Recommend some Fantasy BooksFollow

I've been working my way through the Sword of Truth series (Terry Goodkind), and while I greatly enjoyed the first two books, the the later ones are starting to become very Wheel of Time-y, if you know what I mean. I'm looking for a new fantasy series, so recommend away. Bonus points for series that are complete - I'd prefer not to wait another 5 years for progress/closure (ahem, GRRM).

Other fantasy books/series I've read (and liked) in the past include:
Dune
The Black Company
The Belgariad/The Mallorean
A Song of Ice and Fire
Lord of the Rings

Do you want comedy with your fantasy? Try Discworld.

Each book is stand alone, so even though Sir Terry Pratchett is dying of Alzheimer's (*cry*), the series will not be "unfinished" - there just won't be any more.

Did you read the Elanium http://www.amazon.com/The-Elenium-Diamond-Throne-Sapphire/dp/0345500938 ? I actually liked that quite a bit better than the Belgariad.

Other reccommendations, in order based on how well I think you might like it (links go to first book in the series. most of these have at least 9-10 books in them)
Steven Brust - the Jhereg cycle http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-book-of-jhereg-steven-brust/1113509808?ean=9780441006151
Glen Cook - the Garret P.I. series (fantasy - humor Noir detective mix. it works, if you liked Black company you'll enjoy it) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/introducing-garrett-p-i-glen-cook/1102831765?ean=9780451463975
Raymon E Feist - Riftwar series - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/magician-raymond-e-feist/1101074582?ean=9780553564945
Robin Hobb - Farseer series - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/assassins-apprentice-robin-hobb/1100303745?ean=9780553573398
steven erickson - Malazan book of the Fallen (kind of black company-ish, but on a larger scale) - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gardens-of-the-moon-steven-erikson/1100188881?ean=9780765348784
Jennifer Roberson - Sword dancer series - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sword-dancer-jennifer-roberson/1101960702?ean=9781101647400
Jim butcher - Dresden Chronicals http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/storm-front-jim-butcher/1100315481?ean=9780451457813 (this one starts a bit slow, but give it about a third of the first book before you pass judgement)
L.e. Modesset - Recluse series This is the first one - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/magic-of-recluce-l-e-modesitt-jr/1100357876?ean=9780812505184 but I'd actually reccommend starting with this one: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/magic-engineer-l-e-modesitt-jr/1100355097?ean=9780765374004
Terry Brooks - Sword of Shanarra series - series just ended. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sword-of-shannara-trilogy-terry-brooks/1100292962?ean=9780345453754
Anne Mccaffery - Dragonriders of Pern - (technically Sci fi, but you don't find that out until later) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragonriders-of-pern-anne-mccaffrey/1103271443?ean=9780345340245
Mercedes lackey - Vladamar series http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/arrows-of-the-queen-mercedes-lackey/1102079022?ean=9780886773786

Singletons:
Michael Stackpoole - Talion Revenant (one of my favorite books) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/talion-michael-a-stackpole/1112273717?ean=9780553576566
Patrick Rothfuss - Name of the wind. only 2 books into a 3 book series and the guy writes slower than G.R.R Martin, but good read so far - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/name-of-the-wind-patrick-rothfuss/1100178957?ean=9780756404741
Joe Abercrombie - the blade itself http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blade-itself-joe-abercrombie/1100222917?ean=9781591025948 (kind of black company-like but with barbarians.
Tad Williams - The dragonbone chair series http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragonbone-chair-tad-williams/1100316910?ean=9780886773847


I also second the reccommendation for Terry Pratchet if you enjoy funny things.

Plenty more where that came from if you find you need more.

I recently read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, it was pretty good. It's about an average guy that accidentally falls into a hidden underground world that coexists with modern London. It's got a dark urban fantasy thing going on if you're into that sort of thing. I picked it up after first reading American Gods, also by Gaiman, which I also liked quite a bit. It sets up an interesting conflict between the ancient gods of various cultures and the new gods of technology.

I'll also second Kao's recommendation on The Dresden Files. The first couple books are rough, they're the first books that the auther, Jim Butcher, had published so it takes a couple for him to hit his stride. Once you get into books three and four, you're hooked. Each book is a self contained story, but there is a larger storyline arc that flows through the whole series. The only downside is that he's up to book fifteen and going, so if you get into them, you've got a lot of reading to do.

If you're into a more traditional fantasy but with a twist, Stephen R Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is pretty decent. There are three series, the first is the best, the second is pretty decent, and the third is currently in the works, but isn't as good so far as the first two. The main character, Thomas Covenant is an author that contracts leprosy. His wife leaves him when he gets ill, most people want nothing to do with him, and he's become a bitter and fairly angry person. He's actually a pretty despicable character. It's not really a spoiler to mention that early on in the first book, Lord Foul's Bane he rapes a young woman because he's convinced that he's dreaming and it's not real. Donaldson is a little too impressed with his vocabulary though, so some people find his writing to be somewhat stuffy, but it works for me.

Edit: After visiting Amazon, it looks like the last Covenant came out a couple months ago. I suppose I'll have to see about finishing the series...

Edited, Dec 11th 2013 12:55am by Turin

That's a whole lot of recommendations that aren't Patrick Rothfuss.

If your interested in WOW lore the Lich King book was a pretty interesting read.

You might also try the Changewinds trilogy by Jack Chalker.

Just be warned that Chalker is weird and somewhat of an acquired taste.

The Esslemont ones are pretty good so far. Not quite the same level of writing, but the characters and story flow well.

THANK YOU.

All the rest a y'all need jesus.

Yeah. Instead Eragon is a scene by scene recreation of Star Wars episode 4.

Since you're the second person to mention this, the first couple of books were good, third was "ok", and they more or less devolved into a drama/whine fest from that point on, with increasingly more improbable foes. Classic problem of power creep in a story world.


Lots of good suggestions. Let me toss out a few less well known:

The Seventh Sword series by Dave Duncan. Four books. Long since finished. Nothing super amazing about the writing, but the world is interesting, and I always like stories where magic and science kinda intermingle in unexpected ways (that might be a bit of a spoiler actually, but it's almost certainly not what you might expect).

The Darksword Trilogy by Weis and Hickman (yeah, them again!). Plot points aren't super, but another interesting take on magic (and there's also the whole tech interaction in this one. Far more direct than in the above series). Also has a very interesting world background. It's just different than what you normally expect in a fantasy setting, even though the setting itself is *very* fantasy based.

I'll also second Chalker, and second the idea that you have to accept his "odd" approach to storytelling. The Well of Words are probably the most classic of his books, but I always really liked his Rings of the Master series. Yeah, not fantasy really (not at all, actually), but with Chalker, it's less about science/tech/fantasy as it is his fascination with changing people (physically and even mentally) within a story and exploring worlds in which what you see isn't what's really there. Rings of the Master starts with characters living in what appears to be a primitive native American setting, and ends with space travel to various colony worlds and ultimately the use of a "magic" set of rings. I just really always liked this series, and would recommend it to anyone.

Oh! Here's something completely different.

Did you like the Harry Potter series?

Then I HIGHLY recommend Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. That's a link to some 1500 pages (more than the first four HP books) in PDF format. You can also go to the actual site to find all the chapters and author's notes. To quote TVTropes description of the web series:


It meshes Harry Potter with all sorts of science and theories, with notes explaining and expanding on whenever a scientific experiment or theory is discussed. Educational and hilarious. I thought the first few chapters were ok, but by the time I got to the sixth I was actively laughing out loud at some parts. The series runs the gamut on emotions - I almost cried on a few chapters, cheered for others, and laughed constantly.

Fair warning: the series is NOT finished. It is up to over 100 chapters now, and is in its final arc (according to the author).

Another good fantasy web serial that just ended (after thirty freaking volumes) if you like superheroes is Worm. It sets up an amazing universe where superheroes and supervillains are common, each with different powers. Unlike traditional superhero series (at least the Saturday morning cartoon ones; I'm not too familiar with how comics portray characters these days), this one has villains and heroes who are not morons about their powers; where even if you have someone with flight, super strength, and invincibility, they can pale in comparison to someone with a weaker power but cleverness and ambition. It is a LONG series, but very good.

Edited, Dec 12th 2013 6:33pm by LockeColeMA

are we doing sci fi reccomendations too? I have a whole fleet of those as well...