Almost ever since I was able to read, I was always found the nose in a book during my free time. Even though computer is filling most of that time these days, I continue to enjoy a lot immersing myself in the book worlds.
Very soon, the books that hold most of my attention were fantasy ones and more specifically of the high fantasy kind (a genre popularized by Tolkien and Lewis among others). It’s this passion that I want to share here.
I had this idea of a list floating around the corners of my mind, a list where I would put the books I most liked. The kind of book that leaves you stunned and dazed after you have finished the whole series in a row. Recently, a friend told me that this sort of list would be a good inspiration for him as he was looking into entering that wonderful world too.
So, here we go :
My Pillars
- Lord of the Ring – Tolkien
- Narnia – CS Lewis
- Royal Assassin – Robin Hobb
- Raven Chronicles – James Barclay
- The Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan
- The Sword of Truth – Terry Goodking
- Shannara – Terry Brooks
Other excellent series
- Ages of the Fives – Trudi Cavanan
- Black Magician – Trudi Cavanan
- The Belgariad – David Eddings
- Everworld – K. A. Applegate
- Eragon – Christopher Paolini
- Bartimeus Trilogy – Jonathan Stroud
Fantasy a little bit different
- Tales of the Otori – Lian Hearn
- The Wind of Fire – William Nicholson
- Darren Shan – Darren Shan
- Chronicles of Ancient Darkness – Michele Paver
- The Reindeer People – Megan Lindholm
Of course, this list can’t possibly be exhaustive. Fantasy books are like Internet websites, after finishing one you still have another dozen that have appeared in the meantime.
Now, I hope this friend will feed me with his own list of science-fiction books 
.
Comments 11
What is it with french programmers and fantasy books? I had a discussion about exactly this with olivier dufour about 3 days ago!
You should also check out L.E. Modesitt Jr – The Saga Of Recluce (that’s the name of the series). Some books in the series are « The White Order » and « The Order War ».
Posted 23 mai 2009 at 14 h 18 min ¶Hehe!
I will put these books on my reading list
.
Posted 23 mai 2009 at 14 h 44 min ¶Have you read The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper? Quite good.
Posted 23 mai 2009 at 15 h 56 min ¶Wow, I’ve only heard of 3 (and / or seen the tv-show/movie), but never read any of the books.
Posted 23 mai 2009 at 18 h 13 min ¶Let me suggest EarthSea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthsea) – my favorite.
Posted 24 mai 2009 at 15 h 12 min ¶You should add the Children of Hurin to your reading list. In many regards its better than LOTR. In some regards the Eragon series is good, but it does tend to be highly predictable and very much like a combination of Star Wars and LOTR.
Posted 24 mai 2009 at 20 h 23 min ¶You should check out warhammer fantasy books, try time of legend serie or Von Carstein Trilogy
Posted 25 mai 2009 at 14 h 14 min ¶I liked the Wheel of time when I first started reading it, but became bored with it as I find the characters fairly two-dimensional. It also seemed to drag on unnecessarily. I recommend the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson an the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeleiver by Steven Donaldson
Posted 26 mai 2009 at 11 h 37 min ¶Fred Saberhagen’s Lost Swords series. Great mixture of fantasy, mythology and a little sci-fi.
Posted 27 mai 2009 at 2 h 20 min ¶http://www.berserker.com/FredsSwords.html
I really did like Robin Hobb and two others I’d like to suggest are Mercedes Lackey and Robert Fanney’s Luthiel’s Song series.
Posted 14 juin 2009 at 4 h 36 min ¶Well, I can’t help but notice that your list lacks the mention of the « A song of ice and fire » saga, by George R. R. Martin. epic plot, venomous characters, and a breathtaking universe… Stop by at my place if you want them (even though the saga hasn’t come to an end yet…)
Posted 15 juin 2009 at 22 h 08 min ¶Post a Comment