Book(s) advise

[bunkai]

Hello,

I have been looking into the forum and i found many,many book proposals. However, over those millions of options i dont know which books match my criterias.

here they are:
- epic fantasy
- medieval
- elves,dwarf,magic, realms, huge world and exploration
- similar to Lord of the rings, DragonLance chronicles...
- map to follow the story with.

I did read quite a lot of fantasy books such as most RA-Salvatore, Tolkiens, Brooks and the first 4 books of Goodkind. I am now reading Sould of the fire of Goodkind but the story gets so ridiculous that i am thinking to read something else.

What other options are there?

thanks,

Seb

[Overread]

Magician by Raymond E. Fiest would be right up your street I think. In the USA I think it got split into two books - book 1 and book 2 whilst european releases I think were just a single book. Its got the magic, epic scope, races and the medival setting to fit what your after.

You might also look at the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson (first book Gardens of the Moon). This book has a lot of magic and difference races as well as a lot of characters and exploration. Infact the second book in the series starts off in a totally different contenant from the first with a whole host of new characters and magics. A great series.

Then there is A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin (first book A Game of Thrones). Its a little more political and the magic and other races are more hidden away - think echos of a bygone era, but with lingering precence which is coming back to life. It's also one of the best Medival books from anaccuracy point of view - this world feels very medival compared to many of the more "popularist" medival words that we see in fantasy (nothing wrong there of course)

[stephen90]

hang in there and read through the terry goodkind books. there was one in there that was very very slow reading and it may be the one you are on. is he a prisoner of one of the sisters in the old world? man that was such an irritating book to read. the ending does make up for it tho. assuming its the one i am thinking of.

[bunkai]

Hello, thanks for your replies.

Do you mean Rift war series of Feist? I have read it and it is very good. I did not yet read Serpent war series , i heard it is even better.I will check this Malazan Book of the Fallen series , sounds fun.

I heard very bad feedbacks about A Song of Ice and Fire , too political...

About Goodkind, the soul of the fire is when Richard and Kahlan just got married and get attacked by Evil chickens in the Mud people village. After that we end-up in Anderith city with boring political plots...
Looks to me that Goodking add a new city to his map at each new book...
His world is not that well described and this kind of expanding fantasy story writing can never reaches a end.

Any other options out there?

cheers

seb

[bunkai]

any further suggestions?

thanks

[Warlock Lord]

the codex of alera series by Jim Butcher. Its more of a roman setting, but its got all the rest...

[ScreenXSurfer]

Discworld. It has pretty much everything you want, saturated with British humor. Great series, start with "The Color of Magic" and "Guards! Guards!"

[lyni]

+1 for Discworld.
also there are great fantasy books by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Jan Siegel, Juliet Marillier.

[Zziz]

If you've heard bad things about A Song of Ice and Fire, you're talking to the wrong people. It's one of the best written, most well-developed stories I've read in my entire life.

[Running Wolf]

Originally Posted by Zziz

If you've heard bad things about A Song of Ice and Fire, you're talking to the wrong people. It's one of the best written, most well-developed stories I've read in my entire life.

I can agree.

And I do not know how it would be too political. It's a pretty realistic fantasy novel. Not that I just contradicted myself...
Asoiaf is simply awesome, it's pretty close to the awesomeness of LotR, even though Asoiaf is missing the epic moment- which is not at all a bad thing.
While LotR sticks to the good vs evil plot, you can't really define good and evil in Asoiaf- which brings it much closer to real life than LotR.

Just saying, give it a shot- and hang in there through the first 100 pages, it's a bit of an act to get into it. But then it's really worth it.

[Jingojolene]

If you're a fan of truly epic stories and great depth and massive worlds, plus maps and the medieval/literature feeling to the story,
Definitely Erikson's malazan book of the fallen is something to start with and if you get confused with the books the first one is Gardens of the Moon, check it out. You'll fall in love XD But it doesn't exactly have elves and dwarves :/
More... animated skeletons and demigods..

[Rua Rí]

Feist's WARS novels are quite enjoyable. I could not recommend A song of Ice and Fire enough, it is superb.

One stand alone book which I read years ago and really enjoyed was the Redemption of Althalus, I think its David Eddings and from what I remember it hits some of your criteria.

[Ser Land]

ASoIaF is awesome, yes.

Give Wheel of Time a chance. It's pretty good, although it hasn't any dwarfs or elves.