Well I’m craving something in this genre but I’m a bit overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time. So many titles and yet I’m not sure what to read. Maybe you can help?
I’m looking for something in a high fantasy setting. I’m not too keen on heavy politics and war driven plots (though, I can read that ). What really gets me is interesting characters, good action and magical creatures.
I’ve loved anything Discworld and I’ve also enjoyed the First Law books by Abercrombie.
I’m finding that Tolkien, Sanderson and George RR Martin appear on every fantasy list I come across, so if you do recommend something I’d appreciate it be something other than that.
I highly recommend the Earthsea book by Ursula Le Guin (I actually recommend all of her books) and the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Frtiz Lieber. Especially if you are looking for something that is a quick read and not a 20 book, 50 billion page series.
Also the Drizzt novels by R. A. Salvatore, while not the same level of quality, are fun.
I’ve read only The left hand of Darkness by Le Guin and I totally didn’t cry, you understand? If at any point anyone tells you that, they’re disgusting liars trying to tarnish my reputation. That aside, I really enjoyed the book and Earthsea was on my list of potential reads. I’ve never heard of the other recommendations, will keep in mind. Thanks
All her hainish cycle books are really good too, which is a very loosely connected shared universe, that left hand of darkness takes place in.
I recently reread The Dark Elf Trilogy after a long, long time and I still quite liked it. It’s funny how differently I see the themes of the first book now than I did as a teenager.
I also remember Weis and Hickman’s Draconlance Chronicles trilogy being a fun read back in the day.
Ooooh
Terry Pratchett!!
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None of the suggestions above talk about comedy fantasy. Is there anyone close to the master? GNU
Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series is a good one. Unlike most authors in this genre who tend to be overly descriptive and feel the need to develop the lore of every squirrel in the kingdom, Le Guin writes really tight, well thought stories, where every word is important to the story.
The Name of the Wind By Patrick rothfuss.
Still waiting on that third book 5o come out though. It’s only been 17 years. It’ll happen any day now. 🥲
My luck it’ll come out the day after I die.
No worries, if you die before me ill come read it at your grave for you.
That’s a good incentive to hang around as a ghost. Unfinished business.
Then while you’re waiting, you can read Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.
At least we have a novella coming out in 2 weeks…
But Rothfuss still owes us the full cast reading of the first few chapters of Doors of Stone. That he set as a fundraiser goal two years ago and promised would be available the following February!
Yeah I’ve given up hope of it ever coming out. Although the bast novella seems interesting.
You might want to look at Robin Hobbs’ work.
My personal favorites are the Assassin series, starting with Assassin Apprentice by Robin Hobb.
Some of the best most heartfelt characters I have read in any modern fantasy, with a brilliantly unique type of magic and adventure. There is some political intrigue, especially within the first trilogy, but it isn’t overly burdened by it.
The whole series has continued to be a heavily character driven emotional roller coaster that I would love to be able to forget just so I could read them again for the first time.
My wife got me to read the first trilogy, they’re pretty good. There’s also some weird writing at times that made me think it was very much “men writing women”. And a weird scene at the end of book 3 where >!Fitz (nephew) and Verity (uncle) do a Freaky Friday body swap so Verity could fuck his wife while in his nephew’s body and impregnate her.!< I didn’t read the other books lol.
To be fair, I’ve read all of Wheel of Time and loved the series, and while it’s not as bad as Discworld, it’s still pretty weird and misogynistic at times.
You are the first person I ever know to say Discworld is bad. It’s usually love, ignorance or indifference with Pratchett’s work, may I ask why the hate?
It’s definitely good and entertaining, but I found it almost distracting how he described women. I’ve been told it was actually intentional, like he was making fun of other fantasy tropes, but it sorta turned me off to it. I only read Color of Magic.
There is a massive variety of female characters in Pratchett’s work and they are so different I’m not even sure what you mean by that. Sure, some are bimboes or twats but I can also recall cunning, resourceful, and smart ones, and in particular the older characters such as the witches really stand out. Male characters are subject to the same amount of variety so I’m surprised at your take on gender. He does have a very stylised approach though, cartoonish in many ways and fair enough if that’s not your thing.
I appreciate you being a perfectly reasonable person and understanding that people have different tastes in books lol. Cheers
Colour of Magic is the first Discworld, and one of Pratchett’s first novels. He grew into his voice a lot more over the course of the next fifty-something novels.
Most of the strongest, most unique women I’ve read have been of Pratchett’s creation. And not just heroes that happen to be described as female, but fully fleshed out women ranging from feminists who wish to support their husband to trans females pretending to be males dressing as women in order to fight the patriarchy.
If you’re willing to give the Discworld another go, and I urge you to, there’s a couple of reading order guides online. ‘Guards, Guards!’ is generally recommended as a good starting point, but I’d also suggest Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Going Postal, or if you really want to dive into the gender thing, Equal Rites or Monstrous Regiment.
Robin Hobb is a woman, though
I’m aware, that’s why it’s surprising.
+1 for Cradle already mentioned. I’d add
- The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan
- Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
I always upvote Riyria Revelations
I love king’s little 80’s music references. The sequal is coming out at some point.
Does Stormlight Archive count?
If you can get past the first 700 pages of book one then yes.
I’d say it counts, but only start that series if you both love LOTR-style epic fantasy and you’re willing to wait for the other 6 books to come out. There’s only 4 released now and while I love them to death, they’re very story thick and not for everyone. I wouldn’t recommend starting Brandon Sanderson with that series for that reason. Try Yumi and the Nightmare Painter or Tress and the Emerald Sea - both came out this year and they are a bit lighter reading, they’re very good, and both are a great introduction to the way Brandon writes. If you liked either of those then you’d probably love Stormlight.
I’ve read Mistborn and I don’t think Sanderson is for me. I know he’s very a very popular author though.
To each their own. However, I’ve read all of Brandon Sanderson’s books and I can definitively say that the writing style changes between Mistborn and other novels that are more recent are massive. Mistborn was good but it was his first published book. The more recent releases are a bit more easy to read. Tress even has a dragon in it. However if you’re not interested at all, try reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. It’s great magic fantasy set on Earth. However a similar warning applies - the first few books are a bit of a slog. If you read these, maybe start on book 3 - the first two aren’t as story centric.
I appreciate the information! I might try again sometime with Sanderson but not right now. I’ve heard others recommend me Dresden too, it sounds interesting.
I too do not enjoy Sanderson. GRR Martin has a series of books called the hedge knight. They are not exactly fantasy but medieval fiction taking place in the game of thrones universe. The tone and writing is very different from aSoIaF so don’t shy away if you aren’t into those. Pretty short but I found them to be very endearing books and might scratch the itch.
It’s weird I can’t recommend a single ‘traditional’ fantasy book despite being quite interested in the genre. I’ve never found one that combines good world building with a writing style I enjoy. Quite sad to think about tbh.
Alright, which ones have you read that would fit the category but you didn’t enjoy?
Wheel of time, Name of the wind, Malazan, the broken sword, eyes of the dragon, the gilded chain, wizard of eathsea.
Admittedly not that many, I guess part of the problem for me is finding ones that look interesting.
Dresden is great, though it starts weak. Like the first 3-5 books are merely OK. But if you get through those, Butcher gets pretty awesome IMHO.
nothing wrong with not caring for a book or author that everyone else seems to love. I have a list of books I DNF’d that are VERY popular. It is what it is.
His 1st written book elantris was way way too rough for me. But so far that’s the only one of his books i didn’t care for.
Lots of good recommendations here. I’ll just leave some +1s for a few I’ve seen here that I’ve enjoyed.
Blacktongue Thief: A thief tries to rob the wrong warrior and gets wrapped up in a quest to a distant land besieged by giants. The first of a trilogy, but the ending gives you enough closure to be a standalone read while also setting up where the story will go. Personally, I enjoyed the first-person narration which gives you a colorful look at a somewhat non-conventional fantasy world, although it’s still fantasy. If you liked Abercrombie then you might like this. There’s a similar focus on flawed characters trying to do the best they can. There is some war and politics but they are firmly in the background and far from the main focus.
Legends and Lattes: A retired adventurer opens up a coffee shop in a land that has never heard of coffee. I’m not sure if “cozy fantasy” was a thing before this book, but it’s been held up as an archetypal example. The plot is low-stakes and focuses on the characters and the difficulties of running a small business. Makes a good palate-cleanser between denser reads. No war or politics.
Kings of the Wyld: A retired group of adventurers has to come together for one last job after their leader’s daughter ends up trapped in a city besieged by monsters. Admittedly how much you enjoy this one depends on how novel you find the idea of adventuring groups being treated as rock and roll groups. Like literally being a stand-in for rock and roll bands with groupies, managers, and all of that. I’ve seen some criticism that the book doesn’t have much going for it beyond that which is a bit unfair. Following a bunch of middle-aged heroes past their prime was refreshing and I think the author did some interesting things with the main character who only uses a shield in combat and whose main motivation is to make it back to his wife and daughter in one piece. Very little war and politics.
Also, I don’t think he’s been recommended but you might want to check out Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire trilogy. Admittedly it’s not typical high fantasy and it is somewhat heavy on war and politics, but if you liked the grittier, grounded feel of Abercrombie then you might like it. It is arguably darker though and the main character straddles the line between dark anti-hero and outright villain protagonist for at least the first book. But it might be worth checking out if you really liked the First Law trilogy.
I 2nd Kings of the Wyld. Sequal coming out soon.
Legends & Lattes was fun too, and the sequal ‘Bookshops and Bondust’ is similarly fun.
I’ll add a +1 to some mentioned:
- Cradle series - progression fantasy, basically DBZ or Naruto style progression with a magic system, intelligent beasts/dragons, demigods, etc.
- Night Angel Trilogy - street rat turned assassin with magic. I feel like it leans pretty heavily into fantasy tropes, but they’re fun reads.
- Kings of the Wyld - this book is fucking hilarious. The main characters are basically a kickass D&D group but it’s 20 years later, they’re old and fat, and have to go on one last epic adventure.
Might as well mention Week’s Lightbringer series too .
So many suggestions possible with that prompt.
I might suggest the Vlad Taltos series, starting with Jhereg, by Steven Brust. Reaslistic characters, snappy dialog, interesting premise of human’s status in the society, and a pretty far-out series of villains. It comes down to more or less a first person assassin- / intrigue-based plot with cleverly set-up who-dunnit elements here and there, and an overarching storyline, and a good sense of the universe.
Some good suggestions in this thread. If you want even more options - I have been tapping into this Slashdot thread for a decade now, and it’s still giving me winners - which might not work for you, mind (e.g .“Little, Big” by Crowley, it led me to “To Reign in Hell” also by Brust, “Jack of Shadows” by Zelazny,)
Yay Dragaera! More people need to read about Vlad Taltos!
Thanks for the suggestion and link!
‘Glory Road’ by Robert A. Heinlein. Takes all the common fantasy tropes and kicks them in the nads.
I love how the other races don’t trust Humans, because we are always in “mating season” and they lose their minds during theirs, so assume we are always loopy because of ours.
I can’t remember the work, but a father is talking to his daughter on her 11th birthday. She’s a very smart and mature child. Dad says that he’s sorry but they aren’t going to be able to have great conversations any more, because she’s going to start maturing and will go completely insane. The daughter promises that she’ll always love and respect him. The next scene is her gothed out, swinging a chainsaw at the family dog.
Nice.
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I advocate to expand people’s thinking of the fantasy genre beyond the usual Euro-centric elves, dwarves, and wizards type stuff.
As such, a fantasy book I recommend is based off of Persian magic and setting is called The Wrath and the Dawn. It is based off of the Arabian Nights legend of that region.
Well, my other recommendation is not a book because it was a web comic, BUT, it fits the fantasy genre. What makes it unique is the fantasy elements are based off of Aztec gods and magic. It is called Leyendas: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/leyendas/list?title_no=63874
There is another fantasy web comic with middle eastern elements called Suihira The City of Water: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/suihira-the-city-of-water/list?title_no=39385
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini! I’ve read it too many times. It’s a really good hero’s journey and the characters are all really interesting. Plus it’s focused on dragons and magic and elves and dwarves, lots of cool creativity that goes on in the world. And I just really enjoy Paolini’s world-building. He’s very good at it and it stays consistent. There are two wars that I remember, one is a small-scale thing that sets a lot of events in motion, and the other is the big climax at the end of the series. It’s my favourite series next to The Dark Tower. I’d highly recommend it!
It isn’t so much dragons, but it it is fantasy. The Cradle series by Will Wight is phenomenal. If you’re a fan of audio books they are all available in that format also, narrated by Travis Baldree
Travellers Gate series by Will Wight is also good.
Audiobooks, nice. Will keep in mind. Thanks!
loved the series but peaked at wintersteel, that ending sequence is so damn good
bloodline was kinda weak
