I'll just throw in a few i haven't seen mentionedt:
Roger Zelazny's amber series. Short quick reads, Harry Potter reading level, but a bit more mature of a theme, set in a multiverse kind of setting before there ever was such a word.
The Nightside series. Also short quick reads, Harry Potter reading level. Modern day meets sci-fi meets fantasy. Still ongoing I think.
Since you liked Harry Potter - Harry Potter fan books. There are some alternative versions of the various books that people wrote before the real ones were released. Some were actually pretty good. There's a fake Deathly Hollows w/a far better ending than the real one, for instance.
The Malazan Empire series, by Steven Ericson (sp?), and w/other books in the same world by another (forget his name). Not short reads at all. If you want something more meaty than the above - this might be better. Fantasy. His own world, not orcs/goblins and such. Mature. A bit less structured, more about the world than any 1 character. A little hard to get into because it just sort of throws ya into the mix of an already ongoing set of conflicts, not any lead-up or intro. And the writing style is a little unusual. But if ya stick w/it, it becomes worth it. Some really unique characters. If you're into unique worlds then it'd be a good one to get.
If ya like D&D, since someone else mentioned the drizzt series, ya might want to try the firestaff series. Its free. There are a couple different series set in the world of Sennadar (firestaff is the first series). If ya dont' mind a protagonist that becomes very overpowered. But hey, its free. I think the author must be a d&d fan because you see a lot of its influence in the books. Or at least it used to be free, i just went to check the site and nothing is coming up: http://sennadar.com/ Anyhow, the author himself gives the books out free, so ya might be able to grab 'em somewhere else too. When i say free, i mean the legit kind of free. And if ya want a crapload of d&d books - the forgotten realm brand of books has a crapton from good to bad (kind of like star wars in that its one setting w/a million different authors).
I loved the dragonlance series when i was in high school many years ago. Authors = Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Later it kind of became like the above where other authors made books in the same world, but if you just stick to the books by the original authors you'll have a consistent experience.
Someone mentioned the discworld series. Other comedy = the Myth series by robert asprin. And of course the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (my favorite version though is the bbc radio broadcast of it, not the books, though the books were pretty good). As far as the discworld series, if ya want a free preview - there are a couple movies of a couple of the books on netflix's watch instantly (hogfather (the best) and the color of magic).
If you like it dark - Dexter. There's a series of books in addition to the t.v. series. Book series starts off good. Then got a little supernatural, which i didn't like at all for the series. I personally enjoy the t.v. series better myself. Stopped reading the books at that point, might have gotten back to its roots since then and improved, but i haven't gone back to see. Up until that point the books were good though. Also there's the C.S. Friedman - coldfire trilogy for dark fantasy (and i don't mean girly vampire romance novel "dark" fantasy).
Dragon Riders of Pern series. I didn't like it much but many love it. Anne Mccaffrey has a great writing style. Hard to put a book down. But I'd find myself reading half a book then looking back to realize that only like 3 things actually happened in all that time. hehe. Even though i love the wheel of time series, i disliked the one book - crossroads of twilight(?) - because it was like this. In an entire book only a few things happened, they were things of note to be true, but man, reading that book was labor. The entire pern series was like that to me. Just not my thing, but I seem to be in the minority amongst my friends who read, because the all loved the Pern series and even the CoT book. Weirdos. I don't mind verbose writers, love 'em in fact, but I need things to actually be happening in the story as well.
If ya just want more classic but good fantasy (not overly dark, fluffy, mature, or kidsy, just very middle of the road), the series of books by Raymond Feist fits the bill. If ya ever played the old pc game betrayal at krondor, it takes place in his world.
Roger Zelazny's amber series. Short quick reads, Harry Potter reading level, but a bit more mature of a theme, set in a multiverse kind of setting before there ever was such a word.
The Nightside series. Also short quick reads, Harry Potter reading level. Modern day meets sci-fi meets fantasy. Still ongoing I think.
Since you liked Harry Potter - Harry Potter fan books. There are some alternative versions of the various books that people wrote before the real ones were released. Some were actually pretty good. There's a fake Deathly Hollows w/a far better ending than the real one, for instance.
The Malazan Empire series, by Steven Ericson (sp?), and w/other books in the same world by another (forget his name). Not short reads at all. If you want something more meaty than the above - this might be better. Fantasy. His own world, not orcs/goblins and such. Mature. A bit less structured, more about the world than any 1 character. A little hard to get into because it just sort of throws ya into the mix of an already ongoing set of conflicts, not any lead-up or intro. And the writing style is a little unusual. But if ya stick w/it, it becomes worth it. Some really unique characters. If you're into unique worlds then it'd be a good one to get.
If ya like D&D, since someone else mentioned the drizzt series, ya might want to try the firestaff series. Its free. There are a couple different series set in the world of Sennadar (firestaff is the first series). If ya dont' mind a protagonist that becomes very overpowered. But hey, its free. I think the author must be a d&d fan because you see a lot of its influence in the books. Or at least it used to be free, i just went to check the site and nothing is coming up: http://sennadar.com/ Anyhow, the author himself gives the books out free, so ya might be able to grab 'em somewhere else too. When i say free, i mean the legit kind of free. And if ya want a crapload of d&d books - the forgotten realm brand of books has a crapton from good to bad (kind of like star wars in that its one setting w/a million different authors).
I loved the dragonlance series when i was in high school many years ago. Authors = Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Later it kind of became like the above where other authors made books in the same world, but if you just stick to the books by the original authors you'll have a consistent experience.
Someone mentioned the discworld series. Other comedy = the Myth series by robert asprin. And of course the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (my favorite version though is the bbc radio broadcast of it, not the books, though the books were pretty good). As far as the discworld series, if ya want a free preview - there are a couple movies of a couple of the books on netflix's watch instantly (hogfather (the best) and the color of magic).
If you like it dark - Dexter. There's a series of books in addition to the t.v. series. Book series starts off good. Then got a little supernatural, which i didn't like at all for the series. I personally enjoy the t.v. series better myself. Stopped reading the books at that point, might have gotten back to its roots since then and improved, but i haven't gone back to see. Up until that point the books were good though. Also there's the C.S. Friedman - coldfire trilogy for dark fantasy (and i don't mean girly vampire romance novel "dark" fantasy).
Dragon Riders of Pern series. I didn't like it much but many love it. Anne Mccaffrey has a great writing style. Hard to put a book down. But I'd find myself reading half a book then looking back to realize that only like 3 things actually happened in all that time. hehe. Even though i love the wheel of time series, i disliked the one book - crossroads of twilight(?) - because it was like this. In an entire book only a few things happened, they were things of note to be true, but man, reading that book was labor. The entire pern series was like that to me. Just not my thing, but I seem to be in the minority amongst my friends who read, because the all loved the Pern series and even the CoT book. Weirdos. I don't mind verbose writers, love 'em in fact, but I need things to actually be happening in the story as well.
If ya just want more classic but good fantasy (not overly dark, fluffy, mature, or kidsy, just very middle of the road), the series of books by Raymond Feist fits the bill. If ya ever played the old pc game betrayal at krondor, it takes place in his world.
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