Looking for FANTASY recommends

[Colin Taber]

I used to work in a book store so am pretty familair with the fantasy section - up until I left well over a year ago. What I'm ideally looking for here is some recommendations of titles or authors that are new or that I might have missed that have come out in the past year or two. That means I don't need to see things like GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire or Rothfuss' Name of the Wind: I've already read them. What I'm hoping is that I might discover something new and fresh. Actually, not just hoping, but hoping dearly!

Past loved reads have been:
GRRM's ASOI&F
Name of the Wind
Ruckley's Goddless World Trilogy
Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy

Basically, I like my fantasy a bit dirty, adult and with a bit of epic thrown in - not that suggestions have to be formulaic, in a trilogy, or can't drift away from these areas. I'm just trying to give you a feel for what I've been reading over the past few years.

What I'm not really looking for is YA or paranormal romance.

I'm also a big fan of serious fantasy. I don't find it a laughing matter, so no Terry Pratchett please. 

...

Now, I just have to hope someone can think of something so that this thread doesn't disappear.     

[Ann in Arlington]

Here's a link to some KindleBoards author-members who write fantasy, courtesy of the "genre" index at the top of the Book Bazaar:

http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,27235.msg506618.html#msg506618

[nogdog~6op6ou]

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks



Steven Brust's "Khaavren Romances" (the traditional use of "Romances" -- these are not romance genre!), starting with The Phoenix Guards. These are a bit different, in that they are an homage to (and loving parody of) Dumas' "Musketeer" books, too.

[patrickb]

If EPIC in all caps is what you're up for, then read Steven Erikson's Malazan book of the fallen series (10 books).

[Richard Raley]

Fantasies in the last couple years:

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The Cardinal's Blades by Pierre Pevel
The Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky

All are good to great.  Also, in the list you made of fantasy you like, Abercrombie has had two stand alone novels come out (Best Served Cold and the Heroes) and Patrick Rothfuss' sequel The Wise Man's Fear finally came out as well.

[Betsy the Quilter]

I used to work in a book store so am pretty familair with the fantasy section - up until I left well over a year ago. What I'm ideally looking for here is some recommendations of titles or authors that are new or that I might have missed that have come out in the past year or two. That means I don't need to see things like GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire or Rothfuss' Name of the Wind: I've already read them. What I'm hoping is that I might discover something new and fresh. Actually, not just hoping, but hoping dearly!

Past loved reads have been:
GRRM's ASOI&F
Name of the Wind
Ruckley's Goddless World Trilogy
Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy

Basically, I like my fantasy a bit dirty, adult and with a bit of epic thrown in - not that suggestions have to be formulaic, in a trilogy, or can't drift away from these areas. I'm just trying to give you a feel for what I've been reading over the past few years.

What I'm not really looking for is YA or paranormal romance.

I'm also a big fan of serious fantasy. I don't find it a laughing matter, so no Terry Pratchett please. 

...

Now, I just have to hope someone can think of something so that this thread doesn't disappear.     

Our members love making recommendations, and we have a lot of Fantasy readers here, so I don't think your thread will disappear too sonn.  There's also a Sci Fi/Fantasy thread in the Book Bazaar that the indie authors post in.  (See the Threadipedia pinned to the top of the Bazaar for the link.)

Betsy

[mooshie78]

Have you read R.A. Salvatore's stuff?  He has a few long running series, a couple with entries coming out the past couple of years.

He's best known for his long running Forgotten Realms series with Drizzt Do'Urden and friends.  And a couple of books have came out recently in that series.

The seven book Demon Wars Saga is also very good.  As is the 3 book Crimson Shadow series.

He has a few other miscellaneous serious. There's a 4 book "Saga of the First King" series, and the last one of those came out last year.  I haven't read those so I can't vouch for them.

[patrickb]

Since you worked in a book store you're probably not aware of some of the indie stuff then.  Davlid Dalglish's Half-Orc series is a blast [5 books I believe]

[Locke]

Steven R. Donaldson's - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Book 1 is "Lord Foul's Bane".

[Marcin Wrona]

You can't go wrong with Guy Gavriel Kay. His first books are a series that kinda fell flat for me, but the later books are excellent. Tigana and Lions of Al-Rassan are particularly good.

They're very much serious, character-driven fantasy with fairly minimal whiz-bang, mind you, and unfold at a languid pace.

[Colin Taber]

Wow, head off to bed (in Australia) and wake up to flurry of replies!

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I've tried:
Weeks
Sanderson

I'll check out:
Brust
Pevel
Tchaikovsky
Donaldson

I've been meaning to try these for some time (thanks for the reminders):
Erikson
Guy Gavriel Kay
Daglish
Brett

As for:
Salavatore - is his stuff still along the lines of Forgotten Realms/Drittz? If his other stuff is like that, then that's not really what I'm looking for.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Feel free to keep them coming!

[Dara England]

My hubby likes RA Salvatore. I like Karen Miller, Robyn Hobb, Robert Jordan, and Juliette Marillier.

[Colin Taber]

Actually, I do have some Juliet Marillier at home waiting to be read, Wolfskin I think.

[Mo]

If EPIC in all caps is what you're up for, then read Steven Erikson's Malazan book of the fallen series (10 books).

I second this recommendation! If you like adult epic fantasy, Steven Erikson is an author to look into.

[Marcin Wrona]

...I'll check out:
Brust...

Good! Brust is a lot of fun.

If you find you can't get into The Phoenix Guards for whatever reason, try to snag one of the Vlad Taltos books. They're different in tone and scope, but they're groovy.

Mind, I doubt you'll have any trouble with TPG.

[Colin Taber]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I might (once I've cleared through the few books I'm reading) delve into Marillier's Wolfskin and also book 1 of Erikson's Malazan. I've got both ready and waiting.  

And while I've read Abercrombie, I haven't got Heroes yet.

[kCopeseeley]

Terry Goodkind.  My brother in law recommended him to me and I found them to be very adult, dirty and serious.  They are also well written.  I think the first one is called Wizard's First Rule.
Stephen Lawhead.  He has some recent books but they are meh.  His best books are the Song of Albion series.  EXCELLENT.  I also like Byzantium, for a nice standalone book.
I also recommend David Dalglish.  His books are a serious as a heart attack and really dark.  Too dark for me, even.  Also well written.

There is one other series, I will text my brother, because I can't remember what they're called, but I really liked them.

[kevinjamesbreaux]

Davlid Dalglish's Half-Orc book 1 is free for Kindle on Amazon.com right now. So you can totally get that one to start. I was a fan of all the Dragonlance books, they are my personal foundation as a fantasy author. I was also very fond of reading Jim C. Hines works.

[mooshie78]

As for:
Salavatore - is his stuff still along the lines of Forgotten Realms/Drittz? If his other stuff is like that, then that's not really what I'm looking for.

That series is still going, and all his other stuff is very similar to that--just different characters in different worlds.  So if you don't like the Drizzt books you won't like any of his stuff.

[samanthawarren]

I recently read Daniel Arenson's Blood of Requiem and really enjoyed it.

[StephenLivingston]

Try Storm Constantine's Wraeththu novels.  I really liked them..

[Colin Taber]

That series is still going, and all his other stuff is very similar to that--just different characters in different worlds.  So if you don't like the Drizzt books you won't like any of his stuff.

I loved his stuff when they first started coming out (as in, was it The Icewind Dale/Crystal Shard Trilogy?), but that was a long time ago and my tastes have long since drifted this way and that to change.

Right now, I'm more into something that is layered to build up a tapestry. From memory Salavatore's Forgotten Realms stuff was more action and travelogue. That might make a nice change from what I'm reading every now and again, but it's not really what I'm looking for now. Thanks anyway. 

[Colin Taber]

Davlid Dalglish's Half-Orc book 1 is free for Kindle on Amazon.com right now. So you can totally get that one to start. I was a fan of all the Dragonlance books, they are my personal foundation as a fantasy author. I was also very fond of reading Jim C. Hines works.

Just grabbed Half-Orc book 1 - thanks for the tip!

I've considered (several times) re-reading Dragonlance which was a lot of fun when it first came out, but I do wonder if my tastes have changed so much that I'd just ruin fond memories. 

[Colin Taber]

I recently read Daniel Arenson's Blood of Requiem and really enjoyed it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out. 

[Colin Taber]

Try Storm Constantine's Wraeththu novels.  I really liked them..

You might be onto something. She's been around for a long time, but I've never tried them. I'll look them over. Thanks for the suggestion.