A good fantasy book? you know, wizards, dragons, princesses, that kind of stuff
Well I'm craving something in this genre but I'm a bit overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time. So many titles and yet I'm not sure what to read. Maybe you can help?
I'm looking for something in a high fantasy setting. I'm not too keen on heavy politics and war driven plots (though, I can read that ). What really gets me is interesting characters, good action and magical creatures.
I've loved anything Discworld and I've also enjoyed the First Law books by Abercrombie.
I'm finding that Tolkien, Sanderson and George RR Martin appear on every fantasy list I come across, so if you do recommend something I'd appreciate it be something other than that.
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I highly recommend the Earthsea book by Ursula Le Guin (I actually recommend all of her books) and the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Frtiz Lieber. Especially if you are looking for something that is a quick read and not a 20 book, 50 billion page series.
Also the Drizzt novels by R. A. Salvatore, while not the same level of quality, are fun.
I've read only The left hand of Darkness by Le Guin and I totally didn't cry, you understand? If at any point anyone tells you that, they're disgusting liars trying to tarnish my reputation. That aside, I really enjoyed the book and Earthsea was on my list of potential reads. I've never heard of the other recommendations, will keep in mind. Thanks
All her hainish cycle books are really good too, which is a very loosely connected shared universe, that left hand of darkness takes place in.
I recently reread The Dark Elf Trilogy after a long, long time and I still quite liked it. It's funny how differently I see the themes of the first book now than I did as a teenager.
I also remember Weis and Hickman's Draconlance Chronicles trilogy being a fun read back in the day.
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series is a good one. Unlike most authors in this genre who tend to be overly descriptive and feel the need to develop the lore of every squirrel in the kingdom, Le Guin writes really tight, well thought stories, where every word is important to the story.
Ooooh
Terry Pratchett!!
I approve of this message :)
None of the suggestions above talk about comedy fantasy. Is there anyone close to the master? GNU
The Name of the Wind By Patrick rothfuss.
Still waiting on that third book 5o come out though. It's only been 17 years. It'll happen any day now. 🥲
My luck it'll come out the day after I die.
No worries, if you die before me ill come read it at your grave for you.
That's a good incentive to hang around as a ghost. Unfinished business.
At least we have a novella coming out in 2 weeks....
But Rothfuss still owes us the full cast reading of the first few chapters of Doors of Stone. That he set as a fundraiser goal two years ago and promised would be available the following February!
Yeah I've given up hope of it ever coming out. Although the bast novella seems interesting.
My personal favorites are the Assassin series, starting with Assassin Apprentice by Robin Hobb.
Some of the best most heartfelt characters I have read in any modern fantasy, with a brilliantly unique type of magic and adventure. There is some political intrigue, especially within the first trilogy, but it isn't overly burdened by it.
The whole series has continued to be a heavily character driven emotional roller coaster that I would love to be able to forget just so I could read them again for the first time.
My wife got me to read the first trilogy, they're pretty good. There's also some weird writing at times that made me think it was very much "men writing women". And a weird scene at the end of book 3 where >!Fitz (nephew) and Verity (uncle) do a Freaky Friday body swap so Verity could fuck his wife while in his nephew's body and impregnate her.!< I didn't read the other books lol.
To be fair, I've read all of Wheel of Time and loved the series, and while it's not as bad as Discworld, it's still pretty weird and misogynistic at times.
You are the first person I ever know to say Discworld is bad. It's usually love, ignorance or indifference with Pratchett's work, may I ask why the hate?
It's definitely good and entertaining, but I found it almost distracting how he described women. I've been told it was actually intentional, like he was making fun of other fantasy tropes, but it sorta turned me off to it. I only read Color of Magic.
Colour of Magic is the first Discworld, and one of Pratchett's first novels. He grew into his voice a lot more over the course of the next fifty-something novels.
Most of the strongest, most unique women I've read have been of Pratchett's creation. And not just heroes that happen to be described as female, but fully fleshed out women ranging from feminists who wish to support their husband to trans females pretending to be males dressing as women in order to fight the patriarchy.
If you're willing to give the Discworld another go, and I urge you to, there's a couple of reading order guides online. 'Guards, Guards!' is generally recommended as a good starting point, but I'd also suggest Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Going Postal, or if you really want to dive into the gender thing, Equal Rites or Monstrous Regiment.
There is a massive variety of female characters in Pratchett's work and they are so different I'm not even sure what you mean by that. Sure, some are bimboes or twats but I can also recall cunning, resourceful, and smart ones, and in particular the older characters such as the witches really stand out. Male characters are subject to the same amount of variety so I'm surprised at your take on gender. He does have a very stylised approach though, cartoonish in many ways and fair enough if that's not your thing.
I appreciate you being a perfectly reasonable person and understanding that people have different tastes in books lol. Cheers
Robin Hobb is a woman, though
I'm aware, that's why it's surprising.
You might want to look at Robin Hobbs' work.
+1 for Cradle already mentioned. I'd add
I always upvote Riyria Revelations
I love king's little 80's music references. The sequal is coming out at some point.
I've heard the Wheel of Time stuff is pretty good. Piers Anthony's Xanth novels were popular long ago, but he has sort of disappeared (I just looked him up, and he's probably just retired). I've personally read the Black Cauldron books and enjoyed them quite a bit. Robert Aspirin's Myth books can be fun. Hopefully there is something new to you in that list!
+1 for Piers Anthony, the xanth stuff gets the most attention but he has some other good stuff, the battle circle trilogy was pretty cool
Lots of good recommendations here. I'll just leave some +1s for a few I've seen here that I've enjoyed.
Blacktongue Thief: A thief tries to rob the wrong warrior and gets wrapped up in a quest to a distant land besieged by giants. The first of a trilogy, but the ending gives you enough closure to be a standalone read while also setting up where the story will go. Personally, I enjoyed the first-person narration which gives you a colorful look at a somewhat non-conventional fantasy world, although it's still fantasy. If you liked Abercrombie then you might like this. There's a similar focus on flawed characters trying to do the best they can. There is some war and politics but they are firmly in the background and far from the main focus.
Legends and Lattes: A retired adventurer opens up a coffee shop in a land that has never heard of coffee. I'm not sure if "cozy fantasy" was a thing before this book, but it's been held up as an archetypal example. The plot is low-stakes and focuses on the characters and the difficulties of running a small business. Makes a good palate-cleanser between denser reads. No war or politics.
Kings of the Wyld: A retired group of adventurers has to come together for one last job after their leader's daughter ends up trapped in a city besieged by monsters. Admittedly how much you enjoy this one depends on how novel you find the idea of adventuring groups being treated as rock and roll groups. Like literally being a stand-in for rock and roll bands with groupies, managers, and all of that. I've seen some criticism that the book doesn't have much going for it beyond that which is a bit unfair. Following a bunch of middle-aged heroes past their prime was refreshing and I think the author did some interesting things with the main character who only uses a shield in combat and whose main motivation is to make it back to his wife and daughter in one piece. Very little war and politics.
Also, I don't think he's been recommended but you might want to check out Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy. Admittedly it's not typical high fantasy and it is somewhat heavy on war and politics, but if you liked the grittier, grounded feel of Abercrombie then you might like it. It is arguably darker though and the main character straddles the line between dark anti-hero and outright villain protagonist for at least the first book. But it might be worth checking out if you really liked the First Law trilogy.
I 2nd Kings of the Wyld. Sequal coming out soon.
Legends & Lattes was fun too, and the sequal 'Bookshops and Bondust' is similarly fun.
Does Stormlight Archive count?
If you can get past the first 700 pages of book one then yes.
I'd say it counts, but only start that series if you both love LOTR-style epic fantasy and you're willing to wait for the other 6 books to come out. There's only 4 released now and while I love them to death, they're very story thick and not for everyone. I wouldn't recommend starting Brandon Sanderson with that series for that reason. Try Yumi and the Nightmare Painter or Tress and the Emerald Sea - both came out this year and they are a bit lighter reading, they're very good, and both are a great introduction to the way Brandon writes. If you liked either of those then you'd probably love Stormlight.
I've read Mistborn and I don't think Sanderson is for me. I know he's very a very popular author though.
To each their own. However, I've read all of Brandon Sanderson's books and I can definitively say that the writing style changes between Mistborn and other novels that are more recent are massive. Mistborn was good but it was his first published book. The more recent releases are a bit more easy to read. Tress even has a dragon in it. However if you're not interested at all, try reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. It's great magic fantasy set on Earth. However a similar warning applies - the first few books are a bit of a slog. If you read these, maybe start on book 3 - the first two aren't as story centric.
I appreciate the information! I might try again sometime with Sanderson but not right now. I've heard others recommend me Dresden too, it sounds interesting.
I too do not enjoy Sanderson. GRR Martin has a series of books called the hedge knight. They are not exactly fantasy but medieval fiction taking place in the game of thrones universe. The tone and writing is very different from aSoIaF so don't shy away if you aren't into those. Pretty short but I found them to be very endearing books and might scratch the itch.
It's weird I can't recommend a single 'traditional' fantasy book despite being quite interested in the genre. I've never found one that combines good world building with a writing style I enjoy. Quite sad to think about tbh.
Alright, which ones have you read that would fit the category but you didn't enjoy?
Wheel of time, Name of the wind, Malazan, the broken sword, eyes of the dragon, the gilded chain, wizard of eathsea.
Admittedly not that many, I guess part of the problem for me is finding ones that look interesting.
Dresden is great, though it starts weak. Like the first 3-5 books are merely OK. But if you get through those, Butcher gets pretty awesome IMHO.
nothing wrong with not caring for a book or author that everyone else seems to love. I have a list of books I DNF'd that are VERY popular. It is what it is.
His 1st written book elantris was way way too rough for me. But so far that's the only one of his books i didn't care for.
'Glory Road' by Robert A. Heinlein. Takes all the common fantasy tropes and kicks them in the nads.
I love how the other races don't trust Humans, because we are always in "mating season" and they lose their minds during theirs, so assume we are always loopy because of ours.
I can't remember the work, but a father is talking to his daughter on her 11th birthday. She's a very smart and mature child. Dad says that he's sorry but they aren't going to be able to have great conversations any more, because she's going to start maturing and will go completely insane. The daughter promises that she'll always love and respect him. The next scene is her gothed out, swinging a chainsaw at the family dog.
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Nice.
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini! I've read it too many times. It's a really good hero's journey and the characters are all really interesting. Plus it's focused on dragons and magic and elves and dwarves, lots of cool creativity that goes on in the world. And I just really enjoy Paolini's world-building. He's very good at it and it stays consistent. There are two wars that I remember, one is a small-scale thing that sets a lot of events in motion, and the other is the big climax at the end of the series. It's my favourite series next to The Dark Tower. I'd highly recommend it!
I'll add a +1 to some mentioned:
It isn't so much dragons, but it it is fantasy. The Cradle series by Will Wight is phenomenal. If you're a fan of audio books they are all available in that format also, narrated by Travis Baldree
loved the series but peaked at wintersteel, that ending sequence is so damn good
bloodline was kinda weak
Audiobooks, nice. Will keep in mind. Thanks!
Travellers Gate series by Will Wight is also good.
Legends and Lattes might be some easy lovable reading if you're looking for low stakes character-driven fantasy. It's very low on action, but there is some.
A former adventuring hero orc swordsman decides to retire to open a coffee shop, collecting a cast of local misfits to help make her dreams a success. It's light but basically D&D meets Stardew Valley if that makes sense.
Never heard of Stardew Valley, but will keep in mind. Thanks
You're welcome. Hope you enjoy it if you end up checking it out!
I advocate to expand people's thinking of the fantasy genre beyond the usual Euro-centric elves, dwarves, and wizards type stuff.
As such, a fantasy book I recommend is based off of Persian magic and setting is called The Wrath and the Dawn. It is based off of the Arabian Nights legend of that region.
Well, my other recommendation is not a book because it was a web comic, BUT, it fits the fantasy genre. What makes it unique is the fantasy elements are based off of Aztec gods and magic. It is called Leyendas: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/leyendas/list?title_no=63874
There is another fantasy web comic with middle eastern elements called Suihira The City of Water: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/suihira-the-city-of-water/list?title_no=39385
Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. On par with Tolkien and Martin IMHO
Came here to recommend this. Favorite fantasy books of all time.
Definitely for people who like verbose fantasy books though.
I really liked the Night Angel series, The Way of Shadows is the first book.
I was also going to recommend Night Angel.
OP, it's a book about a gutter rat that becomes trained as an assassin by the best, then evolves into a bit more fantasy and magic and the endgame of being the world's best assassin.
David Gemmell's Legend.
He was from a rough upbringing and thought he was going to be dying of cancer and wrote a book about an aged hero of old who was now past his prime.
It was a misdiagnosis and he went on to write a lot more.
They are all excellent, and different enough from what you normally end up reading in the genre to be worth a look. There's a bit of a more rawness to his books I really enjoy.
Eyes of the dragon by Stephen King. Its an excellent fantasy novel ... Not a horror novel. The antagonist, Flagg, is the same wizard in the dark tower series and the stand, though those don't have dragons and such in them.
there's one, it's mounted on the wall :D
Is it safe to assume you've read the name of the wind and wise man's fear? HURRY UP AND FINISH YOUR SERIES ROTHFUSS, please
No, it's not safe to assume. Can you sell it to me? What's so great about it?
It's a story within a story within a story. It's like Harry Potter and Arabian nIghts made a super baby and it's all narrated by young man who has done so much. Rothfuss does amazing world building, from different currencies, to how religion shapes a society, to little learned idioms. The main character explains a lot of his reasoning for thinking the way he does, but be sure to pay attention to choice of words our author uses. It's an amazing ride the first read through, and you will find nuggets of gold and silver during your subsequent reads.
I hope you see you on the road to Tinue. It is the way.
+1 for this incomplete series, it got my girlfriend into the fantasy genre for books. We are all going mad waiting for the finale that will never come!
Let me sell you on not reading it (yet): it's two extremely well crafted and lovable fantasy books and some beautiful novellas, but the author will (likely) never finish the series and has been pretty awful about it. It's been well over a decade, his editor has called him out on not having written anything in that time, and there have been some other controversies such as repeatedly using the promise of progress on his book to raise money for a charity he runs but then not delivering on those promises.
The books are a trilogy and not satisfying without an ending that may never come. If he finishes this trilogy then it's a must read. But until then it's a cautionary tale.
I REALLY appreciate the warning. I hate getting stuck in a series waiting to finish, but walking in blindly makes it all the worse.
I don't really agree with this pitch. Each of the two books tell a great story that could be argued to be complete in its individual telling. Yes there is an over arching story that ties their telling together and remains incomplete but that doesn't matter given the the told tale in each is complete. I've read through each multiple times and will read them again regardless of whether or not the third is completed.
So many suggestions possible with that prompt.
I might suggest the Vlad Taltos series, starting with Jhereg, by Steven Brust. Reaslistic characters, snappy dialog, interesting premise of human's status in the society, and a pretty far-out series of villains. It comes down to more or less a first person assassin- / intrigue-based plot with cleverly set-up who-dunnit elements here and there, and an overarching storyline, and a good sense of the universe.
Some good suggestions in this thread. If you want even more options - I have been tapping into this Slashdot thread for a decade now, and it's still giving me winners - which might not work for you, mind (e.g ."Little, Big" by Crowley, it led me to "To Reign in Hell" also by Brust, "Jack of Shadows" by Zelazny,)
Yay Dragaera! More people need to read about Vlad Taltos!
Thanks for the suggestion and link!
Malazan book of the fallen is the best epic fantasy series I've ever read
Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn series by Tad Williams is my all time favorite. I also noticed that I relate to different characters as I age which makes rereading it a fun experience.
@Aviandelight @Mothra This is a great series. I recently did a re-read and it still holds up.
Just out of curiosity, why haven't you read Tolkein?
I've started with LOTR and I found the style a bit too dense and with too many songs scattered here and there which... aren't my thing.
I one hundred percent acknowledge the writing is good, the story must have been original back then and all but it didn't grip me. Later the movies came up and they scratched the itch for knowing what happened with the story. I know the books are much better fleshed out than the movies but if I didn't finish them before watching the movies I doubt I can be bothered now. Part of what keeps me hooked is not knowing how the story will end.
Start with Hobbit. :)
Currently rereading the Belgariad and will likely go straight into the Mallorean. Probably my favourite "traditional" fantasy series.
But my all time favourite fantasy series is The Death Gate Cycle by Weiss and Hickman. But is very much not your traditional fantasy setup. It's got wizards, dragons, elves, etc... but in very very non-traditional worlds. Can't recommend it enough.
cut my teeth on this series, I’ve read the whole thing 3 times
still my favorite story opening about Pol’s kitchen
Sorry, which one of the two series you are talking about? Just to know to which you are giving the +1
He's talking about the belgariad/malloreon, by David Eddings. It seems like he may not have read the second paragraph mentioning the death gate cycle, hence the confusion.
The Belgariad is a series of 5 books, and the Malloreon is a sequel series which is also 5 books.
it’s the same story, start with the belgaraid
starts with pawn of prophecy
@Adderbox76 @Mothra Love the Death Gate Cycle, would also recommend it. It feels a bit like the prototype for Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere.
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] Yes! I recently started it and I was floored by all the Cosmere-ish stuff in the first few chapters, down to names and everything.
Also my brother used to name his video game characters Haplo, so there are core memories involved here.
Incredibly, no one on 17thShard or the Cosmere reddits seem to know this series, but I do not think the similarities are coincidences, given Brandon's first unpublished book being essentially a Dragonlance story.
I paused Death Gate Cycle to catch up on shorter backlog stuff (and yet another Sanderson book), but I'll have to prioritize finishing it now that I saw this thread ❤️
I've always felt like the magic systems and cultures of the Patryns and Sartans were deserving of their own expanded universe. I was desperate to learn more about them and was sad that they were only ever in that one series.
I remember the versions I read had a sort of encyclopedia at the back of every book in the series dealing with some aspect of another of the world and I devoured those obsessively
The Diamond Age kinda counts?
Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, david eddings are all good too, and unfortunately all have passed away so dont expect more books!
I tried Goodkind's Sword of Truth series and I enjoyed the first book, but DNF the second. Will try the other two, cheers!
Let me know how it goes, even if its months from now. Happy reading!
The Myth Books by Robert Aspirin.
They are like The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison, but fantasy. Both are pretty much unknown, sometimes dated, yet they can occupy one for thousands of pages with it's humor and intense narrative.
Myth Inc gets stale near or after coming to Aaz's New York planet, tho. But that's 7 or 8 books deep, so doesn't matter much.
I really liked audiobooks. I guess they were from Audible? I'm not a native speaker, yet it was easy to follow while doing manual labor and no author's joke got spoiled. Voice acting for Aaz and Masha was super cool.
Patricia C Wrede. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. The titles for the series are below:
Fantasy stories with each book centered around one protagonist and a meta take of your usual fairy tales. And includes wizards, dragons, princesses too.
Hm, not keen on heavy politics or war. Was gonna recommend Malazan: Book of the Fallen but the first book starts out in a war. Still, good book, you might enjoy it.
Second book is a little different than what you're describing. Fool Moon from the Dresden Files series. Pulpy magical detective noire set in modern times, where magic is sort of accepted as a real thing.
I love these books so much. Well, Malazan is what I was referring to.
Both are great series.
The humor in Malazan reminds me of the first law. I hate politics for the most part, and war, but the war and politics aren't really the focus. They're kinda the setting for telling a lot of smaller stories.
Malazan is a slog. Definitely don't read unless you want to power through imo. I've tried multiple times and while I think it's well written I never seem to stay hooked. So many character/location changeups early in the book and none of them hooked me.
Probably the best book I've never finished though?
Magician,and searching this I see they're making a TV series, 🤯
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magician_(Feist_novel)
A little late to this post, but I re-read those again during COVID. One of my favourite series :)
First I've hears of a series though...
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
Ah this book! I've read The Lesser Dead by the same author and was impressed with the quality. I've had the Blacktongue Thief in mind for a while, but I've heard it's part of a trilogy and I'd rather wait for it before jumping on it. In the meantime I'll keep Those Across the River in reserve for whenever I feel like reading about werewolves.
The Belgariad and The Malloreon by David Eddings. His books have classic D&D feel, light reading with bits of humor.
Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. A massive plotline (all books already written so no need to wait), very dark, superb characters.
assasins trilogy is among my favorite
last trilogy starting with bee is kinda bad
the final book reads too much like pandering to fans
Hobb has great books and books with whiney paralyzed main characters which can be a slog
::: spoiler Fitz and the Fool trilogy spoilers I like Bee and her story, I don't like that most of the plot could be ended in no time if only the characters bothered to talk with each other (it looks forced to keep them from contacting in time). The end is a good closure for this saga. :::
I'm saving this thread for later because I'm interested in this genre, I am totally new to books, I haven't even read LOTR, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones or House of the Dragons books, I have only consumed that through the movies and TV Shows, but seems like there are some really neat suggestions here.
Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a refreshing take on classic fantasy themes!
The Eragon series? It's not that heavy fantasy, but the world is pretty nicely built IMO.
Also, on the wizardy side, I can recommend the Bartimaeus books, too, if you liked Discworld. Again, nothing super serious, but they are fun reads. (Best to read from physical books, they are heavy on footnotes and I found it reading on e-readers kinda awkward)
I'm currently reading the Bound and Broken series by Ryan Cahill. Seems pretty solid. It has dragons, wizards, other magical creatures, elves, dwarves... There is some war, but it's largely a coming of age story centered around an 18-20 year old man.
My longtime favs (apart from LOTR by Tolkien) are:
Michael Moorcock's Elric books tick all of the boxes in your list. So do his Corum and Hawkmoon books.
I came to recommend this. I love that series and never see anyone talking about it.
Tad Williams is the author.
Mistborn is great, less dragons and more alchemical science. Begins with a satisfying tale of overthrowing the government, and then tackles some of the “okay… now what” with tons more interesting stuff along the way
Also great if you are a fan of raising a single eyebrow
I've read it an it's not my cup of tea. The worldbuilding and premise were solid, but the characters fell flat and so did the plot by end of the book. I finished it and felt relieved it was finally over. I think I might try other authors before reading Sanderson again, that's why I've listed him as a please don't recommend.
Sorry m8 didn’t expand the read more to see that. Good luck
NPRs top 100 scifi and fantasy books.
https://imgur.com/a/zHxdYSF
I googled it instead. Loving the first few entries. Specifying only the first Ender book but the entire (Frank Herbert) Dune series is 👌. The fact that the rest of the Dune series is mostly ignored is criminal. The first book is far from the best and the series varies so much in setting and tone that it stays interesting to me after many readings.
I cannot for the life of me get that image to load at a readable resolution. Imgur how far you have fallen...
Should get out of that habit.. Hopefully this is better.
https://pixelfed.social/p/thelastknowngod/624885702810365387
There is a book anthology called Rogues, complied by Phyllis Eisenstein. It is a compilation of short stories from various writers across many disciplines. While there is a lot of different stories, they all come back to a character who is deceitful in character you can't help but root for them a bit.
Check out dungeon crawler Karl and he who fights with monsters! Can also find them in audio book format 👌
Dungeon Crawler Carl was great, I'm waiting for the next book. Lol. Haven't read He Who Fights, why is it good?
The main character is a Japanese guy who's in Australia and the narrator of the audio book is Australian. The humor was on point for me and the magic and abilities that three MC gets are dark and horrific but he is such a funny silly guy it's hard to expect what he will do haha. Very fun story and cool abilities. Several books long as you won't be waiting years either 👌
Rightyo mate, that's all I needed to hear! Cheers
Reading Wheel of Time and I'm really enjoying it
One for the Morning Glory by John Barnes
The King of Elfland's daughter, by Lord Dunsany
The Reyira Revelations Is great fun. Five Gods is an outstandingly well-written series.
Yay, Riyria Revelations! Sullivan's books got me back into a love for Fantasy
I just finished Dragon Weather by Lawrence Watt-Evans. It's got the dragons, magic, adventure and intrigue while also getting the main plot going almost immediately, which I like because I feel the beginnings of books from this genre can drag on forever. It's also a trilogy, so there's more if you like it. Currently I'm reading Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen, and it's interesting so far because it is fantasy, but there's a science fiction element to it which is fun.
You say fantasy, but while technically sci fi, I'd like to suggest the galactic milieu series by Julian May. It starts out sci fi and I guess constantly has sci fi elements but leans pretty heavily into bridging the gap to fantasy (elves, dwarves, shapeshifting monsters, magic etc)
I'd recommend David Eddungs' Belgariad. Got me into fantasy genre. Then there's Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan, Raymond, E Feist (brilliant), Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy. So many good things out there. If you enjoyed Discworld you'll enjoy these too even though they're not comical like Pratchett novels are.
Have you considered Kate Elliott novels? Jaran was amazing if you like sci-fi/fantasy crossover, or King's Dragon if you like pure fantasy. If you prefer easier reading check out the Dragonriders of Pern series.
Irene Radford The Dragon Nimbus series. I read it ages ago and have fond memories.
You should get on goodreads and look up books you loved to see what else is recommended from people who also read that book. I find great ones that way!
Otherwise I absolutely could not put “Forth Wing” down by Rebecca Yarros! The second book (five are expected) comes out in a week or two. A friend recommended it and it was so good I fell into a slump afterwards trying to find something as exciting.
Oh also the Demon Cycle series by Peter V Brett was a fun romp. I like the way the author built a pretty unique world with a lot of different aspects to it. He did a good job of switching the point of view across characters to challenge perspective.
Lots of good suggestions already. I might recommend Uprooted by Naomi Novik, The Story of Silence by Alex Myers, or The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark.
David Eddings? I read him way back when I was a kid (~35 years ago). Think the series was called The Belgariad or Belgarion. The first 3-6 books were fun in a light yet captivating, magicy, fantasy way.
I second this! There are two series in the world: The Belgariad and The Mallorean. Both are really good, and there's two standalone books that are intended to be read after both series called Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.
The books are pretty much classic high fantasy, and each one is a fairly quick read!
you started way too high the quality list imo
Doesn't hit your checklist point by point, but I think it's impossible to go wrong with the Recluce books if you haven't read them. (Most recent was published in 2021 which was news to me - guess I have some catching up to do!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_of_Recluce
It's very polarizing, as in some people love it and some people absolutely hate it, but Stephen Donaldson's "Thomas Covenant" books are among my favorite. Not so keen on the later volumes, but the first two trilogies are amazing.
I know he said specifically no heavy politics, but Thomas covenant is pretty heavy and dark. The tale is good, it can be hard reading in parts though given the protagonist. If you like the exploration of the antihero, the gap series by Stephen Donaldson is pretty solid too.
I will forever evangelise Practical Guide to Evil. Great high fantasy that does a wonderfull job at using the building block of stories to your advantage.