Speaker for the Dead --- Orson Scott Card
Stranger in a Strange Land --- Heinlein
Those two books are perfect...purely magical.



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Personally, felonius, I thought that Magician had absolutely nothing in common to Tolkien. The histories that were told were done so in an inovative and exciting fashion. As for the ''boring travel details'' I thought that it was the character of the novel and the setting of the scene. I thought that the feeling and depth in the novel actually brought out a human quality. Maybe you didn''t read the revised edition, but I did... And I did and still do think that it rocks. I have read it twice (halfway through Silverthorn the second time).

I think it all comes down to personal preference though, just like everything else.

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche
          

quote:

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Original post by Run_The_Shadows

Stranger in a Strange Land --- Heinlein

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Hmph, I was just going to mention that.

Fahrenheit 451 is also excellent.

-Jussi

Melanie Rawn comes to mind from some of my younger fantasy reading days... I really need to get the whold lot of that trilogy

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche
          

I just have to say that the Elenium by David (& Leigh) Eddings
is my favourite set of books. As always, he has an interesting
take on magic & religion, and there is a very nice bit of
politics thrown in there too. Of course, one could argue that
his works are too formulaic, but formula makes me all warm
inside...

All the Ghost Stories by M.R. James.
Tolkien, each and every book.
H.P. Lovecraft, nearly every story.
Shakespeare.

The Death Gate Cycle is alright, a bit mediocre in the originality department, and stereotypical.



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The Gap Series and the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson.He uses language to the most and his characters are the deepest I''ve ever seen.His books are far more than ''just sc-fi/just fantasy'', they range on philosophy.I just have to say this :
"This Day All Gods Die"

Carl Sagan''s books.

And also pretty much anything by Isaac Asimov.His books have influenced my way of seeing the world very much, even if it sounds weird to you.

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Lovecraft?!?

How can you say that Lovecrafts books/stories are perfectly written?

I can agree that they have some original ideas (hence the popularity of Cthulhu), but well written? No.
They are written in something that goes to great length to seem authentic but fails nonetheless and it seems very unpersonal and undramatic.

And Tolkien,

Tolkien might be the inventor of a new genre, but when you compare his works with later works in the fantasy genre his books generally lack behind. There is too long travelling descriptions and long chapter with no real content. The Hobbit is quite a trivial story (original for its time but not anymore) so it can hardly be called a "perfect book". And Lord of the Rings has many boring sections. Take for instance the chapters in the forests of the Ents.

Ok, I am doing some ranting here, but I think that some works a good for their ideas but a generally overrated for the literary qualities, ie. how well they are written.

And while I am at it Fahrenheit 451 is actually quite poorly written too in my humble opinion. Interesting story, though.

Jacob Marner

Again fel, I have to disagree.. I liked the Ent-forest. But all up, Tolkien doesn''t cut the grade, unless just for ''The return of the king'' and maybe the ''two towers''.. otherwise, the first book sux too much to be counted in this list...

Which is why I say that it is everybodies opinions

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche
          

The Dark Tower series By Stephen King. Very awesome, Very incredible story and universe. If any of you are wondering, they are NOT horror books. they are Fantasy/Fiction. very very good.

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