[ooheadsoo]

I read the first two of Goodkin's ... um, see, I don't even remember the name of the series any more.

I remember the main baddie was trying to read the future off of some guy's guts though. And his name was Raul or something. *shiver* No offense to anyone named Raul

Oh, that reminds me! Deed of Paksenarrion was great! Again, I picked up the anthology. I love anthologies

Sometimes it was a bit dorky and hackneyed, but she does portray some truly amazing character development over the course of the books. I've been trying desperately to get her sci-fi books but I can't seem to get a handle on the first book in the series!

Janny Wurts's Cycle of Fire is another anthology I bought

Great great stuff! I don't remember a single thing, but I remember I loved it!

Edit: Deed of Paksenarrion is by Elizabeth Moon

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by daycart1 When the hell is that lazy ass Grrrr Martin getting the next installment out??

The last time I looked it was scheduled for release in April.

 

[ooheadsoo]

I have apprehensions about Martin's next installment. A lady I didn't want to ********* did it anyway but is back for more. I wonder how he can possibly work that character out elegantly. (Yes, I know I'm being vague...at least I hope I am

)

Edit: our to out

 

[Rizumu]

Heheheh, last chapter, right? I'm wondering the same thing about how he's going to pull it off...it should be interesting. What I'm wondering is how long of a book is he going to write?!?! He wasn't even originally going to write this book, just have a time gap between this and the next one!

 

[revan]

I'll second the Dark Tower series. you just have to push through the first book - which is a little wacky. Another King book that works as fantasy is The Talisman - his book with Peter Straub, this one is excellent.

I'm reading RJ sixth book, Lords of Chaos, and like everyone, have a long list of annoyances with his writing - but you have to wonder - if people are so annoyed why do they keep reading. In my case, I'm roughly 5,000 pages into this series. One interesting thing about this book. The first book finished like a one shot (RJ must not have had a multi-book deal), the third book definitely finished like a trilogy, ever since things just draw out.


Revan

 

[TMC]

The first 4-5 books of Jordan I found really good but after that you can just see how he's really trying to pull out the story as long as he can by splitting up the characters in way too many groups so they barely manage to eat a piece of beef jerky before 300 pages are gone. In the end the story just died on itself in a long repeat of the same details over and over again until you feel sick reading about the ageless features of Aes Sedai for the 34589772th time

 

[wasifazim]

Haven't read a fantasy novel in ages (outgrew them I suppose), but I always found the battle scenes in Raymond Feist's novels especially compelling.
On the sci-fi front, Stephen Baxter's Manifold novels are a great example of well-written "hard" science fiction.

- WAsif

 

[NathanJM]

i second elnero's recommendation with Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series. The books average about 700-800 pages in the paperpack editions, but they do hold your attention.

One bad thing about them: it isn't too often you'll find a good 'stopping place'. I typically read at night...and have been alarmed on several occations to find that i have allowed my clock to reach 3 am before i finally decide to force myself to stop and get some sleep.....

There are, i believe, 7 books released to date, with the next release scheduled for july 1.

 

[davidcotton]

Also try Melanie Rawns Dragon Prince Trilogy. Starts with Dragon Prince, then Star Scroll and ends up with Sunrunners Fire.

 

[pearle]

I think I stopped reading the Wheel of Time series (Jordan) at about book six. I gather he's up to ten now? Personally, I think he should have kept it to five books or so.

Some great books mentioned so far. I would also like to add pretty much anything by Guy Gavriel Kay to this list. He's a great character writer. Even though his books have many of the same themes, the characters and plots make them worth reading. Definitely one of my favorite fantasy authors.

Some books worth checking out are Tigana, The Lion's of Al-Rassan, A Song for Arbonne and The Sarantium Mosaic (2 books).

- Peter

 

[ooheadsoo]

Yes, I think someone mentiond Kay before. I really liked his celtic/arthurian series with the summer tree...

 

[pearle]

Quote:

Originally posted by ooheadsoo Yes, I think someone mentiond Kay before. I really liked his celtic/arthurian series with the summer tree...

Yep, those are good as well. It's a trilogy entitled 'The Fionavar Tapestry'

 

[MadMax]

Quote:

Originally posted by davidcotton Also try Melanie Rawns Dragon Prince Trilogy. Starts with Dragon Prince, then Star Scroll and ends up with Sunrunners Fire.

Read all 6

DRAGON PRINCE
Dragon Prince
Star Scroll
Sunrunner's Fire
DRAGON STAR
Stronghold
The Dragon Token
Skybowl

They all go together, and I refuse to think of them as trilogies.

I've read just about every book mentioned in this thread so far, and NOTHING fantasy-wise comes even close to Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince books. The characters are the most interesting, amazing, brilliant characters I have ever read about in any book. I've now read the series four times, and each time I get so completely wrapped up in that world it's insane.

But then, I'm a romantic at heart, and if you're not into stuff like that you may not be interested. If you are though, they're WELL worth the read.

 

[daycart1]

Quote:

Originally posted by revan I'm reading RJ sixth book, Lords of Chaos, and like everyone, have a long list of annoyances with his writing - but you have to wonder - if people are so annoyed why do they keep reading. In my case, I'm roughly 5,000 pages into this series. One interesting thing about this book. The first book finished like a one shot (RJ must not have had a multi-book deal), the third book definitely finished like a trilogy, ever since things just draw out. Revan

There are good characters and lots of action! But yeah, you're right....once dead bad guys start getting recycled for second chances, things have gone too far. It is past time for a whiz-bang ending.

 

[daycart1]

I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned (I think) Donaldson's "Thomas Covenant" triple trilogy. These books are annoying on several fronts, but that is actually part of the intended fun! The central idea is that the big important person of cosmic importance is a colossal *******. He is not evil, or stupid, or misguided, or etc., he is simply a rather selfish *******! So the book VERY cleverly defeats the readers' expectations all over the place while telling a pretty good, standard, tolkien-inspired sword and sorcery tale with links to our contemporary world.

A rather unique reading experience for fantasy veterans!