Fantasy books with an original setting.
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Hmm...The Conqueror's Shadow by Ari Marmell is pretty awesome. He's written a bunch of tie-in fiction, but this is his first original book. It has a good sense of humor and turns quite a few tropes on their heads.
You know, as soon as I saw this thread, I was going to suggest the Codex Alera. But it seems you ninja'd me. XD It is quite a good series.Gizmo1990 said:
Rick Riordan: Modern day Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology, and he does it WELL.
Tamora Pierce: All books set in and around her fantasy country Tortal. Medieval and magic, yes, but also countless other creatures known as "immortals" which I presume she only could have come up with on an acid trip. Interesting magic, too.
Tamora Pierce: All books set in and around her fantasy country Tortal. Medieval and magic, yes, but also countless other creatures known as "immortals" which I presume she only could have come up with on an acid trip. Interesting magic, too.
Another vote for this, almost everything in discworld is there to reference and reflect our own world and culture, Elves are all about class, dwarves about sexism, and magic replaces technology. The first half dozen or so books were simple tolkienesque parody, but later on he moves into quality satire, with books about war, finance, hollywood, the music industry, the media, racism, sport, crime, and so much more.Me55enger said:
It's never so simple as orcs are bad, mmk?
the Dark Tower series. i've only read the first two, but it's like a mix of fantasy, bit of western, it has a bit of modern day stuff with it, but how it mixes it keeps it in the fantasy genre. very good read, it's one of Stephen King's none horror series, so if you have read other King books you'll have an idea for the style of writing.
I'd suggest The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, unless you've already read it. (If you saw the movie and didn't like it, read the book anyway. It's much, much better.)
The remaining two books in the series are a bit more...iffy, but worth a shot anyway I guess.
Basically, it's set in an alternate universe Earth where people's souls take the form of animals. It's technically set in modern times, but history played out rather differently for them and so it has a very Victorian-through-1940s feel to it.
The remaining two books in the series are a bit more...iffy, but worth a shot anyway I guess.
Basically, it's set in an alternate universe Earth where people's souls take the form of animals. It's technically set in modern times, but history played out rather differently for them and so it has a very Victorian-through-1940s feel to it.
I'll third the Prince of Nothing trilogy, although with a word of warning: the books can be challenging as well as rewarding. They're my favorite fantasy series, but it's not always an easy read. Very dark and philosophical at times.
Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy is good as well, although you should be prepared for a fair dose of cynicism to go with the frequent humor. Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet is another solid series, and very different from Tolkien (the first book actually isn't about a war, a hero, etc, and the magic system is very creative). Brandon Sanderson is a mixed bag, but I think Warbreaker is an excellent piece of fiction (the ending is emotional too).
A Song of Ice and Fire is an obvious one.
Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy is good as well, although you should be prepared for a fair dose of cynicism to go with the frequent humor. Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet is another solid series, and very different from Tolkien (the first book actually isn't about a war, a hero, etc, and the magic system is very creative). Brandon Sanderson is a mixed bag, but I think Warbreaker is an excellent piece of fiction (the ending is emotional too).
A Song of Ice and Fire is an obvious one.
I like the series, but I always make sure to recommend to new readers that they read the first two books in the series. The Gunslinger is a strange book, and feels different from the rest of the books in the series. Drawing of the Three gives you a much better indicator of how it will be written.klaynexas3 said:
Its a great series so far, but I'm not happy recommending it to anyone untill it's finished...Veylon said:
I enjoyed the first three of the Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko, but the fourth one threw me a bit, I think they used a different translator. The spelling of a central character's name was changed, and after reading it one way for three books it threw me a little every time I saw it in the last one.
I've also recently enjoyed reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, Ian Irvine is worth looking into, and if you can find them Michael Scott Rohan's Winter of the world series are good.
To second what other people have said above: Brent Weeks, Robin Hobb, and Terry Pratchett have written some really entertaining stuff.
There's so much entertaining fantasy out there, it's a shame bookshops and libraries tend to hide it all in a little section at the back, and seem to concentrate on the established, safe selection of Stephen Donaldson, Terry Pratchett, Robert Jordan, David Eddings, David Gemmell, and the other old warhorses, spaced out with whatever tiny selection of new books fit in the gaps between them.
I also resent losing disproportionate amounts of precious bookshop shelf space to "vampire fiction" since Twighlight. It can F*#! off back to the teen fiction section with the rest of the point horror books as far as I'm concerned.
Deltora Quest is for little kids but is set in the fantasy version of Australia. (Everything is deadly.)
The Skulduggery Pleasant series is unique and has a very entertaining title character.
Also, The Dark Lord of Derkholm (and arguably the sequel The Year of the Griffin) is funny because it makes fun of the standard fantasy setting.
The Skulduggery Pleasant series is unique and has a very entertaining title character.
Also, The Dark Lord of Derkholm (and arguably the sequel The Year of the Griffin) is funny because it makes fun of the standard fantasy setting.
Again, more Discworld books.
However, I also can't recommend Steven Brust's books enough. Fascinating world, interesting characters, etc.
Taltos and Jhereg to start off with. Fantasy setting with humans more or less conquered by elves featuring a human assassin in a mafia type setting. As it is a magic world, assassinations are somewhat like stern warnings. You kill someone, and then someone else is going to have to put up a few thousand gold to hire a mage to bring them back to life.
There are only a three authors where I will automatically buy hardcover books of whatever they write the instant it comes out. Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, Robert Jordan (now Brian Sanderson's) Wheel of Time books, and Steven Brust's Taltos books).
However, I also can't recommend Steven Brust's books enough. Fascinating world, interesting characters, etc.
Taltos and Jhereg to start off with. Fantasy setting with humans more or less conquered by elves featuring a human assassin in a mafia type setting. As it is a magic world, assassinations are somewhat like stern warnings. You kill someone, and then someone else is going to have to put up a few thousand gold to hire a mage to bring them back to life.
There are only a three authors where I will automatically buy hardcover books of whatever they write the instant it comes out. Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, Robert Jordan (now Brian Sanderson's) Wheel of Time books, and Steven Brust's Taltos books).
I didn't really get that, and aside from the masturbating snake demon (eh, the book's Russian), I seem to remember thinking that the fourth book was quite a fitting end to the series.Boysie said:
And since others have already mentioned Discworld, I'll second this one. The Night Watch books are brilliant. All Others choose between either the Light or the Dark, but the actual implications of that are fascinating. Dark Others believe in personal freedom above all else, and survival of the fittest in a world where they are the fittest, while Light Ones impose laws and were, historically, behind ideologies like Communism and Facism in the hope that they could force people to be good.
Another great one is Anno Dracula. Just about every time someone makes a topic about books on this forum, I tend to harp on about Anno Dracula. It's a series by Kim Newman that only recently came back into print (or it might be about to come back into print, I'm not sure) about a world where the events in Dracula played out a little differently, and where Dracula was ultimately victorious, married Queen Victoria, and was responsible for a good chunk of England's population being turned into vampires, from the rich to the poor. Then, three years later, some nutter starts murdering vampire prostitutes in White Chapel, a murderer that comes to be known as Jack the Ripper. Fantastic books, and the second one, the Bloody Red Baron (set during World War I as an allied special squadron tries to bring down the Red Baron, aka Baron Mannfred von Richtofen, a shapeshifting vampire that turns into a giant bat-thing and tackles planes in mid-air) is even better.
For a pair of older books (1986), Lionel Fen's Blood River Down and Web of Defeat are great.
Harry Turtledove's Darkness series (starting with Into the Darkness) are also wonderful. They're World War II fought with magic instead of tech.
One of my favorites is actually Dennis L McKiernan. While his first books, the Iron Tower Trilogy are a direct rip-off of Tolkien, he grows into his own voice pretty quickly in his other books. So he kind of isn't original, but he kind of is. I know, ambiguous, but I still love his work.
Oh, and almost anything by Charles de Lint.
Harry Turtledove's Darkness series (starting with Into the Darkness) are also wonderful. They're World War II fought with magic instead of tech.
One of my favorites is actually Dennis L McKiernan. While his first books, the Iron Tower Trilogy are a direct rip-off of Tolkien, he grows into his own voice pretty quickly in his other books. So he kind of isn't original, but he kind of is. I know, ambiguous, but I still love his work.
Oh, and almost anything by Charles de Lint.