Reply With QuoteLord of the Rings.
I love Internet recommendation threads.
I'm finished with Toll the Hounds, I'm fairly certain Martin is not coming out with a new book in my lifetime, never mind his (zing, twinkie, etc.). I've heard recommendations for Black Company, but also had someone push ... Darkness that Comes (?) on me while at work. How is that?
Anything else?
Lord of the Rings.
I love Internet recommendation threads.
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Curse of Chalion
I've reread this book several times now, and I enjoy it every time. It's about a former commander who is rescued after several years in captivity, and returns to his home country a beggar.
Steph Swainston - The Year of Our War
A relatively new author that surprised me, who presents a rather odd fantasy world. The book mostly takes place in the Fourlands, a country in a seemingly eternal war with the Insects. The book follows the main character, Jant, who is the drug-addled Messenger of the Emperor, and the only person in the world who can fly.
Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy, on the off chance you haven't already read it.
edit: I guess with Tehanu it's a quadrilogy. Haven't read that one though.
Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself
Greg Keyes' The Briar King
Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice
David Gemmel's Legend
Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora
All recommndations from Qt3 throughout the years and books that started me reading other stories by the same author which I also loved.
Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword
Last edited by Eric P; 10-14-2008 at 05:36 PM.
Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind
I liked Briar King and Curse of Chalion.
How is Toll? I just started it last week, moving through it a little bit each night.
The whole Wheel of Time series (or at least what is out so far). Easiest 10000 pages (with crazy tiny font) of my life.
For "easy" fantasy reading then I second the recommendations for "Lies of Locke Lamora" and "The Name of the Wind".
Bakker's Prince of Nothing Trilogy (starts with "The Darkness that Comes Before") is anything but "easy".
Everyone one these ranges somewhere from good to great. Well except Gemmel's novel, which I have never read, and will shortly be ordered. With Hobb please remember that she does something very different from most authors, she gets better with each novel. So if the first one doesn't offend you, but doesn't grab you either, keep reading.Originally Posted by Tyjenks
And here is a perfect example of the fantasy standard, the author getting exponentially worse with every novel. By the 8th or 9th book it's bad enough to poke holes in the fabric of reality. Add Eddings to this list. I read the first one, thought it wasn't that bad, and bought most of his and his wife's works right after. Holy fucking shit do I ever regret that one.
I was joking, the Bible is lighter reading than this series. To be honest, I stopped reading this series when the books became all about the daily lives of teenage pre-queens and witches with really boring quests and less about a really cool lucky guy with a spear/blade thingy and a guy who could psychically maul people and was an expert sword fighter.
If they released Wheel of Time: The Rand and Matt series, I'd be all over it.
n
The Gold standard of Low-Fantasy
That being said, how do other writers fair in comparison to Howard's original Conan stories?
I am adjusting my skirt in absolute consternation at that statement. Hmmphf!
I am straightening my blouse now.
Jack Vance
I read the first three books in the series and thought they were pretty easy reads. Okay, sure they're large books with itty-bitty font, but I think I was reading like 50-100 pages a night before bed in high school. I flew through the first book.
I don't think Eddings was good enough to begin with for a decline to be worth mentioning. I did read the Belgariad as a kid, but I was sorta starved for anything Tolkienesque at the time.Add Eddings to this list. I read the first one, thought it wasn't that bad, and bought most of his and his wife's works right after. Holy fucking shit do I ever regret that one.
Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen.
Stephen Hunt. He has two books out right now (at least that I know of) The Court of the Air and The Kingdom Beyond the Waves. I've only just started reading the second one, so I can't really comment on it yet, but the first one is a very easy to read and entertaining steampunk-ish fantasy faerie tale.
Cannot recommend Joe Abercrombie's "First Law" series which begins with The Blade Itself (1st of 3) highly enough.
Am just getting started on Patrick Rothfuss' "The Name of the Wind" and it is a very different sort of fantasy novel, very much looking like 'easy' fantasy reading (whatever that means) but highly enjoyable. I believe it is the first of two (maybe more to come?).
I recently read this and I can't recommend it enough. It hooks you from the very start and you don't want to stop reading. Maybe the best fantasy I've read in a long time.
I also recently read this book: Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley. It starts off slow, most definitely, but it's worth the build up of the world imo. I think I read he's a former history professor or something, so that explains why there is so much world definition before the story really picks up. The second half of the book really takes advantage of that build up though and runs with it.
And my thanks for everyone's suggestions, I'll definitely be picking up a few of these after I finish the Cryptonomicon (had never read it).
I don't want to get into a Robert Jordan argument here, but if you like high fantasy, his Wheel of Time series is one of the best ever, imo. The first three to five books are pretty great, with each one getting better than the last. Then comes books that you read because you love the characters so much, then the last two books he wrote (I think it's 9 and 10) pick it back up and are great reads again.
That's just my opinion on his work as a huge fan. Take it as you will.
I read it, and it wasn't bad, but it certainly didn't hook me from the start. The entire barkeeper thing that drug on for chapters bored me to tears.
Eh, for easy fantasy reading it's hard to go wrong with the Belgariad series frankly (by Eddings). The books are relatively short, it's easy to read, it's fantasy, and it's really not that bad.
--- Alan
I can't countenance this recommendation unless the reader has already gone through stuff like Narnia, Earthsea, the Hobbit, and most of Dr. Seuss. Eddings (arguably) doesn't completely suck, but there's so much stuff that is actively good.
By the way, the Temeraire books aren't bad, and are fairly light reading (Napoleonic wars with dragons).
The Weiss-Hickman Dragonlance books are about as easy as you get in fantasy...pretty good too IMO.
I tried rereading Narnia as a grownup and was pretty frustrated with it. Lewis's casual misogyny and xenophobia kinda got to me after a while.
Earthsea, on the other hand, is near and dear to my heart. When I'm in the mood for light reading, I tend towards YA fiction. So I go for Patricia McKinley and Jane Yolen.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.
The Riftwar series by Raymond Feist.
I 2nd the Riftwar books...
The first book is a slog, the second is amazing, and you know my opinion on the middle books. Elaine and Nynave and the wolf-man are just so boring.
It is, however, a fantastic universe. An elder scrolls type (or any type, really) game set in the Wheel of Time world be amazing. I know there already is a game, shhhhh it doesn't count.
SPOILARS
The part where the army of Asha'man slaughter the Aiel traitors, and Rand breaks out of his captivity is my favorite scene of all time, though. That and when Rand uses the sword-artifact thingy to lightning the hell out of an entire Seanchan army division.
Fuck this, I'm going back and reading these books.
The problem is that the little grains of awesomeness are sprinkled meagerly across a vast desert of leaden prose heavily dosed with skirt straightening and braid tugging.
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