UKC

Swords mandatory. Dragons and magic optional. 

I've recently read a bunch of non fiction and heavy books so would like to reward myself with a fun read. 

I've read Lord of the Rings and a lot of Terry Pratchett but other than that I've not really read much fantasy so not sure where to start, which authors are good? etc 

any recommendations would be great 

David Gemmell would fit the bill.  The Druss books were good

The Bible

Al

The Game of Thrones books are actually very very good. Each chapter is from a different character's viewpoint and George Martin manipulates you with misinformation, rumour and bias so making the weaving together of all the stories suspenseful.

For more Tolkein, I love The Silmarillion but others have found it dull. If you want an even richer backstory to LotR it's amazing how well realised Middle Earth is.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Not so many swords, but it's an interesting take on the genre. There's definitely a spear or two.

Regarding The Silmarillion, I'd put it down for LoTR nuts only. I found it a chore to read.

I was about to protest but I actually can't.

I enjoyed the Bloodsong books by Anthony Ryan. Lots of battles, some magic. Last book is a bit of a let down but the first two were excellent. 

It's been a long time (like, 40 odd years) but I would still recommend The Crystal Caves and The Hollow Hills, each of them Arthurian tales by Mary Stewart . Also The Once and Future King by TH White. If you're OK with just swords (my preference - I find magic boring), then try the other Mary, Mary Renault, for novels mainly set in the ancient world, or Rosemary Sutcliff (Eagle of the Ninth) of Henry Treece (vikings!) or, for more historical detail and something not originally published as a Puffin, Alfred Duggan, if you can find him.

The Eagle of the Ninth isn't fantasy. The only RS book I can think of that comes close to fantasy is Sword at Sunset and actually it seeks to lift King Arthur out of fantasy and place him in a historical context.

I'd still heartily recommend them though!

I really enjoyed American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Oh and definitely the Northern Lights Trilogy by Phillip Pullman. Superb.

I know. It's swords without dragons or magic.

That’s what I was going to suggest, but couldn’t remember what it was called. 

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson

This is the first Thomas Covenant trilogy. Have admit it isn't heavy on swords but a great fantasy read.

Also,

The first four Dorian Hawkmoon books -

The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword of the Dawn and The Runestaff -

by Michael Moorcock

Dave

I started reading the first Thomas Covenant book but was put off when the main protagonist rapes a girl within the first 50 pages or so. I find the casual use of rape as a plot device increasingly offensive anyway but at the very least it's not normally perpetrated by the main character.

Maybe the Earthsea books:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/14981/earthsea/

Often dismissed as children's books but I'd say worth a read and seminal works too.

I'm currently enjoying the Conquerer series by Conn Iggulden 

I read the books about 25 years ago and seem to remember that the rape was integral to the whole story and the way that it shaped Covenant's mind at the horror at what he had done.

The David Eddings books I seem to remember as quite good, though maybe more aimed at teenagers than adults.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Eddings_bibliography

The Silmarillion

Once I put it down I just couldn't pick it up again

I refuse to believe anyone has actually read it.

The Eagle of the Ninth isn't fantasy?

Well, there's a fine line between fantasy and fiction! The story is based on an interpretation of history (the loss of the IXth legion in Scotland) which might now be regarded as fantastical, as is some of the representation of the Celts. It's interesting from a historiographical perspective, but it's also a damned good read - and one of the main reasons I'm a Roman historian   Definitely worth a read, even as an adult, as is Sutcliffe's other work.

If you're into historical fantasy, Gillian Bradshaw's Arthurian trilogy is excellent.

I agree with Siward too: Ursula le Guin's Wizard of Earthsea is a great read.

Interesting. I didn't read a huge amount more but my perception from that stage of the book was that he was more horrified by the prospect of being found out and censured than horrified by the act itself. Perhaps I gave up on it too soon then? Maybe I'll go back to it when I finish my current Iain M Banks jag...

Harry Potter has a Sword, several dragons and lots of magic.

Interesting. How do you rate Alfred Duggan's work? I was turned on to him by a history teacher at school, a former monk who'se sessions I chose to follow in the bit of the A level timetable where the idea was to expose us to something off beam. He just read out his notes, and kept mentioning Duggan. I then sought out and bought Duggan's novels in the covered market that was on my walk from the railway station to school, and have them to this day.

They mainly cover the 10-13C European era, with, to my mind, well observed accounts of the sensibilities of the times, and take in the great events, such as the first Crusade, and interesting characters such as Edward the Confessor, but minor characters also feature large in the books and they do also cover Roman times.

WP says he was the step-son of Lord Curzon, a Viceroy of India, and drove a Rolls Royce while a student at Oxford.  

I can't see any fantasy element in it can you?

Another vote for Le Guin’s Earthsea books. Just re read the first three, over 30 years after my first reading of them, and was struck by how good they were, and how well they held up as an adult reader. The world has to be one of the most richly realised and compelling outside of Middle Earth; it has the most coherent treatment of magic, and the most awe inspiring dragons. Each of the three stories is very different in feel and perspective, but all are brilliant. 

No swords though; Earthsea is very much a world where magic is prime. 

You missed out on an epic! Although I thought it lost its way a bit in the second series, it recovered in the last. Iain M Banks is brilliant - a tragedy that he is not still around.

Gormengast trilogy by Mervyn Peake

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, well written and turns all the usual fantasy tropes on their head. Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence, twisted but fun. The Traitor Son series by Miles Cameron well written fantasy firmly based in medieval history.

Thanks, so the winner is Bloodsong by Anthony Ryan - ticks the boxes 

(although I feel a fantasy binge at might work through lots more!) 

I have read the Northern lights trilogy as youth, probably worth a re-reading though 

Duggan's a bit too late for me (I don't generally go beyond the 3rd century AD). I would recommend Harry Sidebottom's Ballista series though, set in the 3rd century. Great yarns written by someone who really knows what he's talking about (he's a friend, and I'll admit to being biased!)

I tried one of his at my sister's recommendation. Didn't finish it. Can't remember why, but it may be that yarns aren't normally enough to engage me.

Don’t overlook The Hobbit - a real masterpiece unlike the film.

Greg Bear’s “Songs of Earth and Power” always stood out to me; a fantasy from a science fiction author and much better than Heinlein’s foray in to the genre.  Bit naive at times.

Not fantasy but Edward Rutherford’s “London” is very jolly in that general sense.

Another +1 for “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman, one of the best books I have ever read.  I think that’s where my Americana fascination began.

No swords but magic beans and beer, “The Antipope” by Robert Rankin.

I'd recommend Terry Brooks' Shannara books. (despite the TV series being a bit pish). Kick of with the running with the demon and Armageddon's children trilogies to set up the end of the world as we know it or jump straight in to the Sword of Shannara. I think there'll be 36 books in the series once he finishes the current quadrilogy. It has to be said, the last couple of series have been a bit samey.

I'd forgotten about the Earthsea books - great reads from a writer sadly no longer with us.

Read and learn, JK Rowling, read and learn.

Dave

My favourite books, but almost sword-free.

I'm a mythology wonk and I love it.

Perhaps "The Left hand of God" and its trilogy companions by Paul Hoffman.  An odd mix of religious and political fanaticism.

Robert Jordans wheel of time though it gets a bit messy as though he is struggling to finish the story in the later books. 

Magician and all the subsequent books by Raymond Feist. 

Robin Hob start with the assassin trilogy then the live ship trilogy then the fool trilogy. 

Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy.

Steerpike going across the roofs of the castle is one brilliant bit of climbing writing.

And one of the best "baddies" in all of fiction.

LeGuin: Gifts, Voices, Powers

Gene Wolfe: Book of the New Sun

Guy Gavriel Kay: everything. Tigana is a good start

Patricia MacKillip: In the Forests of Serre, The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Riddlemaster of Hed

Barry Hughart: Bridge of Birds

also +1 to Covenant and Silmarillion

It's Not About The Bike, Lance Armstrong

Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind
David Gemmell - any of the Drenai series. Legend would be a good start

I hesitate to recommend these books, because once on the band wagon you will suffer the same fate as the rest of us in feverishly and consistently checking the internet if anything has been said about the third book, but Patric Rothfuss' King Killer Chronicles are some of the best books I have ever read.

Some others I have enjoyed are:

Said before but another vote for the Earthsea saga. I read them first when I was a child and having reread them a number of times, they really hold up through adult eyes. I love them.

The Mistbourne trilogy by Brandon Sanderson are a weird kind of fantasy, the setting being more industrial than you would expect of classic fantasy, but they are great and scratched the same itch as many more strict fantasy books do. Also his Stormlight Archive books deserve a mention here. He is a prolific author and an expert at writing hard magic systems.

Dune. Again, this will get me in trouble for strictly calling this fantasy, cos it's not, but (as above) it scratches that fantasy itch. Technically it's probably a sci-fi, but it reads very much like an epic fantasy, with world building that you rarely see in a sci-fi outside of Arthur C. Clarke's works (a sci-fi side note, if you haven't already, read rendezvous with rama, it is breathtaking, just don't read any further in that series). Anyone who likes LOTR will love this book, and everyone should make it a priority to read if they haven't.

The Silmarillion is always there for you as well, if you get enthusiastic about the world Tolkien created. Reading it will leave you in awe at the breadth and depth of the mans imagination, which you cannot achieve through just reading LOTR and the Hobbit.

Agree, Legend and Waylander by David Gemmell. 

I enjoyed the Game of Thrones books.  Robin Hobb is great, but may not be to your taste - she spends a lot of time on characterisation so the books can feel quite slow, but I love them.  There are now 4 trilogies in this universe (one of which I think is actually a quadrilogy).  Magician and the rest of the Riftwar saga from Raymond E Feist are good, and if you get into it Feist collaborated with Janny Wurts on the Empire trilogy which is set in another part of the same universe but has quite a different feel to the writing.  I love anything from Neil Gaiman, but for light-hearted fun Good Omens is great.  For something a bit more off the wall The Lies of Locke Lamora and the rest of the Gentleman Bastards series was good too.

Oh, and a big +1 for LeGuin!

Some great suggestions above.

Sabriel, Abhorsen and the third book by Garth Nix.  Great idea and great reads though children’s books.

i did not really enjoy the Thomas Covenent books but the Gap (same author) series was utterly awesome and in space which I like a bit more.

Cheers

Toby

Slightly off the beaten track of conventional fantasy, the Dying Earth novels by Jack Vance are good. Particularly Eyes of the Overworld and Cugels Saga. Both books follow Cugel the Clever who is one of my all time favourite fantasy characters. He is not tough or strong, but uses his cunning and total unsportsman like behaviour to survive. Brilliantly written, witty and original.

I was a bit daunted when first put onto them, but they definitely grew on me. The long story arcs are reward persistence, and very impressive if they were planned right back when she first started writing them

I've not read the Earthsea books for ages.  Must revisit them.

Yeah - just to make it worse, I mis-counted and there are actually 5 trilogies now.  I find the last set hard going - it is as if Hobb wanted to wrap up the story and wasn't as careful with attention to detail as she usually is.  There are lots of stupid mistakes like a maid who is called Careful in the first book and then suddenly becomes Caution in a later book.  Given the richness of the universe, tiny things like that shouldn't annoy me, but they do because her attention to detail is usually so good.  It does tie up some loose ends from various of the earlier story arcs though.  Recommend reading the last book with a box of tissues to hand!

Lots of good recommendations on this thread. My top 5.

#1 Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan for enormous absorbing fantasy worlds, sword and sorcery despite losing its way towards the middle before ending spectacularly

#2 Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana & The Lions of Al Rassan for actually being very good writing as well as great stories

#3 Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin for same reasons as Robert Jordan if you've somehow missed the TV series. If you haven't, IMO the TV series is actually a bit better as you don't have to sit through endless chapters about characters you dislike.

#4 The Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson. Writing can be a bit turgid but storytelling and characters are epic in every sense. Also the Ian Cameron Esselmont Malazan books though they are mostly not quite as good.

#5 Old Kingdon series - Garth Nix. On the children's literature side of fantasy but no worse for it. Fantastic and different.

You can't go wrong with the Earthsea books by Ursula Le Guin, Magician by Raymond E. Feist is also great but his later books become a bit repetitive. David Gemmell I find initially enjoyable but then formulaic. Ditto the Shannara books. Plus one for the Gene Wolfe books - if you like them you'd probably like the Malazan books above.

I devoured the Dragonlance books about 20 years ago. (in my late teens). No idea if they have stood the test of time and maturity, but Raistlin and co certinaly had dragons, swords and magic.

Another vote for Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana.  Self contained novel, and none of the "Book Seven of the Dog Sorcerers Chronicles" type shenanigans. 

Or maybe some Michael Moorcock. Elric or something.

Wheel of time is good if you're into rambling descriptions of women's dresses.  The good bits are quite good,  but i did find it hard work to stay interested.

More votes:

Magician, Silverthorn & A Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond E Feist but as RockSteady said his whole canon becomes rather samey.

Very like David Eddings. Go and read the Belgariad series. His other three series more or less follow the same basic narrative: something goes wrong and our hero needs a magic stone to save the day. After a while the different characters start to repeat their jokes too.

Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy left me feeling a bit soiled -- there's a lot of unpleasantness around a couple of rather sadistic characters but his writing is brilliant. I'd be more inclined to recommend his standalone books: Best Served Cold (also rather violent), The Heroes (FAF), Red Country (nearly a western) and Sharp Ends (interconnected short stories).

You could try Chris Wooding too, though other than the steampunk Ketty Jay series (reading copies now threadbare and first editions a sore temptation) all I know of him is The Fade.

I'm on my third copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere... Fragile Things and Smoke & Mirrors, both collections of short stories, are very good too but I found American Gods a bit laboured.

Not to everyone's taste and rather unhistorical, not to mention contentious where the author's personal life was concerned, The Mists of Avalon was a long-time favourite of mine during my misspent youth but I never read any of the sequels.

Probably also unhistorical along with Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth, are Frontier Wolf and Song for a Dark Queen.

Does nobody remember Clive Barker's Weaveworld from the days before mobile phones? Second copy there too.

And what's wrong with the Silmarillion? Or perhaps Smith of Wootton Major?

I'm currently thoroughly enjoying Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen. Some swords, some magic, some not quite dragons, and a tank. Not the most complex read in the world. But I'm struggling to put it down. 

Loads of good suggestions already here but so far only one for the Malazan Book of the Fallen so I'd second that! Just started reading them recently and on to book 3, it took me a little while to get in to them as they are not easy reading but so far I'd give them a big thumbs up! And when I say they're "not easy reading" they're not bad, they're certainly not Gene Wolfe in terms of difficult but then I'd also recommend Gene Wolfe

More votes from me for...

Joe Abercrombie (Blade Itself)

Patrick Rothfuss (Name of the Wind)

Robin Hobb (Assassin's Apprentice)

Richard Morgan (The Steel Remains)

Tad Williams (Dragonbone Chair)

Josiah Senlin - (Senlin's Ascent)

Robert Jordan - (The Eye of the World)

China Mieville (Perdido Street Station)

Second this.

May want to wait until he releases the 3rd book in the series.

Could be waiting a long time - it was supposedly due the year I read the first, 2013!

I'd still recommend reading the first two in the series now, you won't begrudge having to read them a second time. Very eloquently written, a joy to read.

+ 1s for Wolfe, Peake, le Guin, Abercrombie, Gaiman, Rothfuss, Cameron and Gavriel Kay.

Sanderson and Lawrence I don't rate quite as highly but are still decent, as is Brian Staveley. 

Max Gladstone and Seth Dickinson are both great if they've not been mentioned. 

If you're specifically after stabby fiction, Kings of the Wyld by Nic Eames is a fun light read. Alternatively, Sharps by KJ Parker (no magic but LOTS of stabbing) is a bit more substantial and well worth a read. 

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins is also excellent, but for general violent mayhem and novelty rather than swordplay in particular. 

Last (for now) but not least: the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey is highly entertaining (snark and carnage in equal measure). 

The Viriconium stories by M. John Harrison offer a different take on the sword n scorcery genre. 

It's been a few years since I read it, but I quite enjoyed Orcs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orcs-Bodyguard-Lightning-Warriors-Gollancz/dp/0575...

It's written from the orcs perspective, so a bit of a twist on the usual fantasy genre.

My ex loved those books...I'll never read them ...

IntereIInte fact is the author wrote William Roach's biography . 

I started that book on the recommendation from a bookseller, didn't finish it and i have read probably 1000s fantasy/sci-fi by now. Gene Wolfe's Book of the new sun series would have to be my favourite series, but i did read it a long time ago.

I’ve read it. Twice because I’m old and forgot how frogging dry it and impenetrable it is. 

If you want froth there are the Shannara books - there’s a series on Netflix if you want a sampler. 

Best fantasy I read fairly recently was In The Name Of The Wind By Patrick Rothfuss. It’s a bit different and probably marmite.

Or there’s The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. Again slightly different

but readable. It’s pretty accessible. Don’t bother with the Liveship series. 

Personally I keep going back to Frank Herbert’s Dune saga. It’s not fantasy but it is mystic. 

Hah the whole thread hadn’t loaded (hotel Wi-fi) and my post is redundant. 

Game of Thrones is utterly fantastic but very very long if you want to read them all (which you will once you get sucked in). Very engrossing with loads of politics, intrigue, well developed characters, great battles.  Its such thoroughly constructed world its very easy to believe in. When the fantasy stuff does appear its not overdone either.

I can also recommend Bernard Cornwell novels. Warlord Chronicles set in Arthurian Britain, and also the Saxon Stories. Much faster paced than GoT, and very believable.   

I only read the first two, was a bit disappointed with the second one.

Didn't know about the William Roach biography. Probably not something that'd interest me though, unless it had orcs in it..

I only read a few of them, not a big fan of fantasy anyway. But I did enjoy Climbers and The Ice Monkey and I like his sci-fi, particularly the Kefahuchi Tract trilogy, I loved Light.

The Worm Ouroboros E R Eddison....written before  LoTR and unique in style.  Very good mountain descriptions/scenes - he clealry liked the Lakes! 

I haven't read any fantasy in years (or, more accurately, decades) but a quick scroll though this thread has reminded me how much of the stuff I devoured as a youngster - Moorcock's Elric series and others, the Thomas Covenant series, Earthsea, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders series, Tolkien (including the Silmarillion!), Ourobouros, and more...

But one I'd definitely add to the list, for it's lovely lyrical style - The King of Elfland's Daughter, by Lord Dunsany

Karl Marx, "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy"

Bloody brilliant. Like a well written grown up Harry Potter. _The Kingkiller Chronicles_ - I wish he'd hurry up and write the third one.

For some easy but entertaining reading there is the Dragonlance series, or the Shannara series. plenty of books in both.

Loads of good stuff already mentioned, especially the Silmarillion, Games of Thrones and Wheel of Time. 

A couple of other options I haven't seen anyone mention yet though:

The Inheritance series, swords, dragons and magic, probably aimed more at a younger audience.

The Raven Chronicles, swords, dragons and magic, most definitely not aimed at a younger audience. Really loved this series.

Matt

I rather think she did!

Absolutely...started off sympathising with him and then....

My wife is a fantasy writer and a prolific reader of them. She says as a general rule to avoid anything pre-1995 except for Le Guin and LoTR. Having read a lot myself too, I would say that if you follow that rule and also have a look at Hugo award winners, you cannot go far wrong.

Some of my favourite:

Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn series, then Stormlight Archives if you love Mistborn.

Robin Hobb - start with Fareer trilogy and go from there.

N K Jemisin - Broken Earth trilogy (new in the last 3 years...she has just won the Hugo award 3 years running, which perhaps tells you how good the books are )

Trudy Canavan - Black Magician series (for something more YA, or Harry Potter obvs)

George RR Martin - if you haven't watched Game of Thrones then the books are worth a read although books 4 and 5 get very slow at times. Don't bother though if you already know the story (ie watched the TV show).

Si

Another vote for Garth Nix' The Old Kingdom sequence (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, Clariel, Goldenhand and associated short stories).  Superb.  

And Neil Gaiman - Everything I've read so far has been tremendous.  The Ocean At The End Of The Lane and American Gods are stand-out highlights.

+1! Also, all books are more or less the same: Hero thinks problem is solved, evil baddies up the ante with an even more evil plot, hero evolves new super power while the female characters bitch about something or other (including dresses), new superpower solves problem until the next volume...

That said, I read them all, good airport fare that does not require engaging your brain!

CB

Not very popular these days but I recently read the collected Conan stories and really enjoyed them.  Also another old classic or series would be the Grey Mouser and Fafhrd books by Fritz Leiber, the adventures of two anti-heroes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser

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