10 Favorite Fantasy Books/Series + 10 Others

[Ralif Redhammer]

Good call! Its simultaneous subversion and love of the superhero genre is no small feat, and absolutely changed the face of comics. I think I'd add From Hell to the list as well for Moore. It's so insanely dense with research and tiny details.

When it comes to more traditional comics, I'd add the Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection vol. 1. I've been going through the various first volumes of the big superheroes of today, and it's clear that they were on fire with Spider-Man. Compared to the others, there are almost no filler villains - no aliens, underground mole people, and communists. Those three show up so much in the other comics like Iron Man and the Avengers. But Spider-Man, right off the bat, has some of his most iconic villains. And his personality is so much more developed and relatable.

Watchmen by Alan Moore***

 

[!DWolf]

List one (in no particular order)
1. The Deverry Cycle by Katherine Kerr - Celtic fantasy with a unique focus on reincarnation and told non-linearly.
2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - a classic, my dad used to read this to me when I was a little kid.
3. Memory, sorrow, and thorn by Tad Williams - proof that tropes aren’t bad.
4. The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon - very classic dnd with a veneer of military fiction. The intro in Sheepfarmer’s Daughter is both wonderful and bittersweet.

List 2:
Worm by Wildbow. Not on list one because it’s a web serial not a book, but it is fantastic.

 

[Richards]

Sticking strictly to novels and short stories, these were the first ten to pop into mind:

1. Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" series
2. Scott Lynch's "Gentlemen Bastards" series
3. Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
4. C. S. Friedman's "Coldfire" trilogy
5. Gene Wolfe's "Soldier" series
6. Jack Vance's "Lyonesse" series
7. R. A. Salvatore's "Drizzt Do'Urden" series (primarily the Underdark origin trilogy)
8. Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series
9. Roger Zelazny's "Dilvish" series
10. "The Destroyer" series (originally written by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir) - it often strays into spy and science fiction territory, but I think there's enough justification to include it as a modern-day fantasy series

But I'd like to add a special shout out to Bill Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" series, because I have yet to see a better representation of the fantasy life of a six-year-old boy.

Johnathan

 

[Zaukrie]

Sticking strictly to novels and short stories, these were the first ten to pop into mind:

1. Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" series
2. Scott Lynch's "Gentlemen Bastards" series
3. Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
4. C. S. Friedman's "Coldfire" trilogy
5. Gene Wolfe's "Soldier" series
6. Jack Vance's "Lyonesse" series
7. R. A. Salvatore's "Drizzt Do'Urden" series (primarily the Underdark origin trilogy)
8. Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series
9. Roger Zelazny's "Dilvish" series
10. "The Destroyer" series (originally written by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir) - it often strays into spy and science fiction territory, but I think there's enough justification to include it as a modern-day fantasy series

But I'd like to add a special shout out to Bill Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" series, because I have yet to see a better representation of the fantasy life of a six-year-old boy.

Johnathan

Not sure how I forgot to list that last one. We appear to have similar tastes, guess I have some reading to do.

 

[Zaukrie]

Powell's books has 30% off the site today....so thanks to this thread and others, I bought a slew of used (and some new) books.....thanks everyone.

 

[Argyle King]

-My 10 Favorites- (in no particular order)
1) Chronicles of Narnia - in particular: Prince Caspian, The Horse and His Boy, and
2) R. Howard's Conan*
3) The Chronicles of Prydain
4) The Last Unicorn
5) Dragonlance Chronicles (though the first chapter is always a bit rough to get through)
6) The Riddle Master trilogy (Patricia McKillip)
7) Wicked (Winnie Holzman)
8) The Old Testament**
9) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
10) The Hobbit

*I'm not sure if this counts because many of the stories are short stories. They are currently available in collections and anthologies, but were not available as "books" in their original form.

**I'm aware this might be controversial. I mean no disrespect to anyone's beliefs or faith. I legitimately enjoyed reading a "young adult" illustrated bible I had as a child. Some of the stories were (to me) pretty cool and entertaining. ...war, magic, heroes, ethical dilemmas... I believe many of the stories could qualify as fantasy, especially as presented in the version(s) of the stories I read. If this pick is not allowed, exchange it for #8 from the list below.


-10 Other Things to read- (some of these aren't "fantasy" but are interesting or worth reading)
1) Prince Valiant comics
2) GURPS Horror -even if you don't play the system, some of the discussion of the genre is good
3) Deadliest Men (Paul Kirchner)
4) Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World (Simon Anglim, Phyllis Jestice, et al.)
5) They Say; I Say (Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein)
6) And It Begins Like This (Latanya McQueen)
7) FM 7-8 military manual*
8) Lonewolf #1: Flight from the Dark (Joe Dever)**
9) The Earthsea Trilogy (Ursula K. Le Guin)
10) The Complete Works of Lao Tzu (Hua Ching Ni)

*I think having a general understanding of how an infantry platoon functions would help a lot of folks understand modern combat and tactics. While the 7-8 is outdated and has been replaced, I personally prefer the way it explains things (more than the newer manual) and I also believe it was written for a style of warfare which is likely of more interest to someone playing an action rpg.

**I remember enjoying this entire series during my youth. I only listed the first one because I could not remember how many there were or if I equally enjoyed all of them.

 

[GreyLord]

-
8) The Old Testament**



**I'm aware this might be controversial. I mean no disrespect to anyone's beliefs or faith. I legitimately enjoyed reading a "young adult" illustrated bible I had as a child. Some of the stories were (to me) pretty cool and entertaining. ...war, magic, heroes, ethical dilemmas... I believe many of the stories could qualify as fantasy, especially as presented in the version(s) of the stories I read. If this pick is not allowed, exchange it for #8 from the list below.


-
8) Lonewolf #1: Flight from the Dark (Joe Dever)**


**I remember enjoying this entire series during my youth. I only listed the first one because I could not remember how many there were or if I equally enjoyed all of them.

8a. I wouldn't list the Old Testament as one of my favorite reads. Same as you, not meaning offense to any, this is not ana analysis or commentary on the literary worth, religious worth, or any inherent value culturally of the book, it is merely my outward commentary on how FUN and enjoyable I find the book to read. There are definately some interesting stories found in there, but I find the book as a whole pretty difficult reading and rather boring at some parts. The Book of Genesis, the FIRST part of Exodus (the latter portion gets rather drear to me), Judges, the Books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, and parts of Daniel, Ezra and Job have interesting stories in and of themselves. Beyond that...It's just not something I enjoy reading for fun. Perhaps storybooks that have the stories only would be more fun to read, but I might list those storybooks instead of the Old Testament, speaking for myself of course, if I were to list it on a list like this.

8b. Depending on where you lived and at what time it was. The Lone Wolf Book series went up to Book 12 in the US and took a short pause for a while in the early 90s. It then continued publishing abridged forms of the books around 1993 I think, and continued up until around 1995 where they finished up with an abridged version of Book 20 or the Curse of Naar.

The US also printed Legends of Lone Wolf, but only printed up to Book 5 (book 4 in the UK) which was Hunting Wolf.

In the UK the Book series continued to be in print all the way up until I think it was 1998 or 99 where it came out with Book 28 (The Hunger of Sejanoz). The Legends of Lone Wolf were printed all the way up to Book 12 with it ending in the Book The Rotting Land (the author's take on Joe Dever's Book 8 the Jungle of Horrors).

Mongoose Publishing started printing re-releases of the Books in "collector's Editions" sometime in the 2000s (I want to say it was around 2005/2006). They promised new Lone Wolf books but never delivered on those promises in 8 years of publishing the books, though the Mongoose versions got up to book 22 I think. After that it once again fell into a sort of Hiatus until Joe Dever started printing them himself for the fans of the books. He got Book 29 printed (storms of Chai) but unfortunately passed away. His son has gotten another individual to write the books based off the outlines and notes of Mr. Dever and has published Book 30 Dead in the Deep recently, and has book 31 coming up this December).

Joe Dever always seemed to have a great affection for the fans of his books and wanted them to be available for those who wished to read them, and thus graciously allowed them to be published online where those who want to read them can get them in electronic format for free.

They can be found here

Project Aon Lone Wolf Books

 

[Argyle King]

8a. I wouldn't list the Old Testament as one of my favorite reads. Same as you, not meaning offense to any, this is not ana analysis or commentary on the literary worth, religious worth, or any inherent value culturally of the book, it is merely my outward commentary on how FUN and enjoyable I find the book to read. There are definately some interesting stories found in there, but I find the book as a whole pretty difficult reading and rather boring at some parts. The Book of Genesis, the FIRST part of Exodus (the latter portion gets rather drear to me), Judges, the Books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, and parts of Daniel, Ezra and Job have interesting stories in and of themselves. Beyond that...It's just not something I enjoy reading for fun. Perhaps storybooks that have the stories only would be more fun to read, but I might list those storybooks instead of the Old Testament, speaking for myself of course, if I were to list it on a list like this.

8b. Depending on where you lived and at what time it was. The Lone Wolf Book series went up to Book 12 in the US and took a short pause for a while in the early 90s. It then continued publishing abridged forms of the books around 1993 I think, and continued up until around 1995 where they finished up with an abridged version of Book 20 or the Curse of Naar.

The US also printed Legends of Lone Wolf, but only printed up to Book 5 (book 4 in the UK) which was Hunting Wolf.

In the UK the Book series continued to be in print all the way up until I think it was 1998 or 99 where it came out with Book 28 (The Hunger of Sejanoz). The Legends of Lone Wolf were printed all the way up to Book 12 with it ending in the Book The Rotting Land (the author's take on Joe Dever's Book 8 the Jungle of Horrors).

Mongoose Publishing started printing re-releases of the Books in "collector's Editions" sometime in the 2000s (I want to say it was around 2005/2006). They promised new Lone Wolf books but never delivered on those promises in 8 years of publishing the books, though the Mongoose versions got up to book 22 I think. After that it once again fell into a sort of Hiatus until Joe Dever started printing them himself for the fans of the books. He got Book 29 printed (storms of Chai) but unfortunately passed away. His son has gotten another individual to write the books based off the outlines and notes of Mr. Dever and has published Book 30 Dead in the Deep recently, and has book 31 coming up this December).

Joe Dever always seemed to have a great affection for the fans of his books and wanted them to be available for those who wished to read them, and thus graciously allowed them to be published online where those who want to read them can get them in electronic format for free.

They can be found here

Project Aon Lone Wolf Books

Thanks for the info.

Regarding the OT: The youth version I had was written in a way which straddled the line between still being true to the original stories and being entertaining the read. It was a little like a graphic novel.

 

[Zardnaar]

8a. I wouldn't list the Old Testament as one of my favorite reads. Same as you, not meaning offense to any, this is not ana analysis or commentary on the literary worth, religious worth, or any inherent value culturally of the book, it is merely my outward commentary on how FUN and enjoyable I find the book to read. There are definately some interesting stories found in there, but I find the book as a whole pretty difficult reading and rather boring at some parts. The Book of Genesis, the FIRST part of Exodus (the latter portion gets rather drear to me), Judges, the Books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, and parts of Daniel, Ezra and Job have interesting stories in and of themselves. Beyond that...It's just not something I enjoy reading for fun. Perhaps storybooks that have the stories only would be more fun to read, but I might list those storybooks instead of the Old Testament, speaking for myself of course, if I were to list it on a list like this.

8b. Depending on where you lived and at what time it was. The Lone Wolf Book series went up to Book 12 in the US and took a short pause for a while in the early 90s. It then continued publishing abridged forms of the books around 1993 I think, and continued up until around 1995 where they finished up with an abridged version of Book 20 or the Curse of Naar.

The US also printed Legends of Lone Wolf, but only printed up to Book 5 (book 4 in the UK) which was Hunting Wolf.

In the UK the Book series continued to be in print all the way up until I think it was 1998 or 99 where it came out with Book 28 (The Hunger of Sejanoz). The Legends of Lone Wolf were printed all the way up to Book 12 with it ending in the Book The Rotting Land (the author's take on Joe Dever's Book 8 the Jungle of Horrors).

Mongoose Publishing started printing re-releases of the Books in "collector's Editions" sometime in the 2000s (I want to say it was around 2005/2006). They promised new Lone Wolf books but never delivered on those promises in 8 years of publishing the books, though the Mongoose versions got up to book 22 I think. After that it once again fell into a sort of Hiatus until Joe Dever started printing them himself for the fans of the books. He got Book 29 printed (storms of Chai) but unfortunately passed away. His son has gotten another individual to write the books based off the outlines and notes of Mr. Dever and has published Book 30 Dead in the Deep recently, and has book 31 coming up this December).

Joe Dever always seemed to have a great affection for the fans of his books and wanted them to be available for those who wished to read them, and thus graciously allowed them to be published online where those who want to read them can get them in electronic format for free.

They can be found here

Project Aon Lone Wolf Books

I've got first 23 gamebooks, 12 legends books and Magnamund Companion.