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I was reading through the "Eye of the World" thread and it made me wonder. What is everyone's favorite fantasy series other than Tolkien? It's too easy to say Tolkien. For me, there's two. Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Cycle is first and foremost. It was one of the things that inspired me to start writing fantasy. The other is Stephen King's Dark Tower series.
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Niel Hancock's "Circle of Light" (four books series proper, plus several sets of sequels / prequels). I know there's been a lot of fantasy series published since these first came out (1976 or 1977, I believe---it was in print again briefly last year), and there are those that are much better written...but I keep coming around to one simple fact. I like these books better than the others.
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Ok, Black Company and Amber are both great. I still like the Elric saga by Michael Moorcock. Nothing like a sword that drinks souls to liven things up...or is that just kill everything off?
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Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliot Runelord series by David Farland (aka David Wolverton - you cheeky devil!) Dragonrider series by Anne McCaffrey (with this series she shades grey the line between what we would consider "fantasy" and scifi with this one but I forgive her for it) Heaven help me - Harry Potter - my one guilty pleasure The Belgariad all those that followed by David Eddings Pretty much anything written by Terry Brooks, especially his Word and the Void Trilogy - excellent contemporary fantasies, and even his Landover series The Sevenwaters Triology series by Juliet Marillier I won't even make myself look ridulous by lauding OSC too much but I do love his writing otherwise why would I be here?
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I'd have to say the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series by Steven Erikson. Each volume has intimidating girth to its pages, and they have never ceased to inspire me. I think he has some of the best characterization out there.
The series that got me into fantasy in the first place was the Belgariad by David Eddings. I have to admit that when I first saw the books in the school library, I had thought that the fantasy genre was absolutely lame -- although I did play a little bit of AD&D with my friends. Go figure. But after thinking about it, it couldn't be all that bad, considering how popular they were. Rather than being seen reading one of the books that I associated with the less than cool crowd, I bought the first two books. I was hooked, and that was that.
[This message has been edited by deRost (edited February 02, 2006).]
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Amber (along with TL and Chris), but only the first five books. The second series did not grab me as much (+ Zelazny never finished it).
In a totally different vein, but it's still fantasy: Discworld.
Valtam2: the Chronicles of Prydain are amazing. I read the first two when I was a child, and later learnt that there were three others. The end of Book Five (The High King, if I'm not mistaken) is one of the saddest things I've ever read.
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My favorite series would have to be the Recluse series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr... but Terry Brooks and Lloyd Alexander and... yeah, there's lots of goodies.
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Well, I think with "Eye of the World" that you're on the right track. My all time favorite is the Wheel of Time series. I've read through them all 2 1/2 times...kinda died on that third try, but will get back to them eventually.
I just think its so fascinating to be caught up in such a rich and detailed world. He definitely has a ton of original ideas. You just have to make it through the detailed and often slow descriptions. Oh, and the fact that there are like 11 books (or is it 12 now) that are enormous.
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By far, Katherine Kerr's series on Deverry. The first book is called "Daggerspell". She is a really great author. The joy of it is that she's written about 12 books in this series, all a delight to read, the most recent coming out this year.
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I'll add to the list with some of my fav's. These are in no particular order, because I love each of them for various reasons.
1. Knight of the word by Terry Brooks 2. Jerle Shannara series by Terry Brooks (better than the original Shannara IMO). 3. The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. (This is a seven book series, that never had a dull moment). I highly recommend it! 4.Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. 5. Wheel of Time (books 1,2,3,10 and 11 anyway). I am finally starting the George RR Martin series, perhaps that will go on my list as well. Honorable mention to: The Runelord series by Dave Farland (movie to come?) Elric series by Michael Moorcock Dragonlance(first two trilogies) Weis and Hickman Harry Potter (my guilty pleasure, along with 80's hair metal).
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Anything as long as it's not a blatant Tolkein bite. DEFINITELY not Robert Jordon *makes dry wretching sounds*
I'm currently reading through the Heralds of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey. It's actually pretty good. I like her Elemental Masters series, too. I read that one first.
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