Best post Tolkien fantasy?

The Prime Necromancer · Post by **The Prime Necromancer** » 2004-11-02 08:15pm

A Song of Ice and Fire all the way for me.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-11-02 10:22pm

Chardok wrote:And slowly, quietly, the Terry Brooks Fans make their feelings known.... Long live the bloodline of Jerle Shannara.

Why? I'm sorry but most of what I've read has been a cheap Tolkien knock off (all too literally).

Jalinth · Post by **Jalinth** » 2004-11-03 01:11am

Stormbringer wrote:
Chardok wrote:And slowly, quietly, the Terry Brooks Fans make their feelings known.... Long live the bloodline of Jerle Shannara.
Why? I'm sorry but most of what I've read has been a cheap Tolkien knock off (all too literally).

Hasn't anyone here read Tad Williams? Has the Dragonbone Throne - excellent series. He also actually ended it.

The War of Flowers (fairly recently out in softcover) is also good - call it fantasy crossed with modern day - fairies generating electricity using magical means.

What about Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionvar series? Also excellent. His other books (song for Arbonne especially) are well beyond a mere Tolkien rehash.

Get these books (either library or used) and take a read. Tad Williams sci-fi (more post modern than real space fare) ones I've not been super keen on (matter of taste).

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-11-03 03:09pm

Guy Gavriel Kay is really good, no doubt about it.

Symmetry · Post by **Symmetry** » 2004-11-03 07:44pm

I don't really have just one favorite, but some really good series are:

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams. It starts with The Dragonbone Chair.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. It starts with The Garden of the Moon.

Other notable mentions:

The Black Company, Glen Cook

The Wheel of TIme, Robert Jordan

A Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin.

The Forgotten Realms is a setting, not a series, and I can't really coment on the Novels taking place therin 'cause I haven't read them.

The Dragonlance novels were decent, but not worth putting on a favorites list.

Goodkind's first two books were good, the rest weren't.

Imperial Overlord wrote:Yes, Deadhouse Gates was Erickson's weakest, but it was still damn good. You can't tell me you didn't like the Wiccans, the Rope becoming an uncle, Kalim's quest, or the Chain of Dogs.

Jalinth wrote:[stuff about Tad Williams]

I agree, the War of Flowers was pretty good, but Otherland, despite its promising start, just wasn't ended well.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-11-03 09:42pm

Jalinth wrote:Hasn't anyone here read Tad Williams? Has the Dragonbone Throne - excellent series. He also actually ended it.

You mean Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn? Not good books in my opinion. They take abou a book, maybe one and half worth of material and strech it to four books. It was just unsufferably boring, spent too much time on the worst parts, and too little on the good ones. Not to mention that all the characters seemed to at one point or another just go retarded for a good stretch. And the ending, well, it sucked.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-11-03 11:27pm

The first 6 books of the Black Company are damn good.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2004-11-04 12:08pm

Discworld for me, although i have read hardly anything else recently enough to remeber them.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2004-11-04 01:51pm

I've been reading Zelazny's Amber novels, pretty good stuff.

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2004-11-09 12:22am

Stormbringer wrote:What's the best post Tolkien fantasy?

I found A Song of Ice and Fire decent enough writing, but impossibly slow-paced. As for Wheel of Time, I believe I've given enough information on how I view that festering mountain of effluvia.

One of my absolute favourites, easily outstripping 99% of the rest of Fantasydom, is Jack Vance's Lyonesse series. After that comes Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and Guy Gavriel Kay's books of Fionavar.

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2004-11-09 12:28am

The Amber series is also worthy of a "dear GOD that man can write", but I don't really deem it fantasy of the Tolkien kind. It's epitomizes the "one man's quest" type of book, but the world building, while splendidly evocative, is not up to the standards of Vance, the character interactions and the tragedy in most cases not really comparable to Kay, and the sense of beauty and wonder lacking compared to Pullman. Amber is easily as good, but not really the same genre.

Big Phil · Post by **Big Phil** » 2004-11-18 02:59pm

Stormbring, how could you fail to mention your namesake - Michael Moorcock's Elric series?

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-11-18 03:06pm

I thought Kay's post Fionavar books were better than the Fionavar Tapestry.

Jalinth · Post by **Jalinth** » 2004-11-18 05:10pm

Imperial Overlord wrote:I thought Kay's post Fionavar books were better than the Fionavar Tapestry.

His style has changed between them. I do like the Song of Arbonne the best out of all his books.

Still, he ranks as one of my top authors

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-11-18 05:34pm

The Sarantonium books were great. I'm looking forward to his Norse series.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-11-18 06:48pm

SancheztheWhaler wrote:Stormbring, how could you fail to mention your namesake - Michael Moorcock's Elric series?

For the simple reason it's not my namesake; the name is actually that of one the Ten Who Were Taken from Glenn Cook's Black Company series. And what I've tried to read of the Eternal Champion Universe has come off as horribly preachy and boring as hell?

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-11-18 07:27pm

I thought it was from the famous swords as well. The Elric and first Hawkmoon series are both good, especially if you don't mind melancholy.
My favorite part is the Hawkmoon's archrival, having just won the civil war in Gran Breton, learning that Hawkmoon is leading an army across the bridge. Concerned about the heavy casualties caused by the war, he asks how many men Hawkmoon has with him. When he is told 500 he starts laughing and can't stop.

Stormbringer and Howler are both big trouble in small packages. Soulcatcher isn't that big and if I may be permitted a bad pun, the Limper is pretty nasty but he keeps getting cut down to size.

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2004-11-19 06:58am

I almost... almost voted for Shannarra, but then I remembered Haplo and the Death Gate Cycle... Haplo was cool. And so was Alfred, although Haplo was much better looking.

Although, I did prefer the Rose of the Prophet trilogy...

.... in any case, neither of them are Shannarra novels, althogh I do enjoy them.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-11-19 07:10am

[quote="Lusankya"][/quote]

Slight hijack, but, Woah, Lusankya. It's about a year since I've noticed any of your posts. I thought you'd left. Oh well, good to have you back.

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2004-11-19 07:20am

Slight hijack, but, Woah, Lusankya. It's about a year since I've noticed any of your posts. I thought you'd left. Oh well, good to have you back.

It probably would have been two years.

I've been back for a while, since September. You must have missed me. I've been mostly in the Non-fiction forums. Still, it's nice to know I was missed.

Murazor · Post by **Murazor** » 2004-11-19 07:22am

Discworld is very good. If he isn't the best, at least he ranks very high.

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn are IMO and overall one of the best series out there (several quantum leaps above most of Dragonlance, what little I have read of the Forgotten Realms (I guess that I don't like D&D settings for anything but playing them) and many others (counless quantum leaps above Kay's Fiovanar books).

I think that Weiss and Hickman have written far better things that Dragonlance, among them the Death Gate (one of the most exceptional premises and best world construction I have seen in a looong time but with a disappointing ending), the Rose of the Prophet (it is good, although the ending is really odd and there are many unanswered questions) and the Darksword trilogy (it is a pity that they had to fuck a rather good trilogy with that craptacular fourth book).

Michael Moorcock is extremely boring. I have nothing else to say here.

Jordan has opened a new level in making way too long storylines, but at least he is half original AND has managed to catch my interest, so I think that he deserves at least a mention and some credit for the ambition of his endeavour.

Finally, I hate Pullman. He managed to ruin one of the best books I have ever read with that ending and the fucking darkmatter angels. I hate the third book. I truly hate it.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-11-19 07:24am

Lusankya wrote:You must have missed me.

Slightly

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-11-19 07:31am

Murazor wrote:Michael Moorcock is extremely boring. I have nothing else to say here.

Oh thank fucking CHRIST someone else sees it too. I made the mistake of buying a fucking huge book of his Elric saga, because I heard he was good fantasy. The first story just pissed me off that I couldn't be bothered reading what other adventures he went on.

Good concept though. Anti-hero, member of a society of cruel and brutal elves, albino, wielding a evil blade. Very good concepts.

Lusankya · Post by **Lusankya** » 2004-11-19 08:46am

Corum and Hawkmoon are the best. While all are good conceptually, these are the only two that you really need in your bookshelf.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-11-19 09:00am

Lusankya wrote:Corum and Hawkmoon are the best. While all are good conceptually, these are the only two that you really need in your bookshelf.

What is Corum and Hawkmoon about? And does the saga of Elric get better than the initial story "Elric of Melnibone" would suggest?

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