Kevin's Watch

I'm two thirds through Raymond E Feist's Magician and am really enjoying it. It's the first fantasy book I've read in decades (well - excepting Donaldson) and it is whetting my appitite to once again get into this, my once favourite genre. Some good stuff must have been published since I stopped reading it and I rely on you guys to point me toward it!.

Giving you a few clues, obviously the first and second Chrons are my style of stuff. I tend to like quest based stuff rather than deep political intrigue - I did a few GOT books but simply got bored, Beleriad was ok, Dragonbone Chair I seem to remember liking. And ( ) Shannara in its first couple of outings was fun; If I could describe my perfect books in fact, they'd be Shannara with depth.

Based on this have you guys got any recommendations; I'd like to avoid having to wade through lots of crap to find the good stuff if I can - do the World Fantasy Awards (or whatever they were called still exist?).

(NB. I love a good map to use. If Skyrim were a book I guess I'd like that too!)

I found it a little soft. The characters are too idealized. They're not Eddings level perfect, but they need more flaws.

I like the Magician books, but even more, I like his Empire series with Janny Wurts. (Daughter, Servant & Mistress.) Runs roughly parallel to the Rift War books, but on the other side of the rift. His best IMO.

The books I'm reading now (First Law series by Joe Abercrombie) are damned good, and it's only a trilogy so not too muh of a time investment. I do recommend them. Black humour, massively flawed characters and yes, a quest. Sorta.

For easy and mostly stand-alone fantasy, you can't go wrong with David Gemmel. Good clean escapist fun, if a little predictable.

Obviously the Wheel of Time books and the Malazan books should be mentioned, but require much more investment, and WoT suffers a big slump in the middle with books 7 & 8 being disappointing, and 9 & 10 almost unreadable. It comes right at book 11, but those middle 4 can be a slog.

--A

The Magician books were ok, a bit cartoony perhaps.

I haven't read a book in years, but last night I began reading Alice's Diary: The Memoirs of a Cat.. Written in the first person, from the point of view of the cat with no human author's name anywhere to be found, this to me is idea fantasy.
I've only read the enteries for January, but this actually put me in the mood to finish The Last Dark. Which I've decided to read backwards, from the last chapter to the end of Part I, where I left off.

I am so glad you are enjoying the Magician Pete .. I too like his work with Janny Wurtz ... and someone else whos name escapes me now

Make a thread and lets discuss

The only one of his I ever read was Magical Apprentice. It didn't do enough for me to keep going. I seem to be strange that way. Same thing happened with Assassin Apprentice. Maybe I just don't like apprentices. I would gladly try both again, if I was a faster reader or had a smaller pile.

Let Guin's Earthsea books are among my top recommendations.

Riddlemaster of Hed.

Are you looking specifically for epic, secondary world fantasy?

The Eternal Sky trilogy (Range of Ghosts, Shattered Pillars, Steles of the Sky) is a very good one - high adventure with lots of magic and intereting worldbuilding (each culture has not only a different religion, but a different sky overhead that matches their particular cosmology), central Asian themed setting, fairly quick reads at 300-400 pages each.

Sounds like a good contender Murrin - in fact some good pointers all round. I've read Earthsea many moons ago, but the rest would be new ground. Yes - epic in the sense of big wide ranging stories (as Av notes, trilogies are about as far as I go or just big stand alone), secondary world if that means set elsewhere other than ' here'. I could give the example of the Weiss/Hickman Chronicles books, Dragons of the Autumn Twilight as having the 'feel' that I love best in fantasy - it's a bit unadventurous, but I like my dwarves dwarfish, my elves elvish and my wizards like Gandalf, dark and mysterious. These are not hard and fast rules but I find it fantasy strays too far it risks loosing something (that said, Donaldson broke all the rules pretty much and he of course is my ultimate omega point of reference).

I love dwarves, elves and wizards and I love magical worlds .. I think Donaldson did a good job of world building and actually kinda keeping to that formula .. actually .. of course he had to put an original spin on it and he did.

Ive discovered many really different kinds of fantasy that Ive loved equally.

Try me out with a few titles Sky. I might have encountered some of them - and it'd give me an idea of what sort of stuff 'floats your boat'. I remember [for example] the Xanth series by Piers Anthony with a degree of fondness, a book called Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! and one where a mathematician from our world gets transported to a 'fantasy world' [ written by a guy called Shea IIRC] ......and then of course there was Cugel's Saga!

Happy days!

Maybe you're thinking of The Compleat Enchanter series by L. Sprague de Camp? (It's spelled that way, btw. Heh)

Yes Fist - that rings a bell! Where did I commit the name 'Shea' from I wonder.....

Didn't he write something with a guy called Fletcher Pratt, or is that another fabrication by my age and booze addlled brain!

peter wrote:Try me out with a few titles Sky. I might have encountered some of them - and it'd give me an idea of what sort of stuff 'floats your boat'. I remember [for example] the Xanth series by Piers Anthony with a degree of fondness, a book called Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! and one where a mathematician from our world gets transported to a 'fantasy world' [ written by a guy called Shea IIRC] ......and then of course there was Cugel's Saga!

Happy days!

I will add that to my currently rather long list of books I have yet to read I already like the sound of a few of those actually. Nice to get even a little bit of a precise along with a recommendation.

Cheers .. and I will make FFs amendment.

Yes, Peter, it looks like Pratt co-wrote that series.

Robert Joseph Shea was an American novelist and former journalist, best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus!.

That help?

--A

peter wrote:I'm two thirds through Raymond E Feist's Magician and am really enjoying it. It's the first fantasy book I've read in decades (well - excepting Donaldson) and it is whetting my appitite to once again get into this, my once favourite genre. Some good stuff must have been published since I stopped reading it and I rely on you guys to point me toward it!.

Giving you a few clues, obviously the first and second Chrons are my style of stuff. I tend to like quest based stuff rather than deep political intrigue - I did a few GOT books but simply got bored, Beleriad was ok, Dragonbone Chair I seem to remember liking. And ( ) Shannara in its first couple of outings was fun; If I could describe my perfect books in fact, they'd be Shannara with depth.

Based on this have you guys got any recommendations; I'd like to avoid having to wade through lots of crap to find the good stuff if I can - do the World Fantasy Awards (or whatever they were called still exist?).

(NB. I love a good map to use. If Skyrim were a book I guess I'd like that too!)

Loved Feist's Magician books, at least the first few.

I liked everything up until the last of the Serpent War books. (Uh, Shards of a Broken Crown) Including the Krondor interludes, Prince of the Blood and The Kings Buccaneer.

After the Serpent War I sorta felt he lost it a bit.

--A

Yeah fair comment agree.

Just finished Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair. Really enjoyed it and am pleased there are three more in the series to follow on. If they continue at this level I'm in for a good ride!