Suggestions on Books Please!

[GTPapabear]

Here's how it goes.

I have just recently (in the past 2 years or so) gotten into the Fantasy side of reading. Never was really into it before except for the Hobbitt, Which I read like 50 times. *Sigh*

But as far as the LOTR goes, there wasn't enough polictical stuff in it for me to really get interested. I found the books, Boring. No offense, just not my style.

I like Books that stay away from your "typical" fantasy novels, such as, NO DRAGONS. With the exception of Goodkind which used it VERY rarely. But I can't stand books with Dragons as a main theme or character.

Also The Wizards have to be really down to earth, such as Zedd from the SOT novels, and The Male AS in WOT.

I REALLY liked all the polictical stuff in WOT. it really kept things informative.

Given all that and keeping these things in mind, can anyone suggest to me a couple of authors I can look into? see my problem is that I have read all the books in WOT and have started over, and just finished Phantom in the SOT books, and now i'm at a loss!

Sooooo.... Suggest Away!

[Angel of Death]

I liked Raymond E Fiest's Magician. Good Book. Does have dragons - but even less often than Goodkind did. And not the typical dragon either - more like Scarlett in Goodkind.

[Jhaenara]

If you haven't read George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, that's pretty political. There are dragons later, but well, I don't want to give anything away, but they're not like main characters in that they're in a ton of the story and/or talk, etc. They are a theme in a way... but you'd just have to read the books... lol. Any type of "wizard" in the books are not the typical.

[Gondring]

Im gonna reccomend the Malazan books of the fallen for you. Though it has mages, and "dragons", its still an amazing read and well worth your time.

[joeybsmash]

martin is really good if you can deal with the different charactors in every chapter. goodkind sucks. terry pratchett's discworld is high art.

[Werthead]

Erikson's dragons are more forces of nature than the intelligent animals of other authors. They're also hardly in it. I think out of the 4,000+ pages in the series to date, there's probably less than ten pages with dragons in them.

 

The dragons in ASoIaF are basically just animals. They're not like Smaug or anything. They're also hardly in it.

 

A good series with no dragons at all and lots of political infighting is Paul Kearney's brilliant but difficult-to-find Monarchies of God series. Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora is also great for this (and no dragons at all). In critical terms, after Martin and Erikson, the best-regarded epic fantasy author is R. Scott Bakker, whose Prince of Nothing Trilogy is built on vast masses of political intrigue. There were dragons in his world, but they were bio-tech constructs of an advanced alien race and are currently all inactive, but likely to reappear in the sequel series.

[Hannibal King]

Hey, papabear. I'd deefinately suggest "Elantris" by: Brandon Sanderson.

It is outstanding and has political, magic and adventure all mixed in. It is one of the best fantasy books I have read in the past year.

[Guest Egwene]

Well, maybe it's time for a new thread on this topic...

 

For anyone with a bit of time on their hands, here are the links for a couple of others that make book recommendations:

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=360

http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3059

 

All in all... plenty to keep anyone going for a year or two *g*.

 

My personal recommendations (other than WoT!!) would be:

 

Robin Hobb (any of hers)

Janny Wurts (Wars of Light and Shadow)

Raymond Feist (Riftwar saga... especially collaboration with Janny Wurts on the Empire trilogy... some of the later books are weaker)

Terry Pratchett (for books that make you laugh out loud on the bus... though I wasn't that keen on the first one or two... try any involving 'DEATH' or Granny Weatherwax to get a good feel for them)

Phillip Pullman (for young readers)

 

:P

[Covenant]

Terry Brooks Magic kingdom for sale: SOLD

 

come to think about it....the whole friggin series (5 books total)

 

David Eddings The Belgaraid and Mallorean series (5 books each)

 

Tamuli and Ellorian series (3 books each)

[rj_slingshot]

Robin Hobbs - Far Seer Trilogy

Guy Gavriel Kay - The Fionavar Tapestry

George RR Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire

[Moseley]

Try the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. It's my favorite book, and I suggest it to everyone who asks for a good book. And if you want political, this is great! The first book is called The Dragonbone Chair- but don't worry, dragons are not a main character in it, and play only a minor part in the story)

[GTPapabear]

Awsome. I think I'll try Robin Hobb First. Everyone seems to like her. BANG A GONG GET IT ON!

And for you younger generation...

CAN YOU SMELLLLLLLLLLLL What the ROCk...Is Cookin...

 

:)

 

Later

[dezstar07]

Covenant mentioned Magic Kingdom for Sale: SOLD! by Terry Brooks, but forgot to mention the Sword of Shanara series by the same author. (Kingdom for Sale is a good series, but I personally prefer the Sword of Shanara.) I would suggest this series to any reader.

[Kadere]

Well my opinion of Robin Hobb is not very good. I really didn't like her Farseer trilogy, and it's turned me off to the rest of her books.

 

But I will definetly support Moseley's pick for M,S, and Th. Terrific series, as is everything by Tad Williams. Shadowmarch is also VERY GOOD and political, but so far there is only one book out, and the second is scheduled for a release next year.

 

Also A Song of Ice and Fire is fantastic. There's nothing else to say.

[Werthead]

Robin Hobb has dragons coming out of her ears, and not very well portrayed. The Farseer Trilogy is okay, but not tremendously exciting. How much you like this series and the Tawny Man Trilogy depends on your reaction to Fitz. I found him extremely unlikable.

 

On the other hand, The Liveship Traders Trilogy starts off very well. The last novel is far too long and the story runs out of steam well before the end, but it's the best thing Hobb has written by a mile.

 

Also a shout out to Guy Gavriel Kay, whose novels are pretty much all excellent. The best ones are Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan (which is being made into a film by the guy who made Glory and The Last Samurai), A Song for Arbonne and The Last Light of the Sun. No dragons at all!

 

Elantris is a good novel. Not a major work by any means, but certainly entertaining and refreshingly light. I'd put Naomi Novik's Temeraire: His Majesty's Dragon in the same bracket, but that book has lots of dragon action. Nice idea though (an alternate 19th Century where dragons are used as an air force in the Napoleonic Wars).

[David Boyle]

ive said it before on one of the author sites but Ian Irvine is brilliant! Both of his series 1:'A View from the mirror' and 2:'The Well Of echoes' are both great and feature no dragons lots of politics and really good/well explained use of magic!

[Achaemenid]

Tad williams'ShadowMarch , is very promising . there is a lot of politics , gray characters , religious tensions with a shade of romance. i'm really looking forward to reading the next book of the series.

[Sirayn]

My mother swears by Shadowmarch as well. I'm about to pick it up so I'm glad you enjoyed it Achaemenid. :)

[GTPapabear]

ive said it before on one of the author sites but Ian Irvine is brilliant! Both of his series 1:'A View from the mirror' and 2:'The Well Of echoes' are both great and feature no dragons lots of politics and really good/well explained use of magic!

 

Now this sounds EXACTLY like what I'm looking for.

 

Also Something I remembered from my childhood. If any of you have read a book called, The Book of Swords, could you let me know who wrote that? I've googled till I can't google no more and can't find it. But I rememeber reading it sometime ago.

[nighteyes]

ok a trilogy no one else has mentioned

The Second Sons Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon

book 1 is called Lion of Senet

has no dragons and no wizards

[Talya]

GT,

I really enjoyed Robin Hobb's 3 sets of trilogies. I don't agree about Dragons coming out of your ears....in fact they are hardly mentioned in the first couple of books. And after that they are not too intrusive to the stories which tend to focus on the journey of the character(s).

As for magicians there aren't any. There is magic but it's brought in slowly and is more subtle. I've said it before I thought they were some of the best books I have ever read. So I really hope you enjoy them and not disappointed.

[Marrow Rahien]

This Hobb person pops up a lot here....someone's on the payroll I bet! ;)

 

 

For something randomly different, since I keep seeing Tad Williams mentioned.....if you're a cat person (and shame on you if you aren't) I recommend looking at Tailchaser's Song. It's....different, but still interesting.

[Kivam]

The Book of Swords is actually a series (you may have read an omnibus-all in one version) by Fred Saberhagen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_the_Swords (warning, spoilers inside)

[Talya]

Marrow,

I'm on commission...got to boast the payroll somehow....

[Nevare]

Authors:

Robin Hobb

Neil Gaiman

Connie Willis

Terry Pratchett

George R. R. Martin

Kristin Britian

(oh too many to list)

Jim Butcher's really good (Furies series)

Brandon Sanderson (mistborn is excellent)

For younger (and older) readers the novel

 

The Dream Merchant