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| Recommended by: 7legionarmy Title: A Song of Ice and Fire Author: George R. R. Martin Summary: The story is far to complex for me to put it into one sentence, I can say that it is not your typical good vs evil plotline. Description: I love the many different characters and how George is killing to kill off a character you might fall in love with. |
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| Recommended by: Daistallia Title: Black Company Series Author: Glen Cook Summary: The series is the chronicles of a mercenary company as it fights a major war against a dark lord and then seeks to return home. Description: The writing is excellent, as are the characters. It's gritty and realistic. The author served as a US Navy corpsman (medic) attatched to a USMC force recon unit during the Vietnam War era, and while he did not serve in combat (left the unit shortly before they deployed), the writting shows a real understanding of the character and mentality of soldiers. In addition, it's nice to see fantasy that isn't based completely on vague generalized Western European feudalism. |
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| Recommended by: justkae Title: The Black Magician Trilogy Author: Trudi Canavan Summary: A poor girl from the slums discovers her ability to use magic. In the first book she is introduced to the book, in the second she furthers her learning about magic and the world, and in the third book **** goes down. Description: I love the main character, someone who doesn't like to fight but will if necessary. Sonea is a caring person who is so strong in the face of her enemies (bullies). The love plot was unexpected (for me) but really well written. She has an amazing mentor and the various side stories are great too. Plus there's maps!! |
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| Recommended by: JoeyD473 Title: Deeds of Paksenarrion Author: Elizabeth Moon Summary: A simple farm girl runs away from home and becomes the most important Paladin ever Description: Its not her destiny. Its her choice. She runs away from home to become a mercenary. Everything that can go wrong does, even after eventually becoming a Paladin ( I mean everything from getting wounded to getting raped). It shows how strong she is even in the face of some of the worst things possible that can happen to someone. |
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| Recommended by: Wingshaw Title: Gullstruck Island Author: Frances Hardinge Summary: On Gullstruck Island, the lost (people able to send their five senses away from their physical bodies) all die, suddenly and inexplicably. This becomes a problem for Hathin and her tribe, as her slow-witted sister is the only Lost left alive on the island. Description: Gullstruck Island has a rather different kind of a setting to most fantasy books. The cultural inspiration for the natives of Gullstruck Island is an amalgam of southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, and the native peoples of southern and central America. In addition to the natives, the island is inhabited by colonisers, who more closely resemble European (and especially British) settlers in places like India and Africa. The reason I like Frances Hardinge’s work so much is because of the quality of her world-building. The only ‘magic’ in Gullstruck Island is the power of the Lost, and she never even attempts to explain it; it just is, and everyone knows that, and so why go into unnecessary explanations. The real appeal of Gullstruck Island for me is that Hardinge knows that she doesn’t need a mysterious ‘energy’ like magic, when she has total control over the invention of everything in her world, including plants, animals and cultures. And she uses that knowledge to populate Gullstruck Island with beetles that can sing you to death, assassins that wear the ashes of their victims and people with corals and jewels embedded into their teeth. All of this combined with a fast-paced story, humour and tragedy, a total avoidance of clichés, and a surprisingly serious meaning. |
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| Recommended by: Expendable Title: Heroics for Beginners Author: John Moore Summary: Prince Kevin Timberline must retrieve Ancient Artifact Model Seven from the clutches of the evil Lord Voltmeter--He Who Must Be Named--before said evil Lord unleashes his Diabolical Plan. Description: It's an interesting story about how a man used a book to figure a way pass the guards and to get complete access to the castle without having to fight or sneak his way in. Plus it's got a lot of fun moments in it, being a sort of twisted comedy. |
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| Recommended by: XCali Title: The Magician (Riftwar saga) Author: Raymond E. Feist Summary: Pug is pulled into an immense war while he is found to have hidden greatness. Description: It is written in such a way that I was dragged into the world and was led on this amazing journey. It is always a SURE sign a book is brilliant when you want to read it again and again. And that is why I would easily recommend this book. True, there are some books later in the series that didn't call as much, but there is always a pretty epic one that pops up somewhere. Raymond handles the mystery in his book to a fine precision. |
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| Recommended by: ladiestorm Title: Mordant's Need series (Mirror of Her Dreams / A Man Rides Through) Author: Stephen R. Donaldson Summary: A lonely, unassuming, young lady is transported to a world of magic; there she caught up in a dangerous game, where she must make her own way and help save the world from it's enemies Description: This is a two book series that I have read, and reread many times. The characters are well written, each with their own merits and flaws. The plot line is unique, as is the way magic is used. It's definitely fantasy, but it comes with a little bit of mystery as well. Plus, I love the journey that the main characters take... it's easy to become invested with them. The plot has many twists and turns, as well. It's really well worth the read! |
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| Recommended by: Diamond Title: Nevernight Author: Jay Kristoff Summary: An orphaned girl becomes the world's most feared assassin in order to avenge her family. Description: The first of a projected series (the first two are out), Nevernight is spectacular. The setting is amazing - a world with three suns, where true night falls only maybe once every couple of years. Great characters, not just Mia, the protagonist; interesting ecology; great plot twists; inventive use of flashbacks and footnotes (especially the footnotes - I'm a sucker for footnotes - you can infodump without being obnoxious!). What's not to love? The plot centers around Mia Corvere, the oldest daughter in a noble house in the Republic of Itreya, a sort of Renaissance Italy stand-in. Her father led an aborted rebellion and is killed in front of her. Her mother and little brother are dumped in a vile prison, and she's left for dead. She's taken in by a curio merchant who turns out to have ties to the Red Church, a feared order of assassins. When Mia turns 16, her mentor deems her old enough to seek them out for further training... There are a couple of really cool spins on old fantasy tropes in this novel, but I won't spoil them for anyone. Go read this book! And the sequel, Godsgrave! |
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| Recommended by: tilt Title: Stormlight Archive Author: Brandon Sanderson Summary: Epic story of the underdog finding his powers Description: Love Brandons writing in general, it is very actionfilled and you can't help but running a small movie in your head while reading. He builds great characters and have wonderful conversations often humorous. He also (in all of his books) have the fantastic ability to create unique worlds and magic systems like nothing you've seen before. Here in this (proposed) 10 book series, he put together such fantastic settings and magic you'll be drawn in and unable to drop the book(s). |
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| Recommended by: ChickPea Title: Tigana Author: Guy Gavriel Kay Summary: As two sorcerers vie to control a divided land, a young musician's life is upended when he discovers the existence of a spell that has stolen a nation’s identity. Description: I could easily have chosen another of GGK's books, but Tigana is probably the best 'high fantasy' novel amongst his work. The novel tells the story of The Palm, a medieval Italy-style territory, divided and conquered a couple of decades earlier by two opposing sorcerers. We follow a small group of characters who are fighting to overthrow the tyrants and resurrect their nation after its utter destruction... in every sense. I enjoy books with morally grey characters -especially when the author forces me to reassess every opinion I had about them- and beautifully written characters is one of GGK’s strengths. Our good guys occasionally make questionable decisions, in a ‘one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter’ kind of way. Our bad guys (one of them anyway) are far more sympathetic than they should be. The character Dianora is -for me- one of the most memorable in fantasy fiction. She’s so torn, never to be whole, and you ache for her. The story delves into broader themes, like what gives a nation its identity, and how the victors in war write history. The author describes it as a book about ‘memory’. Finally, GGK is known for his, ah, emotional endings, so keep the tissues handy! |
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| Recommended by: Voolf Title: The Witcher saga Author: Andrzej Sapkowski Summary: Story about Geralt of Rivia, one of the witchers – mutated human - that hunt monsters for living. Description: I love this series because it is unique as for fantasy genre. It is not about fancy elves, dragons (though there is one in a book  ), orcs etc. It’s rather dark low fantasy about Geralt who struggles through life helping others to protect them from monsters, and gets spit in the face as reward. Not everything that looks monstrous is actually evil, and not every good deed comes with good results.The books shows the bad side of the humans that sometimes appears to be worse than beasts. In the books you can find unique atmosphere built by Polish and Slavic urban legends and all the monsters from them. (most of you never heard of in usual high fantasy settings). Geralt adventure starts with small jobs for hunting monsters which introduce reader to the world. In later books monsters become rather a background for the perfect story - a mix of politics, plot, war and chaotic human nature. PS Most people from the West may know The Witcher from the video game. The game is very well done regarding following the story of the books (with small twists). The books are very very old and way more intriguing than game. |
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Watch out for Part II of your recommendations within the next couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone who submitted their suggestions!
A short note about book covers: between reprints, special editions, international editions etc., many books have multiple covers. The covers shown above are simply what Goodreads presented to me when I searched for the book. The version available to you may well have different artwork.
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