Random (but not really)

Friday, March 29, 2013

Flavorwire’s: The Best Fantasy Novels You (Probably) Haven’t Read

Today, The Best Fantasy Novels You (Probably) Haven’t Read appeared in my RSS feed, so of course I had to click through, and after clicking through and reading, I had to comment.

Mordant’s Need: The Mirror of Her Dreams & A Man Rides Through by Stephen R. Donaldson

This was the only Stephen R. Donaldson I could stomach (I found his other series, Thomas Covenant, vile and horrible), but I quite liked Mordant’s need and I believe the books are still floating around here somewhere.

The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan

I’ve bought some of his SF for Michael, but not read any of his fantasy. I think Shawn is reading some Richard Morgan SF right now.

The Bas-Lag series by China Miéville

Yeah, sorry fans, but I can’t stand China Miéville. I get why he’s good, but I want no part his books. I suffered through Perdido Street Station and would probably have been happier if I hadn’t finished it. I find him horrible and depressing and I think I’d rather read nothing than have to read another of his books again.

And I read cereal boxes.

The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. LeGuin

Really? They think people haven’t read this? I thought they were in constant publication?

I can’t say they’re some of my favorite fantasy out there, but they’re good, and I liked ’em.

The Dying Earth by Jack Vance

With the cover they have pictured, it’s no wonder I never picked this up. Thank goodness for eBooks. Well, and for publishers getting *slightly* better in their covers.

Though I’m not sure anything that makes me think of A Canticle for Lebovitz is something I’m likely to put up. (Have I mentioned how much I do not enjoy dystopias? I do not enjoy dystopias at all.)

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells

Oddly, I have this queued up to read. I’ll let you know what I think when I’m done.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Michael has some Brandon Sanderson. I think he became popular about the time I stopped reading epic fantasy. No offense to him, but I got deathly tired of huge doorstops of books that went on and on and on with no end in sight. There’s a reason I’m so fond of mysteries: you can pick up any book and be satisfied. If you want to gorge yourself on ’em, you can. But you don’t have to know what happened in the first book that was published twenty years ago to enjoy the book that just came out.

The Empire Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

I believe I sold off all the rest of my Raymond Feist books, but kept these, because I really enjoyed them. Partially it was the oriental feel of the stories, partially it was the female main character. But I really enjoyed them (and have resisted re-reading, for fear I won’t like them as well as I remember).

Andre Norton, generally

I’ve read some of her stuff, but nothing caught my fancy. I believe I’d read some of her fantasy stories in various anthologies, but that was long before I started by book blog, so it’s hard to remember.

The Secret History of Fantasy, ed. Peter S. Beagle

This I read relatively recently. The collection as a whole, I believe, made my slightly uneasy, but it was still very good. I was particularly fond of the Stephen King story.

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