I need an antidote to Game of Thrones

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Well if you want some fun stuff I'd suggest The Honor Harrington series by David Weber, along with the rest of the stuff. Especially the Worlds of Honor and More Than Honor stuff.

Edit: The first volume in the Honor Harrington series is On Basilisk Station.

Another fun one is Ringworld and the whole Known Space series by Larry Niven, infact the stuff done by him and Jerry Pournelle is good. In particular if you can get a copy get Larry Niven's book of short stories called N-Space, they can be a bit grim but they're just fascinating.

 

[ecoho]

Well, at a glance:

-Lord of the Rings: Yeah, it's the obvious candidate, but if you're a lover of fantasy, read it. It's pretty much a requirement of the genre.

-The Wind on Fire: For the most part, I'm staying clear of reccomending children's books, even though I'd willingly sing their praises (Rowan of Rin, Deltora Quest, the Chronicles of Narnia, etc.). However, I feel this trilogy has as much worth reading as an adult, if not more so. While it has a playful, almost idiosyncratic method of writing, it's also, IMO, very poignent, and even philisophical at times (e.g. what is freedom? What is equality? What makes a fair society?). Not as deep as other works, but IMO, worth a read.

-Thursday Next: If you like Terry Pratchett, read this. Now.

-Mistborn: I've only read the first book so far, but I reccomend it. While the book has its dark, even graphic moments (e.g. graphic violence), and a fair share of polities, it's also very much an adventure story, complete with its own dark lord equivalent. Oh, and the setting/word-painting is quite interesting as well.

-Wheel of Time: I'm including this for the sake of consistency, in that I've read the first three books and...well, really don't like them I'm afraid. However, I'm mentioning them because they kind of sit between LotR and AsoIaF, in that we have LotR-esque tropes (dark lords, not-orcs, not-nazgul, etc.), but also a fair share of political intrigue (e.g. the various nations). Not my cup of tea, but something you might like.

ive read both the mistborn trilogy and the entirety of the wheel of time series, and I can honestly recommend both.

might want to look into the ranger apprentice books theyre that perfect mix of realistic dark and wanton fantasy.

Also good to note while the first three books in the wheel of time series really need to be read in order you can read the others pretty much in any order you want(except the last three as they were intended to be one book) that said really recommend reading the fourth one as its really good

 

[beyondbrainmatter]

I've read all of Game of Thrones. So I tried watching the first season of the TV show, and I've come to the conclusion that I've had my absolute fill of grimdark fantasy.

So, I'm looking for reccomendations for fantasy lit that is the exact opposite of GoT. Stuff that's just... fun.

(I've already read all of Discworld, so don't recommend that please.)

"The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel" by Francois Rabelais.

 

[Gospelnut]

Watch Galavant

 

[Squilookle]

Dude.

The Princess Bride.

There's a very good reason it's one of the most beloved and quotable films out there- even among those that don't even like fantasy.

As runners up I'd suggest Stardust, Errol Flynn movies like Captain Blood and Robin Hood, and come to think of it- everything in seasons 1 and 2 of the BBC robin hood from 2006 (except the very first episode, which is pretty crap).

 

[Unverwandt]

You might also like to try Patrick Weekes' Rogues of the Republic series.

 

[RedDeadFred]

The Name of the Wind. Sure, it has its dark moments and there is a sense of foreboding doom, but the vast majority of the story feels like a fun adventure. The writing is some of the best I've read and there is quite a bit of humor in the book. There's something about the style that makes even the most mundane things seem quite interesting.

 

[WolfThomas]

Some other people have recommended Sanderson's Mistborn, but I'd say it's exactly the sort of thing you're looking to get away from - the initial trilogy has an overbearingly oppressive and grim tone, without a glimmer of happiness or joy throughout!

Superficially it's Grimdark I'd agree, Lord Ruler, bleak world etc. But the story is pretty positive, meaningful sacrifices, true love and fire-forged companionship etc.

Also good to note while the first three books in the wheel of time series really need to be read in order you can read the others pretty much in any order you want(except the last three as they were intended to be one book) that said really recommend reading the fourth one as its really good

I agree on re-reads you can just jump in on a particular book, but first time round I think chronological is going to be necessary. Otherwise you'll be like "Who the fuck is Cadsuane?"

 

[Asita]

The Xanth series by Piers Anthony is another well known humorous, optimistic fantasy series.

To expand upon this: Funnily enough, this one actually gets lighter and sillier as the series goes on, to the point that later installments will literally have almost have entire chapters devoted to little more than parading out puns. The first half dozen or so books are fairly serious installments, but none of them would be what I'd call dark. At least in that franchise, Piers Anthony leaned far more towards idealism than cynicism, and in that respect I guess it's almost antithetical to A Song of Ice and Fire.

 

[Hawki]

ive read both the mistborn trilogy and the entirety of the wheel of time series, and I can honestly recommend both.

might want to look into the ranger apprentice books theyre that perfect mix of realistic dark and wanton fantasy.

Also good to note while the first three books in the wheel of time series really need to be read in order you can read the others pretty much in any order you want(except the last three as they were intended to be one book) that said really recommend reading the fourth one as its really good

Well, time for me to be an old grump I'm afraid - if the WoT series can be read out of order, that doesn't really sell on it much. Nor does the notion of the last three being one book - I've heard a lot about how the series got bloated towards the end of Jordan's run, and how Sanderson basically had to get the job done as efficiently as possible when he was brought on. Having read the first three, while it's case of 3>1>2 in my mind, they've never got beyond "okay" for me. I figure at this point that if I haven't truly enjoyed any of the novels so far, it ain't going to happen. Heck, even the New Spring prequel graphic novel that I read didn't sell me on the series.

And continuing the trend of old grump, I've read the first Ranger's Apprentice book and really didn't like it. "Dark" and "wanton" aren't words that readily come to mind for what I found to be an overly cheerful, cliche, simplistic story, with simple characters, a simple story, and a simple villain (or villain, if you include the bullies). Considering that it's intended for children, I might simply be the wrong audience for the novel, but at the least, the first put me off reading more in the series.

 

[WolfThomas]

Well, time for me to be an old grump I'm afraid - if the WoT series can be read out of order, that doesn't really sell on it much. Nor does the notion of the last three being one book - I've heard a lot about how the series got bloated towards the end of Jordan's run, and how Sanderson basically had to get the job done as efficiently as possible when he was brought on. Having read the first three, while it's case of 3>1>2 in my mind, they've never got beyond "okay" for me. I figure at this point that if I haven't truly enjoyed any of the novels so far, it ain't going to happen. Heck, even the New Spring prequel graphic novel that I read didn't sell me on the series.

I strongly disagree with Ecoho's statement. For the first time through, nothing but chronological order is going to make sense.

The last three were based on the manuscript for the last book which was allegedly huge. They're actually not bloated, simply a lot of important things happen and prophecies and foreshadowings from all the books earlier get wrapped up (there are Min viewings from book 1 that happen in 11 and 12, some 10 books later, which is makes re-reads so fun). The bloat comes before that. If you're generous it's book 10 only, a book which is meant to be multiple perspectives on a single event and that gets tiresome. But if you're less generous it's 8-9 too, which is a lot of slogging around in Winter and bubbling politics. I liked 8-9.

I appreciate your sticking it out through the first 3. 3 is where the series starts to take off in my opinion (with Matt as a POV). The books change a lot after 3. Because Rand is essentially a King and it deals more with that. The Aiel get more time and there's more military action in 4 and 5 against nations and darkspawn.

 

[Erttheking]

Well there's always Pheonix Wright. Sure the case is always about murder but it gets SHAMELESSLY goofy. Even when someone Wright deeply cares about is on trial it doesn't stop them from cross examining a parrot!