Novels ; Fantasy action "Magical" etc.

Does anyone know a decent Fantasy action "magical" Novel ?

I havent read a decent one of these in a long time , and would like to.

The only "big" ones I can really think of are LOTR and Harry Potter. Any input would be great Ladies and Gents.

 

Look into the Stephen Donaldson trilogies Thomas Covenant series

http://www.stephenrdonaldson.com/

 

Piers Anthony wrote a really good series...the name of which escapes me right now but I`ll see if I can dig it up. It was a magical, fantasy type, with gnomes and ogres and dragons and wizards and such. It`s been about 20 years...I`ll see if I still have any in the attic.



It`s the Xanth series. I`m not sure if it`s still available in bookstores but I`m sure your local public library would have it. It`s a fun read...whimsical, even comical at times, but full of danger as well. If you cop any of them I hope you enjoy them...I know I`ll have to read them again now.

 

You might try Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" series.

 

Might sound a bit weak, but Phillip Pullman has written some great ones, in my opinion.

 

The Bible?


Sorry, couldn't help it!




-Steve

 

Look up the Coldfire trilogy.

 

This is exactly the sort of thing i'm looking for thanks John

I'll look into all the others as well , thanks everyone.

Google's away...

 

Hope I was some help....enjoy.

 

CS Lewis. Narnia Trilogy!!!!!

 

damn, was just gonna suggest that one But you know it's 7 books, not just thrree, right?

And of course, the Harry Potter books are pretty good too. Also worth checking out are The Riftwar Saga and Serpentwars and just about anything else by Ramond E. Feist.

 

"Coming soon to a theater near you!"


I'm not a huge fantasy fan, but Dave Duncan's "Seventh Sword" series is one of my all-time favorites.

Good author, excellent series.

http://www.daveduncan.com/books.html

 

I'd thoroughly recommend these once the series has been completed... I think theres but 1 or 2 books to go before the end but this is a huge epical story... There'll be 12 books (plus a prequel story) by the end and each one weighs in at between 600-1000 pages so not light reading.
I'd recommend waiting till they're all out because I read books 1-9 back to back and then waited 2 years for 10 to come out, and couldn't remember half the minor characters. Believe me when I say this is a whole world full of hundreds of characters and story-lines.

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series started off pretty decently but if you're not interested in reading a huge epic there was an absolutely brilliant trilogy of books by Robin Hobbs called 'The Farseer Trilogy' that I couldn't put down.

If you're after a stand-alone novel I would recommend a book called Tigana... By Guy Gavriel Kay this book was amazing.

My 2 cents

 

Pah. I meant "Load of books" when i said trilogy

READ THEM THOUGH!

 

I've re-read a trilogy by Stephen Lawhead & it always captivates. It revisits the Arthurian Legends with a tasteful twist. The 1st is titled 'Talesian' & begins in Atlantis. The 2nd is titled 'Merlin' and then 'Arthur'.

 

I`ve read 5 of the "Sword of Truth" series....good reading that, too.

 

Look into Steven R. Boyett... He's the best author since Stephen King, to me.

 

If you`re looking for horror I suppose King works...bur when has he done anything new? And he<GASP>is a DEDSOX fan too lmao

 

How about.....The Sword in the Stone, or, Knights of the Round Table!!

j/k

Roger

 

There is a pretty fair amount of his work that has nothing to do with horror. Buy 'Night Shift' for an example. 'The woman in the room' is the best short story I've ever read. There are also several other good stories in that one. 'The last rung on the ladder', etc. I agree about new stuff, though. Except for his non-fiction, everything after, and including, 'the dark half' is junk, everything before, golden. He and Steinbeck are the only authors I've read that can riff on a book, like playing an instrument, and just play...

 

Its hard for me to find any fantasy fiction books to read. The local Barnes and Noble (60 minutes away) and other book stores rarely offer books I've not yet read. Well, to my taste, that is...

The modern Tolkein would have to be George R. R. Martin and his "A Song of Ice and Fire" Series. These are some of the BEST fantasy books I've read in 28 years.

There is a Roleplaying game (tabletop) based off D20/Tri-stat (Take your pick) of this series, also a boardgame (which I own/great game!) and an expansion (urrgh! Out of print!).

My opinion of Robert Jordan (TWOT/Conan) and Terry Goodkind's books are nearly identical. Though, don't get me wrong, I'm caught up on both these series.

Oh, I do want to comment that I have only read ONE Xanth book. Nor will I continue reading anymore.

 

I've posted it before, but it's been a while. Baen Books has a free library where a lot of their authors offer books you can download for free. Straight Sci-fi and quite a lot of fantasy. Check them out online and download any that you like in full.

http://www.baen.com/library/

 

Thanks for the info. I own quite a few Baen books. Nice to see this.

I do want to mention, I've also read quite a few sci-fi books. I recently finished "The Battle of Corrin".

 

++ to this. The Covenant books are great, but the main character is one you basically love to hate throughout the first several books. He's not even a typical anti-hero, he's just a jerk. I've read these books a couple times and I like them, but can't explain exactly why, and there are times where I wish I could just put them down.

Piers Anthony is pretty good too, his Xanth series tends to straddle the fence between being for kids or adults. Lots of puns in there that children might not necessarily get, that adults might appreciate. His other fantasy/fiction is pretty good to, the Mode series was definitely more adult-themed, but not (IMO) as well-written.

Margaret Weiss/Tracy Hickman were some of my first few favorites, that was the whole Dragonlance thing, definitely worth checking out if you're into stuff like LOTR.

 

I completely forgot about the Dragon Lance series of books... These probably take up a good portion of a shelf at your local Barnes & Nobles as this is like a franchise that many authors contribute stories to.
IMO the best books are the ones by Weiss/Hickman as these have a great balance of humour and seriousness - THey did 2 complimentary epic trilogies though I can't remmeber what the first one was called, the second was Legends... absolutely brilliant stuff.

 

I think the first one was Chronicles, but I'm too lazy to google

 

Hehe I think you're right, it was Chronicles.

 

Hey any body know of anyother good free ebook sites, other then baen, and project gutenberg.