Best Fantasy Books of All Time

[WillAdams]

I'll agree that _Kindred_ should be on the list --- but because _A Wizard of Earthsea_ predates it (by over a decade), feel that it merits being on the list as well.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Ha! The Lathe of Heaven is the first of her books I've read, and I loved it.

Then you'll like the Left Hand of Darkness far far more (SF). Many of her SF are in the "Hanish" storyverse.
There is a decent illustrated (works on 6" eink) Earthsea ebook omnibus which has all the novels and all the separately publish short stories.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

I'll agree that _Kindred_ should be on the list --- but because _A Wizard of Earthsea_ predates it (by over a decade), feel that it merits being on the list as well.

The date of a book is irrelevant as to how good or not it is. It is good because it's good. A Wizard of Earthsea doesn't belong on the list because it's not good enough.

I'm waiting for the new TV version of Kindred to come to Disney+.

[WillAdams]

Being first is worth something, and I would argue that it was done quite well, and is more than good enough:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...orge-rr-martin

https://deedispeaking.com/book-revie...rd-of-earthsea

>_A Wizard of Earthsea_ is a classic fantasy novel for a reason. It’s exciting, has great world-building, and teaches a great overarching lesson.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Being first is worth something, and I would argue that it was done quite well, and is more than good enough:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...orge-rr-martin

https://deedispeaking.com/book-revie...rd-of-earthsea

>_A Wizard of Earthsea_ is a classic fantasy novel for a reason. It’s exciting, has great world-building, and teaches a great overarching lesson.

This is an excellent snippet of a review that sums things up very well.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/182876241

This book could be a case study in how not to write a fantasy novel. Start with poorly-drawn characters the reader will feel indifferent about. Add a world that isn't very interesting. Complete it by having the characters do next to nothing of significance. Then, when the climactic battle comes the reader has nothing invested in the outcome.

[WillAdams]

Does it not trip your irony meter that you have cherry-picked one review from a site which overwhelmingly rates the book positively?

4.28 stars (which is almost exactly the same rating as _Kindred_ at 4.29)

Unfortunately, the person's bookshelf only has 19 books on it, so it's hard to get a sense of what they actually like, though I find some ratings inexplicable, and completely disagree w/ others, so all that I get from this specific review is that tastes differ.

My contention is that the book in question was groundbreaking in terms of content and context when it was written, and that it is well-regarded enough by a sufficiently large quantity of people that it merits inclusion in a list of classics. A review average essentially the same as the later, and very specific in terms of content/message novel which you put forward would seem to support regarding it as a classic.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm waiting for the new TV version of Kindred to come to Disney+.

Careful what you wish for. Few TV or film adaptations are as good as the book.
Besides BGI is better thant CGI

https://slate.com/culture/2004/12/ur...-earthsea.html

The Peter Jackson Hobbit films and Amazon LOTR prequel are different kinds of travesties of the books.

Compare real Bambi book with Disney. I enjoyed Disney Jungle Book as a kid, but it's only a passing connection to the book.
Disney's Sleeping Beauty Animation is obnoxious. The Good fairies turned into those stupid twee things and the 100 years skipped?

Disney is a serial wrecker of culture and often doesn't even pay for it. It may seem entertaining if you are 5 to 10 yo and don't know the books.

[crossi]

I would include Louise Cooper's Time's Master and Chaos Gate Trilogies. Unfortunately, the only one available as an ebook is the third book of the Time's Master series.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by Quoth

There is a decent illustrated (works on 6" eink) Earthsea ebook omnibus which has all the novels and all the separately publish short stories.

A Wizard of Earthsea is on sale for $2 on the Kobo store right now, so I bought that. I'd rather have the plain book than an illustrated edition, as the whole point of reading is to use your imagination, IMO. I don't really want some random artist telling me what he thinks the events look like to him.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

A Wizard of Earthsea is on sale for $2 on the Kobo store right now, so I bought that. I'd rather have the plain book than an illustrated edition, as the whole point of reading is to use your imagination, IMO. I don't really want some random artist telling me what he thinks the events look like to him.

Ah, but they aren't like that and you can ignore them (or delete). The point is that it has all the stories, not just the novels ( 2 or 3 original + whatever later, I forget). It's on offer occasionally.

I too think illustrations in actual novels (not Rupert Annuals, graphic novels, comics or kids' picture books) for anyone over about 7 are a usually a waste of space.

[JSWolf]

I've seen movies at Rotten Tomatoes where the reviewers and the viewers have very different views of a movie.

I feel that reading Le Guin's work is like taking a sledge hammer to your head.

[WillAdams]

Tastes differ, and folks have different perceptions of different versions.

crossi wrote:

>I would include Louise Cooper's Time's Master and Chaos Gate Trilogies. Unfortunately, the only one available as an ebook is the third book of the Time's Master series.

I didn't find those that memorable when I read them on Michael Moorcock's recommendation (and certainly at least one novel of his should be on this list) --- what did you find notable in them?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've seen movies at Rotten Tomatoes where the reviewers and the viewers have very different views of a movie.

I feel that reading Le Guin's work is like taking a sledge hammer to your head.

Read something else!

Reviewer/critics of books, media hype of books, casual readers of books and avid readers of books mostly differ in viewpoint too. More so than with movies.

[crossi]

I liked the different take on order and chaos, good and evil.

[WillAdams]

It was much the same as Michael Moorcock had already looked at in his books, unless I missed something.