Fantasy

[Rawren]

Preferred something categorized as fantasy, not sci-fi.

What's your fav: books, artist, creatures etc. What would you recommend for a freshman? Anything.

In this magnificent genre(?) I find three great writers topping the rest. George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb.

Oh shit, I'm in a hurry so I explain later what I so much like about them.

[shampooh]

I'm not really into fantasies, but I remembered as a kid I loved reading Linda Chapman's series of Stardust. I was also one of the avid fans of the local drama Switched!.

I'll check out the works of the authors you mentioned when I'm free (: Looking forward to a detailed explanation of your opinion later ^^

[Adam]

What's your fav: books, artist, creatures etc. What would you recommend for a freshman? Anything.

Books: For a long time, the Wheel of Time series without question, though A Song of Ice and Fire has been threatening to overtake that spot since I read Storm of Swords. The Malazan series and the Sword of Truth books are also series I enjoy reading.

Artist: I dunno. I'll say Kentarou Miura of Berserk fame.

Creatures: I don't care for most creatures in fantasy, as I prefer to read about human characters. Nonetheless, I like many of the creatures in Steven Erikson's Malazan series for their rich histories.

Recommendations for noobs: Harry Potter, Wheel of Time. I suppose Lord of the Rings is a good gateway series, too, though I don't care for it.

In this magnificent genre(?) I find three great writers topping the rest. George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb.

That's two...

[Syn]

Robin Hobb, I really had troubles reading her after reading Martin... I could barely finish the first serie that she made, it dragged on too much and the hero made me cringe a lot.

I liked The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring a lot (I think I read the latter about ten times). But it's a boring style, so you have to be interested in something else than the writing to continue. XD

There is also Pratchett and his witches that totally owns my soul. I love the three old witches XD They're just too funny.

But in the end, the best is still Martin in my opinion. Because he can make me love a character, or love to hate him/her. And there are many things in his story that intrigues me. He got me for the characters, he got me for the writing-style and he got me for the plot. =)

*points at her location*

[Notneeded]

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher is currently my favorite Fantasy series. I like Robin Hobb as well, but her current series is very negative and am hoping that she improves that in the final book of the series. Elizabeth Haydon's The Symphony of Ages series is decent, not the best but it still has an interesting story line. Patricia A McKillip is a good writer and her work has a lyrical sense to it that is similar to Lord of the Rings but without the difficult english that the author used in his writings. I read a great deal but cant remember any other really significant authors right now.

[Unicorn]

Fav. fantasy authors:

Terry Pratchett - the Discworld series. He does excellent parodies of the real world.
Mercedes Lackey - the Valdemar series and various short stories. Excellent and descriptive writer. I started with a trilogy of hers and it made me cry.
Margaret Weis & Tracey Hickman - Dragonlance series.
J.R.R. Tolkein - Lord of the Rings

Fav. fantasy creatures:
Dragons (english or asian style, doesn't matter), unicorns, pegasus, winged unicorns, chimeras...

[phantomfork]

Brian Jacques Redwall series is excellent, if you don't mind whimsical adventure. I don't personally see the books as being enormously childish, but they are considered as reading for a younger audience now. Start with his older books, I think they're better than his newer stuff.

Yes, Mercedes Lackey writes fun stuff too :D I've read her gryphon series and the Firerose.

Lots of people like Ursula K. Leguin's Earthsea novels, although they aren't really a favorite of mine.

[Hiraeth]

Pratchett's stuff is great, especially the City Watch, Witches and Rincewind ones.

A really good series is the Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind but I harped on about that in another thread so I'll restrain the urge.

I used to have a huge list of fantasy authors I liked but I seem to have forgotten most of them.

Actually I'll plug a couple of Aussie authors, if you can get a hold of them it is well worth it. Firstly Jennifer Fallon - she does the standard kind of fantasy, but she puts strange twists on the traditional stuff.

Sean Williams - a little odd, but really really good. I absolutely loved his first series, and I'm working through his second one, although it is definitely weird.

Moving on from Aussies, but speaking of Williamses, Tad Williams is another wonderful author. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is the fantasy series he's famous for, but if you want something a little different try Tailchaser's World - it's a fantasy novel about cats!

Anyone who hasn't read The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, please go and do that now, it is convoluted, intriguing, powerful and many other adjectives. I'd be tempted to call it the best series I've ever read.

Neil Gaiman also does some good fantasy novels. If you're into comics I'd suggest you track down his stuff, especially the Sandman series which is about the personification of Dream. He wrote the book Stardust which was made into a movie last year. His books Neverness and American Gods are well worth a look.

I'll have to go check out Martin if you guys think he's that good :)