Spec me a fantasy book

chimaera said:
Robin Hobb:

Farseer, Liveship Traders & Tawny Man Trilogies in that order.

Raymond E Feist:

Start at Magician and take it from there.

But definitely start with Robin Hobb, excellent books that I know many here will endorse as much as myself.
Click to expand...
 
Eulogy said:
some really great recommendations here, I can tell I will soon have enough books to last me the next 20 years ;)

Any particular order I should read the David Gemmell books in or are they all different stories? looking to order some now but want to ensure I read in the correct order if there is one,
Click to expand...

Start with Legend and Waylander. They're the starting point for both of Gemmell's best known characters. There's prequels and sequels to them, but they're the the ones he wrote first.

He was widely regarded as the greatest living writer of heroic fantasy until just over a year ago when he passed away. His books are fantastic though, Raymond E Feist is a close second, but I enjoy exactly the same books as yourself and I implore you to read at least Legend and Waylander.
 
scorza said:
OMFG yes. I've never really read sci-fi but someone lent me a copy of the Reality Dysfunction and I'd probably put it in my top 5 all time reads :) Starting the second book this week.
Click to expand...

I'd also suggest The Commonwealth Saga, similar vein as the above, starts with Misspent Youth which sets the stage for Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. There's also his Greg Mandel Series. All very good books imo.
 
Cheers guys :)

Have ordered David Gemmells Legend And Waylander books

Also ordered pretty much all the witches series from Terry Pratchett.

Should keep me busy for a while... :P
 
I adore Terry Pratchett - a good starting book in the Discworld series would be the first one, The Colour of Magic, or the most popular one, Mort. Some of them follow a progressive line of character, some don't, like Pyramids (my favourite). I'm not a fan of Good Omens though :/
I did like Trudi Canavan's Magician's trilogy (can't remember the name of it now).
Maggie Furey's books are very good, but her endless details of the blood and suffering made me a little ill after a while :s
 
David Eddings - The Belgariad. Then The Mallorean. Steer clear of the Elder Gods.

Stephen Donaldson - Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
 
Last edited:
manveruppd said:
The day someone writes a fantasy novel that doesn't involve a prophesy and an ancient evil returning I'll regain interest in the area!:p
Click to expand...

Funny - out of the 3 or 4 Gemmell books I've read, none of them feature either of those ;)

Definitely read David Gemmell - Legend. It's a fantastic book!

-RaZ
 
He was widely regarded as the greatest living writer of heroic fantasy
Click to expand...
Rubbish! I read the Hawk Queen or whatever it was called and it was terrible. He was trying so hard to be "edgy" and "mature" that he just ended up being cringeworthy - so much gratuitous sex and gore that you ended up just drumming your fingers whenever yet another 6-way gang-rape scene cropped up. Puerile to the extreme - I might've loved it had I read it when I was 14, but tbh I now see the seams in his writing were about as obvious as those left by a blind surgeon sewing up a patient using a sharpened chair leg. There's FAR better stuff out there, with more interesting plots, more realistic characters, and written in a much better style.
 
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Dragonlance. Maybe it's just more popular where I'm from. I've had difficulty finding the books over here.

There are loads of books in the series (hundreds I believe) but the core books (imo) and reading order (imo) are as follows:

Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Winter Night
Dragons of Spring Dawning
(You can find the above three books bound into one large book - or as a box set)

Dragons of the Dwarven Depths: The Dark Chronicles v. 1

Time of the Twins
War of the Twins
Test of the Twins
(you can find the above three as a box set)

Dragons of Summer Flame

Dragons of a Fallen Sun
Dragons of a Lost Star
Dragons of a Vanished Moon
(you can find the above three as a box set)

Amber and Ashes
Amber and Iron



Also notable are The Soulforge and Brothers in Arms. You can go through the core books without touching these but they're well worth the read.
 
Last edited:
Nothing comes close to the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
I literally (10minutes ago) finished the first book, The Eye of the World AGAIN! Looking forward to making my way through the saga again for the third time =)

There's current 11 books in the series (1-11), and one prequel available (0). You can start with either the prequel or Book 1, but otherwise they really must be read in order. If you do choose to read them, and I STONGLY suggest you do, I' go with Book 1 and come back to the prequel, New Spring at a later date.
Book 12 is due sometime in the next couple of years, so that's plenty of time to catch up ;)


Otherwise, Pratchett is always a solid choice. New book (as with every year) at the end of September) and he's always a joy to dip into.
Canavan is not a bad choice for a more usual read. Eddings, Gemmel et al again are stalwart choices, though I always found them a bit too inpenetrable for my taste - Jordan does the thing a whole lot better in my mind.
 
Last edited:
Is Robert Jordan the guy that is likely to die before finishing it?

Cos I'm not reading an unfinished series.
 
Gilly said:
Is Robert Jordan the guy that is likely to die before finishing it?

Cos I'm not reading an unfinished series.
Click to expand...

Hehe, well yeah he has had some health scares over the last 12 months or so, but all sources (including his own blog) now point that he is on the road to some form of recovery and busy playing scribe again.

As for unfinished series; best stay away from Mr Gemmel ... Anyway, the fun (my fun anyway) comes from wanting to find out what happens next, not knowing
 
Jordans wheel of time stuff is great for the first couple of books, then it just drags on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on!

Only seen one mention of it so far, but Ursula Le Guinns Earthsea Trilogy is a great read, as are Gemmel/Feist etc. personally found Thomas Covenant hard going though, i think it was more due to the fact it is so well written that i just hated the main character of the book and wanted to strangle him every time he appeared! :)

Some of the R A Salvatore can be good if you were ever into games like Baldurs Gate, Forgotten Realms etc. There is a book called Orcs that is also a good read by Stan Nicholls, it's a bit of a reversal of a usual fantsy novel due to the Orcs being the good guys.
 
Someone mentioned George R R Martin on the last page. I've read just about everything else recommended here and not much comes close. Waylander is a really good start though.
 
Jolteh said:
He was widely regarded as the greatest living writer of heroic fantasy until just over a year ago when he passed away.
Click to expand...

Only by people who can't tell whether a book is good or bad. That particular title is generally held to the property of Guy Gavriel Kay, with George R R Martin making a strong play. Ursula LeGuin only misses out by not writing enough. That is the opinion of the writers themselves BTW, as well as all the critics. Gemmell wrote one interesting book (Legend), which while not good, had some interesting ideas. He then spent the next twenty years writing it over and over again under different names. David Eddings has done much the same.


Robert Jordan's books are so dull it is unreal. Stephen Donaldson is great for teenagers (true of most of the writers mentioned so far actually) but once you get older you realise what an awful stylist he is. The plots are reasonably original though.

I'd put in a word for:

Barbara Hambly
Elizabeth Moon
Mike Scott Rohan

as well as the three I mentioned earlier.


M
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom