Looking for recommendations

Hello lovely fantasy-reading librarythingers!

I am looking for some recommendations, as I am relatively new to fantasy.

Recent books I have enjoyed include Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (I'm definitely going to continue reading that series) and Catherine Asaro's Lost Continent series. I suppose these might both be described as more in the 'romantic fantasy' vein (what can I say, I'm a sucker for a love story), but I also welcome suggestions for books with less romance.

I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have!

I suppose you could give Piers Anthony's Xanth books a try. A lot of them have a strong romantic subplot at least.

Hmm, I'm not familiar with the authors you mentioned, but you might like:

Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry
Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea series (at least the first three)
Patricia A. McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy

I'll second Earthsea and the Riddle-Master; both are on my re-read every so often list. You might also like Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books, e.g. Arrows of the Queen, or Elemental Masters books, e.g. The Fire Rose. Charles de Lint *might* be of interest, check out some reviews and see what you think. Hmm, one more... Anne McCaffrey's Pern books are science fiction, but would fit well with the rest. Happy reading!

Hey, I'd forgotten about the Valdemar series. I read that, too, but I found it a little lacking overall. Maybe it's just a "guy" thing, but it seems like I was always waiting for something big to happen (or at least something exciting), but the payoff didn't come for me.

Too much R.A. Salvatore under my belt, perhaps...

Re. Valdemar, yeah, the Arrows trilogy doesn't have a big payoff - I'd say the Mage Wars or Mage Storms books would be better in that regard. Also, Arrows was where Lackey started, and later books show greater experience as an author.

Re. Salvatore, I have to admit I haven't read much by him; I remember trying one of his D&D novels in highschool and being turned off by flat characters and being told (rather than shown) what a character was feeling. Maybe I should give him another chance.

Oh, as an alternative, I'll put in a plug for Terry Prachett especially some of the later watch novels such as Night Watch, Thud! and also Monstrous Regiment and Going postal : a novel of Discworld have some very developed writing. The earlier Diskworld novels are a bit rougher in my opinion. Anne McCafferey's Pern novels are borderline science fantasy IMO.

Just about anything by Guy Gavriel Kay is a good choice.

I haven't read the authors you mentioned, but my favorite romantic fantasy author is Juliet Marillier. You also might want to check out Luna publishing, some of which leans more towards the Romance and some more towards the Fantasy. My favorite Luna books are Gail Dayton's The Compass Rose and The Barbed Rose, though The Eternal Rose, the last book in the trilogy, is being put out by another, smaller publisher which seems to be suffering from a bit of backup at the printers. Consequently, it's been expected to be out "any day now" for almost a month.

I'd say anything by Guy G Kay except The Fionavar Tapestry & The Last light of the sun.
Fionavar is OK but I don't think the love story is exceptional. Plus you either have to LOVE books that do takes on arthurian myth OR appreciate that he tries to do a different take on it (a more academic perspective). The females in Fionavar is horribly made up.
Last light of the Sun is also arthurian/celtic with a dose of vikings, and pretty lightweight for being Kay.

But please try The Lions of Al-Rassan, A Song for Arbonne, Tigana and The Sarantine Mosaic (also as two books - Sailing to Sarantium & Lord of Emperors).

(Haven't read Ysabel so no comment on that one.)

#10 oh darn, the Fionavar Tapestry was looking so good, but I have to admit . . . I have a severe dislike of most things Arthurian (unless its done by Monty Python). I find the legends to be highly depressing.

#9 That's so odd about Gail Dayton's third book -- I wonder why it wasn't purchased by Luna. I have to admit that I'm irked by publisher switches in the middle of series, as a new publisher may choose to print in a different format and the cover won't have the same look. I'll definitely check out those authors though.

To all: Thanks so much for all your suggestions . . . I'm looking up reviews of everything and going from there, but your advice is invaluable in helping me start my search. Many thanks!

There is another series by Mercedes Lackey which is pretty good too, but I can't remember the name of it. The books in it I've read so far are The Fairy Godmother and One Good Knight. Both stories were pretty good and I know there is at least one other out in this series I haven't read yet.

You could also try Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes which is a fantasy I absolutely adored. It is a YA book, but I think Poison Study is as well, isn't it?

#11 SaraHope
"... I'm irked by publisher switches in the middle of series ..."
From our point of view, not so good, but remember that most authors, even good authors, are struggling to live off what their books earn, and if an author or his agent thinks that a different publisher will raise more revenue, what should he do but go for it?

I'm willing to give Mercedes Lackey another chance if you promise me she got better after Valdemar.

#13 I do understand on a logical level the plight of authors and, of course, I know that if I want to continue reading said authors, its in my interest that they have a roof over their heads and food to eat.

#12 Poison Study is not YA as far as I can tell (the heroine is 19 and Amazon does not show reviews by the traditional children's / YA publications). However, I am fond of YA, so I'll be sure to give Atwater-Rhodes a look.

Out of curiosity, why does it bother you when the publisher changes? I don't think I've ever paid any attention to it.

#16, It only bothers me if, as a consequence, the books at the new publisher have a fundamentally different look -- I like consistent jacket design and book size within a series.

Hi all, new person here. In response to your request, SaraHope, here's some fantasy I've really liked.

The Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust is my favorite fantasy series by far. They are about an assassin/witch and his familiar. The world is well-developed, with some quite interesting concepts about magic and social structure, and I like his rather sparse prose style. Start with Jhereg or Taltos. A lot of folks also like his Khaavren series (start with The Phoenix Guards) but you have to get the Dumas stylings.

The Merlin series by Mary Stewart is, to me, the best rendering of the Arthur/Merlin legend, although fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon may disagree.

The Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny is responsible for my interest in fantasy. I don't want to say anything more because it will give too much away. Start with Nine Princes In Amber.

For a change of pace, you could try the Garrett, P.I. series by Glen Cook, a sort of Tolkien meets Dashiell Hammett series in which a hard-boiled P.I. solves various crimes/mysteries in a fantasy setting. They are extremely funny. Start with Sweet Silver Blues to read them in order, although each one can stand alone.

For fantasy without any trappings of nobility, try George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series. (By no nobility I mean he writes characters from a quite cynical perspective on human nature.) Start with A Game of Thrones.

For fantasy that isn't in the classic Tolkien style of "high fantasy" (elves, dwarves, nobility, clear good vs evil type stuff) and set in a more modern (or at least industrialized) arena, I would recommend War For The Oaks by Emma Bull, the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde (I read Lost In A Good Book first but The Eyre Affair is the first of the series), anything by Neil Gaiman (particularly Neverwhere), and the Company series by Kage Baker, although this is more sci-fi than strict fantasy.

A lot of my fantasy fan friends have liked the lighter, pulp fiction tone of Kelly Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series (I read Dime Store Magic and found it entertaining, if firmly in the mind candy category). They have also recommended the Chalion Trilogy by Lois McMaster Bujold (start with The Curse of Chalion and the Bitterbynde Trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton (start with The Ill-Made Mute), but I haven't read these.

As a last note, I'm also on the lookout for new fantasy to read, so please keep the recommendations coming!

>14 neummy: I haven't read Lackey's Valdemar series so I can't make an comparison promises. I did find the stories a little slow going in but they both seemed to pick up quite readily about 1/3rd of the way through.

>15 SaraHope: sometimes it's hard to tell from the amazon descriptions if a book is YA or not. I've had it on my amazon wishlist for a while. I think it might have been originally recommended to me on a YA book thread/group and that's why I thought Poison Study was YA.

I don't read very much high fantasy anymore but one recent one I've read is Elantris by Brandon Sanderson which I really enjoyed as well.

#19 I highly recommend Poison Study, and I absolutely can't wait for the trade pb version of the next installment to release in September.

#18 Wow Sethra, a lot of recommendations! I'll be sure to check all those out! I've heard of or read a couple books by a few of those authors--I read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde though I did not continue with the series at the time and also Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I've been thinking about going back to The Eyre Affair and reading the whole series, because I did enjoy it very much. I also recently purchased a new book by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Sharing Knife so I'll see if I like it or not.

#11 - Be sure to at least try anything else by Guy Gavriel Kay! Others may disagree but I think The Lions of Al-Rassan is one of the best fantasy books ever to be written :-)
Of course, there's also Ursula LeGuin. But lots of her best books is borderline science fiction ;-)

#11 That's so odd about Gail Dayton's third book -- I wonder why it wasn't purchased by Luna....

My understanding is that Luna had originally planned on releasing the whole trilogy, but after the second book was published, decided that they were going to cut several of their series. At least, that's what the woman in the Harlequin booth told me at the last American Library Association annual convention (Luna is Harlequin's fantasy division). The third book found a home at Juno; now I'm just waiting to see the entry on Dayton's blog saying that she's gotten her copies and it's on its way. It looks a bit different, but it doesn't bother me *nearly* as much as Tor releasing all of Juliet Marillier's books in trade paperback, and then deciding that with Blade of Fortriu, second in its series, they were going to skip the trade release and go straight to mass market paperback.

I also enjoy The Women of the Otherworld for some light reading. It switches between narrators, so you may like some characters' books better than others, but I don't think I've ever seen anybody differentiate between the voice of two first person, female narrators better than Kelley Armstrong.

If you go back to Thursday Next, there is a new book out, Thursday Next: First Among Sequels.

#11 - I would suggest that the Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Kay is not romance oriented, but is utterly brilliant, from the perspective of the use of mythic archtypes. Where it weaves in bits of the Arthurian legend, the handling is poignant rather than tragic, and that it satisfies where the legends, verbatim, are tragic. I would recommend this read, but for different reasons than his other titles.

Guy tends to visit a locale, then write a novel, and one will see the influence of the area he used to base his inspiration. While his other novels are mythic in a geographic sense, Fionavar is mythic, by a landscape based in legend.

Both types of works have solid merit, but have different underlying premises.

For nice romance coupled with an extraordinary fantasy setting, using mythic scope, I recommend Sarah Zettel's Isavalta series - these are loosely linked, and could be read out of order, as the stories are complete of themselves - Sorcerer's Treason and Firebird's Vengeance. She blends a superb take on Russian folk tale mythos with characters from this world, but from the Great Lakes region, set a generation or so back - so the "ordinary" she launches off from isn't our modern backdrop. I liked the magic, the cool crossings between worlds, and the plot twists that were nicely unpredictable.

I have read Cecelia Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynd books. The prose is paced for beautiful imagery and lyracism, and it helps if you enjoy botany. She has a truly unique world and some very interesting, offbeat and exotic ideas.

I would second that Juliet Marillier writes well fashioned romantic stories, and the Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold with its sequel, provide a fantasy read that is solid stuff, but the romance angle is most prominently at the forefront. Try to get both together, since the first part definitely feels like half a story.

#23 - I too think his use of archetypes is brilliant in Fionavar. But this is almost like reveling in the technical skills of a guitar player - it is brilliant, maybe even innovative, but something is lacking. And the innovative stuff can only be detected by those in the know.

Also, I am not born into a culture naturally curious about Arthur and the stories that surrounds him. That makes the appreciation even more academic ;-)

Still, I REALLY enjoyed the trio.

#23 Darn, I was already reading Vol 1 of The Sharing Knife when I read your message, so too late! I might try to get the second volume from a library if they have it, as I'm in my post-graduate pre-job state and am thus refusing to shell out money for hardcovers. Thanks for the other recommendations!

What do you all think about Katharine Kerr and the Deverry series starting with Daggerspell? I personally enjoyed these books but some people may not like the style of writing. And they are still happening.

#26 - I liked 'em, but I haven't read some of the most recent ones. Are the first ones still in print?

I also just started Flesh and Spirit (wonky touchstone...) by Carol Berg. I'm two chapters in, and so far it's pretty good!

#27 - yes, they should be as the latest has just been published - I think I saw them in Borders recently (but I am in Oz).

I like Carol Berg too though I have only read The Rai-Kirah series and have the next, The Bridge of D'Arnath, on my TBR list.

I think the Fionvar books are fantastic. And unless the Arthurian stuff comes out much more strongly in Darkest Road, it's hardly been noticable so far (other than the obvious character thang).

Fionvar plays with many fantasy tropes, but does I think Kay does it with finesse and deliberate awareness.

And Ysabel is amazing -- my first Guy Gavriel Kay. From there I read teh Sarantine and most of the Fionvar books (Darkest Road is begging my attention right now)

For the record, The Eternal Rose is now out. I haven't seen it in a physical bookstore yet, but B&N.com started shipping preorders about a week and a half ago.

The dimensions are slightly off from the Luna-published books in the series, but I don't think it will look too bad on my shelf next to them. It's the best book anyway, so it's worth it.

Tolkien is always a classic. What got me hooked on fantasy books was the DragonLance series when I was much, much younger. My older brothers read them; I remember having piles and piles of Dragonlance books. They just never stopped writing new ones!

#26
I think I've read the first 12 in the Deverry series, and not much else by Katharine Kerr. It's been a while since I read those, but I liked them. To me they fall somewhat short of the 'dreaded' high fantasy - despite the dragons, the elves and the dwarves - and I recall being reminded of the anthropological science fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin when the other species was introduced (the name of which I don't recall).
The reincarnation makes it possible to tell so many stories of the same people, and explore their interpersonal relationship under different circumstances. I thought the reincarnation bit was so much better than in The Adept series that I read about the same time. And it became a puzzle to figure out whom was who in a certain timeline (although it could also at times be confusing and detract a bit from the story).
I know the books are separated in several series each containing its own story arch, but to me the serie sort of broke up in two when the relationship between Rori and Jill ended.

Regarding the recommendations for fantasy.
I would not recommend Mercedes Lackey, I think her writing is too uneven to recommend to a 'newbie', and the only stuff by her I really like is the urban fantasy, much of which is done better by others - Tanya Huff, Charles de Lint, Emma Bull & Neil Gaiman as mentioned above, the vampire/werewolves/witches series like Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris, Weather Warden by Rachel Caine, Harry Dresden by Jim Butcher, Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs etc..

My absolute favorite when it comes to fantasy is Martha Wells. Her stories are great, and the worldbuilding unbelievable original. Her newest series The Fall of Ile-Rien is amazing, as is City of Bones and Wheel of the Infinite. Other than her C. S. Friedman has written the Coldfire trilogy which is mostly fantasy, with a few science fiction elements, Wen Spencer has written A Brothers Price, and Patricia Briggs has written a few good fantasy books too - her setup is generally sort of clichéd, but she writes such great stories.

If you are looking for historical fantasy like Guy Gavriel Kay, try also Judith Tarr, the YA collaboration between Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer starting with Sorcery and Cecilia, the first books in theMadeleine Robbins Sarah Tolerance series...

And still no touchstones *sigh*

Sharon Shinn writes fantasy with a really nice blend of action & romance. Particularly recommended are Mystic and Rider and Archangel.

The Attolia series by Megan Whalen Turner has a very unusual and touching romance at its heart.

I would second the recommendation for Martha Wells, I love her light-hearted action fantasy & her settings are superb.

I've just finished Inda by Sherwood Smith and it's one of the best fantasies I've read this year. Astonishingly good. I had to go out and buy the sequel in hardback straight away.