Fantasy Books | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Fantasy Books

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I am and always will be a Tolkienite. (And still peeved at Peter Jackson for ruining Elrond's character).

Also very into the Old Kingdom Trilogy by Garth Nix (I think in North America it's called The Abhorsen Trilogy).
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone -- much appreciated! My crystal ball is giving me an image of a bookstore trip in the very near future...strange how that happened...
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
I am and always will be a Tolkienite. (And still peeved at Peter Jackson for ruining Elrond's character).

Also very into the Old Kingdom Trilogy by Garth Nix (I think in North America it's called The Abhorsen Trilogy).

I've read "Sabriel" so far - and it was indeed brilliant. I think he's had a new one out recently - a prequel - "Clariel"?
 

Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
I've read "Sabriel" so far - and it was indeed brilliant. I think he's had a new one out recently - a prequel - "Clariel"?
I just finished Sabriel a few days ago. Certainly one of the better books I've read recently. :) I have the sequel on request from the library right now.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I've read "Sabriel" so far - and it was indeed brilliant. I think he's had a new one out recently - a prequel - "Clariel"?

I just finished Sabriel a few days ago. Certainly one of the better books I've read recently. :) I have the sequel on request from the library right now.

Yes, Clariel recently came out (it's set a few hundred years before Sabriel). I was lucky enough to find all four books with the original three re-printed with new artwork in a store recently, and bought all four. (Weaknesses, this is one of them). I keep coming back to Lirael and Abhorsen - I think Abhorsen was possibly the best book of the three, even if shorter. And of course the novella "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case" but you can't buy that separately, which is a bummer.

Apparently he is also working on another book in the series, set after the events of Abhorsen. I'm pretty keen for that one. He hasn't said how long after but he's said it's going to have the main characters from the series in it, so I'm really excited! :yay:
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Anyone else like Diana Wynne Jones?

I particularly liked Howl's Movng Castle, Enchanted Glass, and the books in the Dalemark series.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Anyone else like Diana Wynne Jones?

I particularly liked Howl's Movng Castle, Enchanted Glass, and the books in the Dalemark series.

I do (of course :) - you probably remember, Doris, when we talked about it with Olympia). "Howl's Moving Castle" I adore, of course - also "The Lives of Christopher Chant" and "Charmed Life". "Fire and Hemlock" is great also; "Archer's Goon", "The Ogre Downstairs"... "The Dark Lord of Derkholm" and its sequel "The Year of the Griffin"... and the last one I read "The Time of the Ghost", was quite... creepy... but not one's "conventional" ghost story... Actually, I haven't read anything by her that I have not loved. :)
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Other than my very dear Diane Wynne Jones and Ursula K. LeGuin (Earthsea) my favorite fantasy writers are Charles de Lint (tough edged Canadian urban fantasy), Neil Gaiman (Anansi Boys!), Patricia McKillip (especially the Riddlemaster trilogy), and Patricia Briggs before she discovered the money to be made in cranking out werewolf novels (Dragon's Blood and Dragon's Bones. Raven's Strike and Raven's Shadow.

I also like Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, a husband and wife team who both write fantasy; sometimes writing together and sometimes separately. I particularly liked Sunshine, The Blue Sword, and The Hero and the Crown by McKinley and The Ropemaker and Angel Isle by Dickinson.
 
Last edited:

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
I grew up reading Terry Pratchett. I still love his books until now.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is just great. I listen to them as audiobooks and I always do my best illustrating while listening to his stories.

For more 'serious' Fantasy, the Fortress in the Eye of Time By C. J. Cherryh is one of my favorites. Some of my friends say it's dead boring, but somehow it struck a chord with me and I have read it several times.

Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were my first favorite fantasy authors.
There are so many more books that I like.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is just great. I listen to them as audiobooks and I always do my best illustrating while listening to his stories.

For more 'serious' Fantasy, the Fortress in the Eye of Time By C. J. Cherryh is one of my favorites. Some of my friends say it's dead boring, but somehow it struck a chord with me and I have read it several times.

Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were my first favorite fantasy authors.
There are so many more books that I like.

Yes! to "Fortress in the Eye of Time" - I didn't find it boring at all. I was slightly concerned at the beginning of the book, when the main character, Tristan, appears with no memory - I was afraid that that would equal no personality. But that was not how it turned out at all! I loved him...

Oh, which reminds me of "The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold - highly recommended, as well.

I forget if I've said that I love Terry Pratchett or not? But I do. My favourite is "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" - but then the amazing Maurice is a cat, so it would be. :) My second favourite is probably "The Wee Free Men" - Tiffany Aching is a lovely heroine! But yes, I love the adult books as well. (The main difference between his adult and MG/YA stuff seems to be, really, that the latter has chapters... )
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Has anyone else here like Nina Kiriki Hoffman? I particularly liked The Thread That Binds The Bones, The Silent Strength of Stones, and Spirits That Walk in Shadow. Her Chapel Hollow familiy members have various paranormal gifts. Some positive, but some , frankly, are bad gifts.

If you are an old time fantasy buff, her world may remind you of Zenna Henderson's Pilgrimage: The Book of the People.
 

pitterpatter

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
I haven't seen anyone mention Tamora Pierce yet - she was my favourite Fantasy author growing up, and I still adore her books! All of her stuff is great, I particularly recommend the Tricksters series - it's very well written and has all of the elements of a great fantasy. :)
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Tricksters was very good! I also liked her books about a young female police officer, the Beka Cooper series.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I just finished A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, in her All Souls trilogy and am working my way through.book 2. If you like both fantasy and historical fiction, this series is a great combination of the two.

Harkness is a professor of European History and History of Science at USC, and the books draw on both her specialities. The only books I have read that are vaguely like these are Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night (book 1)and the Lymond Chronicles of Dorothy Dunnett (book 2) but with witches and vampires added to the mix.
 

Ophelia

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 6, 2013
I just finished Sabriel a few days ago. Certainly one of the better books I've read recently. :) I have the sequel on request from the library right now.

Sabriel is amazing. Lirael (the sequel) is more of a stepping stone and slower paced. Abhorsen (the final in the trilogy) is STUPENDOUS. Blows Sabriel out of the water.

I would recommend Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. Very dark with a hint of erotica.
 

guenever

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 8, 2013
A recent fantasy series that I've enjoyed is Cashore's Graceling Realm (Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue). Something about the pacing reminded me of Tamora Pierce's early work-- or more accurately the experience of reading them reminded me of being a kid and reading Pierce. (Bitterblue is imo the best one but I'm not sure how well it would stand alone).
 

SoundtracksOnIce

On the Ice
Joined
May 16, 2013
These might be younger than you want (one is targeted at 11-13, the other YA) but two great fantasy series are the Exitorn Adventures by Peggy Downing and Magnus/Wings of Dawn (the author renamed it) by Sigmund Brouwer. Both are set around fictional kingdoms and are some of my all time favorites. In fact Exitorn was the reason I found out about Narnia - a friend recommended them when I finished the series and was looking for something else. They are out of print, but Amazon can help with that:)
 
Top