Looking for a recommendation (A certain kind of fantasy).

I've recently gotten into the fantasy genre..and there's been some books that I've absolutely loved. I've read several different types of fantasy..but there's a few books which have this intense imaginative/creative touch to them..that I just loved. I'm looking for more books like them.

For one, Neil Gaiman's Stardust. I instantly fell in love with this book. I loved the writing style, I loved how creative it was. I loved the characters. I loved the story. I loved this book! Haha. Something about this book was so magical. It truly drew me in..and I could hardly put it down.

I also quite enjoyed Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Again, incredibly creative and well written, in my opinion. Another I had a hard time putting down. There were just so many things about this book that I liked. I thought the story was unique and one of kind. Truly an original.

And lastly, there was also The Hobbit. Great book..and the world that's created here is so amazing. This book was great.

So..could anyone recommend to me some books that are similar? Something perhaps a bit light (you know..some humour), yet still adventurous and compelling. I have a hard time describing what I'm looking for..but I think you guys may know.

So yeah, any recommendations would be GREAT. I found these 3 books to be gems. They're truly special amongst my collection.

Perhas Guy Gavriel Kay?
His Fionavar Tapestry (trilogy) has the starting similarity to Neverwhere in that people from *our* world are drawn into another, and have to help stop the big evil happening in that world.
His Lions of Al Rassan, Tigana, and A Song for Arbonne are all standalone fantasy novels with characters you care about and a lot of thought put into the created worlds .

Those created worlds are kind of similar to what Tolkien did. Create a world that has some similarities to a historical time of ours but make it completely separate from our world. No elves though :-)

No elves needed :).

Those look interesting, thanks!

Have fun. Here's the series link to the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. http://www.librarything.com/series/The%20Fionawar%20Tapestry

Bridge of Birds and sequels by Barry Hughart. They're light, funny fantasies based on Chinese folk tales. Really good stuff.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - crime caper fantasy, also very good.

>5 drneutron:
Thanks for the tip on The Lies of Locke Lamora.
The reviews and descriptions make it look really interesting. I'm noting that one for myself.

This is what I love about LT. I spend a minute answering someone else's question and get a new book to find for myself.

Hhhmmm. If you like Stardust, you might like some of Patricia McKillip's books. She has a similar respect for the conventions and language of fairy tales, while making the stories her own.

And if you like Neverwhere, perhaps you should try books by Terry Pratchett. He definitely has a similarly quirky British wit! The Discworld series is just a treat, really! Actually, you might also enjoy reading Good Omens, which was co-written by Pratchett and Gaiman.

Another newer book that is somewhat reminiscent of Neverwhere is The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes.

And, yes, Guy Gavriel Kay is a great read-alike for The Hobbit.

I second the recommendation for Patricia McKillip. She was actually one of the first authors I thought of as having a similarly rich, fall-into-the-story type of writing style. I particularly enjoyed reading The Book of Atrix Wolfe and The Changeling Sea. Both of those are standalone works.

Beyond that I'll have to do some more thinking to figure out what other works I think would fit the bill.

> 5, 6 The Lies of Locke Lamora is /fantastic/. Highly recommended!

You've probably already thought of this, but if you liked The Hobbit, then you'll want to follow up with Lord of the Rings. You might also like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Chronicles of Amber, and the Harry Potter series.

A new and good Neil Gaiman is The Graveyard Book. You might also like his graphic novel Sandman series.

Maybe you should try a real classic, like Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. I know it isn't to everyone's taste, but Neil has always vocally supported it, and I think you'll find that it's just as creative as any of his novels.

>10 jnwelch: I'd second The Chronicles of Amber. The series might not be as well-known as the others, but it's just as good.

My favourite Neil Gaiman book is American Gods. I also really like the Temeraire series, it's a bit of a leap from Gaiman to be honest but has adventure and humour, and for me had the same kind of magic to it as Stardust as did Inkheart. I'd also second the Pratchett recommendation.

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. Lots in my "too be read" list now :).

>10 jnwelch:/12

I'm reading The Great Book of Amber for the first time right now, and it's fantastic.

I heartily second, third, or whatever all of the books named so far. They are really, really great books. I'd also recommend the Vlad Taltos books by Steven Brust (fantasy/sci-fi noirish books with sarcastic humor), pretty much anything by Diana Wynne Jones (particularly The Dalemark Quartet and the Chrestomanci books) if you don't mind the fact that you're getting them from the YA section, Death of the Necromancer, and maybe some of Tanya Huff's stuff, depending on how you feel about bi/gay characters.

I just finished the Dalemark quartet last night and I'd second ninjapenguin's recommendation of them. Great characters and good plotting (though I am a little fuzzy on a few details of the last book).

I'd highly suggest looking into Elfhunter by C.S. Marks. If you like Tolkien, you'd probably like this too.

Thanks everyone.

So far I've bought The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip, and Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees.

Looking forward to reading these suggestions as well as others :)

Robin McKinley and Shannon Hale both write lovely, lyric fantasy.

Hi I'd definately second the recommendations for Diana Wyn Jones, Robin McKinley and Scott Lynch. You may also like Robin Hobb and her Farseer Trilogy, again its a very well imagined world.

You may also want to have a look at Robin McKinley's website and blog (esp Pollyanna's Booklist) as there are always very good recommendations on there.

You might also want to try the works by Denis L. McKiernan - very Tolkienesque and quite an enjoyable read - especially the early novels.

Fantasy has a deep past. We have Tolkien who is one of the break out writers and we also have from his era, CS Lewis (Though I have never read any of his work) We have before them E.R.Eddison and his The Worm Ouroboros, after we have Robert Howard and Conan leading us to Pulp heroes.

Tolkien came on strong in the 60's and in the 80's we see Robert Jordan and his 12 books in The Wheel of Time with the last three books being finished by Brandon Sanderson. At the same time as Jordan sees tremendous success GRRM begins and you have read the first in The Song of Fire and Ice.

Now we have in the last few years, besides Sanderson, Rothfuss, Weeks, and Scott Lynch who has also been recommended.

In the world of Stardust, a light hearted fantastical quest, William Goldman and The Princess Bride would be similar. For GRRM, I would read Jordan, it is deeper and richer and much more complete. The early work of Raymond Feist and Feist and Wurts collaboration also would be good.

The more modern writers after you have wetted your appetite. I have a cousin up in Port Angeles that we visited a few years back and she took us up to Hurricane Ridge. I'm guessing lots of great Pacific Northwest overcast nights for reading.

22: Why read McKiernan's early books when you could just read Tolkien? The Iron Tower trilogy is pretty much the same story as Lord of the Rings.

The Conan stuff is great. I'm currently reading Howard for the first time, and it's amazing how fresh something written 75 years ago can still be.

23 > when did they say they are breaking Jordan's book into 3? Last I heard they were debating about maybe 2.

26> http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=19734

Readafew, I thought it was time early last week to check in on Sanderson and see how he was coming. It was virtually the day after the news. I didn't know whether to be happy that there is a book in November, or disappointed that it will be 2011 before we are done

not happy. however after reading Brandon's blog about the whole thing I feel a little better.

For the Original Poster (OP), you can see how this little diversion about The Wheel of Time which will be 15 books long, brings out emotions and thus may be something you might want to investigate. By my estimation we will be 25 years almost from start to finish. If you start now, you'll only have 2.5 year, a tenth of the time to see the end...

Haha. Yeah I've heard a lot about The Wheel of Time. I have the first four books waiting, sitting in my to-be-read pile. I plan to get to them sometime in the near future! Though I'm waiting for the right time. Once I get into a series I usually read them all..one after the other, and that sounds like a rather long project with "The Wheel Of Time" :)

At the moment I'm reading Lud-In-The-Mist and am absolutely loving it. Thanks to the person who suggested it.

By the way, DWWilkin, it's interesting that you have a cousin up in Port Angeles. We're a fairly small community, so I don't normally run into other PA people on the web unintentionally. None the less, it's a decent town..much bigger than it was a decade ago. You're right overcast nights, we have plenty of those. Good for reading (and writing) indeed!

Did you try the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson? Or, if you prefer a standalone, Elantris.

I would second Mistborn as a recommendation. The care and attention to the magic system is worthwhile.

A very new and a fresh one out there is Elysium: Dark Secrets by Rahul Chandel

In search for something different, I did find this book fit to my expectations perfectly. And, by the looks of your taste, it is probable that you'll like it too.

I second The Princess Bride, it's a fun read even if you've already seen the movie. Keep in mind, the whole thing cover to cover is tongue-in-cheek, including the non-story parts.

Edit: posting trouble, obviously ;)