Best Ever Fantasy Series.

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1 Song of Ice and Fire, George R R Martin
2 Lord of the Rings , J R R Tolkein
3 Dark Tower Series, Stephen King
4 Belgarion / Mallorean, David Eddings
5 The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
6 Mordant's Need, Stephen Donaldson
7 Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King
8 Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
9 The Elenium /Tamuli, David Eddings
10 The Hobbit, J R R Tolkein
 
GoTigers2015 said:
1 Song of Ice and Fire, George R R Martin
2 Lord of the Rings , J R R Tolkein
3 Dark Tower Series, Stephen King
4 Belgarion / Mallorean, David Eddings
5 The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
6 Mordant's Need, Stephen Donaldson
7 Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King
8 Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
9 The Elenium /Tamuli, David Eddings
10 The Hobbit, J R R Tolkein
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I tried the Dark Tower, got one and a half books in and it had turned to rubbish after starting promising. Does it get back on track?
 

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Happy Mastenator said:
I tried the Dark Tower, got one and a half books in and it had turned to rubbish after starting promising. Does it get back on track?
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Book 2 "Drawing of the Three" and Book 4 "Wizard and Glass" were my favourite from the series. The narrative from the character Eddie Dean in Book 2 really enjoyable. I also enjoyed the riddling by Blaine the Train in Book 3 "The Waste Lands" also a good read.

Overall I was a big fan of the series and bought all the later books in hard cover as I was hanging for the next instalment.
 
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I'm currently reading the second book of the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hood. Enjoying it so far.
 
Happy Mastenator said:
I tried the Dark Tower, got one and a half books in and it had turned to rubbish after starting promising. Does it get back on track?
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The 'western' setting is really only in the 1st and 4th books with bits in the 3rd and 5th. Ultimately, if you are expecting King to have some greater overall arc for the series with a resolution fitting 22 years between the 1st and the 7th book and easter eggs in his other books you'll be sadly disappointed. From that perspective the book series is a waste of time.
 
This seems like the easiest ( 2014 ) thread to bump.
Not claiming the following as " best ever "

A mate got me onto THE SWORD OF TRUTH series.
Had gotten 2/3rds through " WIZARDS FIRST RULE " feeling a bit underwhelmed and then YOU KNOW WHO made her first appearance and turned it from standard fare to something a bit more raw.

Am 2/3rds through " STONE OF TEARS " now , Kahlans just done her nudie run ;)

Don't think i'll watch the show , would love a new version though.
 
Happy Mastenator said:
Fan of GOT, First Law, KingKiller, Gentleman Bastards, and others.

The Black Company is good, but like any series that long it has it's up's and downs, but def worth a read if like the style.

Currently on second last book of Malazan, it's one of my favourite series so far. First book is probably the weakest, well the first half of the first book mainly, have to push through that.

Tried Tomas Convenant series, and thought was a load of shit. Understand that it was trailblazing in that it was a protagonist with flaws, which is something hadn't been much of before this series, but it's terrible.

  1. A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin – 182 - Read - love
  2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - 130 - Read - love
  3. The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss -116 Read - love
  4. The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson - 85 Reading - love
  5. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - 79 - Gave up after about book 7 or 8
  6. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson - 75 - Excellent Series, waiting for the next one
  7. The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch - 66 - Read - Very good
  8. Discworld by Terry Pratchett - 55 -
  9. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - 47 - read one book of this so far, an entertaining and quick read
  10. Harry Potter by JK Rowling - 46 - Only read last year for first time, not as bad as thought it would be
  11. The First Law by Joe Abercrombie - 41 - Read - Very good
  12. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - 39 Read - Entertaining read
  13. The Dark Tower by Stephen King - 30 Read first book and a half, just lost interest
  14. The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence - 29 - Really liked this, very dark and enjoyed the humour
  15. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb - 24 - A good read
  16. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - 23 - read
  17. The Black Company by Glen Cook - 20 read - good but a few flat patches
  18. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman - 20
  19. Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K Leguin - 19
  20. American Gods by Neil Gaiman - 14 - Read Good
  21. The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis - 14 Read
  22. The Drenai Saga by David Gemmell - 14 - read
  23. Watership Down by Richard Adams - 13
  24. The Riyria Revelations by Michael J Sullivan - 12
  25. Prince of Nothing by R Scott Bakker - 11 Read part way, will try again
  26. The Belgariad by David Eddings - 11
  27. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay - 11 - Read - Enjoyable
  28. Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolf - 10
  29. The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny - 10
  30. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke - 10 - Read part way, gave up as too slow for me
  31. Raven's Shadow by Anthony Ryan - 10
  32. The Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist - 10 - Good
  33. The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett - 9 - Read
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Have got through a few more on the list.

A couple to add that have kept me entertained recently.

Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Mass - Wife wanted to read it so read it after her, was very entertaining.
Soldier Sun Trilogy by Robin Hobb - into the second book now, its enjoyable, though wouldn't mind things progressing a little quicker.
 

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Hey ! What about some love for the "classics" ! Fritz Leiber (Fafhd/Gray Mouser), Robert E Howard (Conan etc),C L Moore (Jirel Of Joiry) and A A Meritt (Ship Of Ishtar, Dwellers in the mirage etc),Lord Dunsany,H Rider Haggard etc
 
Addition. Okay Dunsany and Merritt didn't really write series (well Merritt did at least one series of two "Dwellers In The Mirage"/"Face In The Abyss"), but my point is that most of these lists have ignored many of the older writers, I think unfairly.
 
Ok.. just recommending the brandon sanderson's stormlight archive which doesn't get a great discussion despite featuring in the earlier list and the reddit poll. Amazing books. Long, detailed and yet quite coherent. The 3rd is coming out in November.

Brandon is someone who has an excellent output speed and he also finished the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan after his death. Wrote the 3 last books based on Jordan's notes after being selected by Jordan's wife.
 
The last Fitz and the Fool book is due out in a couple of days.:D

(At least I assume it will be the last, poor old much-put-upon Fitz has got to be pushing 60 years old now).
 
FredLeDeux said:
The last Fitz and the Fool book is due out in a couple of days.:D

(At least I assume it will be the last, poor old much-put-upon Fitz has got to be pushing 60 years old now).
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Yeah was stoked to hear it. Definitely my favorite of all time. May need to do one final re-read. All 16 books lol.

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Crapulous said:
Yeah was stoked to hear it. Definitely my favorite of all time. May need to do one final re-read. All 16 books lol.

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Been hanging out for it.:D
Definitely my favourite, just ahead of Abercrombie's First Law trilogy and Martin's (literally) never-ending saga.
Not sure about all 16, though - I could have made do with just the 9 Farseers (well, plus a shorter version of Rainwilds insofar as it explains some of the Farseer stuff).
 
fpcookie said:
Hmm might need to look into Robin Hobb... haven't read any of her stuff
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The thing that stands out for me in her series is that, not only are they rattling good yarns, she spends a good deal of time in genuine and believable individual character development, which impacts upon and explains their actions, far more than is the case in a lot of other series.
The forms of "magic" are pretty good, but she doesn't just resort to them (or create new ones) to get her out of each and every plot hole or dead end like some series writers do. The people react in the ways you would expect them to react, given their previous character development.
This does make them a bit longer, though, which some readers have criticised.
 
FredLeDeux said:
The thing that stands out for me in her series is that, not only are they rattling good yarns, she spends a good deal of time in genuine and believable individual character development, which impacts upon and explains their actions, far more than is the case in a lot of other series.
The forms of "magic" are pretty good, but she doesn't just resort to them (or create new ones) to get her out of each and every plot hole or dead end like some series writers do. The people react in the ways you would expect them to react, given their previous character development.
This does make them a bit longer, though, which some readers have criticised.
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What he said. I've read the first 3 about 4 times over the last 20 years and often think about going back.

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