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Try the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. It's twice the story that LoTR is, and this is coming from a fanboy who has read LoTR nine or so times.

I second the Belgarion. However, it's sequel is utter rubbish.
I'd also recommend The Redemption Of Althulus (sp) by David Eddings. Huge book, but it's good and climactic.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke.

I'm not big for fantasy books, but anything by Terry Pratchett seems to be gold.

I love just about anything from Robert E. Howard, particularly his Conan stuff, and Solomon Kane (the original inquisitor)

biccat wrote:And how has The Black Company not been mentioned yet?

Yeah, this. Not sure how this was not mentioned. Love this book series, wish Glenn Cook would finally write another.....

Soldiers of Paradise and Sugar Rain by Paul Park are excellent. They are a fantasy/sc-fi crossover done so completely that you have to really wrap your mind around the world he creates to understand the story. I had to read it three times to completely get everything, but it was well worth it.

Also the trilory Misery, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams is equal to The Lord of the Rings as far as epic fantasy goes.

As mentioned A Song of Ice and Fire is worthwhile, however as Martin is a very slow writer and has two books left to run and produces them about one every five years at current count you could be waiting a long time for the finale. This waiting can be avoided if you decide to put of your trip to westeros for another decade.


Let me recommend to you The Deed of Paksennarion by Elizabeth Moon. the Deed is the omnibus title of a trilogy called Sheepfarmers Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold. It is similar to George Martins works in many ways being a low fantasy setting with plenty of medievalesque humans and very few magical ceatures. The title character Paksennarion is a paladin, and is one of the best depictions of a paladin put to print. Elizabeth Moon has followed up with other books from the same world setting, though not directly following the original character.

Lots of good stuff so far. A few I don't think have been mentioned -

The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson is pretty well done. Some of the best 'magic' I've run into - although I thought the first book was the best by a significant margin.

The Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch is off to a good start as well.

If you want to open it up a bit to science fantasy, Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons are pretty much awesome.

|Bernard Cornwall's Saxon stories is awesome: http://www.bernardcornwell.net/index2.cfm?page=1&seriesid=10

Kilkrazy wrote:Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke.

i second this book
also, Johannes cabal the necromancer was, i thought, a rather good book, though not strictly fantasy

Dunno if its been mentioned or not but the Silmarillion would probably be a good start. Its all about the Lore and creation of Middle Earth

Wolfstan wrote:|Bernard Cornwall's Saxon stories is awesome: http://www.bernardcornwell.net/index2.cfm?page=1&seriesid=10

Not fantasy as such.

I prefered his earlier work with Sharpe anyhow. More 'magnificent bastard' and less 'holy-gak-this-is-gritty'.

Pretty much anything by David Gemmell.

The wheel of time is good for that sense of a "real world".
He might not have worked out elvish language, but he spent a lot of time thinking about the different countries, histories and societies.

biccat wrote:Also, surprised no one has mentioned this yet:

That is my first recommendation. The Dragonlance Chronicles are excellent.

kronk wrote:

biccat wrote:Also, surprised no one has mentioned this yet:

That is my first recommendation. The Dragonlance Chronicles are excellent.

Got to agree. Read these, then the Legends series. Then no more dragonlance. Pretend it ends there.

Emperors Faithful wrote:

Wolfstan wrote:|Bernard Cornwall's Saxon stories is awesome: http://www.bernardcornwell.net/index2.cfm?page=1&seriesid=10

Not fantasy as such.

I prefered his earlier work with Sharpe anyhow. More 'magnificent bastard' and less 'holy-gak-this-is-gritty'.

Liked the Sharpe stuff, but got bored with it in the end as it just became samey. Love the Saxon stories though. There's also the Raven Blood Eye tales by Giles Kristian and the Viking trilogy by Tim Severin

ChaosGalvatron wrote:Got to agree. Read these, then the Legends series. Then no more dragonlance. Pretend it ends there.

The second Chronicles series was pretty good. Dragons of the Hourglass Mage and all that stuff. Oh, and Preludes was pretty decent as well.

If you're getting into Fantasy for the first time (not just OP, but anyone else reading this), it's best to keep in mind Sturgeon's Law: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SturgeonsLaw
There is some absolutely terrible Fantasy literature out there. Some people may even suggest you read some of it. If you start a book and hate it, just put it down and try something else. There are plenty of diamonds in the rough, but sometimes you need to search a bit.

My personal fantasy favorites:

Tolkien:
Lord of the Rings: This series re-defined the Fantasy genre. It's a beautiful series and well worth a read, even if you're not into Fantasy, and even if you're not into books. The pacing is sometimes a bit slow, but overall this is a classic.
The Hobbit: LotR was a squeal to The Hobbit. It's an amazing book, but is aimed at a younger audience. So, the themes aren't quite as refined. But, still an amazing novel.
The Silmarillion: This was Tolkien's lifelong work. It's a great supplement for any LotR nerd. But, it can get rather tedious at times, and can be frustrating for plenty of people. Give it a try. If you get past the first 15% or so with the gods creating things, the pacing does improve. But, be prepared to hate this book.

George R. R. Martin:
A Game of Thrones: The first book from A Song of Ice and Fire. This is a classic. The themes are rather mature, so it's not for kids. But, it is one of the best pieces of Fantasy ever written.
A Clash of Kings: Book 2 of Song of Ice and Fire. Again, an amazing book. If you enjoyed 1, read this. More action than Game of Thrones, but less political intrigue.
A Storm of Swords: Book 3. It starts to slow down a bit, and isn't on the same level of the first 2. Well worth it if you enjoyed the others, but is a bit of a drop in quality from the earlier installments.
A Feast for Crows: Book 4. This is a drop in quality from Storm of Swords. It also confines itself to only half of the developing story, so it can be a letdown. If you found 3 frustrating, this will be worse. Still a good read, but not great.
A Dance with Dragons: Book 5. The writing returns to Martin's previous quality. But, the pacing slows down. An excellent book, but is a bit of a letdown in how little the story develops.

Roger Zelazny:
The Chronicles of Amber books 1 through 5: Excellent series, definitely a classic. Doesn't fit into the typical fantasy tropes and is an interesting read.
The Chronicles of Amber books 6 through 10: The focus of the story shifts dramatically, and the quality drops significantly. Try to get through book 6. If you aren't caught up in the story again, don't try to force yourself through books 7-10.

Scott Lynch:
The Lies of Locke Lamora: This was a bit of a random choice for me. It caught my eye on the bookshelf, so I gave it a shot. I was blown away. This is an excellent novel. It's very low fantasy (meaning no magic or elves or anything), and possibly the best low fantasy I've ever read (I don't consider GRRM low fantasy any more).
Red Seas Under Red Skies: The squeal to the above. A good book, but wasn't as good, IMO. If you enjoyed the first one, definitely give this a read.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman:
The Chronicles Trilogy (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning): This series is amazing. It's very high fantasy (Dragons and Elves everywhere, Mages, that sort of thing) and is very well done. This is easily the best of the D&D style fantasy novels.
The Legends Trilogy (Time of the Twins, War of the Twins, Test of the Twins): This is the followup trilogy to the above. Again, excellent work. If you loved Chronicles, definitely read this.
The Second Generation: This continues the above stories. The quality starts to stretch a bit, here. But, it's still an excellent book.
Dragons of Summer Flame: A great end to the above books. An excellent read. If you got through Legends, make sure to make it all the way through this one.
Other Dragonlance books (not necessarily by Weis and Hickman): As with any shared universe, the quality of the books is drastically different from author to author. My favorite is The Legend of Huma. But, feel free to skip all of these unless you're really into the Dragonlance setting. The storyline does continue from Dragons of Summer Flame, but if you're starting to get tired of the series, Dragons of Summer Flame is a good place to call it the end of the "core" books.

R. A. Salvatore:
The Icewind Dale Trilogy: Excellent series. It introduces Drizzt, one of the most iconic characters from fantasy literature. Salvatore's writing at it's best. And, a must read for any D&D nerd.
The Dark Elf Trilogy: The prequel to the above. Again, an amazing series.
Legacy of the Drow: A quadrillogy. Again, an excellent series. The quality of the writing doesn't really drop, but by book 10, Drizzt starts to get a little stale.
Paths of Darkness: Another quadrillogy. Again, very well written. Again, gets rather stale. I had to fight to get through the last books. The story does continue, but I haven't continued with it.

C. S. Lewis:
The Chronicles of Narnia: I read these as a kid and really enjoyed them. But, I don't remember them well enough to give a proper review any more.

Not fantasy, but one of the best science fiction books ever:

Nice call on Deed of Paksenarrion, Orlanth! Paks is definitely one of the iconic Paladins from fantasy literature. Her and Holger Carlson from Three Hearts and Three Lions are pretty much the top two, IMO.

Grakmar wrote:If you're getting into Fantasy for the first time (not just OP, but anyone else reading this), it's best to keep in mind Sturgeon's Law: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SturgeonsLaw
There is some absolutely terrible Fantasy literature out there. Some people may even suggest you read some of it. If you start a book and hate it, just put it down and try something else. There are plenty of diamonds in the rough, but sometimes you need to search a bit.

This is great advice. A fair amount of total crap has been recommended in this very thread, sadly.

We used to rent The Deed of Paksenarrion at least once a year to read through. Now I own it.

Excellent development, even if her stubborness annoyed me once or twice.

Kilkrazy wrote:
Ursula K Le Guin (Earthsea)

I have yet to read much that has been suggested, but I always go back
to Earthsea for its poetic prose. If you don't like books where it seems
as if nothing is happening yet the prose is what keeps you reading it
again and again, then don't read this series.

I am always struck by the wizard Ged and his description of power:

"It is no secret. All power is one in source and end, I think. Years and distances, stars and candles, water and wind and wizardry, the craft in a man's hand and the wis­dom in a tree's root: they all arise together. My name, and yours, and the true name of the sun, or a spring of water, or an unborn child, all are syllables of the great word that is very slowly spoken by the shining of the stars. There is no other power. No other name."

I would suggest you don't go near the Wheel of Time books, I read 7 of them and they were dire. Everything in them was stolen from either LotR or Dune and wedged uncomfortably together, it veers between unrelated stories and kills off and brings back people in a 'whoops, guess they were popular, better just 'magic spell' them back to life' way.

I have a deepseated dislike.

I personally find the Wheel of time series, a must read. The character depth, storyline is just epic.

The series will contain 15 books, each around a 1000 pages (if my memory is correct). (Number 13 and 14 are still in production)
If you're into Fantasy and have a lot of spare time. I Would definetly suggest these books.

Linky to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time



Edit:
Ninja'd by meangreenstompa.

Obviously i don't agree with him.

malfred wrote:I am always struck by the wizard Ged and his description of power:

I read A Wizard of Earthsea for the first time when I was pretty young. One thing that really stuck with me was when Ged turns some guy's blood into molten lead. Awesome books.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I would suggest you don't go near the Wheel of Time books, I read 7 of them and they were dire.

I can't believe you made it that far. I read the first one and half of the second before I bailed. Not a fan, though I have bitter arguments with my friends over this.

WoT is a pretty generic fantasy. The first 4 books or so are decent to read in a "oh well I've nothing else worth looking at" kind of way.
From book five they get steadily worse, with a slight rally in book 9 before the absolute nadir of book 10.

There's a new guy writing it now, and it's a bit more entertaining, but it's still on the low end of fantasy I've read with a LOT of questionable sections.

Galatic's sig reminded me, you might consider Redwall. Not very gritty, and racially stereotypical (why can't foxes ever be good guys? ) but I enjoyed them all the same.

If you liked LOTR, you'll love Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, not fantasy, but amazing.

The Prydain CHronicles or watever their called with Taran and Eilonway are pretty epic too....and then there's jonathan Stroud's stuff, (the golem's eye, the amulet of samarkand, etc.) is really good. Also the Artemis Fowl stuff is pretty good...but LOTR, the silmarillion and the Hobbit together are probably some of the best books ever written ever of all time.

Monster Rain wrote:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I would suggest you don't go near the Wheel of Time books, I read 7 of them and they were dire.

I can't believe you made it that far. I read the first one and half of the second before I bailed. Not a fan, though I have bitter arguments with my friends over this.

My girlfriend at the time was adamant that I read them. She kept insisting that I would get to like them if I stick them out, yet the more I read, the less I liked. The 'fremen' waiting in the desert for their messiah to appear was about the last straw and from thereon I was reading from boredom and quickly stopped.


Then I dumped the girlfriend.