One Thread - Many Fantasy and Sci-Fi Series

[Abe Sargent]

We have Ender's Series and Wheel of Time and some guy named Martin. How about we toss them all in one. Here are a couple that I really liked that you may have read or heard of:

Tad Williams, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (four books long, complete) The most recent Epic Fantasy series that I've read that I really enjoyed. I'd put this higher than stuff like David Drake or Robert Jordan.

Louise Cooper, Time Master Triology (three boooks complete) A bit older (mid-80's), very short reads, the first book is amazingly good, the other two are merely acceptable, but considering the price and how good the first book is, it's pretty decent.


-Anxiety

[fantastic flying froggies]

I'd also recommend the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

Non-conventionnal fantasy at its best, completely off the wall Brit humour with pretty good fantasy stories...

[MacroGuru]

Tad Williams is an amazing author, and he has done some Great Work. Laid back guy. I interviewed him for an online e-zine I was an editor with. He also has the Otherland series which was excellent.

Let me Add

Raymond Feist: Riftwar Saga (3 Books, Complete), Serpentwar Saga (4 books complete). His world is the world, Betrayal at Krondor the computer game, was created off of.

As far as Orson Scott Card, you have the Ender Series, and then the Shadow Series, which are both great books. He also has the Worthing Saga, and Alvin the Tinkerer Series.

George RR Martin is sitting at 3 books in his series which is excellent series as well.

[Bad-example]

Julian May wrote three interconnected series that are excellent reading. She is a good storyteller and a very competent writer. Ten books in all...I believe the first is The Many Colored Land. Highly recommended.

Michael Moorcock's Elric books were great fun to read as well.

[fantastic flying froggies]

Originally Posted by Bad-example

Michael Moorcock's Elric books were great fun to read as well.

He also wrote a whole bunch of other series, all more or less interconnected, known as the Eternal Champion.

Top of my head : Hawkmoon (my favorite since it takes place mostly in the south of france, in the very far past or future, was never really sure...)

Corum

Jerry Cornelius - didn't like that one very much

[Fidatelo]

Otherland was a cool premise, but I am stuck about half way through and have been stuck there for a couple years now. It just got too repetitive and seems like it is taking way more time to develop than it needs to. I want to one day finish it because the overall plot is so cool and the payoff at the end could be fun, but I just can't imagine reading another 1000+ pages of pointless trysts through yet another fake world.

[Bad-example]

I read all of those Moorcock series. I also didn't care for the Jerry Cornelius books.

Count Brass is another short series.

Corum...or was it Corwin...is better known as the Swords trilogy.

[Bonegavel]

I challenge anyone to read the White Gold Weilder series (2 of them) and not have the desire to choke Stephen Donaldson. Brilliant man, frustrating story.

[cincyreds]

Let me add....

Terry Goodkind(The Sword of Truth series). This is what I am reading now, I am on book 4 and there are a total of 8 so far in the series. The 8th book just came out a couple of months ago. A good fantasy read, indeed. The first 2 books I read in about 2 weeks. I simply could not put them down.

I have heard alot about Orson Scott Cards books.

Timothy Zahn (The Conqueror's Saga-3 books complete) awesome series. He has started a new series "The Dragonback series". I enjoyed the first book and the second will be out later this spring.

[sachmo71]

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is excellent.
David Farland's Runelords series is one I would recommend also.

[fantastic flying froggies]

Originally Posted by Bad-example

Count Brass is another short series.

Count Brass is the same as series as the Hawkmoon that I mentionned.

His fortress, Castle Brass, is located in Aigues-Mortes, a french medieval town maybe 10 miles away from where I live...

[albionmoonlight]

I am in the middle of Blue Mars right now--book three in the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) and am liking it very much. Great mix of science, politics, philosophy, and story. The best part, however, is his characters. In the world of the story, people have discovered aging treatments that allow them to live indefinitely. In addition to what this advance does to move the plot along, it allows him to set a backdrop (the terraforming and settling of Mars) that takes generations to complete while keeping the same characters alive from the first book. It gives him three books in which to develop very round, very interesting characters. And, thanks to Bush's space plan, this series is even a bit topical.

Red Mars and Green Mars won a Hugo and a Nebula between them.

[Calis]

I was a huge fan of Feist's books when I first read them as a kid..been a long time since I've looked at them, so not sure how well they hold up, definitely my favorite series though.

I guess I'm in the minority in not liking Goodkind's books. I slogged through the first 3 because I kept hearing how great the series was before I finally gave up. Just didn't care for any of the characters, and thought the books came across more like a Romance novel than anything else.

I've been meaning to grab some of Moorcock's books. Sounds interesting.

Never read any of the Ender series because I'm not a Sci-Fi fan, I might have to give it a shot though.

[Peregrine]

I'm a big fan of Charles de Lint's books. Urban fantasy with lots of supernatural stuff going on in the midst of the modern world. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series. Whole bunch of excellent books from an author who really has a grasp on the flow of medieval politics, the role of the church, etc.

[3ric]

For sci-fi, I have to recommend Peter F. Hamilton's "The Reality Dysfunction" with the sequels "The Neutronium Alchemist" and "The Naked God".

Another sci-fi series worth looking at, if you haven't already, is Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" and the follow-ups "The fall of Hyperion", "Endymion", and "The Rise of Endymion". The first book is a masterpiece, which causes the other books to fall slightly short of expectations, which isn't the same as saying that they aren't very good (which they are).

Stephen Donaldson fans should check out his "Gap into conflict" series with the titles "The Real Story", "Forbidden Knowledge", "A dark and hungry god arises", "Chaos and order" and finally "This day all gods die". It's certainly more accessible than the Covenant series.

[MacroGuru]

Oh, and I forgot one of the great classics.

Alexandre Dumas and his Musketeers!

If you can find the translated version, which is straight across, it's a great read. And if you have never read it, the story is actually quite different than most of the movies.

[MacroGuru]

Dola,

Oh, and if anyone has a chance, and wants great books cheap in hardback, the Sci-fi book club (They have Fantasy and others) is well worth it.

[Airhog]

The Shanara series. Terry Brooks. ITs a pretty decent read, however they do rehash the same plot alot, but they are still pretty good.

Im not sure of the series, but Magical Kingdom for Sale, Sold! is another good book, also by terry brooks.


Maybe someone can help me remember the title of this book. Its about magic, but magic in this world is just like a computer language, and computers are very important. Two guys from a different world fall into this realm, and use their magic for very evil purposes. They create some giant armies. Can't remember the name, but it was an excellent read as a kid.

[Airhog]

dola, but apart from the first book in the vampire chronicles by ann rice, I really enjoyed all of them. I have read the first 5, with memnoch the devil being my favorite so far.

[fantastic flying froggies]

Yeah, those Terry Brooks were pretty good when I was a teenager. But man, they haven't aged very well, at least IMHO.

Another one that nobody 's mentionned yet but is a classic sci-fi series is the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov (sp ?), which he managed to tie in with another one of his great sci-fi stories, the Robots series.

[MacroGuru]

Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber. Another decent read

[Blade]

Originally Posted by indoorsoccersim

Dola,

Oh, and if anyone has a chance, and wants great books cheap in hardback, the Sci-fi book club (They have Fantasy and others) is well worth it.

Unless you live in Canada...the Canadian chapter sucks and has about three total books for sale.

[MacroGuru]

That sucks Blade!

Well, maybe we can get into the friendly book exchange program with our Northern brothers!!

[BreizhManu]

Originally Posted by 3ric

For sci-fi, I have to recommend Peter F. Hamilton's "The Reality Dysfunction" with the sequels "The Neutronium Alchemist" and "The Naked God".

Another sci-fi series worth looking at, if you haven't already, is Dan Simmons' "Hyperion" and the follow-ups "The fall of Hyperion", "Endymion", and "The Rise of Endymion". The first book is a masterpiece, which causes the other books to fall slightly short of expectations, which isn't the same as saying that they aren't very good (which they are).

I was about to talk about both series.but for Hamilton it isn't series, it's just one book : "The Night's Dawn"

Else Frank Herbert's Dune comes to my mind.

The witches chronicle by Anne Rice which I find even better than her Vampire Chronicles.

I like Moorcock mainly for Elric, don't really like Hawkmoon and yes it's Corum not Corwin.

Amber is really really good too.

[JAG]

Great to see so many authors / books I've never heard of before. I'll have to give some of these a go at some point. I also have to throw out one I haven't seen plugged yet: Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance series (specifically Chronicles and Legends, I personally wouldn't bother with any of the other zillions of Dragonlance books). I don't feel like it measures up well with much of today's stuff, but I'll still reread them every few years as a guilty pleasure. Raistlin remains one of my favorite characters of all-time.

[3ric]

Originally Posted by BreizhManu

I was about to talk about both series.but for Hamilton it isn't series, it's just one book : "The Night's Dawn".

I'll have to remember to get "Night's Dawn" sometime, I really liked Hamilton's writing style.

[BreizhManu]

Originally Posted by 3ric

I'll have to remember to get "Night's Dawn" sometime, I really liked Hamilton's writing style.

What I meant is that "The Reality Dysfunction" + "The Neutronium Alchemist" + "The Naked God" = "The Night's Dawn"

[the_meanstrosity]

Here's a few authors I read frequently.

The previously mentioned Tad Williams (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn), George Martin (Song of Ice and Fire), Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time), R.A. Salvatore (Icewind Dale Trilogy), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy), and Terry Goodkind (Sword of Truth).

Other authors I'd like to add to the mix are:
Melanie Rawn (Dragon Prince Trilogy)
L.E. Modesitt (Recluce Series)
Robin Hobb (The Farseer Trilogy)
Glen Cook (Garrett PI Series)
Kate Elliott (Crown of Stars Series)
John Marco (Tyrants and Kings Trilogy)

[Aylmar]

I really loved The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. Excellent writing. Gerald Tarrant is one of my favorite characters of all time.

The books are:

Black Sun Rising
When True Night Falls
Crown of Shadows

[Calis]

Anyone read the Black Company series?

Just curious, because I read the first book and loved it, been reading the 2nd now and am pretty dissapointed, wondered if it got better or worse.

Guess the Myth games stole most of their storyline from these books, main thing that got me interested, very unorthodox style of writing though.

[the_meanstrosity]

Calis,

The Black Company by Glen Cook? I've read Cook's other books, but haven't read the Black Company. A lot of people really like them so I'd stick with it and try one more to see if it gets better.

[Qwikshot]

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

A very interesting read, and from what I gather since there is a new book with the same character coming out in March, a new series.

Bascially, human beings are "sleeves", and as long as you have an implant, you can never die, simply be placed into another "sleeve". Now the rich can get what every they want, and there is an interested direction into torture (the lead character is kidnapped and is placed into the body of a young woman, who's body is done terrible things to, only be placed again into a new sleeve of the girl for the next round of interogation), income (beautiful people rent out their bodies for weekends, or sell them off, or sell the copyright of themselves), and religion (Catholics think it is a sin, once you die your soul is gone, so if you come back to another sleeve you are soulless, thus they are persecuted and preyed upon)...very interesting read, very cyberpunk and very enjoyable, just thought I'd add it.

[Calis]

I just picked up Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe tonight, as all these threads have given me the itch to read some Fantasy/Sci-Fi again.

Heard great things about the book, and from early reading it seems if nothing else he's a step above the normal fantasy pulp author in writing talent. Too early to say much more, but has some good potential. It's supposedly a Sci-Fantasy type of deal, so anxious to see how it unfolds.

[SirFozzie]

My two favorite authors are both Baen authors:

Eric Flint (His Belisarius series (5 books, with 1 or 2 more to come) sucked me in, and then his 1632 series (a modern day town in West Virginia gets sucked back in time to Germany in the middle of the Thirty Years War, one of the ugliest times in Europe's history) kicked my butt BIG time. I'm anxiously awaiting the next book in the series (1634: The Galileo Affair, due out in April)

it's also good to support Baen authors because they offer books for free on their website, and you can get others for fairly cheap in electronic form pre hard-cover release. Add to this the "free to distribute" CD's with about 50 books that they offer on their website and as an insert in their hardcover books with filk and graphics

[Vince]

Just glanced through the thread, and noted a lot of books I have read and enjoyed. Thought I'd throw another author out there who I actually discovered due to a different thread of this nature back in the day on this board. Neil Gaiman. He is fantastic, and two of his books are some of my all-time favorites now -

Neverwhere
American Gods

Fantastic books, both of them.