Any fantasy recommendations?

[dracodoc]

I used to try new fantasy novels by the list "The Best of the Best of Fantasy Literature", because it have detailed introductions for every book it mentioned. But many of them didn't keep me reading after several pages...maybe I was just not patient...

So I'm here to ask your guys, can you give some recommendation based on my preference?
My all time favorite are Earthsea series. I also like American Gods, Tad Williams. I read the first 4 volumes of TOR then read the plot of rest on wiki... I don't like too much A Song of Ice and Fire too...

Thanks!

[tech_au]

A couple of recent fantasy ebooks that I have enjoyed recently are His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik currently offered as a freebie by random house on various ebook stores and suvudu.com and I am currently recently reading Spirit Gate by Kate Elliot( a previous Tor freebie but may not be free anymore) which is quite good so far

[astra]

Originally Posted by dracodoc

I used to try new fantasy novels by the list "The Best of the Best of Fantasy Literature", because it have detailed introductions for every book it mentioned. But many of them didn't keep me reading after several pages...maybe I was just not patient...

So I'm here to ask your guys, can you give some recommendation based on my preference?
My all time favorite are Earthsea series. I also like American Gods, Tad Williams. I read the first 4 volumes of TOR then read the plot of rest on wiki... I don't like too much A Song of Ice and Fire too...

Thanks!

Try Black Company by Glen Cook.
10 of 300-400 pages books in the series.

[HarryT]

Presumably you've read "The Lord of the Rings"? The original fantasy "classic", and still hard to beat.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Presumably you've read "The Lord of the Rings"? The original fantasy "classic", and still hard to beat.

But not in ebook form (legally).

[HarryT]

Good point. Sorry, I forgot that! It is, however, a "must read" (IMHO) even on paper.

[Over]

Originally Posted by dracodoc

I used to try new fantasy novels by the list "The Best of the Best of Fantasy Literature", because it have detailed introductions for every book it mentioned. But many of them didn't keep me reading after several pages...maybe I was just not patient...

So I'm here to ask your guys, can you give some recommendation based on my preference?
My all time favorite are Earthsea series. I also like American Gods, Tad Williams. I read the first 4 volumes of TOR then read the plot of rest on wiki... I don't like too much A Song of Ice and Fire too...

Thanks!

Try Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson.

Or if you want a standalone fantasy novel, try Elantris, by the same author.

[Mrgauth]

Orcs by Stan Nicholls. Excellent. Three books in one volume. Just finished it and loved it. Told with the Orcs being the protagonists and the humans being the antagonists.

[Peadar Ó Guilín]

Originally Posted by dracodoc

I used to try new fantasy novels by the list "The Best of the Best of Fantasy Literature", because it have detailed introductions for every book it mentioned. But many of them didn't keep me reading after several pages...maybe I was just not patient...

So I'm here to ask your guys, can you give some recommendation based on my preference?
My all time favorite are Earthsea series. I also like American Gods, Tad Williams. I read the first 4 volumes of TOR then read the plot of rest on wiki... I don't like too much A Song of Ice and Fire too...

Thanks!

Have you given Robin Hobb's "Farseer" trilogy a try?

[wayspooled]

Originally Posted by dracodoc

So I'm here to ask your guys, can you give some recommendation based on my preference?
My all time favorite are Earthsea series. I also like American Gods, Tad Williams. I read the first 4 volumes of TOR then read the plot of rest on wiki... I don't like too much A Song of Ice and Fire too...

Thanks!

Which Tad Williams series? They're rather different. Shadowmarch, Otherland or Memory, Sorrow & Thorn? I'm a big fan of MS&T, not so much Otherland and haven't read Shadowmarch. Trying to find the gap between Earthsea and American Gods, heh.. That's a pretty big gap!

[Elsi]

I enjoyed Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon. It's the first of her Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy. This first book is free from the Baen library at http://www.baen.com/library/ and if you enjoy it, you can buy the trilogy for $6.00. Or, you can pick it up along with 5 other novels for $15.00 if you buy the October 2003 Webscription bundle.

[dracodoc]

Thanks tech_au, astra,Over,Mrgauth,Elsi, I will check them out.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Presumably you've read "The Lord of the Rings"? The original fantasy "classic", and still hard to beat.

Yes I read them long time before. But they are not my favorite... I must be picky, because I also not a fan of "The Chronicles of Narnia".

@Peadar Ó Guilín
I did read Farseer before, but stopped at the second volume.

@wayspooled
I like Memory, Sorrow & Thorn very much, although it is a little slow in pace. I didn't finish Shadowmarch... American Gods actually is not my style, but the plot is great. wayspooled, can you recommend some book similar to MS&T? I assume your taste is not far from mine

I must explain why I stopped reading on so many classics. You may already find out, English is not my native language, so it's not easy to continue if I don't like some book after 20 pages. And because most of them came from library, I have no pressure to stop reading. We have a saying in Chinese "book can only be read if borrowed", or should we say bought?

[BinaryTB]

If you liked American Gods, you might like Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman as well. It's a lot lighter than American Gods though and less of an epic story, but I really enjoyed it. Magic and Gods and all that.

[Sparrow]

'Magician' Raymond E. Feist

[wayspooled]

Originally Posted by dracodoc

@wayspooled
I like Memory, Sorrow & Thorn very much, although it is a little slow in pace. I didn't finish Shadowmarch... American Gods actually is not my style, but the plot is great. wayspooled, can you recommend some book similar to MS&T? I assume your taste is not far from mine

I must explain why I stopped reading on so many classics. You may already find out, English is not my native language, so it's not easy to continue if I don't like some book after 20 pages. And because most of them came from library, I have no pressure to stop reading. We have a saying in Chinese "book can only be read if borrowed", or should we say bought?

I understand. I try to get to 50 pages before bailing if it's just slow. So many authors write books with slow beginnings purposely I think. heh, It took me 2 starts and then I had to read 1 1/2 books of Stephen Donaldson's 5 books sci/fi series The Gap before I started enjoying it - he kind of tries to shock you at the beginning of his books, and the series turned out to be at the end, one of the best sci/fi epics I'd ever read. People changed, things were not as they'd appeared. I never recommend it because I know most people wouldn't do that and frankly the first book is pretty offensive at first.

Anyway - Happy reading I wish I'd never read all of these so that I'd have the pleasure of reading them for the first time again. And I'm sorry, I don't know which of these are in ebook form. I have them all in ebook myself but it's because they're classics and I scanned them all long ago myself.

The Riftwar Saga series by Raymond E. Feist` which begins with "Magician" (published in 2 pts in US as Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Sorcerer) as someone also just recommended. 3 (or 4) books

The Belgariad by David Eddings which begins with "Pawn of Prophecy" 5 books.

The Dragonlance Chronicles by Weis & Hickman which begins with "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" 3 books.

The Godwars trilogy by Angus Wells beginning with "Forbidden Magic". 3 books.

A Man Of His Word series by Dave Duncan beginning with "Magic Casement" 4 books.

The Seventh Sword trilogy by Dave Duncan beginning with "The Reluctant Swordsman" 3 books.

Wizardry series by Diane Duane beginning with "So You Want To Be A Wizard" 5-6 books, I forget

Sword Dancer series by Jennifer Roberson beginning with "Sword Dancer" 6 books.

Ethshar Chronicles by Lawrence Watt-Evans beginning with "The Misenchanted Sword" 9? books.

The Iron Tower trilogy by Dennis L. McKiernan beginning with "The Dark Tide" 3 books.

---
You may also like -

"Guards! Guards!" or "The Wee Free Men" by Terry Pratchett

Rhapsody: Child of Blood by Elizabeth Haydon

Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan beginning with "The Eye of The World" 11 books.

The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind beginning with "Wizard's First Rule"

Riddlemaster of Hed by Patricia McKillip

Myth Series by Robert Asprin beginning with "Another Fine Myth" many books. I know the first 3 or 4 are excellent.

Icewind Dale and The Dark Elf trilogies by R. A. Salvatore

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Kate Elliot's Crown of Stars series beginning with King's Dragon.