Fantasy Novels

[Raikas]

Seconding the Guy Gavriel Kay and Robin Hobb recommendations. I'd also recommend CS Friedman's Magister and Coldfire books for a different flavour of fantasy (magic with rules, more or less).

I think you'll really like him. His writing has improved by leaps and bounds over the course of his 6 books. I'd put him amongst the best of the dour/edgy "post-Martin" fantasy writer crowd. Rothfuss probably has the best prose, but Abercrombie has the best pacing and wit.

That's good to hear. I read The Last Argument of Kings recently (I always read series out of order when I'm trying a new author) after hearing Abercrombie praised so consistently but found it almost unreadable because of the endless repetitions of character descriptions. I liked the story and characters themselves, so if he's gotten better (or at least found a more controlling editor) I might give his stuff another try!

 

[Yopaz]

I'm reading through the first book in the Wheel of Time series right now.
OT: The first Mistborn trilogy is quite good and it's also completed, there's also a branch to connect the first trilogy to the second called Alloy of Law which is not getting any sequels.

I'd recommend waiting with The Stormlight Archives since there are 9 books yet to be released before that is done.

In the last two years, I've become a big fan of all things Brandon Sanderson; so I also recommend the Mistborn trilogy, but I'd also say read The Stormlight Archive. Yeah, only one book is out, but that book is possibly my single favorite book that I've read. There's nothing wrong with reading as series as it comes out; yeah you have to wait, but you also get to predict and speculate. (And waiting builds patience; which is a good practice in itself)
I realize the OP said they don't want to wait, but I do feel I should put an argument in against depriving yourself of an excellent series (or at least, an excellent book) for the next decade or so just because you don't want to wait. (And hey, there are other people reading this, too)


Also, Alloy of Law -is- getting a sequel, though all that is known is that the name of it is Shadows of Self, and it's not being written right now. 2014 seems to be the best guess of when it'll be out. (Oh, and it already has a rating of 4.12 on goodreads, if that makes any sense)

On another note, Wheel of Time is long, but it's fantastic. (And as of January, finished)

Shadow of Self isn't a sequel to Alloy of Law, but the first book in the second Mistborn trilogy. Alloy of Law is just a link between the first and the second trilogy with no planned sequels. It's kinda confusing, but it's explained in the acknowledgements in Alloy of Law where it also states that Alloy of Law is not part of the second trilogy.

I do agree that The Stormlight archives is a great read, but he did specify that he didn't want a series where he'd have to wait for the sequels. Better to let a few books be released before getting a go at that one.

 

[Ironside]

I'm a fan of Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders Trilogy. Hobb writes some of the best and most relatable characters I've ever read in fantasy, or elsewhere.

I would also recommend Robin Hobbs books. The OP will also want to read the Tawny Man trilogy as well if he wants to know how the story ends, but the rain wild chronicles aren't entirely necessary since they are sort of just closing off a few loose ends ( still excellent books though).

 

[ElinHime]

If you like to try some urban fantasy, i would recommend the Dragon kind series by G.A. Aiken, The Edge series by Ilona Andrews and the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost.

Other then that, Terry Pratchett is always fun!

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I will second Patrick Rothfuss as a great read. The two books of the expected Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy are brilliant; you will keep turning pages long after you know you ought to be doing something else. It's a story within a story starring Kvothe, a great character as are his supporting cast. My only concern is how the author will fit approximately a decade of Kvothe's story into a single book when the first two books combined only covered about 3 years!

I love Jennifer Fallon's books, in particular the Tide Lords quartet. Probably my favourite book series, if only there were more. Second Sons is also a brilliant idea and not at all what you'd expect from a fantasy novel. Fiona McIntosh, another Aussie writer is great too. Her Percheron and Quickening trilogies are excellent, with Trinity (her first books) close behind. Wasn't a fan of her Valisar trilogy though.

Wheel of Time is THE epic fantasy sage that I don't think will ever be topped in our lifetimes. Yes, the farmboy/dark lord thing has been done, but I promise you, not like this and not on this scale. Politics, romance, action, drama, war, duels, treasures, betrayals, it's got the lot. If you haven't read it yet, then you're extraordinarily lucky as the 14th and final book came out last Jan, written by Brandon Sanderson who finished Jordan's saga off following his death. I had to wait 15 years from when I first started the series to find out the end so i greatly envy anyone who can go from start to finish straight away.

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth is pretty good, but can get a bit preachy. The first few books are great, the middle bunch not so much, then it picks up again at the end. The villains don't make much sense (think Mass Effect's "Reapers" nonsense), and fans debate that they and the heroes represent Goodkind's personal political views. I didn't get a lot of that to be honest. Most books are the heroes against a big bad of some sort, all the while new parts of the world are introduced along with character development. There are some tedious parts, easily skipped on a second read, which is frustrating as when Goodkind is good, he's bloody brilliant. There are some parts so ingenious, so well written, so great that you will persevere, and be only a little disappointed it wasn't that good all the time.

 

[Retsam19]

Also, Alloy of Law -is- getting a sequel, though all that is known is that the name of it is Shadows of Self, and it's not being written right now. 2014 seems to be the best guess of when it'll be out. (Oh, and it already has a rating of 4.12 on goodreads, if that makes any sense)

Shadow of Self isn't a sequel to Alloy of Law, but the first book in the second Mistborn trilogy. Alloy of Law is just a link between the first and the second trilogy with no planned sequels. It's kinda confusing, but it's explained in the acknowledgements in Alloy of Law where it also states that Alloy of Law is not part of the second trilogy.

No, it's the sequel to Alloy. When Sanderson first envisioned Alloy of Law, it was a stand-alone book that he really just wrote to blow off steam while working on other books. (Crazy author, writes fantastic literature in his downtime) But it seems pretty clear to me that by the time he finished writing it, it was going to have direct sequels.

ZAS
The second Alloy of Law is called Shadows of Self, right?
BRANDON SANDERSON
Shadows of Self, yep.

Source: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=836#36

 

[Hap2]

How has Neil Gaiman not been mentioned yet?

Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys, etc.

The man has an incredible talent for making dreams come alive in fictional form.

 

[Yopaz]

Also, Alloy of Law -is- getting a sequel, though all that is known is that the name of it is Shadows of Self, and it's not being written right now. 2014 seems to be the best guess of when it'll be out. (Oh, and it already has a rating of 4.12 on goodreads, if that makes any sense)

Shadow of Self isn't a sequel to Alloy of Law, but the first book in the second Mistborn trilogy. Alloy of Law is just a link between the first and the second trilogy with no planned sequels. It's kinda confusing, but it's explained in the acknowledgements in Alloy of Law where it also states that Alloy of Law is not part of the second trilogy.

No, it's the sequel to Alloy. When Sanderson first envisioned Alloy of Law, it was a stand-alone book that he really just wrote to blow off steam while working on other books. (Crazy author, writes fantastic literature in his downtime) But it seems pretty clear to me that by the time he finished writing it, it was going to have direct sequels.

ZAS
The second Alloy of Law is called Shadows of Self, right?
BRANDON SANDERSON
Shadows of Self, yep.

Source: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=836#36

In that case it seems like I misunderstood what he was saying in the foreword of Alloy of Law. I love the setting so this is good news then. Thank you for enlightening me.

 

[Gunjester]

Try the Abhorsen Series, it's grounded magic, with lots of magic entwined in the setting but nothing quite as flamboyant as mmo-style or high-fantasy.

 

[Sandernista]

Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea cycle (five relatively short novels, one collection of short stories) is also worthwhile. I've only had a chance to read the first book and last one, but the latter (The Other Wind) is probably the best fantasy novel I've ever read.

Wow only one person mentions Le Guin?!

A Wizard of Earthsea and the series following are some of the best fantasy ever written. I haven't read any other Le Guin, but I hear her sci-fi is amazing.

I also remember Hood, and its sequel by Stephen R. Lawhead being pretty good but it's been some years.

And of course the other classics: Pullman's Dark Materials, Tolkien's The Hobbit (much less dense, and much more fun than the LOTR books), Jordan's Wheel of Time, etc.

 

[Lliustril]

Try the Abhorsen Series, it's grounded magic, with lots of magic entwined in the setting but nothing quite as flamboyant as mmo-style or high-fantasy.

I second this. It's designed for both teens and adults (like Eargon).Along the same lines are:
Power of five series by Anthony Horowitz
It?s a five book series, the last of which came out this year.

Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy
Its fantasy but the humour is excellent, it?s actually laugh-out-loud funny (Warning: Don?t read them in quite places like libraries!)It?s ongoing, with the 8th book set for 29 August. The series is planned to go for nine books.

Not high fantasy, but still excellent are ?The black Angel? and ?Book of lost things? by John Connolly. The latter being my favourite book at the moment.

Anything from Terry Brooks.
He has two main series. The Shannara Series, consisting of 29 books, broken into smaller series. The Word & Void series (3 books) is classed as part of this but can be read separately (it?s considered the ?ultimate prequel?. His other series is Magic Kingdom of Landover and is only six books long.

The Moonworlds Saga by Sean McMullen
Not overly well known, it?s a 4 book series that I did not want to end. When I first picked it up it didn?t look that great, but I?m glad I gave it a chance. The humour in it is just fantastic.

Husk Trilogy by Russel Kirkpatrick
Also known as Broken Man Trilogy. I can?t remember the story, but I know they?re worth reading.

Tad Williams
I?ve read ?War of the flowers? and the Shadowmarch series. The rest of his books are on my ?to read list?. Normally I only buy books second hand, and if I want to read it when it first comes out I go to the library. But I actually brought 3 of the 4 Shadowmarch books as soon as they came out.

Lord of the Rings
Most people have seen the movie but the books are still well worth the read.

 

[amuasyeas]

I'll vouch for The Dark Tower series. It's some of Stephen King's best work. Kinda runs out of steam towards the end of the last book in the series, but I'd still say it's worth a read overall.
Also approving the suggestion of Terry Pratchett. Can't go wrong with him.

Terry Pratchett is a mixed bag when it comes to quality. Though I did love his Death books.

 

[RJ Dalton]

I'll vouch for The Dark Tower series. It's some of Stephen King's best work. Kinda runs out of steam towards the end of the last book in the series, but I'd still say it's worth a read overall.
Also approving the suggestion of Terry Pratchett. Can't go wrong with him.

Terry Pratchett is a mixed bag when it comes to quality. Though I did love his Death books.

I can't say I've run into too many Pratchett books that disappointed me. Stephen King, now he's a mixed bag. When he's good, he's very good and when he's bad it's like pulling teeth.
Unless you're talking the movies or TV specials based on his work, in which case they're all like pulling teeth.

 

[Candidus]

I'll put in a vote for Malus Darkblade, a five book series by Dan Abnett and Mike Lee.

 

[Albino Boo]

How has Neil Gaiman not been mentioned yet?

Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys, etc.

The man has an incredible talent for making dreams come alive in fictional form.

Yeah Gaiman is great. If you like Gaiman you might want to try The Man who was October by Chesterton and the Lost Road by J R R Tolkien.

 

[Gizmo1990]

I'd like to throw in another recommendation of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. The first few are a little rough but once he hits his stride they are awesome. It's not a finished series but the Discworld is pretty open ended and deals with multiple characters and story arcs. Just pick one that sounds interesting and see how it goes.

A few people have recommended The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, but no one has yet recommended his actual fantasy series, Codex Alera, so let me do that. Six books in total and it's complete. It was written because someone in a discussion with Jim said that he there were some ideas that just can't make a decent story. The person then bet Jim that he couldn't make one of these ideas into a decent story. He went and took two of them (the lost Roman Legion and Pokemon) and created the Codex Alera series. Don't let the mention of Pokemon put you off, most of what he took from it were the Shinto myths that inspired Pokemon to begin with.

Thank you. Finaly someone say Codex Alera. I love Dresden, it is easily my favorite book series (despite the way Cold Days ended) but Codex is a close second and it doesn't get nearly as much love as it should.

OT: Most of my surgestions have been given, or you have already read them (night angel trilogy) but I have 2 others.

Nightside Series by Simon.R Green. The Nightside is a kind of supernatural underworld London, connected to real London, where it is always 3am and the sun never rises. A place where gods and monsters walk freely. Has time travel, magic, aliens, si fi. It follows a man called John Taylor who is half Harry dresden and half John Constintine.

Secret histories also by Simon R Green. Set in the same universe as the Nightside series (with a few character cross overs) it follows a man called Eddie Drood. The Drood family are the ancient, secret protectors of humanity, keeping the world safe from the magical, extraterrestrial and the extra dimensional alike. They are the secret agents of the hidden world. They do this with incredable golden armor that gives them increased speed, strength and makes them almost indestructable, this armor is stored in golden Toucs around their necks. Like the nightsaide it has both magic and si fi elements and it works really well together.

 

[emeraldrafael]

the one thing I'll say about the dark tower is the first book is radically different from the others. youread it and you think youre getting a western series with some mysticism and it really doesnt get into itself till the second and third book.

more on topic, actaully as a one off the eyes of niner by stephen king is pretty good. it was written as a fairy tail for his child. Other tahn that, I rather liked the tears of artamon series by sarah ash. theres another series i was reading that was pretty good about a royal family who have these four symbols of power and it winds up with the youngest fighting for his position on the throne that was pretty good, but the name escapes me at the moment.

EDIT: the sword of truth books are pretty good too, and it recently ended in the main series with him just doing some prequel stuff (though I dont think they're really neccessary reads).

 

[MiskWisk]

Try the Abhorsen Series, it's grounded magic, with lots of magic entwined in the setting but nothing quite as flamboyant as mmo-style or high-fantasy.

I second this. It's designed for both teens and adults (like Eargon).

I third this. Although I can't say much for the other books you've mentioned unfortunately as I haven't read them.

I will also be pedantic and point out that Garth Nix's books are about the Abhorsen, but titled as the Old Kingdom series.

[sub][sub]Unless you're North American according to the wikipedia[/sub][/sub]

EDIT: Also, the new one is apparently coming out some time this year as well, so there's that.

 

[Polarni]

Pratchett, definetley start reading Terry Pratchett.
Also, the Shannara series (by Terry Brooks) is (in my humble opinion) pretty awesome; an interesting fantasy setting with just right amount of magic and mystery to make it seamlessly blend in one good story.

 

[kael013]

Brandon Sanderson: Mistborn trilogy, Elantris, and Warbreaker. I'd recommend Way of Kings but you said complete or near-complete series only and it's the only book out of a 10 book series currently out...

Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series.

Jim Butcher: Dresden Files (urban fantasy -basically, wizard PI in modern Chicago) and the Codex Alera series (can't really describe it; it's just awesome.)

Steampunk stuff: Airborn trilogy by Kenneth Oppel. It's YA material, but still interesting.

Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl series. It's also YA but it's not as interesting as the other YA series I read, so I have no idea how you'd like it.

Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson and the Olympians series as well as the sequel series Heroes of Olympus. YA material but very funny.

And if you like goofy fantasy with some social and political commentary subtly thrown in: Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I'd read Guards! Guards! first to get a taste.