Which fantasy series do you think are the best of the all? [Archive]

radarofpolo

3rd June 2002, 02:02

Off the top of my head, WOT(guess, guess!! oh, right), a few of Brook's Shanara(stay away from Lanover, newer ones are better), *prepares to catch flack* and before RJ there was Eddings, I must say that it was pretty good to start with but nothing compared to some of the others.

Oh and by the way welcome! *doesn't have any brownies or cake but is sure others will bring some* Come to chat sometime, its fun ;) .

~falls asleep on keyboard~
zzzzzzzzzzkjslfiohsohgphgajshqgosizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Byrn

3rd June 2002, 13:29

WOT is my #1. The Chonicles of Thomas Covenant are #@ followed closely by the Chronicles of Amber(I love the books about Corwin, Merlin got a little boring.) Then there is the Coldfire Trilogy( Vryce and Tarrant are an interseting pair). I did not Rank teh War of the Rings because it has a special place in my heart. I read them when I was 11.

Phenix

3rd June 2002, 13:34

I think wot is god and of cours the lord of the ring and most of Eddings series

Christy Sedai

3rd June 2002, 13:43

cool, someone else that likes Eddings as well! MR and I love the Belgariad and the Mallorean. Our son's name is Garion.

Arawis

3rd June 2002, 16:29

Wheel of Time (of course), Shannara (Brooks, landover was pretty crappy, word and void was better tho), His Dark Materials (Pullman), Eddings was pretty good.

sven

3rd June 2002, 18:21

wot goes without saying. But someone not too many people talk about is David Farland and his Runelord series, which isn't finished yet by the way

jade

3rd June 2002, 19:02

my three favorites are wot (obviously), janny wurt's War of Light and Shadow, and martin's song of ice&fire...

i've always had a place in my heart for brook's shannara series, cuz that was my first real fantasy series...

and harry potter..

Beowulf

3rd June 2002, 20:18

when is the next harry potter book being published?

sven

18th June 2002, 12:04

wot
Ender series
tlotr
Runelords
Shannara
dark tower
the series with pug (sorry brain fart)
disk world ( every body needs a little nonsense sometimes)

Berk

18th June 2002, 16:43

WoT
Original 6 Dragonlance Books
Death Gate Cycle
Rose of the Prophet
Star of the Guardians
Song of Ice and Fire
The Myth Series (for humor, not thought)

Milamber

19th June 2002, 10:25

Some of my best are:
The Riftwar (Raymond Feist)
The Serpentwar (Raymond Feist)
The Recluce Series (L.E Modesitt Jr.)

No particular order, oh and the WoT was on their until recently but the thing is it is taking too long and I have read to much other stff to think it great anymore... good but not great

Milamber

Cypher

19th June 2002, 11:15

Ouch, u must have much different taste than the normal person, not saying that I'm normal or anything, but gee, Recluce series, in a favorites, ouch, that series is just annoying with the no chronological order, going off in random directions at every opportunity....

Sorry, I really hated that series, but I normally finish what I start, so I read it through.

But, Feist better than Jordan?!?!? :confused:

Arawis

19th June 2002, 21:32

well beo,they are saying now that it probably wont be published till 2003 because it is going to be long and they still have to edit and such

i liked feist even tho i only read one book of his (the serpentwar saga first book, something about a queen?.......dark? dark queen? SHADOW OF A DARK QUEEN yes that was it) tho i dont think he is better than jordan.
i loved the ender series, even though the ones where he was gwown up got a little wierd........ my favorite was ender's shadow and ender's game
i liked the rose of the prophet and i just read the darksword trilogy and thought it was goood too

Tayhlon

20th June 2002, 14:55

My favorite series?

Amber chronicles (preferred Corwin's story because Merlin just got way too powerful)
Harry Potter
Discworld (got to love a series where Death's horse's name is Binky :D )
Dragonriders of Pern
and of course,
WoT

WiseWisdom

22nd June 2002, 19:35

Mine would be:

Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn
WoT
Belgariad and the Mallorean
Harry Potter
Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicals

*goes back to waiting for the local book store to get King of the Murgos*

balefire

23rd June 2002, 04:18

Originally posted by WiseWisdom
Mine would be:

Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn
WoT
Belgariad and the Mallorean
Harry Potter
Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicals

*goes back to waiting for the local book store to get King of the Murgos*

You've read the Malloreon already right? Why are you still waiting for King of the Murgos?

Also, have you tried The Redemption of Althalus? Quite nice I think.

talyn rahl

24th June 2002, 16:38

My ultimate book list.
WoT (Go fig)
His Dark Materials (SOSOSOSOSO much better than harry potter but only half as famous!!!)
Harry Potter (For the Pop lover inside me)
Wizard of Earthsea (Only that one the others were RUBBISH)
THE BELGARIAD & THE MALLOREAN (the first Fantasy series i ever read and it still has a very special place in my heart LoL sikkeningly sweeeet)
Riftwar
The dark tower
the Katherine Kerr books (The ones with Rhodry and Jill.)
the book of words and the sword opf shadows (Both excelent series)
Theres hundreds more but i should probebly stop now before i take up the intire forum.

nightfairy

24th June 2002, 18:26

kay, um...
WOT (duh)
Sonja Blue series by Nancy Collins (vampiric series)
Borderland anthologies edited by Terri Windling
Myth Series by Robert Asprin (go you, Berk, me too :) )
LoTR (classic)

Arawis

24th June 2002, 19:13

Originally posted by talyn rahl
His Dark Materials (SOSOSOSOSO much better than harry potter but only half as famous!!!)
Harry Potter (For the Pop lover inside me)

:p ~gives prps to tr for liking those books~

the Katherine Kerr books (The ones with Rhodry and Jill.)

:dozey: ~takes them back~ no.....cant.....do that...... ~settles with just not saying anything~

WiseWisdom

24th June 2002, 19:32

I've read all of the Mallorean besides King of the Murgos. It's taken them that long to get it in.

And to add to my above list:

The Sword of Truth series.

I haven't read the Redemption, I'll try it sometime.

Cypher

24th June 2002, 21:12

bah, the sword of truth series went downhill after book 1 and didn't perk back up till 6, and I'm still not sure about 7, that one just didn't seem to have much of anything happen.

balefire

25th June 2002, 02:29

I'll get round to LOTR 1 of these days. Not to mention WH, if I can just get my claws on the blasted book.

Milamber

25th June 2002, 10:00

Originally posted by Cypher
Ouch, u must have much different taste than the normal person, not saying that I'm normal or anything, but gee, Recluce series, in a favorites, ouch, that series is just annoying with the no chronological order, going off in random directions at every opportunity....

Sorry, I really hated that series, but I normally finish what I start, so I read it through.

But, Feist better than Jordan?!?!? :confused:

HeHe No offence taken - not many like Recluce. But, since I have read all 11 they do make a lot of sense. Though the order is not chronological it is designed so that by the time you get to the next one (chronologically) you understand certain things about his system and world...

Feist I like for the same reason - I've read them all, all twelve or so and so I feel like I've gotten to know the world but that more can still happen (also, unlike RJ, he does mini-series' of books, all in the same world and period, and all complementing the entire story-line. It makes you feel that closure that RJ still has to reach),.
Anyway, I suppose I've just got different tastes :D- and I've had to wait for books 8 and 9 already (WOT) so I'm getting bored.

Milamber

talyn rahl

26th June 2002, 20:22

Whats wrong witht he Katherine kerr books, there all right!!!!!! sure the time things a bit hard to get used to but the rest of it is all CLASS!!! Nevyn is so cool

Arawis

27th June 2002, 18:41

:dozey:

yes, i suppose nevyn is cool but she changes her style so much it hurts my eyes. i only read the first 3 books mind. but at the beginning of the first book she moves so fast nothing is really fully developed and it seems like she didnt even think about what was coming next and just slapped something down ont he paper. then the rest of the time she drags along. i had to force myself to keep going, it gave me a headache. and the flashbacks, it would be better if she split them up and placed the story at intervals with pieces of the 'present' in between. it would have made it more exciting. they lasted for like 150 pages and it didnt even suck me in. it reminded me of crouching tiger hidden dragon where the flashback lasted for like an hour. :rolleyes:

but to each his own

Jacob

28th June 2002, 22:13

Atleast some people here like the same stuff as I do. Some of it...

Kerr is great. Thing is though, I don't much like the way she builds her stories much of the time. I love the "present" stories but I don't much like those Blasts of the Past. In Kerr's Fantasy world life's a bitch (appart from the sex) and then you die. Not exactly "feel good" books. But the words! Just the language of the books makes them a joy to read. Kerr's characters are the kind you come to care about and feel for.

I used to love Feists books, but he ran out of inspiration and tried to milk his wonder cow for more than it was worth. The Empire trilogy written together with Wurst was the highpoint in his Midkemia/Kelewan Series'. I hear that he's written something completely new now though, something not even Fantasy? I seem to remember hearing some good things about that.

L.E. Modesitt's Recluce Has been a favorit of mine with Death of Chaos as the favorit in the series. It's not a series for everyone though, I can understand that and it takes getting used to his (I think?!) style.

The Chronicles of Tomas Covernant are both masterpieces!
If I had to make a list of the 3 greatest Fantasy series ever written, the Chronicles would be on it. I doubt I could make internal rankings on such a list though. The Chronicles is so unlike any other fantasy I've ever read. So is J.R.R's LotRs actually. And so is WOT. For the record though, J.R.R.'s Silmarillion stories in it that are beyond the story of LotRs' and reading Silmarillion also enriches the experience of reading LotRs'

If this wasn't limited to series and included standalone books, I'd have a harder time still making a top three list. If you are lucky and your local library is carrying Astirid Lindgren's The Brothers Lionheart I very strongly recomend it. A really stupid US publisher makes it really hard to get a hold on unfortunately. (it's out of print?!)

talyn rahl

2nd July 2002, 08:34

Jacob you need the blast from the past to explain about why everyone in the present hates/loves each other. I can't go into proper detail coz im in collage and my books are at home but you need the basics of the past story to help you understad the complexities of the present one *aamazed he managed to use the word complexities in a paragraph outta college* *realises he's in college* Doh!!

Arawis

2nd July 2002, 18:58

see its the same here. i liked the present stories but when it got to the past and it took so long.........~shakes head~

Jacob

2nd July 2002, 22:04

But it's too darn many blasts from the past! Half the books are blast from the past because in the privious life two characters hated each other...because in the life before that they hated eatch other...because in the life before THAT...etc. It's almost like a soap opera, you can skip 5 chapters and you've not missed a thing regarding the present story! With every new book, there are more characters and thus more people with past lives to be explained.

Nachtnoir

5th July 2002, 00:07

Favorite series.......hmmm. Well.......

1. The Eternal Champion series by Michael Moorcock
2. WoT by none other than RJ
3. Dune series by Frank Herbert
4. LoTR by Tolkein
5. Lankmar series by Fritz Lieber
6. The Dark Tower by Stephen King
7. The Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice
8. Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust

These aren't in any particular order, except that The Eternal Champion series is my Favorite.

talyn rahl

5th July 2002, 15:35

my mum used to know know Michael moorcock, apperently he's a really nice guy, big bear type dude.....
anyway.....
yeah i actually stopped reading Katherine Kerr for that exact reason, but the early ones are good, sadly the l;ast ones do resemble a soap opera quite a bit :( dang

Dashiva

11th July 2002, 00:31

Let's see here...favorite series...
1. WoT
2. LotR
3. Harpist in the Wind Trilogy (McKillip) (possibly the best short fantasy series ever)
4. Sword of Truth
5. Darksword series (Weis and Hickman)
6. Star of the Guardians (Weis and Hickman)
7. Song of Ice and Fire
8. Earthsea cycle (especially the last book)
9. Eddings (since it's really just the same story, I'm not gonna distinguish between them, but they're all fun brain candy, and laughing at abominable logic is a good way to pass a coupla hours)

val7

16th July 2002, 10:29

1. WoT
2. Discworld! (terry pratchett) :D
3. LotR
4. Dune
5. Earthsea
6. any GRRM book

talyn rahl

16th July 2002, 15:02

ive just started reading 'the wind on fire' series, its really good simmilar to harry potter or HDM, v.v.v.v.v.v.v. good

Arawis

16th July 2002, 19:03

similar to harry potter? theres no such thing :cool: :)

talyn rahl

17th July 2002, 14:12

yeah there is i know people may not be able to handle it but J.K Rowling isn't that first person to right in that kind of Genre, the 'kid book that can also be read/liked by adults' the story is completly different but theres a definate simmilarity in Type, andyway read it its alot better than Harry potter.

Arawis

17th July 2002, 19:50

~slaps forehead and shakes head~

i was joking! i know it doesnt happen that often, but surely you guys can catch it on the rare occasions that it does...? this is twice in as many days! didnt you see the :cool: and the :) ?

:rolleyes: :p

talyn rahl

17th July 2002, 22:20

actually i didn't :( downer, i only saw it after i had posted and then i felt like a complete ArSe sorry dude

Arawis

18th July 2002, 14:37

lol. tis ok. :p

btw, since i made my mom watch the HP movie, now shes reading the books :cool: i converted someone!!!! :D

talyn rahl

19th July 2002, 15:57

YaY all good need more fans :)

mindphone

4th September 2002, 00:34

a song of ice and fire is by far my favourite fantasy series (and ive read most of the major ones). i have never read anything that comes close to it's caliber. i just pray it does not drag on and get stale like WoT has.
memory, sorrow and thorn by tad williams is also excellent. a lot of people badmouth it for no good reason. Yes, it does take a while to get into but once you get over the initial hump (about 200 hundred pages into the first book) it is incredible and does not let up for the rest of the series.
i am very pleased with the runelords series by david farland which i think also does not get the respect it deserves. i will admit that the first book is not the greatest but books two and three are fucking great, i couldn't put them down.
overall i have been very dissapointed with the Sword of Truth series. the writing is of very low quality and terry goodkind really does not know how to mix things up a bit for spice (its always the usual richard and kahlan get seperated, their lives and love is threatened, they overcome it, they are back together....its getting old)
i feel that david eddings is overrated. his writing is worse than that of goodkind.
never had a problem w/ terry brooks nor with raymond feist but have also never found their books to be standout.
recently read the tyrants and kings trilogy by john marco and was mildly impressed...though not too.
robin hobb's assasin trilogy (cant remember the exact name, read it awhile back) was spectacular. does not get enough praise. but the overrated liveship traders trilogy was absolute rubbish 9 i really dont know how such a good series of books could be followed by such a horrible series)

i dont even know why i got into series i did not like. oh well. i just ramble. yeah, in my opinion george r.r. martin has the best series going for him and by the time it is finished i predit it will have an even bigger following than WoT does.

end.

Sorrowmind

14th September 2002, 13:12

I love Wheel of Time (( D'oh whyt else would I joined here!?! )) well to be truthfull, in here, Finland ( close the Wolf Border ) there ain't much Fantasy books availeble... but David ( and leigh ) Eddings are good ones. I love Mallorean, Belgariad and Althalus...

and third: R.A.Salvatore with His Dark Elf Trilogy and Ice Wind Valley trilogy, Drows legancy was good too, but end was samll disapointment... Maybe we get something to continue from that, it would be great ;)

rest, well I liked Some of Tracy Hickams and Margaret Weis' books, I read 'em as fast they're getting 'em in my local Library

Nachtnoir

14th September 2002, 21:54

Originally posted by talyn rahl
yeah there is i know people may not be able to handle it but J.K Rowling isn't that first person to right in that kind of Genre, the 'kid book that can also be read/liked by adults' the story is completly different but theres a definate simmilarity in Type, andyway read it its alot better than Harry potter.

I know this might not be a very popular opinion, But I don't much care for the "Harry Potter" books. Since it is a blatant rip off of Neil Gaiman's "Books of Magic". Don't believe me, go check out the books. Timothy Hunter doesn't go to a special wizard's school, but he travels the world/ or worlds learning from those he meets. Titania schools him in the ways of the faerie, his father is a wizard, you get the idea.

Arawis

14th September 2002, 22:05

never heard of it
~quickly checks her library's catalog~
they dont have it
~checks plano's~
they have but im not sure theyll let me rent it since i stil havent turned in that book that was due on August 19th........

Darius Sei'taer

18th September 2002, 21:13

Du hast mish.

WOT
LOTR
Original Pug Series
Ender Series
Belagarad
George R.R. Martin's new series
Sword of truth story until it just got plain wierd
Dragonlance Original Raistlin etc
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Amber series
Recluse too boring

Sorry but there is just nothing like WOT after reading WOT I haven't really liked anything else as much

Carrig Gaidin

20th September 2002, 02:14

I'm kind of a newbie to the whole fantasy genre and the only authors I've liked so far have been Jordan and Feist. Any ideas on good starting points from there?

Aragorn

20th September 2002, 12:39

Read Lord of the Rings.

Now.

Carrig Gaidin

21st September 2002, 00:36

Yes, sir!!!

Its probably blasphemy to say anything negative about Tolkien here, but...

I read the Hobbit and after getting through the first dozen or so pages when Tolkien finally gets to the point, I really enjoyed it. I started LotR right away after that, but just didn't have the energy to get through his "history lesson" in the beginning. I'll have to try again when I get back stateside.

Aragorn

21st September 2002, 02:03

See that you do, recruit.

Carrig Gaidin

21st September 2002, 02:20

~salutes~

Cypher

21st September 2002, 06:14

bah, if u don't have the energy for the history, there's no way you'll get through the first page of the first chapter.

Carrig Gaidin

22nd September 2002, 01:46

nah, I think once I sit down and get through the exposition and into the story, I'll be hooked. That's what happened with the Hobbit anyway...

Any other recommended series/authors?

Aragorn

22nd September 2002, 01:49

Dragonlance by Weiss and Hickman is good for beginners. Just the original Chronicles trilogy and then Legends. Then stop. Trust me.

And the Drizzt books by R. A. Salvatore. These are Icewind Dale, The Dark Elf trilogy, Legacy of the Drow series, et al.

I don't think you're ready for Martin yet, grasshopper.

Carrig Gaidin

22nd September 2002, 01:56

Thanks, I'll have to check those out. I've noticed that I tend to like the series that are somewhat believable, at least in the beginning. I think that was on of the cool things about WoT. Until the main characters (and the reader) get used to Shadowspawn, Aes Sedai, and the OP, their reactions are about what ours would be in that situation.

QuirkyTemplate

22nd September 2002, 14:18

Tad Williams' Otherland. Not sure if it's fantasy or not ... but it was well written.

Elin

22nd September 2002, 15:33

Well, you can skip the history part about the hobbits in the beginning of LoTR if you like. It's not really essential to the story.

I would recommend Robin Hobb's "Farseer Trilogy", and Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials". Also, there's plenty of classic fantasy that is ostensibly for young readers, but that I've reread when I was older and still found great. Ursula le Guin's "Earthsea" trilogy and Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" are some of these.

Aragorn

22nd September 2002, 23:45

If he can't sit through the first part of LotR, he is not going to be able to finish the slowass first half of Otherland. Even I couldn't.

Arawis

23rd September 2002, 20:45

i thought the hobbit was better the LOTR. there were just parts where i stopped actually reading and was just looking at the words and then id do that for like 10 pages before id snap out of it and then i couldnt remember what i had read :rolleyes:

i second elin on His Dark Materials

talyn rahl

25th September 2002, 14:53

i third the his dark materials thing class class series better than HP by far,

Darius Sei'taer

25th September 2002, 15:39

WOT

talyn rahl

29th September 2002, 17:28

what about WOT (apart fromt he obvious)

Swoop

16th October 2002, 01:09

Here are my choices.

1. Wheel of Time
2. His Dark Materials Trilogy (Pullman)
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Harry Potter
5. The Redwall saga (a bit basic but still very good)

Aragorn

16th October 2002, 01:10

You rank two series above LotR. And you rank it only one place better than ~ahem~ Harry Potter.

...

Swoop

16th October 2002, 14:05

Originally posted by Aragorn
You rank two series above LotR. And you rank it only one place better than ~ahem~ Harry Potter.

...
Well, WoT and HDM have a darkness to them that I like. LotR is good, very good, but a touch dilute when compared to the others (The Silmarilion on the other hand, that would rate above HDM). And HP is good, and set to get better (Prisoner of Azkaban rates as one my best books of all time, but that's me).

talyn rahl

17th October 2002, 15:14

:D redwall is cool have you read the taggerung? it the newest one nto as good as the classics but still great

Evandar

19th November 2002, 21:00

1: WoT
2: Shannara
3: The sword of truth novels
4: The land of Deverry

Rosanna-Sedi

20th November 2002, 15:04

In no Particular order apart from the first.

1. WOT
2. Memory sorrow and Thorn
3. Anne McCaffrey's freedom series
4. Harry Potter
5. Discworld Novels

lianedefeyer

20th November 2002, 15:20

I think all those books get their own particularities. So , Lotr would be darker, deeper, a very present fantasy, traeted with a grandiloquent serious. WOT of course is very deep , but younger , in the form and the spirit.. fantasy is herevery barocco, coloured with mutipleways , places, exotic peple and civilisation... the atmosphere is shiny, ethnical, and rules are complicated , intrigua is coarser and more complicated , joining creatures in a malestrom of culture and adventures. Harry Potter is very fresh , young adult and teenage thinking , but very adult, too . I think so. The adventures related here are by the way very deep , too , despite of the fresh looking and the funny of situations. Subject written are so well-treated that you can read it feeling yourself younger, wizard, and terrifiying by avatars of Voldemort ahnd those dark slaves.

lianedefeyer

20th November 2002, 15:24

So I think that btwn those 3 , you can have various ways to like fantasy, coarser , fresher , adult and tragic, dramatic, or by the way very funny , using Humor and some marvellous lands and place to make us rambling far away , where you can use a Power , be an Animagus , or fight in your mind and soul against the desire of a simple and golden ring...!! :)

Byrn

20th November 2002, 17:52

Well my favorites are
1:Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
2:WOT
3:Chronicles of Amber(the Corwin books only, Merlin was boring)
4:LOTR
5:The Shanara books
Honorable mention, Barbra Hambly, the Rainbow Abyss. Wonderful take on magic.
That's just Fantasy. Throw in Sci-fi, and there are some Heinlen, Norton and Anthony books that rank pretty high, not to mention Asimov

Knight

22nd November 2002, 05:03

My favorites are:

1) A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
2) The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
3) Discworld by Terry Pratchett
4) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

James

22nd November 2002, 11:52

WOT
Discworld
Dragonlance (esp. Twins)

hated LOTR, except for end of book 3. I mean really, what kind of a warcry is 'Elendil'?

I much prefer The Ticks' cry of 'Spoon'!

talyn rahl

25th November 2002, 09:26

DUDE!!!!!! i remember the tick SSSSPPPOOOOOONNN RoFlMaO, that program was sooo funny. Ya know wot was better? Earth Worm Jim. did anyone watch that??? it was sssssoooooo funny

James

25th November 2002, 17:37

fuck yeah! and that evil guy off buzz lightyear, Emperor Zurg, he was funny as hell

Arawis

25th November 2002, 18:18

earthworm jim!! lol :p

talyn rahl

26th November 2002, 08:37

i remember this one time there was a double episode and for the entire thing he was looking for his neighbours egg whisk and he finnaly found it (stuck in the end of the evil cat's(can't remember his name?) machine of world destruction) and he gave it to her and she was all like "thats not my egg whisk) and he was all like "Oh1 then this must be your egg whisk!" and pull it out of his jacket :D:D:D:D why haven't they brought that show back

Sorrowmind

6th December 2002, 15:25

-Wheel of time ( D'uh!! )

-Eddings' (Belgariad, Mallorean with Belgariad and Polagara and Tamuli & Elenium)

-R.A. Salvatore's Books:
Dark Elf trilogy, Ice Wind Valley Trilogy, The Path of Darkness and Sea Swords ( or what ever it was ) Now who couldn't like the tales of Dark Elf Drizzit Do'Urden???

-Memory, Sorrow & Thorne was quite good.

-Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb is, something worth of reading.

the Lord of The Rings, its an classic...

James

7th December 2002, 10:10

The Dark Elf books rocked. Forgotten realms is quite a cool series/collection all up.

talyn rahl

13th December 2002, 08:55

did you know that if you play baldurs gate on the PS2 and hold all the shoulder buttons during the intro you get to play as Drizzt? well if you didn't you do now

James

13th December 2002, 09:42

excellent

Naemis

16th December 2002, 03:24

Talyn, his name was Evil the Cat--Lord of Heck. I know because I used to have a cat named after him... :D (Never watched the cartoon... ?... but the game rocked...)

talyn rahl

17th December 2002, 13:51

:D thanx he was the coolest charecter, i remember one episode where he tried to destory the world by showing these wierd Yak things a picture of a Fondue fork :) Roflmao it was ssssoooooo funny!!!!!!!!

Nachtnoir

21st December 2002, 23:10

I named one of my dogs "Speak". My favorite villian was Chairface Chippendale. He's the one who tired to right his name on the face of the moon.

James

22nd December 2002, 09:22

yeah, and every episode after that the letters he managed to get on were still visible on it

ahh, memories. i cracked up when the chameleon guy climbed down onto some plaid curtains, tried to camouflage himself and got all nauseous and fell to he floor :)

baxts

11th January 2003, 02:33

1-the silmarillion
2-the belgariad
3-WoT
4-LotR
5-Rai-Kirah (by carol berg, waaaay underated
6-some of riftwar was brilliant
7-SoIaF

those are the best in my mind, im certain that id put the elenium and the Tamuli up there, but havnt read them yet

James

11th January 2003, 08:03

the vampire chronicles from anne rice are top of my list at the mo.

baxts

16th January 2003, 01:55

never read them. what they like??

LaughingTurtle

16th January 2003, 10:06

they're ok...though sometimes depends on what mood you're in...I mean they're really good books, but after the first two, they can start to drag with all the vampire histories and tid bit such. But if you're in the mood they're excellent books, which i highly recommend, hell they even made two movies off of em.

baxts

20th January 2003, 05:05

yeah, books are like music, what you enjoy at any one time depends on your mood, totally agree. Sometimes, i just sit down with some sherlock holmes even!!

James

24th January 2003, 08:11

Originally posted by baxts
never read them. what they like??

they are an excellent series, but it is best if you start from the beginning. like most series I guess :). I know what you mean about mood LT, though, it will affect your willingness to read them, as the books have a certain feel to them and you need to be on the right level to really get into them.

I cant remember if I put this in my favs post, but Neil Gaimans Sandman comics are also brilliant :)

tolmeth

31st January 2003, 17:04

While I find the Wheel of Time series strong for the most part, it comes nowhere near the stature and grandeur of the Lord of the Rings (for green Tolkien fans, the movie, while it captures well the general sense of Middle Earth, pales in comparison to the book, and shows an unfortunate penchant for revisionism).

WOT lacks the realism, depth, and spiritual moorings of LOTR. It also has a tendency to waunder into sections that are, frankly, ultra-peripheral and somewhat boring. The only sense in which I could call it greater than LOTR is that it is far longer.

My second favorite fantasy series is the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

bole11

28th February 2003, 21:04

THE WHEEL OF TIME!!
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter

acesn8s

4th March 2003, 15:42

Wow! You guys have covered almost everything that I know about.

I've mentioned this series in a few places so I might as well add it here.

Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry series. The first book is the Summer Tree.

So my favorite series are:
Fionavar Tapestry - Kay
Song of Fire and Ice - Martin
Wheel of Time - Jordan
Belgariod - Eddings
Khaavren Romances (Phoenix Guards & 500 Years After) - Brust
David Gemmel's stuff (so many different series, I gobble them up like candy).

mindphone

4th March 2003, 15:44

Originally posted by acesn8s
Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry series. The first book is the Summer Tree.

that series is so underrated it hurts. excellent trilogy.

acesn8s

4th March 2003, 15:49

AAhhhhh!!!! No Thumbsup smilie!!!!

Okay you so get a :cool: :D

Byrn

4th March 2003, 16:00

My Current Favorites

Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R. Donaldson
Chronicles of Amber(the Corwin books) - Roger Zelazny
the Gap Cycle - Stephen R. Donaldson
the Coldfire Trilogy - C.S. Friedman
WOT
LOTR
the Rainbow Abyss- Barbara Hambly

acesn8s

6th March 2003, 09:58

Well I went to all three local bookstores last night (Waldenbooks, Borders, and Barnes & Nobles) to replace my lost copies of the Fionavar Tapestry. Could find them. Looks like Amazon time.

Tyria Daylinia

19th March 2003, 13:32

I myself have a special love for the Ender series, WoT, LoTR, Shannara, the series by Paul Fisher (I LOVED those books!!), Chronicles of Narnia, and MS&T... that should be all of them ;)

val7

20th March 2003, 17:19

try a Song of Ice and Fire. (GRRM)
:D

Crix

22nd March 2003, 09:09

1.Wheel of Time
2.Lord of the Rings
3.Shannara Series by Terry Brooks
4.Drizzt books by R.A. Salvatore
5.Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends by Weis & Hickman
6.Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula le guinn (book 1 best by far)
7.The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice
8.Lone Wolf Books I forget the author

On a final note id like to say im the least likely person to read a book. I go out nearly evernight, party, chase girls etc. But several years ago i was stranded on an island for a camp and this guy gave me a copy of the hobbit ... Now i try to read as much as i can which isnt much (trains, buses, b4 bed) and i love it... I passed on my love of fantasy to the most unlikely people and will continue to do so tho it gets annoying defending my fantasy addiction to retards who dont understand the beauty of using your imagination ..

;) Later Amigos and Senioritas
p.s. War is not the Answer

JBRUM

24th March 2003, 13:54

No particular order

- sword of truth series
- hyperion books, by Dan Simmons ( I don't see many others listing these, they are great, original, and deep. Unlike RJ)
- A sword of fire and ice( I only read a game of thrones, excellent)
- eddings belgariad and mallorean, very fun
- The Dark tower
- Shannara, I know it was a ripoff of Tolkien, but so is Jordan, in a way as most fantasy authors
- death gate cycle
- the dune prequels, the first Dune of the original series, I burned the rest of the dune books

off the list:
- wheel of time
- lord of rings- just because it was the first, it was not the best. Someone else would have come up with those ideas. If Terry Brooks Shannara series came out before Tolkien, you would say JRR is a ripoff of Brooks. Think on that

Crix

3rd April 2003, 21:32

i agree brooks and jordan have a lot of elements of LotR but hey somethings gotta start a trend i am happy it was lord of the rings.......

TimTam Al Thor

14th April 2003, 01:26

1. LOTR
2. Riftwar Saga
3. ASOIAF
3. Wheel of Time (could have been the best with a decent editor)

Master Raven

22nd April 2003, 20:13

In my personal experience, and i havent read that many series of fantasy, id have to go w/:
1. WOT (of course!!!!!)
2. Dune
3. Enders
4. LotR
5. Shannara (got boring after a while... same thing happened every book)

But i have a major ques..... What series do i read now that im almost done with book 10 of WOT???? i cant wait 3 years for the next WOT book and not read nething in between, so what do i read? ive heard in this thread about song of fire and ice...a nd theres others, but would anyone mind explainig that 2 me? and givin suggestions? thanx... this is my first time in this forum, btw... im just about finished with WOT and i dont want to forget about it cause i love it, so figured id join here.. ... so i did :)

sms1824

22nd April 2003, 20:57

1. WOT
2. Ender's series
3. LOTR*
4. Redwall
5. Merlin Series
6. Shannara

*LOTR got really slow at times, especially in the first two books. And most of the characters have the exact same personality, using the old english, I thought that was kind of annoying. For instance a simple farewell took a whole chapter to explain because of the ceremony and such. Plus, I don't really like how it ended, I thought it should have been more of a happily ever after ending rather than Frodo departing his friends in sadness.
Shannara = too slow
I like the WOT books even though they can get slow because everything is being elaborately built up for some brilliant climax. There is foreshadowing everwhere.

I'm looking for suggestions for further reading since I'm almost finished with CoT. A friend of mine suggested the Dark Elf Trilogy and Forgotten Realms books, anyone like these series?

James

23rd April 2003, 04:03

Originally posted by Master Raven
ive heard in this thread about song of fire and ice...a nd theres others, but would anyone mind explainig that 2 me? and givin suggestions?

this is easily explained. a song of ice and fire is a series of books. my suggestion is that you try reading them (as opposed to eating them)

Lord "Helpful" Semaj :)

anyway.. I would suggest trying any suggestions posted on this thread. wotists have excellent taste in books (generally).

and the Dark Elf trilogy is excellent, sms, and the forgotten realms isn't a bad 'series' as well

Master Raven

23rd April 2003, 10:40

Hey thanx --
Who wrote a song of fire and ice, and how many books are there? i want to read a series next that is finished, unlike WOT, so i dont have to wait for the next book to come out in several years, or however long it takes for them to come out.
I have also heard some things about the sword series by terry goodkind.... they seem to be popular, but ive heard some bad things about them.... are they bad, or good??? cause the look interesting, and i might want to try them out --
thanx

LaughingTurtle

23rd April 2003, 11:22

A song of ice fire is written by George R.R. Martin but is not a compete series yet. Though I would still highly recommend it. Unlike RJ, GRRM churns out the books at a pretty respectable rate and each is most definitely worth the wait. One of his books has the same impact as like 2 WOT ones. (if not more compared to RJ's latest)

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series. As you said, yes there are quite varied reactions to it. Some like, others hate it. Personally I read them all, and while it is cheesy in spots it is still a solid read. It's a good "in between series" So while you are waiting for the next WOT or Song of Ice Fire book, you pick up the Sword of Truth.

Master Raven

23rd April 2003, 15:13

hey thanx! i appreciate it --
im glad he writes books quickly.... RJ is very good, but that is a downside to him.
Sounds like a plan! I'll def. do that. (read sword of truth in b/wtn series, that is)

Byrn

23rd April 2003, 16:34

Well I don't know what you have and haven't read. But let me suggest some older books. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson(the First book is Lord Foul's Bane), The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny(while the series isn't stellar, it is entertaining), The Blue Adept Series by Piers Anthony(a nice blend of sci-fi and fantasy), Glory Road by Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, The Gap Cycle by Stephen R Donaldson(the first book is the Real Story), The Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony( first book is On a Pale Horse), Any book by Terry Pratchett. All of the Series of books are complete. The Heinlein books are a nessacary sci-fi read in my opinion. Starship Troopers is a very good book, naturally, hollywood butchered it.

Master Raven

23rd April 2003, 16:59

THNX for all the suggestions!!! i'll check 'em out ;)
yea i def. agreed hollywood butchered starship troopers (ive seen the movie) but they did make a cartoon series about it 2, and that one is horrible as well...... Oh well.... Cant stop hollywood, now can ya?

Dingdin

23rd April 2003, 17:33

Michelle West's the Sun Sword - probably the most fascinating series I've read. This series is extremely slow for those who don't like puzzling out intrigue and psychology. The undertext is not only important for the interpretation, but really for the understanding of the story itself, which can be demanding. But West very conciously uses time and human perception, both of which she will stretch and bend and distort in a way that I haven't found anywhere else. Unlike WOT, magic is not like physics here but a lot like psychology.

Martins A song of Ice and Fire. Magic is old and hidden and ominous and dire. Martin is a master of character - unlike Jordan, whose characters - especially the women, as we all know - are all alike in some ways. Going to Seanchan or the Aiel waste really feels like just another suburb of Seattle. Going anywhere at all in Martin's world is like going to the heart of darkness, or to a post-sovietic central asian state where nobody speaks english and the few who do still don't make sense - to you. And Martin's world is real. Martin's characters are each and everyone unique and believable.

Master Raven

23rd April 2003, 17:46

That reminded me of something i found annoying... In the shannara books, they were always basically the same!! something was lost, they had to find it, or for some reason, they went ona quest.... so they had this giant long boring quest, and when they get to the end they have a massive battle, and then it starts over again in the next book!! it got soooo boring!! i couldnt take it anymore, so i dont read them anymore.

Dingdin

23rd April 2003, 18:07

Good for you!

Master Raven

23rd April 2003, 19:33

lol well thank you

Danae Drews

1st May 2003, 17:57

like mists of
avalon series a lot!!!!!!

most of the others mentioned above are really well worth the read as well

Llothlian

2nd May 2003, 13:18

1) Wheel Of Time!!!!!
2) The Chronicle of Thomas Covenant (1, number 2 really is not nearly as good...)
3) The Belgariad and The Malorian
4) The Pendragon Cycle
5) The Lord Of The Rings

there we go the definitive list of the best epics ever writen...

vballshake

21st August 2003, 07:56

Did anyone else think that the first book and first half of the second book of the coldfire trilogy rocked? I thought it was a great and semi original plot. And then maybe I lost interest and kind of just dazed through the rest, but they kind of sucked. Can anyone else agree or maybe tell me I am wrong?

Oh yeah and wot is up there for me. I am halfway through wh and can feel the series slowing down. But from where I am it is still keeping my attention. And also as soon as I am caught up on wot I think I am going to read this dark elf trilogy. Haven't seen any negatives about it and it sounds kinda cool.

Elessar

22nd August 2003, 11:50

Sorry but I have to say that I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings more than the Wheel of Time so.

1) Lord of the Rings
2)Wheel of Time
3)Shannara Series

lan sam

22nd August 2003, 14:04

a SOng of Ice and Fire. Even though I haven't even finished the first book.:D

Byrn

24th August 2003, 02:13

I thought the Coldfire Trilogy was brilliant. All three books.

Grim

25th August 2003, 04:37

dude tarrant was totally cool in that story. coldfire rocks.

prophetic_joe

30th August 2003, 06:00

Who wrote the Coldfire Triology need to find some new reading material

LaughingTurtle

30th August 2003, 11:17

C.S. Friedman wrote the coldfire trilogy. Only have read the coldfire books so can't comment on anything else he's written.

Sayuri Sedai

30th December 2003, 00:52

i dont think ive ever disliked any series that ive read. Although i did hate LotR the first time i read them. for some reason i picked them up again a few months later and i loved them. must have been having a bad week the first time. anywho, some of the ones i can think of that ive enjoyed...

wheel of time (of course ;))
sword of truth
the sevenwaters trilogy
harry potter (poop on all you harry potter haters)
lord of the rings
the runelords

erm, cannot think of any others. i really should read all of these series that keep coming up on peoples lists... like song of ice and fire.

Rockworm

30th December 2003, 18:06

i love harry potter too

cyber

11th February 2004, 10:18

A just finsifhed Riftwar sag a and like it a looooooooot,i also read Talon of the silver hawk,athought it is after serpantwar saga,witch i starting to read.

Harry Potter is good,but i dont like the book 5 at all.No concept og magic is given,he just moves his hand and MAGIC. : (

LOTR is one of the best,the idea is just umatchable.

WOT,no need to say anything is there,maby just one word POWERWARS : ).

I have bought Ship of Magic by RoBIN HooB,any thoughts..

P.S. I left some (read a lot) books from this short summary,so u writte them.I am waiting for other ideas about this books.

P.S.P.S Fu*k the spelling....

val7

11th February 2004, 21:36

for some reason I couldn't really get into the riftwar saga. I liked the first one, but when I finished the first book and found out there were more I just couldn't make myself get into them.

cyber

12th February 2004, 09:57

It gets only better and better.U should read SilverThron,its not bigg and if u like it read A darkness at Sethanon.The 3rd is the best.

rado907

27th March 2004, 23:57

Both the Wheel of Time and the Song of fire and Ice own.

I've read other fantasy too... But mostly it sucks. The books about Krondor are pretty bad, to be honest (except the one about the trader guy, I like that one)... Terry Goodkind is a raving madman... The ones about Recluse are slow and somewhat repetetive in their plotlines (though 2 of them were rather good.) Lotr... bleh - no women characters, main characters not terribly deep... Still classic though.

And so on...

But the Wheel of Time and SoFaI are more than just stores... They are mythologies... They are almost religious ;-).

Simnos_Reborn

2nd May 2004, 18:35

well i think wheel of time is just quality fantasy so i have to put that first. lotr was what really got me interested in fantasy so that comes a close second (although when i tried to reread it after WoT i found it quite boring). I havn't read song of fire and ice but judging by thr following its got i might give it a try. basically reading fantasy is great.

SirTom

14th June 2004, 00:02

personally, i didnt like the lotr books. in contrast i think the trilogy in movie form is, to unstate it, simply the best film(s) ever created. the books to me were dry and at times i found myself lost and drowning in sooo much unneeded detail. it took me bout a year to finish the first two books bc it got so boring at times that i had to stop reading it; you cant take much of that. i put it down to read another book just to remind myself that not all literature is as dry as the Aiel Waste. his characters to me have much less depth compared to the movie.

tho i blame not his story as being dry. it was an incredible story, in some shape and form, but it has hindered as he wrote the book to be more historal fiction that entertainment wrting. i know that i dissagree with many of you on this, but it is all opinion. i think, tho, that we will all agree on how great the movies were at least.

as for my favorite series, number one is currently held by the wot. second, im thinkin is harry potter simply bc it took you to a completely original world and kept you there until the last page, and after you turned that last page, you wish you had a whole new hp book book to begin reading. i think that the author of hp (cant remember off the top of my head) is an exceptional author btw.

so ya, thats it...srry this post is so long for saying only 2 things really.

this has been another ranting of tom...

Amberly

14th June 2004, 00:21

I just got the first book of Song of Ice and Fire and the first book of The Sword of Truth but I cant decide which to read first... what do you'll think

FemmeCafe

14th June 2004, 02:39

My first reaction was to say A Song of Ice and Fire but now I'm thinking maybe Sword of Truth. You can probably get through that whole series then read the next Song of Ice and Fire books before the fourth book in that series comes out. And although I'm sure the wait will be worth it, waiting for the next Song of Ice and Fire book is getting tedious. Or I'm really impatient, maybe. (That's probably more likely.)

The other thing is, so much happens in SOIAF that I know I've forgotten half of it and will have to reread them before the next one comes out. There's no way I can keep track of all those characters and everything that happened.

I guess it depends on what type of person you are... If you want some really good books and can stand the wait for the next one, A Game of Thrones would be good to read now.

Amberly

14th June 2004, 22:53

well I still have 2 more books in WoT (the 4th freakin time reading it) and then some random books that arent in a series.. so I have time to decide

Ned Stark

23rd June 2004, 21:59

I'm going to rate it as
1) Song of Ice and Fire
2) The wayfarer redemption
3) Wheel of time

and amberly definetily continue witha song of ice and fire it jsut keeps getting better. :)

FemmeCafe

23rd June 2004, 22:35

My top 6:

1) A Song of Ice and Fire
2) Farseer/Liveship Traders/Tawny Man (I think of them all as one series since they do all go together)
3) The Camulod Chronicles
4) Runelords
5) Pendragon Cycle
6) Lord of the Rings

I actually haven't read WoT yet, believe it or not, although I just started the first book and am about halfway through it.

Amberly

23rd June 2004, 22:52

so many books I still need to read

FemmeCafe

23rd June 2004, 23:39

so many books I still need to read

I know the feeling... I just got 5 books cheap off of Amazon in the mail today, but it will probably be awhile before I start any of them since I just started WoT. And most of the books I still want to read are, of course, part of a bigger series, so if I like them, that's just more books to add to the list.

Oh well, at least if you always have books you need to read, you should never run out and it always gives you something to look forward to. :)

Amberly

23rd June 2004, 23:42

lets see... I'm on book 10 of wot so almost done with that.. then I have the Tawny man series... a song of Ice and fire... sword of truth... a forgotten relms trilogy about a female drow that I cant remember the name of.. and thats just the series.. I have roughly 15 books my mother sent me that she wants me to read....*sigh*

talyn rahl

24th June 2004, 09:07

hhhmmm hard one

1. Sword of Truth/Dark tower ( I just can't decide)
2. Sword of Ice and Fire
3. Belgariad/ Mallorian (The first fantasy series i ever read :P)

Ned Stark

24th June 2004, 13:27

was Runelords good FemmeCafe I've seen it in a lot of book stores but never picked up a copy

FemmeCafe

24th June 2004, 18:30

was Runelords good FemmeCafe I've seen it in a lot of book stores but never picked up a copy

They were pretty good. The first one was somewhat hard to get into and it wasn't as well written as the rest of the series, but the concept and plot were pretty interesting (and the second and third books were really good). Also, Farland seemed to have the opposite problem of many fantasy authors today -- his series was actually too short. He originally planned to write 5 books, but he ended up writing 4 instead and the fourth one felt too rushed. I think he really should have made it 5 books as planned. Some loose ends weren't tied up and the ending was kind of abrupt.

The world was very interesting and original, and my fiance actually preferred them to Song of Ice and Fire just because the world was so interesting. I disagree, but I think that's because I tend to look more for great characterization than anything else in a book. I definitely think they are worth reading, though, even if they aren't the best fantasy series out there.