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Fantasy Books

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
For those looking for urban fantasy, the books of Canadian writer Charles de Lint are very good.

I particularly liked Drink Down the Moon, Jack the Giant Killer, and Mulenegro.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
L E Modesitt: "The Magic of Recluce" - The first book in the Saga of Recluce - but not the first chronologically. The series is not like, say for instance The Wheel of Time, one long consecutive story, but rather consists of standalones and duologies, that may be centuries apart in the timeline. According to Wikipedia:

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

"Chronologically, the series spans 1,855 years." As happenstance would have it (it was the book I happened across at the bookstore, knowing nothing about the series), the first book I read was the first chronologically - "The Magi'i of Cyador". This is the first in a duology, finishing with "Scion of Cyador". "The Magic of Recluce" is, I believe actually second-last chronologically, and the third book I've read.

The author has recommended reading the series in publishing order, but I also saw him say in an interview since that he thinks that one can begin with "Magi'i of Cyador" as well - and I can myself vouch for it being a great place to start. I actually liked those two books more than this one - but then, I was suffering from a severe cold while reading "Magic of Recluce", so one cannot say how that may have impacted the reading experience - besides, even so, I did enjoy it. :)
 

katia

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 20, 2006
L E Modesitt: "The Magic of Recluce" - The first book in the Saga of Recluce - but not the first chronologically. The series is not like, say for instance The Wheel of Time, one long consecutive story, but rather consists of standalones and duologies, that may be centuries apart in the timeline. According to Wikipedia:

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

"Chronologically, the series spans 1,855 years." As happenstance would have it (it was the book I happened across at the bookstore, knowing nothing about the series), the first book I read was the first chronologically - "The Magi'i of Cyador". This is the first in a duology, finishing with "Scion of Cyador". "The Magic of Recluce" is, I believe actually second-last chronologically, and the third book I've read.

The author has recommended reading the series in publishing order, but I also saw him say in an interview since that he thinks that one can begin with "Magi'i of Cyador" as well - and I can myself vouch for it being a great place to start. I actually liked those two books more than this one - but then, I was suffering from a severe cold while reading "Magic of Recluce", so one cannot say how that may have impacted the reading experience - besides, even so, I did enjoy it. :)
I agree that the Magi'i of Cyador one of the best books in the series. There is also another series "Spellsong cycle" which I like very much.
I also very much like russian author Alexiey Pehov and his books. His series Chronicles of Siala were translated into English but I am not sure how good the translation is.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
I've read "The Soprano Sorceress", and have the second book coming up on my reading list fairly soon, and am looking forward to it.:)

I agree about translations - those can be really tricky; sometimes the translator can make the text really clunky; or fail to capture the "voice" of the author... or the tone, turning something light into something sentimental.... (note: for instance in some Georgette Heyer I've seen this happen when she's been translated into Swedish - the "obvious" humour is fine, but the "tone" has gone missing... )
 

Violetti

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
I do not like elaborate magical land/other world fantasy books. I did enjoy Harry Potter very much, though. And I just finished the latest in Ben Aaronivitch's Rivers of London series--a kind of grown up Harry Potter--which I have learned is classified as "urban fantasy". Any recommendations for similar--stuff that takes place with the fantasy world/magic/odd creatures intersecting with our real world?

I just read two first books of The Books of the Beginning series by John Stephens. The first one is called The Emerald Atlas and the second The Fire Cronicle. The last one was better. I liked the friendship between Kate and Rafe. The book over all simply evoked deeper feelings in me as I read. Still it is better to read both and in order. The third book will be published this spring. There are even some similarities with Harry Potter, not many. The magic in the world was hidden about 115 years ago and people were made to think that magic was only fantasy. The books were full of action and exciting and had to be read as soon as possible.

If you look at the Wikipedia, you can find a long list of urban fantasy writers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_fantasy_novels
 
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Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
I finally had the chance to finish Abhorsen by Garth Nix.

What struck me most was the finale, and how powerful it was. I think the book did a good job of adding an extra layer of complexity, even to minor characters (e.g. the Major near the end). On the other hand, I still think I enjoyed Sabriel most in the series; I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps it's simply reading Abhorsen after the thousand-page, uber-complicated epic that is Words of Radiance, which makes 99% of books seem simplistic by comparison.

Nonetheless, I am curious about "Across the Wall" (previewed in the back) and Clariel, and I look forward to spending more time in this world.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
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Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I finally had the chance to finish Abhorsen by Garth Nix.

What struck me most was the finale, and how powerful it was. I think the book did a good job of adding an extra layer of complexity, even to minor characters (e.g. the Major near the end). On the other hand, I still think I enjoyed Sabriel most in the series; I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps it's simply reading Abhorsen after the thousand-page, uber-complicated epic that is Words of Radiance, which makes 99% of books seem simplistic by comparison.

Nonetheless, I am curious about "Across the Wall" (previewed in the back) and Clariel, and I look forward to spending more time in this world.

I love Major Greene.

Did your opinion of Sam improve? And how did you go with the cliffhanger side-story?
 

Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
I love Major Greene.

Did your opinion of Sam improve? And how did you go with the cliffhanger side-story?
I guess my opinion of Sam did improve, in the sense that he didn't annoy me. There were moments when he showed his greater maturity and courage. Abhorsen was also more action-focused, while Lirael had the character development, so my feelings about Sam became accordingly less important.

It's an interesting thing--characters are the most important part of storytelling, the hardest to get right, and the part with the least objectivity and concrete rules.

I'll probably have to finish at least two novels before I can get to "Across the Wall" or Clariel. :slink:
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
L E Modesitt: "The Spellsong War" - The second book about Anna Marshall, who was pulled from our world to the land of Defalk, where music is magic, and spellcasting is done via singing. (The first book is "The Soprano Sorceress".)

There's lots of plotting, intrigue & scheming, as many in the countries around Defalk aren't happy at the prospect or a potentially strong and united Defalk - while many inside Defalk aren't happy with Anna's rule. And that is oversimplifying matters. So, with all of that, Anna isn't exactly having an easy time of it. Not to mention that doing magic takes its toll.

Sometimes, she felt as though all she did was either get wounded and recover, or kill someone and recover, and most of the time was spent trying to deal with some administrative mess or another.

And then, of course, comes the war.

Complaint: A map would have been quite useful - and I don't even like maps!
 

cathlen

Team Gorgeous Cacti!
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Joined
May 2, 2015
Country
Poland
I'm a huge lover of a fantasy books! I especially like Tolkien's universe, Harry Potter, The Discworld by Terry Pratchett and many polish authors books: Sapkowski's (not his endings though), Białołęcka (unfinnished yet), Ćwiek, Kossakowska and others. I like Dianne Wynn Jones too: both Howl's Moving Castle & sequel Castle in the Air (there is a third book, but unfotunately not published in Poland) and Merlin Conspiracy. Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea and her cats books for children, the Coldfire Trillogy by C.S. Friedman or Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere are all great. Recently I started reading Dragonrealm by Richard A. Knaak, I finished first book but not really impressed so far.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Patricia A McKillip: "The Changeling Sea" - Lovely. Magical. Absorbing. Sometimes you find a book where you feel that you would not wish to change a single word - this was one of those, for me.

No one really knew where Peri lived the year after the sea took her father and cast his boat, shrouded in a tangle of fishing net, like an empty shell back onto the beach. She came home when she chose to, sat at her mother's hearth, without talking, brooding sullenly at the small, quiet house with the glass floats her father had found, colored bubbles of light, still lying on the dusty windowsill, and the same crazy quilt he had slept under still on the bed, and the door open on quiet evenings to the same view of the village and the harbor with the fishing boats homing in on the incoming tide. Sometimes her mother would rouse herself and cook; sometimes Peri would eat, sometimes she wouldn't. She hated the vague, lost expression on her mother's face, her weary movements. Her hair had begun to gray; she never smiled, she never sang. The sea, it seemed to Peri, had taken her mother as well as her father, and left some stranger wandering despairingly among her cooking pots.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Cecilia Dart-Thornton: "The Lady of the Sorrows" - The second book in the Bitterbynde trilogy (which began with "The Ill-Made Mute").

A bitterbynde. Imrhien-Rohain recalled hearing that term when she dwelled in the House of the Stormriders. The betrothal of a daughter of that House, Persefonae, had been pledged on the day she was born. A vow, or geas, laid upon a subject willing or not; a decree that imposed bitter sanctions upon its breaking, and demanded stringent, almost impossible conditions for its removal - that was a bitterbynde.

Fantasy steeped in folklore.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
John M Ford: "The Dragon Waiting" - Alternative history 15th century fantasy.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I've just re-read The Mists of Avalon. Classic case of how growing up can change your perceptions of a book. I loved it as a teen. Now, not so much.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
I've just re-read The Mists of Avalon. Classic case of how growing up can change your perceptions of a book. I loved it as a teen. Now, not so much.

I didn't care for it much as a teen either, I must confess (this was back in the '80s). It just wasn't for me.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Dave Duncan: "Impossible Odds" - A fantasy swashbuckler featuring the magically bound King's Blades. This is a standalone tale that can be read separately (the first book is "The Gilded Chain".) The dedication of the book is addressed to... Rudolf Rassendyll.
 
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