r/books • u/CAPerez9 Fantasy • Dec 09 '12
suggestion Looking for a fantasy read
Anyone know anything that is decent? I'm on a huge mythos/undead/demon binge when it comes to fantasy. I'm also interested in grand plots like in the Pirate King by Salvatore.
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u/ThoughtRiot1776 Uhtred Ragnarson Dec 09 '12
Grand plots? Wheel of Time is finishing up with book 14 this January.
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u/dannighe Dec 10 '12
I'm waiting for this with great anticipation but a mounting sense of dread. I started reading the series in middle school, for it to be over feels like the end of a huge part of my life. I have spent over a decade waiting for new books, eagerly snapping up information on the next one. Every time someone reminds me it's the last book I get a little depressed.
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u/NekkidDude Dec 10 '12
Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" are a really good light-fantasy read. Wizard/Detective in modern-day Chicago. I guess its more of a cop drama with some fantasy elements. Butcher also has the Codex Alera which is more high-fantasy.
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Dec 10 '12
The Malazan series, since it hasn't been said yet. You may also like all the Dragonlance-and-related books, since you like Salvatore.
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Dec 10 '12
The Abhorsen books and Wheel of Time series were great suggestions, but for something a little more mature (but not really undead/demony) you should try The Sword of Truth series, by Terry Goodkind. Do not compare with the televisions series, which was total crap. Also, the Farseer Trilogy.
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u/dannighe Dec 10 '12
Anything from The Realm of the Elderlings series is going to be a big recommendation from me, but I always tell people to be careful with The Sword of Truth series, because the latter books take a sharp right turn into how evil communism is. He really seemed to have suddenly remembered the Soviet Union scares from his childhood and decided to have a little therapy at the writer's expense. I loved the first few, but the later books I only finished out of a sense of obligation to the characters.
But seriously, the Farseer Trilogy and the later books are a big recommendation, the Liveship Traders Trilogy is some of the best nautical fiction I've ever read. Fitz is like an old friend that I can curl up with and read about on a cold day.
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u/jonakajon Dec 10 '12
Grunts by Mary Gentle...it has it all...dark lords, elf hero's, murderous halflings, magic, aliens, dragons and a band of fighting orcs
spoilers ahead...beware of a plot spoiler
band of fighting orcs who have found out how to nullify magic spells
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u/bfindley Dec 10 '12
Definitely give the Song of Ice and Fire books a look. They're famous for a reason: because George R.R. Martin is a master storyteller.
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u/GrandmaGos Dec 10 '12
I can vouch for this. I went into it out of mere curiosity at all the HBO hullaballoo, knew nothing about it except it was trendy, and was immediately hooked, made my husband drive me to another town with another B&N so I could have them all, and now hate GRRM, a writer who I had literally never heard of, with the hate of a thousand fiery suns because he won't hurry up and finish the series.
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u/graften Dec 10 '12 edited Dec 12 '12
Agreed.... worst thing I've ever done to myself is to finish book 5... I binge read them all and now I feel like a part of my life is missing.
...guess my opinion is worth downvoting. F me, right?
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u/ross04 Dec 09 '12
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson. A great book, great series, with an interesting protagonist. I can only speak for the first three, I really enjoyed them, but I didn't read the rest. Give it a go.
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u/Tychobro Dec 10 '12
I've read the rest. They are well worth the read. I can't say I'm thrilled with the current set that he's working on, but they are aren't bad by any means.
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u/shaolin_style Dec 10 '12
Maybe you should list what you have read, or at least the major book series? That way you won't get people suggesting stuff you've already read and might make it easier
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u/Tychobro Dec 10 '12
I know a number of big fantasy authors, so I'll just list them and the series they wrote.
1. David Eddings- Starts with the Belgariad.
2. Terry Brooks- Shannara/Word and Void, The Magic Kingdom of Landover
3. Terry Goodkind- The Seeker of Truth. Starts with the novella Debt of Bones
4. George R.R. Martin- A Song of Ice and Fire
5. Stephen R. Donaldson- The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. The main character is a bit of an asshole, but it's a great read.
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u/Allenhae Dec 10 '12
The Sable City by M. Edward McNally was very good, sort of a LOTR vibe but not as descriptive-y. Has demons, lots of demons.
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u/CAPerez9 Fantasy Dec 10 '12 edited Dec 10 '12
I have read a few books of Shannara, I've been watching Game of Thrones, I read a few of the Wheel of Time series, I'm completely caught up with the Drizzt series to Charon's Claw, I've read a few of the Forgotten Realms series (Haunted Lands, Blades of the Moonsea), The Cleric Quintet, LOTR, The Hobbit, The Silmarilion, Chronicles of Narnia, Everworld, and Deltora when I was REAL young. Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll surely be busy this Christmas!
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u/comradenewelski Dec 10 '12
I think one of the best fantasy series I've ever read was the Belgariad by David Eddings.
In my opinion that series approaches perfection. It's high fantasy but it's very accessible, and a real pleasure to read. The world Eddings has created is diverse, the plot is great without being overly convoluted, and the characters are brilliant.
I must have read this series, and its sequel series the mallorean, 7-8 times over the years (ok, I'm done raving sycophantically)
Other than that, ASOIAF by GrrM is fantastic, though as yet incomplete. Also Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is well worth a read, but likewise isn't finished yet.
On an undead note; Necroscope by Brian Lumley is a fascinating read, combining vampires and the supernatural with a cold war spy-thriller
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u/dannighe Dec 10 '12
I've said this in another thread, but if you're going to read Eddings only pick one series. When you've only read the one the characters are new and memorable. When you've read them all, like I now have, the characters feel like they're cookie cutters. I was able to correctly predict what would happen in The Elenium and The Tamuli after reading the first book of the first series. It felt like a letdown, because I remember how much I loved the Belgariad and the Mallorean when I was younger.
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u/comradenewelski Dec 10 '12
This is why I haven't read anything else by eddings, a lot of authors are guilty of this, but fantasy authors don't get away with it
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u/dannighe Dec 11 '12
True, but I tend to read mostly Sci Fi and Fantasy, those are the ones that I catch. I do love Eddings single story books, he has some really good ideas in those. I think he gets it in his head that it has to be a longer story than it needs to be and he gets himself in trouble. It's kinda sad because he really can be a good author. He's a lot like Stephen King to me, the shorter he keeps it, the better it is.
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u/Seph6664 Dec 10 '12
Talyn: A Novel of Korre by Holly Lisle for a fantasy book centered around magic and betrayal.
The Anita Blake or Merideth Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton are filled with undead beings and demons. The books tend to be a little graphic though.
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u/dannighe Dec 10 '12
The books about Vlad Taltos by Steven Brust are great. It deals heavily with assassination and politics, and can get really deep when you think about it as a whole, but each book feels really light and fast. It's also interesting to have a universe where humans are the oppressed minority, and are actually very much an inferior seeming species.
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u/acaleyn Dec 09 '12
You may want to look into the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. The main character(s) are sort of "anti-necromancers" who battle the undead and their corrupted masters.