Book Suggestion

[dbdg]

Well I have exhausted my Clive Barker collection and need something new to read, I thought why not ask the MURC crowd.

Basically I want something fantasy based other then Mr Potter.

Along the lines of Barker at his best or Raymond E Fiest's The Magician. I have read the Magician Trilogy, anyone know if the rest of Fiest's books are any good.

Any ideas, otherwise I will have to start reading Weaveworld again. (not such a bad idea really..off he trots)

[Rakido]

you could always go the LotR-route.

If you like fantasy with a humorous touch, try Terry Pratchett's discworld series.

Otherwise i would suggest Wolfgang Hohlbein, Michael Moorcock or Marion Zimmer-Bradley



Rakido

[CHHAS]

"A game of Thrones" by George R. R. Martin, it's the first in a series of 3 so far and an excellent read.

[Rob(QG)]

'Song of Kali' or 'Hyperion' by Dan Simmons. The latter is sci-fi/horror and is really 5 short stories welded together, first in a series of 4 - was disappointed by the second though.

[az]

I like "The Flying Sorcerers" by Larry Niven and uh.. someone else

Unfortunately, it isn't in print anymore, but you can get it vvery cheap used on amazon. There are also summaries for it there.

AZ

[Gurm]

Martin is very good. I like that he's not afraid to kill off characters, no matter how attached the readers are to them.

I'm in the middle of the Sara Douglass Axis trilogy right now. In your corner of the world, the books are:

BattleAxe
Enchanter
StarMan

but in the USA the first book has been renamed "The Wayfarer Redemption" for no apparent reason (much as Harold Potter's first book was renamed Sorceror's Stone instead of Philosopher's Stone).

It's an EXCELLENT series, one of the first that has really slowed me down in a long time. Lots of words, every one of them means something, and the story itself is very original (something I haven't been able to say about fantasy in a long time).

If you're looking for OLDER fantasy, then of course some of those old authors are good.

Oh, and if you haven't read it, almost as required-reading as LotR is "A Wizard of Earthsea", the original "wizard's school" series by Ursula K. Le Guin. That's good readin'.

- Gurm

[Jammrock]

I know lots of Fantasy purists will growl at me for saying this, but pick up Steven King's Dark Tower series:

The Gunslinger
The Drawing of the Three
The Waste Lands
Wizard and Glass
Wolves of the Calla (comes out 4 November in the US, don't know about international)
Song of Susannah - August 1, 2004
The Dark Tower - November 1, 2004

This has been Steven King's pet project for decades, and quite honestly his only books I have ever been able to read and truly enjoy. The books are part fantasy, part western, part post-apocalyptic and part sci-fi. They are really, really good.

Jammrock

[dbdg]

Cheers for the suggestions so far fellas.

I have just ordered

A Game of Thrones and Battleaxe.

After checking out the reviews on Amazon they both look amazing.

Not a huge King fan myself althougth the regulators was pretty good, I think he wrote that under another name although I am not sure about that.

I will probably give them a try though, tend to read a lot now, since not being forced by school or my parents.

Edit: Cool 699 Posts to go.

[Byock]

I would have to recommend The Belgariad by David Eddings.
Excellent series.

[Ozbreeze]

Terry Brooks definitely....he has several in his Shannara series.

[Umfriend]

I beg to differ, read one Shannara, and you've read 'm all (but, granted, that comes from reading two of 'm only ).

Once you've read the riftwar saga by Feist, you are basically done with Feists' work. Nothing but dissappontment awaits those who venture any farhter.

Martin is absolutely great, taking a long time with number 4 though (all of a sudden it's planned for June 2004 FCOL). Should be finished by number 6. Dont expect to much "fantasy" (as in spells and magical items and what have you not) in the first two books, and little in the third, but it is coming there.

A big surprise for me was the Farseer Trilogy by RObin Hobb. In the first book, the main charachter may come across as a whiner, but the ending is the best fantasy ending I've ever read.

[Byock]

Originally posted by Umfriend
I beg to differ, read one Shannara, and you've read 'm all (but, granted, that comes from reading two of 'm only ).

Perhaps you should read the rest before making such a bold statement.

They are very good.

[Gurm]

Brooks throws you a few surprises once you're outside of the original trilogy. In fact, really once you hit the third book it gets more interesting.

If you haven't read Eddings yet you MUST.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

By the way, I have to warn you that once you hit the end of BattleAxe you'll go crazy waiting for a chance to get your hands on Enchanter.

- Gurm

[Jammrock]

There is of course the standard Ender's Series from Orson Scott Card as well. Those are some fabulous books.

Jammrock