some of my favourites

truls_rohk

right so here goes.... firstly, LOTR(obeevously!) but as a series coz as the silmarillion, the hobbit an LOTR all deal with the same story from beginning to end... ie the one ring and how it was created, defeated, lost, found and eventually destroyed over a time span of about what? 2,000 - 3,000 years??

secondly, gemmell has some great books... i love waylander an dark moon an basically everythin hes written that ive had the privilege to read.

third, raymond e feist an the magician, riftwar series... top class!

and last, but certainly not least.... terry brooks! the shannara series is possibly the best series out there an the characters are all brilliant.... they make you want to be in the story yourself.... i mean how cool would it be to go adventuring with the likes of stee jans, walker boh, truls rohk, garet jax, quickening, grianne(ilse witch) and of course, the man himself.... allanon!

TheSonOfBattles

Have to agree with you on two of the author's on your list. Raymond E. Feist's a genius and Magician and Talon of the Silverhawk etc. are brilliant books, pity some of the rest ain't as good, and the series wanders around to much.

David Gemmell's Waylander series is brilliant, I love the ending of the third Waylander book. It's actually the best character ending i've ever read, and I was so unbelievably happy and sad at the same time. Also good by him is the Jon Shannow series of books, especially the first one. The third one is a little weak, especially the end.

Also brilliant, primarily because i've been reading it for near half my life at this stage is Robert Jordan, and the Wheel of Time series. I do wish he'd go and finish it though, it's really starting to drag. It's so epic, and brilliantly written though, it's easy enough to forgive him, except when you realize there's still to years to go to the next book.

Terry Pratchett is of course, the best fantasy-comedy writer in existance, and his genius in that regard know's no bounds.

And of course how could I forget David Eddings who's books I grew up on, and was my first real experience of good fantasy-fiction. I am of course speaking of the Belgariad. I think Belgarath is one of the best characters ever, and the forever man kinda thing kick's ass. 7,000 years of life must be so cool.

That's all the major author's of my life anyways.

And no, leaving out J.R.R. Tolkien isn't a mistake. I read the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit when i was like 9, and haven't been able to read them since. Can't stand the thing's for the life of me.

Movie is good on the other hand.

Sarn

Have to agree with Gemmell (everything, nice easy read), Feist (haven't read the recent stuff, the Legend series?) and Eddings (Belgariad and Malloreon).

One I'd definitely recommend is George R.R. Martin's series 'A song of ice and fire'. I'm eagerly anticipating the next installment.

R. Jordan has lost the plot of late in his Wheel of Time series IMHO, it was excellent up to about book 7. There was a time when I was praying for the next book. Certainly eight and nine could have been put together (I still haven't read 10). Most of my friends who started reading it have given up. The way I see it I'm there until the bitter end.

I've read so many authors at this stage that I've forgotten what's worth reading (there's waaaay too many books on my shelves and in my wardrobe.

As a recent convert to Sci-fi I also recommend 'The night's dawn trilogy' by Peter F. Hamilton. I was always a staunch reader of fantasy and disliked the idea of sci-fi books (despite watching sci-fi tv shows) but as time goes on good fantasy books become hard to find. This caught my imagination immediately, a non-stop read.

Of course there's quite a few I've left out. Ian Irvine is also pretty good for a distraction.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

The way I see it I'm there until the bitter end.

I was the exact same way until I got a hundred or so pages into book 10..

i'm probably not going to get book 11

maybe the library if I can be bothered

xx

Originally posted by truls_rohk
and last, but certainly not least.... terry brooks! the shannara series is possibly the best series out there an the characters are all brilliant.... they make you want to be in the story yourself.... i mean how cool would it be to go adventuring with the likes of stee jans, walker boh, truls rohk, garet jax, quickening, grianne(ilse witch) and of course, the man himself.... allanon!

No $hit you're a brooks fan, with a username like truls_rohk. He was a badass shapeshifter though, and after Walker, the best character in the 'Jerle Shannara' series (of which the 2nd book, Antrax, was out of this world!!!).
Im reading Tad Williams 'Dragonbone chair' at the mo. Bit of a slow-burner, but its good reading, nonetheless.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

williams' "memory, sorrow & thorn" series starts off a bit slow alright, but once it gets going it is absaloutely amazing.. , bloody brilliant story with a load of great characters.

it used to be my fav. trilogy until I read philip pullmans "his dark materials" ..

ixoy

Again, gonna go plug Erickson's Malazan empire series, because there's not enough plugging of it here. I'm currently on Book 4, "House of Chains" right now (ten planned). It's fantastic and, unlike Jordan, seems actually plotted with Erickson knowing *exactly* where he is going with each book. It's also spread over multiple continents and has such great, interweaving plotlines that they're not publishing it in the US because they fear it's complicated for the Yanks

That and plug plug for: Janny Wurt's "The Wars of Light and Shadow" (6 books published so far, I'd say about 4-5 to go), and Robin Hobb's three trilogies.

Trojan

Agreed on the Jordan saga, getting a bit much now. Get on with it ffs.

Currently reading another Terry: Terry Goodkind. "The Sword of Truth" is the series name I think, I'm on the 4th book. Not bad once you get into it. The first book left something to be desired, but I can't give up on a fantasy series once I've started.

Al.

Plasticman

Wheel of Time rocks, but it's irritating waiting for the next book to come out, and book 10 was a bit of a letdown. A Song of Ice and Fire is excellent, all the intertwining storylines give an excelletn read. Sword of Truth is good too. The Riftwar/Serpentwar books are VERY addictive, but I don't have enough money to get Rage of a Demon King, which is annoying. The Wars of Light and Shadow is brilliant as well, as are Hobbs' books. The Dragonrider books by McCaffrey are good, bit the style can pale after a while. Her Talents and her Tower and the Hive series are much more readable, and the same with the Crystal Singer series. The Majipoor books are good too, tending more to the fantasy side of things than the sci-fi. The Star Wars books vary depending on the authors, but the Corellian trilogy and Vector Prime were genius. Green Mars is one of the best terraforming books I've ever read, because it handles the science brilliantly, portrays the characters well, and is in general a very engrossing read. I can't think of anything else at the moment so I'll just trail off now...

Mad Mike

I regret ever having read the Wheel of Time. I enjoyed it and bought the follow on foolishly believing that there would be four or five books in the series. It was only after I had read five or six and was totally hooked that I realised that this story is never ever going to end. Each new book (is it up to 10 now ?) just depresses me. Robert Jordan keeps introducing new characters and new plot twists . He never closes down even one story thread. I feel compelled to get each new book to see what happens next but I can hardly keep track of all the characters and subplots by this stage. At one book every two years or so I know that R. Jordan is going to die before he ever finishes this series.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

trojan.. prepare to be dissapointed with goodking..

his last two books were nothing except pro-america anti-world student grade philosophical rants

's a pity, cos it was such a good story too

superfly

i used to love David Eddings but all his newer stuff is just a rehash of the Belgariad with all the same characters with different names

i love the Terry Goodkind series and i am looking forward to the next book

i hated the LOTR books when i was younger and found them a struggle to get through

i read the first 3 books of the wheel of time and gave up

i love Gemmell, especially the Jerusalem Man books and i am now reading Stephen Kings Gunslinger series which is similar

Raymond E Feist is very good, also Weis and Hickman books are brilliant such as the Dragonlance and dark sword series

i always loved Terry Brooks, the Shannara books are brilliant, the knight of the word series was ok but i never liked the Landover series
i never read too much sci/fi but i would recommend Stephen Donaldsons The Gap series or David Gerrolds The War of the Chtorr series

moridin

The Gap series is totally excellent. Damn good books.

If going for a standalone Fantasy book I'd recommend one by Guy Gavriel Kay called Tigana, its' really good

ixoy

Originally posted by moridin
The Gap series is totally excellent. Damn good books.

Oh yeah - they are. Angus Thermopyle was a class character, as was Wardion Dios, Min Donner, and all the others. The plot twisted all over the place, and lots of enjoyable double-, triple-, and quadruple-bluffs. You were often left wondering just whose side someone was on... and yet it was nearly always satisfyingly resolved.

However noone here seems to like Donaldson so we'll have a hard time convincing them...

If going for a standalone Fantasy book I'd recommend one by Guy Gavriel Kay called Tigana, its' really good

Oh? It's good is it? Well sometime you can lend it to me then

superfly

well i didn't like the Thomas Covenant books by Donaldson but as i said the Gap is brilliant

moridin

Originally posted by ixoy
Oh yeah - they are. Angus Thermopyle was a class character, as was Wardion Dios, Min Donner, and all the others. The plot twisted all over the place, and lots of enjoyable double-, triple-, and quadruple-bluffs. You were often left wondering just whose side someone was on... and yet it was nearly always satisfyingly resolved.

However noone here seems to like Donaldson so we'll have a hard time convincing them...

I dunno why ppl dont' like him... sure he's a bit strange at times but the original Chronicles are fabulous books, and the characters kick ass. Actually there's another character to add to the list, Bannor the bloodguard, he r0cked!

Oh? It's good is it? Well sometime you can lend it to me then

Done.

jongore

Magician by R E Feist is my all time fave book. The series he did with Janny Wurts was very good too.(Daughter/Servent/Mistress of the Empire) Talon of the Solver Hawk was good and I'm lookng forward to the next book in that series.

The Belgariad by Eddings got me hooked on Fantasy books and although I enjoyed the later sieries (Mallorean, Elunium, Tamuli) they started to repeat the plots and characters in the earlier books.

Robin Hobbs stuff is pretty good and you cannot forget the original drangonlance books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

The Cronicles were O.K. with an original storyline but it was very hard to relate to or feel sorry for Donaldsons characters.

I read LOTR and the Hobbit and although I anknowledge Tolkien as the father of fantasy I do not consider him among the best authors, parts of LOTR became bogged down and the crappy poetry/songs where just annoting.

moridin

Janny Wurts is just brilliant, she rocks!

Just read Talon and it was pretty good... nothing too complicated but that's Feist's style... I am looking forward to the second though, hurrah swordfighting!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

l.e. modessitt's "recluce" saga is a very good series of books, the chronology is all over the gaff too. ie book 1 might take place in the future, book 2 takes place 300 years previously, book 3 takes place somewhere in the middle...

it's an interesting way of doing things, you get to meet new characters every book and you can see how the world they live in evolved and changed with time..

moridin

Sounds interesting enough... it's kinda like how Erikson is writing his stuff... characters that might be interlinked only very vaguely, and someone that was a very minor character in one book takes on a whole new significance in another. Just seeing how the whole story unfolds from the eyes of lots of different participants in the world rocks mightily

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

erikson? .. name the first book of his series if he's worth checkin out, I might do so soon...


also brooks' shannara series does indeed rock

a tad simplistic though, so I haven't read them in ages.. but still, when I was a kid I loved em

moridin

1. Gardens of the Moon
2. Deadhouse Gates
3. Memories of Ice
4. House of Chains

The 5th one is due out in December. He's banging them out at a great rate

I liked the Shannara series but thought it was very LOTR. Ended up getting sick of them as there were too many and they were all pretty similar really.