Tani's comments (member since Sep 11, 2007)

Tani's comments from the Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library group.

I don't read a lot of science fiction, so I can't add too much, but I do like Elizabeth Moon (particularly her Vatta series).

I really enjoyed Briar Rose by Jane Yolen and Enchantment by Orson Scott Card, which are both retellings of Sleeping Beauty.

Like Rindis, Discworld is something I know is supposed to be funny, but somehow it just doesn't quite hit my funny bone. I suspect that it might be like me and Bill Bryson in that reading it to myself is mildly amusing, but having someone read it out loud to me would be hilarious, but I haven't tried it yet. I did really like Good Omens though.

Hey, I just found out some news on the future of the Wheel of Time that I thought people might like to know. Apparently Brandon Sanderson has been contracted to write the last book based on the notes that Robert Jordan left behind. The book, called The Memory of Light, scheduled for publication in the fall of 2009.

Click here for more information.

So, Brandon Sanderson...I've never read anything of his, so I can't really comment on how I feel about him being the one to finish things up. I am glad it's going to be finished though. It would have been a terrible shame to leave things hanging.

For fantasy, I think two books that are at the top of my personal best list are Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold, and Transformation by Carol Berg. Or at least, they're the first two that come to mind. I can't choose between them.

I don't know about the worst, but I think my most recent big disappointment was The Hidden Queen by Alma Alexander. On the surface, it seems like exactly the kind of thing I would like, but I was vastly unimpressed. It read like a pity fest for the oh-so-perfect main character, and I doubt I'll ever read the next one in the series.

I'm nowhere near well-versed in scifi, but I do love Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. They're amazing.

To demonstrate how very little scifi I read, I can't even think of anything to say as worst.

Chrystal:

In the interests of mentioning some stuff that no one's brought up yet...

Carol Berg's Rai-kirah trilogy is one of my favorite series. She does an amazing job with character development and I honestly adore the main character of the series. Unfortunately, I thought that the first book, Transformation, was the best of the series, but the others, Revelation and Restoration, are also well worth the read.

Lynn Flewelling's Tamir Trilogy (The Bone Doll's Twin, Hidden Warrior, Queen's Oracle) is really great. Her other series, the Nightrunner books, is more hit and miss. I enjoyed it, but many haven't.

Robin Hobb is amazing. I haven't read her latest series yet, but I highly enjoyed her earlier books, which are three trilogies that are interconnected. The first trilogy is the Farseer trilogy. The Liveship Traders trilogy follows. It's in the same world as the Farseer, but the characters are quite different. Then the Tawny Man trilogy goes back to the characters from the first trilogy. Tawny Man is, imo, the best of the three.

Curt Benjamin is another author that I really enjoyed. I found his Seven Brothers trilogy really interesting, and the use of Chinese mythology rather than Greek or Roman was really refreshing.

Dave Duncan is really great for action/adventure type fantasy. I really like his King's Blades series. I also really enjoyed Children of Chaos, but I haven't read anything bad by him yet.

Lois McMaster Bujold is better known for her Vorkosigan series, I guess, which is scifi, but she's done some really good fantasy too. Her Chalion series is really great.

Amanda:

Some other young adult fantasy that I haven't seen mentioned...

Tamora Pierce has a lot of fans. I haven't read much of her stuff, so I can't say personally, but a lot of people seem to like her.

I would say that anything by Diana Wynne Jones is pretty much guaranteed to be good. Personally, my favorite is "Howl's Moving Castle."

Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles were also really good.

Elizabeth Winthrop wrote two books, "The Castle in the Attic" and "The Battle for the Castle" that I also really enjoyed when I was younger.

I also tend to think of Mercedes Lackey as really good for teenage readers, even though I guess she's not really marketed that way. Lots of teenaged protagonists and coming of age stories, though, especially in her Valdemar books.

I agree with Arian that Terry Brooks' Shannara books probably also wouldn't be out of place. Oh, and The Belgariad by David and Leigh Eddings seems like it would also be a good choice.

I'm sure there are more I could suggest to both of you, but I'm drawing a blank. Still, hopefully I at least gave you some ideas. ^-^

I really like Tanya Huff. She's one of those authors who can always make me laugh. Her Smoke series has been one of my favorite recent series.

She was my favorite author for a long time when I was a kid. The world really seems like an emptier place without her in it.