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high fantasy recommendations

buyjupiter

Maester
I used to read a lot of high fantasy, but outgrew the limited characters I was finding in the subgenre.

I've read all of GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire, so other than his work (which I wouldn't really classify as "high" fantasy, but that's another debate entirely), is there anyone else out there writing really good characters?

What I mean by a good character is someone who has a motivation beyond "ooh look evil, I must fight it" or "oh dear, here's the good guy, bring out the sharks and laser beams". I'm looking for characters that have depth. Not the kind that feels like they've been transported from 1960s comic books, where the heroes are good looking and innately good and the villains are evil evilness that must be defeated.

As a side conversation, if the characters are less than wholly good or wholly evil, does that make it something other than epic fantasy? Or can you have the good v. evil struggle with gray characters and still have it feel epic?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
 

GeekDavid

Auror
If you're not afraid of some really dark books, try Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy. The world is dark, the MC is dark (a magically enhanced assassin), his mentor is dark, you get the idea.

Still, it is a marvelous tale and well told to boot.
 

buyjupiter

Maester
If you're not afraid of some really dark books, try Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy. The world is dark, the MC is dark (a magically enhanced assassin), his mentor is dark, you get the idea.

Still, it is a marvelous tale and well told to boot.

I'm not afraid of really dark stuff. I'll have to check it out. I am always up for a book about assassins, magically enhanced or otherwise.

Thank you!
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Guy Gavriel Kay - The Fionavar Tapestry, Tigana, A Song for Arbonne
Dennis L. McKiernan - Dragondoom
Steven Erikson - Malazan books
David Anthony Durham - Acacia
 
Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings --his bid for full-on high fantasy, and one for the ages, I think.
Tad Williams, The Dragonbone Chair and following books.

And, always my top recommendation even though it isn't especially high fantasy: Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. These were the books that sometimes had me terrified that anything would interrupt my reading of the best parts, because you only have one chance to take those in for the first time.
 

buyjupiter

Maester
I should give that another go. The last time I tried, it was pretty far down the stack of dark fantasy. And Clive Barker kinda kicked me out of reading anything but Discworld before I got to this book.
 

buyjupiter

Maester
I've heard so much great stuff about Sanderson and Rothfuss, I'll definitely bump them up in the queue.

Tad Williams is kind of hit and miss for me. I loved Tailchaser's Song, but let's face it anything about cats will get my attention. I got about halfway through Otherland before giving up. I think I read Dragonbone Chair. But to be honest there were several years I read 200 books in a year and didn't keep track. The plot sounds familiar though.

Thank you for the suggestions!
 
Going down the "high fantasy" list on TV Tropes, listing off the things I recognize and like:

If you're willing to read a kids' series, Deltora Quest can be pretty fun (and occasionally shockingly dark for the target audience.) I like how the guy you'd think would be the doomed mentor remains as a main character without overshadowing the others.

Speaking of kids' series, Garth Nix is always hit-and-miss, but I think The Seventh Tower falls into the "hit" category. I particularly like the world-building--this is not your standard fantasy setting!

It turns out all I can think of right now are kids' series. Keys to the Kingdom is kind of oddball, but it hits a lot of high fantasy tropes, albeit transplanted to a Christian setting. It takes a long, long time to figure out what kind of story this really is, specifically
a tragedy
, but the way the plot proceeds makes it inevitable in retrospect, and all the more powerful for it.

P.S. Actually, do you read anything other than books? I read a high fantasy webcomic, Slightly Damned. It builds slowly and carefully, beginning as a simple buddy story, but dropping increasingly large hints about the disappearance of the gods, the decay of the world, and the forces that might be behind it.
 

buyjupiter

Maester
I do, but I have the attention span of a mayfly sometimes and forget all about checking webcomics. I'll go months forgetting all about xkcd and I love it to pieces. I'll have to check if there's a subscribe button.

I love kids/YA stuff. I read through a whole slew of it the last time I had a library job. I had to be up to speed so when the kids tugged my sleeve and asked for recommendations I had several ready to go during summer reading.

I also read manga and graphic novels and could always use more recommendations for those.
 
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