Fantasy Stories with Strong Compelling Characters.

[BAYLOR]

Joe Abercrombie's First Law series has a number of very compelling characters.

 

[nixie]

who?
as for recommendations, well every fantasy has to have strong carachets but okay
peter v brett demon cycle
patrick rothfuss kingkiller chronicles
brandon sanderson elantris
elseerian

Foul Ole Ron, a tramp from Terry Pratchett's Disc World.

 

[.matthew.]

peter v brett demon cycle

I'd say they were more detailed than strong. He had so much backstory for them all, but most was pretty irrelevant to the reader or just plain rapey. Other characters acted in the stupidest ways like the relationship the main character had with the girl he'd met once as a child, which apparently formed an unbreakable love and made him talk like a yokel... despite having been ridiculously well educated after he moved to the city.

 

[pogopossum]

You would have to be downwind of ole ron to understand how strong he was.
Quoting ispace.com,
"The Smell is the name of the odour that usually accompanies the beggar Foul Ole Ron wherever he goes. It is so horrible that most noses simply shut down in the presence of the Smell, though one could tell Ron is nearby simply by how their ear wax starts melting out of their ears. "

 

[BAYLOR]

Game of Thrones The Entire Stark Family

 

[Randy M.]

The Last Unicorn and The Innkeeper's Song by Peter Beagle
Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy

 

[BAYLOR]

Steven Erickson Malazan saga Tatersail the mage, Crupe and and many other I can think of.

 

[BAYLOR]

Silverlock By John Myers Myers Mr Shandon Silverlock . You start off not quite liking him but as the novel progresses and he goes from pone comic misadventure after another. You grow to like him and even root for him.

 

[Squido]

The King's Dark Tidings series by Kel Kade is really good (though the female characters are horribly written). Also, Blood Song by Anthony Ryan and the Riyria Revelations by Michael J Sillivan. Oh, and Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Legend of the First Empire seres by Michal Sullivan has a some really compelling characters .

 

[.matthew.]

The Legend of the First Empire seres by Michal Sullivan has a some really compelling characters .

I've got that but been reluctant to start reading it. I loved the lightheartedness of his first series more than any other part of it, and this new one seems to be more serious.

 

[Randy M.]

I've got that but been reluctant to start reading it. I loved the lightheartedness of his first series more than any other part of it, and this new one seems to be more serious.

Well, you know, no matter that a writer gains a readership through a lighthearted approach, the writer wants to be taken seriously because the opposite of serious isn't funny or amusing or wry but frivolous, and no one wants that even when appearing hellbent on attaining it.

(Well, you know, having just read a couple of pages of Dorothy Parker quotes has a bad effect so I'll subside until I get over it.)

 

[Montero]

Tanya Huff "The Silvered" - definitely carried along by the characters.

Urban Fantasy/Noir PI by Kim M Watt - Gobbelino London series. Told from the PoV of Gobbelino who is a PI and a cat - very useful for surveillance and nosing around in people's houses, being a cat. He is definitely a strong character.....

 

[Randy M.]

Looking this thread over again, I'd also suggest:
The Course of the Heart by M. John Harrison
The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke
The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan

Borderline fantasy:
The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (also borderline s.f.)
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (also borderline horror)

 

[BigBadBob141]

Probably mentioned these before but.
Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories.
Elric of Melnibone series by Michael Moorcock, love the name of his companion Moonglum!
Plus any of the Night's Watch books by the late great Sir Terry Pratchet, starting with "Guards!, Guards!" and " Men At Arms"!
All great stuff.

 

[BAYLOR]

I've got that but been reluctant to start reading it. I loved the lightheartedness of his first series more than any other part of it, and this new one seems to be more serious.

I haven't read anything else by him. But im up to book 3 and I find I quite a compelling read.

 

[BAYLOR]

I've got that but been reluctant to start reading it. I loved the lightheartedness of his first series more than any other part of it, and this new one seems to be more serious.

Im hallways though book 3 and , It terrific.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Darwaith books by Barbara Hambly

 

[Montero]

Second that. And all of Barbara Hambly's fantasy. Silicon Mage series, Starhawk, Dragonsbane (especially love John the laconic scholarly warrior and Jenny Waynest his other half and witch).
Rainbow Abyss is one I'm least keen on - must give it a re-read sometime, it is the only one I haven't re-read multiple times.

 

[BAYLOR]

Second that. And all of Barbara Hambly's fantasy. Silicon Mage series, Starhawk, Dragonsbane (especially love John the laconic scholarly warrior and Jenny Waynest his other half and witch).
Rainbow Abyss is one I'm least keen on - must give it a re-read sometime, it is the only one I haven't re-read multiple times.

Ive read silicon Mage too . Terrific stuff.