Favorite Fantasy books and writers?

[ILoveMRHMWogglebugTE]

What are your favorite fantasy books and writers, and why?

[Nope]

What are your favorite fantasy books and writers, and why?

When I was younger, I loved fantasy novels but I don't know if I would like the same ones now.

I used to love A Man Rides Through and Mirror of her Dream by Stephen Donaldson. If I could find either book, I would love to know if I still enjoyed them now that I am older but they seem to be out of print

George R.R Martin's fantasy world is very well thought out

I read a few of the books in The Wheel of Time Series but I got bored with them. Plus the female characters annoyed me. They didn't seem real to me. Maybe I would like it if I tried to read them again.

[Chad32]

KA Applegate for Animorphs. It was a very entertaining book series for teens that kind of pushed the boundaries a bit. It slowly fell apart over time, unfortunately, culminating in an unsatisfactory end, but was still a fun read.

JRR Tolkien for Lord of the Rings. Pretty much codified the high fantasy genre, although I think high fantasy usually had a lot of magic, where LOTR doesn't. Only a few characters are really capable of spells. still a very nice read. One of the classics.

Song of Ice and Fire from George RR Martin. He makes an interesting story with a fleshed out world and characters, and tries to make it all fit together. It's a series where anyone can die, so it doesn't really have protagonists. it has POV characters. I stopped reading after a five year gap, but I still like the story.

[Longhorn]

Used to read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series obsessively.

[Iroscato]

I've just started getting into Discworld and enjoyed CoM and TLF hugely. Before that, my experiences with fantasy were pretty limited, though I cherish Harry Potter and the Narnia books (despite the miles-thick biblical allegory laid on it and the "oh shit, this is really really racist by today's standards" moments).
Also, does Artemis Fowl count as fantasy? I loved those and would like to reread them again soon.

[Nope]

I read Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mist of Avalon and enjoyed it. Although I don't have to believe a writer is a decent human to enjoy their work, some of the accusations of child sexual abuse that have been leveled against Bradley make it hard for me to enjoy the book again.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-...legations/

Stephen King wrote a very good fantasy called Eyes of the Dragon. Also, his Dark Tower Series is a fantasy but I never got past the third book.

[Rahul]

The Black Company by Glen Cook has always been one of my favorites.

Some people don't like the series because you never get an overall view of what is occurring but only what the main characters witness or hear of it. However, it tends to be very popular with the military as this very quality makes it more realistic.

[Ravenshire]

What are your favorite fantasy books and writers, and why?

Lately I've been reading a lot of urban fantasy. Vampires, werewolves, witches, warlocks, demons, fairies, elves and all other mythical creatures in modern settings. The Hollows series by Kim Harrison (sadly, complete) and the Dresden series by Jim Butcher (coming to a close if not already done) are currently my favorites with the Kitty series by Carrie Vaughn (also winding down with the final book due out later this year) and the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs also being quite good.

Other Fantasy I've read and completely enjoyed, most of it within the last five years or so...

C.S. Lewis tells some good tales in the Narnia books. Yes, I realize they're for kids and that they're biblical allegory, but so what. It's still fiction and pretty well told.

Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Like the books by Lewis, written for younger readers, but they've held up surprisingly well.

Myth and Myth Adventures series by Robert Asprin. If you're interested in serious literature, stay far away from these. If you want goofy, ridiculous, sometimes raunchy fun, there's a ton of that here!

The Looking Glass Wars series by Frank Beddor. One of the best takes on "Alice" since she first fell down the rabbit hole!

The Fortress series C. J. Cherryh. For those who were warned off of the "Myth" books, here's your serious literature in fantasy format. Cherryh is one of the few authors to tackle both fantasy and sci-fi and do them both incredibly well.

Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. Another set of adolescent/young adult books that was glorious fun to read. Who could possibly not like a 12-year old criminal mastermind that sets out to steal gold from the fairies.

Anything and everything by Neil Gaiman, but especially "American Gods," "Neverwhere," and "Stardust" (lets please pretend the movie never happened). Despite (or maybe because of) his wide streak of dark humor, Gaiman has proven himself one of the most original and creative writers today.

As has been mentioned, the Discworld series by Sir Terry Pratchett. Top notch stuff!

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. The perfect answer to anyone who dislikes the Narnia "bible-stuff" books. Pullman actually wrote these to answer Lewis' challenge that you cannot create a fictional world without a benevolent god.

Anything and everything by Brandon Sanderson, especially the Mistborn series and "Elantris." I'm really hoping the Mistborn series gets made into movies, but Elantris does not. Hollywood would have to split it into three parts, or make an epic six-hour film. Otherwise it will be shit. Of course, Hollywood's adept at producing that...

Mary Stewart wrote a trilogy based on Merlin that was quite different from the usual Arthurian fare and incredibly good.

[Silver]

The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

[abaris]

The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

Not really. After some time I couldn't stomach the objectivist manifestos he turned his books into. Also he's not too good a writer anyway. Especially the first books had plot holes to drive a bus fleet through. Just one example, a simple arrow would have taken care of Mother Confessor just fine. Why anyone would move into touching range was always beyond me.

For a time I was into Raymond E Feist, but he also lost me with his later books. I haven't read fantasy in a very long time. Doesn't interest me as it used to.