Recommended FANTASY books, Other fantasy containing might and magic |
 Jan 28 2005, 08:52 AM
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Eeylops Owl Cage Cleaner  Posts: 229 Joined: 7:57am January 28, 2005 Location: Tokyo, Japan   |
So, since we all love Harry Potter so much, I thought it would be a good idea for other readers like myself to recommend any other fantasy books/series they like.
Please keep recommendations to fantasy books, otherwise it will get too crowed to quickly. Appreciatively, Viva. Okay, recommended books/series from me. A lot of mine are Australian authors, but I know that these are books available in other countries. Trudi Canavan: The Black Magician Trilogy Consisting of The Magican's Guild, The Novice, The High Lord . It is about a young girl, called Sonea, who is the better part of a "slum girl," someone of the lowest class. In the yearly purge of vagrants from the city, Sonea, so sick of how she and her fellow friends and family are treated, throws a rock at the Magical Barrier that keeps the good away from the bad...and it goes through! Now it's a race against time for the Magicians to find her and train her newly awakened powers before her magic spins out of control. But Sonea has other ideas... Very good series, I recommend to anyone. Isobelle Carmody The Obernewtyn Chronicles Consisting of: Obernewtyn, The Farseekers, Ashling, The Keeping Place, The Sending (not yet published). After "The Great White" (aka, nuclear holocaust) Society turns back it's clocks to the medieval era, no electricty, and books are forbidden. The series follow a young girl, Elspeth, deemed a misfit by society, ends up at the secretive place in the mountains called Obernewtyn. Here, along with some newly found friends, she discovers something wicked is happening, and it involves all the children at Obernewtyn. For most of the people here possess powerful mind talents that people woundn't even dream about, including Elspeth. One of my first ever series, and at 20, I still thoughly love it. More suited to 14 year olds at the start, but evolves into darker novels as they progress. Mercedes Lackey The Valdemar Series Consisting of: Way way too many books! The Valdemar series follows the life and times of "Heralds" champions of the Queen and the country of Valdemars last resort. They posses wonderful spirit horses called "companions" that are a gift from the gods and with a special bond between rider and companion, they are up to facing anything. Awesome, awesome series. Too hard to describe. I would say go to Amazon or similar to read up on these books. American author so it's really really hard to find in Australia  Kate Constable Chanters of Tremaris Trilogy Consisting of : The Singer of All Songs, The Waterless Sea, The Tenth Power Calwyn has lived all her life behind the enchated wall of Ice that surrounds the Preistesses of Antaris. But when a stranger appears inside the wall, speaking of danger, she abandons her post with the preistesses and goes on a journey to discover just what has happend to the other magic-singers of the world. I recommend this series to any younger kids, 14 or even younger if they are a good reader. I had plenty more authors and series, but I just looked at the length of my post and realised I went a bit nuts. So maybe I'll add some more in the future. -------------------- <a href="http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#quiz:results:121639"><img src="http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/newquiz/take_quiz/image_sm/121639" /></a>
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Jan 28 2005, 10:01 AM
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Being Eaten by the Pea Soup Posts: 30 Joined: 9:12am January 28, 2005 |
My favorite, absolute favorite books ever (second only to HP), are the ones in The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.
It's about a boy apprenticed to a magician. There are two social classes in England: Magicians, and commoners. Magicians' only power comes from the demons they summon... Nah, I won't say any more. Pick up the book wherever you can... it's fantastic! |
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Jan 28 2005, 11:07 AM
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 4 Joined: 10:40am January 28, 2005 |
Oooooooh, I have stuff to add to this thread, but I need some time to put it together properly, so it will just have to wait.
Thank you for starting this thread, though. I think it's a great idea! |
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Jan 28 2005, 11:24 AM
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 12 Joined: 5:16am January 28, 2005 Location: South Australia |
as soon as I saw this thread I thought of the Obernewtyn chronicles, but seeing as you beat me to it Viva, I'll start with the next best thing...
Isobelle Carmody The Legendsong Saga Consisting of: Darkfall, Darksong. (Darkbane, unpublished) Fraternal twins Glynn and Ember are transported from Earth to the paralell world of Keltor. There they learn of the mythological Unraveller, who has not only the fate of Keltor, but also the fate of Earth in their hands. Hmm I'm not very good at writing blurbs for books, but they're very good books, aimed more towards adults than Carmody's other work, they're very dark, what I call "hard core" fantasy. Hard to keep track of things on the first reading, but there's powerful themes and symbolism which really strike you the second time around. well that's a start, I'll add more when it's not such an ungodly hour of the morning. |
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Jan 28 2005, 11:30 AM
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Scribbulus Everchanging Inks Changer Posts: 1,303 Joined: 7:33am January 28, 2005 Location: Manila, Philippines |
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
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 Jan 28 2005, 11:33 AM
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 7 Joined: 10:58am January 28, 2005 |
Hello guys!
 If you want to read some really amazing fantasy fiction, try Louise Cooper's "Time Master" trilogy ("The Initiate", "The Outcast" and "The Master" are the titles of each book). It's the best I've ever read.  It has been out of print for some time, but it's gonna be republished soon by Mundania Press. If you don't want to wait, you can get second hand copies for sale at Amazon and e-Bay.  You won't be disappointed, I promise! It's a powerful and well-told story set in a fascinating world with very realistic characters. I suck at summaries, and it would be unfair to spoil any part of the story for you, so I thought I'd cut and paste here comments from readers at amazon.com: a rough spoilers-free summary: "The story focuses on a young boy, nameless at first, who through tragic circumstances reveals that he has a phenomenal amount of sorcerous power. He is miraculously transported to the Castle of the Star Peninsula, the ruling seat of the highest of the two religious organizations which govern the world: the Circle. There the boy, who names himself Tarod, seems to fit in perfectly, in an environment where his hunger for occult knowledge and magical power are encouraged---at first. But Tarod is different from the other initiates of the Circle. He's arrogant and hot-tempered and a bit cold and cruel, although he is also fiercely loyal and scrupulously honorable. He scorns their adherence to ritual and tradition, and experiments with magic in ways that no one else would dare. Yet the greatest difference between him and the other initiates only begins to make itself known gradually and insidiously, slipping into his dreams and darkening his personality yet further. His fellow initiates react to these changes with fear and suspicion, and gradually they begin to close ranks against the outsider." reviews: "When I first stumbled across the Time Master Series I had reached a point where I was sick of fantasy. All the heroes were alike--supermen of virtue--and essentially undynamic. Tarod, the "hero" of this series was different, the most interesting character that I had read about in years. He got murderously angry, he caused havoc, he didn't follow the rules--he was sinister. For once, here was a series that didn't just fight a war or go on some long journey in order to protect the status quo. In these books the characters are real enough so that you cannot truly pick out the good guys--everyone is a mixture of good and evil, everyone is human (sort of)." "And its a good bit more than the old good vs. evil and good wins b-s. This is about a spiritual quest that we all face in life. The depth of the characters and thier interactions blows me away every time, they could be real people you meet on the street. This is the best blend of magic, society, govt, and human emotion I have ever seen. reading the tales of friendship, enimity, love, and betrayel amongst the characters sort of feels like a history of another time. I attribute this story more than anything for my own ideals and expectations for true love. It has also set me on a vision quest of sorts to lead a more moral life and fight against injustice and prejudice in our world. If you read one book this year, let this be it." |
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Jan 28 2005, 11:55 AM
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 5 Joined: 11:28am January 28, 2005 Location: Massachusetts |
All of Tamora Pierce's books are really good. Some are Tricksters Queen and Page. For ages 13+
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Jan 28 2005, 12:14 PM
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 2 Joined: 11:41am January 28, 2005 Location: Britain |
The Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Some of the best books I have ever read, including my current favourite Night Watch.
All the novels are set on a discworld (surprise, surprise) carried on the back of four giant elephants, who themselves stand on the back of a huge star turtle. Pure class. |
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Jan 28 2005, 12:25 PM
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Does Not Possess the Inner "i" Posts: 121 Joined: 2:28pm January 5, 2005 Location: England |
QUOTE(Maryann @ Jan. 27 2005,2:01) My favorite, absolute favorite books ever (second only to HP), are the ones in The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. It's about a boy apprenticed to a magician. There are two social classes in England: Magicians, and commoners. Magicians' only power comes from the demons they summon... Nah, I won't say any more. Pick up the book wherever you can... it's fantastic! Is 'The Amulet of Samarkand' part of that Trilogy (remember the author's name from somewhere)? I've heard that it's great book, you'd recommend it, then? I'm reading 'The Subtle Knife' by Philip Pullman, at the moment, amongst other things. Haven't got very far into it but am quite enjoying it. Clare -------------------- As he stood there, looking at the pale, slender girl with her toy
theatre, a little puppet made of scavenged scraps of cloth held in fingers whose nails were jagged and torn from hours spent trying to remove the paint from a wooden box, there were no words.~ 'Between Two Gates' by Bryan Methods. |
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Jan 28 2005, 12:36 PM
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 15 Joined: 8:51am January 28, 2005 Location: PA |
I have only found 2 series that I have enjoyed since I found Harry Potter. I have such a hard time enjoying other series now!
The Bartimaeus Trilogy was really good. I bought the second book the week it came out because I couldn't wait to read the second book. Now I will be waiting for book 3. I really enjoyed His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. I got all three books at once so I was able to read the whole series back to back. It was really good. |
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