If you enjoyed the soldier company comradery part of the malazan series like I did, I would recommend The Traitor Son Cycle series by Miles Cameron and The Black Company series by Glen Cook
I really like the Lightbringer series from Brent Weeks - the magic system and world and everything is really cool and different (as an aside, its something I’d love to see in an rpg, either tabletop or digital, the colors class system would be really fun to play with)
Also, given my online name this is kind of a given, but for urban fantasy Lukyanenko’s Night Watch series is great
That’s kind of part of the plot.
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I would say that The Deadhouse Gates (the 2nd Malazan book) has its issues, especially when it comes to the sort of main characters in the book. I would suggest continuing, the third book gets again better and gets a lot more into what is happening and also directly continues the events of the first.
Anyway my suggestions for reading:
Malazan Books of The Fallen (with the warning that they aren’t for everyone, be ready for some really complicated story and a lot of characters and storylines)
The Witcher books,
Promise of Blood (first in the Powder Mage trilogy)
Also if urban fanasy counts then Dresden Files
Personally, I’d like to add at least Stephen Donaldson, Gene Wolfe and Roger Zelazny to the list of authors everyone with a fantasy interest should read. Stephen Donaldson’s fantasy is the kind that eschews Tolkienesque staple settings for his own (though with very strong Christian overtones), in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever or in the Mordant’s Need series, we see protagonists who don’t believe in what they see and where they are or the narrative from the perspective of those they meet, and there are consequences… But his real gold writing is in the short story books The Daughter of Regals and Other Tales and Reave the Just and Other Tales. I haven’t read his Gap series, so I can’t speak about that.
Gene Wolfe is simply incapable of writing less than top notch. If Science Fantasy is admissible for this thread, I highly recommend his The Book of the New Sun. Highly under appreciated author who deserves more credit.
Roger Zelazny had one really famous fantasy series written by the time he died in 1995, The Chronicles of Amber. It’s two five book series from the time books weren’t as thick as they are today, and you can find the entirety in one very thick volume if you search for it.
Some authors that are already mentioned here.
- David & Leigh Eddings:
Sure, the Belgariad was my first forage into the realm of original language reading and as such I have some nostalgia for it. But it’s not their best work. The real problem with their writing is that it’s highly repetitive, motif wise as well as actually repeating same events from different perspectives. As such, I think a single book of theirs is actually a much more enjoyable read than any of their series, that book being The Redemption of Althalus. Though if you have a young teen and want to introduce them to fantasy, I think the Belgariad is a good choice. - Robert Jordan:
The Wheel of Time has many a fault as a series. But one thing this series has that most fantasy books gloss over, however, is a really fleshed out magic system which is described to a degree that you could probably build a computer model of how it works. Not really a good system for a game, from my tries, but a good cohesive model for magic. - Raymond E Feist:
I agree completely with the notion that the interesting thing that keeps you reading these is the recurrent characters and real felt time progression. However, I don’t think he is as good a wordsmith as most of the authors mentioned here. There is one book I return to from time to time though, and that is Magician. Which he incidentally considers a mistake of his youth and inexperience. - Terry Pratchett:
Discworld is hilarious, I see it as a fantasy equivalent of what THHGTTG is to Science Fiction. He’s got other books though. See if you can find his Carpet People.
And a couple of authors I just want to throw out there:
- Orson Scott Card. I haven’t read much of his, but I have read the Tales of Alvin Maker. He’s worth a read.
- Terry Brooks. His Shannara books might be a bit Tolkienesque, but if you ask me, this is a series to read for the villains and monsters.
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Middle of the 2nd book? The chain of dogs didnt Start yet? The 2nd half of book 2 is one of my favourites. Its so full of battles, intrigues and Drama. The end of it made me tear up.
So I am really not objective, but I would recommend to read on.
And the Series is done. At least that Part of it. So Thats a Huge plus.
no I’m past chain of dogs…actually in the “deadhouse gates” portion. I think it’s more bc i’ve not felt particularly attached to these characters. I miss Paran(ganoes) and humble Kruppe…i was just starting to enjoy tattersail and Dujek…and now none of those characters are involved.
Most of those return in book 3. Actually all of em.
Yeah, you might be right. It’s been a while since I read the first trilogy. It is definitely not as polished as his more recent work. I recently read “Mistborn: Secret History” though and got really excited about that world again. The Wax and Wayne books are great as well.
One series that im currently reading/enjoying is the Powder Mage Trilogy by Brian McClellan. Fantasy world with Civil War era tech. He is also a former student of Brandon Sanderson
one of the two students of Sanderson(it could be higher now but three years ago it was two) who have been published
I’m working my way through the Discworld Audiobooks atm - just hours and hours of entertainment
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The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade
Dan Abnett is an incredible author and I really think he nailed it with this series for a depiction of an anti-hero. Malus does some incredibly evil things but the authors manage to make you like him and root for him as his world falls around him.
The book takes place in the Warhammer fantasy setting but you really don’t need to know anything about warhammer to appreciate the books.
Not sure if it counts as fantasy to be honest, but “Perdido Street Station” is an excellent novel and definitely worth a read.
‘In an interview, Miéville described this book as “basically a secondary world fantasy with Victorian era technology. So rather than being a feudal world, it’s an early industrial capitalist world of a fairly grubby, police statey kind!”’
For me, it was probably one of the most awesome books i’ve read in recent years. The writing is top notch, the way Miéville describes things is something else. The world is especially interesting (at least to me) and you’ll find a lot of underlying political themes and what not. Shrug I am terrible at writing these types of things I hope though that this has peeked your interest and it really is a phenomenal book.
Reading Sanderson’s Elantris now and am thoroughly enjoying it. Is it as good as Stormlight? No. But it may help get you through until book 3 comes out…
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People enjoying the Stormlight Archive should consider reading Sanderson’s Warbreaker. It’s another book set in the Cosmere universe and, without spoiling anything, has some overlap with Words of Radiance and will probably have more in the next book.
Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
The Black Company by Glen Cook
Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber
Agreed on this. I am slowly working my way through the books just whenever I want to read a few short classic adventure stories.
Always a good read.
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Mieville in general is great, and the Bas-Lag books are definitely fantasy, even if they are fairly atypical for fantasy.
My favourite of his is sci fi though (Embassytown)
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I haven’t read much of his (yet). Have the 2nd Bas-Lag one and the short story collection he did (with Jack-Half-a-Prayer in). Embassytown and The City & the City are on the list.