Book Suggestions of the Fantasy Variety

[Campionaki]

So I just recently finished re-reading most of Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, and was struck at how long it has been since I read a book that really captivated me. I used to read as often as a fish swims, but recently that time has been devoted elsewhere.

One of my problems is that I cannot decide on a book to read. I love reading fantasy and science fiction/ fantasy novels, and my recent favorites include The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, and The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind. Dragons particularly fascinate me, as well.

What other fantasy books are there with dragons, elves, and dwarves that I could lose myself in?

[Ramses]

There's no dwarves, though there's a dwarf.
There's no elves, although maybe that's what the Others are.
There were dragons... and will be again.

It's also the most groundbreaking fantasy literature since Lord of the Rings.

Start with A GAME OF THRONES by George R. R. Martin.
Then pick up the rest of the series when you realize I'm right.

[What Exit?]

I need to start on Game of Thrones myself, especially with the HBO series coming up.

For dragons, I recommend some of the following:
The Elric series by Michael Moorcock is a classic story about one of the earliest anti-heroes. It has some dragons though not a lot. It was one of the earliest major fantasy series.

The Dragon Riders of Pern series starting with original trilogy is excellent and will go in a surprising but delightful direction. Dragonflight from 1968 was excellent.


For more Tolkien like fantasy, (but no dragons) Sword of Shannara is about as derivative of the Lord of the Rings as any book could be and on purpose but it is still good.

The Last Unicorn is a great piece of older High Fantasy. Written by a loyal and early Middle Earth fanatic. Though this book is not derivative of Tolkien at all.

[Campionaki]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[OneCentStamp]

There's no dwarves, though there's a dwarf.
There's no elves, although maybe that's what the Others are.
There were dragons... and will be again.

It's also the most groundbreaking fantasy literature since Lord of the Rings.

Start with A GAME OF THRONES by George R. R. Martin.
Then pick up the rest of the series when you realize I'm right.

This, this, a thousand times this. The problem with a lot of fantasy and sci-fi is that it's written by people who are great thinkers and imaginers, but not such good writers. The worlds are amazing, but the characters are thin and the writing is clunky. Larry Niven comes to mind, as does Anne McCaffrey. Martin is the antidote - an experienced and successful TV and film scriptwriter who turned his hand to fantasy. So what you get with Martin is not only an incredible setting, but believable characters, outstanding pacing (hard to pull off in such lengthy books), and authentic-sounding dialogue.

[Campionaki]

I started with A Game of Thrones last week, and just finished it. Every spare moment went to reading it; I could hardly take my eyes off the pages! Thank you for that recommendation!

[Ramses]

Pick up the rest! Immediately! So amazing, all of it.

And you're prepared for the HBO Game of Thrones show coming this April 14th!