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.

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.

lemmyvore,
  • Anne McCaffrey’s “Pern” series.
  • Naomi Novik’s “Temeraire” series
  • Tamora Pierce’s series spanning multiple mini-series: Lioness, Protector, Tricksters and Immortals.
Juice,
@Juice@hexbear.net avatar

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

thelastknowngod,

NPRs top 100 scifi and fantasy books.

imgur.com/a/zHxdYSF

Moneo,

I cannot for the life of me get that image to load at a readable resolution. Imgur how far you have fallen…

thelastknowngod,

Should get out of that habit… Hopefully this is better.

pixelfed.social/p/…/624885702810365387

Moneo,

I googled it instead. Loving the first few entries. Specifying only the first Ender book but the entire (Frank Herbert) Dune series is 👌. The fact that the rest of the Dune series is mostly ignored is criminal. The first book is far from the best and the series varies so much in setting and tone that it stays interesting to me after many readings.

OhmsLawn,

The Reyira Revelations Is great fun. Five Gods is an outstandingly well-written series.

CheeryLBottom,

Yay, Riyria Revelations! Sullivan’s books got me back into a love for Fantasy

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?

dom,

Reading Wheel of Time and I’m really enjoying it

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…

corytheboyd,
@corytheboyd@kbin.social avatar

Mistborn is great, less dragons and more alchemical science. Begins with a satisfying tale of overthrowing the government, and then tackles some of the “okay… now what” with tons more interesting stuff along the way

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

I’ve read it an it’s not my cup of tea. The worldbuilding and premise were solid, but the characters fell flat and so did the plot by end of the book. I finished it and felt relieved it was finally over. I think I might try other authors before reading Sanderson again, that’s why I’ve listed him as a please don’t recommend.

corytheboyd,
@corytheboyd@kbin.social avatar

Sorry m8 didn’t expand the read more to see that. Good luck

fred,

Also great if you are a fan of raising a single eyebrow

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.

Nerorero,
@Nerorero@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Ooooh

Terry Pratchett!!

CheeryLBottom,

I approve of this message :)

devils_advocate,

None of the suggestions above talk about comedy fantasy. Is there anyone close to the master? GNU

richard_wagner,

Does Stormlight Archive count?

Siethron,

If you can get past the first 700 pages of book one then yes.

tetrachromacy,

I’d say it counts, but only start that series if you both love LOTR-style epic fantasy and you’re willing to wait for the other 6 books to come out. There’s only 4 released now and while I love them to death, they’re very story thick and not for everyone. I wouldn’t recommend starting Brandon Sanderson with that series for that reason. Try Yumi and the Nightmare Painter or Tress and the Emerald Sea - both came out this year and they are a bit lighter reading, they’re very good, and both are a great introduction to the way Brandon writes. If you liked either of those then you’d probably love Stormlight.

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

I’ve read Mistborn and I don’t think Sanderson is for me. I know he’s very a very popular author though.

tetrachromacy,

To each their own. However, I’ve read all of Brandon Sanderson’s books and I can definitively say that the writing style changes between Mistborn and other novels that are more recent are massive. Mistborn was good but it was his first published book. The more recent releases are a bit more easy to read. Tress even has a dragon in it. However if you’re not interested at all, try reading the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. It’s great magic fantasy set on Earth. However a similar warning applies - the first few books are a bit of a slog. If you read these, maybe start on book 3 - the first two aren’t as story centric.

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

I appreciate the information! I might try again sometime with Sanderson but not right now. I’ve heard others recommend me Dresden too, it sounds interesting.

Moneo,

I too do not enjoy Sanderson. GRR Martin has a series of books called the hedge knight. They are not exactly fantasy but medieval fiction taking place in the game of thrones universe. The tone and writing is very different from aSoIaF so don’t shy away if you aren’t into those. Pretty short but I found them to be very endearing books and might scratch the itch.

It’s weird I can’t recommend a single ‘traditional’ fantasy book despite being quite interested in the genre. I’ve never found one that combines good world building with a writing style I enjoy. Quite sad to think about tbh.

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Alright, which ones have you read that would fit the category but you didn’t enjoy?

Moneo,

Wheel of time, Name of the wind, Malazan, the broken sword, eyes of the dragon, the gilded chain, wizard of eathsea.

Admittedly not that many, I guess part of the problem for me is finding ones that look interesting.

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.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • [email protected]
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • oklahoma
  • feritale
  • SuperSentai
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines
    •