Recommended Fantasy Books

28 Jul 2008 18:22

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These range from merely good reads to really outstanding books; but rather than trying to rate each one, or (what would be more to the point) explain my ratings, I've merely listed them without any particular indication of rank. Horror novels are included here for want of anyplace better to put them. Titles are added as they occur to me.

See also Fantasy; Science Fiction Recommendations.

• Kage Baker, The Anvil of the World
• John Barnes, One for the Morning Glory
• Peter Beagle
  • I See by My Outfit [Not fantasy, and I have no idea what the title means, but lovely]
  • The Last Unicorn
• K. J. Bishop, The Etched City
• Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
• Steven Brust
  • The Vlad Taltos books [Enjoyable so far --- there're a good many more in the series, which hasn't ended, and will probably amount to seventeen books in all. Brust is probably the last writer of real talent to be a follower of Trotsky.]
    • Jhereg
    • Yendi
    • Teckla
  • To Reign in Hell [Making sense of Milton; see under Demonology]
  • The Khaavren books [Faithful pastiches of Dumas, consistently fit into a world Brust had already made up for the Vlad Taltos books --- and more fun than I remember Dumas being.]
    • The Phoenix Guards
    • Five Hundred Years After
• Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm, The Gypsy
• Lois McMaster Bujold
  • The Curse of Chalion
  • The Paladin of Souls
  • The Spirit Ring
  • The Hallowed Hunt
  • The Sharing Knife:
    1. Beguilement
    2. Legacy
• Emma Bull, War for the Oaks
• Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow [online]
• Suzy McKee Charnas, The Vampire Tapestry [A superb vampire novel; also science fiction]
• C. J. Cherryh
  • The Dreaming Tree [=The Dreamstone, plus The Tree of Swords and Jewels, plus Cherryh's corrections and ending]
  • Fortress in the Eye of Time [I think the story ends best here, with the first book; certainly the sequels go downhill, and the last, Fortress of Dragons, had me wondering whether my copy was defectively printed and missing about, oh, two hundred pages. Sadly, no.]
  • The Gate of Ivrel
  • The Paladin
• Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
• B. W. Clough, The Dragon of Mishbil
• Avram Davidson [General Review: Avram Davidson's Afterlife]
  • Vergil Magus (unfinished):
    • The Phoenix and the Mirror
    • Vergil in Averno [Anyone have a copy they'd be willing to sell?]
  • Peregrine: Primus and Secundus
  • The Enquiries of Dr. Estzerhazy
  • Adventures in Unhistory [Essays on legendary subjects]
  • The Avram Davidson Treasury [The best of his numerous short-story collections]
• Avram Davidson and Grania Davis, The Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil
• Pamela Dean, Tam Lin
• L. Sprague de Camp
• Stephen R. Donaldson [I read all his Thomas Covenant books, and cannot know imagine why, except for adolescent masochism; these are utterly different, and, to my mind, infinitely better]
  • The Mirror of Her Dreams
  • A Man Rides Through
• Doyle and MacDonald, Literature of the Fantastic [Electronic texts of classic fantastic stories]
• Lord Dunsany
  • The King of Elfland's Daughter
  • The Pegana books:
    • The Book of Wonder
    • The Sword of Welleran
  • The Shadow Valley books:
    • Don Rodriguez
    • The Charwoman's Shadow
• Rosemary Edghill (a.k.a. eluki bes shahar)
  • The Sword of Maidens' Tears
  • The Cup of Morning Shadows
  • The Cloak of Night and Daggers
• Harlan Ellison, see under science fiction
• Charles Finney, The Circus of Dr. Lao
• John M. Ford
  • Casting Fortune
  • The Dragon Waiting [Almost an alternate history of Renaissance Europe, except that magic works.]
  • The Last Hot Time
• Esther Friesner, Yesterday We Saw Mermaids
• Neil Gaiman
  • American Gods
  • The Sandman [Yes, I mean the ten-volume graphic novel cycle]
• Randall Garrett
  • Murder and Magic
  • Too Many Magicians
  • Lord Darcy Investigates
• Mary Gentle
  • Rats and Gargoyles
  • The Book of Ash [Owing to the manifold crimes and wickedness of American publishers, I've only seen the first half of this]
    1. A Secret History: The Book of Ash, #1 [Review: Vera Historia Fraxini]
    2. Carthage Ascendant: The Book of Ash, #2
• Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark
• P. C. Hodgell
  1. God Stalk
  2. Dark of the Moon
  3. Seeker's Mask
• Barry Hughart
  1. Bridge of Birds
  2. The Story of the Stone
  3. Eight Skilled Gentlemen
• Diana Wynne Jones
  • Dark Lord of Derkholm
  • Deep Secret
  • Hexwood
  • The Tough Guide to Fantasyland [Review]
• Guy Gavriel Kay, The Lions of Al-Rassan
• Caitlín R. Kiernan, Threshold [Southern Gothic Lovecraftian horror, with Beowulf and trilobites]
• Stephen King [What can I say? When he's good, he is good; but his novels, increasingly, need ruthless editing, which they do not, sadly, receive. The short stories remain excellent.]
  • The Dark Half
  • The Dark Tower:
    1. The Gunslinger
    2. The Drawing of the Three
    3. The Wastelands
    4. Wizard and Glass [Review]
    5. Wolves of the Calla
    6. Song of Susannah
    7. The Dark Tower ["There I will sing all their names..."]
• Desperation
• Eyes of the Dragon
• Four Past Midnight
• Misery
• Nightshift
• Salem's Lot
• The Shining
• The Stand
• Danse Macabre [Reflections on the horror genre]
• Stephen King and Peter Straub
  1. The Talisman
  2. The Black House
• Ellen Kushner, Swordspoint
• Sheridan LeFanu, Carmilla [After whom I once named a computer]
• Ursula K. Le Guin
  1. A Wizard of Earthsea
  2. The Tombs of Atuan
  3. The Farthest Shore
  4. Tehanu [This book caps the series, but it was written much later, and is very different from the others; I'm not sure how I feel about it.]
• Fritz Leiber
  • Conjure Wife
  • Our Lady of Darkness
• Jane Lindskold, The Buried Pyramid
• Jeff Long, The Descent [A case could be made for this being science fiction, but anything with possession and Satan in it is fantasy in my book. It's a gripping read, as they say, even if it does have plot-holes big enough to drive a tank through.]
• H. P. Lovecraft
  • At the Mountains of Madness
  • The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
  • A collection of Lovecraft's horror stories, rejoicing in the title Blood-curdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (title and stories selected by August Derleth) contains nearly the complete canon of the "Cthulhu Mythos."
• Elizabeth A. Lynn, Dragon's Winter
• R. A. MacAvoy
  • Tea with the Black Dragon [The sequel, Twisting the Rope, is good, but not nearly so good as Tea, and hard to find]
  • The Lens of the World trilogy:
    1. The Lens of the World
    2. King of the Dead
    3. Belly of the Wolf
• George R. R. Martin [This is the kind of multi-volume, multi-threaded fantasy epic which is supposed to be absolute dreck, at least by the end of the second lap-breaking book. Sadly, it is excellent fun. He just needs to write more!]
  1. A Game of Thrones
  2. A Clash of Kings
  3. A Storm of Swords
  4. A Feast for Crows
• A. Lee Martinez, Gil's All Fright Diner
• Patricia A. McKillip
  • Alphabet of Thorn
  • The Book of Atrix Wolfe
  • The Changeling Sea
  • The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
  • In the Forest of Serre
  • Od Magic
  • Ombria in Shadow
  • Riddle-Master [Originally published as a trilogy]
  • Solstice Wood
  • Song for the Basilisk
  • The Sorceress and the Cygnet and The Cygnet and the Firebird
  • The Tower at Stony Wood
  • Winter Rose
• Robin McKinley, Sunshine [As a wise man has said, "nearly perfect". I have a problem with the ending, but it'd be a massive spoiler to say what it is, so I'll bite my tongue.]
• Brian McNaughton, Throne of Bones [Imagine an even more twisted and pervy version of Clark Ashton Smith]
• Christopher Moore [No relation of my friend and sometime co-author, Cristopher Moore.]
  • Bloodsucking Fiends: a Love Story
  • Coyote Blue
  • Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings
  • Island of the Sequined Love-Nun
  • The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
  • Practical Demon-Keeping
  • The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror
• James Morrow
  • Bible Stories for Adults
  • Only Begotten Daughter [A smart Jewish girl from New Jersey, of course]
  • Towing Jehovah [When God dies, what happens to His Corpse?]
• Garth Nix, Sabriel
• Naomi Novik
  1. His Majesty's Dragon
  2. Throne of Jade
  3. Black Powder War
• Paul Parks, A Princess of Roumania [Recommended by Henry Farrell]
• Tim Powers, Declare
• Terry Pratchett
  • Discworld novels [merely my favorites among the ones I've read; alphabetical order]
    • The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
    • Carpe Jugulum
    • Feet of Clay
    • Guards! Guards!
    • Going Postal
    • A Hat Full of Sky
    • Hogfather [A delight "on many levels, not least of which is a deep reminder of the old blood-on-snow huge sweating bristly virile boar nightmare ice age aspects of Christmas" --- Bill Tozier]
    • Interesting Times
    • Jingo
    • Maskerade [Not for opera-lovers]
    • Monstrous Regiment
    • Mort
    • Men at Arms
    • Night Watch
    • Reaper Man
    • Small Gods
    • Soul Music
    • The Truth
    • Witches Abroad
    • Wyrd Sisters
    • Pyramids
    • Thief of Time
    • Thud!
    • The Wee Free Men
  • and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens
• Christopher Priest, The Prestiege
• Philip Pullman
  1. The Golden Compass = The Northern Lights
  2. The Subtle Knife
• Kat Richardson, Greywalker
• Phil Rickman
  • Curfew = Crybbe [Part rural comedy, part New Age satire, entirely a well-written, scary horror novel]
  • December [Way too much about John Lennon, but still good]
  • The Man in the Moss
  • Merrily Watkins series [Procedural-style mysteries about a contemporary Church of England exorcist; addictive]
    1. The Wine of Angels
    2. Midwinter of the Spirit
    3. A Crown of Lights
    4. The Cure of Souls
    5. The Lamp of the Wicked
    6. Prayer of the Night Shepherd
    7. The Smile of a Ghost
    8. The Remains of An Altar
    9. Fabric of Sin
• Will Shetterly
  • Cats Have No Lord
  • Elsewhere
  • Witchblood
• Susan Shwartz, Shards of Empire
• Dan Simmons
  • Carrion Comfort
  • Children of the Night [Really SF, but it's about vampires, and told like a horror novel]
  • Fires of Eden [Comic horror novel]
  • Song of Kali [Scarry as Hell]
• Clark Ashton Smith, Complete Online Works
• Lucy A. Snyder, Installing Linux on a Dead Badger, and Other Oddities
• Nancy Springer, Apocalypse
• Brian Stableford, The Last Days of the Edge of the World [" 'Vanity,' said the mirror in tones of mild reproof, 'is not nice.' "]
• Caroline Stevermer
  • A College of Magics
  • When the King Comes Home
• Peter Straub
  • Floating Dragon
  • Ghost Story
  • In the Night Room
  • lost boy lost girl
  • Mr. X
  • Shadowland
• Charles Stross [Lovecraftian spy fiction]
  • The Atrocity Archive [Basically upbeat, with happy ending. The second half is free online now, actually.]
  • A Colder War [Deeply horrifying]
• J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings [Does it need to be said?]
• Henry Turtledove, Between the Rivers [Review: The Voices Told Me to Clean the Ziggurat Today]
• Catherynne Valente, The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden
• Jack Vance [Deserves his own page]
• Carrie Vaughn
  1. Kitty and the Midnight Hour
  2. Kitty Goes to Washington
  3. Kitty Takes a Holiday
• Paula Volsky [Volsky might --- a bit harshly --- be called a poor person's Jack Vance. Vance writes this sort of thing better, and has for about as long as Volsky's been alive, but she's still quite good, and, besides, what is one to do in the intervals between acquiring new books by Vance?]
  • The Curse of the Witch-Queen
  • The Gates of Twilight
  • The Grand Ellipse
  • Illusion
  • The Luck of Relian Kru
  • The White Tribunal
  • The Wolf of Winter
  • A trilogy (with no title that I know of) set in Lanthi Ume (roughly, Venice with the government of Naples, plus magicians):
    1. The Sorceror's Lady
    2. The Sorceror's Heir
    3. The Sorceror's Curse
• Lawrence Watt-Evans
  • The Lords of Dûs
    1. The Lure of the Basilisk
    2. The Seven Altars of Dûsarra
    3. The Sword of Bheleu
    4. The Book of Silence
  • The Misenchanted Sword
  • Touched by the Gods
• Martha Wells
  • City of Bones
  • The Wheel of the Infinite
  • A series of loosely connected novels in a common universe:
    • The Element of Fire [now free online]
    • The Death of the Necromancer
    • The Wizard Hunters
    • The Ships of Air
• Elizabeth Willey
  • A Sorceror and a Gentleman
  • The Price of Blood and Honor
  • A Well-Favored Man
• Tad Williams
  • Tailchaser's Song
  • Memory, Sorrow, Thorn:
    1. The Dragonbone Chair
    2. The Stone of Farewell
    3. To Green Angel Tower
• Walter Jon Williams [Not what is usually meant by "urban fantasy," but rather much better: this has brains]
  1. Metropolitan
  2. City on Fire
• Gene Wolfe
  • The Devil in a Forest
  • Free Live Free
  • There Are Doors
• Gene Wolfe and Neil Gaiman, A Walking Tour of the Shambles (volume 16 of Little Walks for Sightseers)
• N. Lee Wood, Bloodrights
• Patricia Wrede [Wrede's books are all more or less pitched at younger readers (except The Seven Towers). Lucky kids.]
  • The Book of Enchantments
  • The Seven Towers
  • Duology in a Regency England with period squalor, and scholarly magic:
    1. Mairelon the Magician
    2. Magician's Ward
  • Lyra books [Now back in print in an omnibus, Shadows over Lyra, except for Raven]:
    • Shadow Magic
    • Daughter of Witches
    • The Harp of Imach Thyssel
    • The Raven Ring
• Roger Zelazny
  • The first Amber series (of five books) is the only one worth bothering with, and even then the first two books are by far the best:
    • Nine Princes in Amber
    • The Guns of Avalon
  • A Night in Lonesome October
  • The Unicorn Variations
• Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold, Lord Demon