Fantasy Fanatics discussion

What series, stand alone titles, or new releases do you recommend we add to our group reads?

I second Saladin's book and would like to add Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. It was originally self-published but it is being put out by Penguin in the US and Orbit in th UK.

Michael wrote: "I second Saladin's book and would like to add Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. It was originally self-published but it is being put out by Penguin in the US and Orbit in th UK."

I have not heard much about this. i will look into this series.

Neida wrote: "For a series: Crescent Moon Kingdoms series by Saladin Ahmed. The first book is Throne of The Crescent Moon."

I have heard good things about this series

Crescent Moon Kingdoms (Throne of the Crescent Moon) by Saladin Ahmed
Raven's Shadow (Blood Song) by Anthony Ryan
Both added to my notes for a future poll ;-)

Personally haven't heard of either of them but have now expanded by to-read list further :)

I'd recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss off the top of my head. There's a sequel published to it already and a third book to the trilogy/series will (hopefully!) be out soon.

I'll rifle through my books though and see if I come up with anything else.

I'd recommend The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss off the top of my head. There's a sequel publish..."

We know about this series! Its supposed to amazing and really popular at the moment. We are planning on reading at some point hopefully!

I added the Kingkiller Chronicles (The Name of the Wind) by Patrick Rothfuss to my "requested list" so that we keep in mind that members are looking forward to reading too. =)

Haven't heard of the first couple but Kingkiller Chronicles is a must.
Also the Mistborn TrilogyMistborn: The Final Empire
And: Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
Gentleman's Bastard by Scott Lynch
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
The Lightbringer Series also by Brent Weeks
The First Law by Joe Abercrombie
The Black Company by Glenn Cook
And of course A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRM

Nick wrote: "Haven't heard of the first couple but Kingkiller Chronicles is a must.
Also the Mistborn TrilogyMistborn: The Final Empire
And: Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
Gentleman's Bastard by Scot..."

I personally have read most of these except king killer chronicles! I believe the group will be reading some or all of these books in the near future! I am currently reading the black prism!

Nick wrote: "Haven't heard of the first couple but Kingkiller Chronicles is a must.
Also the Mistborn TrilogyMistborn: The Final Empire
And: Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
Gentleman's Bastard by Scot..."

I've read a few of these - the two Brent Weeks trilogies, Gentleman Bastards, ASOIAF and Kingkiller (obviously). The Mistborn trilogy is already in my to-read list as I think Stormlight Archive might be... I already own American Gods but havent had a chance to read it yet and I haven't even heard of Joe Abercrombie and Glenn Cook ones so I'll have a look at them :)

Oh, I lied. I have heard of the Joe Abercrombie ones, as the first one is in my to-read list, I just didn't realise that was what the trilogy was called! haha

The Mistborn Trilogy, The Way of Kings, The Chronicles of the Black Company, The Kingkiller Chronicle, The Wheel of Time and The Dresden Files if you like Urban Fantasy.
I'm new to the group (hello everyone), but I see you're already reading The Riyria Revelations. I really enjoyed that series!

Nick wrote: "Haven't heard of the first couple but Kingkiller Chronicles is a must.
Also the Mistborn TrilogyMistborn: The Final Empire
And: Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
Gentleman's Bastard by Scot..."

American Gods is currently up for voting for our June stand alone title here, make sure to vote.
Shaad and I are currently reading the Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks. It was reading it together that gave us the idea of forming this group. We are starting the second book (The Blinding Knife) early next week. If enough people are interested, maybe we can add that to our bookshelf for the end of this month...?
Song of Ice and Fire a lot have read (I know Shaad has, and I am almost done with the third book), but we'll definately see if people are interested in re-reading/reading at some point. (I know I wouldn't mind re-reading it.)
The rest of your list, I have added to my notes on group suggestions. =)

@Becky and Johnny - I've added anything you suggested to the list as well to =)

I am currently rereading A Song of Ice and Fire again myself. Another good series that isn't up here yet is Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God, and possibly The Memory of Flames by Stephen Deas. For fantasy I currently have Tigana and The Black Jewels Trilogy on my to-read list.

Wereworld sounds interesting, is it any good?

I wouldn't mind re-reading ASOIAf again sometime. :)

ASOIAF seems like a common consensus.
Maybe we could add it to the list 2-3 months before the next book comes out so that we can all get psyched up for it..

Yeah, sounds good to me! Although I think GRRM said the next book won't be out till 2014 at the earliest, and I think that was a bit optimistic too...

Becky wrote: "Yeah, sounds good to me! Although I think GRRM said the next book won't be out till 2014 at the earliest, and I think that was a bit optimistic too..."

UGH! I know! It is horrible. Lucky me though, I am only about 60% of the way through book 3 the first time around. I do however already dream of reading the first books again. Haha

I just started rereading a Clash of Kings! I will be reading it slowly so I can get the most out of it.

All these are great choices. I'll add the Farseer books by Robin Hobb. The first one is Assassin's Apprentice. They start off pretty slow but they're great books in my opinion.

Traci L. wrote: "All these are great choices. I'll add the Farseer books by Robin Hobb. The first one is Assassin's Apprentice. They start off pretty slow but they're great books in my opinion."

Thank you Traci L., I added it to the list! =)

Ya I agree with robin hobb! She is a very good author! I have read the first 2 in the farseer trilogy!

She also has 4 other trilogies liveship traders. Tawny man. And I forget the name of the other two series!

I just finished the Farseer trilogy by Hobb! They are good books but yeah, kinda slow. I'm looking forward to checking out some of her other trilogies sometime.

I wouldn't mind re-reading ASoIaF either, and I'm also going to suggest The Tales of Dunk and Egg. They are short novels, prequel to the main series:

The Hedge Knight
The Sworn Sword
The Mystery Knight

The whole Malazan series by Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont. There are 21 books and more to come: http://www.goodreads.com/series/49674...

Johnny wrote: "I wouldn't mind re-reading ASoIaF either, and I'm also going to suggest The Tales of Dunk and Egg. They are short novels, prequel to the main series:

The Hedge Knight
The Sworn Sword
The Mystery K..."

I'll second these for any true ASOIAF fan, and the best thing is you could find them and read them online for free.

Hey for people looking for great series/books to read use this website. It was great resource for me I learned about most of the books that I have over the 6-8 months from this site.
http://bestfantasybooks.com/best-fant...

Ooo, That looks useful! I'll definately have a good browse of that!

Becky wrote: "Ooo, That looks useful! I'll definately have a good browse of that!"

Ya i found this site after I read ASOAIF because I was looking for some books to read while I was waiting for book and because I was not much of a reader so did not know many books. I love how breaks it down into the different ares of fantasy so it really helps find book you will like!

Ooo, browsing this list has reminded me to recommend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King (which begins with The Gunslinger). Somewhat darker fantasy, but definately epic and just incredible. Just outstanding. I hadn't actually read any Stephen King before I read these and just knew him as a famous horror writer, but while there are some scary moments in here it's not really what I would class as horror, although you can see hints of it. It's epic fantasy and one of my favourite series of all time... and now I want to read it all again...

List has been updated to this point.

=)

I agree Becky! The Dark Tower is my favourite series of all time, I wish I could read it all again for the first time. I would also highly recommend the first trilogy of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson (starting with "Lord Fouls Bane"), the rest of the series is good by not a must read :)

James wrote: "I agree Becky! The Dark Tower is my favourite series of all time, I wish I could read it all again for the first time. I would also highly recommend the first trilogy of the Chronicles of Thomas Co..."

Ihave heard real good thing about the first thomas covenant trilogy! I am looking to reading it!

James wrote: "I agree Becky! The Dark Tower is my favourite series of all time, I wish I could read it all again for the first time. I would also highly recommend the first trilogy of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson ..."

Noted. =)

The Tamir Triad starting with the first book The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling.

I've read the first four Dark Tower books and they were great. The first one is the weakest link but if you continue they get much better.
And I'd love to finally finish the whole series...

Tasha wrote: "The Tamir Triad starting with the first book The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling."

Tamir Triad added to the list.

Traci L. wrote: I've read the first four Dark Tower books and they were great. The first one is the weakest link but if you continue they get much better."

Good to know. I tried the first volume about 15-20 years ago and never made it through the first book... >_<

Traci L. wrote: "I've read the first four Dark Tower books and they were great. The first one is the weakest link but if you continue they get much better."

Kristina wrote: "Good to know. I tried the first volume about 15-20 years ago and never made it through the first book... >_< "

Yeah, the first Dark Tower is the probably the weakest, and it is so different to the other books in the series (but there are hints to the rest of the series) but it is worth working through it and then the second one which is more on track with the rest of the series. I'd say my least favourite book was the 6th one, but they're all great.

The Gunslinger is definitely the weakest, but not my least favorite. Personally, I loved how weird it was - I hadn't read anything quite as peculiar at the time - and the opening line was just great.
King wrote it when he was really young, and you can see how his writing style evolves throughout the series. The first book does not reflect the general quality of the series.

No. I do like the first book but yeah, the weakest unfortunately. It has so many great lines and things. That first one and then that one Jake says towards the end... :) It's hard to choose a favourite book in the Dark Tower series personally... but it's probably either book 4 or 5.

I like the first one. But I've known readers who don't and stop there. And that's a mistake in my opinion. Never skip it. But don't judge the whole series by the first book either. My favorite was #3. But I read it awhile ago.

(view spoiler)[Go then, there are other worlds than these. (hide spoiler)] I love that line too!

And yeah, I have a friend who has only read the first one and thought it was boring. Now she refuses to read the rest, which is a damn shame if you ask me.

It's definitely hard to choose a favorite. Mine would either be The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands or The Dark Tower.

#3 aka Waste Lands is definatly up there too... Ah so hard!

I'll admit I read like a quarter of the first book ,realised I was super confused about it and started again and then loved it.

Nothing wrong with that. I remember being confused for most of it, to be honest! But it's one of those books that are meant to confuse you, I think.

For fans of the more "grimdark" fantasy I would really recommend the Low Town books by Daniel Polansky. Basically they are fantasy noir books with a really interesting anti hero called The Warden. Two books so far with hopefully more to come.

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss is fantastic! I would highly recommend them.

How about any of Brent Weeks' books especially his Lightbringer Trilogy starting with The Black Prism, which is one of the best fantasy series I have read.

And how about Scott Lynch's The Gentlemen Bastards Trilogy starting with The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Elise: I agree with you on Name of the Wind. That was a fantastic book. Personally i was very disappointed with Wise Man's Fear as i really didn't think that it moved the story forward. Still really looking forward to the final book though!