Who are your other favorite fantasy authors?

[Clinton Seeber]

Stephen R. Donaldson fans, who are amongst your other favorite fantasy authors? JRR Tolkien? Terry Brooks? David Eddings? Roger Zelazny? Piers Anthony? Who?

[Rau Le Creuset]

To tell you the truth Clinton, I find myself liking Fantasy less and less as i go along. First reading Lord of the Rings, then reading The sword of truth series by Terry Goodkind followed the Chronicles of Thomas covenant and Still in progress The song of Ice and Fire.. I feel like all the other fantasy's I pick up are recycled copies. I know my view is terribly biased and cynical, but i can't seem to keep myself interested in any of the other stories recommended to me.

So yeah, my list;

Terry Goodkind
George RR Martin
Tolkein
Oh yes.. and maybe Guy Gavriel Kay

[Fist and Faith]

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series is as good as life gets.
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books too.
David Zindell's Neverness books too.
Julian May's Galactic Milieu books. (I haven't read her Saga of Pliocene Exile.)

Ever heard of any of these? Erikson has his own forum, all the way down at the bottom of the site.

[Clinton Seeber]

To tell you the truth Clinton, I find myself liking Fantasy less and less as i go along. First reading Lord of the Rings, then reading The sword of truth series by Terry Goodkind followed the Chronicles of Thomas covenant and Still in progress The song of Ice and Fire.. I feel like all the other fantasy's I pick up are recycled copies. I know my view is terribly biased and cynical, but i can't seem to keep myself interested in any of the other stories recommended to me.

So yeah, my list;

Terry Goodkind
George RR Martin
Tolkein
Oh yes.. and maybe Guy Gavriel Kay

Really, all stories in any genre in modern times are "recycled" in a sense. It is nearly impossible to come up with anything completely original in present times, almost everything written is "borrowed from" or based on something great that the author read that inspired him or her. JRR Tolkien's works are no exception, even though he is widely considered the founding father of the modern epic fantasy genre. That is just how it is now.
What makes a story good these days is when the author has a distinct and unique writing voice or style of his/her own. One that, once you've read on of the author's works, you can instantly recognize and enjoy. My first novel, which I am still working on, for instance, borrows heavily from Stephen Donaldson and Terry Brooks in content matter, but my writing voice and style is very distinct from theirs, and would not be confused with their works.
Yes, you do focus too much on negative aspects that really can't be helped. But, I hope that this post helps you to look at the bright side and the truly important things.

[Clinton Seeber]

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series is as good as life gets.
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books too.
David Zindell's Neverness books too.
Julian May's Galactic Milieu books. (I haven't read her Saga of Pliocene Exile.)

Ever heard of any of these? Erikson has his own forum, all the way down at the bottom of the site.

No, I haven't. I haven't been to a good bookstore in years. I will try to remember the names though. I still have yet to read any of the "Last Chronicles" of TC. I tried to go buy them last year, but the only big book chain in my town didn't carry his works. So, I will have to either go out of town or order them.

[Fist and Faith]

Don't bother with the Last Chrons. *glares at everybody*
The first Malazan book is Gardens of the Moon.
The first Earthsea book is A Wizard of Earthsea.
The others I mentioned aren't available at the moment, so...

Malazan is a gigantic epic. The main series is ten books, all but one are 800-1200 pages, and the exception is the first book, at 650ish. It involves a world with races, and some individuals, that are up to 300,000 years old. Ancient ruins, cultures, a great magic system, gods, and many incredible characters. It's really colossal. The author was an archaeologist, and his work on ancient things in the series is awesome. He and another guy (who has written several other Malazan books) based the books on a D&D universe they invented to play.

Earthsea is Taoism in a fantasy form. A cool system of magic (based on true names), and the best dragons in all of fantasy, imho. All wrapped up in the calm, deep wisdom of Taoism. This is a much smaller series. Only six books, about 300 pages each.

[Clinton Seeber]

Don't bother with the Last Chrons. *glares at everybody*
The first Malazan book is Gardens of the Moon.
The first Earthsea book is A Wizard of Earthsea.
The others I mentioned aren't available at the moment, so...

Malazan is a gigantic epic. The main series is ten books, all but one are 800-1200 pages, and the exception is the first book, at 650ish. It involves a world with races, and some individuals, that are up to 300,000 years old. Ancient ruins, cultures, a great magic system, gods, and many incredible characters. It's really colossal. The author was an archaeologist, and his work on ancient things in the series is awesome. He and another guy (who has written several other Malazan books) based the books on a D&D universe they invented to play.

Earthsea is Taoism in a fantasy form. A cool system of magic (based on true names), and the best dragons in all of fantasy, imho. All wrapped up in the calm, deep wisdom of Taoism. This is a much smaller series. Only six books, about 300 pages each.

Why are they not available?

[PastorChris]

I'll second LeGuin. Her Earthsea books are among my favorites.
Another of my favorites has always been Patricia McKillip. Her style nowadays is very compact, with really elegant and accessible prose.
I like both Zelazny and Eddings, but their main epics lost steam as they moved into 2nd series.
Both Tolkien and Lewis have an honored place on my bookshelf.
I need to reread it sometime, but I recall very much enjoying the fantasy book written by Greg Bear.
I'm terribly fond of C.S. Friedman, though she's mainly SF-- but one can make the case that the Coldfire Trilogy crosses into F.

[Avatar]

Definitely all the ones Fist mentioned.

Also Scott Bakker is pretty good...the Prince of Nothing books are out, and the last book of the Aspect Emperor (Two closely connected series) is due quite soon.

Add Esselmont in to the Erikson books too, set in the same world, with the same characters, their books overlap and interweave with each other.

Melanie Rawn's DragonPrince books are damn good too.

If you're looking for some contemporary fantasy, I must recommend Ben Aaronovitch's "London" books, (Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho and Whispers Underground so far, Broken Homes out round about now.)

--A

[Menolly]

McCaffrey, The Asimov of Fantasy:

• Pern
  Crystalsinger
  Tower and Hive
  The Ship Who Sang
  etc.
  ...

[I'm Murrin]

Hard to pin down "favourites", but I'll throw out some "very goods":

Jeff VanderMeer - look out for Annihilation, first book of his Southern Reach trilogy, which is coming out this year.
China Miéville, always original.
N K Jemisin is worth checking out.
Steph Swainston's Castle books are pretty good, starts with The Year of Our War.
Daniel Abraham's Long Price series is worth reading.
Saladin Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon is good if you want some arab-themed fantasy rather than the usual faux-medieval Europe stuff.
Elizabeth Bear is very good, but I haven't gotten around to reading her fantasy work yet (I think Range of Ghosts is the one to look for), only SF.

Are you talking about a strictly defined "fantasy", here - you know, "high" fantasy, "epic" fantasy? I've already gone outside of that with the VanderMeer and Miéville recommendations, really. If I go all the way outside of that into the more general "fantasy" label, I very highly rate Lauren Beukes' The Shining Girls, which is a thriller about a time-travelling serial killer.

[TheFallen]

Okay, JRR Tolkien has to have a mention as the archetypal tradition-setter - no list could be properly complete without him. I personally rate The Silmarillion as his greatest achievement, but others will differ.

On top of that, I'd add my unbridled support to works already mentioned:-

Ursula K. LeGuin and her Earthsea books.
Roger Zelazny and his Chronicles of Amber - mainly for the first five books that comprise the Corwin cycle.
Julian May and her tetraology The Saga of the Exiles - a temporal prequel but linear sequel to her Galactic Milieu quartet. They're better, so read these, F&F!

And of course I am duty-bound to sing the praises of:-

Terry Pratchett and his ongoing Discworld series - the most adept combination of ironic humour, social satire and genuine belly laughs within fantasy trappings. Up to 36 (or 40, dependant upon what you count) novels so far , and every one a joy.

As a side note to support my recommendation of Pratchett, in the UK in 2003, a survey called The Big Read was commissioned by the BBC to find the nation's top 200 best-loved novels - of all genres. After over 750,000 votes had been counted, The Lord Of The Rings won it, edging out Pride & Prejudice, His Dark Materials and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (gotta just love Douglas Adams!) However, Terry Pratchett had 15 (!!!) books in that top 200 - the most of any author, so he must be doing something right.

Apart from the above, I, like all of us I bet, have dabbled with many more authors, but the above have stood the test of time, whereas the rest have paled into insignificance, or better put, a generalised indistinguishable rote throng.

[Brinn]

R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series and the the first two books of his second installment in that series. Far eclipses any other fantasy works I've read. George RR Martin is a relatively distant second and the first and second Chronicles of Tom Covenant are third.

Be warned though, I like my fantasy dark and very adult. Probably why I didn't like Tolkein at all. Jackson's movies far surpass the books.

[Fist and Faith]

It's really annoying that I haven't been able to get into Bakker so far, Brinn. Very annoying. But I just got an epub of it. I think I'll try it again, after I finish More Than Human.

[aliantha]

Don't bother with the Last Chrons. *glares at everybody*

Don't mind Fist, Clinton. It's a personal quirk of his.

Um, let's see. Others have asked whether you're after only epic fantasy. In case that's, uh, the case , I'll offer another vote for both Malazan and ASoIaF. If you have an e-reader, I'd also recommend M. Edward McNally's Norothian Cycle. The Sable City is the first book in the series.

[Clinton Seeber]

Don't bother with the Last Chrons. *glares at everybody*

Don't mind Fist, Clinton. It's a personal quirk of his.

Um, let's see. Others have asked whether you're after only epic fantasy. In case that's, uh, the case , I'll offer another vote for both Malazan and ASoIaF. If you have an e-reader, I'd also recommend M. Edward McNally's Norothian Cycle. The Sable City is the first book in the series.

Thank you for the response. I actually never was looking for recommendations; I was just wondering who other people's favorites are. That doesn't mean that I won't checkout the ones that I've never read or heard of before though.

[Fist and Faith]

The Sable City is free on Kindle. Never heard of it, but I'll try it for free!

[I'm Murrin]

Thank you for the response. I actually never was looking for recommendations; I was just wondering who other people's favorites are. That doesn't mean that I won't checkout the ones that I've never read or heard of before though.

I don't tend to have favourites, because there are so very many good authors with their own strengths that are all worth reading. So I tend to just recommend.

Edit: And you know what, I can't hold it in any longer: There are also some awful, awful, awful writers that you shouldn't bother with. Do not waste your time on Terry Goodkind.

[Avatar]

Somebody had to say it.

--A

[Rau Le Creuset]

I have to say that I really didn't mind his sword of truth series. It was, however, about seven books too long. Granted the last time I read them I was 13.. maybe I should have a look again? could you explain to me what was so bad about them?