im total stranger to any fantasy novels... is anne rice great? i mean are all of her books great? ALL?

anyways can you suggest any fantasy novel that i will love... (at least for a newbie http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...miles/wink.gif)

thanx!!!

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The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb is excellent the first book is called assasins apprentice Good reading

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Alot of choices out there Bahamut.
But the obvious first choice in Fantasy is Lord of the Rings.
The D&D, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms books I have only ever read a couple of. I remember enjoying them at the time but they are not very fresh in my memory and thus cannot quite comment adequetly enough on. Read lots of good posts about them on this board though and am thinking of picking up a couple.
I have read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books, except for the most recent one. At first I did not enjoy it. But I stuck with it and by the time I got to the third book I found that I could not put them down, enjoyed them quite a bit. These books are quite good but it's a big undertaking and investment in time to read all those big books.
I like Michael Moorcock. Some of the concepts and metaphysical craziness and weirdo imagery that he throws out is what i am kind of into. Saw a post on him here on the board.
Conan books are a good start. There's a Robert E. Howard post I started somewhere around here. The first real books I ever really read were Conan and they've stuck with me always and are what got me into fantasy.
You know man, some people might laugh or say that these books don't fall under the 'fantasy' genre, but I love the Narnia books. Those have some really creepy undertones, at least IMHO and the memories of which have also stuck with me forever. Kind of for the real young crowd but still good as far as i'm concerned.
I like sci-fi as well and I have always categorized fantasy and sci-fi together just as an unworldly type genre. Lots of good sci-fi out there too.
Let us know if you pick anything up!
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Bahamut? These might seem like rude questions - probably are, lol! - But how old are you? I mean, teenage or adult? And what books do you normally read? DO you read much?

You might not think any of those things matter, but when it comes to selecting your first fantasy novel it matters a LOT! http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif So if you are willing to supply the answers, I will supply some advice! http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

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Fljotsdale has a good point.
Anne Rice is good although not 'pure' fantasy as they have a very real setting in New Orleans (mostly), some of her books are better than others though. I would advise that if you want to give her a try, start with Interview with the Vampire or The Vampire Lestat. The Witching Hour is another good one, first in the 'Mayfair Witches' series, but very long (it is about 3 inches thick) so may not be a good one to start with.

For pure fantasy, I am a newly recruited fan of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Eye of the World is the first in the series, and I really recommend it!

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Epona of The Laughing Hyenas

It may be good to start with some Forgotten Realms books as you are already familiar with them. National Bookstore and Goodwill Bookstore at the Ayala Centre, Makati, have a huge selection, far bigger than anything I've found here in Sydney. A good trilogy to begin with would be the Icewind Dale trilogy, it's very easy reading and very good too.

Once you get comfortable with these you can move on to Anne Rice and the others. Anne Rice is one of my favorite authors but she can get very intense and it might be a bit overwhelming for you, though you're more than welcome to give her a go. Suggest starting with Interview with the Vampire as Epona said.

Have fun!

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okay... here it is

i read. but not fantasy.. and im a newbie with it.. i want to go back to reading cooz i want to expand my lousy vocabulary and wisdom, and new thoguhts to ponder on.. well anybook could do that, but i wanna ttry out fantasy now...

as for anne rice, i can handle anything. ill see for it myself...

as far as everyone is concerned, i am a stranger in some foriegn land... http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...es/biggrin.gif

thanx for your help!

and i need MORE!


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We have merged... and now we are called Chiharumut..wehehehe and... Stay ahead of the Avalanche or risk being buried...

First give Lord of the Rings a try (if you do not want to buy it, every library has it (if your's does not, change the library!)).
if you like that kind of grand epiclike scope you surely will enjoy Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, and Wheel of time, although they are not that highstyled as LOT (but which other book can claim to be at this level of telling)
if LOT is to heavy and slowpaced try Salvatore and Moorcock (although he's a bit unusual (see Djinn Raffo))
An alternative between pace and scope and quite good is the Deathgate Cycle (at least I think it's called that in English, only read the German translation, please correct me if I'm wrong, it's that with Sartan and Patryn and so on ) from Weis and Hickham.

But LOT is the measure for it (in my opinion)


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whoa.. you guys never fail to amaze me...

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OK. You have't told me all I need to know, but I'll give it a go. I suggest light and easy-reading stuff since you are not familiar with the genre:

Anne McCaffrey's Dragon books (not strictly fantasy, but good)
Ursula LeGuin - 'Earthsea' quartet
Piers Anthony - 'Apprentice Adept' series & 'Incarnations of Imortality' series

None of these are AD&D, but all are a good introduction to Fantasy. http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

BTW - NICE SIG! Our Last True Princess knows her stuff!
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[This message has been edited by Fljotsdale (edited 06-02-2001).]

Were the Ann rice books about those 2 Kids becoming Wizards I really cant remember, if you do intend to read the forgotten realms books dont read anything to do with Elminster you will find it boring and offensive instead go for salvatores early work specificaly The icewind dale and dark elf trilogys

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Here's a suggestion - go and borrow / buy a couple of short story anthologies, with contributions by some of the authors mentioned above. This will give you a taste of their styles and subjects. If you like a particular author's work then you can follow up.

For what it's worth, below are two of my own recommendations

The Hawk and Fisher Series by Simon R Green

The Master Li Series by Barry Hughart

These two may not be examples of "hardcore" fantasy a la Forgotten Realms, but I found both author's output very enjoyable. If you need to know more about them, an internet search on the author's names should give you enough info http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...es/biggrin.gif

(Oh, and I stress this is MY OPINION ONLY, I find Anne Rice almost unreadable!)

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Regards

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Mouse

[This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 06-02-2001).]

Oh Geez!
Don't start with Lord of the Rings, unless you want to be put off fantasy for good. It nearly put me off for life. (Sorry to Tolkien fans, but I hate his writing. Damn boring IMHO.)

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ROFLMAO! Oh, Epona! HOW COULD YOU!!?? http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no.../1grlaugh2.gif Bad, BAD person! http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...miles/hihi.gif
But I agree, even though he is my own personal favourite, don't read Tolkien first! Well, not Lord of the Rings, anyway. The Hobbit will probably be ok! http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif


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Originally posted by Fljotsdale:
don't read Tolkien first! Well, not Lord of the Rings, anyway. The Hobbit will probably be ok! http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif


Yep, start with The Hobbit.

Judith Tarr's The Hound and the Falcon trilogy is good. Andre Norton's novel Witch World, and in the same series, Year of the Unicorn.

If you can find them -- the author is dead and his books out of print -- Thomas Swann is very good. He uses Greco-Roman mythology as his basis. Excellent books, and they were very short books.

Wendy and Richard Pini's novel, Journey to Sorrow's End. Skip the anthologies in their names -- they're pretty bad.

Another Forgotten Realm trilogy to get (oop, but you can find them on Advanced Book Exchange book search)is the Finder's Stone Trilogy.

Tanith Lee's Black Unicorn, and the sequals Gold Unicorn and Red Unicorn. Her other stuff tends to be very intense.

The True Game series by Sherri Tepper. It borders between science fiction and fantasy. The first three books have been collected into an omnibus.

The Harry Potter series, by R.K. Rowling.

The Thieves Word series, edited by Robert Asprin. I liked the first three books, but lost interest after that. I think they're still in print.

Dark Piper

Forgot it in my last reply , but definitely try Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Not true 'classic' fantasy, but a lot more funny to read. If you like kinda weird jokes (never think straight when reading Pratchett), and are easy going kind of character, you will love his books.
And to LOTR, well it really depends on your age and what you prefer. I agree, when your young it's maybe to slowpaced and the language a little bit difficult, but if you have some patience and do not mind this kind of high language it's definitely worth to give it a try.
And it's nearly in every library available, so if you do not like it, you at least do not have to pay anything.
Most of the other recommended books are somewhat more rare or difficult to get.


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reality is for those not smart enough to see the truth!!!!!

ahh.. so LoFR is gone, tolkien? okay.. annerice is good,.... hmm...

more of the realistic fantasies get? not too much fantasy...

thanx fljo!!! http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

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is terry godkinds temple of the winds ayt?

Memnoch the Devil, heehee whats a recommendable Anne Rice novel that is for peeps who are not yet quite used to her writing?

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You know what happened. We are ONE, WE ARE, ahh.. er... I AM http://www.hometown.aol.com/lasttrue...hiharumut1.gif 'S favorite pet pea-cock...teehee and... Stay ahead of the Avalanche or risk being buried...;)