books is fantastic.

It's not very big deal if you don't read the books in order, but still I suggest so, as previous books may explain something which would otherwise confuse you in later books.

[Gilliatt]

Have you checked the thread I started about fantasy books? There are some very interesting suggestions there.

I have not red Tad Williams yet, but from what I have heard his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn serie is amongst the very few who could be compared to Tolkien in terms of quality.

In the other thread I suggested Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. I enjoyed that book very very much and I am always willing to suggest it to people who want something more intelligent than the typical quest to save the world from the very very evil monster.

[Siberys]

@Kipi, thanks I'll check those out.

@Gilliat, must have missed that thread before, I'll be sure to peruse that one.

[fable]

We've had several threads over in SYM about fantasy over the years, dating back to 2001. (Just do a search on "fantasy" in SYM, and see what appears.) Some were pretty fun debates. I remember being attacked for saying that Tolkien was unoriginal, and in some ways mediocre, which he was. I also wrote this:

James Branch Cabell was an early 20th century Virginian with a very different view, both romantic and ironic. His writing style was colored by medieval French sources, of whose poetry and prose he was a master translator. He wrote 25 books(!) in one long series, detailing the history and descendants of two fictional fantasy characters, Dom Manuel and Jurgen. The prose is brilliant, the mind behind it, learned as all hell, the humor (when it occurs) excruciatingly funny. Talk about contextual depth: one of Cabell's books is nothing but a lineage for his two main characters. Cabell also focuses on a quality not found in Tolkien and Eddison: the sadness of evanescent pleasures taken by mortals.

Here's a brief sample of his prose:

"From what you tell us, Emperor Jurgen," said all the demons, "your wife was an acidulous shrew, and the sort of woman who believes that whatever she does is right."

"It was not a belief," says Jurgen: "it was a mania with the poor dear."

"By that fact, then, she is forever debarred from entering Hell."

"You tell me news," says Jurgen, "which if generally known would lead many husbands into vicious living."

"But it is notorious that people are saved by faith. And there is no strong faith than that of a bad-tempered woman in her own infallibility. Plainly this wife of yours is the sort of person who cannot be tolerated by anybody short of the angels. We deduce that your Empress must be in Heaven."

Cabell also had a sly way with sexual innuendo. It actually got what was probably his best book (and a favorite of Mark Twain), Jurgen, banned in New York City by the Society for the Prevention of Vice. It took a group of the most prominent writers and intellectuals of the day to take the matter to court, before the ban was lifted.