Fantasy novels - recommendations?

[Craparinha]

Go through weird phases where I only want t read certain types of book. I have a longing for some escapist fantasy reading but n idea whet start. Did try to get into Phillip Pullman a while ago but found it a bit dull...

Any suggestions? Tia

And it's good to see another fan of the Tales of the Otari.

So what is consenus on Game of Thrones then? Bad, good, indifferent?

I need something to get my teeth into. I have just finished The Hunger Games triology. Haven't enjoyed a set of books so much in ages. I loved it, it was a fantastic read. I hate it that people are comparing it to Twilight as Twilight was the biggest pile of tosh I have ever read (apart from the Da Vinci Code which was laughable).

The consensus is that there IS no consensus! It appears to be a Marmite thing.

The Eyre affair by jasper fforde his books really are funny/clever/different lots of literature reference

I second the Otari saga recommendation (Lian Hearn). It's set in a fantasy feudal Japan- it's beautifully written and the love story is lovely. Be prepared to be crushed by the sequel unless you spare yourself the pain and pretend it was never written.

I'm reading the Mistborn trilogy at the moment (Brandon Sanderson) and am enjoying it. There's an interesting premise (a world where it rains ashes and metal gives certain people powers) and endearing characters.

The Mortal Engines quartet (Philip Reeve) is v good. World of moving mechanised cities eating each other, lots of fun adventures and poignant characters. It's YA as well but worth checking out.

I want recommendations too by the way! Nerd alert- I LOVE The Lord of the Rings. I read it for the first time when I was 12 and many times since. It's the reason I started to read fantasy. I wanted to find another epic story that would inspire me as much as LOTR did. I still haven't found it. I want the whole lot- quest, unsurmountable odds, battles, touches of humour, prophecies, weird creatures... Any LOTR clones out there?

YY to Anne McCaffrey, not just her Pern series, but also her Freedom series and Ship Who Sang series.

I would also give Stephen King's Dark Tower series a hit as well as the Phule series by Robert Asprin and The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison.

I'm not a massive fan of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books - quite enjoyed the Eyre Affair, but thought it was a bit of a one-book-idea over played. However, I've really enjoyed his more recent book Shades of Grey which has a completely different setting and has a bit more to it, I think.

Re the Game of Thrones series, someone said "It's fantasy for people who don't like Fantasy" and possibly there's some truth in that as I never read Fantasy but read this after watching the TV series. Although it's set in an entirely fictional world (so akin to high fantasy) it's quite "real"(most of it could be medieval fiction really), very character driven and the magic is kept to a minimum (a few dragons and death walkers and stuff but no-one with amazing superpowers or magicking themselves out of every situation).

Like others I loved the Robin Hobb Farseer and Tawny man trilogies and also enjoyed Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (although the quality drops off about book 5).
Wheel of Time is absolutely fantastic up to about book 5 or 6 then becomes unreadable and after toughing it out through 3 more books I never made it to the end of the series.
I think of the above Robin Hobb is closest to Game of Thrones in the sense that the magic is not of a wizards and dragons kind and is more character based.

I can't get on at all with Jasper F. I tried, 'Shades Of Grey' recently after a rec on here and found it completely unreadable. The Thursday Next books are hideously self indulgent (you can almost hear the writer chuckling at his own jokes) but at least have the literary links to keep some interest. I won't bother with any more of his.

William Nicholson's Wind Singer trilogy is another pretty decent teenage series.

Remus, glad to be of help!

Ok so thanks to you guys I have downloaded a Jordan and Hobb book on my Kindle. I think I might try Hobb first as I loved the George Martin books.

I also have the Peter Brett books that I bought a while back as well as the first Adrian Tchaikovski- is it any good?

Also wanted to recommend Guy Adam's World House, it's a two book series about random people finding themselves transported and trapped in a mysterious house. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And China Mieville's worth a read. Perdido Street Station is a terrific mammoth of a book filled with unpleasant antiheroes. It's set in a bizarre city which is as much a character as any of the protagonists.
Un Lun Dun is easier to read and is a YA modern take on the classic Neverwhere. I loved it.