Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library discussion

About me: I have loved fantasy and science fiction books all my life. I enjoy reading at multiple levels (not above reading fairy tales and mouse stories for example), escapist novels and books that make me think. I like adventure, magic, romance, a quest, battles (swords, not guns), and some sense of meaning. In other words, "fantasy with grace".

Books/Authors I love:
C.S. Lewis--Narnia
Tamora Pierce--Circle of Magic
J.K. Rowling--Harry Potter
Madeleine L'Engle
Lois Lowry
Sarah Micklem--Firethorn
J.R.R. Tolkien--Lord of the Rings

My problem: Perhaps because I have given my whole heart to Tolkien's LotR, any world/book that resembles his formula is difficult to jump into. I almost feel too exhausted to memorize an entirely new set of rules and histories. Is there a book/series that hits the right notes without sounding like an echo?

I have read C.L.Wilson.There are 3 books out and a fourth coming this fall.If you go under books you can check them out.The story has romance,magic,bad guys all in one story.I think the 1st one was Lord of the Fading lands.
Linda

Morgen, I realise this is shameless self-promotion, but you could do worse than give my Shaihen Heritage series a try.

You can download the opening three chapters of Book I Cloak of Magic from my website http://www.shehaios.co.uk so if you really don't get on with it all you will have lost is your time!

My readers tell me it is a story that takes them into an alternative world, catches them up and makes them feel as if they are living in my world - Shehaios- with the characters.

I expect to be announcing the publication date for Book 2 Staff of Power any day. I'm working on Book 3!

I would be very interested to know what you thought if you were prepared to try it.

Sue

After reading your post i immediately thought of The Blue Sword and The Hero and The Crown by Robin Mckinley. Not sure why, but i think those two books fit what you're looking for better than anything else i've got on my shelves. The former is a Newberry Honor book, and the latter a Newberry Medal winner (kind of annoyed me when i found out about that, as i hadn't thought of them as "young adult" books). The same author has done several retellings of fairy tales which might also interest you-- of these, the only one i can recommend is Spindle's End, but only because i haven't read any of the others.

Try "Perdido Street Station" by China Mielville. It kind of straddles the line between science fiction and fantasy. It's quite different from anything I've ever read. He has a couple of other books set in the same world.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll write them all down.

How about R.A. Salvatore? Lot's of sword fights and great characters. I love it!

Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series.

I second Jim Butcher's Codex Alera. If you are looking for a brand new world, look no further. Butcher's Alera is unique and thrilling. Some of the best world building I've seen in a long time.

Tad Williams Dragon Bone Chair series. Great fantasy world to disappear into.

I loved the Dragon Bone chair series Sherri. I had a crush in high school that had dark hair with a little shock of blonde. Like my good old friend Simon Snowlock except white.. crazy what one can imagine. =) Of course people are welcome to look in on my book Dreamsbane of Tamalor, but I have to argee that Tad Williams is a good author. =)

http://www.cardshark.com/content/view...

stephen r. donaldson's 'chronicles of thomas covenant' is a classic trilogy that embodies the spirit of epic fantasy but inverts all the values. definitely worth picking up.

Kristen Britain's Green Rider series (beginning with Green Rider) is excellent and is very in keeping with your list. If you're looking for something a few steps in a radically non-Tolkien direction but still amazing fantasy, I recommend Garth Nix's Sabriel and its sequel(s).

R.A. Salvatore... Great "fantasy with grace." Set in the Forgotten Realms (the setting for Dungeons and Dragons as well) Salvatore created a world 20 years ago that still pumps out books today. There are 17 books published directly about his famous Drizzt character, a dark-elf who abandons the evil ways of his race to stand up for true moral principle, another direct Drizzt novel coming out next month, a spinoff Y.A. book that came out this month, and a trilogy spinoff created about two antagonists from the Drizzt series.

A great starting point is "The Crystal Shard." While this book is 4th in the Legend of Drizzt series, it is actually R.A. Salvatore's breakout novel and first published. The first three books then go back to describe Drizzt' dark legacy and origins and were written after books 4-6.

Salvatore has also created many other shorter series, the most notable being the Demon War series.

Salvatore is definitely my favorite author of all time. There is not an author I enjoy reading more than Salvatore.

Fantasy is my favorite genre so this is not a light statement. I too love Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Rowling, Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, Feist, Brooks, Weis & Hickman, Ed Greenwood, etc.

NO NO NO!! You are all missing a critical world! Glen Cook's the Black Company - not your typical fant. no super mages or sorcerers no super hero all for the most part regular Joe Schmoos trying to survive in a fant World. in the middle of reading and trying to get the world to read it as well!!

No one has recommended George RR Martin's Fire and Ice series. The first book is A Game of Thrones. It's great stuff.

I would also suggest the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erickson. The first book is Gardens of the Moon.

The Fire and Ice series is number 3 on my list after Tolkien and Dune. Better than the Wheel of Time.

I second the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, as well as Martin's Song of Ice and Fire (though I have a lot more hope of the former ever getting finished than the latter). If you like dense, complex, dark, and gritty, you should pick up R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series, which starts with The Darkness That Comes Before.

I love the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and had added Stephen Erikson as one of my favorite authors. The world and time-scape are huge, the characters legion, many well-developed others developing. I liken it to trying to figure out a culture and its mythos from archeologic digs and linguist studies of scraps of manuscripts. I wonder if Erikson will bring everything together by the end of the series, but do not really care. The books will be re-read and used to interpret the historical mythos by individual readers.

I have read Martin's series, and the latest is still sitting on my stack of to be reads. But, I am starting to get bored with it.

I just finished a fascinating book, "Ysabel", by Guy Gavriel Kay. It has gotten mixed reviews. But, as a student of the history and mythology of Gaul, it is a wonderfully compelling historical fantasy.

Kernos, seeing how clearly you "get" Erikson's work, you've piqued my curiosity about Ysabel. And you should take a look at Scott Bakker's work--the writing at the beginning can be a bit difficult to get into, but it gets better and better, and it sounds like it would be right up your alley.

As an aside, I haven't gotten bored with Martin's series so much as I've lost momentum with it... he's taking so long to get the next book out that it's harder to get excited about it, especially knowing that the next book (whenever it finally comes out) isn't the last one, and who knows how long it will take for him to finish the series, or if he even will! I don't have the same worries with Erikson--he's been putting them out at a steady pace and I've found the quality to be pretty consistently high (I have the latest but haven't had time to read it yet, so I'm not including that in my judgment).

The Lies of Locke Lamora is a great world!

Phantastes by George Macdonald - one of the key early fantasy writers with a lot of overlap into fairy-tale type stories. Big influence on CS Lewis.

Read Robin Hobb-Farseer Trilogy and then read her others too. I have bought these books for friends who swear they hate fantasy and they all loved it and went and bought all the rest. They are probably my favourite books of all time. Great characters (if a bit unlucky) and a lot of the usual fantasy ingredients while managing not to seem to cliched!

I think i got a bit jaded too a while back and overdosed on too much "classic" fantasy, so I was really impressed when I dicovered Ian Irvine. Really fresh ideas and non-conventional characters. I started with Geomancer, and you should too, if it doesn't get you, don't bother with the others. However, like Tolkien, he does like to keep his characters in a constant state of peril so buy the next book before you finish the first one or you will go nuts. Good reading!

I just finished Abarat by Clive Barker and it was an amazing new world!! He has got to be one of the most imaginative writers of our day and created a brand new fantasy world and made it simple to follow.

It's a four book series, but only the first two are published so far...

I second the suggestion for Lies of Locke Lamora and it's sequel Red Skies at Dawn.
I also loved the Robin Hobb Assasin/Fools books and I've heard good things about her Liveship Traders series.
Tanya Huff's Four Quarters series
Just about *anything* by Mercedes Lackey
Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series

Try "The Naming" by Alison Croggon. I was only at the end of Chapter 1 when I knew that I had to own the series. I was transported into her world and held riveted. In essence it's the story of a young girl who is unaware of her hertiage and the role that she will have to play if Pellinor is to have a future.

Books with good series I recommend:
Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson)
Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
The Crown Conspiracy (Michael Sullivan)

In full disclosure the last one is my husband's book but it fits in perfectly with the other two.

I also recommend Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind. It (and it's assumed two sequels) seems headed toward being a heroic epic such as LOTR.

A big ditto on Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy, and also the Liveships trilogy. (I haven't read the Tawny Man trilogy yet.) I read a lot of fantasy and I like the world she created in those books better than anything since Hyperion/Endymion.

There's a lot of good fantasy out there and I'm not complaining, but most of it is character driven and doesn't pay much attention to world building. Not like Hobb does.

I read a great series that was co-written by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. The Outstretched Shadow To Light A Candle When Darkness Falls

Its a great new take on magic, a quick/fun read, and has the best representation of elves I have ever read. Give it a try!

However, stop after book three; sadly the next books in the series, set several generations in the future, have forever tainted the series for me. Such a disappointment!

There is always my book. =)

Dreamsbane of Tamalor