Favorite Fantasy Series (High or Low)?

[Vortigern99]

As a huge fan of fantasy in all its literary and cinematic incarnations, I'm curious to discover which book, or series of books, most impresses you from a literary perspective and excites your imagination.

Which fantasy books, if any, take you back to being a kid again in your mind and "heart"? Which books can you appreciate now on a more advanced level, be it linguistic, narrative, stylistic, etc.?

Like many members here, I adore Tolkien's "Big Three": The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. They are near-perfect epics, beautifully written, expansively conceived and masterfully executed. We seem to talk about them endlessly on the JREF in a number of different forums, and I've yammered myself hoarse about them -- on-line and in RL -- for the last 10+ years.

However, recently I've re-discovered a childhood favorite of mine: The Chronicles of Prydain* by Lloyd Alexander. For the last few weeks I've been reading them aloud to my wife, who has never read the 5 books despite being an ardent fantasist. She seems to be enjoying the books immensely; and indeed, most readers with whom I've spoken seem to feel, as I do, that there is something incredibly special and wonderful about Prydain. And yet, these are among the least read of all fantasy series. Narnia, Potter and Rings are more widely known, but there's no real reason for this and I'd like to see that change.

So what are your favorites and why? Narnia, Rings, Valdemar, Potter? Earthsea, Conan, Xanth or Belgariad? Covenant or Shannara? Alexander's Prydain or White's Britain? Let's talk fantasy!

:

*(The above link takes you to the Prydain Wiki, by the way -- a site I've been expanding the last few weeks.)

 

[azzthom]

You're not going to like this, but for me it's the 'Harry Potter' series. Yes, I know they're kids books. The reason I like them is, I think, the very secret of their success. It's not the narrative or even the characters. It's the world that J.K. Rowling created in which set those things. There is something rather appealing about the idea of a 'secret world' right under my nose, but just out of reach.

If you are disqualifying 'Harry Potter', and I quite understand if you are, then I suppose I'll go for Michael Moorcock's 'Champion Eternal' series. Especially the 'Elric' books. Their not to everyone's taste, but I read them when I was relatively young and they've stayed with me. I like 'Discworld' as well.

 

[Vortigern99]

Au contraire, Azzthom: I have both the Potter series and the Elric series on my shelf. Widely disparate styles and even genres; indeed, from the albino sorcerer-king who wants to marry his female cousin and murder his male cousin with his soul-sucking sword, to the boy who lived, is quite a leap! But they're both entertaining and well-crafted in their own right.

For me, Potter wins the cake there: Rowling is the superior wordsmith. And while Elric has a grisly free-for-all charm, Potter is more essentially moral and didactic, and I tend to prefer that kind of fiction.

 

[Brainache]

Tolkien and Pratchett for me. I don't read too much other fantasy, but whenever I try some new book I'm always disappointed.

I've read a few; Feist and Donaldson and Brooks, but usually I give up half way through and go back to SF.

 

[arthwollipot]

Tolkein, definitely. I'd also like to give a shoutout to Anne McCaffrey's Pern, though I re-read those recently (ie. as an adult) and found them a touch juvenile for my tastes.

 

[Brian-M]

Can't really pick a single favorite. Robert Asprin's MythAdventures series springs to mind, but I haven't read any books in the series for quite some time.

There is something rather appealing about the idea of a 'secret world' right under my nose, but just out of reach.

Strange, that's what I found the most annoying and irrational about the series. That's one feature of certain kinds of fantasy fiction (and sometimes science fiction, such as MIB) that's never made any sense to me.

Why bother keeping it secret in the first place? Fears of witch-hunts are nonsensical. A single trained witch/wizard could take on an entire lynch mob on their own, and muggles would be reluctant to attempt to kill witches/wizards because they'd know that other witches/wizards would hunt them down in revenge. A world where witches/wizards really existed would be one where these people are in a privileged class of their own, like nobility under feudalism, but even more so. Why would they even begin hiding their existence in the first place?

 

[Sceptic-PK]

Dragonlance.

 

[Astreja]

Dragonlance.

I'm also inordinately fond of DL. The writing can't compare to something like Game of Thrones, and has obvious nods to Tolkien and Norse myth and even magical artifacts nicked from Mormon mythology (platinum plates? Magic glasses?)

That said, it has some of the best characters ever.

 

[Vortigern99]

I never read Pern as it seemed too fantastical. The more plausible I find my fantasy, the more I tend to enjoy it, or allow myself to become immersed in it. (This from a guy who loves Elfquest and Avatar. )

I enjoyed Dragonlance as the books were coming out, 25+ years ago. I read them all at the time. I doubt they would hold up today, and since they're based on D&D the world is largely implausible and hyper-dramatic.

The reasons why the Wizards of the Potter series opted to encrypt their magical world are well explained in the books. It has to do with protecting and defending the hapless Muggles from the perilous world of magic. Whereas the Potter series is morally didactic, the "We can rule over them as their wizard-lords!" tact is essentially immoral and out-of-step with the theme of the material.

 

[Sceptic-PK]

That said, it has some of the best characters ever.

Absolutely. And I agree- I don't hold DL up as a literary masterpiece by any stretch. It did help popularise fantasy however. Oh and I only ever read the ones by Weis and/or Hickman.

 

[Vortigern99]

Robert Asprin's MythAdventures series springs to mind, but I haven't read any books in the series for quite some time.

I was a big fan of these in high school! And I've re-read the first few several times over the years. Delightful stuff. The narrow borders between absurd post-modern satire and immersive fantasy adventure are well explored in this ingeniously written and conceived series.

 

[Akri]

For fantasy books that remind me of being a kid, I have to go with Patricia Wrede's The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Looking back, I think my lifelong obsession with dragons can probably be traced to those books. They were funny, imaginative, and I defy you to find a better princess role model for little girls to read about

As for my favorite fantasy overall....I think I have to go with Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings books. I love the way she combines worldbuilding and storytelling, so that the two elements work together instead of opposing one another. And she does some excellent character development (my favorite character in those books started out as one of my least favorite characters).

 

[Vortigern99]

Absolutely. And I agree- I don't hold DL up as a literary masterpiece by any stretch. It did help popularise fantasy however. Oh and I only ever read the ones by Weis and/or Hickman.

I will readily grant that the characters are engaging. I read the first nine in the series (which is what I meant by "all" ) as they were published in the 80s and 90s, then tapered off as my interests shifted in my 20s.

Now it may be too late for me and Dragonlance. My wife and I watched the first of the animated movies last year, and we were not especially impressed.

 

[Damien Evans]

Series? Discworld, for sure

 

[Bikewer]

I don't know about "series"; but some of my favorites include:
Tolkien of course
T.H.White.. The Once And Future King
Fritz Lieber. The Fafherd and Gray Mouser stories
Pohl Anderson.. Several titles.. Three Hearts and Three Lions sticks out
Jack Vance... The Dying Earth stories, Cudgel the Clever, Mazirian the Magician... Great stuff.
E.R.R. Edison...The Worm Oroborous. A great fantasy, written in essentially Shakespearean English. Ignore the little prelude part.
Roger Zelazney... The Amber stories.
Finally, I'd include Julian May's Pleistocene Exile stories. Not REALLY fantasy, since there's a strong science-fiction underpinning, but since we have "magic" in the form of metapsychic powers and aliens who seem to mimic Celtic gods and wee folk....Quite a ride.

 

[Sceptic-PK]

I will readily grant that the characters are engaging. I read the first nine in the series (which is what I meant by "all" ) as they were published in the 80s and 90s, then tapered off as my interests shifted in my 20s.

Now it may be too late for me and Dragonlance. My wife and I watched the first of the animated movies last year, and we were not especially impressed.

Oh yeah. The movie was awful

 

[Brian-M]

I never read Pern as it seemed too fantastical. The more plausible I find my fantasy, the more I tend to enjoy it, or allow myself to become immersed in it. (This from a guy who loves Elfquest and Avatar. )

Too fantastical? The only fantasy element is a group of three closely related creatures. The dragons, watch-whers and fire-lizards. (The dragons and watch-whers were genetically engineered from the fire-lizards by the original colonists). They all share basically the same abilities to different degrees.

I suppose you could describe the thread (invasive alien organism that the dragons and watch-whers were created to fight) as being sort-of fantastical. It gobbles up pretty much anything organic and manages to send out huge numbers pods through space every time its native planet passes close enough to Pern to make the crossing possible.

 

[Kevin_Lowe]

Vance on his good days, Cherryh on her good days (which don't include days where she's working on something with "fortress" in the title) and Guy Gavriel Kay on his good days are all worth reading. Tolkien, Diana Wynne Jones and LeGuin, obviously.

That is about it, sadly. Sturgeon's law applies.

 

[Kevin_Lowe]

Too fantastical? The only fantasy element is a group of three closely related creatures. The dragons, watch-whers and fire-lizards. (The dragons and watch-whers were genetically engineered from the fire-lizards by the original colonists). They all share basically the same abilities to different degrees.

I suppose you could describe the thread (invasive alien organism that the dragons and watch-whers were created to fight) as being sort-of fantastical. It gobbles up pretty much anything organic and manages to send out huge numbers pods through space every time its native planet passes close enough to Pern to make the crossing possible.

What's fantastical is a planet with teleporting, time-travelling, psychic predators that never expanded beyond the ecological niche of the common seagull.

It's not only a staggeringly absurd initial conceit, it's one that hasn't been even slightly thought through. It's My Little Pony with coloured, friendly dragons combined with bodice-ripping (the mass date rape effect of dragons humping) or teen pop idol fantasies.

 

[Brian-M]

What's fantastical is a planet with teleporting, time-travelling, psychic predators that never expanded beyond the ecological niche of the common seagull.

It's not only a staggeringly absurd initial conceit, it's one that hasn't been even slightly thought through. It's My Little Pony with coloured, friendly dragons combined with bodice-ripping (the mass date rape effect of dragons humping) or teen pop idol fantasies.

True, but it's only one fantasy element, and many fantasy novels have elements equally as absurd. (But usually more widely distributed rather than being concentrated in one group of fantastical creatures.)

ETA: I don't think it's ever been established that the fire-lizards could time-travel. The dragon's ability to time-travel was only discovered by accident, the dragons themselves had no-idea their teleportation ability could do that. It might require the increased intelligence the dragons possess in order to work.