Recomend me some Fantasy novels

NecrosaroIII

NecrosaroIII

Banned
Been in the mood to read some Fantasy lately. I liked Tolkien, I've enjoyed some Salvatore (even if he's kinda trash). I don't enjoy dark fantasy (though some of its themes are okay, I don't want to read something too edgy). I like it adventurous and heroic in tone.

None of that Stephanie Maas crap.
 
The Belgariad by David and Leigh Eddings. It's written in an incredibly accessible way, with some great characters, humour, big fantasy set pieces and a decent (if typical) fantasy storyline. Classic hero's journey stuff, written in a really down to earth manner.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/40739-the-belgariad

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Jim Butcher - Codex Alera series

If you like fantasy combined with the Roman Empire, Pokémon and the Zerg from StarCraft, this is the real deal.
 
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Men_in_Boxes said:
I guess I'd go Night of the Living Dummy or Say Cheese and Die by RL Stein then.
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True story: I lost a friend in 4th grade because for Christmas, we did a secret santa book exchange. They got me Say Cheese and Die, which I didn't want so I traded it for a shitty Donkey Kong Country novel. The friend that gave me Say Cheese and Die was salty AF I instantly traded their book and ever talked to me again.
 
NecrosaroIII said:
True story: I lost a friend in 4th grade because for Christmas, we did a secret santa book exchange. They got me Say Cheese and Die, which I didn't want so I traded it for a shitty Donkey Kong Country novel. The friend that gave me Say Cheese and Die was salty AF I instantly traded their book and ever talked to me again.
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You made the right call. I genuinely remember that being one of the worst Goosebumps books.
 
The black company. It's dark fantasy. Has magic in it but magic users are rare and powerful. It's a lot abo more about the life of a mercenary group (the black company). Amazing books, see if it peaks your interest and if it does grab it
 
Maybe Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series?

Otherwise, if you're up to some Sword & Sorcery (and who isn't?), I can recommend the Elric of Melnibone books by Moorcock.
 
-The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie.
-The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
-Malazan Book of the Fallen series (Do some google research first to see if it might interest you).

How about some Witcher books?
I'm halfway through Sword of Destiny & it's good stuff 🤠
 
NecrosaroIII said:
Been in the mood to read some Fantasy lately. I liked Tolkien, I've enjoyed some Salvatore (even if he's kinda trash). I don't enjoy dark fantasy (though some of its themes are okay, I don't want to read something too edgy). I like it adventurous and heroic in tone.

None of that Stephanie Maas crap.
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I'm not going to recommend a book. Instead, I'm going to do you a favour and give you some advice.

Avoid Brandon Sanderson. Anybody who tells you his books are good is a liar or has poor taste.

You're welcome
 
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IDKFA said:
I'm not going to recommend a book. Instead, I'm going to do you a favour and give you some advice.

Avoid Brandon Sanderson. Anybody who tells you his books are good is a liar or has poor taste.

You're welcome
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What's the reason? What does he do poorly?
 
IDKFA said:
I'm not going to recommend a book. Instead, I'm going to do you a favour and give you some advice.

Avoid Brandon Sanderson. Anybody who tells you his books are good is a liar or has poor taste.

You're welcome
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That's actually what inspired this thread. I was at a book store and was checking out Mistborn and I just couldn't get into it.
 
Men_in_Boxes said:
What's the reason? What does he do poorly?
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My biggest gripe with Sanderson are the length of his novels. Now, I'm not opposed to long books, but if you're novel is going to resemble a phone book then it needs the substance to back it up. With Sanderson it's just a lot of filler. They feel like they're long for the sake of being long. You could cut 50% of the content and nothing of value would be lost.

Second gripe is his world building. It's just so bland and uninspiring. This wouldn't be a huge problem if his story and characters were engaging.

Sanderson isn't the worst fantasy author I've come across (Peter Brett is number 1 on that list), but his books are so boring and so bland that I can't recommend them to anyone.
 
NecrosaroIII said:
That's actually what inspired this thread. I was at a book store and was checking out Mistborn and I just couldn't get into it.
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I really struggled to finish that series. 90% of the second book was pointless plot. Interesting and unique magic system, but that's the only positives I have for that series.
 
Tbh when I was heavily into WOW I bought a load of the books some of which are surprisingly well written and pretty fucking epic and made great holiday books where you're looking and easy read whilst consuming lots of alcohol on the beach
 
The Kingkiller chronicle and Stormlight Archive

Bonus: First 2 Drizzt trilogies, Brimstone Angels, Riyria Revelations, Fallen Blade
 
T4keD0wN said:
The Kingkiller chronicle and Stormlight Archive

Bonus: First 2 Drizzt trilogies, Brimstone Angels, Riyria Revelations, Fallen Blade
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Back when I was a 14 year old first getting into Fantasy, I read the Dark Elf Trilogy and Crystal Shard. Dark Elf Trilogy was insanely good. I loved it. Crystal Shard trilogy, not so much. It felt way too derivative of Tolkien, without the talent (though it was Salvatore's first professional novels I believe). It's not good lol. That said, I enjoyed the Drizzt stuff until it started feeling sort of masturbatory. How's the recent novels? I've heard some jank-ass shit in order to try and maintain status quo, but is it fun?

While we're on the topic of DND novels, hows Dragonlance? I had a childhood friend who pretty much was my tastemaker. She was super into Dragonlance. Does it hold up?
 
NecrosaroIII said:
Back when I was a 14 year old first getting into Fantasy, I read the Dark Elf Trilogy and Crystal Shard. Dark Elf Trilogy was insanely good. I loved it. Crystal Shard trilogy, not so much. It felt way too derivative of Tolkien, without the talent (though it was Salvatore's first professional novels I believe). It's not good lol. That said, I enjoyed the Drizzt stuff until it started feeling sort of masturbatory. How's the recent novels? I've heard some jank-ass shit in order to try and maintain status quo, but is it fun?

While we're on the topic of DND novels, hows Dragonlance? I had a childhood friend who pretty much was my tastemaker. She was super into Dragonlance. Does it hold up?
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I dont really know because ive skipped pretty much most of the middle ones and read just the "Homecoming" ones and "The Companions" after which ive really enjoyed, theres just way too many of them, around 40 at this point, but the last few are supposedly also good so i think i am going to get to them at some point.

I am also tempted to start Dragonlance, read 2 or 3 as a kid, but dont remember much so id also welcome some input on which ones are worth it.
 
Wizards, Elves, Dwarves races of men, 2 worlds fighting each other through rifts, ancient powerful races. One called the Valheru known as the Dragon Lords influencing the events of current time, you know Fantasy like you wanted, its got it all imo, one of my favourites but there are a lot more to choose from, Forgotten Realms books in particular The Drizzt Do Urden books, its a recommendation
 
NecrosaroIII said:
Looked it up. Sounds pretty hype.
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i use to read loads of Fantasy books in the 80's and 90's like The Belgariad, The Sword of Truth, The Shannara and the Dragonlance and many more i've forgotten and that was one of the series i remember the most, you just gotta pick one really and see if it immerses you where you can't put it down, it's my recommendation to you anyway.
 
I kinda burnt myself out on the fantasy genre because I read so much of it, but I feel like I could give you some pretty solid suggestions.

- Anything by Brandon Sanderson. The Way of Kings is one of my favorite books of all time. I haven't read anything in Stormlight archive past book 2, but I've heard the quality keeps up. Check out Mistborn. It'll give you an idea what Sanderson is all about and the series is finished (there's multiple Mistborn series and they are all great). Or you could read one of his stand alone novels. Elantris is good, but it's his first novel, so it's a little rough. Warbreaker is fantastic.

- ASOIAF, the series that got me back into reading. It'll probably never be finished, but I think the story and the writing quality make it worth reading. The first 3 books are some of the best fantasy ever written.

- Kingkiller Chronicles, I think Rothfuss is an asshole, but the man is an incredible writer. Who knows when book 3 comes out, but I did enjoy the first 2 books quite a bit.

- Malazan Book of the Fallen. Huge and complex series. Not for the faint of heart and the first book requires a lot of patience because it starts off In media res. You're forced as a reader to pick things up as you go. Book 9 gets dragged down a bit with philosophy, but I still think it's worth it. A ton of amazing characters, and lands you visit in that series. If you can get through book 1 you'll be hooked.

- First Law/anything by Joe Abercrombie. The first Law is very gritty like ASOIAF. Abercrombie is hilarious, he writes some amazing characters and great dialogue. First Law doesn't require as much effort as things previously mentioned. The books are quite a bit shorter and the plots not as complex. Totally worth reading though.

- Wheel of Time. This series does get bogged down in the middle, but I loved the world so much that it didn't matter to me. Book 6, Lord of Chaos is maybe my favorite ending in all of fantasy. Increadibly satisfying. When Robert Jordan died and Sanderson took over he really moved the plot along which RJ was very hesistant to do towards the end of his life. The last 3 books are fantastic and the series got the ending it deserved.

There's more I could sugguest, but that's like 30-40 books. It should keep you busy for a while.
 
Wheel of time. Ignore the Amazon show. It's extremely long but worth it. My favorite fantasy series by a long shot.

Licanius trilogy by James Islington. timey wimey but really well written and fun

Mistborn by Sanderson is really good. The follow up Wax and Wayne series is great too.

Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. pretty standard fantasy stuff but written well and fun.
 
The original Dragonlance trilogy was my LotR. Read them before I read Tolkien and I still love them and the characters. Though I have to admit that it's very obvious that the series began as a DnD game; especially in the first book. The Legends trilogy is also great if you like Raistlin and Caramon. Can't speak of anything else as the sequel book (Summer Flame) basically killed my interest in the franchise.

The Annotated Chronicles is a pretty cool read to get some background info and notes about the story and what went on behind the scenes.
 
FunkMiller said:
The Belgariad by David and Leigh Eddings. It's written in an incredibly accessible way, with some great characters, humour, big fantasy set pieces and a decent (if typical) fantasy storyline. Classic hero's journey stuff, written in a really down to earth manner.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/40739-the-belgariad

G8e3G9B.jpeg
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These are easy books to read... that isn't an insult they just go fast. Plus after this series there's a sequel series that is just as good and a little darker. This is on the opposite end of the fantasy spectrum than say Malazan which is really dense and overwhelming at times.
WitchHunter said:
Robert E Howard Conan books
maybe try Moorcock
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Fuck yeah WitchHunter WitchHunter ! Howard's conan books put you there. The verbiage he uses and imagery that Howard is able to put in your head doesn't happen anymore. It was written in the 20s and the style is distinct.

The closest to it in my mind is Michael moorcocks elric series. It's really alien. Plus he has a sentient sword that is bad ass. Very evocative.

I'll add N.K. Jemisens broken earth trilogy. Excellent. Earth is ravaged by disasters in distant future and people can control the earth's energy.

V.E. Schauwb A darker shade of magic. Parallel worlds of magic exists next to Victorian England.

And finally Foundryside. Female thief with unique lock picking skills. Also dope as fuck
 
Laptop1991 said:
Wizards, Elves, Dwarves races of men, 2 worlds fighting each other through rifts, ancient powerful races. One called the Valheru known as the Dragon Lords influencing the events of current time, you know Fantasy like you wanted, its got it all imo, one of my favourites but there are a lot more to choose from, Forgotten Realms books in particular The Drizzt Do Urden books, its a recommendation
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I actually adore the 'sequel' Empire Trilogy and nearly every character in those books.
 
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www.goodreads.com

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)

My name is Kvothe. I have stolen princesses back from …
www.goodreads.com www.goodreads.com

The first in the "Kingkiller Chronicle" stories. The first two books are excellent (peep the Goodreads ratings), the third kind of falls off a bit. It feels like a mixture of lighter fantasy elements than Forgotten Realms / Dungeons & Dragons, with a splash of Wheel of Time. Solid, non-pretentious, to the point prose.
 
Lord Panda said:
I actually adore the 'sequel' Empire Trilogy and nearly every character in those books.
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I did read them and they were ok/good, but i felt Raymond E Feist did a Gun's N Roses/Appetite for Destruction at the time, and didn't get near the height of the original trilogy for me, although i haven't read a lot of his Rift Cycle books since the mid 90's, so i don't know how they are afterwards, and he co wrote them i seem to remember as well, i wanted more Valheru stories to be honest lol.
 
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