Fantasy Book Club discussion

So what are some fantasy books that you love but that plenty of people have never heard of?

I've really enjoyed James Maxey's books. His dragon books. They're a lot of fun to read, but they do tend a little towards sci-fi. I never hear him talked about much.

So many awesome books that don't get enough love out there! (Most of these have fan followings in fantasy circles, but, IMO, they totally deserve to be as big as GRRM or Jordan or Sanderson!!)

To name a few?
-The Green Rider series (Kristen Britain)
-The Deeds of Passenarrion (Elizabeth Moon)
-The Dwarves saga (Markus Heitz)
-Chronicles of King Rolen's Kin (Rowena Cory Daniells)
-Aeon's Gate trilogy (Sam Sykes)

Carol Berg's books are wonderful, but I never see any discussion about them. Original worlds, great characters, gorgeous prose, intelligent and emotional.

Right on the top of my list is The Trysmoon Saga by Brian K Fuller. While fairly loaded with fantasy cliches, it is well-written and engaging.

C. Dale Brittain has a marvelous series of fantasy novels set in the Kingdom of Yurt. Nice comic tone, and the wizard and priest are best friends for a change.
Lawrence Watt-Evans has a series set in the lands on Ethshar, as well as many others. His specialty is the hero who does not seek power but has it thrust upon him.

Definitely this one: The Dwarves saga (Markus Heitz)

I have all four books proudly on my shelf

Wow great ideas! For myself I feel that Robin Hobb, though popular in fantasy circles, really should be read more widely. She is one of the very best in the genre. I also think the Silmarillion and many other of Tolkien's works are amazingly deep as well. He is far more than a one trick pony with the hobbit and lord of the rings. David Eddings is also overlooked.

A Book Dragon by Donn Kushner

Michael wrote: "Definitely this one: The Dwarves saga (Markus Heitz)

I have all four books proudly on my shelf"

Aaparently there's a 5th (currently untranslated) book, too....

The Man of Gold by M.A.R. Barker -- first of his Tekumel novels, now back in print and available electronically. I hope the rest will be following as well.

The Shattered World and The Burning Realm by Michael Reaves -- I keep hoping against hope that someday he'll write the third in the series.

And there are a lot of authors from the 80s and 90s who are out of print and largely forgotten these days -- Jo Clayton and Louise Cooper spring to mind.

Oh, and Jane Gaskell's Atlan series.

Sara Douglass the books she wrote containing axis sunsoar and the sunsoar family probably my favourite australian fantasy author. great shame she died in 2011 :(. i know her first book didnt seem to be like earlier this year or late last year on one of the monthly books but i have always liked her books :)

Jaden, I've always really enjoyed Sara Douglass as well. I did find the The Wayfarer Redemption hard to get into initially, but I persevered with it and went on to love the whole series.

I also loved Fiona McIntosh The Quickening series Myrren's Gift series and the Percheron series Odalisque. Both series don't seem to get a lot of attention.

Angela wrote: "Jaden, I've always really enjoyed Sara Douglass as well. I did find the The Wayfarer Redemption hard to get into initially, but I persevered with it and went on to love the whole seri..."

HUh.

I had the same problem with the Watyfarer Redemption, and I'm can't put my finger on why I didn't like it. I finished the first book in that series, and just never went back to the rest. (I had the same issue with the first book in "Crown of Stars" series, but that series I saw through to completion and REALLY liked it by the end.)

Shadowdenizen I pushed through with the series on the recommendation of my brother and he was right, I did enjoy it once I got past about half way in the first book. I did have to attempt to read it twice. I wonder if it was a simply a case of it being Douglass's first book and therefore as the series went on it allowed the story and world building to develop more?

That being said, I tried to read Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind 3 times and couldn't get into it, so it ended up a DNF.

Shadowdenizen wrote: "So many awesome books that don't get enough love out there! (Most of these have fan followings in fantasy circles, but, IMO, they totally deserve to be as big as GRRM or Jordan or Sanderson!!)

To..."

Agree! Deed of Paksenarrion! It took me 20 years to read it and I've been kicking myself ever since that I didn't read it every year for the past two decades. Amazing.

The one I don't understand the lack of love for is Mary Gentle's Ash: A Secret History. A really well-researched, grounded, lunatic, totally unpredictable romp that blends mediaeval history, alt-history, SF, fantasy, and a small, unobjectionable dash of postmodernism. With wars and destinies and crossdressing and a hint of romance, all headed by a strong, capable and independent young female heroine. Long enough to appeal to fans of epic fantasy, but short enough and self-contained enough to appeal to those scared off by endless series [it's one, extremely long novel, published as four quite short novels in the US].

And yet nobody reads the damn thing!

I suppose it doesn't help that it came out in 2000, iirc - so at the time it was competing against Jordan, Goodkind, Martin, Hobb, and since then people have been distracted by Abercrombie, Lynch et al (although Ash is much more realistically 'gritty' than grimdark). I guess stylistically it falls somewhere between the Martin/Hobb and Abercrombie/Lynch sort of veins.

Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy by D.M Cornish.

Thanks for great tips! And I agree with Shadowdanizen - Mrs. Moon´s books are amazing. DoP is my favourite trilogy in fantasy genre ;) (And yes, I´ve read some Sandersons books - he writes epic stories, but I will never read his books so many times like those by Mrs. Moon.)

And something little bit older but charming

Kate Forsyth! She's an Australian fantasy author and her books are multi-character epics centered on Celtic mythology. Good action, good characters, fast moving plot. She's got lots of books published in Australia but only about a dozen here in the U.S., starting with The Witches of Eileanan.

I've added Kate Forsyth to my TBR to read. I read the blurb for The Witches of Eileanan and it sounds promising.

Kind of surprised that The name of the wind wasn't liked. My favorite series of all which I don't hear talked about very much is the dragonlance series. Has a kind of lotr feel. It's an older series which may be the cause.

The Ladies of Mandrigyn by Barbara Hambly was amazing, but sadly is out of print now. The entire series is free on Kindle Unlimited though. I bought Witches of Eileanan from a used bookstore and I'm excited to dive into it, but it may be a little while till I can (I'm prioritizing book club books I'm interested in).

Under the Cat's Eye, a YA fantasy. Reminisct of Narnia. Best 90s book.

Vlad Taltos[edit]
There are currently 14 novels in the series (19 are planned).

Jhereg (1983)
Yendi (1984)
Teckla (1987)
Taltos (1988)
Phoenix (1990)
Athyra (1993)
Orca (1996)
Dragon (1998)
Issola (2001)
Dzur (2006)
Jhegaala (2008)
Iorich (2010)
Tiassa (2011)
Hawk (2014)
Vallista, forthcoming[25]

These books by Steven Brust are absolutly gobsmackingly awesome.

Malice is one of my all time favourites. The third of four comes out next month in North America, I'm currently mid reread and its just as good the second time.

Wolfrott wrote: "Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy by D.M Cornish."

I am so glad that this series was mentioned. It is one of my favorite. Especially the steam punk elements. Everyone should give it a try.

I wanted to add another book to this discussion: The Scar by Marina Chenko. I really loved this tale.

Without a doubt, The Acts of Caine series by Matthew Stover for me.