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Books! 'Good' fantasy books - your recommendations

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enchantress
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Posted: Fri 28 Jan , 2005 4:12 pm
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:suspicious: :P:P Pffffft yerself, Ms. Elusive Estelly! lol

Ya ya... I wont argue with your second statement... all his books are incredible... I LOVED Tigana.. and I liked Sarantium very much...so I will not try to detract from their value here in any way...but same goes for lions and ft...

I love Kay. So much!!!!!!!!
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I cant wait for new book rumours to start.... give it a few months I guess... maybe a year... =:)

~enchantress

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*Alandriel*
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Posted: Sat 29 Jan , 2005 9:26 am
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Enchie: thanks! :mrgreen: With such a glowing recommendation (you do that really well ;) ) Iit sounds very much like I'll enjoy reading Kay.

Areanor then amazon de is definitely better than amazon uk. Got a 'will ship today' message on Wednesday.. and still nothing today :(
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Areanor
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Posted: Sat 29 Jan , 2005 8:21 pm
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Alandriel wrote:
Areanor then amazon de is definitely better than amazon uk. Got a 'will ship today' message on Wednesday.. and still nothing today :(
Pardon me? :confused: You ordered at Amazon.uk on Wednesday? hmmm. When I order at Amazon.de I get my books (If they are available) the next day or the day after that. And I really was surprised at the speed Amazon.uk delievered the Sharpe DVD's ...... But maybe they knew the urgency :drool:

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enchantress
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Posted: Sun 30 Jan , 2005 5:33 am
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You are most welcome Alandriel... lol... I tend to overdo it a bit sometimes and get too preachy and excited about him but I really do love Kay :P :oops:

I hope you enjoy his writings! If you feel like it, please post about your experiences :)

~enchantress

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laureanna
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Posted: Sun 30 Jan , 2005 9:35 am
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For a completely different type of fantasy:

Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel

The Lurker at the Threshold by H.P. Lovecraft

Historical fantasy:

Iron Lance (Celtic Crusades Series) - by Steven Lawhead. I like some of it, but it really harps on the pro-christian anti-Roman Catholic theme at times.

The Crystal Cave and the rest of the Merlin series by Mary Stewart

And for Sci Fi:

Neuromancer by William Gibson (didn't like his Idoru, though)

Snow Crash by Niel Stephenson

Timeline by Michael Crichton

Ender's Game, and just about anything else by Orson Scott Card

That's all I can think of at the moment.


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Eruname
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Posted: Sun 06 Feb , 2005 1:13 am
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I went searching for a fantasy book today, wanting to either buy Tigana or start with Earthsea. The bookstore only had one book buy Kay! So that was out. There were quite a few LeGuin books but I had no idea which one to start with. There were also quite a few McCaffrey books but also had no idea which one to start with. So, I settled with Mists of Avalon for right now.

Can anybody help me with the LeGuin Earthsea books? What's the first book?

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Guruthostirn
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Posted: Sun 06 Feb , 2005 1:33 am
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A wizard of Earthsea is the first, followed by:
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore

There are several others...including one published just the other year

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Estel
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Posted: Sun 06 Feb , 2005 4:01 pm
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There is only one author I put on the same level as Guy Gavriel Kay, and that's Michelle West.

She's pure high fantasy, but my goodness - she is the *only* author I have ever read who can not only get me laughing and crying, but also get my heart and my adreneline going like I've just run a race. I simply cannot possibly speak highly enough of her. You aren't just reading her stories, you are IN them.

Enchie - you would love her. I've thought about buying all her books and sending them to you at one point or another ;)

If you read her, go in this order:

The Sacred Hunt
Hunters Oath
Hunters Death

The Sun Sword
The Broken Crown
The Uncrowned King
The Shining Court
Sea of Sorrows
The Riven Sheild
The Sun Sword


The two series don't necessarily follow each other, however, they take place on the same world, and the stories are connected - you get a lot more richness out of the The Sun Sword Series if you read The Sacred Hunt Series first.


A warning as well - Michelle West is a lot like GGK in that she uses a LOT of characters. If you don't have a good memory for those things, be ready to reference the character map pages in the front of the book quite a bit.


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Impenitent
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Posted: Mon 07 Feb , 2005 2:49 am
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Eru, Mists of Avalon is a lovely book - especially if you like the Arthur Legend. I loved it.

Enchie, I've begun The Summer Tree. I have been curious about FT since I first heard about it, but your enthusiasm tipped me over the edge into acting on that curiosity. :smile:


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enchantress
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Posted: Mon 07 Feb , 2005 3:48 am
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:LMAO: :cheers :LMAO: :Duck:
*Does happy dance*

Yay, Imp! Tell us how you like it once you get into it...*is happily looking forward to b77's own FT thread*

It takes a bit of time to get into the flow of things, especially in FT, but once you are a bit into the reading it should be great. Mind you, Kay is a very intense writer... I like to joke and say he writes for literary emotional masochists like myself :P :oops: So brace for some high intensity feelings...

Eru, I liked Mists of Avalon very much too... I even liked the tv movie they came out with... :D :oops:

Estelly, yesh, I know, youve been telling me about her since we've discovered our mutual Kay love...
Im slow to take to new authors...I will try her though, I promise.
First I gotta finish this Hobb spurt Im on since I already "invested" in her as a potential good author :P... and then Ive got Tad Williams' Memory Sorrow and Thorn to absorb, courtesy of my love (he loves those books). Ive given them a chance initially but couldnt get into the first book really so I broke the reading... wasnt a good time for it then though. Must give another try. So Michelle west is coming up after that...:D
Im a bit wary of long series... that second one seems many-booked... :P...but I will start with the duology and see if it appeals. I have high hopes given your enthusiasm :D

This isnt the same lady who was semi-sci-fi'ish is it... the lady you recommended who wrote "Singer from the Sea" (my apologies if Im botching the title)...? I took a look at her books in the library a while ago, but the cursory glance of the reviews and the cover blurbs had me a bit apprehensive about the sci-fi-ishness... I really much preffer fantasy...:P :oops:

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Estel
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Posted: Mon 07 Feb , 2005 5:15 am
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Singer From the Sea is by Sheri S. Tepper - who I like very much as well.

However, since her style is so weird, no one will trust me enough to read her :(

Despite the SF, I really think you would like her Enchie. But yeah, read Michelle West first, cause I *know* you would like her. :P

I've never convinced anyone, and Sheri's one of my top five authors (GGK, Michelle West, Sheri S Tepper, George R.R. Martin and Orson Scott Card - thought sometimes the last three get pushed out into just the top ten, but they always end up back in the five ;) ).


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Impenitent
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Posted: Mon 07 Feb , 2005 6:06 am
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May I, once again, strongly recommend "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" - only published late last year by first time author Susana Clark.

A big, thick book 800 p, written in the style of a Regency romance (you can tell she admires Austen) it is a magical book! A magician long to bring English magic back to England - and they do so, wandering into faery and interweaving the fantastic and the magical with turn of the century (turn of the 19th century, that is) England into the story. The Napoleonic Wars feature in this book (and it's not a turn off! Truly! You have no idea how much magic had to do with Wellington's victory ;) ) and England - London in particular - are seen through an entirely different, magical, colourful prism.

I didn't want the book to end. Alas, it did, and now I must re-read it. Abit sad; it's never the same as that first voyage of discovery.


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*Alandriel*
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Posted: Sat 12 Feb , 2005 10:39 pm
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I've got your recommendation Impenitent high on my list :mrgreen: and then some others that have been recommended here. But guess what.... finally had some time to browse the SciFi/Fantasy section at our library. And though its quite sizeable... I haven't managed to find any of the ones I so dearly wanted. And worst, when asking the clerk, neither Clark nor Guy Gavriel Kay was listed in their database so I can't even order them :bawl:

Which means.... amazon will be very happy again sometime soon. And yes Areanor I do envy you for the superior serive you seem to get from the german branch. Here it's usually 3-4 days ... if I'm lucky :roll:

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Iavas_Saar
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Posted: Mon 14 Feb , 2005 3:33 am
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A.A.Attanasio

If I had to pick a favourite author it would be him and not Tolkien, even though LOTR is my favourite individual book. He's not pure fantasy, more futuristic fantasty, though he has drifted into more traditional fantasy with his retelling of the Arthur legend.

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Amarie
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Posted: Mon 14 Feb , 2005 7:34 am
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Heeey, ench. I hope you'll enjoy Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. I loved that series. :D It's been a while now, of course, but I remember trudging through the first several chapters until things started to kick up a notch (kinda like FotR).

Estel, I trust your taste, even if you like GRRM. ;) *ducks from potential tomatoes thrown by ASoIaF lovers* I'll try to look for Michelle West's work.

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Rodia
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Posted: Mon 14 Feb , 2005 12:32 pm
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enchantress wrote:
Ronja is availiable on DVD??? Where? In Poland???? :Q I want.

http://e-dvd.pl/?v=film&id=6707
Wrong region though. I could buy it and make it into a regionless copy...I wouldn't mind owning it myself. :mrgreen:

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Estel
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Posted: Mon 14 Feb , 2005 4:43 pm
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Amarie - I trust your taste in books even though you like Terry Goodkind :sick:



:LMAO: :hug:


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Amarie
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Posted: Mon 14 Feb , 2005 7:11 pm
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I had a feeling you would bring up Goodkind. ;) I still think his first two books were good! :D I've read Game of Thrones, and I was too depressed to continue reading Clash of Kings. If I was ever to read CoK, it would be because of Jon, Arya, Bran, the direwolves and the Others. :blackeye

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Meneltarma
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Posted: Fri 18 Feb , 2005 4:17 am
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I'm not sure if I would consider China Miéville fantasy or science fiction, but Perdido Street Station is one of the best books read last year. I'm currently waiting for Iron Council to come out in paperback here.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is brilliant.

Have you read anything by Tanith Lee? I've only read a couple of her short stories, but they were very impressive. And I have friends who are huge fans of her.


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Di of Long Cleeve
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Posted: Tue 08 Mar , 2005 11:27 pm
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The only fantasy books which I've ever considered as good as LOTR - in terms of charismatic storytelling and creating a convincing imaginary world - are The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. Kay worked with Christopher Tolkien on The Silmarillion in the mid 1970s but he's too good a writer merely to be copying Tolkien's style and ideas. The three books which make up the Fionavar saga are a heady cocktail of Arthurian and Celtic mythology: very well plotted, exciting, genuinely imaginative and unputdownable. It's also very moving. Guy pays tribute to Tolkienian ideas - and names - in his Fionavar books, but his world is really very different from Middle-earth.There's quite a lot of sex, for starters. :D

I read Cecilia Dart-Thornton's The Bitterbynde Trilogy ... The Ill-made Mute was terrific, I was very impressed by it. Here seemed to be a very original fantasy story, and what an imagination the author has!
Half way through The Lady of the Sorrows though, I began to get a bit irritated with Imhrien/Rohain/Ashalind's bid to out-Luthien Luthien Tinuviel. Yep, so she's a Wonderwoman. I get it already.

The last book, The Battle of Evernight, was a crashing disappointment. :( The author seemed to have completely run out of steam. It's a real shame, because she was onto something very fresh and amazing, but I thought it was all terribly anti-climactic. The Battle of Evernight my foot ... what flipping battle???? Tolkien and Guy Kay really make you feel the pain - Dart-Thornton cops out. Half the book is Ashalind trudging through about ten different pretty and pointless landscapes. The rest of the story felt like a betrayal - sod the selfish Faeran, what an awful bunch they are. Couldn't help swooning a bit over Thorn though ...!!!

One of the best fantasy novels ever written, IMO, is Alan Garner's The Owl Service, a teenage novel written in the 1960s. A wonderful modern take on an old legend about a love triangle from the Welsh legends. An intensely poetic, terse, scary and sexy story.

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