1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

fantasy books with actual endings?

Discussion in 'Booktalk' started by fuddy duddy, Oct 16, 2005.

  1. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

    Joined:
    Jan 18, 2003
    Messages:
    8,252
    Media:
    82
    Likes Received:
    238
    Gender:
    Male
    _The War of the Flowers_ is a stand alone novel, which is actually pretty good. The first half of the book is much better than the second. IMO, the story hinges on how the reader feels towards its main protagonist, Theo.

    At the beginning of the story it's easy to sympathize with Theo as the "average Joe" for whom nothing ever goes quite right. But as the average Joe who is forced into the role of reluctant hero, his responses to the unfolding events and Theo’s character are often a bit too pedestrian, IMO. But that may have been by design on William's part.
     
  2. Dice

    Dice ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2002
    Messages:
    5,125
    Media:
    24
    Likes Received:
    149
    Gender:
    Female
    I really loved The Dragonbone Chair series by Tad Williams. The character started out very young and the series took him and several other characters through an epic adventure. It definatly had an ending as well.
     
  3. Sir Farivald

    Sir Farivald The Obsidian Cleric

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2005
    Messages:
    115
    Likes Received:
    0
    As someone has already mentioned, David Gemmell is good for wrapped up endings. Read his first book, Legend. It's full of passion, and the ending (particularly one very very epic part) made me tingle all over. Heh, books excite me too much...
     
  4. Enagonios Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2001
    Messages:
    6,089
    Likes Received:
    5
    I'd pick Gemmel's Drenai series up (especially with the cheaper reprints that have come out) but for the fact that no bookstore here has a full collection of them. there are how many books? 11?
     
  5. Aikanaro Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2001
    Messages:
    5,521
    Likes Received:
    20
    IMO - The War of the Flowers was good before anything of note happened. As soon as the plot began it turned dull and boring and I quickly came to not give a damn about the main character.

    The same goes for Perdido Street Station by China Mieville - quite possibly the dullest most standard plot was implimented in a quite interesting setting, making it mediocre.
     
  6. Enagonios Gems: 31/31
    Latest gem: Rogue Stone


    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2001
    Messages:
    6,089
    Likes Received:
    5
    I kinda liked the War of the Flowers. it did get draggy once or twice but a pretty good read imo.
     
  7. T2Bruno

    T2Bruno The only source of knowledge is experience Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2004
    Messages:
    9,779
    Media:
    15
    Likes Received:
    441
    Gender:
    Male
    The Hobbit.

    One of the few stand alone fantasy books written where the author wasn't hoping for a franchise book deal.

    A series witha decent resolution in each book? Kind of makes the point of a series moot doesn't it?

    Those series that are close:

    Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
    Mars Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
    The Champion Eternal Cycle by Micheal Moorcock (a lot of miniseries, with a total of forty or fifty books -- Elric of Melnibone is the most famous).
    Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony
    Wizard of Earthsea Series by Ursula LeGuin
    Both of the Amber Series by Roger Zelazny
    The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson
     
  8. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,665
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    574
    Gender:
    Male
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.