Which Is Your Favourite Fantasy Book/Series

[Uziel]

I read The Lord of The Rings some years ago and while it was interesting, I found the movie much more enjoyable.

@Trebs. You should read Codex of Alera it is quite thrilling.

[Thorn Wilde]

I read The Lord of The Rings some years ago and while it was interesting, I found the movie much more enjoyable.

 

I still haven't read The Lord of the Rings. I have read The Hobbit and parts of The Silmarillion, but where LotR is concerned I could never get through the first couple of chapters. It's so slow! I just get bored. I respect Tolkien immensely and I think the world he made, the languages, the mythology, all of it is really exciting, and I know a lot of it, both from reading and from the movies (which I love), and from having an enormous Tolkien nerd for a boyfriend, but I doubt I will ever read the books. Life's just too short.

[Daddydavek]

 I love Lackey's Valdemar, Goodkind's Wizard First Rule (and sequels), Watt-Evans Lords of Dus, Zelazny's Amber, Kurtz Deryni!

 

For the younger millenials, Mercedes Lackey, Terry Goodkind , Roger Zelazny and Katherine Kurtz should be on everyone's fantasy must read list.  While Harry Potter and Tolkien's Ring cycle are more famous, they can also be somewhat more challenging and if you are looking for some fun reads, Zelazny and Lackey can't be beat!

[Astro]

I know it is a given but I am a huge Harry Potter fan and I have seen the wonders it works when it comes to helping reluctant readers. I am such a HP nerd but that all comes from a deep love of the books!

[Adam Phillips]

Gotta say, I tend not to read in this genre, but I'm so impressed with the Rick Riordan Percy Jackson books. They're good reads even for adults. And a big high-five to him for eventually establishing one of the ongoing characters as gay and for handling that aspect of the story with class and subtlety as well as making it intriguing for the reader.

[Arpeggio]

 

I hope Nico does come out to Percy about his feelings, I wonder how annabeth will react to competition

 

 

 

I hope he does too. I knew he didn't have a crush on Annabeth but who knew it was Percy. XD

 

[Astro]

He does such a good job with that series and I love percy. Poor guy can't catch a break though. Nico also! Geez being a demigod is hard!

Gotta say, I tend not to read in this genre, but I'm so impressed with the Rick Riordan Percy Jackson books. They're good reads even for adults. And a big high-five to him for eventually establishing one of the ongoing characters as gay and for handling that aspect of the story with class and subtlety as well as making it intriguing for the reader.

[wildone]

 

 

I am kind of surprised no one has mentioned Tolkein yet - which if I had to pick just one series (as the thread title asked), it would be Lord of the Rings.  I read the Hobbit in 4th grade followed by the trilogy in 5th grade and since then, have probably re-read it at least once every two or three years.  Well, maybe less these past ten years, but I'll at least pull out one of the books and re-read sections still.

 

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I too would have questioned why LOTR was not brought up, but you did Robert I was a year later than you, read The Hobbit in the Fourth Grade and the LOTR in the 6th. Was my first ever oral book report in Grade 7 when I started Junior High

 

Funny thing is, any Fantasy I have read, I judge it against Tolkein.

 

Other series I have indulged myself into you is the one written by Trebs (not really ) The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, The Shannara series by Terry Brooks and The Chronicles of Hawklan by Roger Taylor.

[Adam Phillips]

I too would have questioned why LOTR was not brought up, but you did Robert I was a year later than you, read The Hobbit in the Fourth Grade and the LOTR in the 6th. Was my first ever oral book report in Grade 7 when I started Junior High

 

Funny thing is, any Fantasy I have read, I judge it against Tolkein.

 

Other series I have indulged myself into you is the one written by Trebs (not really ) The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, The Shannara series by Terry Brooks and The Chronicles of Hawklan by Roger Taylor.

 

I read The Hobbit and the three Rings books when I was younger and loved them. I'm more attracted to good storytelling within the genre than I am attracted to the genre itself, and in that regard those books were superb.

 

I picked up a Terry Brooks book off the giveaway table at our library a few years back. I never abandon a book before I finish it...it's just a personal principle of mine...but I was tempted in this case. The story was okay, but I thought the writing itself was atrocious. Pedestrian and flat; and damn, was he ever addicted to adverbs! But hey, I felt the same way about Robert Ludlum (good stories, godawful writing) and somehow he didn't need my endorsement to be successful.

[Trebs]

I picked up a Terry Brooks book off the giveaway table at our library a few years back. I never abandon a book before I finish it...it's just a personal principle of mine...but I was tempted in this case. The story was okay, but I thought the writing itself was atrocious. Pedestrian and flat; and damn, was he ever addicted to adverbs! 

 

Which book was it?

[layla]

I love the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaimen's Sandman series, but favorite fantasy of all time is from David Gemmell. I love Legend, The Sword of Night and Day, White Wolf, the Legend of Deathwalker and the first chronicles of Druss the Legend. Sword in the Storm was really good as well. I've got his entire collection, save for the Troy series. He passed away, unfortunately, before his series were done, but the writing he left behind is amazing. 

[Astro]

I love the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and I'm a huge fan of Neil Gaimen's Sandman series, but favorite fantasy of all time is from David Gemmell. I love Legend, The Sword of Night and Day, White Wolf, the Legend of Deathwalker and the first chronicles of Druss the Legend. Sword in the Storm was really good as well. I've got his entire collection, save for the Troy series. He passed away, unfortunately, before his series were done, but the writing he left behind is amazing. 

 

I really want to read the Sandman series! I hear great things! Maybe I will pick it up tomorrow...

[Trebs]

Thanks to Uziel and some others, I started the Codex of Alera - first book, Furies of Calderon done and I've started the 2nd.  The writing is decent and the story is semi-engaging, but WAY too much ... foreshadowing and blatant over the top "hints" about what probably should have been a slower reveal.  I do like it though, so already picked up books 2-4, and by the time I start 4, I'll have 5 and 6.

 

I do really like the characters - Tavi is great, but so are many others, both "good" and "bad".  The world Butcher created is very interesting, with the elemental furies, the foreign enemies on three sides and the internal enemies.  I think my main complaint is that there are a few places when the editor should have done a bit more slashing to tighten up the writing.