A good fantasy book? you know, wizards, dragons, princesses, that kind of stuff
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.
I highly recommend the Earthsea book by Ursula Le Guin (I actually recommend all of her books) and the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Frtiz Lieber. Especially if you are looking for something that is a quick read and not a 20 book, 50 billion page series.
Also the Drizzt novels by R. A. Salvatore, while not the same level of quality, are fun.
Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series is a good one. Unlike most authors in this genre who tend to be overly descriptive and feel the need to develop the lore of every squirrel in the kingdom, Le Guin writes really tight, well thought stories, where every word is important to the story.
You might want to look at Robin Hobbs' work.
My personal favorites are the Assassin series, starting with Assassin Apprentice by Robin Hobb.
Some of the best most heartfelt characters I have read in any modern fantasy, with a brilliantly unique type of magic and adventure. There is some political intrigue, especially within the first trilogy, but it isn't overly burdened by it.
The whole series has continued to be a heavily character driven emotional roller coaster that I would love to be able to forget just so I could read them again for the first time.
Lots of good recommendations here. I'll just leave some +1s for a few I've seen here that I've enjoyed.
Blacktongue Thief: A thief tries to rob the wrong warrior and gets wrapped up in a quest to a distant land besieged by giants. The first of a trilogy, but the ending gives you enough closure to be a standalone read while also setting up where the story will go. Personally, I enjoyed the first-person narration which gives you a colorful look at a somewhat non-conventional fantasy world, although it's still fantasy. If you liked Abercrombie then you might like this. There's a similar focus on flawed characters trying to do the best they can. There is some war and politics but they are firmly in the background and far from the main focus.
Legends and Lattes: A retired adventurer opens up a coffee shop in a land that has never heard of coffee. I'm not sure if "cozy fantasy" was a thing before this book, but it's been held up as an archetypal example. The plot is low-stakes and focuses on the characters and the difficulties of running a small business. Makes a good palate-cleanser between denser reads. No war or politics.
Kings of the Wyld: A retired group of adventurers has to come together for one last job after their leader's daughter ends up trapped in a city besieged by monsters. Admittedly how much you enjoy this one depends on how novel you find the idea of adventuring groups being treated as rock and roll groups. Like literally being a stand-in for rock and roll bands with groupies, managers, and all of that. I've seen some criticism that the book doesn't have much going for it beyond that which is a bit unfair. Following a bunch of middle-aged heroes past their prime was refreshing and I think the author did some interesting things with the main character who only uses a shield in combat and whose main motivation is to make it back to his wife and daughter in one piece. Very little war and politics.
Also, I don't think he's been recommended but you might want to check out Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy. Admittedly it's not typical high fantasy and it is somewhat heavy on war and politics, but if you liked the grittier, grounded feel of Abercrombie then you might like it. It is arguably darker though and the main character straddles the line between dark anti-hero and outright villain protagonist for at least the first book. But it might be worth checking out if you really liked the First Law trilogy.
So many suggestions possible with that prompt.
I might suggest the Vlad Taltos series, starting with Jhereg, by Steven Brust. Reaslistic characters, snappy dialog, interesting premise of human's status in the society, and a pretty far-out series of villains. It comes down to more or less a first person assassin- / intrigue-based plot with cleverly set-up who-dunnit elements here and there, and an overarching storyline, and a good sense of the universe.
Some good suggestions in this thread. If you want even more options - I have been tapping into this Slashdot thread for a decade now, and it's still giving me winners - which might not work for you, mind (e.g ."Little, Big" by Crowley, it led me to "To Reign in Hell" also by Brust, "Jack of Shadows" by Zelazny,)
I'll add a +1 to some mentioned:
- Cradle series - progression fantasy, basically DBZ or Naruto style progression with a magic system, intelligent beasts/dragons, demigods, etc.
- Night Angel Trilogy - street rat turned assassin with magic. I feel like it leans pretty heavily into fantasy tropes, but they're fun reads.
- Kings of the Wyld - this book is fucking hilarious. The main characters are basically a kickass D&D group but it's 20 years later, they're old and fat, and have to go on one last epic adventure.
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini! I've read it too many times. It's a really good hero's journey and the characters are all really interesting. Plus it's focused on dragons and magic and elves and dwarves, lots of cool creativity that goes on in the world. And I just really enjoy Paolini's world-building. He's very good at it and it stays consistent. There are two wars that I remember, one is a small-scale thing that sets a lot of events in motion, and the other is the big climax at the end of the series. It's my favourite series next to The Dark Tower. I'd highly recommend it!
I've heard the Wheel of Time stuff is pretty good. Piers Anthony's Xanth novels were popular long ago, but he has sort of disappeared (I just looked him up, and he's probably just retired). I've personally read the Black Cauldron books and enjoyed them quite a bit. Robert Aspirin's Myth books can be fun. Hopefully there is something new to you in that list!
I advocate to expand people's thinking of the fantasy genre beyond the usual Euro-centric elves, dwarves, and wizards type stuff.
As such, a fantasy book I recommend is based off of Persian magic and setting is called The Wrath and the Dawn. It is based off of the Arabian Nights legend of that region.
Well, my other recommendation is not a book because it was a web comic, BUT, it fits the fantasy genre. What makes it unique is the fantasy elements are based off of Aztec gods and magic. It is called Leyendas: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/leyendas/list?title_no=63874
There is another fantasy web comic with middle eastern elements called Suihira The City of Water: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/suihira-the-city-of-water/list?title_no=39385
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.
Currently rereading the Belgariad and will likely go straight into the Mallorean. Probably my favourite "traditional" fantasy series.
But my all time favourite fantasy series is The Death Gate Cycle by Weiss and Hickman. But is very much not your traditional fantasy setup. It's got wizards, dragons, elves, etc... but in very very non-traditional worlds. Can't recommend it enough.
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.
The Eragon series? It's not that heavy fantasy, but the world is pretty nicely built IMO.
Also, on the wizardy side, I can recommend the Bartimaeus books, too, if you liked Discworld. Again, nothing super serious, but they are fun reads. (Best to read from physical books, they are heavy on footnotes and I found it reading on e-readers kinda awkward)
Have you continued with Abercrombie's books? He does not miss.
The Diamond Age kinda counts?
Michael Moorcock's Elric books tick all of the boxes in your list. So do his Corum and Hawkmoon books.
Magician,and searching this I see they're making a TV series, 🤯
My longtime favs (apart from LOTR by Tolkien) are:
- The Realm of the Elderlings series bei Robin Hobb
- Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams
- Ea Cycle by David Zindell
Hm, not keen on heavy politics or war. Was gonna recommend Malazan: Book of the Fallen but the first book starts out in a war. Still, good book, you might enjoy it.
Second book is a little different than what you're describing. Fool Moon from the Dresden Files series. Pulpy magical detective noire set in modern times, where magic is sort of accepted as a real thing.
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.
Patricia C Wrede. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. The titles for the series are below:
- Dealing with Dragons
- Searching for Dragons
- Calling on Dragons
- Talking to Dragons
Fantasy stories with each book centered around one protagonist and a meta take of your usual fairy tales. And includes wizards, dragons, princesses too.
A few I've enjoyed that aren't mentioned elsewhere so far:
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Robin McKinley, The hero and the crown. If you've never read this, please, just go and do so, if you read nothing else on this entire response. The Newbery Medal it got was well deserved. (And it has princesses and dragons and wizards.)
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Louise Cooper, Indigo (8 short books). Sealed ancient evil, cursed protagonist on heroic journey, talking animal companion. Just lots of fun all around.
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Lois McMaster Bujold, The curse of Chalion series. Maybe a little more politics than you are looking for, but the divinity/magic system works well and I appreciate that the viewpoint characters are generally kind of old and busted. She is of course better known for the (excellent) Miles Vorkosigan military space opera series.
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Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, A companion to wolves et seq. Exactly what it says on the tin; the catch is that the viewpoint character of the first book becomes bonded to a female wolf, which radically changes how his culture sees him.
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Elizabeth Moon, The deed of Paksenarrion. Basically what you'd get if you wrote down a really good D&D campaign (but mostly for only one viewpoint character). Formulaic in spots but enjoyable and well executed.
Other replies have mentioned Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos books, which I enjoyed a lot; and David (and Leigh) Eddings, which were my first big-kid fantasy novels (as for many other other American children of the 70s and 80s). Another long series in something of the same vein as Eddings is Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga; I haven't read the entries after 2000, but before that it was a lot of fun.
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Malazan book of the fallen is the best epic fantasy series I've ever read
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.
Robin Hobb - Assassin's Apprentice
Very fresh and original high fantasy.
I'd recommend David Eddungs' Belgariad. Got me into fantasy genre. Then there's Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan, Raymond, E Feist (brilliant), Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy. So many good things out there. If you enjoyed Discworld you'll enjoy these too even though they're not comical like Pratchett novels are.
I'm currently reading the Bound and Broken series by Ryan Cahill. Seems pretty solid. It has dragons, wizards, other magical creatures, elves, dwarves... There is some war, but it's largely a coming of age story centered around an 18-20 year old man.
Give The Prince Of Nothing series a read. A bit more of a philosophical series than a hack and slash fantasy.
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The Belgariad and The Malloreon by David Eddings. His books have classic D&D feel, light reading with bits of humor.
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Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. A massive plotline (all books already written so no need to wait), very dark, superb characters.
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I really enjoyed the first six Dragonlance novels - after that, not so much.
NPRs top 100 scifi and fantasy books.
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.
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.
There is a book anthology called Rogues, complied by Phyllis Eisenstein. It is a compilation of short stories from various writers across many disciplines. While there is a lot of different stories, they all come back to a character who is deceitful in character you can't help but root for them a bit.
Have you considered Kate Elliott novels? Jaran was amazing if you like sci-fi/fantasy crossover, or King's Dragon if you like pure fantasy. If you prefer easier reading check out the Dragonriders of Pern series.
I just finished Dragon Weather by Lawrence Watt-Evans. It's got the dragons, magic, adventure and intrigue while also getting the main plot going almost immediately, which I like because I feel the beginnings of books from this genre can drag on forever. It's also a trilogy, so there's more if you like it. Currently I'm reading Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen, and it's interesting so far because it is fantasy, but there's a science fiction element to it which is fun.
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...
The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fun fantasy heist book
The Book of Three is the first in a classic high fantasy series. It's a lovely comfort read, but definitely targeted at younger readers.
You might consider Nix's Abhorsen series for a unique take on Necromancers.
Foundryside is wild and fun if not a hugely traditional fantasy. Imagine if you could carve sigils on objects to make them ignore reality in very specific ways.
Oh also the Demon Cycle series by Peter V Brett was a fun romp. I like the way the author built a pretty unique world with a lot of different aspects to it. He did a good job of switching the point of view across characters to challenge perspective.
One for the Morning Glory by John Barnes
The King of Elfland's daughter, by Lord Dunsany
The Reyira Revelations Is great fun. Five Gods is an outstandingly well-written series.
Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a refreshing take on classic fantasy themes!
Reading Wheel of Time and I'm really enjoying it
Irene Radford The Dragon Nimbus series. I read it ages ago and have fond memories.
You say fantasy, but while technically sci fi, I'd like to suggest the galactic milieu series by Julian May. It starts out sci fi and I guess constantly has sci fi elements but leans pretty heavily into bridging the gap to fantasy (elves, dwarves, shapeshifting monsters, magic etc)
- Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" series.
- Naomi Novik's "Temeraire" series
- Tamora Pierce's series spanning multiple mini-series: Lioness, Protector, Tricksters and Immortals.
You should get on goodreads and look up books you loved to see what else is recommended from people who also read that book. I find great ones that way!
Otherwise I absolutely could not put “Forth Wing” down by Rebecca Yarros! The second book (five are expected) comes out in a week or two. A friend recommended it and it was so good I fell into a slump afterwards trying to find something as exciting.
you started way too high the quality list imo
Doesn't hit your checklist point by point, but I think it's impossible to go wrong with the Recluce books if you haven't read them. (Most recent was published in 2021 which was news to me - guess I have some catching up to do!)
Assassin's Apprentice trilogy by Robin Hobbs
The Lost Years of Merlin, the whole series. Feels like someone gave the Arthurian mythos some actual magic by fleshing out who Merlin was as a teen.
I will forever evangelise Practical Guide to Evil. Great high fantasy that does a wonderfull job at using the building block of stories to your advantage.
Maybe try Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman or R.A. Salvatore's The Dark Elf Trilogy.