Best Fantasy Books [Archive] - Two Plus Two Older Archives

Matt Flynn

10-19-2004, 11:14 PM

Ground rules: Tolkein and Rawlings are disqualified from discussion due to current popularity.

If you even thought Robert Jordan (beyond his second book)please do not post. You will only get flamed and require me to dissect why he is so bad.

A start in no order:

Raymond Feist's Serpentwar Saga
Terry Brooks' Shanara books (yes derivative but still a fine read in the early 6)
Anyone like Terry Goodkind? I'm on the second book - it's going downhill but we'll see.

Science fiction will be a separate thread.

Matt

cnfuzzd

10-19-2004, 11:50 PM

The narnia chronicles. Not even close. Although the earthsea novels are also excellent. And lets see,,,i liked david eddings, but i have strange tastes.

peace

john nickle

doughhater

10-19-2004, 11:54 PM

Goodkind's books are a pretty good read. You do have to put up with some real moral grandstanding, but the characters are still intriguing. I really liked Eddings when I was in high school, but I haven't read anything of his in quite sometime.

As for Jordan, you are WAY off base. Yes, his latest books have become cumbersome and repetitive, but WoT is still the best fantasy series written. Flame on.

doughhater

10-19-2004, 11:57 PM

I almost forgot. I'm not entirely sure where to classify these, but the Dark Tower series by Steven King is incredible.

vulturesrow

10-20-2004, 12:12 AM

The R.R. George Martin series...

Piiop

10-20-2004, 12:17 AM

I haven't read Feist's Serpentwar Saga, but I like both of the other authors you mentioned. The first 3 of the "Shanara" books are definitely the best of the series. I enjoy Goodkind, but 10 books in a series and still not done yet is a little too much.

Some of my favorites:

David Gemmell - Fairly new author from England. I really liked all his books, but the "Rigante" series was my favorite.

George R.R. Martin "A Song of Fire and Ice" - If you haven't read it yet, you must. Seriously.

Tad Williams "Otherland" - The "Otherland" series is very good, it's kind of a mix of sci-fi and fantasy fiction. I just started the Dragonbone Chair, but I hear it's very good also.

Stephen R. Donaldson - Good stuff.

Some other posters mentioned David Eddings, I liked the Belgariad series but his other stuff is really, really bad.

I'm sure there are others I forgot to mention, but that's the short list for now.

Duke

10-20-2004, 12:22 AM

[ QUOTE ]
If you even thought Robert Jordan (beyond his second book)please do not post. You will only get flamed and require me to dissect why he is so bad.

[/ QUOTE ]

Jordan did quite well for about 5.5 books. The last half of LoC started to go downhill, and it's been bad since then. TSR is the best in the series, not TGH or TEOTW. I haven't been able to finish COT because it's so bad.

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone like Terry Goodkind? I'm on the second book - it's going downhill but we'll see.

[/ QUOTE ]

Goodkind's writing has been improving with every book. I still think he's a bit of a tard, and he takes 300 pages to say something obvious, but his actual ability to write is improving. WFR sucked, aside from him doing a good job framing DR as a real [censored]. He writes his women as being even dumber and more useless than Jordan does, and that's not a good thing. I think it's pretty gay to have an entire sex represented by morons.

As for the best fantasy series of all time, it's Martin's ASOIAF series and it's not close. Tolkien's books were good, but not the best. Harry Potter isn't even very good.

As for your other suggestions, I can't comment since I haven't read them.

~D

Duke

10-20-2004, 12:24 AM

[ QUOTE ]
George R.R. Martin "A Song of Fire and Ice" - If you haven't read it yet, you must. Seriously.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because it is the best fantasy series ever written.

~D

Clarkmeister

10-20-2004, 12:24 AM

I bumped a nearly identical recent thread. Might find some good stuff in there.

Duke

10-20-2004, 12:26 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I almost forgot. I'm not entirely sure where to classify these, but the Dark Tower series by Steven King is incredible.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Eyes of the Dragon by King is "one of" the best standalone fantasy books published in the last 50 years or so. I never finished the Dark Tower series since I couldn't stay awake while reading it, but I seem to recall Flagg showing up there too. I'm assuming that it's the same Flagg.

~D

The Dude

10-20-2004, 12:55 AM

Terry Brooks's Shannara series is the most entertaining fiction I've ever read.

PhatTBoll

10-20-2004, 12:59 AM

The "Split Infinity" series by Piers Anthony, referred to some as "The Phaze Books." This has elements of both SF and Fantasy, and is really well done.

West

10-20-2004, 01:07 AM

Jack Vance's Cugel books: The Eyes of the Overworld, and Cugel's Saga.

MaGi

10-20-2004, 01:07 AM

Chronicles of Narnia.

PS why can't I get my signature to work?

theBruiser500

10-20-2004, 01:12 AM

Does Ender'sGame count?

PhatTBoll

10-20-2004, 01:30 AM

Sci-Fi.

Great book though.

MaGi

10-20-2004, 01:34 AM

Ooh if it counted I'd change my vote too.

doughhater

10-20-2004, 01:45 AM

Agreed. Eyes of the Dragon was and is one of my favorites. The Flagg character is King's representation of ultimate evil, and he appears throughout several novels.

I also forgot to mention (on this thread anyway) The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. Great Stuff.

scrub

10-20-2004, 02:51 AM

Eyes of the Dragon and the first two books of the Dark Tower also get my seal of approval.

Ursula Leguin's Earthsea books are pretty fantastic.

I remember Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising novels and Lloyd Alexander's Book of Three series fondly from when I was younger.

T.H. White's The Once and Future King cycle.

And I'm going to throw the first few Dune books in here even though it's easier to make the argument that they're sci-fi because I think they're thematically closer to fantasy than to scifi.

Bruiser was right about Ender's game--good stuff.

scrub

sublime

10-20-2004, 03:10 AM

I almost forgot. I'm not entirely sure where to classify these, but the Dark Tower series by Steven King is incredible.

I will second that, Roland(?) the gunslinger is one cool MOFO.

When is the next one due? And did you notice the Randall Flagg crossover with "The Stand"?

AncientPC

10-20-2004, 03:56 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Raymond Feist's Serpentwar Saga

[/ QUOTE ]

His books are the only fantasy ones I read so I can't make much of a comparison, but I like em. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

doughhater

10-20-2004, 06:32 AM

Like I said in an earlier post, Flagg appears in several of King's novels as the embodiement of ultimate evil. The seventh and final Dark Tower novel is currently on the shelves. I have yet to pick it up but I'm really looking forward to it.

Duke

10-20-2004, 07:12 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Does Ender'sGame count?

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't love Ender's Game, though I agree it's a fine book.

Card actually wrote one of my favorite short stories: Homeless In Hell (http://www.hatrack.com/osc/stories/homeless-in-hell.shtml)

I think his instructional book about Fantasy and Science Fiction is good as well.

~D

jagoff

10-20-2004, 11:02 AM

God I hate to admit it but I have read The Dragonlance Chronicles like 200 times! I hated my friends for turning me into a quasi DnD geek!

PhatTBoll

10-20-2004, 11:26 AM

Speaking of Orson Scott Card, his Alvin Maker books are a great fantasy series. They are set in mid-1800's America, except it's kind of like a what-if scenario, that uses a lot of historical figures as characters, and everyone is capable of folk-magic. William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and even Balzac are characters. I recommend it to any fan of fantasy literature.

Dominic

10-20-2004, 12:15 PM

Stephen R. Donaldson's The Thomas Covenant series...

he's got a new Covenant book coming out this month, as well - first in twenty yesrs!

Also, Farmer's River series has to be listed....

Matt Flynn

10-20-2004, 12:29 PM

you have to love a character like stile.

Matt Flynn

10-20-2004, 12:32 PM

i changed my mind. the thomas covenant series is the single most annoying set of books ever imposed on the world. ok it's not that bad. but wield the white gold already - oh wait we've gotta read six more books.

Matt Flynn

10-20-2004, 12:33 PM

thanks for the recs! looks like song of fire and ice is first up.

benfranklin

10-20-2004, 01:12 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I almost forgot. I'm not entirely sure where to classify these, but the Dark Tower series by Steven King is incredible.

I will second that, Roland(?) the gunslinger is one cool MOFO.

When is the next one due? And did you notice the Randall Flagg crossover with "The Stand"?

[/ QUOTE ]

There are 7 books in the Dark Tower series, and they have all been published. The last 2 came out this year.

PhatTBoll

10-20-2004, 02:07 PM

Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series is also worth a read. It might be out of print though.

pudley4

10-20-2004, 02:23 PM

[ QUOTE ]

If you even thought Robert Jordan (beyond his second book)please do not post. You will only get flamed and require me to dissect why he is so bad.

[/ QUOTE ]

Up to Book 4 was good. After that it slowly spiraled into hell. You think the rumors are true that he let his wife co-write (or write) these last few books?

[ QUOTE ]

A start in no order:

Raymond Feist's Serpentwar Saga
Terry Brooks' Shanara books (yes derivative but still a fine read in the early 6)
Anyone like Terry Goodkind? I'm on the second book - it's going downhill but we'll see.

Science fiction will be a separate thread.

Matt

[/ QUOTE ]

Narnia.
Eddings (although he's not too creative with the plots /images/graemlins/smile.gif).
The Weis/Hickman Dragonlance books.

wayabvpar

10-20-2004, 02:51 PM

I liked Jordan through book 6 (if only for the scene at Dumai's Wells- that was awesome). The past 4 have been excruciating.

Some of my favs-

Stephen Brust's Vlad Taltos series (Jhereg, etc). Quick reads, interesting, funny as hell in parts.

GRR Martin- 3 fantastic books. Eagerly awaiting the next installment.

David Eddings- Plots aren't spectacular, but he has a knack for fun, interesting characters and writes conversation well.

Feist- Serpentwar stuff was good; also enjoyed the Daughter of the Empire series set in Kelewan (coauthored with Janny Wurts)

Michael Stackpole- I stumbled onto his Dragoncrown series quite by mistake, and have been enjoying them (not done yet). Also enjoyed his Talion: Revenant.

Dragonlance- liked the first series, tolerated the War of the Twins, the rest is crap.

HATE HATE HATE anything by RA Salvatore or Rose Estes. Two of the worst hacks in the biz.

Six_of_One

10-20-2004, 03:55 PM

You people really need to check out Guy Gavriel Kay. Only one person even mentioned him in this entire thread, and he's better than everyone else mentioned. Tigana is my personal favorite.

Tad Williams is excellent as well.

benfranklin

10-20-2004, 04:33 PM

"Play Poker Like the Pros" by Phil Hellmuth

sublime

10-20-2004, 04:37 PM

There are 7 books in the Dark Tower series, and they have all been published. The last 2 came out this year.

I *think* I have read the first 5, and I had no clue that the whole series was out. Sweet, I got some reading to do /images/graemlins/grin.gif

benfranklin

10-20-2004, 04:53 PM

[ QUOTE ]

I *think* I have read the first 5, and I had no clue that the whole series was out. Sweet, I got some reading to do /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

This series is turning into a micro-industry. There is a book out about the books, called "The Road to the Dark Tower" by Bev Vincent, and a bunch of web sites, including
http://www.darktowercompendium.com/
http://www.stephenking.com/DarkTower/

cnfuzzd

10-20-2004, 05:12 PM

ZING!!!!

peace

john nickle

cnfuzzd

10-20-2004, 05:13 PM

What does everyone think about the Recluse books, by modesitt. It seems like they are all the same book after about the third one. But i still read them all the time... its like crack.

peace

john nickle

Ben

10-22-2004, 12:10 PM

Matt-

I've read some of Goodkind's stuff. I like some of his ideas, but his execution is lacking. Gotten any farther in it?

-Ben

liquidboss

10-22-2004, 03:56 PM

The absolute best fantasy series I've ever read was George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. Of course I've been waiting for the 4th book for 2 years now and it keeps getting pushed back. At this rate we'll get to finish it in the same time frame it took King to finish the Dark Tower series. (which btw is also amazing.) If you haven't read either of these put them at the top of your list.