I like Robert Jordan, but had to give up on Goodkind. I felt Goodkind's series was a little too overdone on the melodramatics.

Like some of you before, I really like Juliet Marillier's writing - soo well done! I'm also a huge fan of the Study series, and the Liveship Trader series by Robin Hobb. They are all brilliant.
Does anyone here like Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind? Two huge series I also love!

Hey, I'm a newbie. I was wondering if any of you would check out my new website about a book I just wrote. I need some feedback. There's a way to leave me comments on the site. Check it out. It's a fantasy story with dragons and monsters and teens fighting for good against evil. Warriorchildren.com is the website.Tell me what's boring or exciting, I'll be posting chapters on the blog page, so keep checking back if you like the story.
I've been offered several contracts by POD publishers, but an really trying to hold out for a traditional agent or publisher. With 15 rejections so far, though, I'm beginning to question the validity of my MS. Please let me know what you think when you look at the website.


I agree with many of you as far as your favs listed here. I have many as well, which is probably why I wrote a Fantasy/Horror series.

I can't believe that no one's mentioned George R. R. Martin" "A Song of Ice and Fire" here. Unless I missed it?

Anyway, high or low fantasy, it is my favorite by far.

May favourites would have to be the Lord of the Rings. I think that one is an obvious one, though. I loved Dragonlance when I was a kid but I can't get back into the series now.

Just finished The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie and I have to say I loved it. And wholeheartedly recommend it!

A Song of Ice and Fire is also great and is actually very well written.

I have to go with the Magician books by Raymond Feist and the Dark Elf series of books by RA Salvatore.

Both of these authors have a way of making characters come alive. Salvatore writes the best battle scenes of anyone I've ever read.

I have to say The Dresden Files or the Discworld novels are my favorite.

I won't even start on the Maria V. Snyder books because I've just become so obsessed by them... I even started a GoodReads group for The Study Series. All right, I'll shut up about them now. I can't promise that for long, I'm incorrigible.

Otherwise, it's really hard for me to pick! That's like asking a mother to pick her favorite child... although I don't have any children, just lots of books.

Right now I'm reading T.A. Barron's Merlin's Dragon Basilgarrad. It's for younger readers. If you don't think it's your type, at least read the first page or two. Great writing.

I just finished Kristin Cashore's Graceling, which was brilliant.

I was recently introduced to Frank Herbert's Dune, which I guess is considered more sci-fi but to me seems quite fantastical. I think for me, magic makes it fantasy, and midichlorians make it sci-fi. (lol)

My love of fantasy began with these three series when I was 13: Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles, and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Olivia, I second your Prydain Chronicles. Katuary, ditto with Drizzt. Oh it's too hard! I can't choose.

>>Am really new to fantasy. I am very electic with my reading. What would you suggest for a new fantasy reader to start with??

I have a page on my website, http://www.marcvunkannon.com/favorites.h... , which lists some of my personal favorite books and what not.

>> I'm so tired of elves. Actually, I was tired of elves when I first came across them.

You might like my take on elves, then. I did a story called Off the Map, about a lady who gets dragooned onto the set of Interdimensional Survivor, and her team consists of an elf, a dwarf, a troll, and a gnome. Except that I don't do things I've seen done before if I can help it. The elves are vicious, the dwarf is the cook, and the troll speaks in Elizabethan English. And they all think she's weird!

Hey, I'm new to the group, but anyway, my favorite fantasy series is A Man of His Word by Dave Duncan. The books are actually my favorite books, and I think I've read it more than three times. I love his style, and the character's he creates. Also, the world is developed so well, it is easy to fall into the book and forget reality. I can never put Dave Duncan's books down.

This is a pretty tough question... But I would have to say The Drizzt Series by R.A. Salvatore. He is the best fantasy author I have ever known! (or read about so far...)

Oh yes! all of Juliet Marilliers books are worth reading! I love her books! Have you ever read her book Wildwood Dancing?

Truly? I wouldn't really think that The Two princesses of Bamarre were that good. They were ok... but I would say that it was good enough to reread once in a while.... :)

Sorry Michelle but honestly, Dianna was never really that good of an author to me, I love all of Hayao Miyazaki's works to the bottom of my heart, but I have read Diannas books of a lot of her works and I honestly think that she somewhat drags on the story. The only moment it even gets close to good is two pages before the end.

"Poison Study" by Maria V. Snyder. Also, the sequel, "Magic Study", then "Fire Study", but I have not read the last one yet. They are fun, imaginative, and they have a little bit of everything - romance, adventure, death, deceit... love them!

Am really new to fantasy. I am very electic with my reading. What would you suggest for a new fantasy reader to start with??

I still have to get Obernewtyn #2 and read it, but I will have to check out her other books. I'm not really a cover snob, but I can't stand it when books don't have a summery on the inside cover or back.

Michelle, I'm so glad you liked Obernewtyn! I hope you enjoy the rest of the series too - this is my favourite author we're talking about here! Her stand-alone novels are excellent too, and she has some other series - oh just read everything!

Emma, I've seen the Snyder books (and read reviews on LJ too), and I didn't mind the covers. I noticed that they weren't in the fantasy section of Chapters-Indigo, for some reason (but then, they're hopeless).

Obernewtyn is by Isobelle Carmody.

Who's it by?

I just read Poison Study, and the sequel, Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder. The covers sucked (pay attention here, Shannon!) but the books were fairly good. Not totally amazing, but good. Oh, and (yes, Shannon, here too) they had a pretty original idea behind them.

I just read Obernewtyn. It is fantastic!!!! I think it is my new current favorite book.

Amrita, I agree that Howl's Moving Castle is better than Castle in the Air. *spoiler alert* But I do like the way all of the characters were turned into something, especially the flying carpet/calcifer. That was cool.

Well, the whole idea of the "earth" thing is sort of appealing, but other then that, it gets and "A" in boring. And yes, the covers and titles both are simply awful. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but you need to have some incentive for reading it!

I can't bring myself to pick up David Farland's books because, yes, I'll admit it, the covers are so bad. That's right, I'm a cover snob. Tor is the worst at it. I don't know why they think tacky is good. I love the new covers of the Obernewtyn Chronicles - check out The Stone Key for example. *sigh* So nice.

The Runelords also strike me as very generic/formulaic. What did you think, Emma? Anything original in them?

Has anyone here read the Runelords by David Farland? I started them, and the first one was good (see my review for more info) but for some odd reason I gave up half way through the second! I know I didn't read it for a couple of days, so that may have had some influence on it, but...

I'm also new to the group. Oh, Michelle, the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle is Castle in the Air. It's good, but I thought Howl's Moving Castle was better. As for my favorite fantasy series, there's the Pellinor quartet by Alison Croggon, which is really great.

Oh, oh! Another great one with a strong heroine you just have to love: Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest...pulls a lot from Irish folklore.

Hello! I'm new to this group, but I read over the posts (er, maybe scanned is a better word...but I will pick through and check out the other books mentioned, promise!)...and I don't think anyone mentioned Jacquelin Carey's Kushiel series. SOOOO freaking good. Intrigue, politics and, of course, sex. The heroine is gorgeous, strong, and very perceptive. You really, really care about her. There are three books about her, and three following about her kin...the first three are absolutely amazing, while the latter three are good, but you will be capable of putting them down every now and then, unlike with the first ones. =) I'll post the first book in the group's bookshelf.

Twilight is all right, I didn't like the other ones in the series though. I will have to check out the Bartimaeus trilogy.

I've just started the Runelords Series by David Farland. It's fairly interesting - while it's not phenomenal or anything, it has some fairly interesting, original concepts in it. I's still on the first book (I started it this weekend) but I'm interested in seeing how the story unfolds (that is, if a plot ever clearly develops... it's taking a long time...)

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, I haven't had much time for Goodreads lately :(

Isobelle Carmody is my favourite fantasy author, she's very original. The Obernewtyn Chronicles are post-apocalyptic, set a long time after a nuclear disaster of some kind. Radiation still poisons a lot of the land. Some people are born Misfits - disabled in some way, but more recently they've been born with special abilities. Elspeth is the main character, and her gifts are telepathy, coercion, farseeking (telepathy over a long distance), and beastspeak (communicating with animals). She is sent to a council farm to work as a labourer, and discovers that most of the other kids there are Misfits like her. The woman who runs the farm, called Obernewtyn, knows about their abilities and tries to use them for her own secret aims. And then there's Rushton, the real owner of Obernewtyn, and Elspeth's love interest (this is YA fantasy, not romance, btw). The first book is called Obernewtyn, the second The Farseekers, the third Ashling, the fourth The Keeping Place. Two more are due out.

She's also written an adult fantasy trilogy called the Legendsong, which is excellent, and several stand-alone novels. I would particularly recommend Scatterlings, also post-apocalyptic, and Alyzon Whitestarr, which is set here and now and is about a girl who, after a head injury, can smell people's emotions.

Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series is wonderful, and finished! It's seven books long, and has, ah, adult content. Not much, and it's very relevant. Her Jaran series is more sci-fi, but I'm not a sci-fi fan and I loved it.

Jennifer Fallon is another great author. I started with the Second Sons trilogy, but it's not her first. Her books are more political and less about magic and things like that, though mysticism is a feature.

If you enjoyed Harry Potter you'd like the Bartimaeus trilogy. It's a bit similar in the sense that magicians are in the world, but unlike in HP, here they are running the show very openly. There's a lot of class conflict because the magicians are very superior. Nathanial is in training and, at a very young age, he conjurs a djinni (the magicians' power comes from harnessing spirits like the djinn) called Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is OLD and has a wicked sense of humour. They're great books.

Kate Forsyth wrote the Witches of Eilennan series, but I haven't read it. Rhiannon's Ride is set in the same land when the characters from the first series are older. She's half-satyricorn, so she looks normal but her mother's people have horns and hoofs and a tail. But she has their hunting skills and temper. She lets a human man escape her mother's people (they would have kept him for a number of reasons), and also tames a winged horse, and uses it to escape the mountains. That's just the beginning, it gets more interesting from there, and I really recommend the trilogy.

Twilight etc. are great, though voices get loud on either side of the fence! Personally, they're pure indulgence for me. They're not exceptionally written or anything, but it's like one big daydream!

Oh yeah, those too, but I've never read them. It's one of those things where i keep telling myself I'll get around to it...

I've read Twilight, but I'll have to check those other ones out:-)

Aw, shuckey-darn. We were having a nice little umm... "discussion" Did ya have to jerk us back to reality?

Actually, I've never heard of most of these! (Okay, all of these but Harry...) Care to elaborate????

Getting back to the topic for a moment, my favourite fantasy series would include:

The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody
The Legendsong Trilogy by Isobelle Carmody
The Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliott
The Jaran novels by Kate Elliott
The Second Sons Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon
The Hythrun Chronicles by Jennifer Falon (in North America this includes the Demon Child Trilogy, but I haven't read that one yet)
Harry Potter
Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud
Rhiannon's Ride by Kate Forsyth

I could go on - I simply can't limit myself to one!

If you don't want to check it out of the library I can lend you mine, Emma.

I'll get around to it!! There are just other things I need to read first!!

Excuses, Excuses...

All right, Michelle. After I've read the million and one books Otto's put on a list for me, I WILL read Howl's Moving Castle. Happy now?

Also, I'd just like to add that my cat, May, also thinks that Howl's Moving Castle is the best. (she saw part of the movie with me)

Emma, how about you read Howl's Moving Castle and THEN tell me that David Eddings is better.

There are several mythologies that reference dwarves, actually, including Norse and Germanic mythology. Wikipedia has a pretty good article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarves . Elves have always just seemed more popular.

Oh I'm sorry Emma, but I have to agree with Michelle about Eddings and Wynne Jones.

The main thing I don't like about Eddings is how unoriginal he is. But I have to say that there's a lot of fantasy nowadays that's moved on from the Tolkein/Jordan/Eddings/Feist cliched formula and doing really original stuff with fantasy, in new and original settings. Most people I know who read Eddings admit that his characters are the same in all his books, which doesn't inspire me to read more. :(

I'm so tired of elves. Actually, I was tired of elves when I first came across them. Elves and dwarves (why are dwarves fantastical creatures in fantasy but are associated with no great mythology in real life?) and, yes, even dragons, bore me. "Sword and scorcery" fantasy generally bores me. "Good vs. Evil" fantasy especially bores me.

Cheap Tricks??? I will NOT hear you insult my favorite author!!! Anyone can participate in this online poll, for your information (I, myself, have)and if you Google "Fantasy 100" it should come up as "Fantsy 100- top 100 Fantasy books". It really is a cool site; you should definitly check it out.

Admit your defeat Emma.

Where was this online monthly poll taken-- Alaska? I know I can find some Howl's moving castle supporters that will personally shove a dirty sock in your mouth- or computer drive. Besides, maybe it was just that month that the Belgariad was popular. If the general public thinks that, then they obviously haven't read Howl's Moving Castle. Probably because David Eddings advertises with cheap tricks and Diana Wynne Jones got her fame by actually writing good stuff.

Michelle -
There is an online monthly poll of the top 100 fantasy books, with the Belgariad rated 7th as of December 2007, and with Howl's Moving Castle at 97th. So... according to public opinion, the Belgariad is better.

I just read the Elenium, and, I'll admit, they weren't as amazing as the other books I've read by Eddings. Despite my incredibly slight dissapointment, however, I still greatly enjoyed reading them.

But that's just it, Michelle. The Belgariad and Mallorean AREN'T like that, and in the Elenium, their may be knights, kings, etc, BUT it's not particularly like those stories with the slaying dragons and pricesses trapped in towers.