Recommend a fantasy series for me to read

[Anonymous]

Earthsea series by Ursula K LeGuin

Wicked series by Gregory maGuire

[Anonymous]

I found Wicked a great idea but the prose like nails on a chalk board. That guy is so lucky it got turned into an award winning musical.

[Anonymous]

You might look at Robin Hobb. She has a series of interconnected novels -- two or three trilogies, I think.

The first one I only read part of -- it's palace intrigue, I think, which is not my thing. The middle trilogy is the live ship one, & I loved those -- pirates and dragons and a devastating critique of patriarchy embedded in this completely readable fantasy. (Sorta the way Christianity is in the narnia series? If you're looking for it, it's obvious, but it's totally possible to be oblivious to it.)

[Anonymous]

Mists of Avalon?

[Anonymous]

Depending on what you're looking for, the Terry Pratchett "Discworld" series is hysterically funny. It's more parody/social satire, but it takes place in a fantasy world.

[Anonymous]

If you like urban fantasy, the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher are very good.

[Anonymous]

Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey. Sex, spying, and court intrigue in medieval alternate history france.

Heralds of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey. On the surface it seems like a typical fantasy series, what with mages and gryphons and magical talking horses. BUT. It features strong female protagonists, most of it passes the Bechdel Test, and The Last Herald Mage trilogy was one of the first fantasy series to have an (extremely well written) openly gay protagonist. Besides the Last Herald Mage, the best of the series imo are: The Vows & Honor duo plus By The Sword (which follows the granddaughter of one of the previous books' protagonists), Brightly Burning, Take A Thief, and The Arrows Trilogy. The Collegium Chronicles aren't too bad either.

I second the rec of The Hunger Games and Divergent series. If you do enjoy YA, Tamora Pierce is fabulous. Start with the Song of the Lioness quartet. It's about a girl who takes her twin brother's place and tries to become the first female knight in over a century.

The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. Two of the three books feature Women of color protagonists (one of whom is blind too) and deals with the politics of race, gender, and religion.

If you like Urban Fantasy, I can't recommend enough The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. It's as if Film Noir and Urban Fantasy had the world's most sarcastic baby. Hard boiled supernatural detective stories with a down on his luck wizard set in Chicago. Another one in a similar vein is the Felix Castor books by Mike Carey.

Patricia Briggs has a few good series too. Her big one is the Mercedes The VW Mechanic books, about a Native American woman who is a coyote shifter that was raised by werewolves. Also features, scary old school style fairies and vampires, and romantic subplots that don't devolve into cliche or turn our heroine into a faux action girl who constantly needs rescuing. Her Raven duo is also really good. Features an interesting twist on Roma culture as well as the best depiction of the Bard class outside of a D&D sourcebook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wool

I just read about these. Good?

OMG YES! Also:

Razorland series
Lucifer's Hammer
Cal Leandros series
Thirst series
David Wellington series
Swan Song

[Anonymous]

If you want quick but great reads then the YA author Tamora Pierce is perfect. She has 2 different 'worlds' that she writes in (1 world for each series).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mists of Avalon?

Oh I LOVED that book! Hadn't thought of it in years.

[Anonymous]

Golden Compass / His Dark Materials trilogy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Golden Compass / His Dark Materials trilogy

Second this. Just don't watch the movie. Terrible.

[Anonymous]

Dave Duncan A Man of His Word trilogy or Tales of the King's Blades

[Anonymous]

I second the rec for the Kushiel series. It's 9 books, three trilogies, probably done. The first book is Kushiel's Dart, main character is a masochistic courtesan spy. LOTS of dark sex but it all seems relevant to the plot, not just gratuitous.

A little-known YA series I love is the Timberwolves series by Tammy Blackwell--an interesting twist on werewolves with a strong female teen lead. 4 books so far, still going. Super cheap on Amazon for Kindle.

Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series is another good one that avoids the common tropes. Main series is 3 books, finished. Secondary trilogy started, 1 book in.

I loved Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time but it may be too "traditional" for you. It's also looooong, at 14 books, some of which are as long as 2-3 typical novels. But at least it's done.

Ditto Game of Thrones for traditional (though less so than Wheel of Time) and long--9 books so far, still going, and the author is sloooow.

Also second the rec for Jemesin's Inheritance series. 3 books, series complete.

Do you enjoy sci-fi too?

[Anonymous]

The Pern series is fun, Anne McCaffrey -- and if you get into it there are LOTs of books in the series. Dragonflight is the first book (but later books in the series are better). I first started the series with Dragonsong.