BREAKING NEWS: Harry Potter is not the only series out there!

[MalachiConstant]

(in fact, i'd classify it as children's lit before fantasy lit.)

i really just got tired of looking at this group and seeing nothing but harry potter posts.

so, what would get your vote for best classic fantasy series?

lord of the rings? chronicles of narnia? chronicles of thomas covenant? something else?

please anything but harry potter.

[semillama]

1. Lord of the Rings

It defined everything.

Other classic series have to include the Shannara books, Donaldson's works, Zelanzy's stuff, the Pern books, and then there's the newer authors that will be considered classics in time: Tad Williams, George R. R. Martin, and Robert Jordan.

I think that perhaps there should just be a Harry Potter group, or that we should start a campaign to have the HP people "adopt a fantasy author" apart from JK Rowling. I have nothing against HP, i enjoyed teh books, but I would enjoy them even more if I knew that they led readers into more mature examples of the genre! A good starting point for them would be Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Think we should start chatting that one up?

[MalachiConstant]

2. i missed the shannara books

i've read a couple of those. i thought they were excellent books, but i've never really liked when an author starts a "series" (and usually they proclaim it to be a series) and all of the books are completely independent of one another. Is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell worth picking up?

it certainly seems that there would be enought hp threads to fill a new group. i've seen all the movies and read all the books, i actually consider myself to be a pretty big HP fan. however, it seems that the only threads ever posted here pertain to HP.

i'd have to agree with you on tolkien. he alone defined the fantasy lit genre and made it what it is today.

[semillama]

3. JS/Mr.N is definitely worth it

My fiance describes it as "Harry Potter For Adults" (although she is vehemently opposed to adults reading harry potter, so I'm not sure if that's the best description). However, i can very easily see HP fans digging this book. Much different approach to magic than HP, seems more "british" than HP, which seems to really not get into the history of the particular magic system in use but seems to just cobble together all the popular conceptions of magic (wands, potions, broomsticks, magic words).

[yellowdogintexas]

4. A Song of Ice and Fire...4 books and ongoing!

also Robin Hobbs' triple trilogy:
Farseer Trilogy
Lives of the Liveship Traders
Tawny Man Trilogy

Fionaver Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kaye

[Salviati]

5. Robin Hobb has a new book out now

The first in the Soldier Son Trillogy, called Shaman's Crossing, and it's a great read as you'd expect...

[Beetwasher]

12. Yup, I Read It

Pretty good.

[MalachiConstant]

7. i liked hobbs

i read the first trilogy, i need to pick up the next. did you have a favorite of his?

i never could get into george rr martin. he just jumps around too much for me. i liked that about hobbs. i like being able to consistently follow one character.

[yellowdogintexas]

10. I loved all of Robin Hobbs' books. Each trilogy captivated me

differently.

Bonus: each trilogy stands alone but ultimately they are intertwined.

Give Martin another chance, he has created some extraordinary characters

[MalachiConstant]

16. maybe i'll think about returning to martin.

i have a lot of books i'm waiting to get to right now. so many books, so little time...

[semillama]

25. I just picked up Hobbs' Farseer trilogy

and I'm really impressed. It's really good, well written and engrossing. I'd highly recommend it.

[MalachiConstant]

26. the second series about fitz is pretty good too

definitely worth checking out

[k_jerome]

34. song of ice and fire is awesome...

when is the next book due. this series almost rivals LOTR for me.

[politicat]

6. The Dark Tower series, the Kindath world series - Guy G. Kay, Gormenghast

My loves first: The above three (explanations below) and the honorable mentions:
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, Robin McKinley's Damar novels. Lord Dunsany's works. I'm working my way through The King of the Elves and the Far Reaches right now, so I don't really have an opinion right now; I liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but if you don't like Jane Austen or the Neal Stephenson Baroque Cycle books, you won't like JS&MN.

I will admit that I'm a secret fan of the idea of the western. I don't like most of the ones I've seen or read, but there's something in the mythos that catches in my imagination. (Thus, I love Firefly, the Dark Tower, some of Connie Willis' more light SF, and a great deal of steam punk) I like anything that has an internal consistency and a full world mythos. The gunslinger caught my eye from book one, and has held my attention, even though I am not a fan of gore in general. I also liked the Talisman-Black House duology king wrote with Straub.

I am utterly enchanted with Guy Gavriel Kay's world that is one half-step over from ours (Not Fionvar. It's... okay.) But I am a history geek, so it speaks to me in ways that it might not for others. The novels set in the world (and loosely related, but in no way dependent upon each other) are The Lions of Al-Rassan, A Song for Arbonne, The Sarantine Mosaic, and The Last Light of the Sun) draw closely on this world's medieval history - there are vikings and muslims who invade spain and let the jews live there in something like peace; there are albigensian heresies and fairy woods and welsh christians who would unite a fractious island under one rule of light and learning... For a history buff, they're pure enjoyment. Tigana may be part of the same world, but if so, it's in a section where magic is more prevalent. It's a good story, too, though.

Gormenghast is ... it just is. It's worth the investment of mental energy.

For non-medieval setting fantasy, I'd have to go with Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman. I hope to hell he gets around to writing the sequel one of these days, along with getting the short story "How the Marquis de Carrabas got his Coat Back". He's been promising these forever.... (or since 2002 or so...)

Now for my "A book club meeting on these would be torture" list....

Narnia bored me as a child and bored me when I tried to pick it up as an adult.
I hated Thomas Covenant. What an utterly unlikeable MC... DH likes them, but he's a bit of a masochist when it comes to his escapist literature.

LOTR - I loved until the LOTR fanistas decided it was great fun to exsanguinate the book in their sudden but inevitable quest to destroy Peter Jackson. It became painful for me after that...

Shannara is LOTR regurgitated after a long night of drinking peppermint schnapps with tequila chasers. The franchise has gone on far too long and Brooks should be banned from a typewriter until he comes up with a new plot. Same goes for RA Salvatore and all of the other D&D hacks.

I feel sorry for Mercedes Lackey and her sycophants (holly lisle, tamora pierce, elizabeth moon, etc). Most of them had a good first novel - or even first series - and then lost the spark to tell new stories so they keep regurgitating the same old D&D campaign stuff. (Also, H. Lisle is a big time rethug.)

And for the stuff that doesn't exist but I wish it did:

I always wanted to read the juvenalia that the Brontes wrote - supposedly, it was some stirring fantasy.

I've always wanted to read the stories that Anne Perry and her friend wrote that led them to murder her friend's mother when they were teenagers. (The story of that is well done in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, if you're interested.)

[MalachiConstant]

8. stephenson's quicksilver bored me to tears

i received it as a gift and just couldn't get more than a few hundred pages in. i usually try to stick it out, but i made an exception in this case. i'm not so sure about the western thing. i did read king's "the stand" and i thoroughly enjoyed it. i usually try to steer clear of horror, i'm quite the wuss.

i enjoyed sword of shannara, but i was disappointed when i had to start fresh in book 2. i think i stopped reading. i do like the cliched "quest" plot. i just never get sick of it. one of my favorite's is eddings belgariad. i'm not sure if the dragonlance series falls under this, but i did like the first weis/hickman books. i never checked out any of the other d&d stuff though

the narnia books are so quick that i don't get too bored with them. i think if they dragged on any longer i might though. and i'd have to agree with you on donaldson, thomas covenant is just a miserable bastard. i just couldn't sympathize with him as a protagonist.

and, it's grown quite apparent that i need to check out guy gavriel kay's stuff. he seems to be getting some pretty high praise.

[XemaSab]

13. stephenson's cryptonomicon was THE WORST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ

seriously.

But I really liked Snow Crash and Zodiac. Go figure.

[semillama]

14. I take it you haven't read any Terry Goodkind

Sword of Truth series - talk about derivitive hack work. wow.


Robin Hobb's first book in the assassin trilogy is on my shelf of books to read, looking forward to that.

[MalachiConstant]

15. actually, i have

i used to really enjoy goodkind's books. at some point a few books ago he decided his books were social commentaries and not entertaining fantasy books though. since then it's all been downhill. i'll still pick them up, i'm just not as excited about them anymore. i used get them as soon as they were released, but now i'll hold out for the paperback.

another series that has gone downhill is jordan's wheel of time. i think the series has just dragged on too long. the first five or six books were fast-paced and really excited. each of them was eventful and seemed to span a great amount of time in which a lot of things occurred. the last five seem like they take place in days instead of weeks or months and nothing seems to happen.

eventually i think i'll pick up hobbs's other trilogies, but the farseer trilogy was definitely a good read. pick it up when you can.

[Mist]

30. I haven't read Snow Crash or Zodiac, and picked up Cryptonomican

a couple of times, so haven't finished it, yet. What's interesting is that Stephenson wrote Crytonomicon first, then did the System of the World trilogy as back-story to Cryptonomicon. I LOVED the System of the World trilogy--have read it through twice. Stephenson has a real flair for historical fiction, the real kind, rooted in plenty of research. I feel bound to finish Crytonomicon because it involves the decendents of some of the characters in System of the World.

[Ariana Celeste]

9. I love the Dark Tower series!

I just finally got to read the last 3 books, after having read the first 4 several times each. Now I just need to get my hands on the first 4 again (left my books behind when I flew here) and read them all in order. And it makes his other books more interesting, too- reading them while keeping eyes out for connections. I love it!

[LWolf]

11. Ok.

I wouldn't vote for "best." I don't believe in one "best" or one "favorite." Kind of like asking a mom to vote one of her kids "best" or "favorite." Some well-loved series that live on my shelves include:

Lackey's "Valdemar" books

Le Guin's "Earthsea," and other solos

McKillips "Riddle Master" series, plus some other solos

DeLint's loosely connected books about Newford

Young adult "Inkheart" series by Cornelia Funke

McCaffrey's "Pern"

And a tribute to Andre Norton, who died this year. While not the best "literature," she wrote nearly a century's worth sci-fi and fantasy; short, engaging, easy reads with simple plots, under the androgynous "Andre," before other women were writing fantasy.

<snip>

Today she is one of SF-F's most lauded female authors, the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and the Nebula Grand Master Award.

Her success paved the way for other women to write in those fields. Writers such as C.J. Cherryh, Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey are inheritors of Andre Norton's legacy.

http://www.andre-norton.org/index.html

She has a dedicated shelf.

[blindpig]

17. China Mieville

Perdido Street Station, Scar, Iron Council. Not really a series but connected. Some for the most creative stuff I've seen in decades. Iron Council is admittedly a bit heavy handed on the socialist message.

LOTR is still the best.

[Walt Starr]

18. The Thomas Covenant Series by Stephen R. Donaldson

Truly an adult Fantasy Epic.

[lazarus]

19. Have you picked up the new one?

Runes of the Earth? Extraordinary book. I read it twice, starting over immediately after finishing the first time, simply because it's so layered and deep and well written I just knew I had missed some stuff.

Just incredible. I love all his work, but this one stands out by the writing if nothing else.

[Bridget Burke]

20. Greg Keyes or "J Gregory Keyes" has a couple.

His "Chosen of the Changeling" is a 2-volume fantasy set in an interesting alternate world. There's a great civilization a bit like Ancient Egypt. And nomadic peoples--a bit like Plains Indians. Plus some farming/ranching folks living farther North--the only "whites" in the story. Quite an interesting combination of myth & magic, as well.

The "Age of Unreason" series stars Sir Isaac Newton, Young Ben Franklin, Peter the Great & original characters. When Cotton Mather & Blackbeard the Pirate go on an expedition together, you know you're in for some fun!

His latest series is "The Kingdom of Thorn & Bone." Is it set on an "alternate Earth"--or is there a more science-fictiony explanation for the mix of peoples on the planet? This one is the closest to "standard" fantasy--quasi-medieval kingdoms & dark magics. However, only 2 books have been released. After a long wait, the 3rd one should be out this July.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

21. Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

Just fucking masterful.

[gulfcoastliberal]

27. I 2nd the notion.

Brilliant! Addictive! I didn't move for 3 days until I finished all three books. Pullman is considered possibly the best author since Tolkien.

Perhaps the dark Materials Trilogy deserves its own thread?

[XemaSab]

28. I scarfed down the first two books

then I had to wait MONTHS for the third book!

I read it in an afternoon!

[FloridaJudy]

36. Another vote for Pullman's Dark Materials

I'd avoided it because I thought it was "kid stuff" until a friend whose taste I trust recommended it. Absolutely marvelous: fantasy for thoughtful agnostics.

And I have to admit an acquired taste for Marion Zimmer Bradley's *Darkover* series, as well as Anne McCaffrey's *Pern* novels.

[TransitJohn]

22. Here's one:

Patricia McKillip's Riddle-Master Trilogy (Riddle-Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, Harpist in the Wind). Absolutey fantastic lit, and now in an omnibus trade paperback...highly recommended to any reader.

[KatyMan]

29. Absolutely...

I love that series...my wife didn't like it because she thought it was too 'vague', which probably accurately describes it :)

No Katherine Kurtz fans anymore? I read JRRT first, and then Deryni. Love the first 5 or 6 Kelson books, and the first Camber trilogy is awesome.

Glenn Cook, Black Company series is great too.

[Mist]

31. I've read the Adept series by Kurtz and Harris, and Lammas Night by

Kurtz, which I found fascinating.

[Broken_Hero]

44. The Annals of the Black Company

I give that series a HUGE :thumbsup:

[AbbyR]

23. The Dark Is Rising series

by Susan Cooper. Great stories - hope they are never made into movies if Hollywood is going to screw up things as badly as it did Harry Potter.

[KatyaR]

35. I saw a preview for "The Dark is Rising" at HP today.

I'd never heard of the series before, but it looked very good.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

24. Whoops...I HAVE already posted here.

:blush:

Delete.

[eyl]

32. In addition to some of the series already mentioned

(in particular Hobbs' trilogies* & LOTR) I'd also recommend Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books.

And for a more humorous bent, Terry Pratchett's discworld series (and Good Omens) and Eric Flint's Joe's World series**

*At least the Farseer & Fool series; I've only started the third trilogy
**Forward the Mage and The Philosophical Strangler

[deepthought42]

33. My personal favorite

is the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (as if one couldn't tell from my sig, lol). I enjoy the HP movies (if I go see one, if not, oh well), but I have no desire to read the books. I prefer to read Fantasy that is more adult-oriented, not young adult.

[Lisa]

37. Cooper's Dark is Rising, Kendall's Minnipin series, and Bellairs ...

Weirdly enough, one of Carol Kendall's characters is named "Muggles". (The books -- "The Gammage Cup", and "the Whisper of Glocken" -- were written in the 1950s.) Apparently some other author was accusing JKR of plagiarism, and Carol weighed in, saying that she considered words to be in the public domain. She's a cool lady -- I think she's almost 90 now. I wrote to her many years ago, and she wrote back (several times!). She told me about going to work on one of the FDR administration's projects in the 1930s (she's a big-time Dem too).

The John Bellairs books ... they're also decades old, but hold up pretty well ("The House With a Clock in Its Walls", etc.). Apparently a writer named Brad Strickland has taken on the job of finishing some of the manuscripts Bellairs left behind when he died unexpectedly. I had been kind of skeptical about how good the "new" books would be (and some of them are kind of repetitious) -- but to be honest, they have their moments. I have to admit that the "moving statue" scene in the "Haunted Opera" book frightened me more than some of the original Bellairs stories. I prefer the Lewis/Rita series (haven't been able to get into the other series yet). The first three books in that series were a very strong beginning, and I found the one about the Civil War era wizard to be quite moving (the book points out that we aren't that far removed in time from that period at all).

I am thinking of introducing my friend Michelle, who is probably going to be suffering HP withdrawal after she finishes the last book, to the Bellairs set. They're about young people dealing with magical circumstances, so there's some common ground there -- but the focus is very different. The Bellairs books take place in the 1950s, in Michigan and the Midwest. There is no Hogwarts-type school ... instead, it's implied that American wizards learn their magic on their own, or through individual apprenticeships with a more experienced enchanter (except for Mrs. Zimmermann, who has a doctorate in magic from the University of Gottingen!). I noticed that Brad Strickland's books have tried to do a little more with constructing the wizarding world (like the Amish woman who introduced Mrs. Zimmermann to magic when she was a little girl).

If Michelle still insists on British stuff, Alan Garner (The Weirdstone of Brisingamen) and Penelope Lively (The Ghost of Thomas Kempe) are quite good. Garner's books, like Cooper's, look at a supernatural conflict which spills over into modern Britain. And "The Ghost of Thomas Kempe" was really great ... I'd strongly recommend it for any kid who shows an interest in history. It's about a boy in the 1960s who has to deal with the ghost of a medieval enchanter, by looking for hints in the diary of a Victorian-era child whose family experienced similar problems with the same ghost a century before. He starts to feel an increasing bond with a person whom he'll never get to meet ... this also makes him more sympathetic to the sorcerer's plight (a lot of the mischief caused by the ghost is just because he's scared and perplexed by the modern world). And he starts to make friends with a lady he'd just thought of as a boring old woman. Strange to think that the book itself is now a "period piece", because the Britain of the 1960s has changed so much!


I make a point of regularly re-reading "The Ghost of Thomas Kempe", "The Gammage Cup", and "The Phantom Tollbooth" at least once every couple of years.

[Sabriel]

38. children of the red king series

And I highly recommend the CDs of it. Great performance by Simon Russell Beale.

[FloridaJudy]

39. How could I have forgotten the EarthSea triology

My ex-husband and I took turns reading it aloud to each other while driving across country during the mid-seventies. Berkeley California to Gainesville Florida in August via the Southern route, in a car with no air-conditioning. What I remember best about that trip includes my nearly wrapping the car around a tree during the climactic chapter of The Wizard of Earthsea when Ged reveals his true name.

Yarns don't get more gripping than that.

[jobycom]

40. I'd put Potter close to Tolkein, maybe tied. But, since you are a Potter fuddy-duddy

I'll nominate Gene Wolfe's "Long Sun" and "Short Sun" series, or if it's allowed, the whole chain of books starting with "The Shadow of the Torturer" and ending (so far) "Return to the Whorl."

Wolfe is the best fantasy writer ever, in my mind, from his literary writing style to the creation of his worlds. After him, I'd put Tolkein (with bonus points for mainstreaming the genre), then I'd be tempted to put Rowlings. Her writing is not as grand, but her universe is every bit as complex and vivid, and she has so far been the best at pulling off the "Fantasy in our own world" theme. Hard to judge until we've had time to digest completely and congitate with the perspective of time. But to snear that she is "children's lit, with the themes she addressed, and with the bloodbath of the final book, to me is a gross underestimation of her place in lit history.

[mcscajun]

41. Lord of the Rings, of course. I've read all of the Potter books, as well.

Big recommendations for The Dresden Files and the Discworld series, too.

LOTR is the only one I've read every year, though.

[AZBlue]

42. I like Madeleine L'Engle's books, especially the Murry Family series.

I also like the Harry Potter books too.

[Ilsa]

43. What about the Lemony Snicket stories? Are they pretty good? I haven't

read any of them.

[Broken_Hero]

45. hmm,

the ones that stick out to me...

The Annals of the Black Company by Glen Cook

The Dark Tower series by S. King

The Drizzt line by RA Salvatore(just to Passage to Dawn, everything after that has been utter garbage)

The Avatar trilogy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avatar_Series

The Cleric Quintet by RA Salvatore

Lord of the Rings by J. Tolkien

I haven't read many differing fantasy authors, I'm in the Science Fiction Bookclub, and I see a ton of authors, and I have no clue if any of them are good. Damn, I don't even know a 1/3 of the authors presented in the catalogs....

I've tried Robert Jordans Wheel of Time(book 1) about three times, and never got into it, and I've tried getting into the Elric series, but I'd falter, and just get bored....

[JPettus]

46. Oh, lots of other stuff, including

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. I've read them all and they just get better with each book.

Also at the top of my list in the urban fantasy genre are Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, starting with "Dead Witch Walking," and through the latest "For A Few Demons More." I didn't care much for the fourth book but the fifth put everything right again and I am eagerly awaiting the next book.

Terry Pratchett's books about young Tiffany Aching (In the Young Readers category) are wonderful and I've devoured all three of the books, laughing and crying alike. (I like the second one, "A Hatful of Sky" best, while I think my wife preferred the third book, "Wintersmith").

Some of the other Discworld books by Pratchett are pretty good, though it's harder for me to get involved in them.


"Good Omens" by Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is another very good book, IMO.

[shenmue]

47. I don't think it's that bad. A lot of kids aren't ready for serious fantasy books yet.

They really can't handle a lot of the more sophisticated series. They need something to get them interested. Kids can't just jump into the books that are aimed more at adults. What's wrong with something that's just for kids? They have time to get into more serious books later.