Fantasy Recommendations for the Unenlightened 2

[planetocean]

Need to do some more reading here.

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I've been through the thread, but haven't found what I was looking for. Can anyone recommend me anything VERY original? With unusual magic, different creatures or just innovative ideas and ways of writing fantasy.

I thought David Farland's The Sum of All Men was quite unique and original. It introduces the idea of 'endowments', which can be given or taken between people - for instance, one person may give another 'strength' and the first person becomes weak as a kitten while the second twice as strong. There is a lot to this concept which gets explored. Also, as opposed to your average fantasy book, the book takes place over the course of only a few days. I very much enjoyed it.

 

[Arkose]

by the way it's called The Night Angel Trilogy and i have just found his website, new book in 26 days! yey!!!

I really loved the Night Angel Trilogy. Read all three between December 31-Feb 1. (I have read 5 books since receiving my Nook for Christmas, I read maybe 5 books all of last year). The First book starting chapters are very graphic and was hard to swallow. The rest was smooth and couldn't put it down.

I just finished the first book of Brent Weeks Lightbringer series and it is also good. Nothing compared to Night Angel Trilogy but still a good read, but is more magic based. the book also has a couple of slow parts, but the details are nice. The people involved are very different from Night Angel characters which I was alittle worried would be too much like the Night Angel characters.

 

[Arkose]

I was wondering if anyone has read Tale of the Otori by Lian Hearn? I read the first two books but I can't remember if they where good. I'm thinking of starting from book 1 and seeing how they turn out again, but maybe someone here has read the whole series?

 

[GOLLUM]

I was wondering if anyone has read Tale of the Otori by Lian Hearn? I read the first two books but I can't remember if they where good. I'm thinking of starting from book 1 and seeing how they turn out again, but maybe someone here has read the whole series?

You rang?.... I have the entire series by Hearn. That is both the original Otori trilogy and the other 2 bopoks in the series, namely Heaven's Net Is Wide (prequel to the Otori trilogy) and Harsh Cry of the Heron (sequel to the Otori trilogy). I liked the orignal Otori trilogy the most. I thought they were very good and definitely that trilogy is worth reading. The only note of caution is that they are not pure mainstream fantasy. The fantasy element in the story is there but it is more subtle and often underlies the main stroy arc...so if you are after a book with lots of wizards, evles etc.. this isn't it and the stroy really doesn't require it anyway, the atmosphere, characters and setting (alternate Japanense-like feudal world) being so beautifully renderd by Hearn.

Hope that helps and welcome....

 

[Arkose]

You rang?.... I have the entire series by Hearn. That is both the original Otori trilogy and the other 2 bopoks in the series, namely Heaven's Net Is Wide (prequel to the Otori trilogy) and Harsh Cry of the Heron (sequel to the Otori trilogy). I liked the orignal Otori trilogy the most. I thought they were very good and definitely that trilogy is worth reading.

Hope that helps and welcome....

Thanks, Started to get bored. Should keep me busy for about a month . One good thing about riding the bus, is that it gives you a lot of reading time.

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks, Started to get bored. Should keep me busy for about a month . One good thing about riding the bus, is that it gives you a lot of reading time.

Actually, go back to my original post. I've added further relevant details for you.

Cheers.

P.S. I read on the train into work everyday or on the weekend when having a drink in an outside cafe etc.. with my mp3 player going. Sweet...

 

[eclectic_dragon0253]

T H White's Once and Future King, and Alice in Wonderland, both very good fantasy books

 

[eclectic_dragon0253]

Also I would recommend the first Hunger Games book, the second and third are a bit of a let down, but the first is epic

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

You can edit your posts for about 20 minutes after you post them, eclectic_dragon, so that you don't have to start a new one each time you think of something you want to add.

If you post two or three times in a row in too many different threads, it will look like you are trying to artificially boost your post count.

 

[AstrumMortis]

My two most favorite reads recently? Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Raventide by T. A. Miles.

I love the all around creepiness of Neverwhere. Richard Mayhew's a bit of a drab imo, but it's hard to beat Vandemar and Croup's... violent antics and the Marquis'... I don't even know what to describe what he does.

I know Neverwhere's old news for the UK so I'm not going to go deep into details, but it was new to me as of a few weeks ago and I loved it.


Second, Raventide by T. A. Miles just got my attention this morning, and I'm almost finished already. It's only available as an e-book on amazon, but the writing's exquisite, and the characters are full-fledged people. The main character's an historian, pulled into the dark secrets of the elite of his city that has him ending up racing for his life. Drayden's one of those 'unlikely to be put into this situation types,' but fantastically portrayed as are all the characters, and the mystery brings your mind in circles before the end. It's got a bit of a horror twist, too. It's a lovely read, anyone who wants should check it out should.


Cheers!

 

[darkfox]

Any Raymond E Feist book, but "Shadow of a Dark Queen" got me hooked.

Jennifer Fallon had six great books, though her two latest I don't like nearly as much.

 

[CyBeR]

Here's a question for you more read people: is the Malazan series of books, by Steven Erikson, any good?
I ran into it on BookDepository yesterday and it seemed quite interesting so I'd be curious if there's anyone that would recommend it.

 

[Heather Myst]

darkfox,

I loved Jennifer Fallon's Second Sons trilogy. it is one of my all time favorites,

CyBeR,

I would not recommend the Malazan series but I do know several people who rate it as their favorite series. You might want to give it a try.

I just finished Brent Weeks The Black Prism and I thought it was very good.

 

[SciGeek]

I was originally enlisted into the fantasy fiction fold by the Dragonlance books, Margaret Weis & Tracey Hickman writing a lot of those. They are still good books to read now, especially for the younger members as there isn't any major language or big issues covered. The Darksword Trilogy by Hickman & Weiss again is excellent, set in a world where everyone has magic & being born without magic is the ultimate sin.
I have tried my hardest to find a Simon R Green thread but haven't found one so if there is one & i'm posting in the worng spot please point me in the right direction. He has so far written 3 major series of books, with a couple of other shorter series totalling 30+ books to date. The Deathstalker series was the first of his I read & is an about Owen Daethstalker, outlawed by the evil Empress & goes through 8 books chronicling his escape from the Empire. (Don't want to give too much away incase you try them)
His Nightside series is probably my favourite, John Taylor is a detective in the Nightside, which exists in a dimension just outside of London & it is constantly 3am & every vice goes. Any fans of Jim Butcher would probably like these , they are much shorter than the Deathstalker books an effortless read.
His other main series is the Secret Histories books, loosely based on a James Bond theme. Eddie Drood being the main protagonist, a member of the uber powerful Drood family who have secretly been disarming supernatural plots & controlling world events for centuries.
Sorry to go on but as you can tell i really like Simon Green & was genuinely surprised that he didn't have his own slot in the 'Authors' thread given how much many books he has.

 

[GOLLUM]

Here's a question for you more read people: is the Malazan series of books, by Steven Erikson, any good?
I ran into it on BookDepository yesterday and it seemed quite interesting so I'd be curious if there's anyone that would recommend it.

For what it is worth it is the best EPIC fantasy series I've ever come across. The plot is complex with many characters, groups, politics and some of the most inspired descriptions of military battle I've come across.

I'm obviously a devotee but there's those members who favour Martin's Song Of Ice and Fire series, another marvelous series and I consider Martin to be a better writer than Erikson but I think Erikson has the richer story to tell.

The first book Gardens Of The Moon ends with a machine gun finish and book 3 Memories Of Ice is still a favourite, being in many people's top ten fantasy lists.

You'll feel a little lost with Book 1 until towards the end of the novel but things do begin to make more sense in books 2 and 3. By the end of book 3 I felt I had a reasonable handle on things in term of understanding the various components of Erikson's imagined world. The quality of Book 1 is good but that increases fairly dramatically with books 2 and 3 and the standard is pretty strong throughout this 10 book series.

I also like the way in which Erikson doesn't tend to telegraph a lot of what is about to occur, so in many cases the twists are quite surprising.

There are also some wittily drawn characters that add a nice injection of humour to the storyline.

It's a daunting series to begin with but well worth the rewards in my opinion anyway.

All you can really do I suppose is to give it a go....

 

[CyBeR]

Thank you Heather Myst and GOLLUM. With such recommendations I think it would be a safe bet to throw my money at the first book of the series to try it on for size. I've just ordered myself the first Song of fire and ice book so it may be a bit of time before I order this one as well (strapped for cash).

 

[Heather Myst]

CyBeR,

Do yourself a favor and start saving some more cash because the first thing you are going to want to do after you finish the first Song of Ice and Fire book is to purchase the next four books. Enjoy!

 

[CyBeR]

I'm not worried about that hehe. After all, I've finished reading Harry Potter way before I managed to buy the last books in the series. Same for Terry Pratchett, I've read some books of his that I haven't yet acquired. (Yes, I know it's frowned upon...but I can't really manage any other way...and spending 15 euro on a book that I may hate, well...that hurts my student budget a lot).

 

[GOLLUM]

Just make sure you don't forget about Malazan in the process....

Song of Ice and Fire is very good too though, so I'm sure you'll enjoy that. Its' probably not quite as hard to follow as the Malazan series, which is possibly something further in its favour.

Whilst world building is not a necessary pre-requisite for great fiction as has been previously pointed out on these forums, if strongly developed to the point of seeming to be wholly believable it certainly can add a level of gravitas to a series. To this end the world building Erikson employs adds another layer of texture to the Malazan saga to the extent it becomes another living breathing character doing much to complement the main story arcs and dramatis personae featured in the novels. As a gauge it is second only in my experience to what Tolkien achieved with Middle Earth in the field of speculative fiction.

It will be interesting to read your comments on this series when you get the chance to read it.