Any non main world (Forgotten Realms, Middle Earth, Wheel of Time, Dragonlance) books you would suggest I sort of want to get back into reading some type of material but not sure what to look for.
Printable View
Any non main world (Forgotten Realms, Middle Earth, Wheel of Time, Dragonlance) books you would suggest I sort of want to get back into reading some type of material but not sure what to look for.
The latest Penny Arcade comic reminded me how good the Jhereg books are. Gonna go see if he wrote any more of those (stay the F away from that other series written in the same world though).
1) The Lords of Dus series by Lawrence Watt-Evans, most folk haven't heard of them, bloody awesome, think the 1st one is THE SEVEN ALTARS OF DUSARRA.
Story is about an "overman" a race of human/tiger magical crossbreeds, who after centuries of persecution and genocide, and thus hiding from humans, comes oot visit the human lands, because he wants to be the most famous person alive...he's a ass kicking freebooter, but driven...
gotta read rest of the plot it's just great and very not Forgotten Realms type writing.
2) The Boats of the Glen Carrig, not fantasy per se, fantasy horror, hard to get into wirtten in style of 18th century, it's the book that inspired Cthulu.
3) Legend by David Gemmell, I keep saying this book needs ot be filmed and have Sean Connery as Druss the Axeman! Waylander and WOlf In Shadow are also awesome.
4) Spellsinger by ALan Dean Foster, because...you have to, they are too much fun to be ignored ;)
:)
The entire Drenai series needs to be filmed but definately this one firstQuote:
Originally Posted by Silverblade-T-E
Just fucking KILL YOURSELF for recommending Alan Dean Foster. He is HORRIFIC. HORRIBLE. Makes Dragonlance look like Tolkien.
Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Standalone novel. You'll thank me. There's also a great trilogy I enjoyed when I was younger, the Master of Magics trilogy by Lyndon Hardy: Master of the Five Magics, Secret of the Sixth Magic, Riddle of the Seven Realms.
You could always check out Steven Erikson's A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, as a world it is a bit differant from the usual stuff.
I enjoyed the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies from Robin Hobb.
Seems like it took a bit to get going in the first book, but after that I devoured both series.
"A Song of Fire & Ice" by George R.R. Martin, and "Tales of the Malazan" by Stephen Erikson are the best fantasy authors out today, to be honest. Both series are quite "different" to th enorm, very complex, and superb stories.
And they both get released in the UK first, hurray! :)
A few suggested fantasy novels:Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurisu
Latro in the Mist
The Chronicles of Amber
The King of Elfland's Daughter
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Smith of Wooton Major
Mordant's Need
The Complete Book of Swords
Also, do yourself a favor and go beyond fantasy. There are great books in many genres.
I wasn't personally all that impressed with The Complete Book of Swords. /shrug.
Otherland by Tad Williams, while not strictly fantasy, wasn't too bad. It gets a bit long winded at points, but was neat overall.
The Complete Book of Amber is nice. It isn't strictly fantasy either, but mostly. It contains 10 short books (100-110 pages each?) and has two story arcs within it.
Other than that it has been too long since I've done any non-series reading.
If a story revolving around magic spells, sword fights and immortality isn't strictly fantasy, what is it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dale
Would Amber be a "main world" series? If the OP only meant to exclude current popular worlds, there's some older series that would be well worth a read, like the Thieves World novels, Moorcock's Corum and Elric novels, and Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books. I thought that anything that had been popular and had a fairly large set of publications revolving around one world was excluded, though.
A couple of series to add to the ones above:
Ursula Le Guin - Earthsea series (if you havent read them, my favorite fantasy series)
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials series (starts with the golden compass)
The Cycle of Fire trilogy by Janny Wurtz, or her standalone novel To Ride Hell's Chasm. I'm currently in the middle of her Wars of Light and Shadow series (6 books), and it's fantastic as well, so far.
Tad William's two big sets of books, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and Otherland are both 100% grade A awesome. Memory in particular is very good.
I went strictly by the series mentioned in the original post. I'm going to guess that someone who cites Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance stuff as "main world" probably hasn't read Moorcock or especially Fritz Leiber, who's hard to find these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by Delores Mulva
In my teen years I went through a period where I read a ton of Moorcock's Eternal Champion stuff, including the first six Elric books and two or three Corum novels. Afterward, I realized that not only did I read basically the same story 8 or 9 times, but I didn't like any of it -- the concept was cool, but Moorcock's execution fell short of it. Also tried a Hawkmoon book and a Jerry Cornelius novel, couldn't get through 'em.
Gave one of Leiber's Fafhrd/Grey Mouser stories a shot, but I don't remember it at all other than a vague recollection of being bored. But knowing the concept, I can see how it might appeal to people.
I've never read those books, but I thought her collaboration with Feist on the Empire novels was entertaining. Not timeless literature, but worth the price of the paperbacks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Atelen
I was coming from the opening where the main character finds himself in a hospital. It also has a car and such in it. With the whole realm of reality being possible I would put it in the not strictly fantasy term. It is mostly fantasy and I would put it as fantasy overall.Quote:
Originally Posted by PPatty
I did read most of one of the Elric books once before I got sidetracked. I picked up a hard cover of one of the books on the discount rack for $2 or so. If I wanted to give Elric a good shot, what would be the first book I should read. The one I was on I got the feeling I was missing a bunch of backstory.
I do plan on doing the Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn at some point. I had a friend that went through them and he did like them. I just have other things already on the way to read first.
Good recommendations there. I loved the Otherland series.Quote:
Originally Posted by Atelen
I also recommend Harry Turtledove. His World at War series is great for straight fantasy, and if you ever want to stop back on this world, his alternative histories are really enjoyable (Guns of the South, Ruled Britannia, In The Presence of Mine Enemies, the Colonization series, to name a few).
The internal chronological order for the Elric books is:
Elric of Melnibone
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
The Weird of the White Wolf
The Sleeping Sorceress
The Bane of the Black Sword
Stormbringer
Ok. Seems arbitrary to me though -- even in traditional fantasy there is a "real" aspect, like castles and horse carts. Magic is magic, regardless of any real world elements that might be involved.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dale
Here is all the backstory you need to know:Quote:
If I wanted to give Elric a good shot, what would be the first book I should read. The one I was on I got the feeling I was missing a bunch of backstory.
World.
Chaos.
Order.
Elric. Albino. Last ruler of dying race. Powerful magician. Soul-sucking sword. Works for the Uber God of Chaos.
Adventures ensue.