Favorite Fantasy Series (High or Low)?

[Morrigan]

Did some guy just put us on ignore because we bashed a TV show he likes? Jesus Christ, some people... Lern2internet, noob.

(Ahem, he didn't name Dinwar in the list of meanies, I guess comparing fans of a fantasy book series to KKK members are fair game, though... but how dare we call LotS and SoT garbage, tsk tsk)

I disagree fundamentally.

If you liked books one through three, quit immediately while you are ahead. Just read the wikipedia entries for the rest of the series and save a lot of time, boredom and irritation.

That's it! How dare you imply mean things about WoT readers by your virtue of not liking it! You're going on ignore! I so mad

(actually I completely agree with you re: WoT, still haven't read The Gathering Storm... dunno when I will. Red Country is calling. Abecrombie > Jorsanderson)

 

[Brian-M]

Read book 1. If you don't love it, quit.
Read to book 3. If you don't love it. quit.
After that though, there is no stopping Books 7-10 will really test you as it is basically build up. If this was a trilogy, those books would be the middle book. Stuff happens but it is way way too slow. Some people like that though where others just hate it. The point to have stopped though is 3.

I disagree fundamentally.

If you liked books one through three, quit immediately while you are ahead. Just read the wikipedia entries for the rest of the series and save a lot of time, boredom and irritation.

10 REM Standard protocol for reading a series of books
20 N = 0
30 N = N + 1
40 READ BOOK[N]
50 IF BOOK[N] = ENJOYED THEN GOTO 30
60 END

 

[Wudang]

(actually I completely agree with you re: WoT, still haven't read The Gathering Storm... dunno when I will. Red Country is calling. Abecrombie > Jorsanderson)

Red Country is far better. If you have the time you might enjoy getting the WOT books in used paperback and give your "flicking through" thumb a rigorous warmup first. The degree of padding would protect the series from a meteor impact. It does recover though, especially when Sanderson takes over though he
a) gets Mat wrong
b) under-dellivers on the ending, the pacing isn't as good as it could be.
On the whole I rather liked the series but it needs pruning, probably with a lochaber.

 

[gumboot]

Did some guy just put us on ignore because we bashed a TV show he likes? Jesus Christ, some people... Lern2internet, noob.

Apparantly I got put on ignore for pointing out that most of those who actually worked on a show he liked didn't think it was particularly good, including the creators of the show!

Some people just don't like facts.

 

[jimbob]

What's fantastical is a planet with teleporting, time-travelling, psychic predators that never expanded beyond the ecological niche of the common seagull.

It's not only a staggeringly absurd initial conceit, it's one that hasn't been even slightly thought through. It's My Little Pony with coloured, friendly dragons combined with bodice-ripping (the mass date rape effect of dragons humping) or teen pop idol fantasies.

This. It ruins the suspension of disbelief because of the crimes against logic. It isn't really internally consistent.

Personally Pratchett's Discworld series, though I think that far surpasses the constrictions of the 'Fantasy' genre. Also the Xanth series and David Eddings (both the Belgariad and Elenium series).
The Harry Potter series isn't bad, probably the best of the 'urban fantasy' sub-genre. I'm not a fan of Tolkien, I find him rather overblown.

Urggh to Xanth -I bought one at the station once and it was icky. Nasty subtext.

I have read those David Eddings books (so they are obviously enjoyable enough at the time) but I found them unsatisfying as they are to two dual trilogies having the same plot repeated four times. Good enough to want me to find out what happened but...

Richard Morgan's turn to fantasy is worth a read, The Steel Remains - bit of an adult take on fantasy with some vivid characters and a very tough, cold political world (which I love).

I like these - A colleague today told me "Your favourite rough hero is returning in The Dark Defiles tomorrow".

Here is a link to a positive review by Joe Abercrombie of the Steel Remains. It is amusingly sweary (maybe NSFW). The non sweary bits are quite amusing too.

This is a good book. It may very well be part of a really great series. It’s an extreme book, a challenging book in all kinds of ways – themes, content, and style. It reaches the parts most epic fantasies don’t reach and many fantasy readers may not want to have reached. Morgan seems to say to them – tough [rule10], and you’ve got to greatly admire his [rule10] in doing so. No-one could accuse him of moving into fantasy in order to take the easy commercial path. NO-ONE.

What else can I compare it to? It has the explosive violence of, well, Richard Morgan (only about twice as explosive), the moral ambiguity of vintage Moorcock (but about three times as dark), with the explicit sexual content of Martin (only about ten times more explicit, and I’m not kidding), the harsh language of Scott Lynch (times about 1,000,000). If those things put you off, really, don’t bother. The first couple of pages will probably give you a bit of mouth sick. The lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss? Not so much. The languid descriptions of Robert Jordan? No. The charming rural laughs of Eddings? No. No. No.

Pretty accurate.

 

[luchog]

Urggh to Xanth -I bought one at the station once and it was icky. Nasty subtext.

The majority of Piers Anthony's works have a nasty subtext; where it isn't graphically explicit text anyway. There are a few of his works that I like, but most of them I find gratingly unpleasant. Some of his stuff seems little more than an excuse to string together graphic rape scenes. Guy has issues.

I have read those David Eddings books (so they are obviously enjoyable enough at the time) but I found them unsatisfying as they are to two dual trilogies having the same plot repeated four times. Good enough to want me to find out what happened but...

I managed to get through the first two Belgariad books before giving up. Aside from the repetition, the stories were profoundly predictable. He sticks pretty close to the standard fantasy tropes, and some of his characterizations are dubious at best.

 

[jimbob]

Urggh to Xanth -I bought one at the station once and it was icky. Nasty subtext.

The majority of Piers Anthony's works have a nasty subtext; where it isn't graphically explicit text anyway. There are a few of his works that I like, but most of them I find gratingly unpleasant. Some of his stuff seems little more than an excuse to string together graphic rape scenes. Guy has issues.

I think that is one way of putting it. Creepy is another.

I have read those David Eddings books (so they are obviously enjoyable enough at the time) but I found them unsatisfying as they are to two dual trilogies having the same plot repeated four times. Good enough to want me to find out what happened but...

I managed to get through the first two Belgariad books before giving up. Aside from the repetition, the stories were profoundly predictable. He sticks pretty close to the standard fantasy tropes, and some of his characterizations are dubious at best.

Yes - I was doing a lot of train traveling at the time, so would read the back of a rail ticket if there wasn't anything else to read - David Eddings was better than that. It didn't feel unclean, just childish.

I'd read a rail ticket in preference to Piers Anthony, which would only have had a redeeming feature if it were printed on soft, strong and absorbent paper.


BTW My colleague was mistaken: "The Dark Defiles " isn't out yet. He was a bit sad about that.

He described Ringil as "your favourite Rough Trade anti hero"

You might have gathered that Richard Morgan is pretty full on and quite possibly deserves a prize for the least erotic writing about the most different types of sex of the year. However it didn't leave a nasty taste in the mouth like Piers Anthony.

Have I mentioned that I don't like Piers Anthony's books?

 

[ZirconBlue]

Have I mentioned that I don't like Piers Anthony's books?

No, you've only said that you didn't like one of them.

 

[jimbob]

No, you've only said that you didn't like one of them.

Fair enough - but his writing was so icky.

And then I saw some of the titles in the Xanth series....

WTF?

I don't like misogyny in books

 

[jimbob]

I liked Harry Harrison's "The Hammer and the Cross" series. The Chief protagonist seemed a bit too "modern" in some of his attitudes, but I still found it absorbing.

Diana Wynne Jones wrote great fantasy for children but few series.
Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" is also good children's fantasy - I have seen trailers for a recent film adaptation and that looks pretty poor as a lot of the point is in English and Welsh folklore and location, so transposing to the US is probably bad for the story.

 

[luchog]

You might have gathered that Richard Morgan is pretty full on and quite possibly deserves a prize for the least erotic writing about the most different types of sex of the year. However it didn't leave a nasty taste in the mouth like Piers Anthony.

Anthony is the only author I've encountered who is able to create an entirely novel form of alien sex (the Cluster series if memory serves), and at the same time manage to turn it into a rape scene.

 

[luchog]

I liked Harry Harrison's "The Hammer and the Cross" series. The Chief protagonist seemed a bit too "modern" in some of his attitudes, but I still found it absorbing.

I really enjoyed that one myself. It was a collaboration between Harrison and Tom Shippey, and IMO owes a bit more to the latter than it does to Harrison. I agree the protagonist is a bit modern, but he really doesn't stand out that much, so it's not a jarring anachronism as it tends to be with other writers.

 

[Damien Evans]

Mary Stewart's Merlin series (though "The Wicked Day" disappointed me).
Cherry's "Morgaine" novels.
and LOTR of course.
I don't count Pratchett as fantasy. Too real.

There's Dwarves, Fairies, Witches, Wizards, Real Gods, Golems, Anthropomorphic Personifications, Werewolves, Vampires, Dragons, A Flat Planet being supported by giant elephants and a turtle, and Gaspode.

Pretty sure that qualifies as fantasy.

 

[Chaos]

There's Dwarves, Fairies, Witches, Wizards, Real Gods, Golems, Anthropomorphic Personifications, Werewolves, Vampires, Dragons, A Flat Planet being supported by giant elephants and a turtle, and Gaspode.

Pretty sure that qualifies as fantasy.

If Terry Goodkind can claim with a straight face he isn´t writing fantasy, maybe some other things aren´t fantasy either.

 

[ZirconBlue]

If Terry Goodkind can claim with a straight face he isn´t writing fantasy, maybe some other things aren´t fantasy either.

That's the only kind of face he has. Smiling is for chumps.

 

[jimbob]

I really enjoyed that one myself. It was a collaboration between Harrison and Tom Shippey, and IMO owes a bit more to the latter than it does to Harrison. I agree the protagonist is a bit modern, but he really doesn't stand out that much, so it's not a jarring anachronism as it tends to be with other writers.

I can see that now you mention it.

 

[Damien Evans]

If Terry Goodkind can claim with a straight face he isn´t writing fantasy, maybe some other things aren´t fantasy either.

And Motorhead might claim they don't play Heavy Metal, but that doesn't make it so.

 

[Morrigan]

You might have gathered that Richard Morgan is pretty full on and quite possibly deserves a prize for the least erotic writing about the most different types of sex of the year.

Haha, I imagined that would go to Abercrombie for [minor First Law spoiler]

the sex scene between Ferro and Logan. Hilarious and thoroughly unerotic.

Have I mentioned that I don't like Piers Anthony's books?

I don't like misogyny in books

I'm with you. I only ever read one Anthony book and it was so awful, I literally started skimming it and skipping ahead to finish it. And I've read my share of awful novels, but I dare say that's the only one I've actually had to skip ahead because it was so horrible. And then I learned about the whole pedophilia thing. How does this guy still get published? Ugh.

That's the only kind of face he has. Smiling is for chumps collectivist death choosers.

FTFY

 

[jimbob]

You might have gathered that Richard Morgan is pretty full on and quite possibly deserves a prize for the least erotic writing about the most different types of sex of the year.

Haha, I imagined that would go to Abercrombie for [minor First Law spoiler]

the sex scene between Ferro and Logan. Hilarious and thoroughly unerotic.

Did you read Abercombie's review of The Steel Remains that I linked to earlier? I started reading Abercrombie because of his approach to that...

Have I mentioned that I don't like Piers Anthony's books?

I don't like misogyny in books

I'm with you. I only ever read one Anthony book and it was so awful, I literally started skimming it and skipping ahead to finish it. And I've read my share of awful novels, but I dare say that's the only one I've actually had to skip ahead because it was so horrible. And then I learned about the whole pedophilia thing. How does this guy still get published? Ugh.

Urgh indeed.

Characters in a book can be misogynist, but when the author's view poisons the entire book it is not good.

 

[Skepticemea]

I'm currently re-reading the Feist/Wurts "Empire" trilogy and enjoying it immensely. Unlike my re-readings of the Riftwar/Serpentwar series, it seems to have weathered rather well in comparison.

I also enjoyed the Earthsea books by Le Guin. I can't believe it took me 'til nearly 40 to read them (considering they lay around my uncle's house since I were a nipper) but I loved the prose. Wizards as scholars and reluctant participants in world events? Never!

Gandalf would be spinning in his Batcave.