Action/Adventure Aficionados discussion

This thread is for discussion of books in the fantasy genre with strong action/adventure elements.

if your a King Arthur lover, a great starter book, some people believe is a classic The Drawing of the Darkby Tim Powers is great. Its set in 13/14th century Europe near Venice and includes wonderful historical elements as well as classic fantasy stuff. Really fun characters.

I've had this on my wishlist for a while, Hugh. I'm glad you're giving it your endorsement.

I think Mike's written a good review on it too.

Steven Erikson's Malazan series starting with Gardens of the Moon has crazy action. Alot more than say George RR Martin's Game of Thrones. I haven't read past book three yet but I really find them entertaining with some of the best battles I've read in a book.

There's also Joe Abercrombie's books. The Blade Itself. Although they weren't as bloody as I heard, lol. Fun anti hero types.

I'm glad to hear that Gardens of the Moon and The Blade Itself are good action books. I have both of those.

Wow, action, so many good fantasy books are action packed. I'm tryin to pick one.. and, time to beef up my TBR list is there a penalty for breaking 300 on the TBR pile? A reward?

I'll be in big trouble if there is a penalty for having >300 books in the tbr. Big trouble!

The Blade Itself is an awesome read. That series only gets better as it goes, too. The action sometimes feels very realistic, while at other times it's very movie-like. The characters he creates are also a lot of fun to follow. Over all, Joe Abercrombie is a writer to watch. I highly recommend him.

I also think By Zelazny fits here. It's a multi-verse book but it's pretty cool. I really enjoyed these.

I love fantasy ans so many contain action... Anyone who knows me knows That the first fantasy book I usually mention is The Deed of Paksenarrion . While there is a lot of action throughout the series the first especially excels there as it's the story of a young soldier and the thing is chock full of battles.

Hugh is right about also. I burned out on Arthurian books there for a while (I mean lets face it they're still common, but for a while it seemd every second or third book was "a dramatic new imagining of the Arthurian Legend). This is a book I liked and it stayed with me, not a huge standout, but good.

There's also Roger Zelazny's Amber series (the first series..the second, not so good). Many of Moorcock's Eternal Champion books have a large action element, especially the Elric and Hawkmoon books.

There are probably other....give me some time. LOL

*Gasp*

No Dresden Files, Mike? lol

It's not high fantasy, sure, but it is urban fantasy...

I'm adding The Deed of Pakenarrion to my growing TBR-Wish List.

I liked the Drawing of the Dark because, it was an Arthur legend, but it didn't try to retell the story. It sort of made a sequel to the old story that everyone already knows.

I read it in the early 80s late 70s then, when I was stationed in Europe, I actully found myself as a tourist in the places this mentioned. I kept thinking, "Where have I heard about this before?" Turns out it was from reading "The Drawing of the Dark." It was pretty cool.

I bought The Deed of Paksenarrion because you raved so much about it, Mike!

The first book of The Deed of Paksenarrion is available as a free download on the Baen site. Haven't read it yet.

Well, I mentioned it in another thread and I was sort of holding back. It's "UF"... Of course talking action, you've got to look at Dresden, in every book he manages to get beat up, beat down, burned, blown up, dropped off buildings, attacked by all manner of creatures. But you can't list all your favorites at once!

The Dresden books rock when it comes to action..and other things. :)

I liked the TV Series, but I kept getting the feeling that we (the viewers) were missing a lot of good stuff. (LIked yes, best series ever, not really)... I'm droppin Dresden Files onto my ever growing TBR-pile. (itls like the "The Ever Lasting Gum Sucker" from Willy Wonka. No matter how long I work on it, it never gets any smaller.

What is the first book for The Deed of Paksenarrion, or is that the first?

The TV show is good, but it doesn't measure up to the books, Hugh. I did like the guy they cast as Dresden. He was really good.

The Deed of Paksenarrion is the first book, Jason.

Thanks. I've heard lots of people talk about "The Dresden Books."

I've read the first four (don't shoot me Mike), and I am a happy customer. Definitely on autobuy for me.

The Deed of Paksenarrion is the omnibus edition. If you get the trilogy individually they're: Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance, Oath of Gold.
These 3 make up The Deed of Paksenarrion. In the last couple of years Moon has published a couple of books that follow the trilogy, but don't follow Pak's story directly. So far she's been a more peripheral character in those.

Oh that's true. I have Sheepfarmer's Daughter. Sorry I told you wrong, Jason.

No prob, Lady D! :)

Thanks, Mike!

My favorite books. I'm listening to them on audio at night when I lay down now.

David Gemmell is a great writer. I could recommend most of his books. Thought I mention Waylander and the other 2 Waylander books (In the Realm of the Wolf, Hero in the Shadows) especially.

Then again ALL his books are pretty action packed.

I just got Gemmell's Legend this weekend.

It's on my TBR now.

That sets up the Drenai books. It's a great read, but then as noted all his books are!

I have been wanting to read some of David Gemmell's books. They sound very good.

One of my favorite series is a MG-YA action-adventure, low-fantasy series called Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan - starting with The Ruins of Gorlan.

Also, a sort of young YA-UF book with a skeleton detective, his young apprentice (I almost freaking said padawan - blech) and various magical beings is Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. Lots of action, and very funny with lots of dry wit.

And, last, another MG series, science-fantasy with lots of adventure is Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space by Philip Reeve.

And, just to prove I do actually have a few adult series I like, the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks is a good one with a decent amount of action to it.

Again, all of those on my tbr pile! Very cool!

I second the Flanagan books Colleen. Only read one of the Skulduggery Pleasant books... it seemed a little younger than the Ranger's Apprentice books.

Amazon has both series list as 10 and up - so both are technically MG. I think Skulduggery is written a bit younger, perhaps, in style, but it also gets darker than RA.

I don't have a problem reading juvenile age books. I loved Artemis Fowl and also Anne Ursu's Greek mythology trilogy.

I just finished reading The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett for FA's read. I loved it and am glad that I picked it up. There was tons of adventure and some decent action in it.

Jason, I really enjoyed The Warded Man as well.

Started Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria. The books from this era can start to blend but I'm in the mood for mindless reading. And I should work on decreasing my used books stacks.

Oh...I hadn't thought about Thongor in years! Good ol' Lin Carter. Wow. Have fun.

I did :) One of the better of these types of books I've read. My second favorite barbarian, after Conan of coarse.

I read these back in the '70s along with the entire line of fantasy books that came out around then. The only impression I still recall is that I thought Lin Carter was a better editor than writer.... Still, I must have read them all. LOL

Anything by Simon R. Green. I particularly liked "Blue Moon Rising", which tells the story of a demon invasion and "Man with the Golden Torc" - great mix between fantasy and action thriller.

I love Simon R. Green's books! You mentioned two of my faves, Darth.

I've got Blue Moon Rising in my TBR (and not a kindle book) I may have to break that down off of the shelf!

It's an awesome novel, but be sure that you don't have work to do - or you will leave it unfinished. The book is that interesting.
Lady, yes, I know that you are a fellow SRG fan!

I agree with Darth about Blue Moon Rising. 500 pages, but very enthralling.

I'll mark BMR as a read after surgery thing. I won't have anything better to do.

It should keep your busy, Hugh.

If your looking for a good "best of both worlds" thing, with lots of action, at least at the end, there's a cool series about a Civil War Regiment (Union) that finds itself some how in a strange world. At the end of it, the battle scene's pretty cool... lots of action. The Union vs. the scariest thing they've ever seen.

Rally Cry By Forsythe (The Lost Regiment)