Reading Glasses - Fan Group discussion

Let people know which Fantasy books you love, what's worth reading, and what's really not.
Keep this one for simple recommendations and short reviews. There's a seperate folder for discussions about Fantasy books and authors!

N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season was fantastic. Fantasy that doesn't follow typical conventions like "the chosen one"

I'll also add in The Grace of Kings and I just finished Red Sister, both were a lot of fun.

A friend recommended me The Belgariad and its sequel series The Malloreon by David & Leigh Eddings. 10 books total (with 2 prequel side-novels) and I went through ALL of them back to back. It's a really classic fantasy quest premise, but self-aware of the nature of destiny and prophecy. The characters specifically really make the books stand out to me. there's something to love about everyone. Great setting, great use/explanation of magic, great characters, SOME old school gender stuff is there and can feel annoying but the women are all great and have more going on for them than their romances which ARE pretty sweet tbh. I love these books! Now I want to re-read them Haha.

I have a little bit of a funny relationship with fantasy. I grew up reading a lot of it - starting with Tolkien, of course, then David Eddings's Belgariad, Terry Brooks, Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books, and that kind of stuff, but started to get annoyed at how formulaic a lot of it was - as well as with the way series and volume length seemed to be getting more padded out - and drifted away to other things.


While I do occasionally find good stuff within that genre - I love Joe Abercrombie's take on 'heroic' fantasy, N.K. Jemisin as previously noted is extraordinary and, of course, George R.R. Martin - when I do read fantasy these days it tends be be a bit different.


I like some urban fantasy such as Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series, or weird, thoughtful left-field writers like China Miéville and Jonathan Carroll.

Also The Traitor Baru Cormorant and Angelmaker, angelmaker is a bit more absurdist fiction but I really loved it. Check out Tigerman for a bit more accessible of a novel, but you can't go wrong

Surprised not to have seen the Kingkiller chronicles here yet. My absolute favorite Fantasy series.
It's got a very well described magic system which i find extra interesting.

I also recomend the Dresden files for a more modern day fantasy series. This one also has a well described magic system and the perfect amount of cynical humor

Yeah NOTW is one of my favorite books I just keep forgetting this folder exists

Scott wrote: "Also The Traitor Baru Cormorant and Angelmaker, angelmaker is a bit more absurdist fiction but I really loved it. Check out Tigerman for a bit more a..."

I love Nick Harkaway. The Gone-Away World is probably the best debut novel I've read, and one of my all-time faves

I recommend everyone read Robin Hobb's books if you are interested in absorbing, character driven fantasy (with wolves! And dragons!) You should start with Assassin's Apprentice(or book 1 in the Farseer Trilogy) and work your way through the different trilogies. She has quite a few, including three trilogies with her most beloved and popular characters, FitzChivalry and the Fool. Fitz and the Fool are two of the greatest characters I have ever read.

Also check out the Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett. It's seriously amazing and the final book in the series comes out very very soon!

Ok and lastly, the Temeraire series (book 1 is His Majesty's Dragon) by Naomi Novik is definitely worth checking out if you love talking battle dragons in a historical setting (aka, the Napoleonic Wars). So good.

Any recommendations for an urban fantasy series I might love as much as I love the Fever series? It's not a genre I normally read, but I fell in love with Fever a few years ago and it would be great to find something similar that appeals to me. So far I've only tried the Downside Ghosts series and the Black Dagger Brotherhood (which I know is more paranormal romance than uf, but still not the sort of thing I normally read) and I didn't like either one. There are so many out there and it's hard to tell what will appeal to me from the blurbs.

If you want an easy read, I'd recommend the Emperor's Edge series. I initially found the first book free on Kindle and had a lot of fun reading it.

I recently read the novella Every Heart a Doorway, and it was pretty good stuff.

Nevernight and Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff are both really incredible and deserve more recognition. Check em out !

I can't recommend highly enough everything by Brandon Sanderson (especially his Mistborn series), Patrick Rothfuss (Kingkiller Chronicle), and Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bastards). All three give me very fresh takes on fantasy that helped draw me back into the genre after years of being a bit tired of it.
In a different vein, if you're a fan of regency writers like Austin, I recommend also picking up the Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal.

Tooch wrote: "A friend recommended me The Belgariad and its sequel series The Malloreon by David & Leigh Eddings. 10 books total (with 2 prequel side-novels) and I went through ALL of them back to back. It's a r..."

Definitely some fun series, I especially loved characters like Silk and Velvet. Also have to highly recommend his stand-alone novel, The Redemption of Althalus. So good.