GoldenWheels

Granted I have kind of "lost the thread" of Dragonlance as a universe over the years but I was not a fan of the very latest re-incarnation...where they kind of flipped the whole universe upside down, dropped the old gods I think, etc. I think they tried to reinvigorate the series and really made it worse. I only got like 3 books in, maybe I am not being fair. But I felt like...if it's all new...I'll just find a NEW series.

Aside from that, I think anything pertaining to the Chronicles trilogy (especially the awesome preludes books) are great fantasy reading.

Me too! My original singles, which I keep out of love, look like they've been though a war. No covers, bent pages, etc.

Alvis

I re-read Chronicles and Legends every few year. The Lost Chronicles that came out in the last few years and take place between books of the Chronicles are okay, but I sold them after I finished them. And that's not to say I don't like their new writing because I haven't been a high school student for years, I liked War of Souls just fine.

superdeluxe

So I've been done with ASOIAF for awhile.

Who should I start with next? Erikson, Abercrombie or Rothfuss? Or none of those?

superdeluxe

They are quick/easy reads that I remember. I also liked the Deathgate Cycle series from Weis and Hickman.

Lastblade

I like all 3. I have only read Rothfuss' first book, and forgot much of it (so must reread). I do remember enjoying it a lot. It is like the opposite of Erikson in that it focus only on 1 guy recounting his days of old. Great stuff. Erikson is huge and dense, probably will take some efforts to get through the first book. Abercrombie is in between.

Depends on what your mood is, but I would start with Rothfuss.

Dash

Ill throw it in there since it hasnt been mentioned yet but Stephen Kings Dark tower is amazing and I reccomend it.

GreenMonkey

I agree - the first couple of trilogies are good, the Second Generation book is good, but I think after that it's clear that it suffers from TSR/Wizards making boneheaded decisions about where the universe is going, and trying to turn Dragonlance into something it shouldn't have been...then the later series tries to turn it back around which only sorta works.

The Lost Chronicles are all right - except I think they went a bit easy on old Raistlin vs Raistlin 20 years later for his book - I consider it the weakest of the bunch.

Chickey

Some of my favourites have already been mentioned but I would still point you in the direction of the following:

- David Gemmell - my top favourite - his books are consistently excellent. Waylander is my favourite fantasy book, but start with Legend.
- Brent Weeks - The night angel trilogy is definitely worth a look
- Raymond E. Feist - I second this recommendation, start with Magician (the updated version) and keep going (darkness at sethanon etc.)
- Katherine Kurtz - I read the Deryni series years ago but always liked it - worth a look

Is it funny that no one has mentioned Tolkien yet?

arminius

I read a revierw from another SF author who I can't remember, stating that when he read a Gemmell book he cried for the sheer goodness of what he was reading. I knew exactly what he was saying. His books are just in a class by themselves. Check out wiki for the series and start one. You will not be disappointed.

Xander

Hmm. Gemmell's been on my radar for a while now. Is Legend (the drenai series) the best place to start with him?

shumway

Definitely on The Belgariad and The Mallorean. I went back to this series about 12 - 18 months ago and read them all including the bookends of Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.

I will also second The Codex Alera and nominate The Dresden Files, all by Jim Butcher. I don't know if The Dresden Files is what you are looking for though as it is present day.

Nick Danger

Nah. It's a safe assumption that anyone asking about fantasy series books has already heard about Tolkien.

arminius

I started reading the Troy series. I liked that so much I went back and read the other stuff. The Troy is only 3 books but really, pick a series and read the first one.

superdeluxe

I was thinking he wasn't mentioned because he goes without saying?

Xander

Thanks. I did pick up Legend at Half Price Books last night. I will be diving in soon.

covenant

Add to that Glenn Cook's Garrett P.I. series.

I actually tried but never finished the first book of The Black Company Series.
The author would take five pages for a conversation during a card game but a major battle would be summarized in a sentence.

Chickey

As good a place as any - it was his first book and the first in the Drenai series.

There are two schools of thought on what is the best way to read his books though: order of publication or chronologically.

Start with Legend to give you a flavour and decide then which way you want to go. Me, I went in order of publication and thought they were great.

I envy you your first time reading this - I'd be interested in what you thought of it once you have read it.

Damn, I'm going to have to reread it again now!

Autotelik

The last time I read the Belgariad and Mallorean series was when I was 28 yrs old and I found them just as enjoyable. They were a bit simpler than when I remembered them from high school (I first read them when I was 13 yrs old), but still very enjoyable. The style gets a bit repetitive (short, witty remarks from various characters) but a good read nonetheless. I might reread the Elenium and Tamuli one of these days. That last series he wrote with his wife though... I couldn't get through 100 pages of it and gave up. Just too boring.

Xander

I will report back on Gemmell.

And I still like a lot of Eddings stuff. But once he started putting his wife's names on the books, they started to go downhill fast. I think Polgara the Sorceress is the last thing I could stand to read of his. Everything that came after that (Althalas, the Dreamers series) just is not good, IMO.

collven

I really enjoyed David Eddings as well. Of course, it's been almost 20 years since I read his stuff. I even got my original Everquest character name from that (Sparhawk, although I misspelled it Sparrhawk).

GreenMonkey

That's kind of how I feel (although I don't care about his wife getting credits). Just that even the Elenium books are like Belgariad clones. But after that...they get to be like worse clones.

----
I read the first Malazan Book of the Fallen book...I'm not sure what to think. There were sooo many characters to keep straight. I think I'd have benefited from reading it in paperback where I could flip to the character list at the front easier.

I'm taking a break and I'll try it again later this year / next year. See if I can keep things straight better. He just kinda tosses you into it - the magic and the gods and everything become quite confusing...I didn't feel like I really had sorted it out until almost at the end of the book. And people complain about GRR Martin having too many characters!

Xander

Sorry, didn't mean that to sound like I cared that his wife's name was on the books. It just seemed like once that happened, the quality went downhill. As far as I am aware, she was a collaborator on many of his books. She just never got credit on the covers until later on.

codecomplete

Definately recommend the following series:

- The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
- The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson
- The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper

Dr. DVD

FWIW, I have read about as much Tolkien as possible. The Hobbit was my first fantasy novel (as I imagine it was for many) , then came LOTR. I then read The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales in the summer of '94. It wasn't until SOIAF that I got back into reading fantasy. Took a break this summer by reading Stephen King's 11/22/63 , now on AFOC. So far, not really getting all of the hate for this one aside from the Cersei chapters (this was a rare case where the adapted portrayal of a character was better than the written one).

Will definitely take the other recs for consideration. Thanks!

Gilgamesh1082

I remember a Magic player recommending Thomas Covenant. He said to skip Lord Foul's Bane and go straight to the Illearth War. I'll second that statement. I didn't take his suggestion. I struggled to get through Bane. When I finally did, I completely gave up on Donaldson. LFB was just god awful. I imagine Illearth War was much better.