Fantasy Lovers discussion

I love the Belgariad and the Mallorean books- utterly amazing!

Howl's moving castle is by far the best Fantasy book ever. Maybe it is even the best book ever!! It was made into an anime film by Hayao Miazaki, and I would highly recommend both the film and the book to anyone.

Ummmm....
Beg to differ, Michelle. The Belgariad is so much better then Howl's Moving Castle by a long shot. You are so incredibly naive if you think that any book can beat The Belgariad, exept for the Mallorean, it's sequel series.

Excuse me, Howl's moving castle happens to have a sequal too that I havent read yet. It is AWESOME and way better than your Belgariad could ever be. But, just to prove you wrong, I will read the Belgariad and you should read Howl's Moving Castle and then we will both agree happily that Howl's moving Castle is better. It is exciting and the characters are Real. More real than your Belgariad people could ever be. It is also funny, and if there is some hero in your book, Howl and Sophie are more heroic than they could ever be. Howl's moving castle was one of the only books that made me cry(with the exception of Owl Babies, a board book)

Ok, Michelle, your wasting your breath. I am not reading Howl's Moving Castle. Now let's just forget about those books and request others to eachother because neither of will give in. Got it?

Whatever (I still think Howl's Moving Castle is better) (If you don't want to read it at least watch the film!)

Maybe....
Anywhoo, what other books do you like? You read The Book of Lost Things, right? It's creepy, isn't it! It is really, really good, though! :)

I don't like Eddings much at all, but I did like Howl's Moving Castle. The movie was great too, though different.

My favourite fantasy writer is Isobelle Carmody (love all of hers), but I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite fantasy book. One of my favourite series, though, would have to be Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars.

Gail Carson Levine's books are also great. I just reread The Two Princesses of Bamarre. That book is one of my favorites of hers! I love the characters in her books!

My favorite book is The Two princesses of Bamarre. I like it so much I've read it 5 times.

Can you tell me more about it? I haven't heard of The Two Princesses of Bamarre.

Oh my God, That's been one of my favorite books for, like, ever! It's about two sisters and one of them gets this funky, deadly disease to which there is no cure and the other tries to find a cure for it. I've also read it, like, over five times

But one book/series I like much, much better is... ANYTHING BY DAVID EDDINGS!!!! What do you mean you don't like Eddings??? I ADORE Eddings!!!! What's the matter with you??? They are the best books I've ever read. David Eddings writes the most marvelous, magnificent, stupendous, staggering, heart-stopping, breath-taking, suspenseful, superb, brilliant, spectacular fantasy epics existing in the world today!!!!

Which ones by Eddings did you read, by the way?

Ok, I admit I haven't read a lot of Eddings, I've only read The Elenium Trilogy, and while it didn't stink or anything I wasn't too thrilled by it either, so I haven't bothered reading anything else by him, or him and his wife.

Also, my best friend has read a lot of Eddings and she said the characters are always all the same (I've heard that from other people too), so he can get a bit repetitive. See, I have high standards when it comes to fantasy, and I don't want to read something cliched.

Have you read the Belgariad and Mallorean series? Amazing, amazing books. They go together, Mallorean after the Belgariad, then there are two perquels and a background info book about all his materials he had to collaberate before beginning writing, called the Rivan Codex, which is what I'm in the middle of right now. After that I'm starting on the Elenium and its "sequel series" the Tamuli.

How would you define fantasy?

I haven't read any of David Eddings' books, but I must admit, they sound like the "typical" fantasy stories- princesses and witches and castles and dragons. It's all been done before. I like to read novels with New ideas in them- that's why I like science fiction. Science fiction usually has a wide variety of characters and settings.

(Comment on Post #7)
The Book of Lost Things was excellent, but I didn't find it particularly creepy. If you find that book creepy, you need to read more creepy books.

I think The Book of Lost Things might be a bit too creepy for younger kids. It is a darker story than many fantasies, but I really liked it.

Michelle, defining fantasy can be hard, some books seem to be able to fit in either fantasy or sci-fi. Personally I think of fantasy as having elements of different reality/power/elements that are magical, and sci-fi having elements of different reality/power due to higher technology. This isn't a perfect definition, certainly much sci-fi is based on imaginary worlds or alternate/future history that has less technology that our present real world.

But that's just it, Michelle. The Belgariad and Mallorean AREN'T like that, and in the Elenium, their may be knights, kings, etc, BUT it's not particularly like those stories with the slaying dragons and pricesses trapped in towers.

I just read the Elenium, and, I'll admit, they weren't as amazing as the other books I've read by Eddings. Despite my incredibly slight dissapointment, however, I still greatly enjoyed reading them.

Michelle -
There is an online monthly poll of the top 100 fantasy books, with the Belgariad rated 7th as of December 2007, and with Howl's Moving Castle at 97th. So... according to public opinion, the Belgariad is better.

Where was this online monthly poll taken-- Alaska? I know I can find some Howl's moving castle supporters that will personally shove a dirty sock in your mouth- or computer drive. Besides, maybe it was just that month that the Belgariad was popular. If the general public thinks that, then they obviously haven't read Howl's Moving Castle. Probably because David Eddings advertises with cheap tricks and Diana Wynne Jones got her fame by actually writing good stuff.

Admit your defeat Emma.

Cheap Tricks??? I will NOT hear you insult my favorite author!!! Anyone can participate in this online poll, for your information (I, myself, have)and if you Google "Fantasy 100" it should come up as "Fantsy 100- top 100 Fantasy books". It really is a cool site; you should definitly check it out.

Oh I'm sorry Emma, but I have to agree with Michelle about Eddings and Wynne Jones.

The main thing I don't like about Eddings is how unoriginal he is. But I have to say that there's a lot of fantasy nowadays that's moved on from the Tolkein/Jordan/Eddings/Feist cliched formula and doing really original stuff with fantasy, in new and original settings. Most people I know who read Eddings admit that his characters are the same in all his books, which doesn't inspire me to read more. :(

I'm so tired of elves. Actually, I was tired of elves when I first came across them. Elves and dwarves (why are dwarves fantastical creatures in fantasy but are associated with no great mythology in real life?) and, yes, even dragons, bore me. "Sword and scorcery" fantasy generally bores me. "Good vs. Evil" fantasy especially bores me.

There are several mythologies that reference dwarves, actually, including Norse and Germanic mythology. Wikipedia has a pretty good article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarves . Elves have always just seemed more popular.

Emma, how about you read Howl's Moving Castle and THEN tell me that David Eddings is better.

Also, I'd just like to add that my cat, May, also thinks that Howl's Moving Castle is the best. (she saw part of the movie with me)

All right, Michelle. After I've read the million and one books Otto's put on a list for me, I WILL read Howl's Moving Castle. Happy now?

Excuses, Excuses...

I'll get around to it!! There are just other things I need to read first!!

If you don't want to check it out of the library I can lend you mine, Emma.

Getting back to the topic for a moment, my favourite fantasy series would include:

The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody
The Legendsong Trilogy by Isobelle Carmody
The Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliott
The Jaran novels by Kate Elliott
The Second Sons Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon
The Hythrun Chronicles by Jennifer Falon (in North America this includes the Demon Child Trilogy, but I haven't read that one yet)
Harry Potter
Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud
Rhiannon's Ride by Kate Forsyth

I could go on - I simply can't limit myself to one!

Aw, shuckey-darn. We were having a nice little umm... "discussion" Did ya have to jerk us back to reality?

Actually, I've never heard of most of these! (Okay, all of these but Harry...) Care to elaborate????

I've read Twilight, but I'll have to check those other ones out:-)

Oh yeah, those too, but I've never read them. It's one of those things where i keep telling myself I'll get around to it...

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, I haven't had much time for Goodreads lately :(

Isobelle Carmody is my favourite fantasy author, she's very original. The Obernewtyn Chronicles are post-apocalyptic, set a long time after a nuclear disaster of some kind. Radiation still poisons a lot of the land. Some people are born Misfits - disabled in some way, but more recently they've been born with special abilities. Elspeth is the main character, and her gifts are telepathy, coercion, farseeking (telepathy over a long distance), and beastspeak (communicating with animals). She is sent to a council farm to work as a labourer, and discovers that most of the other kids there are Misfits like her. The woman who runs the farm, called Obernewtyn, knows about their abilities and tries to use them for her own secret aims. And then there's Rushton, the real owner of Obernewtyn, and Elspeth's love interest (this is YA fantasy, not romance, btw). The first book is called Obernewtyn, the second The Farseekers, the third Ashling, the fourth The Keeping Place. Two more are due out.

She's also written an adult fantasy trilogy called the Legendsong, which is excellent, and several stand-alone novels. I would particularly recommend Scatterlings, also post-apocalyptic, and Alyzon Whitestarr, which is set here and now and is about a girl who, after a head injury, can smell people's emotions.

Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series is wonderful, and finished! It's seven books long, and has, ah, adult content. Not much, and it's very relevant. Her Jaran series is more sci-fi, but I'm not a sci-fi fan and I loved it.

Jennifer Fallon is another great author. I started with the Second Sons trilogy, but it's not her first. Her books are more political and less about magic and things like that, though mysticism is a feature.

If you enjoyed Harry Potter you'd like the Bartimaeus trilogy. It's a bit similar in the sense that magicians are in the world, but unlike in HP, here they are running the show very openly. There's a lot of class conflict because the magicians are very superior. Nathanial is in training and, at a very young age, he conjurs a djinni (the magicians' power comes from harnessing spirits like the djinn) called Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is OLD and has a wicked sense of humour. They're great books.

Kate Forsyth wrote the Witches of Eilennan series, but I haven't read it. Rhiannon's Ride is set in the same land when the characters from the first series are older. She's half-satyricorn, so she looks normal but her mother's people have horns and hoofs and a tail. But she has their hunting skills and temper. She lets a human man escape her mother's people (they would have kept him for a number of reasons), and also tames a winged horse, and uses it to escape the mountains. That's just the beginning, it gets more interesting from there, and I really recommend the trilogy.

Twilight etc. are great, though voices get loud on either side of the fence! Personally, they're pure indulgence for me. They're not exceptionally written or anything, but it's like one big daydream!

I've just started the Runelords Series by David Farland. It's fairly interesting - while it's not phenomenal or anything, it has some fairly interesting, original concepts in it. I's still on the first book (I started it this weekend) but I'm interested in seeing how the story unfolds (that is, if a plot ever clearly develops... it's taking a long time...)

Twilight is all right, I didn't like the other ones in the series though. I will have to check out the Bartimaeus trilogy.

I'm also new to the group. Oh, Michelle, the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle is Castle in the Air. It's good, but I thought Howl's Moving Castle was better. As for my favorite fantasy series, there's the Pellinor quartet by Alison Croggon, which is really great.

Has anyone here read the Runelords by David Farland? I started them, and the first one was good (see my review for more info) but for some odd reason I gave up half way through the second! I know I didn't read it for a couple of days, so that may have had some influence on it, but...

I can't bring myself to pick up David Farland's books because, yes, I'll admit it, the covers are so bad. That's right, I'm a cover snob. Tor is the worst at it. I don't know why they think tacky is good. I love the new covers of the Obernewtyn Chronicles - check out The Stone Key for example. *sigh* So nice.

The Runelords also strike me as very generic/formulaic. What did you think, Emma? Anything original in them?

Well, the whole idea of the "earth" thing is sort of appealing, but other then that, it gets and "A" in boring. And yes, the covers and titles both are simply awful. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but you need to have some incentive for reading it!

Amrita, I agree that Howl's Moving Castle is better than Castle in the Air. *spoiler alert* But I do like the way all of the characters were turned into something, especially the flying carpet/calcifer. That was cool.

I just read Obernewtyn. It is fantastic!!!! I think it is my new current favorite book.

Who's it by?

I just read Poison Study, and the sequel, Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder. The covers sucked (pay attention here, Shannon!) but the books were fairly good. Not totally amazing, but good. Oh, and (yes, Shannon, here too) they had a pretty original idea behind them.

Obernewtyn is by Isobelle Carmody.

Michelle, I'm so glad you liked Obernewtyn! I hope you enjoy the rest of the series too - this is my favourite author we're talking about here! Her stand-alone novels are excellent too, and she has some other series - oh just read everything!

Emma, I've seen the Snyder books (and read reviews on LJ too), and I didn't mind the covers. I noticed that they weren't in the fantasy section of Chapters-Indigo, for some reason (but then, they're hopeless).

I still have to get Obernewtyn #2 and read it, but I will have to check out her other books. I'm not really a cover snob, but I can't stand it when books don't have a summery on the inside cover or back.

Am really new to fantasy. I am very electic with my reading. What would you suggest for a new fantasy reader to start with??