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Personal Top 5 Fantasy Books

TWErvin2

Auror
Ravana has two of my favorites among her top five:

Roger Zelazny's Amber series: A fun and unique read--a story that builds. I prefer the first five novels in the series, and Guns of Avalon would be my favorite among those.

Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series. Snappy dialogue and memorable characters. Some of his novels are better than others, but Dragon and Jhereg and Yendi are my favorites.

Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series, especially the first trilogy, although the second is close. It's a world and storyline that I believe rivals JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Great characters and creatures, and it's definitely not a rip off of Tolkien.

Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga. An interesting read that has its twists and turns, and a relentlessly evil sword.

Fred Saberhagen's Books of Swords. 12 Unique swords created and spread among the mortals by the gods for a great game--that in the end gets out of hand... The Song of Swords is an interesting aspect that hints at the swords' strengths, uses and drawbacks.

Who holds Coinspinner knows good odds,
Whichever move he make,
But the Sword of Chance, to please the gods,
Slips from him like a snake.

The Sword of Justice balances the pans
Of right and wrong, and foul and fair,
Eye for an eye, Doomgiver scans
The fate of all folk everywhere.

Dragonslicer, Dragonslicer, how d'you slay?
Reaching for the heart in behind the scales,
Dragonslicer, Dragonslicer, where do you stay?
In the belly of the giant that my Blade impales.

Farslayer howls across the world
For thy heart! For thy heart! who hast wronged me,
Vengeance is his who casts the Blade,
Yet he will, in the end, no triumph see.

Whose flesh the Sword of Mercy hurts has drawn no breath,
Whose soul its heals has wandered in the night,
Has paid the summing of all debts in death,
Has turned to see returning light.

The Mindsword spun in the dawn's grey light,
And men and demons knelt down before,
The Mindsword flashed in the midday bright,
Gods joined the dance, and the march to war,
It spun in the twilight dim as well,
And gods and men marched off to hell.

I shatter Swords and splinter spears,
None stands to Shieldbreaker;
My point's the fount of orphan's tears,
My edge the widowmaker.

The Sword of Stealth is given
To one lonely and despised;
Sightblinder's gifts: his eyes are keen,
His nature is disguised.

The Tyrant's Blade hath no blood spilled
But doth the spirit carve,
Soulcutter hath no body killed,
But many left to starve.

The Sword of Siege struck a hammer's blow
With a crash, and a smash, and a tumbled wall,
Stonecutter laid a castle low
With a groan, and a roar, and a tower's fall.

Long roads the Sword of Fury makes,
Hard walls it builds around the soft,
The fighter who Townsaver takes
Can bid farewell to home and croft.

Who holds Wayfinder finds good roads,
Its master's step is brisk;
The Sword of Wisdom lightens loads
But adds unto their risk.


A fast-paced, fun read filled with adventure and more than a few twists.


Guess that's it for me ;) Maybe some day our novels will be making such lists!
 
I can't go individual books, but I'll go with some series.

5) Dresdin Files by Jim Butcher
4) Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin
3) Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
2) Wheel of time by Robert Jordan (being finished by Sanderson)
1) Harry Potter

So varied, so great.
 

Thalian

Scribe
1) Homeland by RA Salvatore
2) Harry Potter series, though if I had to pick just one book it would either be The Goblet of Fire or The Half-Blood Prince
3) The Lord of The Rings
4) Sojourn by RA Salvatore
5) This is a tough one, I'm not anywhere near my books so I might have to go out on a limb here, Shadowrealm by Paul S. Kemp
 
So tough... yeah I'm gonna have to cheat and use series. Sorry. Also, I'm leaving off LOTR because I guess I think it is a bit obvious and cheap. Anyways...

1. The Legend of Drizz't- R.A. Salvatore: Some of my favorite characters, great world, even though it is really the D & D world, I know it from these books. Also, outstanding combat writing. Salvatore does it as good as anybody.

2. The Drenai Saga- David Gemmell: Another excellent roster of characters, but Gemmell goes about it in a much different way. Instead of staying with the same characters, he skips to different time periods in his world for each new novel, and really develops the history through this.

3. The Dragonlance Chronicles-As Map said, great characters and great stories. They were so lovable, especially Tas, and Raistlin was so intriguing... in fact, he still is.

4. Harry Potter- You-Know-Who: Just outstanding, I grew up with Harry and the gang.

5. The Troy series by Gemmell. Doesn't count? Ok then, Cornwell's Arthur series. No to that too? Wow you guys are sticklers... there are so many but I guess I would have to go with the cleric quintet by R.A. Salvatore. I can't put ASOIAF on here because I would be angry at myself. Martin just screws with the reader, and I can't suggest the series as I don't want to be responsible for someone's failing mental health.
 

Thalian

Scribe
1. The Legend of Drizz't- R.A. Salvatore: Some of my favorite characters, great world, even though it is really the D & D world, I know it from these books. Also, outstanding combat writing. Salvatore does it as good as anybody.

It's good to see somebody else on here like these books as much as I do. I read through a bunch of threads and I don't think I saw any praise for RA Salvatore. While some of the books seem a little bit too much like the others, there is still some excellent material in there, especially the combat scenes.
 
I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. There is also no mention of anything by Raymond Feist or Terry Brooks? Do people not like these or is it possible that some of you have not read them?
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Man, this is tough. Not in order (and this list no doubt changes over time):

Glen Cook's Black Company books.

Steven Erikson's Malazan books.

Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books.

Steven Brust's Dragaeran Romances (Phoenix Guard; 500 Years After, etc.).

Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold (I like it better than First Law, which I also love).

On any given day, Guy Gavriel Kay is on the list, as are David Gemmell's Rigante Books (and Legend).

I knew I couldn't stop at five.
 
The Black Trillium.
The Wayfarer Redemption series.
The Sword of Shannara and so on.
The Legend of Drizzit (don't judge me!)
I am going to give due homage to Beowulf here, cause I like it. Then again, Dune was kind of cool.

DAMN YOU FIVE ITEM LIST!
 

myrddin173

Maester
Hmm... Let's see. In no particular order:

The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks - Brooks is one of the writers that got me into fantasy and Elfstones is my favorite of his.

The Hobbit by do I even have to say? - As much as I enjoy tLotR this book holds a special place in my heart.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher - This one I am hesitant to even call fantasy, as it lies in that grey area between it and sci fi, it however is breathtaking.

The Grey King by Susan Cooper - One of the first fantasy books I remember reading, it's the fourth in its series though it was the first I read. I think it was the first after which I thought "I wish I could write like that."

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - Simply put it is one of the best epics of modern times.
 

Ravana

Istar
The Legend of Drizzit (don't judge me!)

Maybe not on that one… the Sword of Sha-Na-Na, I'm not quite as sure about.… :p

And what do you mean Dune was "kind of" cool? It's one of the greatest SF novels ever written. (Please don't tell me you're basing your judgment on the movie.… :rolleyes: )
 
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Maybe not on that one… the Sword of Sha-Na-Na, I'm not quite as sure about.… :p

And what do you mean Dune was "kind of" cool? It's one of the greatest SF novels ever written. (Please don't tell me you're basing your judgment on the movie.… :rolleyes: )

It is a rare day that my praise exceeds something like, "eyup" or "kinda cool". Greatest is a matter of taste. While Dune is great story, and Herbert an excellent writer I personally don't know that I'd call it the greatest. I definitely don't judge the book by its movie, however in the book some of the political intrigue stuff seemed kind of, slap to the head obvious.

I remember reading the book, and as the Duke took over I said to myself, "So how soon is dude going to die and give Mr. Prince something to avenge, something to make his quarrel with the gingers personal?" There were a few moments like that in the book, and frustrated me more and more as time went on.

Now with most of the shannara series I spent a fair amount of the time waiting for Alanon to show that he was actually the ultimate bad guy of the story, the betrayer deluxe, but he never did. I do wish more of the good guys had died in that series though, would have made it more realistic.

Sigh.
 

Jungly

Dreamer
I haven't read that many series yet but I would say.

Way of the shadows by Brent Weeks and
Trudi Carnavarns black magic trilogy and age of five. I haven't read her other books yet.
And Harry Potter.
I haven't read other fantasy that I've enjoyed as much.
 

Ziggy

Scribe
5. Wizard's First Rule
4. The Magician
3. Harry Potter
2. Lord of the Rings
1. Feet of Clay - Pratchett (But all the Discworld books are awesome)
 

Neurosis

Minstrel
5. The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie
4. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
3. The Pastel City - M. John Harrison
2. The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
1. Light - M. John Harrison
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
These lists are always so hard...

1) Lord of the Rings (I'll include it as it was written - as one book : ) )
2) Faith of the Fallen
3) Sabriel
4) The Phoenix Guards
5) Wizard's First Rule

I wanted to fit one of the Ice and Fire books on there, but I read the first four in such a hurry that I can't separate them out into single books in my head. I guess the first one would probably be my favorite, except there aren't really any story arcs that finish... so I can't really treat them as separate books.
 
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