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Fantasy lovers' thread
handymelon
Posts: 15,154 Forum Member
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OK - I'll come clean. I'm a LOTR geek. First read it when I was twelve (in 1980), and ever since have been a devotee of the genre it spawned.
Before all the sci-fi buffs start a yammerin' and a howlin' - yes, bad fantasy writing is a thing of predictable and wrist-slitting dullness.
However - there are some truly gifted writers out there, and I thought those of us who love a bit of unreality should enlighten - and possibly intrigue - the rest of reader-land.
So here are one or two of my faves:
"Dragonflight" by Anne McCaffrey - telepathic dragons and their riders protect a medieval planet from a voracious alien life-form by guts, glory, fire and flight tactics. Also lots of politics and sex along the way!
The "Earthsea" cycle by Ursula Le Guin - teenage wizardry well before Harry Potter, set in a vividly-realised society. Probably the most gifted living authoress in this genre.
"The Cats of Seroster" by Robert Westall - the author of The Machine Gunners looks at Egyptian myth and the responsibilities of coming of age, all tied up with medieval setting and magic.
"Elidor" by Alan Garner - four children are entrusted with four sacred objects which can save a dying kingdom, and must protect them against enemy attack. Portals, mysterious stangers, dire warnings, unicorns in suburbia and a fantastic gritty realism which stops it from ever feeling cliched.
Your recommendations and comments will (hopefully) now flood in below...
Before all the sci-fi buffs start a yammerin' and a howlin' - yes, bad fantasy writing is a thing of predictable and wrist-slitting dullness.
However - there are some truly gifted writers out there, and I thought those of us who love a bit of unreality should enlighten - and possibly intrigue - the rest of reader-land.
So here are one or two of my faves:
"Dragonflight" by Anne McCaffrey - telepathic dragons and their riders protect a medieval planet from a voracious alien life-form by guts, glory, fire and flight tactics. Also lots of politics and sex along the way!
The "Earthsea" cycle by Ursula Le Guin - teenage wizardry well before Harry Potter, set in a vividly-realised society. Probably the most gifted living authoress in this genre.
"The Cats of Seroster" by Robert Westall - the author of The Machine Gunners looks at Egyptian myth and the responsibilities of coming of age, all tied up with medieval setting and magic.
"Elidor" by Alan Garner - four children are entrusted with four sacred objects which can save a dying kingdom, and must protect them against enemy attack. Portals, mysterious stangers, dire warnings, unicorns in suburbia and a fantastic gritty realism which stops it from ever feeling cliched.
Your recommendations and comments will (hopefully) now flood in below...
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Comments
Not read Elidor, although I have read The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - opne of my favourite books as a kid and still a good read now. I love his writing style.
The Anne McCaffrey books have never appealed to me, mainly cos a friend of mine at high school used to run round the place pretending she was riding a dragon (she was much too old for that sort of thing!!) and they just make me cringe.. I read The Crystal Singer and it left me cold tbh.
Traditional hero fantasy doesn't do much for me, but I do love a good ghost story.. at the same time I bought a couple of Alan Garner books I bought The Children of Green Knowe. but I digress...
Philip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers books.
Robert E. Howard's original Conan tales.
The Birthgrave by Tanith Lee.
Dwellers in the Mirage and The Face in the Abyss by A. Merritt.
Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series (especially Elric).
Andre Norton's Witch World books.
Jane Gaskell's Atlan sequence.
Forget the movies, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan books are great.
**gets coat..................**
George RR Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire
Series of 5 books (so far) A lot of politics and war. No dwarves, elves and goblins. A fair bit of magic and three dragons
Martin Scott - Thraxas
A series of detective novels in a fantast setting. Thraxas, the hero is a failed magician and his sidekick Makri is a mixed race (Human/Elf/Orc) ex female gladiator
Yes trust you jools :rolleyes: lol
You can't deny the fact that I'm consistent
That you are honey
But I'm also clearly in the wrong thread - fantasy novels leave me cold.
Sorry folks - I'll take my naughtiness elsewhere
Im right behind you babes
Oi, that's my line
No I dont think so :rolleyes: you are a man of course, men are always first :rolleyes:
I love the Anne McCaffrey books as well - although they became more SF than Fantasy towards the end (particularly when you read Dragonsdawn; the origin was about as SF as they come).
I read the various Katherine Kerr books for years (Dragonspell/Darkspell/Dawnspell etc.) but in the end got so confused by the number of different lives that I just gave up. I think I got up to the second book of the third group. Might give them another go at some point as they were pretty readable.
Diana Wynne Jones also deserves a mention - as well as many great fantasy books, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a blimmin' excellent read for any fan of the genre! Plus The Dark Lord of Derkholm which is a similar concept but in novel form.
Neil Gaiman of course - not sword and sourcery, but still fantasy of a kind. Ditto Tom Holt and Robert Rankin for a comedy-fantasy thing.
I think the reputation of the genre has been seriously tarnished by Robert Jordan though - he put me off reading fantasy for years. I'm still not as willing to take a chance as I used to be.
Very funny little book that
Wow, that took me back! I remember reading that when I was teen and loving it. Must buy it again and see if it still holds the same magic.
I have to admit a guilty liking for the Dragonlance books, another staple of my teen years. I read some of them again recently and still enjoyed them.
Same for LOTR - I'm so glad I read the books years before the films came out, I don't think it would have the same effect if I read them for the first time now.
I rather like Terry Brooks' Shannara series
I've only read the Belgariad and Mallorean
I've read the other two but didn't like them anywhere near as much - I loved the humour in Belgariad etc. and felt it was missing from Elenium. Given how many times I've read the Belgariad it's a real surprise to me that I don't automatically like everything he's written! There was another series too I think (or maybe just a standalone book) that came after he'd finished spinoffs, but I hated that too.
I love it - and it's so accurate! Have you read Dark Lord of Derkholm? It's got the same "fantasy by numbers" pisstake theory.
This is a a similar kind of thing. I first saw it at uni
http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
Brilliant!
I remember reading them when I was about 12.
Some of my favourites have already been mentioned in this thread. I'm a big fan Of Anne McCaffrey, although she does tend to branch more into sci fi than Fantasy fiction. I particularly liked the Freedom series.
One of my recent discoveries has been Terry Goodkind, who has a series of novels based around a character called Richard. I believe the first one in the set is called Wizard's Rule and I cannot recommend it enough. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Slightly less fantasy fiction but still in the magical realm are Adept by Robert Finn and The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks.
If youlike a bit of alien scifi try out the Area 51 series by Robert Doherty, or the wonderful The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.
I enjoyed Eragon(soon to be at the cinema) and Eldest, the sequel by Christopher Paolini as well. Also read and enjoyed The Wind Singer ( first in a trilogy) by William Nicholson which seems to have received a lot of praise on book forums.
Going back a few years you could also try the Forgotten Realms series which bring back fond memories of my youth! happy reading