Favourite Fantasy Book

[Axis]

I felt it would be interesting to start a discussion about your favourite fantasy book.

[Deborah J Miller - Award Administrator]

Hi Axis - I started a new category for general Fantasy book discussion... so how about kicking us off with your favourite Fantasy novel? Mine is probably Stephen Donaldson's 'Thomas Covenant series'... but I'll probably think of more!

[Axis]

Deborah J Miller - Award Administrator said:

Hi Axis - I started a new category for general Fantasy book discussion... so how about kicking us off with your favourite Fantasy novel? Mine is probably Stephen Donaldson's 'Thomas Covenant series'... but I'll probably think of more!

Mine would have to be 'MYST: The Book of Ti'Anna' by Rand Miller.

[Deborah J Miller - Award Administrator]

Oh really? Did you play the game first?
My hubbie and I played MYST when it first came (seems a long time ago now!) It was a truly ground-breaking game and began the whole genre of adventure games. The music was haunting - I still remember our shock and thrill when (about 1am) we discovered that each of the locations on the island led to a whole other 'age' - absolutely amazing! I wish they made more games of that quality and complexity now, they seem to focus so much on shooting/killing games now on all the platforms...

I'd be interested to read the book...

[Axis]

Deborah J Miller - Award Administrator said:

Oh really? Did you play the game first?
My hubbie and I played MYST when it first came (seems a long time ago now!) It was a truly ground-breaking game and began the whole genre of adventure games...BR>
I'd be interested to read the book...

I never played the games, but I've been meaning to for a while now. I just found the books in the series sitting on the shelf and picked up the first one. I'll try to locate the games. Wish me luck.

[John Rohde]

One of my all-time favourite fantasy books is "The Sword of Rhiannon" by Leigh Brackett (also appears as "Sea-Kings of Mars" in some collections). It has everything Swords & Sorcery, adventure and is set on Mars when the seas held water. Written a longtime before Gemmell came along.

[Tomasz]

My favourite fantasy book? Let consider it... maybe I make a list of my favourite cycles. :) I love circles becouse I hate leave so interesting worlds and those great heroes...Yeah, I'm the bookworm, that's who I am. :D

1. Andrzej Sapkowski "The Witcher" (first book of this cycle, "Blood of Elves", is the nominee; look forward next books - you will see!)
2. Robin Hobb "The Farseer Trilogy"
3. J. R. R. Tolkien "Lord of the Ring"
4. Ursula K. Le Guin "Earthsea"
5. Terry Pratchett "Discworld" (especially books about witches from Lancre)

As you see - it's hard to choose one book and I'm not even trying to do that. ;)

[Justin]

I usually have a couple of current favourites and a couple that have I have long term soft spots for:

All time favourites:

Dune - Frank Herbert
Lord of the Rings - J R R Tolkien
Magician- R.E.Feist
All Discworld novels - Terry Pratchett

Current favourites:
The name of the wind - Patrick Rothfuss
The Painted Man - Peter Brett

[Sándor Papp]

I'm a big fantasy reader and have quite a few favourite books.

Terry Goodkind's Faith of the Fallen (6. book in the Sword of Truth series). A current TV series is based on these books titled "Legend of the Seeker".
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's original Dragonlance trilogy
R.A. Salvatore's original Dark Elf trilogy
Elaine Cunningham's Starlight and Shadows trilogy (must read for anyone who likes Salvatore: compelling story and characters, lots of twists and turns)
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn books
I'm a new fan of Sanderson, he has a lot of good ideas and a very readable style.
I have read only the first two of David Gemmel's books, but Legend was a memorable experience to me.
If I had to choose a single book, I would probably pick Faith of the Fallen, Sojourn from the Dark Elf trilogy or Legend. I really don't know which one.

[drosdelnoch]

Favourite has to be Legend, it was my first Adult Fantasy book and the one that launched me to enjoying a lot more. Its also because it was something I got to share with my Dad as when I started my part time job it became a race to get the new DG novel as we had a rule, he who buys it got first read. LOL

Other than that I enjoy a lot of different books for different reasons, I like something thats not the typical fantasy fare so in more recent times Ive enjoyed Patrick Rothfuss and Scott Lynch. Oh and not to appear sexist I do have a guilty pleasure of Jennifer Rardin and Kelley Armstrong for a bit of supernatural escapism. LOL

There is one author that I am waiting for the next book from as well by the name of Miller Lau, I may have to catch up to her at some point and make sure she gets it written, naughty author that she is. LOL

[finalfunk]

I have a few Favs just like everyone else it seems. Sword in the Storm By David Gemmell is up there.
Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind is a masterpiece and i love it.
I love Sword-Sworn by Jennifer Robberson. How a female writes a first-person book in the eyes of a male is beyond me.
I have recently been reading Conn Igguldens Caesar series and loved every word. They are up there.
I most likely missed some or alot of books but these are my favs right now.

[Matija]

My favourite fantasy author would be Guy Gavriel Kay, followed by Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny.

Recently, I've become a fan of Abercrombie and Lynch. And while I think she should have stuck with SF, I still read all Bujold's books as soon as they come out.

[Phil Keeton]

My current favourite series is the Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. I fell in love with the series right from book one, A Game of Thrones. The complex interwoven story line with the development of whole and rounded charcters throughout the series has made this more Julius Caesar or I,Claudius than LOTR. I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment, but for a preview check out the author's website.

I too really enjoyed the Thomas Covenant books (and thank you Mr Donaldson for doing a final set) as these were my first adult fantasy reads, having played the Lone Wolf and Steve Jackson Fighting Fantasy books up till then. Often I return to the Dune universe too, and despite there faults have enjoyed the Brian Herbert & Anderson continuations, but it is Frank Herbert's books that I often get the urge to re-read.

I have read all of Terry Goodkind's books and thoroughly enjoyed the series although towards the end of the series I found it all a little laboured and formulaic.....perhaps it was too much of a good thing as I started to guess the plot twists.

Having said that, I'm often found with a Feist book in my hand, and you can't get much more of a formula than that, unless I've got Eddings in the other hand.

For an all time favourite......I have yet to discover it (but Legend come's pretty close).