Other Fanasy Series

[twinflower]

It is always interesting in these lists and discussion to see the emphasis on the male authors of the SF&F genres..I am glad to see that Le Quinn, and Melanie Rawn have been included..and some others as well.

 

I love Rawn's books!  She has a way with characters that make them seem to be alive!  She has a triple Trilogy of the The Dragon series...well worth the read!  She also started a new trilogy called Exiles...only two books published and been waiting I think 13 years for the third! Absurd..but waiting for it all the same...

 

Marion Zimmer Bradley also has added some wonderful works to the shelves of Fantasy..The Darkover Novels are wonderful!  I first became acquanted wiht her work in The Mists of Avalon..a refreshing look at arthurian legend from a female perspective as well as the undercurrents of the Old Faith and challenge of the new Christianity of that time period.  Later she wrote to prequels to the novel.  IF you saw the movie of Mists..ignore it!  There was so much cut it lost the full body of the novel.

 

Another female is Mercedes Lackey.  Her Valdmar series is just a fun and enjoyalble read!

 

 

I'll throw in my opinion too, that Thomas Covenant is a difficult read...

 

Asimov's Foundation is great.  I picked it up to read after several years and it was just as fresh as the first time!  Also is a trilogy by..umm?  (Varley) It's been awhile..Titan, damn..can't find it in the memory banks....sound familiar anyone?

[Gentled Ben]

Twin, I loved the Mists of Avalon! I have Darkover Landfall, but I haven't read it. Is it a stand-alone?

[Werthead]

Well, I mentioned JV Jones and Susanna Clarke. KJ Parker is also a worthwhile female fantasy author, and Kate Elliott isn't too bad.

[twinflower]

SNAP!  those were the names I couldn't think of when posting!!  thanks Wert!

 

And GB...the darkover novels are not really written in a series.  It's really the same world for many stories..there are running story lines..but they do stand alone...honestly it's been awhile, but the main break is the time frames...some are of the beginning and some the living through and the others when the outside world and darkover intersect....so yes stand alone..but "friends"  in the other novels...that tell a fuller tale from another perspective...

 

Also I am currently reading His Darkest Materials..the Golden Compass etc..quite interesting concepts...

[Gentled Ben]

Thanks, Twin. It's a small book, so I may actually sneak it in before starting Darktower.

 

The Immortals books, by Piers Anthony, are stand-alone-yet-related too, and they're pretty good, or at least the two that I've read, On a Pale Horse and Bearing an Hourglass, were good. They're about normal, everyday people who end up being transformed into Immortal forces, like Mother Nature, or the Devil, or in the cases of the books I read, Death and Father Time, respectively. The books are much better than I make them sound.  ;)

[twinflower]

I love the anthony books!!  and the series is the Incarnations of Immortality!

 

Read them when they first came out and several times since!!  There are the basic five...Death, Time, Fate, Nature and War...then Good and Evil.  Can be read on different levels of course..but some interesting concepts!! 

 

And although I havn't read any in awhile..the Piers Anthony Xanth books were fun to read!  Just fun...

 

Someone also mentioned David Eddings earlier..I loved the Belgariad books!  And then the two novels outside the series but still of it focusing on the two main characters..Belgarath and Polagara.  A book for each!

[lou]

i liked the incarnations of immortality also. they are fun.

melanie rawn is excellant. on eddings,i enjoyed the ellenium more so than i did the belgariod or the mallorian. i just like sparhawk, i guess.

donaldson wrote a twosome called "mirror of her dreams" and " a man rides through". they arent nearly as difficult to read as the covenant series, although i didnt like them nearly as much.

 

[Werthead]

I actually think that Donaldson's Gap Series was the best thing he ever wrote. A dark and gritty SF space opera that was inspired by Wagner's Ring Cycle. Really interesting stuff.

[animus]

Why do I get the impression that girls are more interested in reading female authors than guys are with reading male authors? I don't really even consider the sexuality of the writer  as I find both perspectives can be equally interesting. (unlike with comedians, where almost no women are funny). Also, it seems there are probably more male authors, at least in certain genres, so it's not as if men avoid the female writers, there just aren't as many of them to choose from. 

[Zen]

Why do I get the impression that girls are more interested in reading female authors than guys are with reading male authors? I don't really even consider the sexuality of the writer  as I find both perspectives can be equally interesting. (unlike with comedians, where almost no women are funny). Also, it seems there are probably more male authors, at least in certain genres, so it's not as if men avoid the female writers, there just aren't as many of them to choose from. 

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but ill read any author regardless of gender, my only catch is i prefer to read pure fantasy, not sci fi fantasy (notable exception the coldfire trilogy by C.S. Freidmen).  I wont even pick up a book based on aurtherion (sp?) legend would much rather read something more inventive if you know what I mean. 

 

Somone brought up Piers Anthony and Mercedes Lackey both good authors but alot of thier stuff is what i like to call bubble gum fiction, interesting to read but not very deep and the books go by way to fast.  However both those authors were my personal introduction into fantasy.  Anthony has written some outstanding books like the incarnations of immortality and tatham mound but his bread and butter Xanath books is lite reading imho.

 

To add a couple  options, for series, Terry Brooks Shannara series is a great read, although i am not sure i really like where he is taking the world in his latests books, the early ones like the sword of shannara, the elfstones of shannara ect are great reads.  Janny Wurtz Wars of light and shadow are also good.

[animus]

most fantasy is bubble gum. thats why I read hard sci-fi.

[CUBAREY]

 

As apposed to soft sci-fi?

[Verbal32]

If you like sci-fi, I'm assuming you've read Dune?  I don't feel like going through all 6 pages to find out, though!  I saw that somebody mentioned Brian Herbert's Dune books, but that was Frank Herbert's son, and he wrote them with Kevin Anderson.  Personally, I didn't really care for them, but the first 6 Dune books written by Frank Herbert were AWESOME.

 

Also, I thoroughly enjoyed Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy.  Good stuff.

 

I'm currently reading The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist.  I know Werthead already mentioned that this was pretty good, and I'd like to second that.  I'm looking forward to The Empire Trilogy, co-written by Feist & Janny Wurts.

[Werthead]

most fantasy is bubble gum. thats why I read hard sci-fi.

 

There's a lot of intelligent fantasy out there: Gene Wolfe, Scott Bakker, Steven Erikson, Neil Gaiman, Guy Gavriel Kay, China Mieville, George Martin etc, but wading through the dross to find them can be a pain.

 

2007 was an excellent year for hard SF though. The best novels of this year, in any genre, were by some mile Black Man by Richard Morgan (published as Thirteen in the USA) and Brasyl by Ian McDonald.

[animus]

A fairly new series I liked that boarders on hard sci-fi was Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds sp?

 

I dont feel like reading dune, no matter how good it might be. there are other titles that are equally attractive and far less farted over.

[BrainFireBob]

A fairly new series I liked that boarders on hard sci-fi was Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds sp?

 

I dont feel like reading dune, no matter how good it might be. there are other titles that are equally attractive and far less farted over.

 

Y'know, if you want to adopt a snobbish attitude over something, it's a lot easier to take seriously if you know what you're talking about.

[Werthead]

That said, Alaster Reynolds is a great author. The Revelation Space Universe consists of a trilogy, two stand-alone novels and two collections:

 

Stand Alones in the RS Universe

The Prefect

Chasm City (Reynolds' best book by miles, IMO)

 

The Revelation Space Trilogy

Revelation Space

Redemption Ark

Absolution Gap

 

Collections in the RS Universe

Diamond Dogs, Turqoise Days (an omnibus of two novellas)

Galactic North (short story collection)

 

Non-Revelation Space Books

Century Rain

Pushing Ice

Zima Blue and Other Stories (short story collection)

House of Suns

[CUBAREY]

Quote:

 

dont feel like reading dune, no matter how good it might be. there are other titles that are equally attractive and far less farted over.

 

You say that you like hard Sci-Fi, but have never read Dune? Kind of like someone saying he's a chrisstian but claiming he has never heard of the Bible.

[Corbett]

didn't bother to read every reply. all i have to say is that Wot destroys all. if you disagree then leave this sight and never return.

 

yes i know that i'm intolerant

[Mr Ares]

didn't bother to read every reply. all i have to say is that Wot destroys all. if you disagree then leave this sight and never return.

 

yes i know that i'm intolerant

Does it strike anyone else as slightly redundant to recommend Wheel of Time on a Wheel of Time fan site? I mean, it's not exactly a masterstroke to recommend the one series we are all pretty much guaranteed to have read. And if we disagree that WOT is the bestest thing eva! but still like it a lot and enjoy discussing things on here, we should go away? Why? Sounds stupid as well as intolerant.

 

On the subject of Dune, I never really got into those books, but try them. They might be more your sort of thing. I haven't read much Reynold's yet, but I have enjoyed what I've read.

[vinay87]

I enjoyed the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. And since the first few books are "stand-alones" so to speak, everyone should give atleast the first one a try. I say the series became better with time. Each book becoming better than the last. Atleast Mr Brooks didn't pull a Goodkind and get worse with each book. Straken, Brooks' latest book had me hooked.

 

David Eddings, but well, all fantasy fans should know that by now. Although I didnt quite like the first two books of the Belgeriad. The sries got better after the third one.

 

Terry Pratchett, as it has been said. I started the series with Wyrd Sisters and loved every moment of my time with the books that I have read. Havent read too them all, though.

 

GRR Martin, well, I never really liked him. Guess thats just me. My friends keep going on and on about how great he is. No one tops RJ and thats that.

 

 

[Nightstrike]

David Gemmell (the Drenai Saga, for instance)

Alastair Reynolds (strictly speaking it's sci-fi and not fantasy, but he is a great author)

George R R Martin

L E Modesitt (Recluse)

RJ's Conan books

Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" trilogy (not the usual kind of fantasy)

 

 

[Werthead]

Straken, Brooks' latest book had me hooked.

 

Hmm. Hasn't Brooks published another two or three books since this one? His current Genesis of Shannara trilogy just had it's second book published (Elves of the Cintra, following on from Armageddon's Children).

 

No I've not read A Song of Ice and Fire yet, is there a Tyrell in that? As far as I was aware I made up the name Tyrell years ago when I first started playing computer games like Diablo and Ultima Online - the RPG style games where you need to name your hero y'know?

 

Interesting. There's a whole family called Tyrell who are one of the most powerful dynasties in the Seven Kingdoms (beware spoilers via that link though). A couple of them play a minor role in the first book, but it's from the second volume onwards they start really becoming important.

 

For my good deed for the day I'll chuck China Mieville's name into the ring. He doesn't write epic fantasy in the RJ/GRRM/Erikson mould, nor is it strictly urban fantasy in the LK Hamilton/Neil Gaiman tradition. Instead, he writes steampunk-flavoured fantasy set in an alternate world of exotic races and even robots, called Bas-Lag. There are three Bas-Lag novels which stand alone from one another: Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council. They're all pretty good. He also recently wrote a book for young adults called Un Lun Dun which is really good as well.

 

No one tops RJ and thats that.

 

How many people honestly think that, though? Crossroads of Twilight was a dreadful novel, whilst Winter's Heart and Path of Daggers were not much better, and the novel version of New Spring was an utter waste of time. The earlier WoT books were excellent and Knife of Dreams showed signs of a return to form, but I think the overall quality of the series has been substantially damaged by its sub-par latter third.

 

Whilst I'll always appreciate RJ and will always enjoy re-reading the first seven or so WoT books (hence why I'm here), I could now name at least five authors (GRRM, Guy Gavriel Kay, Steven Erikson, Scott Bakker and JV Jones) in the epic fantasy field by itself who are more consistent in their quality.

 

[Karana Majin]

I love RJ, and he did bring me here, where I have been happily ensconced for 9 years or so... but I think several authors top him.  Get out and try some on for size!  I'm not knocking RJ OR trying to turn you from him... just saying I think there is more out there to see before you have an opinion so firmly written in stone.

 

Wert, I'm interested in your opinions about Charles de Lint?  Where do you place him and what is your opinion of him?

[Nightstrike]

IMO, what sets WoT apart is the world he has built and every fascinating detail that fits into it. It's a world I would want to move into (preferably during one of the more peaceful ages). Walking the streets and all that.

 

Charles de Lint has a wonderful way with words. He is using words like an artist uses a paintbrush. Beautiful!