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
‘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.
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.
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.
Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. On par with Tolkien and Martin IMHO
Malazan book of the fallen is the best epic fantasy series I’ve ever read
The Diamond Age kinda counts?
The Powder Mage trilogy is kind of fun. The setting is more late 18th/early 19th century than medieval, and it is far from perfect, but a bit of French revolution era fantasy with magic and gods and stuff never hurt anyone.
China Miéville’s New Crobuzon series must qualify as fantasy somehow. It’s New Weird, but you have weird magic and grotesquely weird fantasy races living in a fantasy world, so it must count. Also, because Miéville is some flavor of trotskyist you get a fantasy world written from some kind of Marxist perspective, but because it is a fictional world where Stalin never existed you don’t have to read 50 pages about how every successful socialist revolution was never real.
What I’ve read of Robin Hobb has been fun, but it’s been more than a decade so take that recommendation with a pinch of salt.
You could also hate read David Eddings, a child abusing drunk of a hack author who hated the genre of fantasy and all of its readers. That’s what I’m doing, because I want to examine my childhood idol more closely. This is a bad idea and will not improve your life in any way, but it is something you could do.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m curious about the last paragraph. You see, I found an Eddings audiobook and I started with it, considering I’ve seen the name recommended here a few times. I’ve been thinking it’s well written but also really really boring. Is this why you say he hated the readers? Have you figured why he achieved idol status for you during your childhood?
He got into writing fantasy because he thought the people who read fantasy would read absolutely anything. He wanted to get as much money as possible for as little effort as possible, and since he didn’t consider fantasy to be real literature he figured it would be easier than adventure books about rock climbing, which he had written before, because he had to do literally no research. Reading them as an adult it is obvious that they are very lazily written. Every character has a personality that can be boiled down to a single adjective like “grumpy”, “sneaky”, “funny”, or in one very annoying case “having an axe”. This lazy writing however means that because the characters never really have much to say about anything things can move at an incredibly fast pace. This is what I liked as a child.
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!
Currently rereading the Belgariad and will likely go straight into the Mallorean. Probably my favourite “traditional” fantasy series.
But my all time favourite fantasy series is The Death Gate Cycle by Weiss and Hickman. But is very much not your traditional fantasy setup. It’s got wizards, dragons, elves, etc… but in very very non-traditional worlds. Can’t recommend it enough.
Ooooh
Terry Pratchett!!
Eyes of the dragon by Stephen King. Its an excellent fantasy novel … Not a horror novel. The antagonist, Flagg, is the same wizard in the dark tower series and the stand, though those don’t have dragons and such in them.
Magician,and searching this I see they’re making a TV series, 🤯
A little late to this post, but I re-read those again during COVID. One of my favourite series :)
First I’ve hears of a series though…
+1 for Cradle already mentioned. I’d add
- The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan
- Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
I love king’s little 80’s music references. The sequal is coming out at some point.
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.
