What is the fantasy book/series everyone should read?
So I grew up very sheltered and isolated from society and as a result missed out on a lot of pop culture and other common things. I love to read, and I really enjoy fantasy and DnD and those types of things and I'm trying to find and catch up on the great fantasy books/series that every fantasy lover/nerd should know. I'm not as interested in sci-fi, but I'm willing to read the "great" ones too. What would you recommend?
Series I've read: The Lord of the Rings The Witcher The Dark Tower The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Dungeon Crawler Karl
Update to add also read: Wheel of Time Most of the Stormlight Archive The Hobbit
I'm just starting my first Discworld book.
Edit: Thanks everyone! Keep them coming, I'm going to make a list with all the suggestions and start working through them.
Earthsea.
Earthsea is beautiful. There aren't very many books, and they were written across 50ish years. They evolved with the genre, allowing readers a clear window into how we got to the modern works of Jordan, Sanderson, etc.
There are six, which, by modern standards isn't much. The first three came out in a four year time span and was an attempt to answer the question, "What was Gandalf's youth like?" This was before Tolkien answered these questions publicly.
Twenty some odd years later, she wrote Tehanu. It was, from what I remember, an attempt to answer her critiques who said she had written a series where magic was not accessible to women. Then ten years after that she finished with two more books. The first of the two was a bunch of short stories that fill in some corners of the stories prior.
Discworld (Terry Pratchett), no question.
Very much Discworld. I shouldn’t have had to scroll this far down to find this shame on all y’all. The Night Watch series and The Witches series are my favourites and I do recommend reading series’s in order to but you can start practically anywhere if you want. Just remember the very first two books aren’t anyone’s favourites but are still good.
I mean, they mentioned they're already reading Discworld...
I found this reading order quite helpful:
Edit, better version:
Wtff... I remember the colour of magic being fun and knew there was more but that's wild
The Colour of Magic was published in 1983, The Shepherd's Crown was posthumously published in 2015 with up to three books published in some years. It's an incredible life's work.
If you liked The Colour of Magic, I'd strongly recommend continuing reading, it's usually considered one of the weakest novels in the discworld, being the first book he wrote while still having a day job.
The good thing is, there are these sub series as you can see in the picture following specific characters with some cameos from the other series, so no need to read all of them (although recommended, because they're great). Even within these series, every book is basically a standalone story with minimal spoilers if you read them out of order and zero confusion if you don't remember what happened in the last book.
I'm a really fast reader and I had a slowish day at work yesterday. I read The Colour of Magic start to finish yesterday morning and really enjoyed it. I'm almost finished with The Light Fantastic now.
They get better
It's my turn to ask this question, it seems, but if this image low resolution and very compressed?
I found a better version, updated.
Oglaf 😆
Excellent suggestion.
insert joker laugh
I need an Oglaf omnibus.
The hobbit is great. I loved every page of it. Just don't base your opinion of the movies if you've seen them, and not read the book. How the fuck did they shit out a 3.5 hour long turd from a 15 page chapter in the battle of the five armies. Holy shit.
Yes. You may have seen the movies but the books are works of art. I still don't think I've read a better written book in my life. The hobbit is especially fun to read.
Yup. The movies are an abomination. I saw them once and I’ll never watch them again. But I’ve read the book more than a few times
I read Tolkien growing up and it kind of set an unrealistic expectation for the quality of literature I would encounter later in life. I was constantly disappointed after that.
Earthsea, as someone else has already mentioned, was one of the few series that measured up.
Howl's Moving Castle was fun, as long as you don't take it too seriously. It's not meant to be serious.
I'm reading Wheel of Time now, and it's just okay. It's good as far as these things go, and I'm invested in the plot, so I'm gonna finish the series, but it's just not a masterpiece in my opinion.
Some of the characters are well done, some of them are kinda cringey, and only some of those are cringey on purpose. Some of the running jokes are funny, but some just sound like what an old british guy in the 90s would think is funny. Some of it didn't age well.
Some of it gets really repetitive, too. Like, I swear, if he says someone looks like a bird again, I'm gonna lose my mind. It's always someone from the brown ajah, too. And I think he overuses the ta'veren device to rationalize some kinda stretched plot points.
It probably sounds like I hate it. I don't. Well only a little. It's a bit love-hate ever since my favorite character died (won't say who but it was near the end of book five).
::: spoiler Character analysis (avoiding spoilers): Some of the character development is pretty good though. Rand kinda turns into an asshole, but it makes sense because he's under so much pressure. I hope the author uses that device to bring it full circle so he corrects himself. If he's just an asshole for the rest of the series then that would be lame.
I really appreciate the flawed characters (namely, Nynaeve and Mat), both for the comic relief and their occasional redeeming moments. And how they're always projecting whenever they criticize others really cracks me up, especially when the two interact with each other. Cause you know that deep down, as much as they can't stand each other, either one would risk their life for the other in a heartbeat.
I started out liking Perrin, but I think the author dropped the ball on his development. He has some outdated ideas about chivalry, and at the same time Faile (as much as I want to like Faile, but she's just kinda one-dimensional) she encourages some really toxic and even abusive traits. It might be deliberate on the author's part, but I just think it's poorly done. Perrin is one of the few characters who isn't constantly lying to himself though, and I still like that about him.
Egwene's character development is really good. She starts off kinda bland and tokeny, but around book four she really starts coming into her own, and I can't spoil anything but I'm past halfway through the series now and her plot arc is probably the one I'm most interested in at this point. I'm legitimately so proud of her, and I think that part of the story is being handled well. It's not just like some "magic solution on a silver platter" that's the hallmark of bad writing. She still has challenges, but she meets them squarely, and her inner monologue is just so honest with herself. She's probably the most relatable character in the series in my opinion.
And Elayne's plot arc is fun because it's usually lighthearted due to her innocence and naïvete, but she makes some really intelligent decisions on things that are within her wheelhouse, and she's usually pretty honest with herself (usually). She's a strong character though, even leaving aside the obvious nepotism, and sometimes her strength and intelligence clashes with her innocence and naïvete in some really interesting ways.
I don't know who else I can talk about without spoiling things. I'm looking forward to Elaida's downfall (so clearly forshadowed by her hubris), which she'll deserve every bit of.
Some new characters have been introduced recently, and some old characters reintroduced, but I'm not gonna give anything away and honestly I still need to wait to form any opinions about them.
I will say, though, that there's a lot that could be done with some of the different groups that are coming together (and clashing), but that's another point where I think the author drops the ball. Some of them are just unrealistically hotheaded and arrogant, and it turns into this sorta clusterfuck where everyone's trying to teach the others to respect them by asserting their dominance. It's just really immature for the people who are supposed to be the wise leaders of their respective societies.
I mean, the machiavellian stuff makes sense within some contexts, like within the politics of the different nations, but that was always tangential or adjacent to the plot at most. Now it's just starting to seem like the groups that are supposed to be the main good guys are just as foolish as the meddlesome side characters running most of the governments...
Anyway, that's probably enough critique for now. I just don't really have anyone in real life to talk about this stuff with so I've been keeping it all bottled up inside my head (and occasionally rehearsing my critiques in my inner
dialoguemonologue...) :::I still can't get over how they stretched that short of a book over that long of a trilogy of movies and still managed to not show enough of Beorn. All of the party arriving at Beorn's house is one of my favorite chapters and it's just... not there. The. Fuck.
Don’t even get me started on tauriel. I’m all for diversity, but she was entirely unneeded. A love triangle? Really?
I have read the Hobbit! I was so excited for the movies and when the first one came out I almost cried in the theater. I made myself watch the second one but never did watch the third one. The book is good enough.
Some of my best memories are of my grandfather reading me the hobbit at bedtime when I stayed with him for a summer.
i read that, but i dint quite grasp it at the time.
There are several 'edits' you can put together online that are actually way better than the movies. They cut out a lot of the nonsense and trim around excess to provide a 2-ish hour movie that feels choppy but good.
His dark materials aka the Northern Lights series. I read it as a young teen and again as an adult. Really good.
Whenever I see someone asking for book recommendations, I always seek out comments like yours or make one if I don’t find it.
His Dark Materials aka Northern Lights (Golden Compass in US) is a really good one. I was 12 when I read the first one. It’s such a good story and I remember anxiously waiting for the 2nd and 3rd books to be published. When my friends started reading HP #1, I was already 2 books deep into HDM and was fully engulfed in Lyra’s story. HDM is a superior series that I think all children should read.
I read it again as an adult and realized how much those books really shaped my world view. Philip Pullman is an amazing storyteller.
'I always seek out comments like yours or make one if I don’t find it.'
Same here! They were so eye opening as a young kid
Just a note to add that if OP does dig in to HDM, bear in mind that there are only three books. There are three more books masquerading as a continuation of Lyra's story, but they can be safely disregarded as they are a nonsense.
Malazan, Malazan, Malazan. Literally the result of two bored archaeologists and their DnD campaign while they were out on a dig.
It hangs with the best in terms of humor, tragedy, epic scope, and heroism. It does not hold your hand, in fact it will delight in letting your hand go while leading you through a dark room. Deeply philosophical, challenges and embraces tropes in equal part, absolutely interesting magic system(s). It is hardcore hopecore, it champions the little guy, empathy, and the bright mind over the slow. Main series is finished, 10 giant books. Also a bunch of others outside that series by both creators.
Be patient with it, some payoffs take a while. Read Gardens of the Moon and then Deadhouse Gates to see if it's clicking. It isn't for all.
I feel like this might be a terrible suggestion to start with. It has ruined fantasy for me. Nothing else I've found has come close, the worlds feel half baked, the stories mediocre, the characters forgettable, the scale a fraction of Malazan's.
Erickson can get me more attached to a throwaway character that is introduced and killed off in a handful of pages than some authors can to their main character.
Glen Cook's Black Company novels come close for me. They're smaller scale, but they've got some heft. Erikson has said the series was a huge influence on him, too.
R Scott Bakker kinda scratches a similar itch, though it's much more bleak.
More bleak than the Chain of Dogs, the Children of the Dead Seed, Beak's candles, The Snake?!
I have had Bakker on my radar but I have to be in the right mood for fantasy.
Much more bleak. Erikson has more in the way of heroics in the face of the bleak. Bakker you get more of human flaws ushering in doom. It has a similar sense of scale, the world building is top notch. But the passage of time and intelligence are much less forgiving in Bakker's world.
I've done numerous rereads of Malazan, none for Bakker. Though it's just as deserving, if not more so. It's just... a lot less uplifting.
I really like Frank Herbert's Dune. It is science fiction, but takes many aspects from history, like fiefdomship/politics and religion, especially from medieval times. Some argue the book is too much into details and thus can be dry (no pun intended) but I like it as the world seems more authentic, the characters more relatable.
Just remember that Dune is only half (eh, two-thirds) of a book, and the story isn't complete without Dune Messiah.
The next two books are more self-contained.
oh I didn't realize Dune counts. Yeah Dune is awesome
Brandon Sanderson books, specifically the cosmere stuff are all pretty fucking good.
My favourite is probably Mistborn but I know a lot of people prefer The Stormlight Archives. All worth reading!
Both Mistborn ages are really tight, making them easy reads. Intriguing magic, moving story, great characters.
Stormlight has all the same elements, but it lets every character have their own storyline. It's sprawling. It lets you see more sides of it.
Sanderson is a great airport read.
I wouldn't recommend it outside of that context. It's nothing special.
He's great at coming up with magic systems but he's basically a very talented YA writer.
I've heard great things about Malazan. I should probably pick that up.
I just finished Gardens of the Moon. In order to keep track of everyone, I made my own wiki. It felt like watching Eriksson play a war game.
I'm taking a break as the style isn't interesting to me. I hear his writing becomes more intimate and visceral in the rest of the series. Looking forward to this in book 2. Sort of wish I started with book 2 since none or few of the characters carry over.
If you continue with the series, just about every character carries over. Malazan is crazy intricate and complex. I've read the ten-book main series a few times and notice new connections every time through.
Kingkiller chronicles so everyone can peer pressure rothfuss into finishing the fucking thing
He won't. Just toss him as a lost cause like George RR Martin and Scott Lynch and move on. You'll feel a lot better when you finish a different series that took way less time than what Rothfuss did writing his only 2 novels in the series.
I like the books, superficially they are a treat, the prose is brilliant, the words feel nice on my brain.
But reading just a little bit deeper than that, you start to realise the story is pretty empty. The characters are hollow. The first two books are pretty much the same story loop over and over again. The characters making the same mistakes and learning the same lessons over and over again.
The way the author writes female characters makes you seriously worry about the authors relationship with women, and if he even knows any women.
I read the first book because I'd heard praise for it. It was either during that one, or the next book what I thought:
...fucking hell. I'm reading a retelling of fucking Harry Potter!
Yeah. It's full of really common pop-fiction tropes. But the writing is so beautiful you don't notice it.
It really jumped the shark when in the second book the guy who is a virgin and can't talk to girls suddenly became the god of sex and literally out-sexed the sex nymph who had been sexing men to death for years.
I thought he specifically didn't out-sex the sex nymph, but as she was about to turn and kill her latest victim (because she used sex and he was used up), it turned out the victim (our heeeero) had an affinity for the 'supreme' or actual magic in the series, and he was able to use it to bind her in the old fashioned 'true-names-let-you-control' trope.... and then she turned him into a god of sex because she couldn't kill him and he wasn't going anywhere for a while.
I also think your characterization of quothe as not able to talk to girls isn't quite accurate, just that he was a fool who had decided there was only one girl for him.
None of this is to say the criticisms of rothfuss aren't accurate. The guy sniffs his own farts and thinks he creates pure oxygen in his bowels. His little vignette about making soap goes on for pages, and he had the temerity to sell it as it being just. so. necessary to do.
You're probably right, it's been years since I read it, and I was simply piggy backing off other criticisms I've read about the book by others saying similar things online.
Did it? I think one of the points is that the narrator isn't particularly trustworthy.
Yes but also is that just Rothfuss’ excuse when fans call him out about plot inconsistencies? Because that’s how I heard that “explanation” came about.
Oh I didn't even know Rothfuss ever brought it up explicitly. It's a conceited character talking about themselves, so it seemed expected to me.
I think Rothfuss/Martin and others are pressured too much. No matter what they produce, it will never be good enough to satisfy the hordes of loudmouths.
Now, I agree that we have no right to demand anything from them.
But... their output rate has been genuinely abysmal. If we had a right to demand anything at all from them (we don't), then it would be quite reasonable to ask them to at least finish one book every 10 years...
I mean, Rothfuss has produced a couple novellas, and Martin has some projects. I get it, but at the same time i wouldn't blame either of them if they didn't feel comfortable releasing another of their mainline series.
I want them to, and ten years is a long ass time, but nothing they produce will live up to the hype so that probably causes a lot of anxiety.
But maybe im projecting here. Idk. I feel like the same thing is the reason we don't have a Half-Life 3 video game. The first two made such a huge impact in terms of tech and gameplay that nothing is going to live up to the hype. So you can either kill yourself trying to achieve unachievable levels of amazing, or go do something you want to do.
We just want the next book to be about the same as the previous books. There is not "hype" here?
Maybe not, but if they'd actually work on it instead of stringing us along, maybe there wouldn't be hordes of loudmouths.
Also...keep in mind, they chose the author's life. I find it pretty tone deaf for a famous person complaining about what fame brings when that's the path they pursued.
We're never getting the last book. And my theory is that he just outgrew it. Or at least I hope that's true, because the whole Denna storyline was just a bunch of incel bullshit.
Ok so since you're doing sci-fi as well, Hyperion/Hyperion series.
I just finished the Cantos this week. I think Hyperion is one of the best sci-fi setups ever conceived. The Canterbury Tales in Space is so hype, and so well executed. I could read it ten times and love it every time.
The rest of the series is ambitious, but never quite lived up to the first book. There are incredibly interesting ideas, and some excellent parts… but I can’t give the whole thing a 10/10.
::: spoiler Book four light spoilers Aenea spends so much time talking at the reader, and her set up as the savior of humanity pins her character in a corner.
The discussion on how “humans stopped evolving” was an incredible turn on my view of the Ousters, and helped recontextualize the series as a radical, conservationist epic instead of just an anti-authoritarian one was also A+. :::
Since I just read this, I’ve been thinking a lot about how a television adaptation would work. Season one would be just the first book… one pilgrim’s tale per episode. But then I feel like the next three books would need a comprehensive overhaul to streamline the narrative and pick a clearer focus.
I started the second book shortly after reading the first, and I didn't finish it. I think I prefer to remember Hyperion as a standalone story as it's so perfect
Yeah, I put Hyperion/Hyperion series since the series is not for everyone.
I personally enjoyed the Endymion books, some people enjoy Fall of Hyperion and leave it at that.
Series?
Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy
Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain
Discworld, especially the Night Watch books
Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series
Individual Books:
Robin McKinley, The Hero and the Crown, or anything else she wrote
Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock and Howl's Moving Castle, or anything else she wrote
Philip K. Dick, "Galactic Pot-Healer" (Dick straddles the line between science fiction and science fantasy, but this one's firmly the latter)
Madeline L'Engle, Many Waters
I'm sure I'll think of more but my break is up.
I came here to say Chronicles of Prydain. I read them over and over as a child and they are so magical and well written, it's a shame they aren't more well known!
Wait wait. You’re starting with Engel’s “Many Waters?” Isn’t it book 4 in a series where book 1 (“A Wrinkle in Time”) is considered a classic?
It’s been a long time but I remember liking book 2 a whole lot. I never did get book 5, though I think there is one?
not "starting with" but it's functionally a standalone and the most "fantastic" of her novels
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5
Firsthand account of one of the scariest events of the Second World War in the shape of highly entertaining sci-fi novel.
Must read for everyone.
All Vonnegut is worth reading
DISCWORLD
Honestly, probably the most enjoyable series of novels ever. The jokes are so layered and absurd while being witty well setup. It's been a few years since I've read them, may be time to start over...
And there is, quite literally, something for everyone. From absurdist to noir to scifi to swords and sandals to philosophy.....it's a big universe
Ah, I love recommendation posts.
It depends on what you actually enjoyed reading and why. I see you already have a lot of great suggestions. The only author I haven't yet seen mentioned is perhaps Asimov, although you said you prefer fantasy to sci fi. That's also my preference, however I find his short stories are worth reading and also low commitment for this reason.
One thing I find useful in recommendations is to know what else people have read and what they think about that. It helps me get an idea of which books I'm more likely to enjoy best or not, especially if I can compare their thoughts to mine about the same books. With that in mind, my thoughts:
Discworld is amazing. Pratchett is a great author. I like that he can write a story that on the surface is just a simple comedy/adventure, but if you are the type that also analyzes what they read you will soon see his stories go much deeper than what they appear to be. He will keep things entertaining and witty but also throw at you a piece of his mind for you to mull over and reflect on various aspects of life. Small Gods is one of my favorites.
I also really enjoyed Dungeon Crawler Karl, and I mean really really really. Hilarious. But it doesn't have the depth Pratchett has.
On a similar vein, The Witcher- loved the characters and the story is very entertaining, but t can't say I was blown away as with Pratchett.
I absolutely loved Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. Now that's some solid writing. The characters are so well fleshed out, unique, original. Somehow the world and the plot feel realistic, crazy as it sounds for a fantasy book. It may feel a bit slower in pacing than any of the three I previously mentioned, but not slower than LOTR which you have already read.
I can also recommend the first law trilogy, just finished it. There's actually some standalone books and a second trilogy in that world, i'm reading 'best served cold' now which is also excellent and features some characters from the trilogy. Can't wait to read the rest and dread the day i read them all.
Here are some series I can't recommend enough:
Cradle by Will Wight — A young man born too weak to matter in a world where martial artists can shatter mountains and walk on air decides that's not good enough. Starts small and intimate, then escalates into genuinely insane power fantasy. The progression system is crack cocaine. 12 books, all out, binge-worthy.
The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan — A slum girl accidentally discovers she has magic, which is very illegal if you're not from the right family. Gets accepted into the Magicians' Guild under suspicious circumstances and slowly uncovers something rotten at its core. Cozy, character-driven, and surprisingly political.
The Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks — Magic is literally made of light and color, and drafters slowly go mad from using it. Packed with political scheming, morally grey characters, and one of the best slow-burn mystery plots in fantasy. Weeks hid twists in plain sight for five books and sticks the landing.
The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington — Time travel, prophecy, and a magic system where using power costs you years off your life. Dense and intricate in the best way, the kind of series where you flip back to chapter one after finishing it and realize how much you missed. Islington clearly planned every page from the start.
All are fantastic series, happy reading! 📚
Thanks. Haven't read any of these and you make em all sound pretty rad.
I'll add that I hated the Lightbringer series. It starts out alright, gets progressively worse, and ends with a big fat literal deus ex machina. Weeks is a flaming Mormon, and if you know anything about the faith, you can see its stink everywhere.
I did like his Night Angel trilogy.
Cradle is pretty amazing.
Can you tell me more? I'm not religious and don't know much about Mormonism. I've heard similar things about other authors like Sanderson. I gotta say, the comments are a bit underwhelming since no one explains the actual problem.
There's a lot of religion in the books. People are always praying for this and that. Biblical names. Some thinly veiled biblical references. Any character who expresses agnosticism or atheism is eventually proved bad or wrong in some manner. There are some very angelic-like beings that pop up later. Some fallen ones as well. Every single woman character pines over the guys at some point and really just wants to settle down and pop out kids. Oh, and everything is wrapped up neatly in the last book when the very obvious Jesus figure confronts God on top of a tower, sacrifices himself, is subsequently resurrected, and they fly in on a literal airplane and save everyone in the 11th hour. It's trite and disaffecting and pretty much assured I won't be reading anything from Weeks ever again.
While I understand your perspective, I believe we hold differing interpretations of the series. I am not seeking an argument, as I consider this to be a fantastic piece of literature, and I believe Weeks effectively portrays religious piety. Additionally, it features remarkably strong female characters. It is quite interesting how we can read the same words on a page and arrive at such different interpretations. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Sci-Fi:
I’m going to second The Expanse. It’s a fantastic series and one of my favorites.
The original "The Princess Bride" by S. Morgenstern
Oh that's a good suggestion! Definitiely worth reading!
LOTR... Of course, since this is really the start of the genre as it exists today. So when you read it and think that it's full of tropes... Continue thinking a little bit and realize that LOTR CREATED those tropes.
The Belgariad by David Eddings. I'll come out and say it, David Eddings was a horrible person, but this series is worth reading. He's dead now so you won't be supporting him if you get these books. The followup series "The Mallorean" is not a must read, it's basically a retread of "The Belgariad". As are his later series "The Tamuli" etc...
The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson. A lot of people will recommend Mistborn, or the Stormlight Archive, but both of those series are just parts of a greater arc called "The Cosmere". I would recommend starting with Elantris or Warbreaker, both of which are standalone books, but are in the Cosmere. Then go to Mistborn series 1, then tackle Stormlight Archive. Be warned, each book in SA is longer than LOTR in its entirety. But it's well worth the read.
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay: One of my wife's favorite books. Not a series, but worth the read.
Memory, Sorry and Thorn by Tad Williams: Excellent series that doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
Destiny's Crucible by Olan Thorensen: I liked this one a lot and continue to follow it, although it's starting to get a little long.
The Riyria Revelations and Chronicles by Michael J Sullivan: Both of these series are great and worth the read.
I loved Belgariad/Mallorean as a late teen. I've recommended it and included it in my top five for decades.
I tried reading them again a few months ago and man, I just couldn't.
Everyone craps on Garion constantly for what amounts to just being a young kid who has lived a sheltered life and not yet had many experiences (especially Pol). I feel like the poor kid is legitimately emotionally abused and manipulated by those supposed to be caring for him, and the writing is trying to make you agree that this foolish child deserves the constant harsh criticism and punishment his supposed caretakers heap on him.
Much of the main cast are constantly talking about how idiotic everyone else in the world is. I enjoy some good snark but there's only so much smug and superior condescension I can take. It doesn't matter if it's an enemy or an ally: they're not part of the main cast? 90% chance someone in the main cast points out that they're a completely idiotic or naive moron and their cultural ways are totally backwards.
Everyone fawns over Pol despite her being constantly smug and arrogant and superior, and the writing is constantly going out of its way to show you how right Polgara is and how stupid everyone was that ever disagreed with her about anything.
Ehem. Sorry about that. Feels nice to get it out of my system though. I do still like some things about it. Many of the main cast are a lot of fun when they're not in "wow we're surrounded by ignorant idiots" or "Pol is the avatar of perfection and no one should ever disagree with her even when she's wrong" mode. I couldn't make it past meeting up with Ce'nedra though on my recent attempt to re-read. I couldn't stand her even on my first read when I was otherwise madly in love with the books.
P.S. The constant casual (often gleeful) murder and genocidal remarks by the protagonists were pretty off-putting too
Polgara and Belgarath are both several thousands of years old, so I really didn't read them as smug or arrogant, rather jaded and cynical. Beldin was jaded and cynical personified.
I'm in my mid-50's and honestly can identify with them at times, although I do my best not to act it.
Garion's treatment is probably evidence of the Eddings' proclivities toward children. They were both convicted of child abuse and spent time in prison for it about 10 years before "The Belgariad" was written. Their adopted children were also permanently taken away. Like many others I had no idea of that until after David's death in 2009.
I reread it about 8 years ago and I've had both my boys read it as well. It certainly did hit a lot differently. For one, if I was Garion I would have sent Ce'Nedra permanently packing in short order destiny be damned. I still loved Prince Kheldar (Silk) though.
There have been so many authors and celebrities whose work I have enjoyed over the years just to come out and be scummy trash that I'm at the point I just want to enjoy the art and not know who is behind it. That feels a lot like being a ostrich with its head buried in the sand, but I'm not really sure what the alternative really is.
I get you pard, there are some creative works that I still hold on to as well despite learning disappointing things about their creators. Others I've let go.
I love Silk as well, he's such a fun character. Belgarath I generally like except when he goes all in on mocking the stupidity of everyone around him, and when he starts dumping on Garion. The latter feels like a betrayal because otherwise he's very supportive of the kid. Being a kindly grandfather-figure to Garion is a big part of his role in the story so it's difficult when he acts otherwise. Durnik was always my favorite because I have a soft spot for the solid, practical, dependable types, likely based on my great relationship with my grandpa when I was young.
You have a point with the ancient characters being tired and jaded by all this, since they've been through all this type of stuff before many times, and having been around so long they do have an exceptional accumulation of experience and wisdom and knowledge, so I can see them getting frustrated more often with having to deal with their lessers. Still though: We see Belgarath fail. We see him be unsure of himself sometimes, we see him fall on his face, and even if begrudgingly, we see him own it. Same with Silk - he's recruited largely because he's the clever and witty one, but on more than one occasion we see him get bested and importantly (to me at least), he also owns it. Even Mandorallen, the guy whose whole shtick is being absurdly self-confident and self-assured, has his moments where he falters and struggles, and he owns it.
Polgara, though? Oh, no. Polgara is never wrong. If you ever question her, you had better be prepared for some mockery and intense cold shoulder and judgment by everyone else for even thinking of doubting her. And this will only end when you finally "realize" that you were wrong and apologize to her, at which point she oh-so-benevolently welcomes you back in now that you've admitted to her that you were wrong and sorry for ever thinking she was anything less than perfect. She feels like the type of character a narcissist would write as their self-insert.
Upon thinking about all this, I do also wonder about the fact that the humblest of the main characters end up getting together with the two most spoiled and self-satisfied ones. Given how I feel about Polgara, I was pretty bummed out when my guy Durnik never got over being smitten with her and they ended up together. But hey, there might be some evidence there that maybe he'll be good for her, at least.
Oh, and on the note of Durnik and Polgara getting together ... the one time she might have actually had to lose something, to really sacrifice something ... nope! Just kidding, what a twist! She actually has to give up nothing, and instead Durnik is elevated to sorcererhood solely to give her the loophole she needs to continue on being just perfectly amazing in every way and capability! Even the friggin rules of the cosmos bend to accommodate her!
Yeah yeah, I'm ranting. But people typically rant about things they care about. I loved these books, and I'm not just ranting out of grumpiness but out of being bummed out that I can't manage to love them anymore. Because I still want to. In any case, not trying to convince you to stop liking them, just venting and wanting these thoughts to be heard by someone. Thanks for the opportunity and take it easy out there.
Came here to recommend these. I never see anyone talking about them. When I was like 12 some random dude at the bookstore recommended them to me when he saw me looking at the dragonlance section. They're really good.
I'm gonna suggest a web novel, Practical Guide to Evil. Great series about 8 books long that follows the apprentice of a medieval fantasy villain. Looks like the first book just dropped on Amazon for kindle and audiobook last year
Pale Lights the author's ongoing serial, is even better. New chaptr just dropped a hour ago!
Just finished the latest chapter. Go 13th
Gotta love a story where "mapmaker" is the OP vocation.
I don't really like manga, but one of the best stories I've ever read in any format is the 7-volume Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It's post-apocalyptic fantasy about the nature of evil, the corruption of humanity, the extent to which individuals can fight against historical forces, and the fragility of civilization, for a start. Plus there's a lot of action and world-building. There's an anime movie which covers about one tenth of the story, if you want to get a feel for it.
I saw the movie. It was AMAZING. I had no idea it was based on book(s)!
Yeah, the manga is eminently worth reading. Especially if you enjoy the movie at all (it's my favorite of Miyazaki's.) The manga somehow manages to be even better.
It's good, but even Wildbow themselves says it could use a thorough edit - which will likely never happen. Not to say you shouldn't read it. It's fantastic.
I dunno, I'm holding out that an animated adaptation will happen one day on the worm series. Maybe it'll get the invicible treatment and get some edits then.
Just give a little warning. It's 'superpowers' written in a serial format that brings the brutality of a series like invincible, but while invincible sort of still plays it off in a comic appropriate way, it's never 'fixed' or back to the status quo in worm. While a lot of the brutality is glossed over except when the author is hitting that anvil, and even then more is able to be overlooked because the action and character interactions are just written so alluringly and you'll be speeding through it, taking a moment to step back and think about what just happened 'in universe' can be shocking.
Surprised I haven't seen someone yet mention Magician by Raymond E Feist. That whole first riftwar trilogy is great. Also the spin off Empire trilogy with Janny Wurts.
Seconding those who mentioned the R.A. Salvatore books including the Dark Elf series and the Icewind Dale series.
But it's gotta be the print that has the cover with the spider pervin' on the young lad
Yes definitely this one
As someone who finished it, nah.
It’s a rambling mess.
As someone currently reading book 8, yes. It’s a rambling mess but it’s my rambling mess.
Its a wonderful rambling mess and I love it. I'm on my third re-read at the moment.
Also, bosom.
sniffs
I forgot I read this series! I absolutely loved the first half, by the last half I just felt like I was only finishing it because I had invested too much time in it. I hated the way the women characters developed at the end, it felt very "men writing women". It was so gross. I also hated how dialogue heavy the last few books were, the plotline dragged hard.
Which series was this? The original commenter deleted their comment.
I'm guessing wheel of time?
Yes, I'm not sure why they deleted their comment, it was still a good suggestion and I appreciate it.
I would recommend Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series as well as his Lyonesse Trilogy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Earth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyonesse_Trilogy
"A Song of Ice and Fire" if you can accept that the last books will never be written
Same goes for The Name of the Wind/Kingkiller Chronicles
Titan, Wizard, and Demon by John Varley. The first book starts off with a bog-standard "first human exploration of Saturn's system" bit, but starts going off the rails immediately. By the end, you'll meet a 50 foot clone of Marilyn Monroe and think, "eh, I'll accept that."
It's one of sci-fi's more delightfully unhinged stories.
Completely agree. It is fucking unhinged and a great read.
I always loved the Bartimaeus books from Jonathan Stroud.
I also think if pop culture catch-up is a concern you could read Twilight and Eragon both were quite influential in my social circle at the time they were new. I have read both and I liked them too. I don’t think that they are revolutionary or the best pice of writing but they had arguably an impact.
Bartimaeus is such a great book series. One of the best books I read as a kid.
R.A. Salvatore's Icewind Dale Trilogy.
I don't know why this fell out of popular culture, but it's excellent and I haven't read a writer who writes better combat.
I haven't read this. Curious as to the combat. What makes it good? Is this one on one combat or are we talking about troops facing each other? Or both?
It's based on D&D (but doesn't require any knowledge or lean on the game strongly at all), so it's small party combat.
I just think it's so visercal, so well-defined without being dry. At all times I felt like the picture of the fights was really being painted blow by blow, including deft movements and tactical thinking. It was never "they exchanged blows," it was always "Drizzt turned in perfect time to evade the hammer's swing, and maneuvered between the legs of the larger man to send the jagged edge of his blade through the man's back," only much much better because R.A. Salvatore is 100x better a writer than I am.
Just please don't make a grimdark Drizzt clone at your next D&D game!
My rec goes to Erin M Evans' Brimstone Angels series. Another set in the Forgotten Realms starring two tiefling twins and their dragonborn adoptive father. One of the twins accidentally stumbles into a warlock pact with a devil, and the series is largely about dealing with the consequences of that.
It's so well written with excellent characters. And when the final two books go to the dragonborn kingdom of Tymanther, an area and culture comparatively unexplored by FR canon, Evans gets to really bust out her worldbuilding chops and put her background in anthropology background to good use.
The good thing is, IMO you don't need a very big investment to decide if it's right for you. If you get through the prologue of book one and aren't interested, it's not for you. Evans does an amazing job of condensing her style, tone, and themes into the prologue of her books specifically for that reason (and because the first few actual chapters are often slightly different in tone).
If you've read the 2014 PHB, you've already read some of it. The quotes in the tiefling section and dragonborn section come from the prologue to the first book and from the 4th book, respectively.
Only downside is, last time I looked, you literally cannot get the first book in paper. It's ebook or audiobook only, since it's been out of print for a long time and second-hand copies go for instance amounts. When I looked, the rest of the series was easy, but that may have changed; it's been like 8 years.
I'm not sure if you are wanting suggestions of series to be caught up on the zeitgeist or actually just good stuff to read or not. If you want good things to read that are free I recommend my two favorites. The Wandering Inn and Worm. They are both very long web serials and that is not in a lot of peoples wheel house but if you are the sort that is reading wheel of time and Stormlight Archives, then these are going to be your jam.
Worm The Wandering Inn
Just be aware that The Wandering Inn turns into the absolutely longest rambling mess of dozens of viewpount characters.
It's often lovely, but sometines it just goes on and on and on... It is roughly three times longer than the entire Wheel of Time series, and its word count surpasses War and Peace, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hunger Games combined and it is still unfinished. Pirateaba writes like a mad person.
I would say Dune. It is sci-fantasy but I think it is ok.
Some classics are Conan by Howard, Michael Moorcock's Elric books and Fritz Leiber's "Swords" books. I really like Dune as well (but that's sci fi I guess). Have fun with Discworld!
oh man I was obsessed with Conan when I was a kid. those books probably did something to my developing brain
Yep, something good, guaranteed!
I loved Fritz Leiber Swords. If you like DnD it's definitely what built lots of tropes from it. Also the episodic nature is a fun fast read
Didn't spot the chronicles of amber by Roger Zelazny in the thread, so that's my recommendation if you want a long one!
EDIT: seems somehow no one actually recommended the Foundation/Robots series by Isaac Asimov, that's the base..
That are titles I haven't heard in a long time! Literally my childhood.
Great to know there are still people of culture around!
From Zelazny, Damnation Alley is one of greatest self contained stories
I'd aslo add Dune by Frank Herbert. Out of recent two movies only first one is truly faithful to the books. They didn't do the justice in second one.
Edit: Also Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. One of the best books in my life
Seems like most of the big ones were mentioned. The glaring omission is The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Read the first one, and you'll find yourself finishing the story.
I started the first book a week or so ago. Now I’m am almost done with the third. Sooo good!
My ex was really fond of Dragonlance which is a DnD original setting. Inspired a bunch of heavy metal music I guess.
My mother is pretty obsessed with Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, which blends sci-fi into fantasy.
I can remember liking fantasy way too much as a teenager but nothing that I still think holds up now. Maybe Sabriel by Garth Nix, it was about necromancers
For sci-fi check out The Interdependency Series by John Scalzi. It's about an interstellar empire that can only navigate through wormholes that are now closing up. The last emperor foresaw this and is trying to save as many humans as possible while fending off political rivals and assassins.
For a similar series check out Foundation from Isaac Asimov. It's more of an anthology of stories over the course of a millennium but Asimov has a brilliant way of piercing the story together through the vast gaps in time.
I haven't seen anyone recommend The Expanse here so I'll go ahead and do it. The show is a faithful adaptation given the complications that came from having to change networks and deal with some... Problematic aspects of some of its actors. The book series however goes into greater detail and goes beyond the 6th season to some of the best parts of the story in books 7 through 9.
My current fantasy fix is the Cradle series by Will Wight. He's not as well known as Sanderson but he's a diligent writer and has some interesting world building and magic concepts. If you want to start off light with him you might want to check out his Traveler's Gate series, it's only three books long but has great pacing.
The Powder Mage series is a very decent military grimdark fantasy that features a world with 17th century technology and some interesting magic systems. The story's decently written but it's the battles that caught my attention the most. It's always interesting to read about how some mage soldiers do a line of gunpowder like they're sniffing coke to make bullets travel unfathomable distances and snipe out enemy generals on the battlefield.
+1 for Cradle. His current series "The Last Horizon" is great too, a fun trope filled science-fantasy.
I was looking for a mention of The Powder Mage. I've recommended that series to a handful of friends and they've all really enjoyed it. A rare 100% approval response.
The Neverending Story. Beautiful story and a deep musing on why humans need fantasy and storytelling.
I'll share my favourite part. Gmork the werewolf has revealed that, when a creature from the magical world Fantastica falls into the Nothing, it emerges in the real world as a lie.
"When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts. That's why I sided with the powerful and served them - because I wanted to share their power."
"I want no part in it!" Atreyu cried out.
"Take it easy, you little fool," the werewolf growled. "When your turn comes to jump into the Nothing, you too will be a nameless servant of power, with no will of your own. Who knows what use they will make of you? Maybe you'll help them persuade people to buy things they don't need, or hate things they know nothing about, or hold beliefs that make them easy to handle, or doubt the truths that might save them. Yes, you little Fantastican, big things will be done in the human world with your help, wars started, empires founded. . ."
For a time Gmork peered at the boy out of half-closed eyes. Then he added: "The human world is full of weak-minded people, who think they're as clever as can be and are convinced that it's terribly important to persuade even the children that Fantastica doesn't exist. Maybe they will be able to make good use of you."
Although it's more recent, my favorite fantasy novels are the first law series by Abercrombie (I suggest the audio book). It's grim dark fantasy, very pessemistic with great character work.
His newest book (The Devils) is slightly lighter and a great read. However, the First Law series is my absolute favorite by Abercrombie.
Came into the thread to recommend Abercrombie, glad to see it's already covered!
Glory Road is begging for an adaption, even tho a bunch of other stories have ripped off the premise. Like, it'll be a "new" story to you, but you're going to constantly see shit that other writers ripped off in the 60 years since it was published.
It's Heinlein pulp SciFi too, so you can legit read it all in a day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_Road
If you like that and want more, he wrote a shit ton of novels about "Lazarus Long". Like, true old school 1960s sci Fi where the books weren't telling a single coherent story, he just had to keep pumping out pages so he kept coming up with new stories.
There's also "Stranger in a Strange land" which was known as "The hippie bible" during the height of the counter-culture movement, despite being about a man raised by Martians who returns to Earth.
Just anything by Heinlein really
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is what I always recommend from Heinlein. I feel like this one in particular has stood up conceptually and thematically over time. AI, space colonialism, predatory capitalism, class revolution. It all feels very relevant.
Along the same lines as Discworld and Hitchhikers Guide, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The Amazon tv adaptation is excellent as well.
Discworld is great and so many series within it to start with, guards! Guards!, the color of magic, mort, etc really enjoyable to read. My second fav after LOTR for fantasy.
Edit: a couple more fun ones are the forgotten realms/sword coast/icewind Dale/etc d&d setting books like drizzt by r.a. Salvatore and the Diablo novelization series by Richard knaak that reads a bit like Conan the barbarian or berserk
If you're into early 20th century pulp fantasy, I highly recommend Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars and Robert E. Howard's Conan.
I'm not familiar with Jacqueline Harpman, but Left Hand of Darkness is quite fun. Not at all what I expected going in.
I'll add Lois McMaster Bujold and her Curse of Chalion to the list. Great book.
Robin hobb farseer books are great
the rainwild chronicles were my favourite
Yeah I think me as well, it's a slow start but really gets good. Fantastic character development
Chronicles of the Black Company
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials books. Hyperion (first 2 are best buy i love all 4 in the series). Read some of the classics like Philip k dick "do androids dream of electric sheep" and robert heinland's "stranger in a strange land" isaac asimov's "i robot" books and foundation series are excellent too.
Hand of the Emperor is the start of a many novel, interwoven set of stories. Calming, delightful.
Do you mean the Lays of the Hearthfire books by Victoria Goddard? I thought there were only 2 books. I need to find the others!
Yes Victoria Goddard. There are a lot of these books and they all intertwine in one universe.
I was hoping someone would mention this!! I absolutely love anything in the Nine Worlds! Not all of which is necessarily calming - Jemis, I’m looking at you 👀
I'm gonna lean into the series part here, and point at some web series:
Pale is an urban fantasy story (modern day with a magical hidden world) by Wildbow. The premise for this story is it's a murder mystery where none of the suspects is able to lie; and three girls are inducted into the magical world to solve it. This is actually the second web series of his in this world, after Pact. Wildbow is an extremely popular online author, and all his works are available online for free - his superhero stories (Worm and Ward) have influenced most of the online superhero fiction (and even some print publications) I've read since.
The Gods Are Bastards by D. D. Webb is a "high fantasy western". It follows a class of 9 students going through the premier adventuring school in the empire; about a century after magitech advances have made that unfashionable. This series is entirely free online, as are most of his other works. Book 1 of 17 has been printed and is available under the same name. This series is on hiatus partway through his final book; he's working on getting the mental space to complete it. If you read it online he's very open about his process and issues as he goes; and if you find you enjoy it, he has a few other series getting updates in the meantime!
A Practical Guide to Evil is a fantasy series where story tropes are as strong as physical laws - the Law of Threes, for example, states that if a Hero is trounced by a Villain, and then is narrowly defeated in their second encounter, they will absolutely defeat the Villain the next time they meet. It follows the adventures of Catherine Foundling, an orphan who turns Villain to carve out a better life for her people. The first book is up on Amazon, the rest of the series is still available online.
All three of these have amazing, unique characters, extensive and fascinating world building, and go long - 15+ books worth apiece, so if any grab you, pace yourself! Also, they're almost entirely available for free online!
Discworld is great, but the first few Rincewind books aren't as good as later books. Find the Discworld reading guide for help. You can't really go wrong with any top Fantasy or SciFi lists.
If you fancy a small change over to comic/graphic novels, I can highly recommend the Alan Moore run of Swamp Thing. Two years ago I would have also included Neil Gaiman's Sandman, but it seems that he's a piece of shit, so if you do want to read his stuff, please pirate it to avoid giving him any money.
Recently I've been thinking one of the best things Alan Moore has written is the original 12-issue series Top 10. It just has certain characters and events that stuck in my mind.
Ok, I know the author is full of his own ego and probably won’t finish the series in his lifetime but “A Song of Ice and Fire” series (Game of Thrones) were some amazing books. I really enjoyed the first 3 of them. He’s finished 5 of 7 so I guess that isn’t too bad.
I have to counter this. Yes, the 5 books are amazing, top notch low fantasy. 4 and 5 start to lose the plot a bit, but still good. But at this point it is unlikely that we will get an ending, and the 5th book ends with massive cliffhangersand unresolved plots. Hard for me to recommend it to someone until/unless it gets finished.
That is a fair point too. An unfinished work is a big turnoff but the ride to get there in my opinion was really good. I think that is why it makes us upset that he has not finished it. We want to know how it ends.
halfway through your first sentence I knew you were talking about Rothfus or Martin.
Most of the classics have been well covered at this point. One of the best books (and authors) I've read lately and would argue is a modern classic already is M.L. Wang's Sword of Kaigen. It is a stand alone fantasy novel set in a world similar to Avatar (the last airbender) where magic is elemental and controlled nationally. It covers the story of a young man and his mother and father, defending their village against overwhelming invading forces.
Wang's strength is in her character building: everyone is highly complex, multifaceted, and nuanced. Despite the tropey premise, the story manages to completely subvert the standard clichés and covers themes of nationalism, propaganda, grief, forgiveness, patriarchy, and identity. It also has literally the best redemption arc of any book I've ever read. Please go read it if you haven't already!
If you’re open to manga: Dungeon Meshi
NK Jemisen's The Fifth Season has some of the most beautiful prose I read in the genre. Stunning and intimate.
Came here to recommend this.
Amazing series. Totally out of the norm scifi-fantasy that's beautifully written. The kind of books you can't put down and then once you hit those last 200 pages you get anxiety about what life is going too bed like without this story on it anymore.
Hell yes. I always forget to mention it in these threads, but I absolutely loved the story.
I read Dresden Files for the first time within the last 18 months and I've been relentlessly shilling it to everyone ever since. I've been a bookworm my entire life and it's probably my favorite series I've ever read, ever. It fucking slaps, it's SO good.
I thought Butcher's other series was much better. IDK why it's called Codex Alera and not something with "Fury" in the name since that's what all the books have, but it's a more consistent series than Dresden and with better worldbuilding.
I have gone in bursts devouring those books. There's a little too much nerd boy fantasy insert in the first book. (The skinny loner who dressed bad has WAY too many beautiful women into him). But it's pulp so it's expected. Besides it gets so good.
Can't say no to gritty magic crime noir.
I have already read some excellent suggetions. Here's some of mine:
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (the Lifeship Trilogy is excellent as well)) The Many-Colored Land series by Julian May Imajica by Clive Barker
Don't bother with the Ice and Fire series by GRR Martin. The first three books are good and the rest is meh. As per the fourth book, an entirely new set of characters and storylines were introduced, without actuallly finishing the story after the first three books. The story will not be finished and that's a bummer. Life's too short and there's too much better stuff out there.
I read the farseer trilogy last year and… man it’s a tough read. Not because of the writing - I was blown away by the prose, it is incredibly evocative - but just because they’re so relentlessly harsh.
Still taking some time off before any further Hobb books for that reason alone.
Robin Hobb's books are my favorite series of all time, probably across all forms of media too, highly highly highly recommend
Terry Brooks, Shannara series (wiki/goodreads)
It's a rather extensive fantasy series and covers a prolific amount of time instead of focusing on a few characters and events (over 40 books and thousands of years basically).
Loads of great suggestions in this thread, but I feel it's missing some lighter, easy to read and fun fantasy. So, let me suggest two series:
The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist. Enough books to last you a year. Can get a bit dark at times, but the prose is really fast flowing, the books are focused on high adventure, and the characters are really likeable. The series contains a trilogy that starts with Daughter of the Empire, which features a far higher quality prose, but it's tonally so different from the other books that you may want to skip it if you liked the first trilogy (or tetralogy, depending which edition you pick up).
The Elenium trilogy by David Eddings, followed by the Tamuli trilogy. Eddings is best known for his Belgariad, but this trilogy is such a lightearted fun that I re-read it every couple of years.
Lord of the rings of course you have read it but what about a second time
I think I've got about 5 reads in ;) I tend to find books I like and reread them way too many times. I've got about 9 or 10 reads of The Witcher novels and am trying to resist pulling them out again.
Last time I recommend Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, I got crucified over it. Imma do it again. It was a formative work to me, and I frequently quote the wizards' rules. Content warning though: some scenes are quite disturbing, and some of Terry's political opinions leak into the text and are questionable at best.
Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series is another of my favorites, and I think I can recommend it without content warnings but it's been a long time since I read it so I don't really remember.
Louis McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is also very good. Scifi instead of fantasy, but how often do I get the chance to recommend books?
Gah, sword of truth. I read that, ok, so there's a hero's journey thing going on, I can dig it - suddenly BDSM fanfic!
Nope, Goodkind ain't for me. It was SO jarring!
Still, you also recommended Bujold. My fav! I'll have to check out Valdemar.
Valdemar deals with some serious stuff, but glosses over the worst of it. The torture of one main character, and the brutal burning of another, as two examples, are handled pretty well. I would still go back and read them if I didn't just remember them all so well because they're awesome. There is definitely the fantasy trope of orphan/unwanted kids getting their fantasy though, but it's appropriate for the blue fantasy genre.
...also, you should get crucified for sword of truth :P
I'll add another recommendation for The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb, it is absolute peak storytelling imo
You will get varying degrees of people crapping on A Song of Ice and Fire, because it is incomplete... But the tale telling in his books are imo, unparalleled. Ive read and reread the series several times, and it always pays off, especially if you get into the deeper storytelling that you miss on the first read. Ive finally reached a peace with the author, after hating in him like everyone else... That is because i realized that id rather live in a world with the story he started, than live in a world where i never experienced the story at all.
Last week i finished the first book of a trilogy i had never heard of, and its a damn shame it doesn't have more fans. I urge anyone who sees this to add at least the first book to their reading list. That would be Bernard Cornwell's "The Winter King". It is a retelling of the King Arthur tale, from a new angle, and i LOVED it. The first book is pretty amazing on its own, and it stands alone. I have started the 2nd book, but not gotten too far into it.
Id also like to recommend The Black Company books by Glenn Cook. These are a different slant on fantasy, and really good.
I agree.
ASOIAF is amazing, and If GRRM can't write a good ending, I'd rather the series stay unfinished than have finished it in a way that detracts from the story.
The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is a banger.
I read the chronicles as a teenager because of all the big obscure words that often ended up on the SAT exam. Helped my score. Decent story too, lol.
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander.
I'm more of an SF person, but I really enjoyed the Raksura series, by Martha Wells, about a guy who can shape shift into a sort of dragon. I'm also currently rereading the Amber Chronicles, by Roger Zelazny, and it's very good.
In case it helps any, I made a post with a giant number of spoiler-free short reviews of SF and fantasy books I've read over the last few years, and many of the books mentioned here are in them.
If you want something with low magic, everything Michael J Sullivan is writing. He's got about 18 completed books in the world of Elan, we 3 distinct series, and he's starting on a 4th one.
Ryiria Revalations - original series, 6 books, combined into 3 duplexes. first Duplex is Theft of Sword. The series starts about 3 years into Royce and Hadrian's story.
Ryiria Cronicles - His wife wanted more of Royce and Hadrian, so he wrote a prequel series starting with their first job together. 5 books currently, and we will probably get another at some point. First book is The Crown Tower.
Legends of the first empire - set 3000 years before Ryiria, making the setting late ag rev/early bronze age. 6 books, but I've only read the first 2 right when they started releasing and need to get back to the series. also has a couple novelas I just discovered.
He is now working on a sequel series to Ryiria, codenamed The Cycle, which he anticipates being a novela and 5 full books.
and now for something completely different, a sci-fi recommendation. Andy Weir is quite popular right now with the movie adaptation of Project Hail Mary coming out, but I'm going to recommend The Martian. very great scifi book, even better if your a numbers guy. Also a well done movie adaptation and the 3rd movie in the unofficial "Saving Matt Damon" trilogy, the other 2 of course being saving Private Ryan and Interstellar.
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison, 1922.
Some that I didn't see listed
Tad Williams Memory Sorrow Thorn trilogy. It starts really show, but if you make it through the first fifty pages it gets really good.
Tad Williams Otherland series is also really good, but kind of blends sci fi and fantasy.
Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
The Awakeners by Sherri S Tepper. All of her books are good, but again some of them mix sci fi and fantasy, but The Awakeners is straight fantasy.
I'll second NK Jemisin's Broken Earth series. At a dinner a friend mentioned he had just finished the second book and the dinner immediately turned into talking about how amazing the series is. Highly recommend.
Three Body Problem is hard science sci-fi with amazing storytelling. The last book sort or rushes some parts, but I think that story of works for it in the context of a story of humanity rushing at dealing with possible destruction.
I didn't see it mentioned, but the Hyperion Cantos books are more classic SciFi/fantasy but it still hit. I cried at the ending, I'm not sue I ever have before at a book.
I actually liked A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) but, obviously, an incomplete series. Still.
Very much agreed on the Broken Earth series
Great recs all around! Hyperion cantos is awesome. It's the caterburry tales....iIn space!
Ringworld is solid. Just about everything written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle is good. When they work together, you get some solid stuff.
And books by Andy Weir are all very good. But you can cheat and watch the movies.
Shannara. At least the first few.
Babel it's a fantasy historical account of oxford. It's beautiful and wonderful. The author also has a series Poppy Wars which is good but it's dark. But Babel is best.
Earthsea.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown is really popular. I'm only just started the 4th book so nobody spoil it for me. So far so good.
When Women Were Dragons a great standalone book reimaging the 1950 based on women spontaneously turning into dragons. It's a concept book where a sociality issue is examined by fantasy tropes which are fun. Worth reading if you haven't done a female perspective novel or concept novel in a while.
The Black Company by Glen Cook. It's like what if a mercenary chronicled the Vietnam war but with wizards. The next two books in the trilogy are good, too, but don't quite live up to that first. The follow up trilogy is fine, but didn't really do it for me.
The mote in gods eye
A really cool story about first contact. It was written in the 70's, and it shows in the gender and societal norms presented in the novel. If you can power through that, you're in for a treat!
Dresden Files
A novel series about a wizard detective in chicago.
Ya, he was a pos, even by the standards of the day. Dude loved his patriarchy...
Do the Dresden files get better as they go on? I'm on the 5th or 6th one and they've all been pretty samey and they're not really doing it for me.
Also the way he talks about women is cringe as hell.
Yes and no? The treatment of women gets less cringey, but the books get more-and-more convoluted. That said, I just read the recently released 18th book, and I'm still enjoying them enough to not drop the series.
I'd like to add Melissa Caruso to the list of authors. I really enjoyed the first two books of the Echo Archives series. The third book will come out in November. Haven't read her other books yet, but they're on my list.
Wheel of Time is an incredible experience, if you ever get to it and like it (especially the last few books) I'd also recommend Brandon Sanderson's first era of Mistborn books! The second era gets a bit too convoluted imo
Mistborn's getting a set of movies, and Sanderson's storm light archive a TV show (also great books).
I really enjoyed The Legend of Eli Monpress series, though it's not pop culture.
I'm going for Michael Moorcock's "Dancers at the End of Time" series. In the far future, Earth's human population is like 120 immortal people who possess science that is indistinguishable from magic, powered by some kind of Dyson Sphere. They've long forgotten how the tech works and lead lives of leisure in which their main activity is amusing each other. Although old (1970s, I think), it feels contemporary in that is has many gender-fluid elements and seems like the kind of world tech bros dream of. It has a Sci-fi premise but it's pure Famtas It's philosophical and also quite funny.
Since you like D&D, my rec goes to Erin M Evans' Brimstone Angels series. It's set in the Forgotten Realms, the default setting for 5th edition and the setting used in both the recent D&D movie and the Baldur's Gate video game series. Brimstone Angels stars two tiefling twins and their dragonborn adoptive father. One of the twins accidentally stumbles into a warlock pact with a devil, and the series is largely about dealing with the consequences of that.
It's so well written with excellent characters. And when the final two books (five and six) go to the dragonborn kingdom of Tymanther, an area and culture comparatively unexplored by FR canon, Evans gets to really bust out her worldbuilding chops and put her background in anthropology background to good use.
The good thing is, IMO you don't need a very big investment to decide if it's right for you. If you get through the prologue of book one and aren't interested, it's not for you. Evans does an amazing job of condensing her style, tone, and themes into the prologue of her books specifically for that reason (and because the first few actual chapters are often slightly different in tone).
If you've read the 2014 PHB, you've already read some of it. The quotes in the tiefling section and dragonborn section come from the prologue to the first book and from the 4th book, respectively.
Brimstone Angels is a lot tighter than some of the sprawling epic fantasy recommended elsewhere. It's comparatively easy reading compared to some of the great recommendations others have made like Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire, or Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere. It could make a good palatte cleanser between books like those, if you're so inclined. Though I found myself wanting to binge the whole thing.
Only downside is, last time I looked, you literally cannot get the first book in paper. It's ebook or audiobook only, since it's been out of print for a long time and second-hand copies go for instance amounts. When I looked, the rest of the series was easy, but that may have changed; it's been like 8 years.
Maybe a bit of a stretch, but I just got into the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and it's been fun. It's litRPG. I had never heard of the genre till a few weeks ago, but imagine playing an RPG game in book form.
It's not a book but I think everyone should watch land before time
Thanks for bringing back a mix of childhood joy and trauma
Such good recommendations so far. If you like comics, I will add:
Saga
Lucifer
And since I don't see him mentioned here: anything by Ian McDonald is wonderful, and I like everything by Mike Carey too. Not swords & dragons but fantasy books.
The Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith. The series as a whole is the defining work of Space Opera.
"Where the Red Fern Grows"
Lots of good stuff mentioned already, but nobody mentioned the Rivers Of London series yet. It is about a young police constabulary who solves crime using magic. Sounds pretty silly, but it's pretty good. The author, Ben Aaronovitch, also wrote some scripts for Doctor Who (Remembrance of the Daleks, for instance) and Blake's 7, so there's that.
The fantasy/SF line is pretty blurry. You can have dragons and robots at the same time. Others have mentioned Tad Williams and Zelazny already. I'll add Melanie Rawn for dragons and magic, Charles de Lint for Faries in the modern world, and Christopher Stasheef for witches and terrible puns. And Tim Powers for a bit of everything!
Dragons? Anne McCaffrey's Pern series is worthwhile!
I count those as SF. Romance heavy SF but still.
I thought they were fantasy for the longest time! I remember reading a later Pern book (can't recall the title anymore, sadly) where there was a computer system that got uncovered after like 600 years - surprise! SF!
Dies The Fire, S.M. Sterling
Ascendance of a Bookworm!
As a warning though, you have to be comfortable with pre-Renaissance era attitudes towards marriage.
Fourth Wing and the rest of the Empyrean series. It's technically Romantasy (romance/fantasy) and it's super popular now. But it's got good world building, dragons and sex in it. If you have never done a Romantasy it's worth a read even if you don't think you will like romance novels.
While sex is in it it was never the focus of it imho. I love the series but I do think ppl. do somewhat overstate the amount of sex that is happening. Sure it gets to be a tad bit more frequent in the later books but is not the main focus. The world building is amazing and the story is fantastic. So even if you are not too into the whole sex/romance stuff you ca enjoy the series.
That is true. Sex isn't the main focus and there's more slow building of sexual tensional and anticipation than actual sex. The world building and story is great with some great action chapters.
My wife got into reading via the sword of truth by Terry goodkind.
No speculative fiction recommendation thread is complete without mention of Peter Watts' Blindsight. Truly alien aliens, and some very interesting exploration of the nature of consciousness.
Note: I just reread your post mentioning you read Hitchhikers and Dungeon Crawler Carl and started Discworld. Leaving those in anyway because idk maybe someone else will benefit from the recommendations. Plus I’ve already taken the time to write this.
The Expanse by James S A Corey has to be my favorite sci-fi series. Fantastic space drama about humanities spread among the stars in a galaxy left behind by an extinct alien civilization.
We Are Legion (We Are Bob), aka Bobiverse by Dennis E Taylor is a very light and silly sci-fi about a nerdy dude who becomes a sentient AI and spreads out like a god among worlds.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a very detailed sci-fi written by a guy who loves entomology. It’s about humanities rise up to its space exploration and terraforming peak, and subsequent fall back to the Stone Age, and the simultaneous evolution of new life on the worlds it abandoned.
Dune by Frank Herbert of course is a must if you’re into heavy world building, deep lore, and discussions about politics, religion, and government.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and the follow up sequel by Eoin Colfer (author of Artemis Fowl) is also of course a wonderful satire on sci-fi and space. Easy read you won’t want to put down.
———
Discworld by Terry Prachett is a massive “series” that can be read in no particular order. Books all exist in the same world but are independent of each other, but there’s a timeline to them for people who read a lot of them. Personally I liked the first two books, The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, but many say not to start there as the author was still figuring out his writing. Probably Guards, Guards would be a better choice. Maybe other people have different opinions. He’s the best satirical fantasy author out there.
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, and finished by Brandon Sanderson (author of the Cosmere novels) is a massive series that has a similar feel to Tolkien at its start. Every book has you wondering how the next one could possibly get any better. 13 books and my only regret is that I can’t experience it for the first time again. Sanderson does a decent job of wrapping things up based on Jordan’s notes, tho you can tell where Sanderson adds his own touches (and characters).
Mistborn & The Stormlight Archives aka The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson is a bunch of different series of books that all tie together as they exist within the same universe. Sort of a Marvel style setup where at some point they will all come together for a massive conflict. You don’t actually have to read all the different series, but they’re really enjoyable and make you want to read the others. Each has its own unique setting and writing style and each world he creates has its own unique magic system. Definitely recommend. Great for light reading.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Absolutely read these. High entertaining. Absolutely fantastic on audiobook as well. Soundbooth Theater does such a great job on these that they will ruin you for audiobooks. Next book comes out in May and it’s being adapted into a TV show, which I’ve always felt it was really written for. Humanity is gone in the blink of an eye, aliens mine the Earth for resources, and the survivors are given a choice: live on an Earth wiped clean of all traces of civilization, or participate in a game show complete with powers, leveling, and loot for the entertainment of the wider universe.
——————- Other mentions, because I’m actually supposed to be working so I’ll be brief:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman Good Omens by Neil Gaiman Both are great for interesting fantasy’s about gods, devils, and angels.
It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis If you want something that predicted the current dystopia we are living in over 60 years ago
Have Space Suit - Will Travel by Robert Heinlein Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein Enjoyed them all for their world building.
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein note it’s very different from the movies
Armor by John Steakley Interesting to compare with Starship Troopers, but it takes a very different approach. A great sci-fi.
Vampire$ by John Steakley the $ is important in the book title do not buy a copy that doesn’t have that. Some bs with royalties where a publisher stripped that out. Spaghetti western with vampires and vampire hunting. Think there was a movie adaptation of this too, tho I never saw it.
i read the mtg lore books, that come with the cards and stuff, up until the first lorywn block. up until the nico bolas era, where he lost his powers and needed the "night".
The Incarnations of Immortality series by Alan Dean Foster. It coverers all of the main Incarnations. Death, Time, Mother Nature, War, the three fates and the Devil and an introspective God. An excellent seriese.
Incarnations is piers Antony, Alan dean foster is spellsinger (and Alien)
im a piers anthony fan and these books won't necessarily help with pop culture but he is very prolific and I feel he has some stand out work. First his geooddysey series to me is his best work but likely not recognized as so. The incarnations of immortality I would take second but is likely more generally viewed as his best and I would agree it was before geoodyseey, kirilian quest is really neat along with many of his other earlier series. His most prolific and possibly well known is xanth. One thing is over time its leaned into its main thing which is puns and is very light hearted and fanciful. If you read from the start its a bit more serious but I think he did not intend to go beyond a trilogy. Its like ti was a trilogy and then a trilogy of trilogies and now the series number in the 40's or something. I have not read them all. Another stand out is split infinity which is both fantasy and scifi. In short geodessey is a story or realy series of stories across time. incarnations is a world where magic is just another force of nature and magic and technology grew up together, kirilian quest is an intergalactic story where the speed of light cannot be exceeded by physical means, I think I explained xanth enough already.
Throne of Glass and the other books by Sarah J Maas. they're all in the same universe which is really cool
Everyone? Nothing. People have different tastes. Everyone should read the books they like.
By Nick Webb?
Or do you mean the one by James Madison & company?
Constitution by Nick Webb?
Honestly the Harry Potter series. The author is a piece of shit, so get the books from your local library, don't support her.
Nah, there are so many better options out there than Harry Potter. Life is too short to read antisemitism.
Have you read The Gilded Ones, by Namina Forna? It’s the first book in a great series, and it kicks the shit out of Harry Potter.
The Sisters Avramapul series by Victoria Goddard is another one (along with everything else in her Nine Worlds universe)
Or the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune
Derring-do For Beginners by Victoria Goddard
Edited for a word and to add another rec
Alistar Reynolds. Revelation space. if you like hard scifi.
Have you read any Murderbot? All Systems Red got me hooked (Martha Wells)