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Since we already had a sci-fi thread, I figured I'd start a fantasy thread. Y'all can post whatever you like, but I'll give a big ol' post to get us started. See the end for authors I _won't_ include, and the reasons why.
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J. R. R. Tolkien:
This is an absolute must. If, however, you are in for quick resolutions and/or have the reading comprehension of a 10-year-old (sadly the case in most of the world today), this is not for you. Be prepared to devote the better part of a month to this.
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
The rest of it is very dry, catch-up work by his son Christopher. The Hobbit is easiest of course, being that it was written with a small child in mind.
At any rate, READ THESE BOOKS NOW, since if you don't finish them by Christmas, the movie will ruin them for you forever.
Ursula Le Guin:
In the world of fantasy, few have managed to come up with a truly unique world that doesn't borrow anything from older writers (such as Tolkien). Le Guin belongs in that group of "older writers", seeing as her primary work was published 30+ years ago.
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu
Tales of Earthsea
And as she recently revealed, she's not done yet. This series is one of my favorites, as the idea of a school of wizardry (Harry Potter notwithstanding) is a great one.
Terry Brooks:
Brooks' work ranges from the utterly fanciful (Magic Kingdom: For Sale... SOLD!) to the serious (the Shannara series). The bad part is that the Shannara series is quite derivative of Tolkien. The good part is that it is (and this is hard to pick up the first time through) post-apocalyptic and quite well written. The first three Shannara books are stories in and of themselves (in addition to being a trilogy), and the remainder are a series.
David Eddings:
Eddings might piss you off. If you like your stories to be UTTERLY serious then don't even get started here. While the tales are epic in scope (they ARE saving the universe after all), spanning thousands of years and encompassing many memorable characters, Eddings is mostly known for how REAL his characters seem - mainly because they are all given real personalities through the use of dialogue. Fully 75% of Eddings' stories are dialogue, which is really how life works if you think about it. Eddings is my personal favorite author. Start with The Belgariad and work your way forward. The Mallorean continues the story. The Elenium and The Tamuli are a totally different series with... essentially the same characters. Eddings DOES have a formula, one reason he pisses some readers off. However, the formula works very well. If you don't mind giggling out loud in addition to being riveted to the story of how the wizards and warriors are saving the universe...
Lloyd Alexander:
Yes, I know they're kids' books. But The Prydain Chronicles are an important piece of literature. They're better now than they were when I read them as a child.
C. S. Lewis:
Narnia kicks ass... despite being a thinly disguised religious parable. If you intend to read this, get the series... then calmly take the books out of order, since some complete moron decided a few years back that they should be read in chronological order, which is quite absurd. The correct order is:
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and his Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle
So read them in that order, please.
Stephen King:
I know, his work is sophomoric, right? Not the fantasy. Eyes of the Dragon, as well as The Dark Tower Series, are quite fine as fantasy goes.
Piers Anthony:
Don't bother with Xanth past the first few books. But his "Incarnations of Immortality" series is excellent.
Orson Scott Card:
"The Chronicles of Alvin Maker" are fantastic. But as I've said about Card before, he meanders after the first few books. He's 5 books in and has no idea where to go from there... but it's a great read anyway.
Also, I just finished "Enchantment", which is INCREDIBLE. A single book (so he can't mess it up by dragging it out). Great story. Jews and Russian Fairly Tales.
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Authors I can't stand (and the reasons why):
Terry Goodkind:
Julie tried to get me to read this crap. The first page was filled with 64 dollar words. There is no need to describe anything, no matter how noisy, as an "obseqious miasma of cacophony". Bleh! No thank you. Maybe I'm missing out on a great story... but too bad.
Bobbo A. Salvatore:
Bobbo is a huge mook. Everything he writes came straight out of some repressed 15-year-old's Dungeons and Dragons campaign manual. I actually read the Cleric Quintet, and was so disgusted by the end that I had to force feed myself several volumes of The History of Middle Earth AND Unfinished Tales just to get the bad taste out of my mouth. I swear, if I read one more book where EVERYONE is "the best XXX" or "the most talented YYY" I'm gonna friggin' scream.
Robert Jordan:
"Hey!" I hear you say... "Jordan kicks ass!"
Well you know what? I hate it when people write a story that is so damn long that they might die before it's done. And since the only NON "Wheel of Time" work that I have to base my opinion of Jordan on is one of the "Conan" rewrites...
I'll be honest. I haven't even started the Wheel of Time. And I won't until he is almost done.
---------------
Authors that are supposedly cool but I haven't read yet:
George R. R. Martin:
I wouldn't know. Julie keeps bugging me to read this. It's on my list.
Raymond Feist:
That damn game (Betrayal at Krondor) pissed me off so much (and this was 10 years ago!) that I haven't read any of the books. Call me foolish.
Melanie Rawn:
Is she still alive? Three great books and then... silence. As with Jordan, not sure if she'll ever finish the series.
---------
Ok that's it for now. I'm sure I've forgotten some. I'll get back to y'all later.
- Gurm
----------------
J. R. R. Tolkien:
This is an absolute must. If, however, you are in for quick resolutions and/or have the reading comprehension of a 10-year-old (sadly the case in most of the world today), this is not for you. Be prepared to devote the better part of a month to this.
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
The rest of it is very dry, catch-up work by his son Christopher. The Hobbit is easiest of course, being that it was written with a small child in mind.
At any rate, READ THESE BOOKS NOW, since if you don't finish them by Christmas, the movie will ruin them for you forever.
Ursula Le Guin:
In the world of fantasy, few have managed to come up with a truly unique world that doesn't borrow anything from older writers (such as Tolkien). Le Guin belongs in that group of "older writers", seeing as her primary work was published 30+ years ago.
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu
Tales of Earthsea
And as she recently revealed, she's not done yet. This series is one of my favorites, as the idea of a school of wizardry (Harry Potter notwithstanding) is a great one.
Terry Brooks:
Brooks' work ranges from the utterly fanciful (Magic Kingdom: For Sale... SOLD!) to the serious (the Shannara series). The bad part is that the Shannara series is quite derivative of Tolkien. The good part is that it is (and this is hard to pick up the first time through) post-apocalyptic and quite well written. The first three Shannara books are stories in and of themselves (in addition to being a trilogy), and the remainder are a series.
David Eddings:
Eddings might piss you off. If you like your stories to be UTTERLY serious then don't even get started here. While the tales are epic in scope (they ARE saving the universe after all), spanning thousands of years and encompassing many memorable characters, Eddings is mostly known for how REAL his characters seem - mainly because they are all given real personalities through the use of dialogue. Fully 75% of Eddings' stories are dialogue, which is really how life works if you think about it. Eddings is my personal favorite author. Start with The Belgariad and work your way forward. The Mallorean continues the story. The Elenium and The Tamuli are a totally different series with... essentially the same characters. Eddings DOES have a formula, one reason he pisses some readers off. However, the formula works very well. If you don't mind giggling out loud in addition to being riveted to the story of how the wizards and warriors are saving the universe...
Lloyd Alexander:
Yes, I know they're kids' books. But The Prydain Chronicles are an important piece of literature. They're better now than they were when I read them as a child.
C. S. Lewis:
Narnia kicks ass... despite being a thinly disguised religious parable. If you intend to read this, get the series... then calmly take the books out of order, since some complete moron decided a few years back that they should be read in chronological order, which is quite absurd. The correct order is:
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and his Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle
So read them in that order, please.
Stephen King:
I know, his work is sophomoric, right? Not the fantasy. Eyes of the Dragon, as well as The Dark Tower Series, are quite fine as fantasy goes.
Piers Anthony:
Don't bother with Xanth past the first few books. But his "Incarnations of Immortality" series is excellent.
Orson Scott Card:
"The Chronicles of Alvin Maker" are fantastic. But as I've said about Card before, he meanders after the first few books. He's 5 books in and has no idea where to go from there... but it's a great read anyway.
Also, I just finished "Enchantment", which is INCREDIBLE. A single book (so he can't mess it up by dragging it out). Great story. Jews and Russian Fairly Tales.
-----------
Authors I can't stand (and the reasons why):
Terry Goodkind:
Julie tried to get me to read this crap. The first page was filled with 64 dollar words. There is no need to describe anything, no matter how noisy, as an "obseqious miasma of cacophony". Bleh! No thank you. Maybe I'm missing out on a great story... but too bad.
Bobbo A. Salvatore:
Bobbo is a huge mook. Everything he writes came straight out of some repressed 15-year-old's Dungeons and Dragons campaign manual. I actually read the Cleric Quintet, and was so disgusted by the end that I had to force feed myself several volumes of The History of Middle Earth AND Unfinished Tales just to get the bad taste out of my mouth. I swear, if I read one more book where EVERYONE is "the best XXX" or "the most talented YYY" I'm gonna friggin' scream.
Robert Jordan:
"Hey!" I hear you say... "Jordan kicks ass!"
Well you know what? I hate it when people write a story that is so damn long that they might die before it's done. And since the only NON "Wheel of Time" work that I have to base my opinion of Jordan on is one of the "Conan" rewrites...
I'll be honest. I haven't even started the Wheel of Time. And I won't until he is almost done.
---------------
Authors that are supposedly cool but I haven't read yet:
George R. R. Martin:
I wouldn't know. Julie keeps bugging me to read this. It's on my list.
Raymond Feist:
That damn game (Betrayal at Krondor) pissed me off so much (and this was 10 years ago!) that I haven't read any of the books. Call me foolish.
Melanie Rawn:
Is she still alive? Three great books and then... silence. As with Jordan, not sure if she'll ever finish the series.
---------
Ok that's it for now. I'm sure I've forgotten some. I'll get back to y'all later.
- Gurm
)
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