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Stand Alone Fantasy Recommendations?
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Since it's St. Pat's today, and since there's a gaping hole in this list - (no R. A. MacAvoy) let me add The Grey Horse and the wonderful short standalone classic of hers, Tea With the Black Dragon.People who like Guy Kay might enjoy this author for her insightful characters and lovely prose.
Janny wrote: "Since it's St. Pat's today, and since there's a gaping hole in this list - (no R. A. MacAvoy) let me add [b:The Grey Horse|941467|The Grey Horse|R.A. MacAvoy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5..."I'm not familiar with this author but I love the titles! I'm going to have to add her to my "To Read" list!
Brandy wrote: "I have not read Howl's Moving Castle but it is one of my favorite movies. It is also my daughter's who just turned one. She will just sit there and watch everything. I like the idea that she lik..."
I've not seen the movie (yet) but I did read the book and really liked it. I heard the book and movie are much different so I'm anxious to see the movie.
Ashok wrote: "I love The Stand too...."
Welcome Ashok - and the Stand is one of my all time favorite books as well.
-- Robin (14 days until Avempartha)
m.l.n hanover- unclean spirits...
this is a really good book and the second book comes out in september
Oh, thank you for mentioning Mists of Avalon, Ashok. It was one of my favorite books, when I was a teenager; the sequels were a complete disappointment though.
Another great stand alone book is Tam Lin. It's for anyone who went to college at a Liberal Arts school in the US Mid-West and likes to read. You'll recognize everything. It's also a great book and still one of my favorites (even if you didn't go to a small, mid-western liberal arts college).
I just finished reading Animist by Eve Forward. It was pretty good, and VERY stand alone. The setting could be used for more, and so could the characters, but everything in this novel is wrapped up pretty neatly by the end.
It suddenly came to me: The perfect set of standalone fantasy novels - Jeffrey E. Barlough's Western Lights series. They're all set in the same alternate Earth but they're all completely readable without reference to any other.
Dark Sleeper: A Novel
The House in the High Wood: A Story of Old Talbotshire
Strange Cargo (I'm currently enjoying this one)
And to be read:
Bertram of Butter Cross
Anchorwick
And upcoming: A Tangle in Slops
I rather enjoyed Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October. It's not exactly traditional fantasy, but traditional fantasy is difficult to do in single-book format because so much time needs to be spent developing the world. By the time you've laid out how your fantasy world works, you're several hundred pages into the book. Heh.
John wrote: "... but traditional fantasy is difficult to do in single-book format because so much time needs..."It's pretty amazing how Zelazny used so many worlds to set up this book. He pulled together quite a collection. His references create a scavenger hunt by the reader.
There were quite a few topics exploring this book last year. Not sure which group that was in. It was great to discuss it with others though. We all contributed our bit &, I think, figured most of the references out.
Really? I would have enjoyed being in a discussion about this book, even if it has been quite a few years since I read it.
John wrote: "Really? I would have enjoyed being in a discussion about this book, even if it has been quite a few years since I read it."You can read up on it here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_fol...
There's some interesting info. I printed some out & stuck it with the book. Some questions or ideas to think about next time I read it.
Here's a few stand-alones I'd recommend (some are already mention here, so consider them an additional vote):Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold(stands alone, though there two more set in the same world)
The Hobbit by Tolkien
To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts
The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe
Stardust by Neil Gaiman (he reads the audiobook, I recommend that)
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to)
Knights of Dark Renown by David Gemmell
Hi! I'm new to the group and appreciate the many great recommendations. Here are a few stand-alones that don't seem well known:
The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea
The Autumn Castle by Kim Wilkins
Bone Dance A Fantasy for Technophiles by Emma Bull
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells (sort of a prequel to her Wizard Hunters trilogy, but no real need to read that except that it is awesome!)
The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl
The Tricksters by Margeret Mahy
Great. I get a little tired of the same (usually well-known) authors getting recommended on all these lists. While I grant the possibility that some of them may deserve all the hype, there are other authors in the world, and they are far more in need of readers. In my secret identity as Author Guy, purveyor of deserving books to the deserving masses, I carry only unknown authors.
Good for you, Marc. And thanks for commenting and thus causing me to notice that I failed to indicate that The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl is by Tim Pratt.
The only stand-alone book I can think of to recommend which hasn't been mentioned before is The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven. It's a YA with pretty good action and lots of dark humor. Not necessarily for the religiously sensitive, though. :>
And I've added The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl to my to-read list. Thanks :)
Oh, and one of my favorite authors, still an unknown, is A. Lee Martinez. I loved 
, 
, and 
. They're fun reads that both mock and pay homage to all of the fantasy cliches. Give him a try.
Hi all, haven't noticed this one on the list so i'll have to add Janny Wurt's Excellent To Ride Hells Chasm, it starts off as a bit of a who did it mystery, then, BAM, full on race for freedom. Theres some fantastic characters and a good backstory to boot. I highly recommend it as a stand alone.
(haven't managed to read any of her series yet.
To Ride Hell's Chasm
Janny wrote: "... and the wonderful short standalone classic of hers, Tea With the Black Dragon."I enjoyed reading this short novel this past weekend. What a treasure! Thanks for suggesting it.
Jon
I just finished the The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leah Eddings and it was a really good stand alone novel.
I'm currently reading Agyar by Steve Brust, it is pretty good if you like contemporary. It is rather restrained, more about tone than action.
I just finished The War Of The Flowers and loved it! It was the first book I've read by Tad Williams and I thought it was really well done. He describes everything so well and there are very few questions left unanswered by the end of the book (and with a book over 800 pages that's saying something!). I've heard his series Otherland is really good too so that's next on my list.
I'll second The War Of The Flowers. It's a pretty good book. As for Otherland, I found it creative but bloated.
Emery wrote: "There are sequels to Howl's, actually. Castle in the Air follows but Howl and Sophie are minor characters as I recall. A new one called House of Many Ways came out thi..."I finished "House of Many Ways" recently; Sophie and Howl play a larger role in it than they did in "Castle in the Air", but are not main characters, and I think someone who hasn't read "Howl's Moving Castle" could probably read "House of Many Ways" without any trouble.
Those are books? Huh i thought howls moving castle was just a movie. I like it are the books worth while?
Stephen wrote: "Those are books? Huh i thought howls moving castle was just a movie. I like it are the books worth while?"
The Book version of Howl's is much different then the animated movie version. Personally I liked the book better but I know many enjoyed the movie. It might be because I read the book first and as I mentioned the movie deviates from the original book.
Robin The Crown Conspiracy | Avempartha | Nyphron Rising
Blood red harp (Everquest) Elizabeth Cunningham. You don;t need to know anything about Everquest to enjoy this excellent read.
Has Guy Kay been mentioned? His first three books were a trilogy, but everything (ok the Constantinople deal is two) after that are stand alone and just awesome....
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Roger Zelazny (other topics)Patricia Briggs (other topics)
Steven Brust (other topics)
Christopher Stasheff (other topics)
Gordon R. Dickson (other topics)
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