Curse

Slade xTekno · May 13, 2005, 03:23 PM // 15:23

Ah, someone already caught R.A. Salvatore.

I would actually recommend his Dark Elf Trilogy, starting with Homeland. There is only one race, the drow, but the concept off which their society thrives is amazing. You might be able to connect the houses in this book to guilds in GW. There aren't many large battle, but quite a few very detailed duels.

Madjik · May 13, 2005, 03:32 PM // 15:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gbuslayer

Affirmative

Tery Brooks at Chapters

omg omg omg!

Sept 2005 release date(at last) for his next book, mind you I'm still waiting for his last one to go soft cover(or has it, haven't been paying attention lately)
And at the bottom theres a star wars book :X
My friends gonna sh*t his pants lol

Sorry, im not sure if its gone paperback yet or not. I've been buying all his latest in hardcover. I cant wait that much longer to read more of the story

EvilWizard · May 13, 2005, 04:00 PM // 16:00

Ok since I have read a ton of these books I would recommend the following:

For RA Salvatore:

Read Dark Elf Trilogy first then move on to the Icewind Dale Trilogy and from there if you like that series you can continue on...

Robert Jordan also has an excellent series called the Wheel of Time. This was pretty much my favorite series of books but the series is currently 11 books long (including the prequel) and is still unfinished. I actually enjoyed this series better than LOTR and I loved LOTR.

Weiss and Hickman wrote the Dragonlance Chronicles which are very easy to read and pretty enjoyable. There are tons of books in this series but start off with the first couple and it really is fun to read. They also wrote the Death Gate series which was 6 books if I remember correctly and that was a great read as well.

Christopher Paolini just started a series with a book called Eragon which was a great/quick read. The next book will be coming out around August time frame.

Those are just a few I would recommend. I highly highly recommend the Salvatore books though as they are very easy reading and super enjoyable.

relientK_fan · May 13, 2005, 04:10 PM // 16:10

I second Christopher Paolini's Eldest trilogy. Even though the second book has not been released, it will be awesome. I loved Eragon, and it was probably one of the best books I've EVER read. Great characters, great plot, great action. It's an awesome book.

Harlas Kije · May 13, 2005, 04:11 PM // 16:11

I would have to say the RuneLords by David Farland.

It is coming out as a movie as well--next year. I picked up the first one at an airport bookstore and been hooked ever since.

Igceal · May 13, 2005, 04:14 PM // 16:14

Some of my favorites:

The R.A. Salvatore stories are excellent - Ice Wind Dale Trilogy, etc., read em all
Maragaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - huge fans of theirs, Chronicles Trilogy and Legends trilogy being their best
Kevin Andersen - I'm really enjoying the Saga of the Seven Suns Trilogy
Tolkein - but of course...
Zahn's initial Star Wars trilogy (Heir to the Empire, etc.)

Never really read Brooks though because Sword of Shanara seemed like such a terrible LOTR imitation - maybe i'll give it another shot though after reading all these glowing reviews

Zeta · May 13, 2005, 04:25 PM // 16:25

i would have to recommend the following:

Weis & Hickman - because Dragonlance is great and there is so much material out there it will take a long time to get through it. Stories are really engaging.

Robert Jordan - great books but a little long

Terry Brooks - Shannara series all the way. Besides the first four books there are six? more i think that continue the story. Highly recommende

here are a few more authors of note; Salvatore, Kevin Anderson, Timothy Zahn, Mercedes Lackey.

ArgentLupe · May 13, 2005, 04:26 PM // 16:26

My 3 favorite series of all time:

Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever - Stephen Donaldson
A Song of Fire and Ice - George R R Martin

Tomo · May 13, 2005, 04:37 PM // 16:37

Meh ? ive never heard of any of these books, mainly because the two librarys i have access to are crap. The only good fantasy series ive seen are Darren shan (vampire thing) and His dark materials...also known as The northern lights, the subtle knife and the amber spyglass.

Madjik · May 13, 2005, 04:46 PM // 16:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Igceal

Never really read Brooks though because Sword of Shanara seemed like such a terrible LOTR imitation - maybe i'll give it another shot though after reading all these glowing reviews

You are correct in that there are deffinatly similarities to Sword of Shanara and LoTR, but as the series progresses he goes off on his own with it. The insperations seem to become more his own. Get past the first book and move on to the other books in the series and you'll see just how unique he can get, the man knows how to spin a story

StormWater · May 13, 2005, 05:25 PM // 17:25

Over the decades, I've accumulated more S/F/Fant paperbacks than most stores (>600). I'd definitely recommend Terry Brooks series and stand alone novels. He's very good at getting you to care about his characters.

Saw a recommendation for Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series. WARNING - STEPHEN DONALDSON HAS NEVER HAD A HAPPY DAY IN HIS LIFE. His story lines are really, really depressing. A note to those of you who read them when they came out, "He's back!" He's releasing a third series of Covenant books.

Also, two authors that do a fine job of combining Sci Fi and Fantasy are Jack Chalker, with his Well World series and Anne McCaffery with her dragon rider series. Again, really good character development that carries over multiple books.

EvilWizard · May 13, 2005, 06:03 PM // 18:03

I totally forgot another great read which is the Earthsea books by Ursala K. Le Guin. If you have seen the SciFi channel miniseries they made from the Earthsea books don't base your opinion off of that because the miniseries was crap and mostly had nothing to do with what actually happens in the books. Its a great 4 book series that you can read in like a week easily.

BuFu · May 13, 2005, 06:30 PM // 18:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArgentLupe

My 3 favorite series of all time:

Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever - Stephen Donaldson
A Song of Fire and Ice - George R R Martin

yeah a song of ice and fire is really good... and after the first book, its becoming kinda like the guilds wars as they are described in the first manual.
the fourth book will be out soon (hardcover though).

StormWater · May 13, 2005, 06:35 PM // 18:35

I haven't looked at them in a while, but FRED SABERHAGEN Fred Saberhagen had a series called the First, Second, etc. Book of Swords. Don't remember whether there's different races (e.g. elves, dwarves), but seem to recall that each sword had special properties and the discovery of those properties and their effects on the main character made up the story.

Lasher Dragon · May 13, 2005, 06:41 PM // 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArgentLupe

My 3 favorite series of all time:

Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever - Stephen Donaldson
A Song of Fire and Ice - George R R Martin

Ditto

Bgnome · May 13, 2005, 06:45 PM // 18:45

moved to off topic

Pixie · May 13, 2005, 07:00 PM // 19:00

In my opinion, R.A Salvatore is indeed the best. I have all his Forgotten Realms novels (Icewind Dale, Dark Elf, Cleric's Quintet, Legacy of the Drow, Paths of Darkness and the Hunter's Blades.) In exception of "The Two swords" since it's not out in paperback yet. ;_; (And I don't want to pay like 20 bucks extra, just for a hard cover. @_@)

blythe · May 13, 2005, 07:35 PM // 19:35

And no one has mentioned the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind? 8 books now, arguably better than LOTR.

And if you can't find Goodkind's series, I'd go for the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett or the Eldest series by Christopher Paolini.

However, Sword of Truth blows all other fantasy books I've read out of the f***ing water.

BuFu · May 13, 2005, 10:54 PM // 22:54

btw, zelazny's Amber was mentioned. books 1-5 are great, books 6-10 are crap.

Eskimo Bob · May 13, 2005, 11:23 PM // 23:23

Try DragonLance. There is around 20 or even more dragonlance books out there (I have read around 15 or so). They are done by several different authors, my personal favorite are the ones by Margret Weis and Tracy Hickman. They all tie into the same world and that. It has several races (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Ogres, Dragons, Draconians, Kender, Gnomes, and more). The Kender are halarious, they are short, talkitive, always cheery, theives, and always make themselves look innocent. The series also has gods/goddesses of good, neutral, and evil also dragons of good and evil. The book series is from TSR who made D&D. The books are mostly serious but do have humor in some parts, especialy parts with kender. the books follow a timeline so if you pick one up that is situated in the chaos war or later you might be confused. I highly recomend that you try out this book series.