A good fantasy book? you know, wizards, dragons, princesses, that kind of stuff

Well I’m craving something in this genre but I’m a bit overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time. So many titles and yet I’m not sure what to read. Maybe you can help?

I’m looking for something in a high fantasy setting. I’m not too keen on heavy politics and war driven plots (though, I can read that ). What really gets me is interesting characters, good action and magical creatures.

I’ve loved anything Discworld and I’ve also enjoyed the First Law books by Abercrombie.

I’m finding that Tolkien, Sanderson and George RR Martin appear on every fantasy list I come across, so if you do recommend something I’d appreciate it be something other than that.

GlitterInfection,

Legends and Lattes might be some easy lovable reading if you’re looking for low stakes character-driven fantasy. It’s very low on action, but there is some.

A former adventuring hero orc swordsman decides to retire to open a coffee shop, collecting a cast of local misfits to help make her dreams a success. It’s light but basically D&D meets Stardew Valley if that makes sense.

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Never heard of Stardew Valley, but will keep in mind. Thanks

GlitterInfection,

You’re welcome. Hope you enjoy it if you end up checking it out!

Lodespawn,

Is it safe to assume you’ve read the name of the wind and wise man’s fear? HURRY UP AND FINISH YOUR SERIES ROTHFUSS, please

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

No, it’s not safe to assume. Can you sell it to me? What’s so great about it?

SourDrink,

It’s a story within a story within a story. It’s like Harry Potter and Arabian nIghts made a super baby and it’s all narrated by young man who has done so much. Rothfuss does amazing world building, from different currencies, to how religion shapes a society, to little learned idioms. The main character explains a lot of his reasoning for thinking the way he does, but be sure to pay attention to choice of words our author uses. It’s an amazing ride the first read through, and you will find nuggets of gold and silver during your subsequent reads.

I hope you see you on the road to Tinue. It is the way.

Kvothe,

+1 for this incomplete series, it got my girlfriend into the fantasy genre for books. We are all going mad waiting for the finale that will never come!

GlitterInfection, (edited )

Let me sell you on not reading it (yet): it’s two extremely well crafted and lovable fantasy books and some beautiful novellas, but the author will (likely) never finish the series and has been pretty awful about it. It’s been well over a decade, his editor has called him out on not having written anything in that time, and there have been some other controversies such as repeatedly using the promise of progress on his book to raise money for a charity he runs but then not delivering on those promises.

The books are a trilogy and not satisfying without an ending that may never come. If he finishes this trilogy then it’s a must read. But until then it’s a cautionary tale.

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

I REALLY appreciate the warning. I hate getting stuck in a series waiting to finish, but walking in blindly makes it all the worse.

Lodespawn,

I don’t really agree with this pitch. Each of the two books tell a great story that could be argued to be complete in its individual telling. Yes there is an over arching story that ties their telling together and remains incomplete but that doesn’t matter given the the told tale in each is complete. I’ve read through each multiple times and will read them again regardless of whether or not the third is completed.

mayotte2048,

Assassin’s Apprentice trilogy by Robin Hobbs

Pizza_Rat,

Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a refreshing take on classic fantasy themes!

kromem,

David Gemmell’s Legend.

He was from a rough upbringing and thought he was going to be dying of cancer and wrote a book about an aged hero of old who was now past his prime.

It was a misdiagnosis and he went on to write a lot more.

They are all excellent, and different enough from what you normally end up reading in the genre to be worth a look. There’s a bit of a more rawness to his books I really enjoy.

yool_ooloo,

David Eddings? I read him way back when I was a kid (~35 years ago). Think the series was called The Belgariad or Belgarion. The first 3-6 books were fun in a light yet captivating, magicy, fantasy way.

PhinaryDivision,

I second this! There are two series in the world: The Belgariad and The Mallorean. Both are really good, and there’s two standalone books that are intended to be read after both series called Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.

The books are pretty much classic high fantasy, and each one is a fairly quick read!

AOCapitulator,
@AOCapitulator@hexbear.net avatar

Discword

Discworld is so fun, start with book 4 7 or 11 or 13 to get a feel for the strength of the story (and read one of the best ones), but really its pretty fun from the start if rough because the author is figuring out how to be an author still a bit

11 is probably my favorite, but you should read 4 and then 11 because they’re connected.

edit: damn I should read the whole post first…

Utter_Karate,
@Utter_Karate@hexbear.net avatar

The Powder Mage trilogy is kind of fun. The setting is more late 18th/early 19th century than medieval, and it is far from perfect, but a bit of French revolution era fantasy with magic and gods and stuff never hurt anyone.

China Miéville’s New Crobuzon series must qualify as fantasy somehow. It’s New Weird, but you have weird magic and grotesquely weird fantasy races living in a fantasy world, so it must count. Also, because Miéville is some flavor of trotskyist you get a fantasy world written from some kind of Marxist perspective, but because it is a fictional world where Stalin never existed you don’t have to read 50 pages about how every successful socialist revolution was never real.

What I’ve read of Robin Hobb has been fun, but it’s been more than a decade so take that recommendation with a pinch of salt.

You could also hate read David Eddings, a child abusing drunk of a hack author who hated the genre of fantasy and all of its readers. That’s what I’m doing, because I want to examine my childhood idol more closely. This is a bad idea and will not improve your life in any way, but it is something you could do.

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Thanks for the suggestions. I’m curious about the last paragraph. You see, I found an Eddings audiobook and I started with it, considering I’ve seen the name recommended here a few times. I’ve been thinking it’s well written but also really really boring. Is this why you say he hated the readers? Have you figured why he achieved idol status for you during your childhood?

Utter_Karate,
@Utter_Karate@hexbear.net avatar

He got into writing fantasy because he thought the people who read fantasy would read absolutely anything. He wanted to get as much money as possible for as little effort as possible, and since he didn’t consider fantasy to be real literature he figured it would be easier than adventure books about rock climbing, which he had written before, because he had to do literally no research. Reading them as an adult it is obvious that they are very lazily written. Every character has a personality that can be boiled down to a single adjective like “grumpy”, “sneaky”, “funny”, or in one very annoying case “having an axe”. This lazy writing however means that because the characters never really have much to say about anything things can move at an incredibly fast pace. This is what I liked as a child.

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Fast!? I’ve gone through over 2/3 of the first book and I was thinking the worst so far had been the slow pace. I do agree the characters haven’t said much but I figured it was because they were keeping things a secret from the MC. Thanks for sharing your perspective though!

Utter_Karate,
@Utter_Karate@hexbear.net avatar

I think the first series he wrote may have a bit of a slow start. The one I’m hate reading is his latter work about the knight Sparhawk. I was convinced the plot of the first book would revolve around stopping the nefarious plot that he - I swear to god - just happened to overhear a villain just explain to an entire room in an inn. Like 8 or so chapters later and he is on a different continent, kidnapping an ambassador after having completely stopped the evil plot, fought in two major battles, adopted a child, commited arson, survived a shipwreck and infiltrated a cultist meeting. It’s remarkable how fast things can happen if none of the characters have any personality you have to write around.

Senex,

Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. On par with Tolkien and Martin IMHO

kromem,

Came here to recommend this. Favorite fantasy books of all time.

Definitely for people who like verbose fantasy books though.

Pulptastic,

The Diamond Age kinda counts?

Shareni,

Malazan book of the fallen is the best epic fantasy series I’ve ever read

ProfessorOwl_PhD,
@ProfessorOwl_PhD@hexbear.net avatar

Rick Riordan’s various series might catch your fancy - they’re really young adult fiction, but they’re still a good read. They cover Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian mythology from the perspectives of the god’s half human offspring, bringing the mythology into a modern context while retreading the old myths.

Dagwood222,

‘Glory Road’ by Robert A. Heinlein. Takes all the common fantasy tropes and kicks them in the nads.

wombatula,

I love how the other races don’t trust Humans, because we are always in “mating season” and they lose their minds during theirs, so assume we are always loopy because of ours.

Dagwood222, (edited )

I can’t remember the work, but a father is talking to his daughter on her 11th birthday. She’s a very smart and mature child. Dad says that he’s sorry but they aren’t going to be able to have great conversations any more, because she’s going to start maturing and will go completely insane. The daughter promises that she’ll always love and respect him. The next scene is her gothed out, swinging a chainsaw at the family dog.

TedJ70,
@TedJ70@aussie.zone avatar

youtu.be/dLuEY6jN6gY

Dagwood222,

Nice.

kratoz29,

I’m saving this thread for later because I’m interested in this genre, I am totally new to books, I haven’t even read LOTR, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones or House of the Dragons books, I have only consumed that through the movies and TV Shows, but seems like there are some really neat suggestions here.

IvanOverdrive, (edited )

My fantasy go-to series is The Chronicles of Amber. Roger Zelazny was a poet, and it comes out in his prose. Dude evokes visions inside your mind.

The universe is a collection of infinite reflections between order (ie Amber) and the Courts of Chaos. Corwin is one of the nine princes of Amber, an immortal who can travel between the reflections.

I read the first five books of the series every few years. But word of warning, the first book reflects the casual chauvinism of the the time it was written. Worth powering through those bits though.

The last five books are okay, but nowhere as good as the first five.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • books@lemmy.ml
  • ngwrru68w68
  • DreamBathrooms
  • thenastyranch
  • magazineikmin
  • InstantRegret
  • GTA5RPClips
  • Youngstown
  • everett
  • slotface
  • rosin
  • osvaldo12
  • mdbf
  • kavyap
  • cubers
  • megavids
  • modclub
  • normalnudes
  • tester
  • khanakhh
  • Durango
  • ethstaker
  • tacticalgear
  • Leos
  • provamag3
  • anitta
  • cisconetworking
  • JUstTest
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •