Your top five fantasy books/series

[Malcor Sylverwood]

I think mine are...

1. Hobbit/Lord of the Rings -- Tolkien
2. Dark elf trilogy -- Salvatore
3. Wheel of Time -- Jordan
4. Sword of Truth -- Goodkind
5. Dark Tower -- King

So, what about the rest of you? ;)

[dark fuschia]

Mine are the following, although it's always subject to change:

Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
Sogn of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin
Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan
Stardust, Neil Gaiman
Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake

[Cloric the Cleric]

Hm....Let's see...In no particular order....



Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan
The Axis Trilogy (don't know the actual name of it), Sara Douglas
Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien (Shut up, Malcor)
The Rhapsody Books, Elizabeth Hayden
The Spellsong Cycle, L E Modesitt, Jr.


There are many, MANY others, but those are some of the ones I think I could read and re-read and be happy.

[epiph]

also in no particular order:

the darkangel trilogy -- meredith ann pierce
lord of the rings/hobbit -- jrr tolkien
chronicle of narnia -- cs lewis
the heralds of valdamar -- mercedes lackey
and, grudgingly, the wheel of time -- robert jordan

[LaughingTurtle]

WOT - RJ
Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin
Farseer/Live ship trilogy(s) - Robin Hobb
LOTR - J.R.R. Tolkien
(can't decide on a fifth, got a bunch of stuff that's really good...but well can't make up my mind)

[Anita Blake]

also in no particular order:

the darkangel trilogy -- meredith ann pierce



that name sounds hauntingly familiar. did she write a cool book about unicorns? a unicorn named Jann, maybe? with wyrms and such, it was really good, i remember reading it a million times when i was young, but i sem to have lost it since my childhood....


*goes off to look that up*


i can't think of any favorites ATM. maybe later.... :)



edit: ahhh, found it, it was called Birth of the Firebringer, and apparently it's part of a trilogy. i must track that down. it was a really really good book, and i'd reccomend it to people. :) oh wow, thanks epiph, just mentioning meredith ann pierce brought back a whole flood of really good memories of that book. :)

[epiph]

i dunno...i've only read the darkangel trilogy.

[epiph]

heh, i only just noticed your edit, anita. :D i'm glad to know the rest of her books are good too, because the darkangel trilogy is one of the those books that i come back to again and again and the images just haunt me all the time. it's so good.

[Nachtnoir]

I can only put 5 on here?

Wow this is hard :umm:

1. Lanhkmar - Fritz Lieber
2. The Eternal Champion - Michael Moorcock
3. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
3. Discworld - Terry Pratchett
4. The Dark Tower - Stephen King
5. Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook

Yeah, that's 5.

[Apoc]

No1-The Malazan Book Of The Fallen by Steven Erikson
No2-A Song Of Ice and Fire by GRRM
No3-The Lord Of The Rings by Tolkien
No4-Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan
No5-Tales Of The Otori by Lean Hearn

other notable mentions-Sword Of Truth, Cloud Of Sparrows and the Iliad


:)

[Bobb]

No1-The Malazan Book Of The Fallen by Steven Erikson
No2-A Song Of Ice and Fire by GRRM
No3-The Lord Of The Rings by Tolkien
No4-Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan
No5-Tales Of The Otori by Lean Hearn

other notable mentions-Sword Of Truth, Cloud Of Sparrows and the Iliad


:)

This is kinda sad, (but good for me as I'm learning about other fantasy books and authors), but until I started recently reading the Wheel of Time books, the only other fantasy books I've ever read and voraciously followed was/is the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King which I started reading in high school. I once read that he said he didn't expect to finish to live to finish the story. I was so pissed when I heard that! :mad: But, I'm in and have to follow it as far as it goes.... *sigh*

[Malcor Sylverwood]

...Dark Tower Series by Stephen King which I started reading in high school. I once read that he said he didn't expect to finish to live to finish the story. I was so pissed when I heard that! :mad: But, I'm in and have to follow it as far as it goes.... *sigh*
Its finished ;)

-Malcor "Gunslinger" Sylverwood

[cobaltknight]

1. The Hobbit; Lord of the Rings; Silmarillion - written by God, I mean, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

2. All of the Shannara series; Word and Void series; Magic Kingdom of Landover series - written by Terry Brooks

3. Demon Wars series; Crimson Shadow series - written by R.A. Salvatore

4. Macroscope; Apprentice Adept series; Incarnations of Immortality; Magic of Xanth series; Shade of the Tree - written by Piers Anthony

5. Stormbringer; Elric of Melniboné - written by Michael Moorcock


'nuff said.

Count Cobalt, the Blue Knight

[Bellaedonna]

Hi, all. :)

My top five are....

Rhapsody Series, Elizabeth Hayden
Chronicles, Dragonlance -- M. Weis and T. Hickman
Kinslayer Wars, Dragonlance -- M. Weis and T. Hickman
Landover Series, Terry Brooks
Thomas Covenant Series, Stephen Donaldson

I also love Raymond E. Feist and David Eddings. LotR is a given, but I need to reread the series because I read it last when I was 13. :)

I have read the WoT series, and I guess that's what prompted my registering here. I noticed that WoT seems to be in almost everyone's top five, but frankly, I am so frustrated with the man, I could scream. I've read every book--thousands and thousands of pages--and he had me hooked through, oh.. probably Crown of Swords. After that, I read out of duty because I knew the characters--or at least the 25-ish main characters--and I had invested so much time in the books, I had to get closure on it.

Well, I am about 2/3 of the way through Crossroads at Twilight... and still, no Rand. There are so many characters, and the storyline is so convoluted regarding Aes Sedai politics, that I am ready to scream. I finally put the book down and let it collect dust on the balcony. I need closure on this thing, but I'm not willing to torture myself anymore to get it.

Any thoughts? IMO, Mr. Jordan, END THE WORLD ALREADY!!! or at least give us a nice predictable, good-guy-won finale.

Bellaedonna :fred:

[Darth Everhate]

5- LOTR series - Tolkien
4- Wheel of Time series - R.Jordan
3- Dragonlance Chronicles - Weis/Hickman
2- The Dark Elf Chronicles (aka anything written about Driz'zt)
- R.A. Salvatore
1- The Elric series - M. Moorcock

[night faerie]

I have read the WoT series, and I guess that's what prompted my registering here. I noticed that WoT seems to be in almost everyone's top five, but frankly, I am so frustrated with the man, I could scream. I've read every book--thousands and thousands of pages--and he had me hooked through, oh.. probably Crown of Swords. After that, I read out of duty because I knew the characters--or at least the 25-ish main characters--and I had invested so much time in the books, I had to get closure on it.
Yeah, I too used to be hopelessly addicted to WoT but the last two books have totally dragged. I havent even finished Crossroads. In the beginning, RJ did a really good job of balancing action/plot with character development/study, but in the last couple of books, the plot part of the book has slowed down tremendously. ~sigh~

PS- had to give you rep for using the :fred: smilie in your very first post. I've got a special affection for "fred". :)

[sir archely]

heh, i'd say WoT was excellent up to 3, decent up to 6, and (mostly) incredibly frustrating after that.

part of what makes it so frustrating is that despite the fact that the last book was horrible, imo (i actually think the more i think about it the more horrible it gets...), i know i'm going to end up buying the next one and the next one and so on until either i die or jordan dies. :rolleyes:

[Apoc]

read back to back they're all pretty good...even crossroads, though that sucks cause it has no end...when the next book comes out and i've read them all back to back again i'm sure crossroads will be ok...I hope...

I was fortunate enough that I only had to wait a short time for Winters Heart...then there was quite a wait for crossroads...

problem with crossroads is it strayed from the main character and followed the not so interesting waiting crap of Elayne trying to get Andor and Perrin geting Faile....who cares?

Well I would've if any of it got resolved...meh....point is- WOT is a good series...but if you have a period of waiting between reading each book....they're not so good...~thinks Dragon Reborn is the best one~

hmmmmm ~realises he's listed his top 5 series~

So heres my top 5 books,

No1-Deadhouse Gates, Book 2 in Eriksons Malazan series.
No2-Return Of The King, Book 3 in Tolkiens LotR's series.
No3-Memories Of Ice, Book 3 in Eriksons Malazan series.
No4-A Storm Of Swords, Book 3 in Martins aSoIaF series.
No5-House Of Chains, Book 4 in Eriksons Malazan series.

:)

[Bellaedonna]

PS- had to give you rep for using the :fred: smilie in your very first post. I've got a special affection for "fred". :)

LOL, Night.. I love smileys, but we need one with a coffee cup somewhere in it. ;) I love coffee almost more than I love reading. hehe..

I have a feeling that Jordan is going to die between books 13 and 14 just to piss us all off. If I'm proven right, I'm going to try extra hard to avoid hell... where Jordan will be reading Crossroads at Twilight out loud.. for all eternity!! /hiss

:cry: Closure!! Must have closure!!!

[Jennifer]

Hmm, someone who loves reading, coffee, and is from Texas.... you wouldn't be satan's twin would you? :p

[Bellaedonna]

No.. but it is hot as hell here sometimes. :D

[SonoftheSands]

No.. but it is hot as hell here sometimes. :D


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

I'm sorry, i don't mean to laugh at you. we have a member named satan who is from Austin, loves coffee and reading. oh, and boys.

hehe. i'd forgotten the other implications of her handle. psilly girlie.

oh, and while I'm here:

Wheel of Time | Robert Jordan
Shannara | Terry Brooks
Dancing Gods | Jack L. Chalker
Sword of Truth |Terry Goodkind
Kingdom of the Isles series (Pug and Co.) | Raymond E. Feist

[Bellaedonna]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

I'm sorry, i don't mean to laugh at you. we have a member named satan who is from Austin, loves coffee and reading. oh, and boys.

hehe. i'd forgotten the other implications of her handle. psilly girlie.

Well, she's a Texan AND she likes coffee? I like her already. ;)

You know, I do have a funny coffee story...

In spite of the outrageous prices and their not-so-subtle way of biggie-sizing their small coffees by calling them "Talls," I'm a big Starbucks fan. My friend, Candice, goes to SB with me a couple of times per week. I also wear a ponytail strung through a baseball cap at least every other day. (They hide the bad-hair days, yanno. ;)) Anyway, I told you that to tell you this...

Right before Christmas, Candice said, "Hey, I should get you a Starbucks hat for Christmas, but they don't sell them. Maybe I should get a job there for a day and try to get you a hat!" I told her that was sure a lot of trouble for a hat... so, that night, after I ordered my Quad-Venti-7-pump-non-fat-no-foam-extra-hot-extra-whip Toffee Nut Latte, I was feeling pretty cocky, so when the guy asked me if I'd like anything else, I said, "May I have your hat?"

He said, "You're kidding me, right?" and I gave him my toothiest grin and said, "No. I would like your hat, please."

I mean, what the heck? What was the worst he could say? No? Well, he laughed, and then he went to the back room and got me my own brand new Starbucks hat. :) LOL

Well, about a week later, I wore it into a different Starbucks. Frankly, I wear ballcaps so often, I forgot which one I was wearing, but I noticed that the Barrista gave me TONS of whipped cream and wanted to know if I wanted extra toffee sprinkles. When he gave me my coffee, he said, "So, you're a partner, right?"

Now, I have no idea if the term "partner" means something different at Starbucks than it does in law firms--I'm a legal assistant--but I wasn't taking any chances. I did what any honest person would do... I winked at him, handed him a tip, and left. :) LOL

Every time I wear that hat, someone asks me if I'm a partner.. and I give them the same response--the wink and the grin. Not a bad price for lots of whip and sprinkles, eh? :) LOL

Hey, I should be a partner. I've dropped more money there than I have at the Piggly Wiggly in the last year.

:D

Bellaedonna

[Apoc]

No1-Deadhouse Gates, Book 2 in Eriksons Malazan series.
No2-Return Of The King, Book 3 in Tolkiens LotR's series.
No3-Memories Of Ice, Book 3 in Eriksons Malazan series.
No4-A Storm Of Swords, Book 3 in Martins aSoIaF series.
No5-House Of Chains, Book 4 in Eriksons Malazan series.


So its been over a year...has anything changed?

well yes...yes it has :)

No1-Midnight Tides, Book 5 in Eriksons Malazan series.
No2-Deadhouse Gates, Book 2 in Eriksons Malazan series.
No3-Return Of The King, Book 3 in Tolkiens LotR's series.
No4-Eye of the World, Book 1 in Jordans Wheel of Time series.
No5-A Storm Of Swords, Book 3 in Martins aSoIaF series.

A bit of a re-shuffle...i still consider Eriksons books to be far superior than anything else i've ever read...but i think the very best of other great series just edge out the other malazan books from my top 5.

[Eyreplenh]

You have Midnight Tides over Deadhouse Gates? Hmmm... Am doing a reread now, just finished Deadhouse Gates, and man, it kicks major ass. Don't really remember just how good I thought Midnight Tides was. Being an Erikson junkie, I know it was good, but not just quite how. I think I used to rank Deadhouse higher, but I guess I have something to look forward to then.

And maybe, if my curly head would hold still for five consecutive minutes, I'll try to make a list of this kind. But I don't think I can. Oh well

[Vivacia]

I think I may have doe this once, but I'm doing it again.

1. Song of Fire and Ice - GRRM
2. Wheel of Time...yes, even though - JR
3. Dragonriders of Pern (the originals) - Anne McCaffrey
4. Liveship Traders / Tawny Man - Robin Hobb (2 series , I know) :halo:
5. The Dark Elf Trilogy - R. A. Salvatore

[Apoc]

You have Midnight Tides over Deadhouse Gates?

Deadhouse has undoubtably the greatest storyline ever written; Coltaine...but interruptions from Fesilin and other threads of the tale being less great, diminish its overall excellance...Midnight Tides imo just nails every storyline so well...and its got the Crimson Guard...oh and Bugg and Tehol are just brilliant with all their undead friends coming out to play in hilarious fashion...its the best one overall i think ;)

[Jennifer]

Huh...I could have sworn I listed my top five but I guess not... :eyebrow:

Anyways...



American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Dragonlance Chronicles/Legends - Weis and Hickman (I know these are so DnD module-like, but when I first read them I didn't know that...had never played an rpg game before, still haven't...but I love this series because it first got me into the genre)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
The DeathGate Cycle - Weis and Hickman

[Anita Blake]

! good thread revival, jen! Apparently I also neglected to list a top five, which is OK, since I have some new favorites. :D

- WOT by Robert Jordan
- Kushiel's legacy series by Jacqueline Carey
- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham


Has anyone else read the Kushiel books? I loved the first three, and just realized that there's a whole other three for me to read! I just finished the 4th one, and found it very good, different from the original trilogy, mostly in that there's no central love story, and my favorite characters are just sort of hanging out in the background, but i love the world she's created. :)

[Karen]

Does anyone like Terry Pratchett? I think he's fantastic and funny.

~Karen

[Eyreplenh]

Pratchett's fantastic! The only downside with him now opposed to before is that once I had 25 books to dive into, now there's only one new title a year... Still, he's among my definite favourites!

[OOC92]

Pratchett rules, I like "Song of Ice and Fire" by GRR Martin. Though I stopped reading it in the middle because my brain forgot all the characters during his hiatus with 'A Feast for Crows'. Thus I am waiting for the whoooole thing to finish THEN reread it.

[Nachtnoir]

The fiance just bought me a Nook so I've been rereading WoT from the beginning again and am surprised at what I had forgotten from the last rereading.

[Cypher]

Let me know how you like it, nacht, I've been thinking of getting one, or at least asking for one for my birthday in 1.5 months.