Need Fantasy Book Recommendations
Nov. 9th, 2007 01:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velessaI'm in need of a new fantasy novel to keep in my purse and read on my lunch breaks. I just finished up Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (loved it), but now I don't know what to move on to. Some recommendations would be welcome. Here is a list of series/books I've loved and those I've hated, to give you an idea of my taste:
Books I Love
The Belgariad by David Eddings - still my favorite series of all time; I also really enjoyed his Mallorean, Elenium and Tamuli series. The new stuff he's written with his wife (The Dreamers? or whatever), on the other hand, is awful.
The Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb. Also enjoyed the follow up Tawny Man and prequel Farseer series, although not nearly as much as Liveship. Unfortunately her new one about the soldier son is really very lame so far.
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - loved by one and all with any sense. =)
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - parallel universe hopping kids with talking animal companions? Woohoo!
The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice - well, the first four at least. Memnoch the Devil got WAY too religious and I quit after that.
Xanth by Piers Anthony - enjoyable up to a point. You can only take cloned books with lame puns for so long before you tire of them, but they were fun to read for a while.
Dinotopia - people and dinosaurs living and working together, yay!
[shameless plug] Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon - a most enjoyable Rose of Versailles-esque novel with a totally awesome crossdressing main character. Lots of good fun!
Books I Hate
Anything by G.R.R. Martin - I tried to read that first Fire and Ice book or whatever and nearly threw up. I threw the book away. Author writing violence toward animals = automatic SICK FREAK BASTARD I HOPE YOU ARE TORN TO PIECES SLOWLY BY RABID DOGS thoughts from me.
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - Mr. I-have-50-million-characters-and-plotlines-so-you-have-to-read-a-guidebook-just-to-keep-track-of-what's-going-on-and-by-the-way-everyone-in-my-books-are-complete-assholes-so-you're-sure-to-hate-reading-about-them-for-the-rest-of-your-lifetime-because-that's-how-long-the-series-will-take-to-complete Jordan can kiss my ass. The story was good for a while, but I couldn't get over the fact that I completely hated every single character, and I got sick of reading 700 pages of NOTHING HAPPENING so he could milk the series for all it was worth until he DIED without even finishing it. Way to go.
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey - I read the first book and liked it until the dragons started traveling through time. Um, WTF?? Keep your sci fi out of my fantasy thanks. Magical creatures are supposed to be plenty magical without giving them superpowers!!
Recluce series by L.E. Modesitt - oh my GOD. How can you create a fantasy world with powerful wizards and make it more boring than watching paint dry?? UGH!
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett - all religion. Enough said.
Wicked by ...some dude. I wanted a book about the Wicked Witch of the West. Instead I got 300 pages of political and religious ranting/preaching. Not my idea of a good time.
Lions of Al-Rassan by ...some other dude. You took medieval Spain and wrote a fictional story set there. Wow. Aren't you creative. How this got listed as "fantasy" I'll never know. Also, way too much religion and historical crap for me. I want to read FANTASY books dammit.
Edited to add:
Glory Road by horrible yet somehow famous author whose name I'd prefer to not remember (as I'm doing since I can't remember it). Oh, Heinlein. Probably the WORST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. This guy has got to be the most sexist pig on the face of the planet, as is his main character. Apparently the most powerful person in the universe is a drop dead gorgeous woman, except it turns out her only purpose in life is to grovel at the feet of this deadbeat who for some reason is the only one who can complete some important task. And if she dares to disagree with him or voice her opinion on something or not love him, he'll just walk and not do the thing he agreed to do. Oh, and then he's given all the power and money and loving in the world, and he's unhappy about it because he's bored from not being in charge of everything! I nearly put this book through a paper shredder, I was so disgusted. I probably would have except it didn't belong to me, thank god.
So if that helps you get any sense at all about the type of books I like, please help me find some new ones to read! I would appreciate it! =)
Books I Love
The Belgariad by David Eddings - still my favorite series of all time; I also really enjoyed his Mallorean, Elenium and Tamuli series. The new stuff he's written with his wife (The Dreamers? or whatever), on the other hand, is awful.
The Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb. Also enjoyed the follow up Tawny Man and prequel Farseer series, although not nearly as much as Liveship. Unfortunately her new one about the soldier son is really very lame so far.
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - loved by one and all with any sense. =)
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - parallel universe hopping kids with talking animal companions? Woohoo!
The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice - well, the first four at least. Memnoch the Devil got WAY too religious and I quit after that.
Xanth by Piers Anthony - enjoyable up to a point. You can only take cloned books with lame puns for so long before you tire of them, but they were fun to read for a while.
Dinotopia - people and dinosaurs living and working together, yay!
[shameless plug] Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon - a most enjoyable Rose of Versailles-esque novel with a totally awesome crossdressing main character. Lots of good fun!
Books I Hate
Anything by G.R.R. Martin - I tried to read that first Fire and Ice book or whatever and nearly threw up. I threw the book away. Author writing violence toward animals = automatic SICK FREAK BASTARD I HOPE YOU ARE TORN TO PIECES SLOWLY BY RABID DOGS thoughts from me.
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - Mr. I-have-50-million-characters-and-plotlines-so-you-have-to-read-a-guidebook-just-to-keep-track-of-what's-going-on-and-by-the-way-everyone-in-my-books-are-complete-assholes-so-you're-sure-to-hate-reading-about-them-for-the-rest-of-your-lifetime-because-that's-how-long-the-series-will-take-to-complete Jordan can kiss my ass. The story was good for a while, but I couldn't get over the fact that I completely hated every single character, and I got sick of reading 700 pages of NOTHING HAPPENING so he could milk the series for all it was worth until he DIED without even finishing it. Way to go.
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey - I read the first book and liked it until the dragons started traveling through time. Um, WTF?? Keep your sci fi out of my fantasy thanks. Magical creatures are supposed to be plenty magical without giving them superpowers!!
Recluce series by L.E. Modesitt - oh my GOD. How can you create a fantasy world with powerful wizards and make it more boring than watching paint dry?? UGH!
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett - all religion. Enough said.
Wicked by ...some dude. I wanted a book about the Wicked Witch of the West. Instead I got 300 pages of political and religious ranting/preaching. Not my idea of a good time.
Lions of Al-Rassan by ...some other dude. You took medieval Spain and wrote a fictional story set there. Wow. Aren't you creative. How this got listed as "fantasy" I'll never know. Also, way too much religion and historical crap for me. I want to read FANTASY books dammit.
Edited to add:
Glory Road by horrible yet somehow famous author whose name I'd prefer to not remember (as I'm doing since I can't remember it). Oh, Heinlein. Probably the WORST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. This guy has got to be the most sexist pig on the face of the planet, as is his main character. Apparently the most powerful person in the universe is a drop dead gorgeous woman, except it turns out her only purpose in life is to grovel at the feet of this deadbeat who for some reason is the only one who can complete some important task. And if she dares to disagree with him or voice her opinion on something or not love him, he'll just walk and not do the thing he agreed to do. Oh, and then he's given all the power and money and loving in the world, and he's unhappy about it because he's bored from not being in charge of everything! I nearly put this book through a paper shredder, I was so disgusted. I probably would have except it didn't belong to me, thank god.
So if that helps you get any sense at all about the type of books I like, please help me find some new ones to read! I would appreciate it! =)
