Opinions on some of my book choices

Remove all ads!

Hey guys, as I mentioned in some other threads, SP is blocked by the internet filter at work, so I've made do by going around fantasy novel forums (particularly the science fiction and fantasy site, www.sff.com) and amazon. Anyway, my mom's going to the US in a month and I'm planning to order some stuff on amazon. I've made a list of around 30 novels, some are pretty well-known I believe, while others are less so. Please give me any input you have on these titles, particularly if you have read them. I'll be giving your opinions major weight in deciding whether or not to pick these books up. Also, if you see a trend among the novels I list and have some recommendations of your own, please throw them in. Here goes:

1) The Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem

2) I, Claudius by Robert Graves

3) Isle of Stone by Nicholas Nicastro

4) In Kithairon's Shadow by Jon Edward Martin

5) Men of Bronze by Scott Oden

6) Firelord by Parke Godwin

7) Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

8) Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell

9) Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell

10) Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough

11)Pages of Pain by Troy Denning

12) Tigana/A Song for Arbonne/Lions of Al-Rassan
by Guy Kavariel Kay (which is the best? I'm only
getting one)

13) The Gift by Patrick O'Leary

14) To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust

15) The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll

16) 3 Hearts and 3 Lions by Poul Anderson

17) Magician by Raymond Feist

18) Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny

19) Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

20) A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger
Zelazny

21) Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

22) Sir Apropros of Nothing by Peter David

23) Woad to Wuin by Peter David

24) Tong Lashing by Peter David

25) Banewreaker by Jaqueline Carey

26) Godslayer by Jaqueline Carey

27) Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

28) Ash by Mary Gentle

29) Mask of the Sorcerer by Darrell Schweitzer

30) The Gilded Crown by Dave Duncan

31) The Cursed by Dave Duncan

32) Talion: Revenant by Michael Stackpole

Whew! That's the lot! What do you guys think? If you notice, the first 10 are more of historical fiction than fantasy. I enjoy historical fiction and am trying to find another novel similar to Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire. The other titles are, I believe, pretty popular like the ones written by Feist and Zelazny, while others are not, such as those written by David or Duncan, who I'd never heard of before today.

Any opinions, suggestions or advice that you guys give will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

Magician is awesome; I, Claudius was good; bernard Cornwall is a great author, and Ash freaked me out the first time I read it, but I was 12 at the time. I'll re-read it eventually...

 

Reading "Ash" now and it is very entertaining.

 

I have only read one of those books so am not much help, but I can say that "Magician" is a pretty average book at best. The characters are nothing to get excited about and the story is pretty mediocre. But it is a "seminal" work in the history of fantasy fiction, so may be worth reading for the reason alone.

 

If you are going to read any Guy Gaverial Kay, Lions of Al-Rassan is probably his best. Though you stipulated that you were only buying 1 Kay book, I enjoyed the Sarantine Mosiac Duology just as much as Lions of Al-Rassan. I didn't like A Song for Arbonne at all. It seemed rather whiny.

I rather enjoyed reading Magician, though it has been years since I've read it. I'd recommend it.

Elantris was a surprisingly good read considering it's the authors first book. Nothing overly outstanding but I didn't feel like I wasted my money on it.

I really like Talion: Revenant, though again it's been years since I first read it, and rereads probably skip over all the parts that were boring or I don't like. I don't recall consciously skipping over much, but I'm sure it happens.

As for Dave Duncan, I don't believe I've read those particular books, but I have read his Chronicles of the King's Blades and I wasn't overly impressed. There was something missing from the stories that made it a boring read. Maybe the characterization since I didn't like any of the characters.

 

Definitely get the stuff from Jacqueline Carey. Essentially, think "the lord of the rings" from the perspective of Sauron + pals. And make Sauron + pals sympathetic characters. While keeping the good guys sympathetic as well.

I haven't read Stackpole's Talion: Revenant, but I have read some of his other fantasy....

um. If you like Salvatore, you'll like Stackpole. If you think Salvatore's a repetitive hack, pass on Stackpole.

The Peter David stuff is hilarious. The second book starts off with a parody of lord of the rings to the effect of "One Thing To Rule Them All" the thing is...what you'd expect, on a man, and "them all" is "women". If that sounds amusing, go for it. If it doesn't, give it miss (mind, that's only the focus of the early segment of the book).

Probably don't want Pages of Pain--at least, I wasn't impressed by it. Plus, I don't think it's in print these days (being a Planescape novel and all).

You need Steven Erikson

 

You can't go wrong with anything by Zelazny. Many of his works are anthologies of short stories, which might be just what you need for reading at work.

 

Lud-in-the-Mist is an absolute 'must have' and is a major influence on modern Faerie fantasy like Neil Gaiman's Stardust etc. Three Hearts and Three Lions is another seminal work and despite being rather short still trumps most fantasy books twice the length. However, The Broken Sword is probably the best book Anderson ever produced and should be on your shopping list if you don't already own a copy.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Right now everything you guys backed up has been placed in the "get for sure" category and Dave Duncan's stuff is tentatively out (never heard of him before anyway :/)

also, magician is a trilogy? isn't there just apprentice and master? also, if I buy only those, will that be ok? or will i be compelled to get the rest of the riftwar saga?

 

More likely you will read Magician and be disappointed and not want to bother with anything else by Feist.

 

I loved the Magician when I read it years ago. There's quite a large series off books based in that world. My favourite of Feist's books were the Empire series, a stand along series he co-authored, starting with Daughter of the Empire. It's based in the world that... well, if you read the Magican you'll know (don't want to give anything away). They're really good books - a nice light, fun read.

 

@HB

That bad? The only thing I've read of his is Faerie Story and I loved it. How does it compare to that?

 

Given that Magician was so mediocre, I didn't bother reading anything else by Fiest, so I have no idea how it compares to anything else he has written.

I class Magician in the same general boat as those Salvatore DnD books. They're OK, but pretty lightweight, with mostly one dimensional, predictable characters. Not in the same league as stuff like George Martin, Robin Hobb, or Steven Erikson.

 

@Enagonios

I'm going to jump back to Roger Zelazny--put Last Defender of Camelot on your list.

It's one of his anthologies, and it contains two of the best (IMO) short stories he's written: "For A Breath I Tarry", and "24 Views of Mt. Fuji by Hokusai".

 

Hey all, here was the final list that I sent to my mom. She's going to leave it at a local 2nd-hand bookstore. Which of these do you think will turn up? And which do you think are highly unlikely to?

1) The Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem

2) I, Claudius by Robert Graves

3) Isle of Stone by Nicholas Nicastro

4) In Kithairon's Shadow by Jon Edward Martin

5) Men of Bronze by Scott Oden

6) Firelord by Parke Godwin

7) Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

8) Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell

9) Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell

10) Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough

11) Pages of Pain by Troy Denning

12) Anything by Gregory Macdonald except: Fletch, Confess, Fletch, Fletch’s Fortune, Fletch and The Man Who

13) The Gift by Patrick O'Leary

14) To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust

15) The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll

16) 3 Hearts and 3 Lions by Poul Anderson

17) Sword of the Demon by Richard Lupoff

18) Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny

19) Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

20) A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger
Zelazny

21) Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

22) Sir Apropros of Nothing by Peter David

23) Woad to Wuin by Peter David

24) Tong Lashing by Peter David

25) Banewreaker by Jaqueline Carey

26) Godslayer by Jaqueline Carey

27) Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

28) Ash by Mary Gentle

29) Mask of the Sorcerer by Darrell Schweitzer

30) The Gilded Crown by Dave Duncan

31) The Cursed by Dave Duncan

33) Declare by Tim Powers

34) Little, Big by John Crowley

35) Bone Dance by Emma Bull

36) The Stress of her Regard by Tim Powers

37) Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe

38) The Wizard-Knight by Gene Wolfe

39) The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford

40) The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson

The following are all by Terry Pratchett:

41) The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

42) Mort

43) Wyrd Sisters

44) Eric

45) Reaper Man

46) Witches Abroad

47) Men at Arms

48) Jingo

49) Carpe Jugulum

50) The Truth

The following are all by Steven Erikson:

1) Gardens of the Moon

2) Deadhouse Gates

3) Memories of Ice

4) House of Chains

5) Midnight Tides

6) The Bonehunters

The following are all by Barry Hughart:

1) Bridge of Birds

2) The Story of the Stone

3) Eight Skilled Gentlemen

 

Holy Bibliotheque, Batman! It would take the rest of your life to read all those books!

I'm sure the Pratchett ones should be pretty easy to find (internet auction sites are full of them), but maybe not the Erikson ones because they seem to be so uncommon in the USA (but you should find a way to get them anyway, because they rock).