So, I’ve been reading fantasy novels (or mythology, or fairy tales, or sci fi, or, well, you get the idea) for as long as I can remember reading. First or second grade here. And with the limited selection of books available to me, I got in the habit of re-reading my favorite books and my favorite passages. I go through phases of favorite authors. In my high school years, it was undoubtedly Mercedes Lackey. Vanyel Ashkevron rocked my socks.
Dave Duncan is the next big one I can remember after that. I had one book of his that I never got very far into for several years. Now I’ve read just about everything he’s published, including the book that hit mass market this month (finished it this evening).
But the author who I turn to most often these days for a quick re-read is Lois McMaster Bujold. (I can’t thank
Do you read any C.J. Cherryh? She’s one of my favorites, and not just because we share initials!
Bujold is one of my go-to rereads, as well. But you may have guessed that!
Some of my go-tos are non-“genre” – Jane Austen, LM Montgomery, Dorothy Canfield, the Brontes – but some are. 🙂
Let’s see.
Robin McKinley’s “Damar” series: The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown; also McKinley’s two retellings of “Beauty and the Beast”: Beauty and Rose Daughter. I think these may be less appealing to you as re-reads than Bujold; some guys find it harder to get into books with female protagonists, which might not make it problematic for a first read, but makes it less than relaxing as a re-read. Still, I like every book of hers I have read, which is all of them except her short story collection and the novel Sunshine, which is sitting a few books down in my reading queue.
Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human and Some of Your Blood. Not, er, the most comforting works of fiction on the planet, but I love them and read them often. I am not sure how much to your taste Sturgeon would be, because some of his work is Very Disturbing, and he wrote a LOT of horror. (For example.)
I know I’ve rec’d Octavia Butler to you in the past.
I re-read Silverberg’s Majipoor books about 5 times apiece in high school, but haven’t read them since then and am not sure how well they’d hold up to adult reading.
And Bradbury; when I love Bradbury, which is about half the time, I love Bradbury a lot. “There Will Come Soft Rains” is simply…something else, and Fahrenheit 451, and The October Country…
Good luck on your quest!
Oh — two YA sf/f writers I still enjoy as an adult:
Susan Cooper and Diane Duane. Specifically, Cooper’s Seaward and her The Dark is Rising series (skip the first book of the series — it’s by far the worst), and Duane’s Young Wizards series (my favorite is the second book, Deep Wizardry).
Yay, as I love all the books I’ve read that you suggested, I’ll have to try the ones I haven’t. I also like about half of Patricia McKillip’s books. Maybe more than half, I loved the Beasts of Eld, and the Riddle Master trillogy, and recently I really loved Od Magic.
One of my favorite series is Tad Williams’ trilogy, “The Dragonbone Chair”. Actually, I think the trilogy itself is called, “Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn” and the books (in order) are : “The Dragonbone Chair”, “The Stone of Farewell”, and “To Green Angel Tower”.
The first book is the densest read – Williams weaves an extremely rich and complicated tapestry of characters and lands, but unlike some fantasy authors *cough Robert Jordan*, all the seemingly unrelated threads start coalescing and converging.
Also by Tad Williams is a much quicker/lighter fantasy read, but one that’s a lot of fun, “Tailchaser’s Song.” It’s basically a standard fantasy novel, but the main character(s) are cats!
My fiancee (who really likes Merecedes Lackey and Robin McKinley) seems to like Sara Douglass most recently. I seem to go for less epic fantasy. She’s in a historical romance novel phase right now though, and I haven’t read one to be able to give you an opinion yet.
I always liked Steven Brust’s Jhereg series.
Mercedes Lackey is like the comfort food of fantasy.
Terry Brooks
Now, I’m not an expert or anything… but, I really LOVE Terry Brooks.
The Shannara Series was always a favourite for me. Although, the more you read the series, the more you sort of realize that he is almost limited. Maybe that is his intent, to make the series feel like an old friend. I mean, it IS about a family lineage, afterall… But, worth checking out, and I have most of them, so if you ever want to borrow them, just ask.
Not sure if this is precisely up your alley, but back in college had pointed me to Gene Wolfe, specifically The Shadow of the Torturer (if I recall correctly), and that series was pretty good. More recently I read Wolfe’s The Knight and The Wizard and would highly recommend them.
Didn’t Jen and I sit down and give you a freakin’ masters class?
I was actually pretty blargh over Bujold’s latest (Sharing knife vol. 1), but I’m trying to think of what’s similar that I’ve read recently…
Other people’s reccomendations I’ll second (CJ Cherryh, Robin McKinley, Susan Cooper, Tad Williams, STEPHEN BRUST FOR GOD’S SAKE YES!!!)
I found Douglass to be pretty derivitate, as is David Farland. But if you decide derivative is what you like, for goodness sake go after Brooks and David Eddings too.
Oh, Anne McCaffrey, duh. Crap, and she wrote that Trillium series with those other people…uh, Barbara Hambly…Julian May…(Amazon for help)Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Andre Norton. I’ve read books by all of these which were acceptable. And actually, McCaffrey didn’t write any of the Trillium books. Oh, well.
Ursela LeGuin’s Earthsea, by God, if you haven’t yet, you Philistine.
Greg Keyes has a fantasy series out now that starts with the Briar King that’s pretty good. I like his steampunk prior tetrology better.
George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire is the the best mainstream high fantasy series in the past 20 years. It is not really like Bujold, though.
You are not ready for Gene Wolfe. I’m not sure any human reader is, though. I really, really, REALLY need to reread Book of the New/LongShort Sun more closely as opposed to my usual DEATH TO BOOKS!!! pace. Plus, he only lives like 10-15 miles away from me.
Shit. I’ve read so goddamn much bad fantasy, I ought to be able to come up with something for you.
If you liked Bujold’s Paladin of Souls Series, Guy Gavriel Kay did it like 15 times better in The Lions of Al-Rassan, Tigana, and Sailing to Sarantium/Lord of Emperors. I am in LURV with Kay, and anybody else who likes words should too.
Jacqueline Carey writes pretty kinky hetero S&M fantasy, if you’re into that. One book of it was enough for me, but then I’ve read all 10 volumes of L. Ron Hubbard’s Mission Earth series, so I’m pretty stocked up.
Plus, I read a whole bunch of Clive Barker, so I’m REALLY stocked up. In fact, go read some Clive Barker. Books of Blood (any volume) if you’re in a short story mood, Imajica if you want a big freaking novel. The man’s gay, if that matters. (WARNING: Horror writer, not fantasy. No false advertising here).
Hey, I’m in the room with a bookshelf full of old fantasy stuff. What have I put away and not looked at since we bought the house?
ROBIN HOBB, MOTHERFUCKER!!! Hie thee to Hobb’s Assassin trilogy and partake.
Judith Tarr. Excellent Southern Europe/Northern Africa flavored fantasy, and she got her PhD in History at Yale with my uncle the college professor.
Glenn Cook is too hardcore for you. You’re not ready for this fantasy.
Terry Prachett, for the funnies!
Sharon Shinn, for the religious overtones.
Kage Baker’s fantasy books (not the Company books), because she’s good too. If you can stand Sci-Fi, her Company books are excellent time-travel romance. Connie Wills, though, is still the definitive sci-fi time-travel writer. DEFINITIVE.
Sean Russel!! No cheesy writer has cheesed out fantasy like Sean Russel!! And thick cheese books, too. More pages for your penny.
There, that’s enough for now, I think. Get back to me in a year when you’ve finished these, and I’ll have some more. Goddamn I read a lot.