What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[vanwafeniel]

Hey people, im new to this conversation as is obvious, well any way...i love books. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Any kind of book will do as long as it has WORDS! I recently read The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks. That changed me, it was so well written, dark, disturbing and psychotically funny. I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like Psycho-analytical books, very philosophical. I have read most of Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles. They were very interesting for people like me who read gothic horror type science fiction, Ooooh I do love the main Character Lestat but the attempt at movies was a bad idea for Ann Rice. Memnoch the Devil is a brill Vampire Chronicle, by far her most philosophical chronicle though Interview With The Vampire is my favourite. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]
I think it was Guo Si who has read Journey to The West, please can you tell me where to find that book, i really want to read it! Thanks. I like the Darren Shan books by Darren Shan. Its tacky i know but they get gorier by the book. I seem to read lots of Vampire Fiction. I like most of my friends tried to read White Teeth by Zadie Smith but got bored by page 150, i wish they hadn't let her write, may sound harsh but the thought of boring books existing and pulling innocent readers into it scares me. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]
I like funny books, not so much as decent science fiction but hey, we all need humour, stuff by Eoin Colfer, his Artemis Fowl books were hilarious.
Aswell as science fiction does anybody here read actual science books? Stuff by Hawking? I love the Elegant Universe and anything on Schroedinger's theory. I am aware that its spelt wrong but i'm tired.
Please name some excellent science fiction books, i would be glad to read them. I have also read the books on Narnia etc but it was ages ago. I'm re-reading The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings in french! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[vanwafeniel]

Sorry i just started typing and forgot to stop but i like rumil's choice of Literature. Hitchhikers gude was brilliant, my family are big fans of that book, 42 anall. I loved Consider Phlebas, since The Wasp Factory i have been a bit scared to touch Banks' books. Disturbing. i plan to read Feersum Endgin though. Is that spelt right?hmmm...Who knows? [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[Rumil]

Cheers for the appreciation Van,

'We shall confront the ineffable and see if we may not eff it after all'

(One of my favourite Douglas Adams quotes)

I know what you mean about 'The Wasp Factory' but if you liked 'Consider Phlebas' you'll love 'The Player of Games'. On Monkey, I think the Video is available from channel 4 in the UK, I guess they have a website. (doesn't everyone?)

(Must say that I've just reserved my copy of 'Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix',)

[img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[vanwafeniel]

S'ok rumil, i thought i was the only one awake at this time! its 2am! Yea i was going to buy the player of games today but i couldn't walk to Waterstones so i went home.(God i love that place, so many books, i know every section of the place by heart and the staff!) Sounds odd i know but i winded meself skateboarding.
I think i'll search for the video a bit later. When i first heard of Ian banks, before i read his books, i was a bit worried, you know the banning of his works and the scrutiny, themes etc. People in the sixties seemed so afraid of the truth which is what he tried to write about. I think it was the sixties. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[vanwafeniel]

P.S. i HAVE READ THE HARRY POTTER SERIES 5 TIMES BUT I REFUSE TO READ THE NEXT BOOK! J.k. rowling is competition to j.r.r.t not to mention a thief! It probably isn't that good anyway..i hope...can't be..hmmm. My fave is The Prisoner Of Azkaban. I'm using the strongest of my will power not to order The Order of The Phoenix. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

[Rumil]

You know you WANTSSSSSS to read it my PRECIOUSSSSSSSSSS ! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

There have been extraordinarily impassioned threads about LoTR vs HP, but I say live and let live, Potter is certainly less 'deep' than Tolkien, but that's no reason not to enjoy it. (By the way, if this turns into a Rowling/Tolkien thread I'm sure it will be deleted, so this ends here OK?)

As I've said before, Banks is really for adults only, (and 80s not 60s), don't buy them if you're easily shocked!

I firmly believe that heaven is an extremely large branch of Waterstones, where you can get all of Tolkien's latest posthumous works and have a chat with the man himself on Tuesdays, but it has an infinitely greater number of comfy Chesterfield sofas.

[Morwen Tindomerel]

*Nothing* is as deep as Tolkien. I don't think any other author has ever dedicated so much time and sheer intellect to the creation of a secondary world.

This does not, of course, make other writer's work worthless. Any more than Shakespeare makes other playwrites redundant.

[Frodo Brandybuck]

Brian Jacqes 'Redwall'series are excellent books as well as his book 'Castaways of the Flying Dutchman' (its better than it sounds) They were originally written for blind children so they contain exquisite descriptions of everything. [img][c:\mydocuments\anasphotos\hobbitstuff\pippinbecomi ngahobbit.jpg][/img]

[Eldawen of Lorien]

I like Anne McAffery's "Dragonrides of Pern" series and "Black Horses for the King", "The Chornicles of Narania" by C.S. Lewis, and "The Mists of Avalon" and its prequels by Marrion Zimmerman Bradley.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Unfortunately, the first fantasy series I read was Chronicles Of Narnia and LoTR after that. Then on to C.S. Lewis’s SciFi. After that I spent a LONG time trying to find something as good as LoTR but after many years gave up.

During that time (late ‘70’s) I read
Lloyd Alexander
Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books
T.H. White
Madeline L'Engle
Terry Brooks (The Sword of Shannara only)
Lewis Carrol
Ursula LeGuinn
Frank Hebert’s Dune series

All these guys are good and very talented writers (especially LeGuin And Herbert) but they just don’t have what Tolkien did. He is the master! Frank Herbert comes close, in depth.

Most of the stories had a dark element to them as well, and given the choice between an excellent dark tale and an excellent one that isn’t 10 times out of 10 I’ll pick the one that isn’t. I mean even Tolkien’s twisted stuff isn’t so much deeply disturbing as it is deeply tragic (Turin).

So off I went to myths & epics, Anne Dillard, Farley Mowat, Hermann Hesse (Magister Ludi is excellent!), Douglas Adams and landed in classics. Current favorite besides Tolkien is George Eliot.

There has been a lot of stuff mentioned here that is rather tempting, though.

[Belethfacwen]

w00t, A live action The Last Unicorn. I LOVED that book, it's a favorite of mine.

Philip Pullman and the His Dark Materials trilogy has also been a favorite of mine for a long while. I hear they're making live action movies of those, too.

Actually, other than Tolkien and the above mentioned ones (Or if you count Marion Zimmer Bradley), I read embarassingly little fantasy. I'm going a bit off topic, but you can't really consider Anne Rice fantasy, which is my latest kick.

Nice post.

[ April 20, 2003: Message edited by: Belethfacwen ]

[Amanaduial the archer]

I read embarassingly little fantasy

Good lord, stay away, stay away!!!!!

Ermmm....*sees people looking at her oddly and stands up from crouching position, smoothing down her clothes*...yes. Well. Anyway.

[Salocin]

Most of the stuff I like has already been given a lot of time here, so I won't mention it right now.

There are 3 things that I am surprised at how little they are mentioned.

First: E.R. Eddison hasn't been mentioned at all. Has no one read The Worm Ouroboros? I guess I am going to have to give you guys a full rundown.

E.R. Eddison started his fantasy in the tweenties (way before Tolkien). He wrote a few things and published a few translations of Old English stuff before creating his own fantasy world(sound familiar?). The Worm Ouroboros was published in 1926. It is an epic novel covering the last war between two rival, man-like races: the witches and the demons; battling it out on Mercury. (The demons are the good guys [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]. The races don't really have anything to do with demons and witches besides the present king of the witches being a scorceror and demons having small, goat-like horns above their ears and under their hair.) The detail is amazing, the depth astounding. You'll have to disregard the Tolkien refferences on the back of the book and in any reviews because it really has nothing to do with the Proffesor at all. It is a completely different style.

After The Worm Ouroboros, Eddison wrote the Zimiamvian Trilogy. I know, most of us hard core Tolkienist cringe at other fantasy "Trilogies", but you have to keep in mind that Eddison's was written before the Tolkien's, though I am not suggesting Tolkien got the idea from Eddison. Their versions of fantasy are very different and I am very opposed to them being compared in any way exept to say they both wrote good fantasy.

The Zimiamvian Trilogy consists of Mistess of Mistresses (1935), A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941), and The Mezentian Gate (I don't have it on hand so I don't know when it was published). To put things in perspective, LoTR was published 1954-1955. The Mezentian Gate was never finnished (Eddison, like all great authors, died before he wrote enough for us [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] ) but he wrote with outlines in such away that it is much more readable than most fragments and one can accually get the story out of it and even the ending.

The Zimiamvian Trilogy also takes place on Mercury, but in a different part of the planet and is completely unrelated to The worm Ouroboros. It takes place in a region known as Zimiamvia (go figuer). The books are highly philosophical and are very tough reading (at least for me, but I found LoTR tough the first time through)

I need to go so I better finnish this quickly.

In short, C.S.Lewis loved Eddisons work, he raved about it and was probably his biggest fan. Tolkien read them and admitted they wear well written but said he didn't like the complete absence of christian morality. (I know this sounds weird, since Tolkien claimed LoTR was not a chritian allegory, but its true.) The Eddison books are bassed on a savage, pre-christian, almost pagan, morality.

Well got to go for now.

[Elfstone]

Wow, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Author Stephen Donaldson has an obvious Tolkien influence, but nonetheless makes an excellent story. The Unbeliever is a study in self-loathing.

Another great story is Watership Down by Richard Adams. A completely different kind of fantasy, but one with deep undertones of righteousness in the face of oppression.

[Durelin]

THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES ROCKS!

[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Luinalatawen]

There are so very many fantasy books that I read... In fact, it's basically the only genre that I like. My favorites:

P. Pullman - His Dark Materials Trilogy
C. S. Lewis - Chronicles of Narnia
J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter (I like all the others better, but I still have to put them on my list)
P. McKillip - Any of her books- she has a fresh, different style of writing

There's probably a ton more, but that's it for now.

I've heard that Jordan's Wheel of Time series is good for about the first few books, but then all the rest are just plot developers and nothing major happens at all. So I haven't even attempted reading any of them. Yet. Maybe someday I'll read the first few and then the last few and get summaries from the ones in beween.

[vanwafeniel]

I bought The Player Of Games by Iain Banks yesterday. I should finish it tonight, its brilliant. The Culture is a brilliantly large and complex structure, it makes the future seem morbid, drones and outer species aswell as always being linked to the Culture. Apart from the scenery in the book its a fantastic fiction book. I haven't heard of Eddison, maybe i'll look him up. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] And personally Morwen I hate Shakespeare. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] In other Sci-fi books at the mo Iain Banks features heavily on my list, theres not much else. As gruesome as the wasp factory was i have to say it was captivating. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[GlingleglingleglingleFairy]

I have to say that I pretty much never read fantasy because, in my opinion, it's all the same. There's always heroes and dragons and really cheap thrills and magic that's ridiculous. I know I've never read most books and perhaps I'm being prejudiced, but that's it. I have no problems with fairytales though, and if any Tolkien fan needs books to read the most basic fairytales (unabridged, or close) are always my choice. I do have a few fantasy series that I think are great; the series (I forget what its called) by Phillip Pullman that starts with Northern lights is great, as is any Terry Pratchett book. (woohoo for the Discworld)

[vanwafeniel]

Everyone has their own opinion of sci-fi and fantasy. But i like them. I tried reading Pullmans books but couldn't finish them,i know 8-10 yr olds who read them and love them,i was told they're for children which is annoying because they seemed good...before i read them. They just didn't keep me enthralled which a good book should do (at some point).

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Tried The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever but couldn’t get into it.
Watership Down was good, and Shardick was interesting but couldn’t get through Plague Dogs. Again it’s all dark stuff.

Never heard of Eddison’s though.

[ April 21, 2003: Message edited by: Hilde Bracegirdle ]

[Sapphire_Flame]

Never heard of Eddison’s though.

Me neither. [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

And has anyone here heard of Terry Goodkind? I just need to know. I'm finishing the first book of the Sword of Truth series (Wizard's First Rule) and I wanted to know if anyone else has read the books.

[vanwafeniel]

Sorry sapphire, i never heard of them. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

[Salocin]

Part of the reason you may not have heard of Eddison is that he has been out of print for decades [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]. The only way to find his books is at a library, ebay, or (how I did) through Amazon.com's used book dealers. I'd have to say he is not for everyone, but if its deep you want, you want Eddison.

I also think C.S.Lewis's Space Trilogy hasn't been mentioned enough [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]. They are AMAZING, especially That Hideous Strength. Out of the Silent Planet was a little kidish, but I liked it (I read it when I was 13).

If there are any Lewis fans out there, you may want to hear this. There is a book of his short stories, some complete, some fragments, that was published posthumerously called The Dark Tower (not to be confused with the Stephen King book by the same name). The story it is titled after is a really intriging fragment Lewis wrote about a chromographer; a progector that is supposed to progect images from the same place in space but a different time. It wasn't developed enough to have a deffenite main character, but Ransom and Lewis himself have staring roles. Chronologically it was supposed to take place between Silent Planet and Perelandra, about the time when Ransom was taking Lewis into his confidence. In it Lewis takes a very unorthodox stance and investigates what it would be like with 3 dimentions of space and 2 of time. Absolutely fasinating.

[vanwafeniel]

Aah..that explains it. I am keeping check of these supposedly good books for future reads but hav no time at the present. If you don't mind i'll stick to Iain Banks, one writer at a time for me! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[vanwafeniel]

Aah..that explains it. I am keeping check of these supposedly good books for future reads but hav no time at the present. If you don't mind i'll stick to Iain Banks, one writer at a time for me! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] But i do love deep writings, i will look into eddison. If any one can recommend any other good sci-fi and fantasy i would welcome them,
cheers.
[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Salocin]

Also George MacDonald is very good, even if you don't read (or understand [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ) his real stuff. The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie are really good childrens fairy tales, though I think any of us could enjoy and benefit from them.

Morwen- Lilith is very strange. The confusion with the christian allegory part of it stems from MacDonalds belief in what is known as Universalism or Origin's Herisy. He believed that everyone, from the most inocent new born who dies to the devil himself, will be saved in the end. He did not really believe in hell, instead he believed in a sort of uber-purgatory. When you die you will be subjected to "torments" and other things to slowly make you realize your sinfulness, repent, and be good. You sort of don't have a choice, though, since no matter what you will eventually have to repent. Heaven starts once everyone has repented and been purified through purgatory(including Satan) and the World is all hunky-dory. This view is unorthodox to say the least and most christians (including myself) consider it heresy (thus the title Origin's Heresy; Origin was the guy who came up with it).

C.S. Lewis, as has been said, adored Macdonald. In Lewis's book The Great Divorce (great book, highly recomended, and worderfully vivid, concise and short(this review brought to you by the department of redundency department [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]); it could be considered Fantasy since it is a fantastical view of heaven and hell), he casts Macdonald as His guide through Heaven.

MacDonald also wrote tons of Romances for a living (some how deep religious fantasy doesn't make much money [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img] ) I am not recomending Romances by any means, I think they are a horrible vice people should avoid and that they can very easily and quite often do ruin marrages by making the reader starry-eyed and giving the reader unrealistic expactations about being swept off their feet; I am just saying if you are already enthralled to them, Goerge MacDonald's romaces are probably better than most. Just a friendly word of advice [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] .

[the real findorfin]

Wow, am I the only sad, 'modern-fantasy only' freak here for a page or so. heres my bookshelf

David Eddings - The Belgariad (5 books), the Mallorean (5 books), The Elenium (3), the Tamuli (3), The Redemption of Althalus (1).

Sean Russel - The One Kingdom (1)

David Gemmil - The Drenai Tales, Vol.1 (3)

Raymond Feist - Magician, Silverthorn, The Darkness at Sethanon, Prince of the Blood

Sara Douglass - The Axis Trilogy (3), The Wayfarer Redemption Trilogy (3)

Chris Bunch - The Seer/Demon/Warrior King (3), Corsair (1)

Maggie Furey – The Heart of Myrial, Spirit of the Stone

Terry Brooks – The Shannara Series (4), the Heritage of Shannara (4), The Isle Witch (1 so far)

Robert Jordan – The Eye of the World

Philip Pullman – The Dark Material Trilogy (3)

JK Rowling – Harry Potter (4)

Anne McAffrey – Pern (only 2)

JRR Tolkien – Lotr (3), Silmarillion (1), Unfinished tales (1)


Not much, eh

[ April 21, 2003: Message edited by: the real findorfin ]

[Annalaliath]

1)Terry Brooks- i own many of the Shannora series except the new ones, talk about finances..... i also have a few of the Magic Kingdom For Sale Sold ones too.

2)Stephen Lawhead- i own the pendragon series, the silver hand trillagy, the other one i can't remember right now and i think the iron lance or something like it. i have also read and probably own Avalon.

3)CS Lewis-there are many book sets of the chronicales in my family alone.... and so far i have only heard bits and pieces of meer christianity

4)Ray bradberry- Something Wicked this way comes

5)JK Roaling- I oen these too but they are initially banned in my parrents house

6)Forgotten relams- the dark elf ones

7)Dragon lance

8)Anne Rice- own a few but some are too sexually explicit for my tastes

9)Susan cooper- the dark is riseing series

10) Frank Peretty- never finished was too scary

there are so many more that i cannot remember that i shall stop here.......

[Arvedui III]

Herm, well, I really like the "Dune" series and anything by Orson Scott Card, especially the books about Bean, and um, the dark elf forgotton realms, and um, the books by Jeff Shaara, and most things by Leon Uris, and um, course the Narnia cronicles, and Harry Potter, and um, well I can't think of any more so I'll stop there. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[kittiewhirl1677]

Let's see...
~Here's my list of fantasy books:
~The Chronicles of Narnia
~Star Trek:TNG books, any of them
~Anything else by Tolkien
~Merlin
~Silverwing
~Sunwing
~Redwall(I used to. I stopped a while ago cause I got bored)
~Harry Potter

There's more, but as usual, I can't think of anything right now. I can't remember the names of some of the best series!! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] ARRGH! [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img]

[ April 21, 2003: Message edited by: kittiewhirl1677 ]

[MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie]

Well, kudos to Dain for reviving this thread!

the essentially tragic Cuchulain stories from Ireland

Those are some great myths (or stories, whichever you prefer) Kalessin.

I'm surprised that only one person (Hilde Bracegirdle) has mentioned Richard Adam's novels. Forgive me if others have too, while reading 5 pages I might have not noticed it. Watership Down is my favorite book excluding Tolkien's works. The Plague Dogs is great also, I reccomend that you finsih it Hilde Bracegirdle. As for Shardick, I never read that. And have you read Tales from Watership Down? It's the sequel to Watership Down, but I'm not sure if it's good or not.

Other books I enjoy that aren't fantasy are Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, Dubliners by James Joyce, The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London, and Dracula by Bram Stoker. That's all I could think of off the top of my mind.

[Birdland]

G-K Willie - did you know that Jack London wrote a time travel novel, called Star Rover? It's about a condemned prisoner who escapes his cell by traveling to past lifes. Last time I read it was high school, but I remember enjoying it very much.

And while we're on the subject of Richard Adams; I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Maia. A plucky heroine saves a kingdom. At 891 pages, this is one honkin' big book, but it's a page turner.

Warning: since the plucky heroine starts life as a sex slave, there is lots of racy stuff. (Adams does like his racy stuff.)

[Amanaduial the archer]

Maia is indeed a hefty book, but its a great read. I devoured it in a few days, reading it at pretty much any time I could. Why is it there are so many fantasy heroines called maia/maya....?

Redwall(I used to. I stopped a while ago cause I got bored)

Ditto Kittie. I used to love those books, and when I read over them, Brian Jacques writing is still as captivating as ever, but they do get a little samey after a while. He makes some fantastic heroes though, like Martin, Mattius, Mariel, the hares of Salamandastron and the rest. Mariel of Redwall or Martin the Warrior are my favourites. Or The Long Patrol. Or Salamandastron...

One of the books I read more recently was 'Spartan', by valerios Massimio Manfredi (that is one heck of a name!). Its set in ancient Greece, mainly in and around, surprise surprise, Sparta. It is about a two Spartan boys, on of whom is born crippled, and by the harsh laws of Sparta, his father must abandon him to the elements and the wild beasts of the mountains. But by chance, this boy is found by a Helot shepherd, one of the race enslaved by the Spartans. Despite guessing the boy's heritage, the shepherd brings the boy home and brings him up as his grandchild, naming him Talos, after a Helot warrior of myth. But as the boys grow, seperately, each unknowing of the other, another twist of fate one day throws them together, intertwining their fates...

Another is Peter Dickensons 'The Ropemaker'. This fantasy book is incredible and is about a girl, Tilja, who lives in the Valley, a small and peaceful place, the only place isolated from the mighty power of the Empire. The reason it is so is because, long long ago, the sorceress Asarta gave help to two of the dwellers of the Valley, casting a spell on the place that would protect it for ten generations. But now the power of the spell is faltering, and Tilja and her companions must set out to find Asarta, if she isnt already dead, or to find the sorcerer Faheel, in the hope that the spells may be renewed and their Valley saved. But time is getting short as the Emporers army readies itself to once more attack the Valley, and to save it the companions must stretch the very limits of time and magic itself, changing the never ending rope of time...

[Nuinatariel]

Wow. I never thought I would find so many people who liked the same books that I do (besides Tolkien). Anyway, here's my list of favorite fantasy:

J.R.R. Tolkien-anything he wrote
Philip Pullman- His Dark Materials trilogy
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman- Dragonlance series
Orson Scott Card- any of the Ender books
Gabriel King- The Wild Road and the Golden Cat
Brian Jacques-Redwall series
Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon-The Mage Wars trilogy
Alan Dean Foster-Kingdoms of Light

I think that's it. I've probably missed some, though. Michael Crichton is one of my favorites, too, but he's more sci-fi than fantasy.

I knew I had forgotten something! Diana Wynne Jones is another favorite of mine, especially her books with griffins in them.

[ April 22, 2003: Message edited by: Nuinatariel ]

[arelendil]

i really like Narnia. almost as much as Tolkien.

I love the idea that they knew each other. When you read HoME and you see that Tolkien really respected C.S Lewis' opinion. And if you look at the dedications in the front of the books, many of Lewis' are to Tolkien and the other way around.

[vanwafeniel]

Woah you guys read way more that me! But i do love most of the same books, i love the Ann Rice books, anything by Iain Banks and i love Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy. hmm...the chronicles of Narnia were good but i don't really like Phillip Pullman. I didn't find Ann Rice's books that sexually explicit, they werre averagely gory though! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Tales from Watership Down? No, I didn’t know about that one. Seeing as I’ve been rereading things with my daughter I will have to look for that when we get to Watership Down.

The Star Rover book sounds interesting too. I like all Jack London’s works that I’ve read.

[Lyra Greenleaf]

20 times reading this thread I was about to get annoyed and post angrily defending my favourites that people have said bad things about, but hey- everyone has different tastes! This I had to comment on though:

*Nothing* is as deep as Tolkien. I don't think any other author has ever dedicated so much time and sheer intellect to the creation of a secondary world.

Says who? There are lots of dedicated people out there, Robert Jordan, for example, has made up an impressive history for his world and bits of a language. That may not be as extensive as Tolkiens, but the sheer volume of the Wheel of Time might make up for this. Taste is one thing but you can't say no-one was ever as dedicated.

Sorry, my list of fantasy books are:
# Tolkien!
# Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time
# Amy Stout, The Sacred Seven
# Elizabeth Moon, The Deed of Paksenarrion
# JK Rowling, Harry Potter
# CS Lewis, Narnia
# Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials
# Tamora Pierce, Everything she's ever written!
# Marianne Curley, The Named and Old Magic
# Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl
# Victoria Hanley, The Seer and the Sword
# Diana Wynne Jones, The Worlds of Chrestomanci, etc
# Patricia Wrede
# Kevin Crossley-Holland, Arthur and...

Thats all the ones I can remember. I loved all of them, but would especially reccommend Robert Jordan and Tamora Pierce. Tamora Pierce is more aimed at children, but I'm 18 and they don't seem to young for me. I'd try them however old you are, after all some people suggest LOTR is a childrens story!

[vanwafeniel]

hmm...i still don't like Phillip Pullman but your the only person here who has read Eoin Colfers Artemis Fowl books. I salute you on that one! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
I agree withyou on the "deep" thing, i would say that most writers dedicate themselves to their work though Tolkien did indeed go very deep. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[vanwafeniel]

hmm...i still don't like Phillip Pullman but your the only person here who has read Eoin Colfers Artemis Fowl books. I salute you on that one! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
I agree withyou on the "deep" thing, i would say that most writers dedicate themselves to their work though Tolkien did indeed go very deep. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]