To relax, I like to read genre fiction, especially mysteries and sci-fi/fantasy. It's been almost all mysteries and crime fiction the last few months, and I'm getting tired of that genre. It's time for some fantasy.
However, I don't know exactly what to read next. So I would like to ask my handful of faithful readers for some recommendations on some good fantasy I should read. I've read all the obvious ones, all the big names. What little-known masterpiece would you guys recommend?
UPDATE (4/18): Many thanks to you all for the suggestions. I've started reading Eifelheim, and I hope to get to the rest of the list in due course.
Definitely Andrzej Sapkowski. The Pentalogy hasn't been translated into English yet, but the short stories have.
ReplyDeleteHe might be considered a big name, but I find that most people haven't read Orson Scott Card's Enchantment, which is a charming fantasy work. I don't know if Susan Palwick's The Necessary Beggar or Michael Flynn's Eifelheim (which is technically SF, but with a medieval theme) would count among the obvious ones; but if you haven't read them, they are both excellent.
ReplyDeletethese are both big names, but you may not have read them:
ReplyDeleteThe Incarnations of Immortality Series by Piers Anthony
and
The Amber Series by Roger Zelazny
I second the Zelazny, but the one I really liked that is least known by others is this:
ReplyDeleteThe Saga of Pliocene Exile
The Many-Colored Land (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981). ISBN 0-395-30230-7.
The Golden Torc (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982). ISBN 0-395-31261-2.
The Nonborn King (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983). ISBN 0-395-32211-1.
The Adversary (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984). ISBN 0-395-34410-7.
Based on the Irish mythology of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
This is terrific. Thanks, guys. I'm not familiar with any of these works (although I've heard of some of the authors). I thank you, and Barnes & Noble also thanks you.
ReplyDeleteSince you seem to be leaning towards Rome these days I thought I would recommend a couple of Catholic scifi writers: Michael O'Brien's Father Elijah:An Apocalypse sounds dorky but is really a great read with highly developed three dimensional characters.
ReplyDeleteTim Powers writes very weird books about the intersection of history and the supernatural.
Also another big name is Neal Stephenson but I really liked Cryptonomicon.
I second Effelheim!! A great book!!
Unless you take your fiction very seriously, I heartily recommend Hyam Yona Becker, "The Temple of HaShem", an Antarctic adventure story in a Jewish Orthodox setting.
ReplyDeleteIt has it's spoof-like passages, although you're never quite sure whether the author has his tongue in his cheek (he looked serious enough when I said Hi to him at the Jerusalem book fair several years ago), but either way it's excellent entertainment.
Have you ever read _War for the Oaks_? (Emma Bull). I re-read that every now and then; it's worth it.
ReplyDeleteTake care & God bless
Anne / WF