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| Thread: Heroic Fantasy Literature? |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 · NEXT» |
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Perji
Known Hero
Necromancer
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posted November 05, 2003 01:45 PM |
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Poll Question:
Heroic Fantasy Literature?
Okay, so by this I presume you read Fantasy literature, because HOMM after all is fantasy.... So just choose your favourite book and maybe say why....
I've just put here these books, 'cause they are almost everything I've read from this kind of literature.... and of course they are my favourite. So if you know some titles that should be read, or you just liked them, feel free to share.... I would read for example Dungeons&Dragons if it were a book, but it's not (yet!). I also liked the books about the Diablo world, and those about Warcraft (you can find them at Blizzard's site), but I haven't found books about Heroes....
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Things go wrong because people build walls instead of bridges
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Hexa
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted November 05, 2003 02:03 PM |
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All books of Robin HOBB OWN
Raymond E. Feist rocks aswell!@ 
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Lord_Woock
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Daddy Cool with a $90 smile
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posted November 05, 2003 02:27 PM |
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Since when is Dune heroic fantasy?
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Yolk and God bless.
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My buddy's doing a webcomic and would certainly appreciate it if you checked it out!
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DonGio
Promising
Famous Hero
of Clear Water Mountain Clan
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posted November 05, 2003 03:07 PM |
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You might want to try these:
George R.R. Martin: A song of ice and fire
One of the most enjoyable fantasy series I've ever read. Can be quite graphic description-wise, but an intriguing tale filled with interesting and believable characters, and a truly excellent plot. His writing isn't of the highest quality, but judging from some of the books you mentioned in your poll, you won't mind  .
Robin Hobb: The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy and the Tawny Man Trilogy
More adult and not so actionpacked, but terrific reads. Many would say very dark, and I'd have to agree partially, at least. The mian heroes have to suffer some pretty heavy things. The only good first-person fantasy I've read (almost the only, as well, but it works extremely well). No all-knowing narrator here. Also one of the few fantasy writers who has had me close to tears (the ending of The Royal Assassin). Also writes as Megan Lindholm, supposedly even darker.
Steven Erikson: Malazan Empire books:
Only read the first one (Gardens of the Moon), but it was intriguing. Erikson is a challenging read, you have to do a lot of reading between the lines and thinking for yourself to figure out what's going on. Erikson will not spell it out to you, to such an extent that it can get frustrating. But it gives his writing an edge. Not good for bed-time reading (too hard to follow when not focused).
Greetings
DonGio
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There are 10 types of people: Those who read binary, and those who don't.
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IYY
Responsible
Supreme Hero
REDACTED
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posted November 05, 2003 07:35 PM |
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Perji, this is a great list, most of them are among my absolute favorites. The Neverending Story was, in fact, the first fantasy novel I ever read (grade 3, I believe it was) and was my favorite for many years. Dune and LotR are, of course, the classics.
My all-time favorite series is, however, the Death Gate Cycle by Weis and Hickman. It's just something special, you have to read it.
And Diskworld. Can't go without Diskworld.
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Lord_Woock
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Daddy Cool with a $90 smile
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posted November 05, 2003 07:42 PM |
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Hell yeah! Discworld rocks! If it doesn't have Rincewind, Vimes, Susan and Granny Weatherwax, it ain't good enough for me Unless it's got something equally good that is.
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Yolk and God bless.
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My buddy's doing a webcomic and would certainly appreciate it if you checked it out!
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Hexa
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted November 06, 2003 10:23 AM |
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Quote:
My all-time favorite series is, however, the Death Gate Cycle by Weis and Hickman. It's just something special, you have to read it.
Nice series aswell .. i agree!@
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted November 06, 2003 01:51 PM |
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I saw that DonGio mentioned GRR Martin, an excellent writer. Of course not as great as the greatest of them all, Robert Jordan with his Wheel of Time, the most complete and complex fantasy world out there.
You also have a good author in Terry Goodkind, if you can manage to swallow his at times sickening liberalistic opinions. Wonderful fantasy nontheless, tough.
Robin Hobb is also recomendable, along with Discworld by Tery Pratchett.
I don't consider Tolkien to be fantasy, but if you insist on calling his great mythological works fantasy, he would be the best (though the silmarillion is more of a Islandic Saga than a modern novel).
I think I got all the ones I've read.
But is Dune fantasy? I thought that was more like science fiction...?
Btw, always good to see fellow readers! Not many of us nowadays...
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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Perji
Known Hero
Necromancer
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posted November 07, 2003 01:12 PM |
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Edited By: Perji on 7 Nov 2003
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Yup, I think Dune is fantasy.... or at least it seems more like fantasy than SF....
Quote:
I don't consider Tolkien to be fantasy, but if you insist on calling his great mythological works fantasy, he would be the best
I do believe that Tolkien is considered to be the father of heroic fantasy..
And on the other hand, it's a bit hard for me to find these guys you've wrote about.... you see, in Romania books aren't found everywhere.... especially good or great books...
Quote:
always good to see fellow readers! Not many of us nowadays...
Yup that is very true...
Okay, so from what I can see, this is what I'm supposed to look for:
George R.R. Martin: A song of ice and fire
Robert Jordan: Wheel of Time
Terry Goodkind
Robin Hobb: The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy and the Tawny Man Trilogy
Discworld by Tery Pratchett
Steven Erikson: Malazan Empire books Only read the first one Gardens of the Moon
Death Gate Cycle by Weis and Hickman
Edit: I also finished lately Eaters of the dead by Michael Crichton. I know it's not really fantasy, but it depicts those times... anyway, the "13th Warrior" movie was made after this book
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Things go wrong because people build walls instead of bridges
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Vadskye91
Promising
Supreme Hero
Back again
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posted November 09, 2003 12:50 AM |
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binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted November 09, 2003 08:59 AM |
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BTW: This is my first post at HC, so hi all. I read a lot of fantasy books, so this thread caught my eye.
Favorite fantasy authors:
Raymond Feist
Good author. Good character development. Good storyline. Magicians, swords, thieves, dwarves, elves, etc.
He has several series starting with
The Riftwar Saga
Magician: Apprentice
Magician: Master
Silverthorn
A Darkness at Sethanon
Tad Williams
Very good storyteller. Very good writer.
My name "Binabik" is a character from his books.
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series
Dragonbone Chair
Stone of Fairwell
Return to Green Angel Tower
Sean Russel
Gotta give him a plug, he's a very good author you don't hear much about. His books have a bit more mystery and intrigue than typical fantasy.
Moontide and Magic Rise series
World Without End
Sea Without a Shore
The River Into Darkness series (prequel to above, but DON'T read first, too many spoilers)
Beneath the Vaulted Hills
The Compass of the Soul
Perji, you said you'd read D&D books if there were any. There are LOTS of them. Weis/Hickman have written at least a dozen Dragonlance D&D books. The Deathgate books already mentioned aren't D&D, but many of their other books are. There's also all the Forgotten Realm books (Baldur's Gate, Icewindale etc).
Try the Weis/Hickman Chronicles series.
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Lord_Woock
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Daddy Cool with a $90 smile
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posted November 09, 2003 12:12 PM |
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And there are two Planescape books I think.
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Yolk and God bless.
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My buddy's doing a webcomic and would certainly appreciate it if you checked it out!
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IYY
Responsible
Supreme Hero
REDACTED
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posted November 09, 2003 11:37 PM |
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Quote:
There's also all the Forgotten Realm books (Baldur's Gate, Icewindale etc).
Don't forget the Dark Elf Triology. That one was great.
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Nebuka
Promising
Supreme Hero
Save me Jebus!
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posted November 10, 2003 05:29 PM |
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William's Dragonbone Chair is fantastic. Having hard time to find here it's sequels.
Neil Gaiman, American Gods, could be fantasy genre.
Try also Tim Robbins' Anubis Gate and On Stranger Tides.
And prolly my early favorites...Gene Wolfe's pentalogy Book of the New Sun.
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Perji
Known Hero
Necromancer
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posted November 11, 2003 01:19 PM |
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Quote:
Perji, you said you'd read D&D books if there were any. There are LOTS of them. Weis/Hickman have written at least a dozen Dragonlance D&D books. The Deathgate books already mentioned aren't D&D, but many of their other books are. There's also all the Forgotten Realm books (Baldur's Gate, Icewindale etc).
Quote:
And there are two Planescape books I think.
Quote:
Don't forget the Dark Elf Triology. That one was great.
Quote:
William's Dragonbone Chair is fantastic. Having hard time to find here it's sequels.
Neil Gaiman, American Gods, could be fantasy genre.
Try also Tim Robbins' Anubis Gate and On Stranger Tides.
And prolly my early favorites...Gene Wolfe's pentalogy Book of the New Sun.
Okay, okay.... It's pretty damn hard to find this kind of books in Romania you know.... And even if I find them, it's pretty hard to buy them.... they cost pretty much (for my income that is)
So now I'm set for about 4 or five years of searching and maybe 3 weeks of reading...
Nevertheless, don't stop including your favourite books...
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Things go wrong because people build walls instead of bridges
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Nebuka
Promising
Supreme Hero
Save me Jebus!
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posted November 11, 2003 02:52 PM |
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If you don't mind reading them on computer, I would suggest Kazaa.
And there are lots of programs what make it easier on the eyes to read.
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GracieMae
Adventuring Hero
Lady of Leisure
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posted November 11, 2003 03:20 PM |
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Be careful using Kazaa, I got 27 different viruses from it, after a week of frantically trying to repair everything I ended up having to reformat my hard drive and lost a LOT of stuff.
As for books, I love the Dark Elf Trilogy...in fact, I love R.A.Salvatore, particularly anything with Drizzt in it.
The old 'Create your own adventure' books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone might bring a bit of light relief!
One of my most favourite books is 'Sorceror's Son' by Phyllis Eisenstein, some others which haven't already been mentioned are 'The Accursed' by Robert E. Vardeman, Stephen Donaldson's 'Chronicles of Thomas Covenant'..... but the list could go on and on so I'll stop now before I get carried away.
P.S. The Greek and Roman myths are a great read if it's heroic fantasy you're after!
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The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on.
Not all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it.
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Nebuka
Promising
Supreme Hero
Save me Jebus!
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posted November 11, 2003 06:24 PM |
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By Kazaa i mean Kazaa Lite.
No crap at all.
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binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted November 12, 2003 05:56 AM |
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Quote:
Okay, okay.... It's pretty damn hard to find this kind of books in Romania you know.... And even if I find them, it's pretty hard to buy them.... they cost pretty much (for my income that is)
So now I'm set for about 4 or five years of searching and maybe 3 weeks of reading... {/quote]
So why are books so rare in Romania? I have my ideas, but don't want to sound stupid stating them. It must suck not having books around, especially if you like to read.
I checked Amazon, they do ship to Romania, but it's expensive. I'd have to really want a book to pay it. In $US, it's 4.50 minimum, plus 4.50 per item. plus any customs/duties. Ouch!
A book I read recently that I really liked is Shogun by James Clavell. It's not fantasy, more of a historical novel, but it's a good adventure story which is close enough
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted November 12, 2003 10:01 AM |
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Oh yeah! Shogun is great! Only read the first two parts of it (it's four. right?), but what I read was swell.
Know how it is to have trouble finging great books. Not too many fantasy books in the bookstores of small Norwegian towns, either...
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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