Just got into fantasy, any recommendations.

[Tessliketrees]

I have always been a prolific reader who would give anything ago apart from fantasy and sci-fi. I made an exception for a couple of fantasy books a year ago and am now hooked.

I have read a fair few more recent offerings but am coming up against more and more shite now. Any recommendations?

Age of Assassins by RJ Barker

S M Reine, Shannon mayer, shayne silvers, jasmine Walt, katerina martinez, Emma l adams

Umm is a wide genre...

Any more details on what you like?

There's often a cross over with sc-fi.

Being blunt Harry Potter is fantasy :-)

If you say what you've liked it might help.

What sort of fantasy? Elves and goblins (like LotR or HP)? Or alternative reality type fantasy.

One series I like to recommend is the Katherine Kurtz Deryni series, set in an alternative middle ages, where the Church is all-powerful and some people have psychic abilities and are brutally oppressed by the Church because of them. There are a lot of books (set over several centuries), some can be read as stand alone, some are best read in series context, but I love them and reread quite regularly. Kings and power struggles and court intrigue with a bit of magic thrown in.
Start with Deryni Rising.
A lot of them are out of print in paperback now, but they are on Kindle.

@MadamePince not heard of those but am intrigued.

Will add to my reading list (I don't really watch tv but read 5/6 books a month - had to switch to a kindle as my house physically can't fit in any more books, despite me building bookshelves pretty much everywhere it's a bit like wallpaper in my house )

Exhibit A - but there are may others...

Many...not may :-)

Trudi Canavan and Jennifer Fallon are great writers of magical fantasy stories, and they write great female characters too.

Darthmaiden can I come and live with you please? Especially if the whole house is like that!

R.A. Salvatore, massive series, and he's still writing too!

David Eddings - Elenium -> Tamuli ; Belgariad -> Mallorean. There's some spinoffs after called Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress too.

All quite different recommendations. I really enjoyed

Juliet Marillier, especially the Sevenwaters and the Blackthorn & Grim series.

Maria Snyder series all with the name '[something] Study'

Patrick Rothfuss The name of the wind

Carlos Ruiz Zafon Shadow of the Wind

Robin Hobb is my favourite fantasy author. I become fully immersed in her novels
Start with Assassin's Apprentice, you will meet Fitz and take the first steps on an incredible journey.
I am so envious that you are coming to these books with no prior knowledge, I reread them every few years.
Come back and let people know what you have enjoyed.
(You will have a lovely Yule if you download some of these recommendations 😀)

I started with David Eddings' Belgariad around 25 years ago! I remember eagerly awaiting each new book of the Mallorean as it was published.

@Zhx3 Exactly! I spent so many evenings sprawled on my bed reading those books, multiple times too! Eddings and music, blissful combination :)

Wow, I had already read a few so thought there would be loads I have already read but of everything recommended I have only read Name Of The Wind.

I am going to bookmark this, I got Age Of Myth for Christmas (read one chapter and I am enjoying it so far) and have downloaded Age of Assassins.

What sort of fantasy? Elves and goblins (like LotR or HP)? Or alternative reality type fantasy

Both are good. I have read both types and liked them.

Trudi Canavan and Jennifer Fallon

Thanks for this, poorly written female characters is something that has marred some of these books for me.

I am so envious that you are coming to these books with no prior knowledge

It's fab, I read so much that it was getting to the point where I would be a quarter way into a book and realise I had already read it.

Years ago I just decided I liked everything except fantasy. My friend (who loves fantasy) managed to get me to try a few and I was hooked, sadly she has more of a life is a much slower reader than me so I have read all her recommendations now.

I keep stumbling on these horrible YA books (not dissing all YA some are terrific) that are so poorly written I wonder who proof read them. My shit book detector just isn't fine tuned for fantasy yet.

Wheel of Time is mandatory, but it is looong...

Oh yes, Wheel of Time, and Sword of Truth, also the Belgariad Mallorean, Eleneid and Tamuli. I spend three decades waiting for the next book to come out! Also Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of thrones) and the Malazan books.

I love Robin Hobb's Fitz books and Brandyn Sanderson. Sarah j Maas writes good YA fantasy and Raymond Feist is compulsory. J V Jones is good too. Stephen Donaldson is always a good read as is Neil Gammon. Gosh, there are so many.

Ooh, I've never read any of the Wheel of Time books....

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

I don't read much fantasy but enjoy it when I do. I've just started The Painted Man as it was lent to me by my brother and I'm enjoying by so far.

Ooh, I love me some fantasy.

I second (third? fourth?) Robin Hobb, starting with the Farseer Trilogy.

The Dragonbone Chair, by Tad Williams

The Gentleman Bastards series, by Scott Lynch

The Stone Dance of the Chameleon trilogy, by Ricardo Pinto (brutal and so utterly unlike anything else, although some people thought it was too slow. I LOVED it)

Perdito Street Station, by China Mieville

And I'm that no one's mentioned George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire yet (apologies if I've missed it), but THAT.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susannah Clarke

Erring more toward sci-if, but do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep stood out for me as a reformed non-fantasy reader

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, by Susannah Clarke

One of my favourite books of all time. I have always been gutted I can't get anybody else to read it and HATED the BBC adaption which skinned it of all the themes.

Oddly I never counted this as fantasy, more evidence that my "rule" was stupid.

Bridechilla

You're a reformed non-fantasy reader too? Glad to see I'm not the only one.

Another recent fantasy convert here! Nthing Robin Hobb. And I’m currently reading and adoring The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, who is apparently also the writer Sarah Monette, so I may have to seek out more of her stuff.

If you’re into alternative history too, then try Jo Walton - her Small Change trilogy follows the UK’s descent into fascism after a peace treaty with Germany in WWII, but they’re also brilliantly blended with other genres (cosy mystery, spy thriller, etc). Plus you can get all three from The Book People for about £4. She’s also written Tooth and Claw which she described as Anthony Trollope with dragons.

Her book Among Others is more like urban fantasy, I think? But I’m not an expert in these genres so maybe someone more informed can fit that book into its correct place on the shelves!

I'm currently on book four of The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett - and very much enjoying the series. It's not high fantasy with dragons and elves, but it's an original take on the genre, and well written.