Tolkien's history (Silmarillion thru LoTR) is the best...
I am a Wheel of Time fan--Jordan's use of prophecy is well-done...his use of time to distort history is cool, as well...
the Thieve's World series--Shadowspawn, anyone? selling an immortal to a vivisectionist? as each short-story in a book is written by a different author, there is the occasional author i don't care for, but...
the Eternal Mercenary series by Barry Sadler--while this is real-world & quasi-historical, i find a lot of inspiration in these books & reread them regularly...his portrayal of the life of a mercenary at different eras of world history is well-researched...& Sadler was a merc, so he was writing of that which he knew well...
Le Morte d'Arthur--while not a series, it is so seminal i end up finding inspiration in it every time i read it... & if you get a good translation, the language is wonderful...
the first few Gor books by John Norman, before the books become dissertations on male-dominance
i could go on (not that i'm a bookworm or anything) & i'm sure i am forgetting a series i read once & loved (Xanth) but couldn't get into for a second read, but a line must be drawn @ some point...
1.) John Marco (Eyes of God Trilogy, which is my favorite of all time in any genre), also (Tyrants and Kings Trilogy, which is also very good) 2.) R. A. Salvatore (Drizzt books) 3.) Terry Goodkind (Sword of Truth series)
John Marco is definitly my favorite author. R. A. Salvatore and Terry Goodkind are essentially tied for second. Both started out very good, but their later books became somewhat repetitive. Another favorite author of mine is Eric Flint, but he writes about time travel, so not high fantasy, but still a related concept.
John Marco and Terry Goodkind both write books that have very intricate plots and complexities in the characters that many other book series I have read do not have. R.A. Salvatore writes well too, but his books are often much shorter and as a result don't have the time for the stories to become as complicated and multi-layered as they are with the other authors. With Terry Goodkind, I actually think his books get progressively better for a while, but then they sort of plateau and the last three weren't as good. My favorite character, Cara, didn't even really get introduced until book 3.
Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is amazing. It starts a little slow; if you read fantasy, you'll guess some of the major plot points right away, but read on. Pick up the second book, and have the others handy. His books are like crack. The more you have, the more you want.
I like Brent Weeks too. I've read his Night Angel trilogy and his new-to-paperback one The Black Prism. He's good at telling complicated stories in engaging ways, and he's good at worldbuilding. Sometimes, though, his characters do incredibly stupid, face-palming things that make no damn sense as a plot point just (it seems) so that they can undo it later or create some big misunderstanding that'll lead to more stupidity in the future.
Jacqueline Carey is good fun. Her first three books, Kushiel's Dart, Avatar, and Chosen, (I think) are brilliant. The second three about Imriel aren't quite as good. The Moirin trilogy next was enjoyable. She's got a new one out, something about the fey, I think, but I haven't read it yet.
I also liked the Mercedes Lackey/Andre Norton collaboration Elvenbane and it's sequels. It seemed like that was more than a three book story, but didn't one of the authors pass away?
Oh, and there's a newer series...the main character is Raine Benares, and they're written by Lisa Shearin. They're brain candy, but they're fun. The romance angle is played up a touch too much for a cynic like me, but they're cute, and my pancreas hasn't exploded yet. Also, I like the sarcastic tone in the books, and Raine's cousin Phelan is one of my favorite characters ever.
H.P. Lovecraft - the Edgar Allan Poe of the 20th century.
High (dark) fantasy, yes. His stories are sword-and-sorcery without the sword, and with plenty of forbidden knowledge leading to madness thrown in. Most D&D narratives about macabre secrets, dark gods, the Underdark (along with its denizens), and evil magic lead back to Lovecraft, imo.
I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned my namesake of Eddings' "The Belgariad".
Has anyone mentnioned Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time"?
Jordan gave me my "al" prefix that I use in a lot of made-up character names to mean "of", as in "al Thor". Or, "al Oghma", or "al Mystra", or what have you. And, of course, that's all based on French, as for "a le", which only exists as "au,",and "a la".
Jordan also gave me my a lot of ideas about "the Wheel", and "Aes Sedai", (did anyone *not* get the joke in the NPC Project from Dynaheir about the "Amyrlyn Seat"?)
H.P. Lovecraft - the Edgar Allan Poe of the 20th century.
High (dark) fantasy, yes. His stories are sword-and-sorcery without the sword, and with plenty of forbidden knowledge leading to madness thrown in. Most D&D narratives about macabre secrets, dark gods, the Underdark (along with its denizens), and evil magic lead back to Lovecraft, imo.
Lovecraft feels like such a guilty pleasure, it's like he had a special dictionary with cyclopean as the first word.
Authors - E. R. Eddison, Edmund Spenser, T. H. White, Wu Cheng'en, Niel Gaiman, Mervyn Peake, Edward Fitzgerald, Roger Zelazney, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gardener, G. K. Chesterton, John Milton...and of course Tolkien.
Worlds - Gramarye, Gormenghast, The World of Darkness, Mythic Europe, Mesopotamia as depicted in The Epic of Gilgamesh...and of course Middle Earth.
@belgarathmth I'm pretty sure Jordan stole "al" from Arabic. In that language it's the definite article, "the."
Joe Abercrombie (The Blade itself etc.) - though perhaps "low, bloody, realistic fanstasy" would be a better description that high fantasy)
Patrick Rothus - The Name of the Wind etc. - simply awesome
Scott Lynch - The Lies of Locke Lamora etc.
Katherine Kerr - Great celtic-tinged fantasy
Robin Hobb - Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Traders Trilogy, the Tawny Man Trilogy were all great. Hated the Soldier Son trilogy, which was simply depressing, though
Unfortunately there's also a vast amount of dross fantasy fiction out there too, amongst the gems
J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen Andrzej Sapkowski - Witcher / Hussite Trilogy George R. R. Martin - Song of Ice and Fire
Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen Guy Gavriel Kay - The Fionavar Tapestry, The Sarantine Mosaic, Tigana (all his books are great IMO) Barbara Hambly - The Windrose Chronicles, The Darwath series, Sun Wolf and Starhawk, Raven Sisters Robert Lynn Asprin - The Thieve's World series Lois Mcmaster Bujold - The Chalion series Neil Gaiman John M. Ford - The Dragon Waiting
@Oxford_Guy I've read LotR, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, & all of the errata surrounding Prof. Tolkien's work; all have been read multiple times... that being said, I've probably failed at getting through the Silmarillion more than I've succeeded...I tend to pick it up to read individual parts of it (Beren & Luthien; Iluvatar creating the world); it's been years since I've read the whole thing sequentially...
Comments
I am a Wheel of Time fan--Jordan's use of prophecy is well-done...his use of time to distort history is cool, as well...
the Thieve's World series--Shadowspawn, anyone? selling an immortal to a vivisectionist? as each short-story in a book is written by a different author, there is the occasional author i don't care for, but...
the Eternal Mercenary series by Barry Sadler--while this is real-world & quasi-historical, i find a lot of inspiration in these books & reread them regularly...his portrayal of the life of a mercenary at different eras of world history is well-researched...& Sadler was a merc, so he was writing of that which he knew well...
Le Morte d'Arthur--while not a series, it is so seminal i end up finding inspiration in it every time i read it...
& if you get a good translation, the language is wonderful...
the first few Gor books by John Norman, before the books become dissertations on male-dominance
i could go on (not that i'm a bookworm or anything) & i'm sure i am forgetting a series i read once & loved (Xanth) but couldn't get into for a second read, but a line must be drawn @ some point...
2.) R. A. Salvatore (Drizzt books)
3.) Terry Goodkind (Sword of Truth series)
John Marco is definitly my favorite author. R. A. Salvatore and Terry Goodkind are essentially tied for second. Both started out very good, but their later books became somewhat repetitive. Another favorite author of mine is Eric Flint, but he writes about time travel, so not high fantasy, but still a related concept.
John Marco and Terry Goodkind both write books that have very intricate plots and complexities in the characters that many other book series I have read do not have. R.A. Salvatore writes well too, but his books are often much shorter and as a result don't have the time for the stories to become as complicated and multi-layered as they are with the other authors. With Terry Goodkind, I actually think his books get progressively better for a while, but then they sort of plateau and the last three weren't as good. My favorite character, Cara, didn't even really get introduced until book 3.
I like Brent Weeks too. I've read his Night Angel trilogy and his new-to-paperback one The Black Prism. He's good at telling complicated stories in engaging ways, and he's good at worldbuilding. Sometimes, though, his characters do incredibly stupid, face-palming things that make no damn sense as a plot point just (it seems) so that they can undo it later or create some big misunderstanding that'll lead to more stupidity in the future.
Jacqueline Carey is good fun. Her first three books, Kushiel's Dart, Avatar, and Chosen, (I think) are brilliant. The second three about Imriel aren't quite as good. The Moirin trilogy next was enjoyable. She's got a new one out, something about the fey, I think, but I haven't read it yet.
I also liked the Mercedes Lackey/Andre Norton collaboration Elvenbane and it's sequels. It seemed like that was more than a three book story, but didn't one of the authors pass away?
Oh, and there's a newer series...the main character is Raine Benares, and they're written by Lisa Shearin. They're brain candy, but they're fun. The romance angle is played up a touch too much for a cynic like me, but they're cute, and my pancreas hasn't exploded yet. Also, I like the sarcastic tone in the books, and Raine's cousin Phelan is one of my favorite characters ever.
High (dark) fantasy, yes. His stories are sword-and-sorcery without the sword, and with plenty of forbidden knowledge leading to madness thrown in. Most D&D narratives about macabre secrets, dark gods, the Underdark (along with its denizens), and evil magic lead back to Lovecraft, imo.
Has anyone mentnioned Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time"?
Jordan gave me my "al" prefix that I use in a lot of made-up character names to mean "of", as in "al Thor". Or, "al Oghma", or "al Mystra", or what have you. And, of course, that's all based on French, as for "a le", which only exists as "au,",and "a la".
Jordan also gave me my a lot of ideas about "the Wheel", and "Aes Sedai", (did anyone *not* get the joke in the NPC Project from Dynaheir about the "Amyrlyn Seat"?)
World - Myth Adventures
And with "eldritch" and "antiquarian" thrown in the definitions every so often for good measure.
Worlds - Gramarye, Gormenghast, The World of Darkness, Mythic Europe, Mesopotamia as depicted in The Epic of Gilgamesh...and of course Middle Earth.
@belgarathmth I'm pretty sure Jordan stole "al" from Arabic. In that language it's the definite article, "the."
Patrick Rothus - The Name of the Wind etc. - simply awesome
Scott Lynch - The Lies of Locke Lamora etc.
Katherine Kerr - Great celtic-tinged fantasy
Robin Hobb - Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Traders Trilogy, the Tawny Man Trilogy were all great. Hated the Soldier Son trilogy, which was simply depressing, though
Unfortunately there's also a vast amount of dross fantasy fiction out there too, amongst the gems
Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen
Andrzej Sapkowski - Witcher / Hussite Trilogy
George R. R. Martin - Song of Ice and Fire
Guy Gavriel Kay - The Fionavar Tapestry, The Sarantine Mosaic, Tigana (all his books are great IMO)
Barbara Hambly - The Windrose Chronicles, The Darwath series, Sun Wolf and Starhawk, Raven Sisters
Robert Lynn Asprin - The Thieve's World series
Lois Mcmaster Bujold - The Chalion series
Neil Gaiman
John M. Ford - The Dragon Waiting
I've read LotR, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, & all of the errata surrounding Prof. Tolkien's work; all have been read multiple times...
that being said, I've probably failed at getting through the Silmarillion more than I've succeeded...I tend to pick it up to read individual parts of it (Beren & Luthien; Iluvatar creating the world); it's been years since I've read the whole thing sequentially...