Favorite Fantasy Reading Series

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brotherhrolf:
Lord of the Rings is in a class by itself without question. No one has mentioned Robert E. Howard yet. Or H. Rider Haggard or Edgar Rice Burroughs. How about H. P. Lovecraft? Dunsany? (Never mind I hate Dunsany). The 1920s and 30s were fertile ground for fantasy.
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Good ideas, but I was trying to concentrate on “series” (trilogies, etc.), rather than individual novels/stories. I like R.E. Howard a lot, but his stuff seems to be mostly short stories connected by a single thread or two. Burroughs is also great fun, but, like Howard I consider this to be mostly action/adventure/sci-fi. Same thing with Rider Haggard. I’m a huge Lovecraft fan, but he’s really a “horror” writer, and that’s for a future poll (the one where everyone will undoubtably talk non-stop King and Koontz!)
I only had seven options. I would have loved to include Anne McCaffrey’s “Pern” series, or Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” novels, but with choice being limited, what could I do?
Thanks to all for the reading suggestions I’m seeing. Gonna have to look some of this stuff up.
Finally, Dunsany is great stuff! His “Gods of Pagana” is very droll, indeed (and remember, “Mung” is NOT a god to be trifled with in any way!).

Peace!
 
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brotherhrolf:
I am a real fan of Katherine Kurtz and had the honor of having her as an overnight house guest in 1980. She is indeed Catholic.
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Sweet! I kinda thought she must be Catholic, with as much as she knows about the old church, and with how much the church figures into her novels. I’m envious of you having had her as a house guest. This is a lady I would love to sit down with for a few hours and just chat. I’m guessing that she’s a fascinating person to have a conversation with.

Peace.
 
Katherine Kurtz stayed at my house because we were sponsoring a Society for Creative Anachoronism “coronation”. (She was at that time a member of the SCA, under the title of Mistress Bevin. We were using Louisiana’s old state capitol (looks like a castle) for the coronation. We had a good time talking about medieval monks and calligraphy. Hey, I am, after all, Brother Hrolf, abbot of St. Camber of Culdi, (she gave me permission to use the name) AND my original bookplate in my copy of Camber of Culdi is illuminated by me and signed by Katherine Kurtz. But that is a very long time ago in a place very far away (1980).

I haven’t had any contact with her since.
 
Whoops again. I also think G. R. R. Martin’s books are going to be classics too.
 
Mmph. I read the first two, and I thought they were okay, but I couldn’t really connect emotionally with any of the characters. I haven’t read the most recent one (or two. Are there two now?).

Ia ia Cthulhu f’tagn!

Well, someone had to say it. I like Lovecraft, but not in large does. I start to see shoggoths coming for me, and hear squidlike piping.

I didn’t know Katherine Kurtz is Catholic. Very neat. I will have to read her. I have Martha Wells’ A City Of Bones, and Wheel of the Infinite waiting for me. Also The Years of Rice and Salt.

I love Pratechett, even when I vehemently disagree with him. He’s a great satirist, and very intelligent. One of my favourite bits is from Night Watch, when he has Vimes say that the problem with revolutions is never that you have the wrong kind of ideology, it’s that you have the wrong sort of people. He says that people in general, especially the ones to be enlightened, are generally conservative, stubborn, distrustful of cleverness, and petty. I thought it was very interesting. His villians tend to be people who are too caught up in their own vision for what everyone ought to be like to actually care about real folk.
 
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Isidore_AK:
I would heartily suggest Elizabeth Moon’s The Deed of Paksenarrion
It’s the story of a peasant girl (Sheepfarmer’s Daughter is the title of the first book), who leaves home to become a mercenary warrior, and then later a knight & paladin. Very good story…mostly standard fantasy fare, but with a very ‘down in the trenches’ feel to it.
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My favorite book (I’ve got the trilogy in one volume)! I highly recommend it as well.

Michael Stackpole is a wonderful sci-fi/fantasy writer as well. His sci-fi are more in the Star Wars (X-Wing novels, mostly) and Mechwarrior universes, but his fantasy books are in his own universes. He is a Byzantine historian, and uses a lot of Byzantine philosophy and theology in his books.

I previously have avoided Katherine Kurtz’s books, but knowing now that she’s Catholic, I’ll gladly give them a try!
 
I truly enjoyed Katherine Kurtz’ books. But of those listed, I would have to go with Lord of the Rings.

I re-read it after seeing the first movie, cause I hadn’t finished the last book - and couldn’t stand the suspense!

Reading it, I had a totally different experience as a post 9/11 catholic adult than I did as a protestant teenager in the Reagan era!

I also have enjoyed Stephen Lawhead’s Arthurian novels. He has a very interesting Christian perspective on the whole Atlantis/Merlin/Celtic/Arthur thing.

I have never laughed so hard as I did when I read my first Terry Pratchett “Discworld” novel. It was the one that had the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse drinking and trying to remember the lines to “we are poor little lambs that have gone astray…baa baa baa”.
 
i think all are good books. i still read wheel of time. it is dragging on. no-one mention the sword of truth by terry goodkind. excellent… but none, and i do mean none compare to drizzit series. forgotten realms. my son would read harry potter and it was still hard for him to sit and read. i gave him one of r.a. salvatore’s books. now i can’t get him to do anything else than read and he is fourteen.
 
Lissla Lissar:
Mmph. I read the first two, and I thought they were okay, but I couldn’t really connect emotionally with any of the characters. I haven’t read the most recent one (or two. Are there two now?).
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are you talking about ASoIaF?
 
My favorite fantasy series of books are, The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.
 
Of the choices listed, and probably overall, the Lord of the Rings. However, I also really enjoy the Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Borroughs! See you on Barzoom! 👍
 
Tolkien has to be the greatest. He elevated the style to a new genre with his series.
 
Hey, I see that there are folks who liked “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (the Unbeliever)” by Donaldson, and “The Book of the New Sun” by Wolfe. Didja agree with my brief assessment of them or not? I’m really curious! The only thing I want to add to my original comments about them is that both are very dark and very wordy (not that either of them is a bad thing… Donaldson tends to be a bit ponderous, while Wolfe’s prose is truly magical. Talk to me, fellow fans!!

Peace.

PS: Surely there’s someone out there who’s as big of a Jack Vance fan as I am, isn’t there? I haven’t seen anyone else mention one of the great masters of the truly alien world (or one of his inspirations, Clark Ashton Smith). I only wish I had had enough options to mention these two wonderful authors…
 
I read Thomas Covenant when it came out.It’s not to bad, but you are right about the antihero. The book is also a bit repetative.I voted for The Book of the New Sun.This is an excellent series which is hard to beat.Gene Wolfe is an amazing writer.But the series might actually be science fiction disguised as fantasy. With Gene Wolfe you never quit know.Dying Earth and The Nightland were his influences on this series.I read Dying Earth but didn’t realize that there are more books in the series. What are they??
 
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brotherhrolf:
Xanth?! Piers Anthony has written the same novel so many times since I was a teenager (I’m 53) it’s ridiculous. Have you actually read the series from its conception?
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Fell out of my chair laughing! SSSOOOOOOOO true (still a Harlan Ellison fan).
 
I love Tolkien and Lewis, and have been enchanted by George macDonald, whose fantasy stories have been linked to Lewis, Tolkien and the other Inklings. MacDonald is little read by children now now, and more’s the pity. You can give him a try here.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.3/bookid.996/

He wasn’t Catholic, but a one-time Congregationalist pastor (Scottish). His works are imbued with God and wonder.
A few of the best:
At the Back of the Northwind
Curdie and the Princess
The Princess and the Goblins
 
My all time favorite fantasy series is the Shannara series. Sure, the first book is a ripooff of LOTR, but IMVHO it actually improves it. The majority of the rest of the books are fantastic and original.

I don’t count the chronicles of Narnia in this, because they’re not fanatasy, they’re allegory 😃

I also really like the Xanth series, and I have inded read it from start to… about 2/3rds… But I must admit, the stories aren’t that original:

Somone has a problem.

I go to see the good magician humphrey. (In a story arc, for a while, he’s disappeared, so skip this step.)

Solve three riddles. Talk to humphrey.

Go on quest. Quest helps humphrey, so I don’t have to do a year of service.

For some reason, I have to cross the gap chasm. Mind the gap. It has a dragon. Unless the dragon reverse aged. Then another dragon has temporariliy taken its place.

Probably go to the land of the gourd for some reason along the way.

Beware the tanglers. Don’t take the obvious paths.

Kiss the girl.

The end.

Am I missing anything?

Josh
 
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