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[TheWarrior]

Not my absolute favorite but an author I think deserves a ton of praise is Daniel Abraham. Long Price Quartet was fantastic and just finishing up the Dagger and coin series which has been great as well.

Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy is another favorite of mine.

 

[besada]

Conan The Barbarian is pretty great. Also Elric.

Yes, also Elric. I thought about including Elric, but where do you stop? He's just one facet of the eternal champion, and then you wind up reading Corum and Hawkmoon and Jerry Cornelius and Jherek Carnelian and Graf Ulrich von Bek, at which point you've stumbled into a castle owned by Lucifer in the middle of the Thirty Years War.

 

[King Al B]

I really love this story. I should read the next book as seeing i have read this twice now, but i dont read much anymore (books anyway)

 

[Seductivpancakes]

I don't know how I forgot about Conan. I love the comics and the 1982 movie.

Yea some of my knowledge of class fantasy movies is through comics, movies or in Earthsea's case, the animated movie.

 

[Kin5290]

The Echoes of Empire by Mark T Barnes is a pretty great lesser known series. Barnes avoids falling into many of the fantasy cliche traps that a lot of newer fantasy authors fall into. The setting is Middle Eastern inspired instead of European, and the cast of characters is not only incredibly diverse and egalitarian but character motivations are also well written.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Most of the usual suspects have been posted but something that deserves a look is the Caine series. Heroes Die works great as a great standalone if you're looking to just read a single book.

Also a favorite standalone of mine:

 

[ultra7k]

I'll just share some recommendations from working 10 years in retail books. A lot of the heavy hitters have been covered like Robb, Sanderson and Rothfuss, but I'll add in a few.

Scott Lynch - The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence

• The Lies of Locke Lamorra
• Red Seas Under Red Skies
• The Republic of Thieves
• The Thorn of Emberlain (coming this year?)

Humourous orphan thieves and their (mis)adventures. They try not to be jerks...but they are jerks. The series was highly touted upon release, and signed a crazy book deal that was near unheard of at the time. This was perhaps a burden to Lynch, and it took him something like 5/6 years to write the third novel. If Patrick Rothfuss was the next big thing in Fantasy after GRRM, Lynch is probably fairly close behind though his strengths lie more in humour and dialogue. Basically, if you like GRRM, you'll like this. EDIT* Saw this mentioned in another post.

Joe Abercrombie - The First Law

• The Blade Itself
• Before They are Hanged
• The Last Argument of Kings

2006/2007 was a great year for modern fantasy with Rothfuss, Lynch and Abercrombie. Abercrombie is the grittiest of the three authors and probably ranks in my opinon a notch below Lynch. Still an entertaining read as he takes on the 80's fantasy stereotype and kind of brings to the modern day. Barbarians, wizards, all the fun stuff. "Found floating by the docks" is a classic line in this series. He has also written other stand alone novels, I'm fairly certain they take place in the same universe.

Greg Keyes - The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone

• The Briar King
• The Charnel Prince
• The Blood Knight
• The The Born Queen

Hit the mark on the head in a time when the market was dying for GRRM to write another book. Keep in mind the excruciating wait from Storm of Swords (2000) to A Feast for Crows (2005) created a huge black hole in the market with people want to know what was going to happen next. Enter Keyes. While not a rookie author by any means (I think he has mostly stuck to licensed works, Bablyon 5, Star Wars etc) this series could have been great. Think of it as GRRM if it were less political, with slightly more fantasy, and less mature in terms of sexual themes. Yes, on paper it sounds like every other fantasy book with a more PG-13 rating, but he did it oh so well for the first three novels in the series. Not really sure why it went off the rails in the fourth, but we used to push this series pretty hard as a stop gap for GRRM.

Historical Fiction

James Clavell - The Asian Saga

• Shogun
• Tai-Pan
• Gai-Jin
• King Rat
• Noble House
• Whirlwind*

Master of historical fiction, I think very few authors match his ability to tell a story and completely engross the reader as Clavell does. Shogun tells the fictionalized story based on British sailor William Adams who is renamed as John Blackthorne in the novel. Takes place in Japan in 1600 during the Tokugawa Shogunate (renamed Toranaga in the novel) and really is just a fantastic piece of writing. Like I mentioned above, a masterpiece of historical fiction and a behemoth novel...but at the end of it, you'll wish there was more. Somehow, he exceeds the quality of Shogun in Tai-Pan, as it tells the story of European and American traders in Hong Kong. An even better read than Shogun in my opinion. King Rat is based somewhat on his experiences as a POW, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

 

[irriadin]

Hi OP. You should try the following series / authors:

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss

• Fantastic prose
• Excellent world-building and mythos
• Artsy framed narrative
• BONUS: Unreliable narrator

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

• Razor sharp dialogue
• Sardonic humor
• Catchphrases aplenty
• Deconstruction of fantasy tropes
• The next suggestion for fans of GRR Martin (similar styles)
• Compelling characters with interesting backgrounds

The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

• Will probably make you cry
• Elegant prose
• Some of the best character writing you will ever find
• Masterful use of Point of View
• One of the best dynamic duos in fantasy fiction
• Interesting and well constructed magic system

Gentleman Bastard series by Scott Lynch

• Hilarious and witty dialogue
• Trope subversion ahoy
• A great origin story
• Ridiculously fun to read
• Very original setting
• The main character is a bit of a pompous jerk, but you love him anyway

The Shadowmarch series by Tad Williams

• The other fantasy series that Tad Williams has written (See Memory, Sorrow, Thorn for Tad Williams' most well-known work).
• Grand, Tolkien-esque worldbuilding with some modern trappings. This gets a bit edgier than Williams' other work, but still a step or two below Martin / Lawrence / Abercrombie.
• Evocative worldbuilding with great attention to detail
• If you love foreshadowing and mysterious forbidden knowledge, this is the series for you. Trust me.

Quick hits:

• The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson for mindblowingly detailed worldbuilding and the most insane character power feats
• Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, for reasons that everybody else recommended. It's really great stuff.
• The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Give it a chance, it's worth it. Books 1-3 were designed by Jordan to feel similar to the traditional modern epics a la Terry Brooks, Lord of the Rings, etc. Books 4-6 are the best in the series and more than worth the time investment
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Yea, it's urban fantasy, but it's goddamn good urban fantasy with great characters and intense action.
• The Powder Mage by Brian McClellan. Flintlock fantasy! GUNS AND MAGIC!? YES!
• The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence. Jorg is one deplorable bastard, but he's as compelling as he is dangerous.
• The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett. Ignore the people who say that the series is going downhill or keeps getting worse. They're wrong. This series involves a world where demons rise from the ground at night, to kill all humans and creatures not sheltered by wards or magic.
• The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix. Yes, it's YA. But the world-building and magic system put most to shame. It's one of the only series I've read that features a necromancer protagonist that isn't an anti-hero and/or evil.
• The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. If you like a little bit of sci-fi underpinnings to your fantasy world, this is a fantastic choice. It also has one of the best anti-heroes in modern fantasy.
• The Braided Path by Chris Wooding. Criminally underrated series set in an oriental fantasy world with a highly creative magic system involving masks.

I could keep going, but I actually should do some work now. Hope that helps!

 

[UnemployedVillain]

.

Have you read Perdido Street Station by Meiville? Would you recommend The Scar over it, because I really enjoyed it, but it somewhat petered out at the end

 

[Muffdraul]

Oh man, no idea, my parents got me reading before I started school. Possibly A Wrinkle In Time. If that doesn't count, Dune. I remember my mom had to read it for her book club and afterward she said "This wasn't really my cup of tea but you'll love it." I was probably 8 or 9. I don't think I read the whole thing back then.

EDIT: Er, I read the OP as "What was your first fantasy novel?"

Fav? Even harder to answer. I'll just say Elric of Melniboné even though it's not really my fav at all. Ha!

 

[Deleted member 245925]

If you like gritty fantasy with a lot of gray characters, I can recommend the Witcher series. I've already loved the universe after playing the first game back when it released, but the books flesh out the world and characters so much better.

A user on Reddit made a really good post about how to best read the books in series.

 

[Haly]

Have you read Perdido Street Station by Meiville? Would you recommend The Scar over it, because I really enjoyed it, but it somewhat petered out at the end

I think The Scar is better than Perdido Street Station, yes. Probably the best of the Bas-lag books.

 

[kmfdmpig]

Most of the usual suspects have been posted but something that deserves a look is the Caine series. Heroes Die works great as a great standalone if you're looking to just read a single book.

Also a favorite standalone of mine:

I've never read Tigana, but will check it out sometime. The same author's Fionovar Tapestry is great and worth checking out.
I also quite liked Brokedown Palace.

 

[Horan19]

Another vote for Tigana, by Guy Gavril Kay.

It's set in world inspired by Medieval Italy, in a peninsula where tiny city states once vied with each other. In their desire for supremacy they let in two great empires, and were conquored. The state that resisted hardest, Tigana, had its name wiped from the world by magic as punishment for killing the Emperor's son in battle, and the novel is a story about a long delayed resistance trying to resurrect Tigana and restore its name.

It's also much less black and white than that description would make it seem. Almost all of the characters are complex and flawed in believable ways, and it raises the questions about where the line is between justice and vengeance. In addition, it has some incredible writing, some of the best prose in fantasy in my opinion, and some very memorable scenes that I think I should let anyone interested in reading it discover for themselves.

Some of Kay's other stuff is also very good, but he can be pretty hit or miss. The Lions of Al-Rassan and Under Heaven were really good (but almost completely lack magical elements), while Last Light of the Sun and Ysabelle should be avoided at all costs.

 

[HStallion]

Have you read Perdido Street Station by Meiville? Would you recommend The Scar over it, because I really enjoyed it, but it somewhat petered out at the end

The Scar is set in the same world but barely deals with the characters or events from Perdido Street Station aside from a few mentions. Of course it shares many of the same places, species, and other ideas but its a decidedly different tone. Its much more a wide ranging adventure story with a lot of political elements. It also features the baddest mother fucker in all of fantasy, Uther Doul.

Oh and another vote for the Robert E. Howard Conan the Barbarian stories. They are some of the best pulp fiction stories I've read. Howard was such a damned good writer that even though a lot of his stories are fairly similar in terms of plot and characters, he had a damned fine way with words and was a great world builder. Really sad that he ended up killing himself so young.

 

[AnnTiPa]

So many great series have been already mentioned so I'm going to go with something different and say The Death Gate Cycle series.

I wonder if no one really has read the series or if people don't just consider it very good but as far as I can remember it is pretty excellent. I really should read it again sometime to see if it holds up, must have been at least 10 years.

What makes the series so great is the mystery surrounding the current state of the world which keeps building up over the first four books (which are somewhat separate stories) and then things are finally starting to get revealed in the last three books.

 

[Niahak]

I would recommend a few:

The Deed of Paksenarrion (Elizabeth Moon)
Grittier and less prophecy-driven than most, although it has some of that too. Unusual heroine - talented and fairly intelligent but certainly not flawless. You get a view of combat from perspectives you definitely don't see in most fantasy novels, especially early in the series. I didn't like the other novels in the same world (the Gird ones), but I haven't read the new ones yet. Someday!

Death Gate Cycle (Weis and Hickman)
Takes place in an enjoyable set of weird worlds aligned with elements. Some really neat fantasy systems at play, and you get a great sense of atmosphere at times.

Pretty much anything (David Eddings)
They all pretty much hit the same story beats with different main characters and settings. If I had to pick one series, it'd probably be the Belgariad, but The Redemption of Althalus is a stand-alone book that gives you a good taste for his style - lots of dry humor, fun archetypal characters, decent (but perhaps not really original) worldbuilding. It doesn't quite go all the way to popcorn fantasy like Salvatore's stuff, and the "sequel series" (Mallorean/Tamuli) go a little deeper, but none of it is particularly cerebral.

Also, reading the Inheritance Cycle is pretty much like reading an attempt to clone Eddings poorly -- I only read Eragon but couldn't stand to read more.


Also would definitely second Zelazny's Amber series (especially the first five; the second set weren't quite as enjoyable to me).

 

[Razzer]

Been a long time since I read it, but I recall greatly enjoying The Wizard of Earthsea.

 

[Stinkles]

I loved Gene Wolf's New Sun stuff and merely enjoyed the Long Sun stuff.

Lotr obviously.

Thomas Covenant chronicles.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

The sword of truth series by the worlds best author of the fantasy genre - Terry goodkind

Spoiler

 

[Blizzard]

The Dresden Files are probably my favorite modern fantasy series. Urban detective wizard noir with fun characters and writing. Tons of books. And unlike Game of Thrones, they don't constantly kill off the people you like.

The author (Jim Butcher) also has some other neat stuff (Codex Alera series, and the new steampunk book).

 

[irriadin]

The sword of truth series by the worlds best author of the fantasy genre - Terry goodkind

Spoiler

This site is still hilarious to me: Goodkind Parodies

 

[Tuck]

Malazan book of the Fallen, even if hard to get into and the first book being the weak link, is extremely rewarding as the characters and battle scenes are a blast to read.

For every Tehol, theres two dozen paper thin, personality less blobs.

The lore is impressive, no doubt. And Erikson knows how tow rite a climax. Unfortunately the first 75% of every book is such a slog, that I can't say its worth it.

 

[Unmasked Ferret]

The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman there's a bit of sci-fi mixed but it's more fantasy.

The basic premise is

Spoiler

that humans needed to find new planets, and one ship crashed on a planet that grats humans magic by manipulating subconscious thought, but this in turn also makes technology useless. The magic pretty much means anything that humans can imagine can happen, so demons, gods, and various monsters are all made real, and some people are able to manipulate the magic so well they can become dark wizards or on the case of one of the main characters immortal monsters. The story follows the plot of a church man whose job is to slay demons and heal people with magic, while trying to spread the word of the one true God.

I also love the Dresden Files.

 

[Kin5290]

I've found The Dresden Files to be passably decent, but it's pretty obvious that when Jim Butcher writes about Chicago he's actually thinking of Minnesota or some similar city. Hence there being only a single black guy in all of Chicago.

Also, Butcher's characterization, particularly for his female characters, is ... less than stellar.

There are definitely better urban fantasy series out there than The Dresden Files, even if it's one of the most popular.

 

[Rudimental]

I'm not a huge fantasy fan, but I really enjoy David Gemmell's work, both his heroic fantasy like the Drenai series and his historical fantasy like the Lion of Macedon.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Is Terry Pratchett not fantasy? I never can tell what is acceptable for this genre.

In addition to being one of his best books and very funny, it's actually a really good conversation about government. The banking one is also solid, but mostly a rehash of the basic concepts behind civil government.


/I am a government lawyer.

 

[irriadin]

There are definitely better urban fantasy series out there than The Dresden Files, even if it's one of the most popular.

Can you give some examples? I haven't read much urban fantasy, and I'm curious.

 

[The Artisan]

harry potter and the half-blood prince

 

[Blizzard]

I didn't even think to recommend Discworld. They're a specific taste of satire, but they are very clever. There are a million books too.

 

[Epcott]

If I may recommend the works of Brandon Sanderson :

His epic fantasy series is called Stormlight Archives:

Though a great starting point is with another fantasy called Mistborn :

So much this. I cant seem to find a series recently which has grabbed me as much as Stromlight. Actually, all Sanderson's books are addictive.

Been trying to get into Morning Star with no such luck. Finished Dunk and Eggs adventures recently, which wasn't bad. I hope GRRM continues the stories of Dunk the Lunk, thick as a castle wall.


But yeah, Stormlight is amazing. Second would be The First Law and related books.

 

[HStallion]

Can you give some examples? I haven't read much urban fantasy, and I'm curious.

Well there are a ton of vampire/werewolf/witch in modern times series with stuff like True Blood but not sure you're looking for stuff like that and honestly the quality of many is suspect, but there are some gems in there.

Its not a series but I'd recommend Kraken by China Mieville as a really out there modern fantasy. Also has some great Villains in Gos and Subby.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

This site is still hilarious to me: Goodkind Parodies

Oh...

My....

How have I missed this, thank you, future generations of my kin thank you

 

[SugarDave]

I'm not the biggest fantasy guy but I really liked The Witcher novels. A lot of my enjoyment no doubt comes from loving the games and vice versa but I thought the first two books, Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, were great and well worth reading. They're just short story compilations so they're easy to digest too.

 

[Ophelion]

The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman there's a bit of sci-fi mixed but it's more fantasy.

Friedman's follow-up series, the Magister trilogy is, as far as I know, straight Fantasy and also has a nice twist on some typical fantasy tropes: magic in the setting cost life force. Witches burn themselves out to do little magic for their communities. But the upper classes have Magisters, who to the public seem completely free of those restrictions.

Spoiler

But it becomes clear very early on what's really going on there: Magisters can divert the life essence cost to other people. In fact, the...I think it's called the Wasting Plague...is their fault.

Magic is really badass in the setting and the main character is ruthless and determined in a way that feels a little Game of Thronesy?

Good series.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

My faves, from the top of my head

Lyonesse trilogy, Jack Vance
Dying earth cycle, Jack Vance
The Book of the New Sun quadrilogy, Gene Wolf
Hard to be a God, Strugatsky brothers
Black company, Glen Cook
The buried giant, Kazoo Ishiguro
Witcher Series, Andrej Sapkowski
The first farseer trilogy, Robon Hobb

 

[xChildOfHatex]

In no particular order (As I love all of these equally)....

1. Robin Hobb's Fitz saga.
2. Robert Jordan's Wheel of time.
3. Most stuff written by Neil Gaiman, though Sandman, American Gods, stardust, neverwhere and ocean at the end of the lane are my favourites.
4. Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.
5. Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.
6. Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.
7. The deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.

 

[kaiju]

This trilogy right here. Read them when they came out in mid 80's and still my favorite go to fantasy novels.

Chronicles is the best fantasy I've ever read. I just love 80's fantasy tropes, and this one has all of them. Real fun read.

They need to hurry up and make the movies of this trilogy.

 

[Kin5290]

Can you give some examples? I haven't read much urban fantasy, and I'm curious.

I'm a big fan of the Pax Arcana series by Elliott James. The protagonist John is a lot more self aware than Harry Dresden, which means that he knows where he's weak and screws up, tries to patch those holes, but also knows that he won't necessarily succeed even as he tries.

The action is generally much better or at least less repetitive: since John is a werewolf instead of some badass spell flinging evoker, he's basically human-normal compared to other supernatural creatures with the exception of his speed and reflexes. That means that he fights with guns, melee weapons, martial arts, and his own smarts and knowledge of his supernatural rivals. Someone who can bench press a truck and kick a hole through concrete is much less of a threat if you know how to effectively blind them and use their own body mechanics against them. Whereas every goddamn fight scene in Dresden involves fuego or Harry discharging his kinetic rings at a baddy, who then goes flying.

Also, the cast of characters is far more diverse and balanced, and supporting characters are actually allowed to do things that contribute to the plot. This includes John's eventual monster hunting partner and love interest Sig, who refreshingly is treated as an equal to John in terms of characterization, plot, and and kickassery.

Lastly, the chapter titles are hilarious.

 

[xChildOfHatex]

Can you give some examples? I haven't read much urban fantasy, and I'm curious.

Pick up anything by Neil Gaiman. Neverwhere, ocean at the end of the lane, anansi boys, American Gods are some of the best Urban Fantasy I've ever read.

 

[conman]

Gene Wolf's Book of the New Sun series (and its successors Book of the Long Sun and Book of the Short Sun). Absolutely brilliant, but be ready for a heady read. There's not much else like them. If there were such a thing as "modernist fantasy," this would be it. Formally experimental, deeply bound to its narrator's psychology, structured like a picaresque novel, with clear Jorge Luis Borges influences, set in a dark fantasy world.

 

[Kin5290]

Pick up anything by Neil Gaiman. Neverwhere, ocean at the end of the lane, anansi boys, American Gods are some of the best Urban Fantasy I've ever read.

I've heard mixed reviews of American Gods, but I haven't read it myself and this is the Internet.

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is also pretty good. Not really great, as there's some character wonkiness that probably would have been tempered in a more experienced author, but still pretty good.

It's about, well, gods.

One UF I've read recently is The Girl With Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson (who is actually a white guy). The plot is fairly straightforward, but the characters (especially the main character) and magic system are incredible. Xiang Li Lin is a Chinese immigrant and a widowed low level Taoist exorcist-priestess who must find the man who attacked her as a way to get at her father, and along the way she learns more about spirits and monsters of the ghost world than her traditional teachings showed her.

 

[pashmilla]

Pick up anything by Neil Gaiman. Neverwhere, ocean at the end of the lane, anansi boys, American Gods are some of the best Urban Fantasy I've ever read.

Not sure if Good Omens counts as urban fantasy, or even fantasy (don't want to piss off any religious people...) but it's Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett at their best and everyone should read it.

 

[xChildOfHatex]

I've heard mixed reviews of American Gods, but I haven't read it myself and this is the Internet.

The Library at Mount Char is also pretty good. Not really great, as there's some character wonkiness that probably would have been tempered in a more experienced author, but still pretty good.

It's about, well, gods.

Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite writers ever, so it's really not possible for me to dislike anything he writes. Having said that, even speaking objectively, the man writes some really compelling worlds, characters, dialogues and situations. The man just GETS pain, suffering and human emotions in general and knows how to put em down on paper. Ocean at the end of the lane and Stardust made me tear up at certain points and there're like maybe a handful of books that have had that kind of effect on me.

 

[Cosmic Schwung]

Lyonesse trilogy, Jack Vance
Dying earth cycle, Jack Vance

Thank you, Vance seems to get very little recognition whenever we have one of these threads.

I'll also support all the mentions of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy, and Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber (although only the Corwin series that make up the first five books).

 

[Liljagare]

This series, seriously, if you haven't read it, do so, now. It is like Tolkien but actually fun to read, and has so many memorable characters, that you miss in the sequels.

It is still not finished.

Has the coolest/worst adversaries, the sweetest companions, and the most awesome moments. Just the names brings images to your mind, the friendly giant, Stoneheart Foamfollower, the vigilant Bannor Bloodguard, and Nom, the creature stuck in a warp, only to be let free when someone calls his true name, and then he is cursed to kill them, and is then returned.

And Vain, if he doesn't want to be moved, you're not going to. And the blind general, who might have been a real person on earth playing wargames... Ur-viles, Ravers.. great concept, so well written that the dance of the faries made me sob..

 

[Ophelion]

Well, since we seem to be branching out a little more all the time, I'm going to plug my favorite series of all time. Johannes Cabal, The Necromancer.

Written by Jonathan L. Howard (who wrote for the Broken Sword games if that does anything for any of you) the series centers around the misadventures of the titular necromancer. The books involve him undertaking various tasks like: Tricking the devil into giving him back his soul, Clearing his name of murder on a steampunk airship (because he's the most notorious criminal on board and people just kind of assume) and traveling to Lovecraft's Dreamlands to murder the anthropomorphic manifestation of fear.

As for the tone of the series, imagine a vaguely steampunky Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that is, if anything, even more mean-spirited than that series when it comes to it's opinion of human beings. Johannes is a spiteful, myopic, churlish, sadistic dick...but somehow the author still manages to sell him as endearing. The characters are great, the world that gets built up over the four books that are out is interesting, and I don't think I've ever laughed out loud (disturbing the other people on the bus around me) so much reading anything else.

Highly, highly, highly recommended.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

My top three whenever similar threads pop up:

1. Gentleman Bastard's Sequence - Scott Lynch
2. First Law Trilogy - Joe Abercrombie
3. Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss


Slight aside, has anyone read any of the Riyria Revelations by Michael Sullivan? Seemed to be highly regarded on Reddit. I am maybe 100 pages in the first book, Theft of Swords, and not sure what the fuss is about.

 

[xChildOfHatex]

My top three whenever similar threads pop up:

1. Gentleman Bastard's Sequence - Scott Lynch
2. First Law Trilogy - Joe Abercrombie
3. Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss


Slight aside, has anyone read any of the Riyria Revelations by Michael Sullivan? Seemed to be highly regarded on Reddit. I am maybe 100 pages in the first book, Theft of Swords, and not sure what the fuss is about.

Ahhhh... I knew I'd forgotten to mention a series in my post. Locke and Jean Tannen is tied for the best bromance in fantasy along with Hadrian and Royce from the Riyria series by Michael J. Sullivan, which is incidentally another series I forgot to mention in my favourites.

About the bolded part regarding Riyria, it's about how the threat escalates with each book and how you get to understand the relationship between Royce and Hadrian a little bit more with each book. The series has some remarkable twists and some really emotionally engaging moments. Theft of swords is actually the weakest book in the series.

 

[Chickadee]

Anything by Ursula K LeGuin. Some of her books tend to be more sci-fi, but they are all good. Especially:

And the follow up books "Tomb of Atuan" and "The Farthest Shore".

I also recommend Anne McCraffery's Pern books. I think this is the first one:

I also have these on my shelf I remember liking them but it's been years so I forget the details of the plot. I should re-read them. Basically the Prince of a magic using world is born without magic skills and he's outlawed but his kingdom has to accept the change of times:

These are more young adult books, but I've always really enjoyed them:

Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain