If you could recommend one fantasy book...

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If you could recommend to me one fantasy book that you think will win me over to the fantasy genre, what would it be?

Please don't say LotR. I read that when I was a kid and liked it, but upon reading it again I found it is obscenely dull, uninteresting, and unimaginative (beyond the world creation bit which is a big "meh" for me).

I want to give genre-novels a chance, but I just haven't ever found one that wasn't horrible. That goes for every genre, not just fantasy. When I say "genre novel", I mean a novel that, at a bookstore, would be under some genre (e.g. mystery, fantasy, sci-fi) rather than just "literature".

Please help! Thanks.

 

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It's the first book in a trilogy, followed by Royal Assassin and then Assassin's Quest. It's one of the best depictions of an assassin I've read, and the world is quite different from your run-of-the-mill fantasy. My guess as to why you found LotR so dull and 'unimaginitive' is because everyone and his brother has coppied it since. There are literally thousands of fantasy worlds out there that are blatant copies of Middle Earth. Robin Hobb's world isn't one of them.

Or, if you're looking for a slightly more 'traditional' adventure tale, but still very original, you may go for Magician:Apprentice and Magician:Master by Raymond E. Feist. Another excellently written story, with a number of other stories following to develop the world more. You'll run into slightly more traditional fare here, elves and dwarves and the like, but it's still a far cry from the LotR circle.

 

Maybe you should tell us what sort of stuff you currently like to read. If you read lots of Tom Clany I'm going to recommend different stuff than I would if you enjoy Chaucer or Shakespeare or whatever.

 

As far as fiction goes, I mainly read classics. Shakespeare and Dostoevsky are my two favorite authors.

EDIT: As you might expect from what I mainly read, I prefer books with enduring literary quality. Its not that I'm against reading just for entertainment, its just not my cup of tea. I usually go with a movie or video game for pure entertainment.

 

The first book in the Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. I think that might be right up your alley. Besides the first book can be read as a stand-alone book.

 

I would go for something by Elizabeth Moon. Her book The Deed Of Paksennarion is really good and she also writes some good sci-fi.
The Dragon Lance books are also good.
If you liked Macbeth, try Terry Pratchetts Wyrd Sisters

 

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

 

Fantasy is wide range of literature. Probably the best modern fantasy is Watership Down by Richard Adams -- but it's a story about rabbits, not swords and sorcery.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis was wonderful -- but that's more than one book and primarily geared toward older children. But then, I think some the best fastasy is children's literature. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper was another great book (and Newberry Honor Award) -- the series starts with Over Sea, Under Stone. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin is another I would recommend. All of these are not quite Shakespeare or Dostoevsky.

You could try some books by Jules Verne or Edgar Rice Burroughs (the Mars series). They might be written more in the style you like. La Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory (first published in 1485) is a classic of the genre as well. An interesting book about prejudice, but in the fantasy/horror genre, is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

 

The Dark Is Rising! I remember reading a few books from that series in first grade and loving it!!!

 

No contest: Read the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson.

And when you've finished that, read Robin Hobb's series starting with Assassin's Apprentice. Then pick up George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire and join us in the endless frustration that goes along with waiting forever for him to write the next book.

 

Have any of you read A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay? If so, what did you think? A critic I like likes it, so I'm interested in second opinions.

 

I was going to say The Silmarillion...

You're entitled to that opinion but let me remind you that without Tolkien (Vance and Howard as well) we would certainly not be playing games like Baldur's Gate nowadays (fantasy games with elves, halflings and dwarves; spells with weird sounding names or muscular barbarians).

Back in the 50s you would have been hard pressed to find anything more imaginative. So I guess you think it's unimaginative because Tolkien's work has been used and dumbed down by every wannabe fantasy writers on the block. Some people call that inspiration or homage but you can quote me as saying that it is indeed plagiarism.

[/rant]

If you're looking for great fantasy with mature themes and clever twists you should consider the Tales of the Dying Earth, Rhialto the Marvellous, The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel Saga by Jack Vance.
Seriously, I mean it, read these books. You'll thank me later.

 

If Shakespeare is your standard, in most cases you will probably be disappointed by most anything I could recommend in either genre or literary fiction. I have never found another author to match him.

With that said, I came to fantasy-adventure by way of formal studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. You may want to consider the same method, if you have a desire to be "won over" to fantasy. It worked for me. I would recommend you start with Beowulf, and the same stream of Anglo-Saxon and Norse Mythology, which informs JRR Tolkien's work. Also, the Icelandic Sagas are great fun, particularly Njal's Saga. AM has already mentioned Chaucer, and T2 mentioned Mallory; I would add Spenser, de Troyes, and Marie de France.

Also, consider historical fiction set in the Middle Ages: Bernard Cornwell in particular. There are three very good cycles: The Arthurian, beginning with the Winter King; The Hundred Years War, beginning with The Archer's Tale; and The Anglo-Saxons, beginning with The Last Kingdom.

On the fantasy-adventure side I would recommend Steven Erikson's Malazan books (similar to Glen Cook's The Black Company). You may like this, since there is no "grand theme" of traditional good and evil. The lines between these concepts are not just blurred but exploded into a prism of multi-shades of gray - for the most part. Yet, his books have a moral core to them, which is very satisfying. But you really have to get to the third book in the cycle before that becomes clear. You can also browse the links here on SP which contains almost every "popular" fantasy-adventure cycle in print. Btw, we also have a review section of our own in Booktalk.

 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate LotR precisely because it spawned stuff I love, like BG2. However, I maintain that its just a mildly amusing plot-driven tale. There's almost nothing interesting in it. No details. You can skim LotR and get no more out of it than you would with a close reading. Okay, so he created new fantasy character stereotypes... big deal! That doesn't interest me at all. I can't think of a single character in the entire trilogy that has anything approximating serious literary depth. Its like Harry Potter... your eyes just glaze over the pages... the work demands no thought from the reader. It may be entertaining in some base way, but that doesn't make it good in a literary sense. IMO its just like any other form of mass entertainment (reality TV, for instance).

Thats not to say there is something WRONG with reading or enjoying LotR, my point is just that it has no literary value, and I read for literary value. I understand that some people read for entertainment value, but I prefer tv, movies, games for mere entertainment.

Do you mean stuff made in the 50s, or do you mean all the stuff that existed in the 50s? Because if you mean the latter, you are way way way off.

 

David Gemmel was a fantastic author and I read his books over and over.

 

Scar Night by Alan Campbell is worth a look if your trying to get into the fantasy genre. Even if you don't like the book that much the next in the series is much better.

 

@nataben1314: You can't be posting remarks like these and hope not to get into an argument.

You made this thread so people could make suggestions and you deliberately started with such bold statements that qualify the book as "obscenely dull, uninteresting, and unimaginative" like I said above that's your opinion and I don't think my reply was in any way a provocation (whereas you are clearly looking for an argument).

Then you move on to posting that "it has no literary value" and that statement is different. You didn't write that it has no literary value to you or in your opinion, you're passing judgement and write that it's just escapist literature which means that you didn't get any of it.

I'm not going to get all riled up because there is no point and that would be a waste of my time. Needless to say I'm quite convinced now that you are a poser ("I read for literary value" -that sentence made my day btw) who wouldn't know great literature if it hit him in the face with a shovel.

 

Actually, I was going to avoid mentioning C.S. Lewis for the reasons stated above, but if you want 'literary value', you can't get much better than the examination of the moral implications of war presented in several of his books. Remember, when you're reading it, that this was written by a man who had been in the trenches of WWI and lived through the terrors of WWII.

 

There are three authors that you need to give a shot if you want to experience the best that fantasy has to offer and they have all already been mentioned. Erikson, Hobb and Martin. I am not real literature expert but I have taken some university courses and they rival and even surpass most of the classics I have read on all levels.

One guy I "rediscovered" this summer and who has also been mentioned is Robert Jordan who sadly passed away before he could finish his grand epos. He has his low points and his high points but his high points are among the best I have ever read. He lacks the depth of the other three but that is actually saying more about how good they are than anything negative about Jordan.

Oh and I agree with you, LotR is dull, Bilbo is much better. Tolkien was a linguist and a worldbuilder not a storyteller and it shows.

 

I'm ashamed to admit that I have never read anything by Erikson and Hobb. Once I get caught up on my reading I'm going to have to give them a shot. I love threads like this.