So I grew up very sheltered and isolated from society and as a result missed out on a lot of pop culture and other common things. I love to read, and I really enjoy fantasy and DnD and those types of things and I’m trying to find and catch up on the great fantasy books/series that every fantasy lover/nerd should know. I’m not as interested in sci-fi, but I’m willing to read the “great” ones too. What would you recommend?
Series I’ve read: The Lord of the Rings The Witcher The Dark Tower The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Dungeon Crawler Karl
Update to add also read: Wheel of Time Most of the Stormlight Archive The Hobbit
I’m just starting my first Discworld book.
Edit: Thanks everyone! Keep them coming, I’m going to make a list with all the suggestions and start working through them.
I’d like to add Melissa Caruso to the list of authors. I really enjoyed the first two books of the Echo Archives series. The third book will come out in November. Haven’t read her other books yet, but they’re on my list.
The hobbit is great. I loved every page of it. Just don’t base your opinion of the movies if you’ve seen them, and not read the book. How the fuck did they shit out a 3.5 hour long turd from a 15 page chapter in the battle of the five armies. Holy shit.
I have read the Hobbit! I was so excited for the movies and when the first one came out I almost cried in the theater. I made myself watch the second one but never did watch the third one. The book is good enough.
Some of my best memories are of my grandfather reading me the hobbit at bedtime when I stayed with him for a summer.
Yes. You may have seen the movies but the books are works of art. I still don’t think I’ve read a better written book in my life. The hobbit is especially fun to read.
I read Tolkien growing up and it kind of set an unrealistic expectation for the quality of literature I would encounter later in life. I was constantly disappointed after that.
Earthsea, as someone else has already mentioned, was one of the few series that measured up.
Howl’s Moving Castle was fun, as long as you don’t take it too seriously. It’s not meant to be serious.
I’m reading Wheel of Time now, and it’s just okay. It’s good as far as these things go, and I’m invested in the plot, so I’m gonna finish the series, but it’s just not a masterpiece in my opinion.
Some of the characters are well done, some of them are kinda cringey, and only some of those are cringey on purpose. Some of the running jokes are funny, but some just sound like what an old british guy in the 90s would think is funny. Some of it didn’t age well.
Some of it gets really repetitive, too. Like, I swear, if he says someone looks like a bird again, I’m gonna lose my mind. It’s always someone from the brown ajah, too. And I think he overuses the ta’veren device to rationalize some kinda stretched plot points.
It probably sounds like I hate it. I don’t. Well only a little. It’s a bit love-hate ever since my favorite character died (won’t say who but it was near the end of book five).
Character analysis (avoiding spoilers):
Some of the character development is pretty good though. Rand kinda turns into an asshole, but it makes sense because he’s under so much pressure. I hope the author uses that device to bring it full circle so he corrects himself. If he’s just an asshole for the rest of the series then that would be lame.
I really appreciate the flawed characters (namely, Nynaeve and Mat), both for the comic relief and their occasional redeeming moments. And how they’re always projecting whenever they criticize others really cracks me up, especially when the two interact with each other. Cause you know that deep down, as much as they can’t stand each other, either one would risk their life for the other in a heartbeat.
I started out liking Perrin, but I think the author dropped the ball on his development. He has some outdated ideas about chivalry, and at the same time Faile (as much as I want to like Faile, but she’s just kinda one-dimensional) she encourages some really toxic and even abusive traits. It might be deliberate on the author’s part, but I just think it’s poorly done. Perrin is one of the few characters who isn’t constantly lying to himself though, and I still like that about him.
Egwene’s character development is really good. She starts off kinda bland and tokeny, but around book four she really starts coming into her own, and I can’t spoil anything but I’m past halfway through the series now and her plot arc is probably the one I’m most interested in at this point. I’m legitimately so proud of her, and I think that part of the story is being handled well. It’s not just like some “magic solution on a silver platter” that’s the hallmark of bad writing. She still has challenges, but she meets them squarely, and her inner monologue is just so honest with herself. She’s probably the most relatable character in the series in my opinion.
And Elayne’s plot arc is fun because it’s usually lighthearted due to her innocence and naïvete, but she makes some really intelligent decisions on things that are within her wheelhouse, and she’s usually pretty honest with herself (usually). She’s a strong character though, even leaving aside the obvious nepotism, and sometimes her strength and intelligence clashes with her innocence and naïvete in some really interesting ways.
I don’t know who else I can talk about without spoiling things. I’m looking forward to Elaida’s downfall (so clearly forshadowed by her hubris), which she’ll deserve every bit of.
Some new characters have been introduced recently, and some old characters reintroduced, but I’m not gonna give anything away and honestly I still need to wait to form any opinions about them.
I will say, though, that there’s a lot that could be done with some of the different groups that are coming together (and clashing), but that’s another point where I think the author drops the ball. Some of them are just unrealistically hotheaded and arrogant, and it turns into this sorta clusterfuck where everyone’s trying to teach the others to respect them by asserting their dominance. It’s just really immature for the people who are supposed to be the wise leaders of their respective societies.
I mean, the machiavellian stuff makes sense within some contexts, like within the politics of the different nations, but that was always tangential or adjacent to the plot at most. Now it’s just starting to seem like the groups that are supposed to be the main good guys are just as foolish as the meddlesome side characters running most of the governments…
Anyway, that’s probably enough critique for now. I just don’t really have anyone in real life to talk about this stuff with so I’ve been keeping it all bottled up inside my head (and occasionally rehearsing my critiques in my inner
dialoguemonologue…)Yup. The movies are an abomination. I saw them once and I’ll never watch them again. But I’ve read the book more than a few times
i read that, but i dint quite grasp it at the time.
There are several ‘edits’ you can put together online that are actually way better than the movies. They cut out a lot of the nonsense and trim around excess to provide a 2-ish hour movie that feels choppy but good.
I still can’t get over how they stretched that short of a book over that long of a trilogy of movies and still managed to not show enough of Beorn. All of the party arriving at Beorn’s house is one of my favorite chapters and it’s just… not there. The. Fuck.
Don’t even get me started on tauriel. I’m all for diversity, but she was entirely unneeded. A love triangle? Really?
Ok so since you’re doing sci-fi as well, Hyperion/Hyperion series.
I just finished the Cantos this week. I think Hyperion is one of the best sci-fi setups ever conceived. The Canterbury Tales in Space is so hype, and so well executed. I could read it ten times and love it every time.
The rest of the series is ambitious, but never quite lived up to the first book. There are incredibly interesting ideas, and some excellent parts… but I can’t give the whole thing a 10/10.
Book four light spoilers
Aenea spends so much time talking at the reader, and her set up as the savior of humanity pins her character in a corner.
The discussion on how “humans stopped evolving” was an incredible turn on my view of the Ousters, and helped recontextualize the series as a radical, conservationist epic instead of just an anti-authoritarian one was also A+.
Since I just read this, I’ve been thinking a lot about how a television adaptation would work. Season one would be just the first book… one pilgrim’s tale per episode. But then I feel like the next three books would need a comprehensive overhaul to streamline the narrative and pick a clearer focus.
I started the second book shortly after reading the first, and I didn’t finish it. I think I prefer to remember Hyperion as a standalone story as it’s so perfect
Yeah, I put Hyperion/Hyperion series since the series is not for everyone.
I personally enjoyed the Endymion books, some people enjoy Fall of Hyperion and leave it at that.
I would recommend Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series as well as his Lyonesse Trilogy.
I’m gonna suggest a web novel, Practical Guide to Evil. Great series about 8 books long that follows the apprentice of a medieval fantasy villain. Looks like the first book just dropped on Amazon for kindle and audiobook last year
Pale Lights the author’s ongoing serial, is even better. New chaptr just dropped a hour ago!
Just finished the latest chapter. Go 13th
Gotta love a story where “mapmaker” is the OP vocation.
I have already read some excellent suggetions. Here’s some of mine:
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (the Lifeship Trilogy is excellent as well)) The Many-Colored Land series by Julian May Imajica by Clive Barker
Don’t bother with the Ice and Fire series by GRR Martin. The first three books are good and the rest is meh. As per the fourth book, an entirely new set of characters and storylines were introduced, without actuallly finishing the story after the first three books. The story will not be finished and that’s a bummer. Life’s too short and there’s too much better stuff out there.
I read the farseer trilogy last year and… man it’s a tough read. Not because of the writing - I was blown away by the prose, it is incredibly evocative - but just because they’re so relentlessly harsh.
Still taking some time off before any further Hobb books for that reason alone.
Robin Hobb’s books are my favorite series of all time, probably across all forms of media too, highly highly highly recommend
The original “The Princes Bride” by S. Morgenstern
I read Dresden Files for the first time within the last 18 months and I’ve been relentlessly shilling it to everyone ever since. I’ve been a bookworm my entire life and it’s probably my favorite series I’ve ever read, ever. It fucking slaps, it’s SO good.
I thought Butcher’s other series was much better. IDK why it’s called Codex Alera and not something with “Fury” in the name since that’s what all the books have, but it’s a more consistent series than Dresden and with better worldbuilding.
I have gone in bursts devouring those books. There’s a little too much nerd boy fantasy insert in the first book. (The skinny loner who dressed bad has WAY too many beautiful women into him). But it’s pulp so it’s expected. Besides it gets so good.
Can’t say no to gritty magic crime noir.
If you fancy a small change over to comic/graphic novels, I can highly recommend the Alan Moore run of Swamp Thing. Two years ago I would have also included Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, but it seems that he’s a piece of shit, so if you do want to read his stuff, please pirate it to avoid giving him any money.
Recently I’ve been thinking one of the best things Alan Moore has written is the original 12-issue series Top 10. It just has certain characters and events that stuck in my mind.
Earthsea.
I don’t really like manga, but one of the best stories I’ve ever read in any format is the 7-volume Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It’s post-apocalyptic fantasy about the nature of evil, the corruption of humanity, the extent to which individuals can fight against historical forces, and the fragility of civilization, for a start. Plus there’s a lot of action and world-building. There’s an anime movie which covers about one tenth of the story, if you want to get a feel for it.
I saw the movie. It was AMAZING. I had no idea it was based on book(s)!
Yeah, the manga is eminently worth reading. Especially if you enjoy the movie at all (it’s my favorite of Miyazaki’s.) The manga somehow manages to be even better.
Some that I didn’t see listed
Tad Williams Memory Sorrow Thorn trilogy. It starts really show, but if you make it through the first fifty pages it gets really good.
Tad Williams Otherland series is also really good, but kind of blends sci fi and fantasy.
Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
The Awakeners by Sherri S Tepper. All of her books are good, but again some of them mix sci fi and fantasy, but The Awakeners is straight fantasy.
Series?
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Le Guin’s Earthsea Trilogy
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Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain
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Discworld, especially the Night Watch books
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Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker series
Individual Books:
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Robin McKinley, The Hero and the Crown, or anything else she wrote
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Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock and Howl’s Moving Castle, or anything else she wrote
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Philip K. Dick, “Galactic Pot-Healer” (Dick straddles the line between science fiction and science fantasy, but this one’s firmly the latter)
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Madeline L’Engle, Many Waters
I’m sure I’ll think of more but my break is up.
I came here to say Chronicles of Prydain. I read them over and over as a child and they are so magical and well written, it’s a shame they aren’t more well known!
Wait wait. You’re starting with Engel’s “Many Waters?” Isn’t it book 4 in a series where book 1 (“A Wrinkle in Time”) is considered a classic?
It’s been a long time but I remember liking book 2 a whole lot. I never did get book 5, though I think there is one?
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Last time I recommend Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, I got crucified over it. Imma do it again. It was a formative work to me, and I frequently quote the wizards’ rules. Content warning though: some scenes are quite disturbing, and some of Terry’s political opinions leak into the text and are questionable at best.
Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series is another of my favorites, and I think I can recommend it without content warnings but it’s been a long time since I read it so I don’t really remember.
Louis McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga is also very good. Scifi instead of fantasy, but how often do I get the chance to recommend books?
Valdemar deals with some serious stuff, but glosses over the worst of it. The torture of one main character, and the brutal burning of another, as two examples, are handled pretty well. I would still go back and read them if I didn’t just remember them all so well because they’re awesome. There is definitely the fantasy trope of orphan/unwanted kids getting their fantasy though, but it’s appropriate for the blue fantasy genre.
…also, you should get crucified for sword of truth :P
Gah, sword of truth. I read that, ok, so there’s a hero’s journey thing going on, I can dig it - suddenly BDSM fanfic!
Nope, Goodkind ain’t for me. It was SO jarring!
Still, you also recommended Bujold. My fav! I’ll have to check out Valdemar.
Discworld (Terry Pratchett), no question.
Very much Discworld. I shouldn’t have had to scroll this far down to find this shame on all y’all. The Night Watch series and The Witches series are my favourites and I do recommend reading series’s in order to but you can start practically anywhere if you want. Just remember the very first two books aren’t anyone’s favourites but are still good.
I mean, they mentioned they’re already reading Discworld…
I found this reading order quite helpful:
It’s my turn to ask this question, it seems, but if this image low resolution and very compressed?
I found a better version, updated.
Wtff… I remember the colour of magic being fun and knew there was more but that’s wild
The Colour of Magic was published in 1983, The Shepherd’s Crown was posthumously published in 2015 with up to three books published in some years. It’s an incredible life’s work.
If you liked The Colour of Magic, I’d strongly recommend continuing reading, it’s usually considered one of the weakest novels in the discworld, being the first book he wrote while still having a day job.
The good thing is, there are these sub series as you can see in the picture following specific characters with some cameos from the other series, so no need to read all of them (although recommended, because they’re great). Even within these series, every book is basically a standalone story with minimal spoilers if you read them out of order and zero confusion if you don’t remember what happened in the last book.
I’m a really fast reader and I had a slowish day at work yesterday. I read The Colour of Magic start to finish yesterday morning and really enjoyed it. I’m almost finished with The Light Fantastic now.
They get better
