recommended authors or series?

[Guest Egwene]

I haven't read 'Dune' yet... isn't it a Sci-fi adventure or am I getting confused with something else?

 

Has anyone else here read 'Eragon' by C. Paolini? I quite enjoyed that. Have bought the next one but not yet got round to reading it... is it as good as the first book?

 

In the last few years I have found a few authors whilst abroad, that are not really that well known here in the UK. Are there big fantasy writers in your country that are a well kept secret?

[Lucivar SaDiablo]

Anne Bishop - Black Jewels Trilogy (now Series)

 

Great books with know characters from a different prospective. Saetan SaDiablo, High Lord of Hell, Most powerful Black Jeweld Male. Leader of the Demon-Dead, Father to Lucivar and Deamon and Jaenelle, and Grandpa. :D Great family interactions between the characters, and the "darker" side are the GOOD GUYS!

 

Elizabeth Haydon - Symphony of the ages

 

Great character development and good story line. I enjoyed the trilogy but have not read the next generation yet.

[Guest Egwene]

Lucivar, just looked at some of the reviews on amazon for the 'Black Jewels' trilogy. Not sure if it isn't a bit to 'dark' for my liking. I will look out for it though... maybe if I read a few pages I might get hooked..

[Lucivar SaDiablo]

Egwene,

It is a bit dark and the first part is kind of morbid because the boys are in a bad situation so you have to make it all the way to the end of the first book for it to take off as far as the family interaction goes.

 

The Author does talk about the male body parts a bit crudely so keep that in mind as well. It is not friendly to the male gender of which I am a part so I read alot of it cross legged.

[Kadere]

Egwene,

 

The Chronicles of Dune are a series of 6 books written by Frank Herbert from 1965 till his death in 1986.

 

The sci-fi channel did 2 mini-series about the first three books (Dune and Children of Dune). David Lynch also did a movie in 1984 based on the first book in the series.

 

The series is about a family (the Atradies) and their long rule of Dune. Paul Atradies (the main character) is a messiah figure who is the first man to have the magical abilities of the women of the universe (like Rand with the Aes Sedai). Using this power sees into the future a path of total annailation for man kind, so he has a huge jihad in the universe and creates his empire, only to hate himself later and step out of power. His son then takes control, and with the same future vision as his father, sees that the only way to keep mankind alive is to be the worst Tyrant in all history, so he enslaves mankind for 3500 years. The last two books of the series involve the magical women, whose civilization has survived the past 4000 years, and their attempt to keep mankind from the annilation that the Paul and his son both saw in the future. The series ends on a HUGE cliffhanger, but as the Fremen saying goes: "Arrakis teaches the attitued of the knife-chopping off what's incomplete and saying: "Now, it's complete because it's ended here."

 

I highly recommend at LEAST the first three books, and if you like them enough go ahead with the rest of the series.

[Guest Egwene]

I put them on my 'look out for' list Kadere. On the whole I tend to be quite choosy when it comes to books... hate finding halfway through that it was a waste of time and money. ( see my earlier post about the HUGE mistake I made in buying 'the 5th sorceress')

 

I am suprised that not more people rave about the 'empire trilogy' which is part of the riftwar saga. They are to me akin to WoT. Reading them again I find new bits all the time. They are very involved and you really get to know the main character.

[Kadere]

The first book of Dune is an absolute classic of science fiction. Many consider it to be the greatest science fiction book to be written, or at least in the top 10. It, by itself, is a masterpiece. The rest of the series is interesting, but they become less so as you go along. I don't mean to turn anyone off the series. It is pretty good.

[Kaznen]

Salvatore's Realms books are really good. But many people seem to overlook the Demon War series. The last book in the series, Immortalis(?), had me going "whoa" through the whole book.

 

The only other book that gave me that kind of adreline rush, fast heartbeat excitement was The Three Musketeers by Dumas. And that master piece of classic Literature gave me that feeling for only ONE chapter.

 

And Immortalis was that same heart attack inducing, marathon thrill ride from the first to last page.

 

Some of the book in the series were only okay the good ones were really really good nailbiters. The only series I've read were the "good guys" get thrashed more is the Farseer and Tawney Man Trilogies by Hobb. And those books weren't as exciting.

[DragonSpawn]

I found the first 3 books to be the best. By all means I liked all books, but Paul Atreides, and the way Herberts writing coonects you to him is exceptional.

 

Anyone who read Dune will notice that Jordan *ahem* borrowed *ahem quite a bit from it. The Aes Sedai are clearly based off the Bene Gesserit.

 

And also you were a bit incorrect. Paul is the first male to inhibit those powers. The Bene Gesserit can only see through the eyes of there female ancestors the past, but not the future nor through the there male ancestors. Paul is the centerfold, in him is a thousands of years breeding project to combine the perfect set of genes to make a so-called super human. But the mistake is for all the Witches contemplating they miscalculated, not seeing that Paul was there so-called Kwisatz Haderach until it was too late. The point is Paul can see all, the past, the present, and the future, making him almost invulnerable,.... or so we think ;)

[loki redfern]

The chroicles of the raven, by james barclay it's about a mercenary band who bacically save the world a couple of times over loseing erm ... some menbers along the way. It also has dragons and lot of magic and is much more coplex and interestion than I make it sound. Also the fionavar tapestry, by guy garriel kay, its kinda like tad william's war of the flowers (read also) but more serious.

the young wizards by diane duane to kids who become wizards and friends together fight the lone power (kinda like death and the dark one combined) and save the world ect at end of each book.

It may be childish but i have the mental age of three and a half so I have to recommend enid bylton because she's the queen.

 

also a few others are

-dragonmaster, chris bunch

-the guardian cycle, julia gray

-runespell trilogy, jane welch

and that's all folks(unless you want more)

[Duinn]

I'd agree with most everything suggested but I'm surprised nooones recommended Robert Slivberg or more importantly the two collections of short stories of fantasy writers that he does, Legends. Which to be honest are fairly great!

[Thorum]

After an obvious gold for WOT, I'd give silver to Lyonesse by Jack Vance; and for the bronze I doubt between Harry Potter by JK Rowling, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams and Earthchildren by Auel

[Kadere]

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is SO much better than Harry Potter.

[Sirayn]

Gemmell: Popcorn fantasy. He writes the kind of story that fans call archetypal and critics call cliched. Some sympathetic characters; the action and the generally cynical narrative style are good. The author doesn't even attempt subtlety. Typically pitched at teenage males as the warlike and sometimes misogynist tone will convey. (I haven't read Gemmell in a year or two but I do remember picking up on chauvinist undertones.)

[Guest Egwene]

Sirayn... have not read any of them in a while either, but do remember thinking that they seemed to be targeted at a male audience.

 

Like Loki's comment about Enid Blyton. I have to admit I am way past her target audience in age but I can still pick up her books and enjoy them.

 

With HP there has been a real influx of fantasy books for younger readers. Don't know if anyone knows Garth Nix or Jonathan Stroud. Both have written quite original fantasy series for children/teenagers that are fun for adults too.

[Lih-Lyh]

Eragon's good! Haven't read the sequel yet.

 

May I recommend highly The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny? It has the complete Amber Chronicles 1-10 and has sated me for the week :D

[Kadere]

HECK YEAH! AMBER RULES!!

[Kadere]

I haven't reads Garth Nix personally, but my little brother's read all of his stuff. He highly recommends most of it.

[Apollo277]

The DragonCrown War Cycle and the Age of Discovery series by Michael A. Stackpole are awesome. I'm also a big fan of Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns series.

[Msnformd]

Several have talked about the original Dune series, but no one has mentioned the prequel series by his son, Brian Herbert and co-author, Kevin Anderson. I'm usually suspicious when another author takes over from the original, but these were worth the price of a paperback copy.

 

There's two series, the one set just a generation before Dune starts (the House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrin series), which are okay. And the second series that takes place more than a 1,000 years before Dune, and starts with "The Butlerian Jihad". I found this series especially intriguing: compelling characters, interesting plots, world building to setup the universe that evolves into what exists when Dune starts. They're worth a look.

 

I liked Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, as well. Definately for mature audiences only. Interesting spin on the "alternate history" sub genre. Good portrayal of an original religion.

 

And am halfway through listening to King's Dark Tower series (audio) (had to put it on hold while I switched back to 10 & 11 of WoT audio version).

 

Read Robin Hobb - good.

Read GRRM - my personal all-time favorite.

Read Ayn Rand, too - "Atlas Shrugged" was a huge influence on my life, but that still doesn't make me want to go back to Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Hated the first book, not interested in continuing.

 

Also reading the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine. Popcorn reads: fun, fast paced. Kinda Chick-lit meets the supernatural. The main heroine wears Manolo Blahnik (sp?) shoes while kicking Evil's butt.

 

Also, Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire series is worth a look; some are outstanding; some are just formulaic.

 

Any other recommendations? I'm heading out to the bookstore in the next few weeks to stock up again...

[Aminalcrakers]

Several have talked about the original Dune series' date=' but no one has mentioned the prequel series by his son, Brian Herbert and co-author, Kevin Anderson. I'm usually suspicious when another author takes over from the original, but these were worth the price of a paperback copy.

 

There's two series, the one set just a generation before Dune starts (the House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrin series), which are okay. And the second series that takes place more than a 1,000 years before Dune, and starts with "The Butlerian Jihad". I found this series especially intriguing: compelling characters, interesting plots, world building to setup the universe that evolves into what exists when Dune starts. They're worth a look.

[/quote']

I agree wholeheartedly, love, love, love the whole Dune series, including the last ones:) ::sticks tounge out playfully at Kadere:: Mostly because I love Bene Gesserit. But the prequel books add what I find lacking in the originals, human feeling. Sure, Herbert gets into some, but most is psychological, religious and political. In the prequels, his son adds some humanity.

 

For kicks and giggles, or for anyone who enjoys puns, Piers Anthony's Xanth series are great for those times when you just need to veg out and you don't want to have to think. They are short, amusing and are very punny.

 

I loved Holly Lisle's secret Texts trilogy, It begins with Diplomacy of Wolves. I read it again and again, it never fails. The idea of agressive magic having serious bodily consequences to the user seriously appeals to me, and also, there is the creepiest little kid on the face of the planet...::shivers::

 

I second everything about 1984, Farenheit 451 and ESPECIALLY Brave New World. Genius pure Genius!

 

As to the question of Eragon, yes, the sequel, Eldest is quite wonderful!

 

Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials tirilogy raises so many interesting questions and anyone interested in religion should read it.

 

Also, last but not least, Chuck Palhuinik (Spelling) author of fight clubs and other AMAZING novels are WONDERFUL for any mature reader who likes black humor these are a must. I mean really, Survivor for instance, is the last will and testament of a suicidal media evangelist guy who has hijacked a plane, forced the passengers and pilot to get off the plane and it frantically trying to dictate his story into the black box before it crashes (don't worry you get all this on page one) Tis genius at its best, its halarious and slightly demented, makes one wonder about the sanity of everyday people:)

 

And now back to writing hugely boring papers....

[Guest Egwene]

Having read most of the fantasy series people are talking about, I wonder. Do you too find that you are looking for anything that's more than one book?? Knowing that if you like the first you've instantly got more?

 

This makes me wonder about one off books. The only one that comes to mind is 'the Redemption of Althalus'. Are there others? I mean there are.... but which ones do you recommend :)

[Alys Kinch]

we usually don't read stand alone books because we read alot and if we like the author we want to read alot of their stuff.

 

also, i have seen mixed reviews of eragon. i am currently reading it, and i have to say i am impressed by the work of such a young author (19 when it published). i can't say it is the best i have read, but there is a lot of promise.

[son of battles]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to read the symphony of ages. Great series! I've read all of it except for the sixth book...it illuded me for some time. :)

 

The runelords books were really pretty good, hadn't heard about anymore books yet, hope they're good too.

 

I read a little of the dark tower series, but never really got into it.

 

I've only read the cleric quintet as far as salvatore goes, but liked it a lot.

 

Plan to read lord of the rings someday, just havn;t gotten around to it yet.

[Sirayn]

Anyone tried Kate Elliott - A Crown of Stars series? I found them to be fabulously intricate, detailed, political fantasy, I'm totally sold. :D