Favorite Fantasy Reading Series

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I must admit, I’m not much of a fantasy reader. But I absolutely LOVE LOTR and pretty much anything else Tolkien has written. I’d probably even enjoy his grocery lists! He was a genius and I thank God for Peter Jackson, et al. If it hadn’t been for those great movies, I might never have read the books.
I tried The Chronicles of Narnia a few months ago and just couldn’t get into it. I suppose after reading LOTR, there just wasn’t enough action for me. I’ve put it away and am going to try again later, hopefully before that movie comes out.
I really disliked the Shannara series, seeing them as a poor attempt to copy Tolkien.
Am I the only living person to never have read any of the Harry Potter books? 😃 Just doesn’t interest me.
 
I went with Tolkien and Lewis due to my childhood favorites from both authors, though my adult favorite series are by Weis/Hickman, and then to a lesser extent Robert Aspirin’s “Skeeve/Aahz” chronicles.

I also have a fond heart for Mercedes Lackey and Anne MacCaffrey’s fantasy forays.
 
Well, I have only read the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. I liked them both (but Harry Potter more, but then again, it has been a few years since I have touched the Narnia series). I would like to read LOTR in the near future. Maybe this summer.

Eamon
 
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FrankvT:
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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As far as I know, Vance’s DE books are:
The Dying Earth
The Eyes of the Overworld
Cugel’s Saga (hilarious!) 😃
Rhialto the Marvellous (great, but I missed Cugel).
{Also, check out Vance’s “Demon Princes”* series… Sci-Fi like I’ve never read before!}*

I loved “The Night Land” but then again, anything by W.H. Hodgson is excellent.

Gene Wolfe… Good point. I’m gonna call it “Science Fantasy” to cover all of my bases. I do agree that the man is a spectacularly good writer!

Finally, yes indeed, Donaldson can be tedious and very repetitious, but I still think the good points outweigh the bad ones. It would have been nice if the author, somewhere during the span of six volumes, would have had one of the Bloodguard/Haruchai beat some sense into Mr. Covenant. Justice would certainly have been served!

Peace.
 
In Middle and High School I was hooked on Madeline L’Engle’s books once I read A Wrinkle in Time. I soooo identified with the misfit Meg.
 
Elizabeth B.:
In Middle and High School I was hooked on Madeline L’Engle’s books once I read A Wrinkle in Time. I soooo identified with the misfit Meg.
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A Wrinkle in Time was a fabulous book! I read it in grade school, and reread it occasionally to this day.
Did you happen to suffer through the horrendous “made for TV” film version of this that the Disney people churned out a couple of years ago? Truly painful to behold.

Peace.
 
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threej_lc:
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 😃
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I did read the 1st Shannara series, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I pretty much lost interest after that for some reason.
Good call on “Narnia”. I included it because most people seem to consider it “fantasy”.

Peace.
 
CanonAlberic said:
A Wrinkle in Time was a fabulous book! I read it in grade school, and reread it occasionally to this day.
Did you happen to suffer through the horrendous “made for TV” film version of this that the Disney people churned out a couple of years ago? Truly painful to behold.

Peace.
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It was dreadful. The change to the ending eliminated the main message of the book.

I’ve read many other books by Mrs. L’Engle and am amazed at the depth of scriptural knowledge and imagery employed!
 
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Mary Stewart’s “Crystal Cave” or E. D. White’s “Once and Future King”.
 
Harry Potter has got my vote. On edge waiting for the next book release.:dancing:
 
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brotherhrolf:
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Mary Stewart’s “Crystal Cave” or E. D. White’s “Once and Future King”.
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i think you mean T.H. White. i’m extremely embarassed to admit that i havent read “The Once and Future King” yet. but another great book is Sr Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte D’Arthur”.
 
It was a really tough pick between the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia, but I’m with the surfer on this one…C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy has gotta be my favorite. Perelandra, in my opinion, is the most brilliantly written work of fiction I have ever read. As for Narnia being an allegory, I didn’t know allegory and fantasy were necessarily mutually exclusive.
 
I voted for the LotR, even though it’s not a series, strictly speaking, but it is if the Hobbit and the Silmarillion (plus some others) are included.

I also liked the Narnia books and the Harry Potter books. Also written for younger readers, Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain series is very good, as are the first three Earthsea books by LeGuin ( I wasn’t crazy about Tehanu). T.H White’s The Sword in the Stone and Mistress Masham’s Repose are also excellent.

I also would suggest anything by Jack Vance (although some of his books, while well-written, tend to deal incidentally with rather decadent characters, and most are quasi-science fiction). Lord Dunsany’s works are excellent as well, especially the Jorkens books if you like humor.
 
I’m looking forward to Half Blood Prince a lot, too. I voted for Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter (great books but the movies really need–something). Like someone else said (too lazy to look) I want to go to Narnia when I die. At the very beginning of most of the books, when initial problems haven’t yet started and all is peaceful, Narnia just seems like a beautiful place.
As for LOTR–fantastic story. Tolkien’s story was a work of plain genius. But the books themselves–naah. Tolkien’s story was great, but his writing itself, well–I found it boring. That’s just me, though. Oh, and my dad has a bunch of the Deryni series. Maybe I should read 'em sometime.

Ah, and Madeleine L’Engle’s books are really good, too. Though I’m not sure how theologically sound they are. In any case, they make for fun and thought-provoking reading.
 
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brotherhrolf:
Katherine Kurtz stayed at my house because we were sponsoring a Society for Creative Anachoronism “coronation”.
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I loved her books as a kid. One of the first series of fantasy books I read was by Llyod Alexander, that statred with the Book of Three. And I liked Ursula Leguin’s Wizard of Earthsea books. I thought those were pretty good too. I also liked the original two Dragonlance trilogies, but

I stopped reading that genre when I was about 12 or 13, with the exception of the occasional Harry Potter, which I started when I was living where they filmed the movies. Once I start a series, I get a bit compulsive about finishing it.

Right now, I really prefer nonfiction beucase the truth is stranger than fiction and there is so much to learn and so little time…
 
E. D. White!!! Brain must have been in Louisiana mode. T. H. White was the author. E. D. White was a supreme court justice in the late 1800s here in LA. Sorry!
 
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SaintlySinner:
My favorite fantasy series of books are, The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.
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I agree Anne Rice is an excellent author and if you enjoyed the vampire chronicles then you should try all the books about the lives of the Mayfair witches!!! There my fav fantasy books. Other favs… anything by Michal Chrichton and John Grisham:)
 
Narnia, only because I’ve read them about ten times as opposed to LOTR, which I’ve only read twice. I really only learned to appreciated the second time, btw; when I read it in high school I didn’t get the appeal. Now it’s a much richer work of literature that I can enjoy every time I go back to it. I used to read all 7 Narnia books every year. Less time for that with children, but they are almost old enough for read-alouds of LWW. We have the Wonderworks videos and they have learned to love the first one, probably because Jadis is so dramatic and the scene of Aslan’s death is so sad.

Honestly, I haven’t read Eddison, Wolfe, Donaldson or Kurtz. They didn’t fall into my range of interest I guess and I was a pretty voracious fantasy reader in my teens and twenties. I did enjoy David Eddings, Madeleine L’Engle and Robert Jordan back then. Now I like Michael O’Brien and Regina Doman, both Catholic authors. I don’t have a lot of time to read fiction much anymore, although I do try and read Michael Crichton when he has a new one, but that’s more science fiction.

I have read the first two HP books, thought they were so-so. Actually, I probably enjoyed the movies more. (But no, my 7 yo isn’t allowed to read/watch it.)

I loved A Wrinkle in Time, but as I got older I read more of L’Engle’s other stuff and got disenchanted. She has a very revisionist take on theology in her personal writings. I think her older books are better, although I am anxiously awaiting her new one about Meg as a grown-up wife and mother. 🙂
 
Lissla Lissar:
Anything by Robin McKinley, as per my username. Deerskin, Rose Daughter and Sunshine are my favourites. She re-writes fairy tales, and has a few original fantasy novels, too.
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I KNEW I recognized that name from somewhere! 🙂 But didn’t you think the short stories (Knot in the Grain?) was confusing? It made it sound like there was another Damar story but I haven’t seen one. The reference to a blond girl looking into a fountain I think. I found Deerskin too raw for a second reading, but I liked Rose Daughter very well. Didn’t read Sunshine as I avoid books about Vampires, usually because they are full of sex scenes. (Isn’t it about vampires? Forgive me if I’m incorrect.)

I tried for years to convince my husband to let me name one of our daughters Aerin but to no avail. He consented to Erin, but I insisted on the “A” and so lost out. 🙂

I loved McKinley 's more innocent books, but her writing seems to have gotten darker since she married.
 
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