A good fantasy book? you know, wizards, dragons, princesses, that kind of stuff

Well I’m craving something in this genre but I’m a bit overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time. So many titles and yet I’m not sure what to read. Maybe you can help?

I’m looking for something in a high fantasy setting. I’m not too keen on heavy politics and war driven plots (though, I can read that ). What really gets me is interesting characters, good action and magical creatures.

I’ve loved anything Discworld and I’ve also enjoyed the First Law books by Abercrombie.

I’m finding that Tolkien, Sanderson and George RR Martin appear on every fantasy list I come across, so if you do recommend something I’d appreciate it be something other than that.

radiantshackles,
@radiantshackles@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Ah this book! I’ve read The Lesser Dead by the same author and was impressed with the quality. I’ve had the Blacktongue Thief in mind for a while, but I’ve heard it’s part of a trilogy and I’d rather wait for it before jumping on it. In the meantime I’ll keep Those Across the River in reserve for whenever I feel like reading about werewolves.

Juice,
@Juice@hexbear.net avatar

Have you continued with Abercrombie’s books? He does not miss.

Moonguide,

Hm, not keen on heavy politics or war. Was gonna recommend Malazan: Book of the Fallen but the first book starts out in a war. Still, good book, you might enjoy it.

Second book is a little different than what you’re describing. Fool Moon from the Dresden Files series. Pulpy magical detective noire set in modern times, where magic is sort of accepted as a real thing.

PsychedSy, (edited )

I love these books so much. Well, Malazan is what I was referring to.

Both are great series.

The humor in Malazan reminds me of the first law. I hate politics for the most part, and war, but the war and politics aren’t really the focus. They’re kinda the setting for telling a lot of smaller stories.

Moneo,

Malazan is a slog. Definitely don’t read unless you want to power through imo. I’ve tried multiple times and while I think it’s well written I never seem to stay hooked. So many character/location changeups early in the book and none of them hooked me.

Probably the best book I’ve never finished though?

Sharklaser,

Magician,and searching this I see they’re making a TV series, 🤯

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magician_(Feist_novel)

nuggsy,
@nuggsy@lemmy.world avatar

A little late to this post, but I re-read those again during COVID. One of my favourite series :)

First I’ve hears of a series though…

73kk13, (edited )
@73kk13@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

My longtime favs (apart from LOTR by Tolkien) are:

  1. The Realm of the Elderlings series bei Robin Hobb
  2. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams
  3. Ea Cycle by David Zindell
jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

The Myth Books by Robert Aspirin.

andrew_bidlaw, (edited )

They are like The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison, but fantasy. Both are pretty much unknown, sometimes dated, yet they can occupy one for thousands of pages with it’s humor and intense narrative.

Myth Inc gets stale near or after coming to Aaz’s New York planet, tho. But that’s 7 or 8 books deep, so doesn’t matter much.

I really liked audiobooks. I guess they were from Audible? I’m not a native speaker, yet it was easy to follow while doing manual labor and no author’s joke got spoiled. Voice acting for Aaz and Masha was super cool.

tired_lemming, (edited )

Patricia C Wrede. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. The titles for the series are below:

  • Dealing with Dragons
  • Searching for Dragons
  • Calling on Dragons
  • Talking to Dragons

Fantasy stories with each book centered around one protagonist and a meta take of your usual fairy tales. And includes wizards, dragons, princesses too.

bismuthbob,
@bismuthbob@sopuli.xyz avatar

Michael Moorcock’s Elric books tick all of the boxes in your list. So do his Corum and Hawkmoon books.

kuneho,
@kuneho@lemmy.world avatar

The Eragon series? It’s not that heavy fantasy, but the world is pretty nicely built IMO.

Also, on the wizardy side, I can recommend the Bartimaeus books, too, if you liked Discworld. Again, nothing super serious, but they are fun reads. (Best to read from physical books, they are heavy on footnotes and I found it reading on e-readers kinda awkward)

Pizza_Rat,

Fairy Tale by Stephen King is a refreshing take on classic fantasy themes!

AOCapitulator,
@AOCapitulator@hexbear.net avatar

Discword

Discworld is so fun, start with book 4 7 or 11 or 13 to get a feel for the strength of the story (and read one of the best ones), but really its pretty fun from the start if rough because the author is figuring out how to be an author still a bit

11 is probably my favorite, but you should read 4 and then 11 because they’re connected.

edit: damn I should read the whole post first…

ProfessorOwl_PhD,
@ProfessorOwl_PhD@hexbear.net avatar

Rick Riordan’s various series might catch your fancy - they’re really young adult fiction, but they’re still a good read. They cover Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian mythology from the perspectives of the god’s half human offspring, bringing the mythology into a modern context while retreading the old myths.

kratoz29,

I’m saving this thread for later because I’m interested in this genre, I am totally new to books, I haven’t even read LOTR, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones or House of the Dragons books, I have only consumed that through the movies and TV Shows, but seems like there are some really neat suggestions here.

IvanOverdrive, (edited )

My fantasy go-to series is The Chronicles of Amber. Roger Zelazny was a poet, and it comes out in his prose. Dude evokes visions inside your mind.

The universe is a collection of infinite reflections between order (ie Amber) and the Courts of Chaos. Corwin is one of the nine princes of Amber, an immortal who can travel between the reflections.

I read the first five books of the series every few years. But word of warning, the first book reflects the casual chauvinism of the the time it was written. Worth powering through those bits though.

The last five books are okay, but nowhere as good as the first five.

WinkingWinkle, (edited )

I’d recommend David Eddungs’ Belgariad. Got me into fantasy genre. Then there’s Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan, Raymond, E Feist (brilliant), Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus Trilogy. So many good things out there. If you enjoyed Discworld you’ll enjoy these too even though they’re not comical like Pratchett novels are.

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