Song of Ice and Fire and other fantasy series.

[skeeelz]

Black Company is decent, the guy does a really good job of capturing the feel of a military unit and the comradarie.
If you want something outstanding to tide you over, go with Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson.

Thanks for the review/recommendation. I think I'll skip "Black Company," then (not too into military tales right now), and will check out Mistborn.

"Neverwhere" is an excellent read. I also can recommend Neil Gaiman's "American Gods". If you like your fantasy more humorous, try Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's "Good Omens". I've heard it described as The Omen meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which seems to be a fitting description. If you like that, you might want to try Pratchett's Discworld series. I've only read the first few novels, but they're fun.

Good to hear on "Neverwhere" -- headed to the book store later today and will pick it up (as well as check out the other recommendations you made -- thanks!)

[Valanthe]

If you have any recommendations, I wouldn't mind hearing them. I'm always in the market for a good read.

[skeeelz]

If you have any recommendations, I wouldn't mind hearing them. I'm always in the market for a good read.

I would love to, but I'm unfortunately fairly recent to the fantasy genre. Most of what I know I've already mentioned. (By the way, I just finished "Neverwhere," and you were right -- it was an excellent read. Thanks for the recommendation! I'm going to move on to "American Gods.")

I can recommend a book I read recently called Never Let Me Go, by British author Kazuo Ishiguro, which I thought was a great read. It's got a subtle sfi/fi, dystopian bent to it. If you're interested in more straight-up fiction, I can recommend some more.

[Valanthe]

I'll have to keep an eye out for that one.
I love Gaiman's novels, but couldn't get into his graphic novels. Don't get me wrong, Sandman is well done, I just couldn't get into it. Probably due to a certain bias on my part.
I recently picked up an omnibus of some of Michael Moorcock's work, and have already misplaced it. Once I figure out what happened to it, I'll share my opinion. What little of his work I have read, I've liked, so that's a starting point.

[skeeelz]

I'll have to keep an eye out for that one.
I love Gaiman's novels, but couldn't get into his graphic novels. Don't get me wrong, Sandman is well done, I just couldn't get into it. Probably due to a certain bias on my part.
I recently picked up an omnibus of some of Michael Moorcock's work, and have already misplaced it. Once I figure out what happened to it, I'll share my opinion. What little of his work I have read, I've liked, so that's a starting point.

Did you ever read "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss? Worth a look.

[Valanthe]

No, I haven't, but thanks for the tip. I'll have to make a list for the next time I run to the local bookstore.

[Auntie Blackbeard]

Now why 'asint enywun menshund " Thee Shrike Series " by Dan Simmons , sech a purrfeck endin' fer it all aswell .
* Auntie lost mooch brewtea sleep an' almos' cryed at thee end *

[Valanthe]

It rings a bell, but I've never read it. I seem to recall hearing that it was a very good series.

[Mad Willyum Bonney]

Yarr !

Oi red dem books yers ago , oi memmer it fondly , thee computer personnae were a laff ( IMHO ) .

Inna nutshell computers evolve into AIs , thee AIs grow in power an' abilities , the AIs disagree amunst themseffs an' form facshuns .

Wun group juss luvs us humins , there craters , anudder group could nay gib a bilge rat's ass aboot us , an thee turd group want us " viruses " exterminatid .

Thee AIs fight amunst themseffs , wun absorbs annudder until an Ultimate Intelligents forms . It finds thet it has transended tyme , bekums aware ove our God ( formed by empathy somewhere in eternity also transending but before thee UI duz) an' battles wiff it becuz thee UI is jealiss an' afeard ove it an' dosint want ta share thee universe .

Our God juss wants ta be leff alone ta create fings an' leeve dem all ta sort fings owt fer demseffs .

Well , arfter fightin it owt thru thee vastniss of infinity , empathy God be sick ove it all .

Thee series begins with a trip ta thee time tunnels an' we meet the main characters (no humans are aware thet thee UI exists , except fer thee contruct of Keats , oi fink it wuz Keats (thee poet)).

A rivitin' reed fer me an' still thee best sf oive kum across ( beets owt Ender's Game in me logs , an' Ender Game is leagues ahead of thee pack !)

ARGH !

Oppsie , oi juss realized the OP was supposed to be about fantasy series .

[Rainswept]

Pic from the new calender... awesome!

Full-size here.

[Valanthe]

Nice view...as long as you can walk away from it when you're done looking at it...

[Mad Willyum Bonney]

Now why 'asint enywun menshund " Thee Shrike Series " by Dan Simmons , sech a purrfeck endin' fer it all aswell .
* Auntie lost mooch brewtea sleep an' almos' cryed at thee end *

Avast Auntie !

Oi juss herd Hyperion an' Hyperion's End is goona be made inta a movie , oi 'opes thay doan blow it .
Oi kant wayt ta seas thee shrike !

[Sentinel]

Sword of the truth is not good. It's superficial. The shallow dialogues, the (im)morality of mother confessor and Zed, lack of basic sense of world and harmony... Can go on and on and on...

[~NoodleDemon~]

I've heard that Sword of Truth started out good, and then fell like lightning...

Oh, and I've somewhat toned down my approval of Stephen King, and am more and more coming to find the late Robert Jordan to have been a meandering hack. A passable hack, but a hack nevertheless.

I also can recommend Neil Gaiman's "American Gods".

LOL I just borrowed that one, but alas have not started on it yet...


But back to point, ASoIaF is one of my favorite fantasy series.

Why?

It's like a pie.

A delicious, soul-stealing pie.

Don't ask me why I chose to liken a fantasy series to a pie, but that is what it is.

It's pretty weird in that it's close enough to a regular run-o'-tha-mill medieval story to be familiar, but has its wacko elements in abundance enough to make it somewhat captivating as a universe as a whole.

I'm torn between hunting down GM and leaving the guy as much time as possible to make no. 5 redeem book no. 4, which was a letdown.

Btw, rainswept, twould that pic be of little Arryn?

[Valanthe]

To be fair, GRRM had a lot on his plate last year, so hopefully this year we will see Dance with Dragons on the bookshelves. Also, books 4 and 5 were originally meant to be one volume, but grew a bit too large for that, so he had to split them into two volumes, which may have left them suffering a bit. We'll just have to wait for book 5.

I finally got started on my Elric book, and I have to say I enjoy it. You don't always see a happy ending with his stories, and it helps to remember that characters like Elric were pretty much unheard of at the time. I need to find volume 2 of the collected works.