Got a favorite Book?

[alpha]

Richard Bach. Everything.

[Nova]

The following fantasy books by David and Leigh Eddings are excellent:
- Belgariad (5 books)
- Malloreon (5 books - sequel to Belgariad)
- Belgarath (expands on a primary char in the above 2)
- Polgara (ditto)
- The Elenium (3 books)
- The Tamuli (3 books - sequel to The Tamuli)
- The Redemption of Althalus

Their Dreamers 4-book series started well (great characters), but the ending just killed it for me; however, you may want to give it a try.

Almost ANYthing by Anne McCaffrey is worth the read. Also, Anne McCaffrey is mentoring her son Todd to continue on, and he does a darn fine job.

Another fantastic author is Mercedes Lackey. Whether writing solo or as part of a team, it's guaranteed to be quality work that holds your attention. I most enjoy
-- her stories of Valdemar and related countries
-- her Elemental Magician tales
-- the 500 Kingdom tales
-- the Bardic tales
-- the Halfblood chronicles co-written with Andre Norton
-- the Obsidian trilogy co-written with James Mallory ****

but she also writes "once off" or collaborates on single stories that are really good, such as The Ship Who Searched (part of the Brainship series by Anne McCaffrey, co-written with Anne), or Sacred Ground (a fantasy story set in modern times about an Osage/Cherokee woman who is a private detective AND being trained as a warrior/shaman by her Osage grandfather. DEFINITELY worth reading).

**** Note to those who are interested - they're doing a sequel series to the Obsidian trilogy - I read the first book of this and it's great! The only hard part will be waiting for Book 2, dammit.

I enjoy Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, but I've seen other people complain about the complexity and supposed lack of action in the later books (I guess for them action = battle).

If you like alternate history fantasy, the best author on the market is S.M. Stirling. Wonderful books. Although I like Robert Adams' stuff, some of the attitudes that come across in his writing can get a bit much. If you've read his books, you'll know what I mean.

There's many others that I like (such as Tolkien and Lewis, natch), but these are my primary favourites that perhaps not everyone here has read.

[mytgroo]

I just finished reading Ragamuffin by Tobias Buckell, it is Caribbean style science fiction. A bit different and entertaining.

[zanderohm]

my 2.5 cents worth...

George RR Martin is still my favorite "fantasy" writer, definitely must reads for, well... almost anyone...
enjoy RA Salvatore's stuff as well, excellent action writer...

Just stumbled upon David Gemmel's writing... he passed away recently, but left behind a goldmine in great literature... Great sense of humor and he writes lotza "fictional history" stuff which is pretty sweet...

other than that...
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman stuff... of course...
Raymond Feist...
Robin Hobb...

These are pretty mainstream and big name, but that's kinda what I like...
Probably more I could list but kinda having brainfart right now...

Blessingz

[acoustibop]

Jack Vance, Cordwainer Smith, Mervyn Peake, John Varley, Ken MacLeod, Frank Herbert, George Alec Effinger, William Gibson, Ursula K Le Guin, David Brin, Dan Simmons - to name but a few.

[revvie]

Aside from all of the obvious ones mentioned,i have to say give the Terry Brooks "Shannara" series a try.Ive read most of them several times over,dont have them anymore as they kinda got rather bent,torn and in general bad way.Another of my fave genres is Medieval Murder mystery and there are several authors i could mention such as Susanna Gregory,C.J.Sansom are two that i read on a regular basis.I also read books on real crime,especailly ones about serial killers.

[Krafen]

Aside from all of the obvious ones mentioned,i have to say give the Terry Brooks "Shannara" series a try.Ive read most of them several times over,dont have them anymore as they kinda got rather bent,torn and in general bad way.Another of my fave genres is Medieval Murder mystery and there are several authors i could mention such as Susanna Gregory,C.J.Sansom are two that i read on a regular basis.I also read books on real crime,especailly ones about serial killers.

I'm curious, did you like the first Shannara book? I think it was "Sword of Shannara." I had a collection of the first three books, but gave up on it after the first one. I found his writing style very difficult to read. It seemed very awkward and disjointed. I hate to quit partway through, so I finished it, but I couldn't bear to start the second book. Did it just catch me the wrong way or something, or did his writing get noticeably better as the books went on? He has written a lot of books in that series, so obviously a fair number of people like them, which makes me wonder about my impression of the first book. The back story of the world did seem to have potential.

[zanderohm]

I had some trouble getting through "the sword" also... my brother recommended the series to me, but gave me the warning that the first one was tough to swallow, but it gets better... Don't know, cause I never went back...

Along those lines...
Anyone have any comments on the "Wheel of Time" series by Jordan...
I read the first one, but it seemed too... lame?... no surprises and the writing was a bit simple... Does it get better or is that the lot for the series?

[Krafen]

I really like the Wheel of Time series. I enjoy seeing the characters develop, and I like how Jordan tells the story from the perspective of different characters. He does a good job of showing how several people can perceive the same situation differently. I enjoy stories that involve the rediscovery of lost knowledge, so that thread is appealing as well. I also like that his characters are not just heroes, but flawed, in interesting ways.

I find Jordan's writing to be fairly sophisticated. On several occasions, I have noticed that after reading several of his books, I am disappointed in the simplicity of books by other authors that I read right afterwards.

Some people complain that the series seems to drag out quit a bit. I believe Jordan said at one point that his publisher pressed him to extend the series due to its financial success. Some of the later books do have some of that feel, but despite that I found them worth reading.

As a caveat, I enjoyed the first book and didn't notice a significant shift in style from the first book to later books. If you found Rand to be too much of the classic "reluctant hero," however, that does change.

[revvie]

There's the saying "You cant judge a book by its cover",with me thats not true,if i like the cover,then i read whats on the back first,if that catches me then i buy the book.In the case of the Shannara books,i actually got book 2 first,didnt at the time realise it was part of a series,when i found out i immediately got book 1.I didnt have any trouble getting into it,enjoyed it well enough to read again before i even read book 2.There was also a game made for the pc,that on the other hand was way different,somethings that happened in the book wasnt in the game,but then again im picky like that,the game took me about 2 hours to finish.

[elstyr]

A friend lately handed me a book called "The Mammoth Book Of Extreme Science Fiction". It was released in 2006 in the UK. Well I'm reading it right now in conjunction with a dictionary ;), but the stories are damn fine imho.

Best,
Elstyr

PS: I like RR.Martins song of ice and fire the best regarding the last 2 years. That story is so amazing.

[Krafen]

A friend lately handed me a book called "The Mammoth Book Of Extreme Science Fiction". It was released in 2006 in the UK. Well I'm reading it right now in conjunction with a dictionary , but the stories are damn fine imho.

I ended up reading a collection of HP Lovecraft stories with a dictionary (well, dictionary.com) a little while back. That man used some obscure words.

[Maelstrom]

Currently working my way through Steven Erickson's "Malazan Empire" series. First book is Gardens of the Moon with eight titles in the series currently. Very rich setting for the events.

Erickson is probably the best talesmith I've had the pleasure of reading. His plots do not follow a single character but follow a plot line in which the characters tend (but not always) to somehow meet by the end of the book. It's a refreshing way to tell a tale and definitely keeps you thinking the entire book long. Of all the books I've read I would definitely rank his at the top (yes even above Tolkien, Asimov and Heinlein or Goodkind, Brooks and Jordan.) A must for any collection of fantasy.


The best of everything I've read include...
Coldfire Trilogy by CJ Friedman
Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith (another must if you enjoy space opera - these books inspired Lucas to create the Jedi Knights)
Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind (only the first four. I put down the series after book 5)
Various Shannara books by Terry Brooks
Foundation series & Rendevous w/ Rama by Asimov
LOTR by Tolkien
Swords series by Fred Saberhagen
Apprentice Adept trilogy by Piers Anothony
Enchanted Forest omnibus by Patricia Wrede (can't remember individual book titles off the top of my head.)

[Evnissyen]

Check the Authors section on the Gone Lawn website for a broad listing, but here are a few of my favorites :

Andrei Bely (Russian)
Witold Gombrowicz (Polish)
Donald Barthelme (American)
Kathy Acker (American)
Wolfgang Borchert (German)
Gertrude Stein (American)

Ben Marcus (American)
Gary Lutz (American)
Brian Evenson (American) (more his earlier work)
Lászlò Krasznahorkai (Hungarian)
Peter Handke (German)