Recommend a good Fantasy Book Series.

[communist dwarf]

I recommend The Kingdom of Thorne and Bone by Greg Keyes, SOIAF is a no brainer,and Mogworld is pretty funny book by none other than Yahtzee (its technically fantasy). I would usually have like 20 or so more suggestions but I have been up for the last 2 days straight so I'm running on fumes.

 

[Reaper195]

A Song of Ice and Fire series is excellent. Incredibly brutal, crass and unforgiving. It also lacks the happy, good guys win cliché that most American shit has. It's great. TV series is quite excellent too.

 

[Micromyni]

The Age of Fire series by E.E. Knight is told from the different perspectives of a clutch of dragons. And these dragons have no issues eating people. They are actual animals, but with the ability to learn other languages. They eat metal to keep their scales strong. It's awesome.

 

[galaktar]

Codex Alera - good mix of ancient rome and elemental magic
Sword of Truth - Standard fantasy fare but really well done.
Song of Ice and Fire - YES...
Wheel of Time - I think if you take all of the pages written you will literally have a pile about 3 feet tall.
Leviathan by Scott Westerfield - Alternate WWI retelling with tesla coils and genetic abominations instead of tanks and typhoid fever.
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card - series isn't done yet but a good read.
Pilliars of the Earth / World Without End - actually just medieval fiction
Legend of Drizzt - if you want to just keep reading about a dark elf for 20 books.
The Blade itself / Last Argument of Kings / Before they are Hanged - easy reads
Empress by Karen Miller - desert fantasy?
Ring of Fire - It sounds absurd but: West Virginia small town gets moved through time and space and dropped in the middle of the 30 years war in Central Europe.
Guns of the South - Time travelers visit Robert E Lee during the civil war and hand him a few thousand AK-47s with some strings attached.

And I'm done.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

The Kingkiller Trilogy is fantabulous.

Check it out.

This isn't a trilogy yet, OP. And I'm not sure you'll find the books in a library.

But if you do, get them.

I can not shoot enough fat sticky wads over these books. Patrick Rothfuss is a genius and fie on anyone who says otherwise.

 

[NightHawk21]

Dune the stuff by Frank Herbert.

Dune is science fiction though, and I think the OP meant more standard fantasy. If I'm wrong however by all means read dune. It is a fantastic series, but start off with the prequels written by the author's son. They have very good writing and set the basis for the entire universe. The finale will also make a lot more sense once you actually read the prequels.

If more typical fantasy is what your after, I can swear by Feist's works. There are probably something like 20 books now (broken up into smaller mini series), and they are fantastic. Start with Magician (or Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master - its the same thing except for some reason the newer publications seem to have split the first book into two), and move on from there. Great characters and a great story.

You should also be in luck, both of those series are common fare in libraries and there usually isn't huge waiting lists.

 

[Kapri]

Simon R. Green's Nightside series. It's a combination of sci-fi and fantasy and they're easy reads, but very enjoyable and amusing.

 

[DustyDrB]

The Kingkiller Trilogy is fantabulous.

Check it out.

I ctrl+f'd that. I am pleased.

Though the third book probably won't be out for a while. Rothfuss said he felt like he neglected his wife and newborn while writing the second one, and really wants to take his time with the final book. But yeah, read these now! They are fantastic (though the first is leaps and bounds better than the second, I think).

The name of the books, for the record:
-The Name of the Wind
-The Wise Man's Fear

Edit: OK, I should probably be more helpful and add why I love the series so much. So here goes:

-Great pacing. Segments neither overstay their welcome nor hurry along too quickly.

-A loveable protagonist. The framing device works well with this. The way it works is that the main character is retelling tales of his youth, so the majority of the books take place in the past. In these parts, you feel as though you know the character intimately. But when the books return to the present, he?s shrouded in mystery. Something has happened and you want to know what it is.

-A version of magic that works. Magic is bound in rules in the series. Whenever it is explained, it?s like a physics lesson with a whimsical twist. As a guy who typically hates how magic is handled in fantasy, this is one of my favorite aspects of the series.

-Music! There are some wonderfully written segments revolving around the playing of music, either alone or in performance. This might be something that appeals more to me for a couple reasons. 1) I?m a musician, and heavily favor folk music. 2) I listened to music all while reading the books: Music like The Punch Brothers? instrumentals, string music, the soundtracks to the Fable games. It made it so I felt absolutely immersed in the world, especially during the musical sections. But even if you?re not like me, the writing shines in these parts.

-Fantastical elements are not heaped on too quickly. OK, sections of the second book are an exception to this. But for the most part, the heavily fantastical elements are teased. They are introduced as a faint idea. And the pursuit of more knowledge in these bits add a lot of intrigue.

 

[digipinky75910]

I'd really like to recommend a little known series called "Diadem" by John Peel. Is a nice light-hearted read with drama and humor and everything else you like cause I like it too. First book is "Book of Names."

 

[IronFrog]

The Malazan Book of the Fallen is an amazing series by Steven Erikson. It can be a bit tough to start but once you do it's impossible to stop. The first book is Gardens of the Moon, which my mother picked up for me randomly for my birthday one year and since I've bought everything related to it and haven't been disappointed once.

Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga is also awesome, which is why it's been mentioned so many times already

David Eddings's earlier work is pretty good. The Belgariad was great I remember, and The Elenium and Tamuli were decent... His new series The Dreamers was pretty shit though... Every character had the same sense of humour even though they came from wildly different backgrounds and you could count on at least three sentences in a chapter ending with 'wouldn't you say?'. It got so bad I almost turned it into a drinking game but I didn't want to die of alcohol poisoning.

The Dark Elf trilogy by R.A. Salvatore is pretty much a staple of good fantasy, or at least it was when I was younger.

 

[obscuredlimits]

I have to second the Chronicles of the Necromancer series. It has a very interesting universe and solid characters with a reasonable and entertaining story.

 

[Lilani]

Hello my fellow Escapees. I am looking for recemondations for a good Fantasy novel series. I personally love them like the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series, as well as the Inheritance cycle (The Eragon books) and the Stoneheart trilogy as well a few more...

I have also read then entire Narnia series. >_>

Don't look at me like that...

Anyways I have heard nothing but good things on the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Anybody recommend it?

Also any other good series would be nice as well...

If you don't mind a female lead, I highly recommend the Study series by Maria V. Snyder (Poison Study, Magic Study, Fire Study), and the Truth series by Dawn Cook (First Truth, Hidden Truth, Forbidden Truth, Lost Truth). The Study series has some very interesting characters and character arcs, as well as a vivid world. The Truth series does have quite a bit of romance, and if you don't like it for that I understand, but apart from that I loved the magic and the world in this story. It's also got a lot of things that come full circle, so if you do read it it's very good for a second read so you can see all the little details and hints you missed the first time through.

Oh, and if you don't mind surrealism, Auralia's Colors might be worth a look. It's very...different from any other fantasy story I've read. It is full of vivid descriptions and visceral imagery, almost to the point of overpowering the story. It can be hard to get into, but once you get into it it's magical thing to read.

 

[gigastar]

Ok, where to begin on my list of reccomendations...

Spoiler: Probably form the top-

Discworld series- 40+ books, not including spinoffs, and more coming every year. Set in a fantasy kitchen sink [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FantasyKitchenSink] world following the (mis)adventures of various protagonists. All books are technically standalone, but they will reference one another, some less blatantly than others. All the books and the characters in them are incredibly genre savvy, and its played for laughs to great effect.

Mistborn trilogy- And one sequel/spinoff named "The Alloy of Law". Former slave girl comes to terms with her latent magical abilities and joins a rebellion intent on overthrowing an empire. And thats just the first book, things get fairly crazy afterwards.

Night Angel trilogy- Street urchin kid manages to get trained up as a magical assasin. Ends up deeply involved in a plot to overthrow the local regents. Again, just the first book.

Temeraire series- 6-7 books published as of now, depending on where you live. At its most basic, its the Napoleonic Wars with dragons. British naval captain raids a French frigate hauling a dragon egg, is forced to harness the newborn dragon when it hatches on his ship and begin serving with the Royal Air Corps. Again, just the first book, i consider mentioning anything outside of that a spoiler as the author makes heavy use of foreshadowing.

I should note I am not looking to buy the books unless I can access them at a Library first. I want to know what I am getting into before throwing money at it. It is how I deal with basically all forms of entertainment.

Honestly that kind of hamstrings most suggestions right away. With upside of 300 new fictional novels published every year just for the fantasy genre, i doubt that any regular library could stock all of them.

Besides, most authors usually publish the first 1-3 chapters of thier books on thier personal websites. I stress "most", because "most" applies to the authors of the books ive accumilated.

 

[Sk1ver]

Some recommendations from more years of reading fantasy than I care to admit to.

Firstly a warning - be careful of series that are not yet finished. I started reading the Wheel of Time series in 1991. The last book is still to be released 21 years later (expected Jan 2013), written by a different author because Robert Jordan passed away.
A Song of Ice and Fire is really good - but not finished yet and epic fantasy takes time to write well.

Some of these have already been mentioned so take those as my endorsement

If you want an easy entry into Fantasy as a step up from Potter

David Eddings - Belgariad. Really easy to read, engaging characters and standard fare. Only need to read one of his series' as they are all the same with different names

Anne Mcaffery - Dragonriders of Pern. Great reads, starts out fantasy but turns sci fi as it goes through books. She also did a great pure SciFi series, the ship who sang.

Brandon Sanderson - pretty much anything. The mistborn series is a good start. He is really prolific writer too so lots to read.

Getting into the more standard fantasy fare - good to go to once you have read LotR

Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. The classic orphans discovery of his true power tale with a bit more meat on it than Eddings. Williams has a great cyberpunk/scifi series called Otherland as well

Raymond Feist - Magician (et al.). I have read the original trilogy multiple times, and it is still one of my favorites.

Terry Brooks - a little up and down I have found, but the Shanara series is solid.

Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth. Goes some weird places in later books but is an enthralling read.

Robin Hobb - Buy everything she has ever written now! Start with the Farseer trilogy or The Liveship Traders and then continue. A truly engaging and brilliant writer than has produced some of the most memorable and moving characters and stories ever invented. If you like your heroes to have real flaws and to experience the tragedy of the story rather than observe it go here.

Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson - Wheel of Time. If you can get through the already written 12,000+ pages before the last book comes out I will be impressed. This story is more of an experience than a book.

Getting a bit out there - of you want something a bit out of the ordinary

Stephen R Donaldson - The Ballad of Thomas Covenant. A story of alternate world travel and power differentials, and belief. You will want to punch Thomas in the face at times.

Roger Zelany - Chronicles of Amber. Another alternate realities version of a fantasy world, but with a bit more acton in a more sprawling universe than Donaldson. Less annoying protaginists too

Mervyn Peake - The Gormenghast trilogy. This book is really hard to get into as the world is very different and not explained at the start. The language is mesmerising though and it will draw you in and transport you. The closest I have seen this genre get to literature. This is an old series, predates LotR, but after the Hobbit, and is one of the creators of the Fantasy genre.

Hope this helps

 

[FalloutJack]

Jack recommends a fair few of the ones mentioned already, along with the Sword of Truth series.

 

[Won Sul]

The First Law trilogy is far and away my favorite fantasy series.

 

[applesandoranges]

edit

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

I'd heavily reccomend Codex Alera as well.

Also, avoid the Sword of Truth like the plague, burn all copies you find, and split those who try and push it on you on the blade of justice.

 

[Zakarath]

I'll second everything by Jim Butcher, The Wheel of Time Series, A Song of Ice and Fire (but only if you don't require a happy ending. That series is not nice to its characters.)

I recently read The Enduring Flame trilogy by Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory and quite enjoyed it, even if I skipped the series that came before it.

The Temeraire series is another great one to pick up, especially if (like me) one has an abiding love of dragons.

The Kolmar series by Elizabeth Kerner (Song in the Silence, The Lesser Kindred, Redeeming the Lost) is another series I treasure, even if it does have a little more romance in it than the norm, I enjoyed it anyway. Plus it has lots of dragons.

I also admit I enjoyed a number of the Dragonlance books, especially once Weis and Hickman figure out how to write fantasy and write the War of Souls trilogy, and Dragonlance Legends was pretty good too.

Currently reading the Rain Wilds Chronicles by Robin Hobb, Its a little less epic and more personal than most fantasy, and I like the style.

If you're willing to tread into the lands of Sci-Fi, everyone needs to read Dune, as well as Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.

 

[Malkavian]

No love for the The Gentleman Bastard Sequence?

Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott E. Lynch, and it's only sequel so far, Red Seas Under Red Skies(third is out in septemper). While the second book didn't quite live up to the first, it's still two of the best fantasy books I have read in recent years. The story is about a con-artist and his band of thieves in a fantasy version of medieval Venice.

And yes, ASOIF is very good.