Fantasy fans, recommend me a book!

[MegBusset]

I used to read a lot of fantasy when I was younger and quite fancy a bit of escapism now. I don't mind straightforward swords 'n' sorcery but needs to be reasonably intelligent and have good characters. Not so keen on SF.

Authors I have enjoyed: Tad Williams, Stephen Donaldson, Weis & Hickman (I was obsessed with Dragonlance as a teen), Hugh Cook, Tolkien, Philip Pullman...

Have you tried Anne McCaffrey? She wrote a wonderful series about a world called Pern, with dragons. I have every one of them, and re-read them whenever I need to escape.

I did read one or two of the Pern books when I was younger, can't remember which ones though! I'll have a look and try to jog my memory.

i too have read Anne McCaffrey, she does other series too.
have you tried any of the Trudi Canavan series? bloody fantastic in my opinion. the dark magician series are great.

Neil Gaiman? My new favourite. He wrote Stardust, American Gods, Neverwhere and others.

+1 vote for Neil Gaiman.

David Eddings? Although I haven't read any for about 15 years so my view may be warped by time... I loved them when I read them. Belgariad and the series that came after (Malloreon?) were good, but I liked the trilogy he wrote next (titles had rubies and diamonds in them) best.

If you want a good laugh as well, the Tom Holt series that starts with The Portable Door is great.

Have yo utried Dan Simmons? Books called Illium , Olympos, Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, others too I'm sure, but these ones I've read. Very well written, a bit more challenging that Weiss and Hickman or Pullman, probably more on a par with Stephen Donaldson. Maybe a bit SFy, but fantastic nonetheless!

Thanks everyone, keep 'em coming

Have read American Gods and did enjoy it, I'll check out some more Gaiman (also loved the one he did with Terry Pratchett).

I read the Belgariad when I was younger but even then didn;t think they were terribly well-written..

oh well. I'll slink off and mutter something about my taste refining in the interim then...

Sorry Flossie, didn't mean to insult your reading taste!

I'm sure I'll survive.

You need George R R Martin

THe first three books in the Song of Ice and Fire series (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords) are absolutely jawdropping - massive but never less than gripping, with a huge cast of excellent believable characters whose stories all interweave. He's midway through writing the next three books at the moment. Honestly, they're ace. Very intelligently written, and the way his people evolve is fascinating. They're well bleak though!

Ooh, I had a good thread on this - I'll try and find it for you.

here Took a bit of finding - I'd forgotten I was a doctor at the time.

Ooh, CJ Cherryh has written some brilliant fantasy as well. I love The Chronicles of Morgaine and have read them many times, also The Paladin is excellent and has an unusual samurai-type setting. Her characters are always complex and intriguing, and when they take a beating (which is often and savagely) they don't just spring back up again!

All of robin Hobb

The live ship traders series, the assasin series, the fool

Really

They are some that I rate as the best and most readable (and most addictive)

(and I have read just about everything mentioned above)

I don't tend to read fantasy books but years ago I read some books by Julian May (a woman). They were pretty good.

her books on amazon.co.uk

The black Magician series by Trudi Canavan are feckin fantastic! I'd seriously recommend these to anyone who hasn't read them. Here. There's 3 books, the first is 'The Magicians Guild', second is 'The Novice' and third is 'The High Lord'.

Oh - Yes to Julian May

fantastic books

Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising series. Fantastic.

Naomi Novik - Temeraire, Throne of Jade, etc

Robin Hobb...anything of hers is so readable, you just can't put them down.

If you want something a little different, Kelley Armstrong is good. More supernatural than science fantasy, but still great reading and well constructed.

Strangely, I found Aldous Huxley's Brave New World very readable. More sfiction than sfantasy but absorbing. And John Wyndham The Chrysalids was good too (though I confess, that was an old school book...I revisited it recently though).

So glad you raised this thread. I'm picking up hints off here too

Reading the other thread I'd forgotten about JV Jones (I loved the Bakers Boy books...but lost the plot a bit with the black ice books).

And I LOVED the Carbonel books. Read them as a child and thought they were beautiful.

Also read a book called Charlotte Sometimes (don't know the author). The Cure did a record about it way back in history (prolly before some of you were born )

Raymond E Feist - I read The Magician when I was about 15 and it got me into the genre

Love Anne McCaffrey - The Tower and The Hive series is good as well as the Pern books imo

yes robin hobb and susan cooper, both great authors!

also guy gavriel kay
elantris by brandon sanderson
robert jordan (but not until the last book has been written, he died recently and its all planned but not finished)
robin mckinley

:0

The Wizards First Rule series. Terry Goodkind is the author. Really good escapism.

You have to read them quite quickly or you pick up on typos and grammatical oddities ( I never noticed but DH- who should rent a flat in pedants corner - can't read them because they make him huff and puff every few minutes)