Recommend me some epic fantasy

he, well for me I'd say it was after book 6.

The Lords of Chaos was pretty damn awesome.

Couldn't keep it up after that though. Not to say I didn;t read the next ones, I did for a while, but petered out. COuld only make it halfway through the last one.
 
Ducky said:
My wife, the ardent Jordan fan sat bolt upright upon news of Jordan's death and almost shouted with angst "DID HE FINISH THE SERIES?!!?!!!!"

To which I replied without even looking up:

"Yes dear. Book four."


I slept on the couch that night. Totally worth it.
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:D

Praktik said:
he, well for me I'd say it was after book 6.

The Lords of Chaos was pretty damn awesome.

Couldn't keep it up after that though. Not to say I didn;t read the next ones, I did for a while, but petered out. COuld only make it halfway through the last one.
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It was such a shame. I discovered both Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin in an anthology of short stories, and enjoyed both their worlds. I just got more and more dispirited the more of Jordan's series I read, as he was in clear need of an editor or self-discipline, and there were just too many loose ends he seemed to have left dangling. Whole books went by with nothing changing; I'm not sure if I ever read the 10th book, but I'm not inclined to check now.


I'll echo the Robin Hobb recommendations, though I've not read all the series, the ones I have read were very good.
 
zooterkin said:
It was such a shame. I discovered both Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin in an anthology of short stories, and enjoyed both their worlds. I just got more and more dispirited the more of Jordan's series I read, as he was in clear need of an editor or self-discipline, and there were just too many loose ends he seemed to have left dangling. Whole books went by with nothing changing; I'm not sure if I ever read the 10th book, but I'm not inclined to check now.
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And that bolded part is the key in the later books. Some of the ones after book 6 at least had some sort of big payoff at the end, I don't remember if it was path of daggers or not, but there was at least one and maybe more out there where I felt really ripped off after slagging through the whole thing.

This is why I give Erikson a bit of a break - he needs an editor too in his later installments, but at least there was some big stuff going down at the end that made the slogs seem worthwhile.

PS: don't let this turn you off erikson - at least give the first three a go. Chain of Dogs is literally: off the chains!!
 
Praktik said:
And that bolded part is the key in the later books. Some of the ones after book 6 at least had some sort of big payoff at the end, I don't remember if it was path of daggers or not, but there was at least one and maybe more out there where I felt really ripped off after slagging through the whole thing.

This is why I give Erikson a bit of a break - he needs an editor too in his later installments, but at least there was some big stuff going down at the end that made the slogs seem worthwhile.

PS: don't let this turn you off erikson - at least give the first three a go. Chain of Dogs is literally: off the chains!!
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Also it has important events that unfold in entirely unexpected ways.
 
indeed. I always felt rewarded at the end. I think its the fact his world is so richly drawn and the characters/races so compelling.
 
Have you read The Death's Gate Cycle? It's a 7 book story by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

I highly recommend it.
 
It's not fantasy, but you can't get more epic than the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. It's set in Napoleonic Europe and is 20 books long. O'Brian doesn't finish the last and final book, but as you'll find out during the series: it's not the destination that's important, but the journey.
 
Molinaro said:
Have you read The Death's Gate Cycle? It's a 7 book story by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

I highly recommend it.
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I remember really enjoying that. I might dig it out and re-read it.


While we're at it I recommend Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy. It's epic, it's primarily Sci-Fi, but with elements of fantasy, and strong elements of horror. The first one is The Neutronium Alchemist.
 
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Morrigan said:
I started the Chronicles of the Black Company recently, and so far I'm a bit underwhelmed. True, it is dark and gritty and depressing (sometimes almost too much), but there isn't much going on in terms of plot or character development.
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The plot works out fine, character development and especially description of the setting are simply not Cook's strong points. He also peppers his writing with jarringly incongruous turns of phrase drawn from US pop culture - one of his epic fantasy characters actually says "Gag a maggot" at one point.

That said, it's still worth reading. He moves the story along nicely and brings it to a satisfying conclusion, at least for my money.

Morrigan said:
I can recommend the 9-volume Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb. The first trilogy is The Farseer (book 1 is Assassin's Apprentice), the second trilogy is the Liveship Traders (book 1 is Ship of Magic), and the last trilogy is the Tawny Man (book 1 is Fool's Errand). They should be read in this order. Good stuff.
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I have read the Liveship Traders but not the others. I enjoyed them, and found Hobb's characters quite believable and well crafted. I intend to read the other two triilogies at some point.

Morrigan said:
You can always try Memory, Sorrow & Thorn by Tad Williams, too. The prose is some of the best in fantasy out there, and it actually inspired GRRM to write fantasy.
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I agree about William's prose, but the main character is so g-d unlikeable that by the end of the first book I had lost any interest in finding out what happens to him whatsoever. I wouldn't read the rest of the series on a salary.
 
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Skeptic Guy said:
If you have read Howard's original Conan stuff, there is a recent republication of all the old stories and at least one novel. It is pretty good and has a some background on him as well as some drafts of the stories.
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I read The Hour of the Dragon when I was young, and loved it. Like a true geek, I can still, to this day, recite the opening poem by heart:

The lion-banner sways, and falls in the horror-haunted gloom
A scarlet dragon rustles by, born on winds of doom
in heaps, the shining horsemen lie, where the thrusting lances break
and deep in the haunted mountains, the lost black Gods awake

Dead hands grope in the shadows
The stars turn pale with fright
for this is the Dragon's hour
the triumph of Fear and Night

I used to open some D&D sessions with that heh, ok too much info.

Anyway, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. The opener A Spell for Chameleon introduces you to one of the coolest characters I've ever seen, Chameleon. She goes through a transformation throughout the year...she is incredibly hot, but stupid...then gets uglier and smarter, then back to hot and stupid, in an endless cycle. It might not be as epic as LOTR, but it's a hoot.

Also look into his "Fates" series starting with On A Pale Horse.
 
ugot2bekidding said:
Anyway, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.
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I was a big Piers Anthony fan in my adolescence. The first few Xanth books were a lot of fun, but the quality degraded quickly after that. After awhile, I was just reading them for the puns.


Also look into his "Fates" series starting with On A Pale Horse.
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That's the Incarnations of Immortality series. On a Pale Horse was the best of the series, IMO.

I also liked the Apprentice Adept series, which was half Fantasy, half SciFi. Just the original trilogy, though; the later follow-up books were weak.
 
Newtons Bit said:
It's not fantasy, but you can't get more epic than the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. It's set in Napoleonic Europe and is 20 books long. O'Brian doesn't finish the last and final book, but as you'll find out during the series: it's not the destination that's important, but the journey.
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I think it depends on what you mean by epic. If you mean the quality of writing (characterization/plotting/authenticity) then it is a - virtually unmatched - epic. (Not least in the number of books in the series - 20)

If one is refering to the scope of the action (i.e. "The fate of Middle Earth hangs in the balance!") then not so much, as the novels really focus on a few individuals cramped up in a small vessel of no intergalactic importance.

I'd say:

If you like Jane Austen but wished there was somewhat more to her plots, you'll like Patrick O'Brien.

If you think that Tom Clancy novels are the epitomy of writing, you'll be happier with C.S. Foresters Hornblower books.*



* Not that there's anything wrong with Hornblower. I read them and enjoyed them myself. When I was a boy.
 
Praktik said:
he, well for me I'd say it was after book 6.

The Lords of Chaos was pretty damn awesome.

Couldn't keep it up after that though. Not to say I didn;t read the next ones, I did for a while, but petered out. COuld only make it halfway through the last one.
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I completely agree. At the end of that book, I thought. 'ooo, this is a game changer. Things are going to really kick into gear now....'
Boy, was I wrong.....
 
joobz said:
I completely agree. At the end of that book, I thought. 'ooo, this is a game changer. Things are going to really kick into gear now....'
Boy, was I wrong.....
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Ya - It felt almost like a crippling orgasm, or when you've been at a sporting event drinking 12$ beers and the action finally ends and you and 300 other people rush to the urinals, you wait in line patiently and finally unload - thats what it felt like when Rand busted out of that box and broke the shield of the Aes Sedai holding him captive, "stilling" some of them in the process.

Sweet revenge after a few hundred pages of getting more and more pissed off at those know it all Aes Sedai!
 
ZirconBlue said:
I was a big Piers Anthony fan in my adolescence. The first few Xanth books were a lot of fun, but the quality degraded quickly after that. After awhile, I was just reading them for the puns.




That's the Incarnations of Immortality series. On a Pale Horse was the best of the series, IMO.

I also liked the Apprentice Adept series, which was half Fantasy, half SciFi. Just the original trilogy, though; the later follow-up books were weak.
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On a Pale Horse was great, but For Love of Evil is a close second for me. I love that series...one of my favorites, ever.
 
Jim Butcher, who probably is better known for his books about Harry Dresden, Chicago's own Consulting Wizard, is in the process of writing a fantasy series, as of yet incomplete. The whole thing is called The Codex Alera, and the first book is Furies of Calderon. The world is medieval/Renaissance, and the main character is a young man who has grown up bereft of magic in a world where everyone can control at least a bit. I enjoyed the characterizations, especially the second bananas, and watching Butcher flesh out the world (there are at least 3 nonhuman races, none of whom like humans, and a growing prehistory) is loads of fun.
 
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King was very good. Mostly medieval with just a hint of magic.It is a good story with some great characters.
 
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