As you can see from my blog post here, I've decided next year to read fantasy novels for my reading challenge. That's one fantasy novel per month. And then I'll write about it.

But I'm looking for suggestions of good epic fantasy novels to read. They must be the first books of series, of which at least three books of the series are available. And not one of the series mentioned in the blog post.

So, suggest away - either here or by leaving a comment on the post.

Ta.

Message edited by its author, Oct 16, 2009, 9:07am.

How about the Wars of Light and Shadow series from Janny Wurts starting with The Curse of the Mistwraith. Eight books so far and another three guaranteed.

You may be able to pick up a few other suggestions from this thread.

Message edited by its author, Oct 16, 2009, 10:43am.

The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson starts with Mistborn: The Final Empire

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch This is the 1st book. The second one and the prequel are out and the 3rd should be out middle of next year.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is pretty good but it doesn't fit your criteria because only the first book of the Trilogy has been released, but I thought it was good enough I should at least mention it.

Magician by Raymond E. Feist this is the first book in a pretty good series. There is the original Magician and a later rewrite that split it into 2 books Magician's Apprentice and Magician Master those are the ones I read. Most people like the first 2-3 books after that opinions start to diverge wildly.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy starting with The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud is an excellent YA series, I would say targeted for mid to late teens but great none-the-less.

Temeraire series starting with His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik is a historical fiction taking place during Napoleonic Europe, only thing Dragons exist, and range from smarter than a horse to able to converse intelligently on any topic of the day. They also double as war machines.

Elric or The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock You decide where to start in that knot.

There is the Myst Trilogy by Rand Miller, books based on the hit game but I have to say these where a cut above most if not all game to book offerings, if you didn't know about the games you wouldn't even suspect it.

of course there is also David Eddings who has several series out there, you can pretty much chose any one of them, it's always the same story, but they are still fun to read at least once.

Message edited by its author, Oct 16, 2009, 10:54am.

Some good suggestions there, ta. I've discounted Moorcock as I've read quite a few of his. And, like you say, Rothfuss is out because there's only the one novel so far. The Novik doesn't really appeal - too close to historical, and I know it'll just annoy the hell out of me. Eddings is tempting - but only because I've heard so many bad things about his books...

You might check this Fantasy Fans thread for some suggestions, too.

4 > Well I think you should try Eddings, IMO he's the best of the 'fluffy' farmboy quest stories (meaning he's readable and fun), and most of the bad thing you've heard are probably true.

The Riddle-Master of Hed which is the first book of The Riddle-Master's Game which you own.
Jack Vance's Lyonesse
The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay which is the first part of The Fionavar Tapestry.

Ah, I have the Kay books too.

I love Barry Hughart's Master Li novels. There are only three: Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen, but they're wonderful. Especially Bridge of Birds, which is the first. I might have got the order of the second and third mixed up.

I was going to suggest the Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin (they are on my short list for next books to read), but saw that you've read some of them.

I also noticed that your ratings are relatively low (especially considering the rave reviews from others). What turned you off about the stories?

I was going to suggest John Crowley's Aegypt but see that you've read it.

I was going to suggest the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

;-)

#10 part of the reason for doing this is because I'm not a big fan of epic fantasy and have a low opinion of it. So I'm trying to find one that causes me to revise my opinion (I live in hope...).

#11 I'm a big Crowley fan, but Aegypt isn't really classifiable as epic fantasy...

#13: Ah. I know zip about fantasy lit, so I had to go wiki "epic fantasy" just now. I understand.

Ian,

I suspect that restricting yourself to epic fantasy is going to be a painful experience. On the other hand, your categorization of the Park, Delaney, and Harrison works in your blog post probably means that your definition of "epic" is a little more relaxed than most. Accordingly, some of my recommendations are series that are excellent reading but that might not fit well in the traditional sense of epic fantasy.

I'm sure you already know about Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy (starting with Titus Groan), but if you haven't read it, you really should. More high fantasy than epic fantasy.

Jeffrey Ford's Well-Built City trilogy is a masterpiece of the bizarre. Its first book, The Physiognomy deservedly won the World Fantasy Award. Not traditional epic fantasy.

Jack Vance's Lyonesse trilogy. Very different from other Vance - spectacular, lyric writing and a complex, engaging plot. The third book won the WF award.

E.R. Eddison’s Zimiamvian trilogy (The Mezentian Gate) is another gorgeously written series. It’s quietly epic – lots of political shifting sands and philosophy and much less action than is in his The Worm Ouroboros (probably the best epic fantasy ever written – too bad it’s a single volume work).

Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain series (The Book of Three) is an excellent YA epic fantasy.

Another series I’m sure you know of is C. S. Lewis’s Narnia series (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe). Not particularly epic, still, it’s a must read YA classic.

Mary Gentle’s Ash series (A Secret History) is terrific action, but is possibly problematic, being that it’s something of a fantasy/SF hybrid (and also the fact that it was four books in the US but only one book in the UK).

Julian May’s Pliocene Exile series (The Many-Colored Land) is another fantasy/SF hybrid and is firecracker of a series, plenty of fun.

Gene Wolfe’s soldier series (Soldier of the Mist) is by Gene Wolfe, meaning that it is of course full of masterfully frustrating trickery and sleight-of-hand. The third book won the WF award.

Mentioned above, Patricia A. McKillip’s Riddle-Master trilogy (The Riddle-Master of Hed) is beautiful stuff from perhaps the best fantastist writing today. My recollection is that it’s not as good as most of her stand-alone works but that it’s still very good. If you have the time and are so inclined, I’d suggest reading some of her more recent works.

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass) is outstanding YA – gripping and engaging, but somewhat marred by a third book that didn’t live up to it’s potential.

Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy (Assassin 's Apprentice) is probably the best of the generic epic fantasy group. I haven’t read much generic fantasy (or extruded fantasy, as it’s sometimes called), but Hobb is often mentioned in the same breath as the usual suspects. I may actually be doing Hobb a disservice here, as she’s actually a pretty good writer.

Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel's Legacy trilogy (Kushiel's Dart) is somewhat notorious for the presence of lots of S&M sex, but I found that the sex wasn’t gratuitous at all (and was pretty well done). Well written with a plot that just races along.

Mentioned above, Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series (His Majesty's Dragon), despite your reservations, is a cracking good read. I enjoyed them more than I had expected to.

Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion series (The Curse of Chalion) is a strong effort by the long-time SF diva. If you liked the Miles books, you should like these (which is another way of saying that there’s a strong romantic element to the books). Her Sharing Knife series (Beguilement) had even more romance and was, to my mind, of lesser quality.

Evangeline Walton's Mabinogion series (Prince of Annwn) is a majestic retelling of the Welsh myths.

Robert Silverberg’s Majipoor series (Lord Valentine's Castle) is another fantasy/SF hybrid that was great fun to read.

Barbara Hambly has written lots of great fantasy – the Darwath trilogy (The Time of the Dark), the Sun Wolf trilogy (The Ladies of Mandrigyn), and the Windrose series (The Silent Tower). She writes her lightly romantic fantasies very well and I often wonder why she doesn’t have a greater reputation that she does.

P.C. Hodgell’s God Stalk series (God Stalk) is well written and inventive.

Robert Rankin’s Brentford Trilogy (with eight books and counting) (The Antipope) can hardly be considered epic fantasy, still, its terrific sudsy fun.

Ernest Bramah’s Kai Lung stories (The Wallet of Kai Lung) aren’t really a series, in fact they aren’t even novels (being instead a series of loosely connected tales). However, they are vastly better than the Barry Hughart books mentioned above and seem to be the inspiration for Hughart’s work.

Sheri S. Tepper’s True Game series (King's Blood Four) is quite good. It was written ages before she evolved into the raging feminist that she is today.

C. J. Cherryh’s Morgaine series (Gate of Ivrel) is early Cherryh, but exhibits her trademark use ratcheting tension.

Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant trilogy (Lord Foul's Bane) is almost the elephant in the room. Reading the series can be a miserable experience, still there are parts of the book that almost redeem the long stretches where you just want to push the “hero” off a cliff and be done with him. Still, it’s a seminal work.

David Eddings’ Belgariad series (Pawn of Prophecy) and Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar series (Magician: Apprentice) are fine for what they are – best read in middle school.

On Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry trilogy (The Summer Tree), I would recommend NOT reading this as it’s markedly inferior to all his other work. You really should read Kay, as he’s one of the best three or four fantasists writing today, but the Fionavar Tapestry isn’t representative of his work.

Hope this helps!

Message edited by its author, Oct 16, 2009, 9:08pm.

I don't think Barry Hughart is epic fantasy either (I've only read Bridge Of Birds). I've certainly heard people I trust refer to The Gentleman Bastards series (Scott Lynch's series) as low fantasy so not epic fantasy.

I think Eddings (although there are worse choices - thankfully not mentioned here) will confirm your worst fears Ian so I would miss that, or at least leave it to the end, if I was you.

BehemothCat, some good suggestions. Thanks. Peake I suspect will be certainly be one of the twelve books I eventually choose (and I have a copy of Titus Groan). I have Lyonesse too - in the Fantasy Masterwork edition - so that's a possible too. I've read The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Ash: A Secret History, The Many-Coloured Land, Soldier of the mist, The Golden Compass, Lord Valentine's Castle Lord Fouls' Bane and The Summer Tree, so they're out. I have the Morgaine omnibus on the bookshelves, but I suspect that's too close to sf to fit.

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. Behemoth Cat recommended this before, and I agree with him. Interesting world, well-written, and an interesting storyline. The BDSM sex scenes didn't feel like cheap erotica fantasy either, which I was afraid would turn me off the novel and the trilogy.

Might suggest you find something written by David Gemmell. I'd suggest The Sword in the Storm over his first novel, Legend. I thought Sword in the Storm (Rigante series) series was written far better than Gemmell's other major fantasy series (Drenai Saga), was more inventive, and, as a series, more cohesive than the Drenai saga.

I'll see if I can come up with something else in this vein - I read more SF than fantasy, myself.

Message edited by its author, Oct 17, 2009, 6:08am.

Now I think about it, I've actually read Legend, and I vaguely recall reading another novel by Gemmell although I can't recall the title.

How about Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay. As punishment, an evil emperor takes away the name of entire kingdom, so that only those that live there remember its name. The plot is tight, its more about character than magic and its not like any other epic fantasy out there.

It's hardly the start of a series, though, is it? Besides, I read it years ago.

I would second the recommendation of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series, starting with Lord Foul's Bane. There is also a Second Chronicles... series if you like the first one.

Also, you could probably pick the books up for nearly free (Bookmooch, garage sale, library, etc.), since they have been out for so long.

Stephen R. Donaldson also did a SF series (The Gap) that was pretty good (although very dark as well.)

I hadn't realized It Had to be the start of a trilogy, just that if it was, it was an added bonus.

Okay, then how about Sabriel by Garth Nix. I haven't read it in awhile, but I should :) Sabriel father is the Abhorsen for the old kingdom, a place where magic is still very much wild. His job is to bind restless souls to the afterlife. When he goes missing, Sabriel goes looking for him. Its YA but it reads well for adults. Lirael and Abhorsen are the next two books in the series.

Also, I'm just curious, how would the Harry Potter Series hold up as an epic fiction?

Message edited by its author, Oct 17, 2009, 12:57pm.

#23

Rather poorly. But I'm thinking in terms of Rowling's writing skill - probably not something you would give to a discerning reader to convince them that there is something worthwhile to read in epic fantasy.

Message edited by its author, Oct 17, 2009, 1:17pm.

What about Raymond E. Feist's Magician? I didn't think too highly of the sequels, but the first book was quite fun and quite inventive.

I'll second (or however many have mentioned it already) Curse of the Mistwraith — well worth reading.

Has anybody mentioned Kate Elliott's King's Dragon yet? first in the complete 7 book series Crown of Stars.

Series that might be worth reading (I haven't yet). Maybe some of the more fantasy(ish) readers could chip in their thoughts on how well written they are.

Joe Abercrombie's First Law series starting with The Blade Itself.
Sean Russell's The Swan's War series starting with The One Kingdom

Much of my list was covered by the much longer and solid one from BehemothCat, but I'd like to throw in a plug for J Gregory Keyes, and in particular his recently completed tetralogy that began with The Briar King

#17,

I had forgotten that Cherryh's Morgain series was written with the skin and flesh of fantasy overlaid upon bones of SF - the fantasy elements were so dominant that the SF portion had faded from memory.

BTW, my list above was approximately in order of strength of recommendation, based upon some mysterious calculus of quality and suitability, weighted towards the quality.

Looking forward to hearing how your year turns out!

To all who suggested Rowling, I read the first Harry Potter book many years ago, so that's out.

Magician sounds like it might be worth a go. As does the Kate Elliott one. I understand the 3rd book of the Abercrombie series is due out next year, so it sort of sneaks into qualification. The Briar King I seem to recall hearing good things about.

@30, The 3rd in Joe Abercrombie's series is already out and I'd agree with this as a recommendation. A 4th book set in the same world but not part of The First Law series (although it does have recurring characters) has also been released and currently available in hardback only.

Perhaps you could look into the Black Company by Glen Cook. 10 books, and I think they are being re-published in 4 volumes or so...

Gene Wolfe has published 3 Latro books... I think the first one is Soldier of the Mist. It might fail your epic criterion, I don't know what you mean by that, as definitions tend to vary.

Laura Resnick offers a nice series - I just can't remember which book is first. In Legend Born, I believe.

Of course, you can look into Sarah Monette, Storm Constantine, or Dave Duncan too, most of what I have read by them have been worth the read.

Epic fantasy isn't really my bag. But I notice you have Evangeline Walton's Mabinogion Tetralogy in your library, sans rating or review. If you haven't read it yet, I'd recommend it. It's one of the few in this genre that I not only enjoyed but actually remember. If you have already been there, done that, then I'd be interested in your eventual review.

#32 Perhaps I should have added another caveat - availability. I don't believe Glen Cook is published in the UK, and I don't even recall ever seeing second-hand copies of his books. Storm Constantine I've read, Wolfe I've also read (and the Latro books aren't epic fantasy anyway).

Well Glen Cook maybe isn't published in the UK but his books are easy to find on amazon.co.uk

I see you've got the Lankhmar books - but there are no ratings against them. (Can't believe that Leiber hasn't been suggested before now.

Katherine Kerr's Deverry novels?

DaggerSpell, Darkspell, Dawnspell & Dragonspell
or the Time of ones, Time of Exile, Time of Omens, Time of War, Time of Justice.

To tell you the truth, I was hoping for suggestions of more recent series. Yes, I have the Lankhmar omnibus, likewise the two Conan ones. Happily, no one has mentioned Goodkind yet (I've read Wizard's First Rule and have no desire to read any further). I also have a KJ Parker, but no one has mentioned her either.

Quote KJ Parker, but no one has mentioned her either.

Maybe I need your definition of epic fantasy.

Brilliant writer, great world building, I would say more morally ambiguous than traditional epic fantasy so I wouldn't have labelled her that way.

So far she has written three completed trilogies set in different worlds, very difficult to say which you could try first. I would suggest maybe in the order they were published so start with The Fencer Trilogy and Colours in the Steel.

Modesitt's Recluse series is good. I just finished the first of his new Imager books & reviewed it.

Most of my favorite fantasy is neither epic nor long-series based, but.

I would second the Lies of Locke Lamora recommendations, although I'm not sure it counts as 'epic' and in many ways does not have the strong 'fantasy' feel. But it is very good.

I also enjoyed the Sabriel trilogy quite a lot, but I'm not sure it would be to your tastes.

Again, not what I would typically term 'epic', but the suggestion for Mievelle and specifically Perdido Street Station is certainly worth a read. Although I don't love everything about it, I admire it a great deal for what it does do. (Wait, nevermind, I checked your library and see you've read it. Well then!)

I also might suggest King's Gunslinger series - it's not my cup of tea, but I have many, many friends who adore it, and it lives in that weird space between genres that often gets shoved into fantasy. And it's certainly epic.

34: As someone else said, you can find them at amazon uk... I don't believe they are harder to find in the UK than in sweden, to be honest.

while I do understand your point about not counting Latro as 'epic fantasy' I wonder what you mean by the term... This is just idle interest, as I rarely see a good definition of the term. Is it a secondary world setting? Multi volume stories with the same main characters? I get from your examples a general idea what you are thinking of, but would like to see more clearly defined what you put into the term?

Robin Hobb's Farseer series would have been my first recommendation but you could try Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy for a quick read.

You can download The Briar King from suvudu at the moment, so that will be a cheap read.

A couple of other series that have yet to be mentioned and that meet the OP's requirements are The Prince of Nothing by R. Scott Bakker and The Dragonlance Chronicles by Weis & Hickman.

Dragonlance Chronicles! There you go Ian, a RPG tie-in novel, I'm sure you'll find love reading and reviewing that.

There are plenty of terms for the type of fantasy I'm looking for - epic, high, secondary world, sword & sorcery... Stuff that follows on from Tolkien - Moorcock, Erickson, Martin, Jordan... that sort of stuff. Quests are not required, but they're common. Neither does it need elves, dwarfs or dragons. And the morality can be as ambiguous as it wants. I'd have thought the examples I gave in my original blog post might have given a clue, but never mind...

So... Modesitt I understand writes sf more than fantasy. I'm looking for genre heartland series. Sadly, that does mean Dragonlance qualifies - but, of course, I do get to pick and choose the 12 I will read.

Part of the exercise will be to see whether the first book in the series makes me want to read more. So I've no plans to read trilogies or quartets. Only the first book.

(I have a couple of possibles as ebooks already - but I have no ebook reader, and no desire to sit in front of my computer reading. So I'll be looking to get - new or second-hand - real-world hard-copy paperbacks. If they're crap, I'll sell them on ebay or list them on bookmooch.com afterwards...)

Here's the suggestions I've had so far which I've identified as what I term "epic" or "secondary world" fantasy...

The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie
A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham
The Darkness That Comes Before, R Scott Bakker
Black Company, Glen Cook
Pawn of Prophecy, David Eddings
King's Dragon, Kate Elliott
Magician, Raymond E Feist
Assassin's Apprentice, Robin Hobb
DaggerSpell, Katherine Kerr
The Briar King, J Gregory Keyes
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
The Thief's Gamble, Juliet McKenna
Colours in the Steel, KJ Parker
Winterbirth, Brian Ruckley
The One Kingdom, Sean Russell
Mistborn: The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson
The Curse of the Mistwraith, Janny Wurts

You're missing The Magic of Recluse by L.E. Modesitt Jr. & I'd say all of Janny Wurts books fit. Personally, I thought To Ride Hell's Chasm was best & it's a stand alone, to introduce her writing. "Mistwraith" can stand alone, but its the beginning of a series.

@49 jimmaclachlan, The OP specifically asked for series as suggestions:

They must be the first books of series, of which at least three books of the series are available.

#48

Any reason why you haven't added Kushiel's Dart, Ian?

Probably the BDSM :-)

#52

I was initally quite wary of reading the Kushiel trilogy for exactly that reason, Ian. I must admit, though, that the sex scenes were done quite well, particularly how it fit into the plot of the story, instead of being gratuitous, erotic-fantasy trash.

Some interesting ideas (particularly in regards to the theology) a complex and unique main character... great fantasy. Oh, and BDSM, too. Can't forget that :-)

Message edited by its author, Oct 20, 2009, 8:45am.

I haven't read it yet, but perhaps someone will come forward and confirm The Crooked Letter by Sean Williams.

Ditto for Transformation by Carol Berg.

Some great books recommended there - and some duff ones too. Just depends on your taste. If Morgaine is out, then you could try Fortress in the eye of time which is pure fantasy, and quite an unusual magic!

I'd add recommendation for:
curse of the mistwraith
lies of locke lamora
mistborn
magician
dragons of autumn twilight (ie Chronicles of dragonlance, the rest are dire)
or try the deathgate cycle by the same authors.
and Caroll Berg's work I've only read one, but enjoyed it.
ditto Mckillip
thomas covenant (#22 there's a third series now)

I'd steer well clear of Eddings, Hobb, Kerr, King, which while sometime enjoyable as light fluff, don't exactly help sell the genre to readers who don't already like it.

>55

I'd agree about Hobb. I read one (first in the Liveship series) and that put me off Hobb for life.

55, 56 > I am always surprised at how many people love Hobb's books, I read the Assassin Trilogy and while I found it interesting I also found it to be a LOT of work to get through, and she tortures all her characters. I've tried twice to start the Liveship Traders and failed both times to get half way through the first book.

Here's a first cut of my choices for next year's reading challenge, in order of year of publication:

1 Pawn of Prophecy,David Eddings (1982)
2 Magician, Raymond E Feist (1982)
3 The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams (1988)
4 Assassin's Apprentice, Robin Hobb (1995)
5 King's Dragon, Kate Elliott (1997)
6 Colours in the Steel, KJ Parker (1998)
7 The Sum of All Men, David Farland (1998)
8 The One Kingdom, Sean Russell (2001)
9 The Darkness That Comes Before, R Scott Bakker (2003)
10 The Wizard Hunters, Martha Wells (2003)
11 The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie (2006)
12 Winterbirth, Brian Ruckley (2006)

Feel free to persuade me for or against the books I've selected...

Message edited by its author, Oct 28, 2009, 8:55am.

No Curse of the Mistwraith? I think it was suggested and seconded a few times as one of the best epic fantasies. The only trouble is choosing which of the others you should take off the list.

I haven't read all of them but of those I have read the one I did not continue is the Sean Russell The One Kingdom (but I can't remember why).

edit for typo

Message edited by its author, Oct 28, 2009, 10:04am.

I looked at the wikipedia page on the book, and it didn't appeal.

You don't think the Russell is any good? It looked quite interesting on the author's web site.

I wish I could remember why; the Sean Russell was published at the time when I realised that space, money and actual reading time meant that something really had to stand out as worth continuing with.

So for that time the ones I stuck with are Mark Chadbourn; KJ Parker and Steven Erikson. (and a few others)

Does Chadbourn write epic/high fantasy? I thought his stuff was closer to Robert Holdstock-type fantasy.

Sorry I was just saying which fantasy authors really caught my attention in the late 90's/early 00's. He does contain some epic elements.

His work contains the epic fantasy element in the chosen group of people get together to fight evil theme but the inclusion of Celtic mythology and being set in our world does mean that he can be compared to Robert Holdstock.

Someone described Chadbourn's Age Of Misrule series as "One part Lord of the Rings, one part Illuminatus!, one part Arthurian romance".

Parts of the story are set in our world (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) - whether that means it isn't epic fantasy is a matter of definition and taste.

It does sound like it might appeal, but I wanted ones that were solidly secondary world fantasies. I might add Chadbourn to the list of fantasies that I'll eventually get round to reading one day, along with Peake, Swainston, and a few others...

Steph Swainston's stuff is solidly secondary world if you want to try that, but maybe leaning too much towards weird fiction to be classed as epic fantasy.

Well, the list isn’t nearly as terrible as it could have been. Still, it’s not particularly mouthwatering.

Perhaps another year you could have another go at fantasy with works that would be more worth your time.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. First book in a trilogy, book three was just published, or will be soon. Takes a deeper look at the Alice in Wonderland.

I enjoyed Bakker's series. His latest novel in that world, The Judging Eye is the start of a second series, but is still sitting on my shelf. It doesn't look like its going to hit the top of the pile soon, mainly because I keep acquiring more SF novels.

#1, Iansales - read your blog post with great interest.

I'd not go to Wiki for an opinion, truly.

This website is extensive, intelligent, and strictly reviews fantasy...if you click any book, you will see ALL the various reviewer's takes - and if you select how the reviewers' profiles are reviewed, the site will open an oversight of all books by that reviewer, by rating - you can quickly see if your taste matches that particular reviewer or not, based on titles you've read before.

They also have a "favorites" link - which shows titles that have a convergency of opinion, among their reviewers.

I use this site a lot to select what I want to read next.

The whole site has strict policy - NO spoilers in reviews and each pro or con point backed up. If you read reviews of sequels, though, the site organizer presumes you've read book I.

http://www.fantasyliterature.com

Enjoy browsing.

Thanks for the suggestion. You could have plugged one of your own, you know. I wouldn't have been offended :-)

Thanks, but no - the work speaks most eloquently for itself. (No Elves, No Darklords, No Dwarfs, No Evil Consumes the World, No Final Battle Makes Good, No Quest, No Coming of Age...that nutshells it, and also, shoves it outside the center-line of what many fantasy readers seek in an "epic".)

My stake: that fantasy in general is sadly maligned, or typecast by its piles of imitations. Yes, Sturgeon's Law applies....yes, there is a lot of messy or derivative long stuff, and yes, much of the unoriginal stuff is written for a specific age and maturity, quickly outgrown...but - there is also a trove of excellent quality work, and depth that is written for a mature viewpoint (and by that I mean by layers of abstraction and complexity, NOT steamy stuff).

If you are going to make a year's excursion into the field, I'd hope you could use the resources to match your choices with your taste.

I've seen your posts on several forums and I know from them that you are extremely focused and discerning.

Better you select what you might truly love. That benefits everybody.

It's December in a week, so I ought to think about getting hold of copies of the books I plan to read as part of next year's reading challenge. I have a copy of Colours in the Steel by KJ Parker, so that's likely to be January's book.

As for the others... I shall most likely stick to those listed in message 58 - although it will depend on availability and whether or not someone is really persuasive when suggesting another title I should read...

It makes me sad that Lies of Locke Lamora didn't make the cut - easily one of my favorite books in a very long time. Did it not appeal?

It failed on the "three or more books available" criterion.

FYI, to help your collecting of books for the reading challenge, Greg Keyes The Briar King, the first in the series, was made available as a free ebook. http://a1018.g.akamai.net/f/1018/19025/1... will get you to the pdf version.

I have a couple of books which would qualify as ebooks already - probably including that one... But I read while I'm commuting, so I prefer paperbacks. Maybe one day I'll get around to buy an ereader... when I find one I like.

> 75 Ah! So it did. You should read it anyway. ;)

Hope you find something worth reading here!