Recommend a Fantasy series that is beautifully written

[Miriel]

So I posted this in the reading thread...


I wonder if I'll be able to find a high fantasy book that I actually like, or if the genre itself bothers me. For some reason, I find that a lot of people who write high fantasy write in a really similar style. A style I kind of hate.

A lot of the fantasy books I've read in recent years, I haven't been all that impressed with. I find that a lot of times, the actual writing style is very rarely beautiful or lyrical. There's usually tons of descriptions, horrible dialogue, and the writing style itself is weak compared to convoluted magic systems and world building.

Here's an excerpt from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn: The Final Empire, which is a great example of the kind of writing I hate.


Is this a burden that any man should bear? Is this a temptation any man could resist? I feel strong now, but what will happen when I touch that power? I will save the world, certainly - but will I try and take it as well? Such are my fears as I scribble with an ice-crusted pen on the eeve before the world is reborn. Rashek watches. Hating me. The Cavern lies above. Pulsing. My fingers quiver. Not from the cold. Tomorrow it will end.
Ugh! Terrible! It reads like fanfiction. :/

Can anyone recommend a good fantasy series that ISN'T written like a cliche? Favorite fantasy book that has beautiful words? I've found the Discworld series to be delightfully written, but for some reason, it's not maintaining my interest enough.

I thought Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy was lovely. Would like more stuff like that. And I've had a lot of luck with more modern fantasy stuff (Daughter of Smoke and Bone in particular was wonderfully written with a super inventive and haunting mythology). But I really have been itching for more of an old school fantasy.

[Raistlin]

Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind.

And for something a bit more mature and different, I enjoyed Joe Abercrombie's First Law series.

[Jinx]

There's a book "series" that I absolutely love. I put series in parenthesis, because it's only two books, but it's split into two books within each book, so it's more like four books. I don't know if you'd classify it was fantasy--I would. I guess the best way to describe it is fairytales for adults. They weave in and out of each other, and are brilliant.

The first book is call The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente.

[Edge7]

I all honesty, I haven't read for fun in a while, let alone fantasy. But, I just got into this book calledThe Lies of Locke Lamora (yes, I realize who he shares his name with, apparently the Author was a fan of FFVI back in the day). Admittedly, I'm only about 100 pages in, and it's not really "High Fantasy", but for what it's worth, the writing's not that bad, and it got me back into reading, so I have that to thank it for.

[Hollycat]

The Pendragon series by dj machale. Beautiful and artistic series that is.

[Quindiana Jones]

The Dresden Files has magic and stuff galore, though I'm not sure it's what you're after. Fantasy is an ambiguous term.

[Shorty]

The Earthsea Trilogy is indeed lovely.

It's been a long, looong time since I've read it, but I remember being fond of The Illearth War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illearth_War), which is apparently part of this series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant,_the_Unbeliever). Might be something to try! It's been so long since I read it that I honestly can't compare it to Le Guin's stories. Should probably read it again.

[Raistlin]

Oh and for older, classic fantasy, Weis and Hickman's Death Gate Cycle was one of my favorite fantasy series back when I read a shitton of the genre (admittedly many years ago). Great writing, great characters, and a powerful, if a bit corny, story. You might not appreciate a couple of the references one particular minor character makes if you don't know anything about DragonLance (the authors' biggest work), but DGC is an entirely separate, and substantially better, series in it's own universe.

[I Took the Red Pill]

The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I'd be hardpressed to call it any one of fantasy or sci-fi, but I thought it was wonderfully written.

[Unbreakable Will]

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
The Book of the Malazan by Steven Erikson
The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
:monster:

[Miriel]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I will read these and report back!

I think I'll start with Orphan Tales #1. :)

[Del Murder]

Lord of the Rings

[Citizen Bleys]

The Earthsea Trilogy is indeed lovely.

It's been a long, looong time since I've read it, but I remember being fond of The Illearth War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illearth_War), which is apparently part of this series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant,_the_Unbeliever).

*hi5*

[Miriel]

Lord of the Rings

There are books too? Oh man, I loved the movies! I'll give this a try. THANKS! :)

[I Don't Need A Name]

A Song of Ice and Fire - George. R. R. Martin :monster:

[Del Murder]

I'm pretty sure that's the exact writing style she's trying to avoid. :p

[I Don't Need A Name]

D'ohhh! You have to ruin my fun, don't you :colbert:

[Del Murder]

It is still a better recommendation than Wheel of Time, which I couldn't even get through the first chapter.

[Lonely Paper Star]

A Song of Ice and Fire - George. R. R. Martin :monster:

I'm only on the first book, but I already find some of the words very quotable. ;o

[Flaming Ice]

Lord of the Rings

There are books too? Oh man, I loved the movies! I'll give this a try. THANKS! :)


There's also the hobbit, it's a prequel to the series.

[Bunny]

It is still a better recommendation than Wheel of Time, which I couldn't even get through the first chapter.

Did you at least make it through the three paragraphs where he describes a blade of grass?

Name of the Wind and, to a lesser degree, Wise Man's Fear are fairly essential reads for any person interested in fantasy; Rothfuss has a pretty distinct way with words that makes him one of the better fantasy writers in recent memory. Aside from The First Law Trilogy, Abercrombie has written three standalone books that all work in a different type of sub-genre into them. It works out pretty well, despite seeming pretty cheesey on the surface. As a plus, I think all six of the books are set in the same world, but not necessararily with the same characters.


If you like crime-type shows, even a little bit, then The Lies of Locke Lamora is a really good suggestion. It is pretty standard fantasy and doesn't really add anything new to the genre, but Lynch is a pretty fun writer and it reminds me of a crime-mystery-fantasy show in book form.


Other than those, my only two real suggestions are The Runelords Saga (David Farland), which is about nine books total (split into two separate series) and The Time Master Trilogy (Louise Cooper), which is an older series of books that might be hard to find but is really good. Runelords is probably my favorite fantasy series I have ever read, mainly because it has a pretty unique magic system that isn't the entire point of the story but helps move the plot along.

[Citizen Bleys]

It's not as highbrow as I think you're looking for, but I highly enjoyed Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg.

[Araciel]

I err uh..love trashy fantasy books..

But Neil Gaiman.

[Jinx]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I will read these and report back!

I think I'll start with Orphan Tales #1. :)

Yesssss. I hope you like it. :)

[Jiro]

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
:monster:

I second this, as well as adding Brent Weeks' new series to the list. Uhh. I forget the name of the series though. The second book was just released, anyway.

[Bunny]

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
:monster:

I second this, as well as adding Brent Weeks' new series to the list. Uhh. I forget the name of the series though. The second book was just released, anyway.

The Lightbringer Series. First book is Black Prism, second is Blinding Knife. Weeks is another one of those writers who is pretty standard fantasy but does so it in a fun way.

[Miriel]

Hmm... I just looked up the Night Angel Trilogy on Goodreads and the very first review says that the book is "Oddly homophobic and misogynistic."

My tolerance level for fictional misogyny/sexism (and lack of strong female characters in general) is rather low. I was only able to tolerate books like the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo series (aka, Men Who Hate Women) because of the strength of the main female character who was hardcore and amazing. It's part of the reason why I could not get through Song of Ice and Fire.

Should I attempt this Night Angel Trilogy, or would it fall too much in line with the "Let's-have-excessive-scenes-of-violnce-and-rape-to-show-how-gritty-and-dark-we-can-be" type fantasy books that would pretty much annoy the fuck out of me?

[Bunny]

It's been awhile since I've read the trilogy, but I don't really see how it is abundantly or oddly homophobic. Some characters do get raped, but I don't think it is done with any degree of graphic detail, as far as I can remember anyway. There is a lack of powerful female characters in the general sense, because the story is centered on one character (the main character) and his interactions with the rest of the cast are fairly unimportant in the general scheme.

You probably wouldn't like the Night Angel Trilogy, not because of supposed misogyny or homophobia, but because it is fairly dark and depressing and has more in common with Sanderson's work than anyone else who puts out more substantial work. It's a good read, but definitely not a good representation of what fantasy can be.

[Jiro]

I didn't get any feelings of homophobia or misogyny from it. wtf kind of a comment is that? xD

[Miriel]

I have no idea, it's just the very top review I saw on goodreads.

I'll put it in my to-read list and get around to it when I'm feeling in the mood for something darker. Right now, I'm primarily focused on finding a fantasy series that isn't just entertaining or well constructed, but actually has beautiful words. The kind of writing that makes you giddy and you re-read sentences constantly because it's just delightful to run your eyes across and hear it in your head.

Vonnegut or Atwood or Zusak or Junot Diaz quality writing translated to a fantasy setting.

[Quindiana Jones]

Wrote a massive and detailed reply. EoFF spazzes out. Reply lost. Will to live lost. God damnit.

[Citizen Bleys]

Oh! I can't believe I forgot about this!

You have *got* to read Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue (http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Night-Dragons-Book-ebook/dp/B00823ZUP2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351215221&sr=1-1&keywords=shadow+war+of+the+night+dragons) by John Scalzi. It's short, but it is the utter pinnacle of masterful writing.

It was nominated for a Hugo on the strength of its balls-to-the-wall awesomeness

[ShunNakamura]

Hmm.. It wouldn't qualify as High Fantasy but Carrie Vaughn's Steel (http://www.carrievaughn.com/steel.html)(only fantasy element is the magic that sends the MC back in time to a pirate ship, pretty interesting take on the age of pirates) and Voices of Dragons (http://www.carrievaughn.com/voices1.html)(it has dragons and modern tech, nuff said) proved interesting to me. Not the greatest things ever written, however, they are quick reads that have their moments. I seem to recall Voices of Dragons having some pretty scenes.

However, if Superheros are your thing, After the Golden Age (http://www.carrievaughn.com/aga.html) has a fairly interesting take in my opinion.

[Freya]

Song of the Beast by Carol Berg. I read it in highshcool so it's been a while but it was beautiful book, as far as I remember. Here's the good reads page (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/437788.Song_of_the_Beast) if you wanna look. Heck it SAYS music and harp and stuff.


From Carol Berg, acclaimed author of the Rai-Kirah series, comes the epic story of Aidan MacAllister, a musician beloved by the gods, whose voice and harp could transform the souls of men...

[Araciel]

Looks like I'll use this thread when I'm in a reading mood..

[Goldenboko]

Lord of the Rings

There are books too? Oh man, I loved the movies! I'll give this a try. THANKS! :)


There's also the hobbit, it's a prequel to the series.

If you manage to read the entire Silmarillion I respect you. Been trying forever.

[Miriel]

I've read the Silmarillion cover to cover at least 4 times. It's my favorite of Tolkien's work, and utterly beautiful to read.

The words give me shivers to read, even today. So lovely.

[Citizen Bleys]

You definitely need to read the Covenant books, though.

It can be a little offputting at first, since the main villain is literally named Lord Foul, which makes it sound kiddie, but it is anything but. I think you have to be of above average intelligence to appreciate Stephen R. Donaldson, and that tends to be a bit incompatible with dismissing some of the idiosyncracies unless you're forewarned.

TV tropes has a couple of amusing entries for it


I Have Many Names: Lord Foul. Parodied in the first book, where Covenant asks Lord Foul what his name is: Lord Foul the Despiser, The Grey Slayer, Fangthane the Render, Satansheart Soulcrusher, Corruption, and A-Jeroth of the Seven Hells. After that list of names he then proceeds to hit Covenant with 'We are not so different, you and I...'

So yeah, the protagonist is a dick. The story wouldn't work with a non-dick protagonist, though. I think what I like about SRD is his ability to write characters with real, non-trivial flaws.


Aerith and Bob: Mostly strange-sounding names, with a few ordinary ones mixed in. The ancient and revered High Lord Damelon Giantfriend is succeeded by High Lord Loric Vilesilencer, and he in turn by High Lord... Kevin.

Repeated in the First Chronicles with the High Lords Prothall, Mhoram, and Elena.

If you can get over the naming inconsistencies, though, it's a damned good read -- in my opinion the First Chronicles are the best fantasy trilogy ever written -- and I almost envy anyone who hasn't read it for their chance to explore The Land anew.

By the way, before you crack open Lord Foul's Bane, buy yourself a new dictionary. You will wear it out.

[Miriel]

I'll give it a try, but honestly, I don't know how well I'll like a book where the main character is a dick. :/

[Wolf Kanno]

Oh and for older, classic fantasy, Weis and Hickman's Death Gate Cycle was one of my favorite fantasy series back when I read a troutton of the genre (admittedly many years ago). Great writing, great characters, and a powerful, if a bit corny, story. You might not appreciate a couple of the references one particular minor character makes if you don't know anything about DragonLance (the authors' biggest work), but DGC is an entirely separate, and substantially better, series in it's own universe.

I'm seconding this series. I generally don't read much fantasy writing either for largely the same reasons as you Miriel, but this was actually a pretty good series and one of the few fantasy series I could stomach the whole way through.

[Bunny]

I'll give it a try, but honestly, I don't know how well I'll like a book where the main character is a dick. :/

I'm almost positive you wouldn't like them. It is a shame, because they are insanely good books and everyone should read them at least once.

[Del Murder]

Maybe I'll screen it for her. I don't mind dicks.

[Citizen Bleys]

Just don't stop after Lord Foul's Bane -- the series gets a lot better in The Illearth War. I'm not advocating skipping LFB--The Battle of Soaring Woodhelven (Covenant's reprehensible behaviour in the aftermath and the most important character development Foamfollower gets) is one of my favourite scenes in the series.

Covenant is a very dynamic character; The Covenant at Soaring Woodhelven is very different than the one in the final confrontation at the end of The Power That Preserves.

[Miriel]

I read about 5 chapters of Lord Foul's Bane before I said NOPE NOPE NOPE. It's not what I was looking for and I don't think that it was well written at all.

I recently finished Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay and a few pages in, I knew that however the story turned out, the writing at least was going to be excellent. And it was. I just thought the words flowed so smoothly. It didn't have that chunky forced medieval-ness about it. At least a dozen times it gave me shivers. And then I looked into the author and what do I discover. This dude actually helped edit The Silmarillion decades ago. Whaaaat?? No wonder he has such poetry in his words.

I didn't love the story or the characters but it was a good enough read, and engaging to the point where I was able to finish it within 3-4 days. It needed a much muuuch tighter edit though and it's one of those more violent/gritty/realistic type fantasy books that I don't really care for.

I read a lot of non-fiction and get more than enough brutality and horror (Unbroken, anyone??) there that I don't want it to be the focus of my fantasy books too. BUT STILL, the words were lovely. And I enjoyed it for the most part.

[Ouch!]

Not that I'm trying to string up Sanderson as an exemplar of quality writing, but to be entirely fair, the selection you picked out of Mistborn was written to be a part of a man's private journal and intentionally has a different tone and style than the rest of the book.

As far as examples of good writing in fantasy? I struggle to think of any that meet the standards you've set. Raistlin mentioned Rothfuss, and while it's certainly different (first person narratives are hardly a common structure for fantasy), I wouldn't say it's anything special otherwise. Better than most other fantasy? Sure. But the prose is hardly moving.

Frankly, I don't read fantasy to be stunned by an author's prose. I read fantasy for the stories. I read fantasy for the worlds. I read fantasy for the creativity of everything else and accept at least passable prose to deliver it. If I want to read something where the quality of the prose moves me, I'll pick up The Mezzanine. I think if I started enforcing standards for prose, I'd miss out on a lot of good stories that are more concerned about telling said stories than being a work of art.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

I will echo the Rothfuss comments. Probably one of my favourite recent fantasy authors. He has a way with words that make me swoon.

How do you feel about strong female characters and female perspectives? :p Marion Zimmer Bradley is pretty solid. The Mists of Avalon is largely told from Morgainne (a.k.a. Morgan LeFay)'s perspective and is a retelling of King Arthur as well as examining the tensions between the paganism of Avalon and the introduction of Christianity to the Isle. Quite a good read with strong characters. Another book by Bradley that I really enjoyed was Firebrand which is a retelling of the Trojan War (at the end at least) from the perspective of Cassandra of Troy. Really good. Bradley really does a lot of research for her novels, so there is a basis in historical/literary sources (though the paganism of Avalon is more based on Gardinian Wicca, than old Celtic traditions :p).

[Miriel]

I think if I started enforcing standards for prose, I'd miss out on a lot of good stories that are more concerned about telling said stories than being a work of art.

Except that in my case, I *do* read those not-amazingly-written fantasy books. I read everything. The only books that I legit give up on are the ones where it's just really really bad. I typically finish about 4-5 books a month, if not more. So I don't feel like I'm missing out too much.

There are sooooo many, countless wonderfully written non-fiction/contemporary/YA/science-fiction books out there, but the literary quality of fantasy books (high fantasy to be more precise) seems to fall short. And I don't know why. Of course the story is important and the world building and the characters, but that's tied in with the quality of the writing.

And to clarify something, I think that when the story is good enough and engaging enough, you don't *have* to have the best prose or dialogue. And I can happily read those books and just enjoy the story. But after reading a string of badly written fantasy books, I wanted to see if there were works out there more in line with Tolkien or Ursula Le Guin. Where you have the whole package. A great story, great characters, and also great prose and descriptions and dialogue. Why does that seem to be slim pickings for medieval style fantasies? I mean, there are plenty of historical fiction that are well written.

That one part of Mistborn I picked was part of a larger problem I had with the book. It wasn't the only section I didn't like. Here are a few more issues I had with Mistborn:

The characters felt shallow and unbelievable. The only character who I felt came alive in a natural and unforced way was Sazed. Vin started off great and then increasingly became cringeworthy, blathering on about the shininess of her dresses.

"Relationship" between Vin and Elend was ridiculous. Elend particularly was such a stiff and boring character.

I know that moral ambiguity can be complex and great (Tigana actually did a surprisingly great job with this) but in Mistborn it was just... stupid. It infuriated me how the book was constantly peppered with dialogue and self-doubt about whether or not it's ACTUALLY evil to keep people enslaved. I understand that the author was trying to make his band of heroes more complex by questioning their actions, or maybe he was trying to show how centuries of being oppressed made it difficult for people to truly accept the idea of a rebellion. But for me, it felt shoe horned in. And it made me want to smack the characters in the face.

A lot of the book either felt vague or underdeveloped and some things were so implausible.

I will say that I LOVED the magic system in the book. It was fantastic.

So yeah, it's not like I read Mistborn and thought, "OH HOLY CRAP THE DIALOGUE IS BAAAAARF" and dismissed it altogether. It was the silly writing on top of all the other stuff that makes me give it thumbs down.



How do you feel about strong female characters and female perspectives? :p Marion Zimmer Bradley is pretty solid. The Mists of Avalon is largely told from Morgainne (a.k.a. Morgan LeFay)'s perspective and is a retelling of King Arthur as well as examining the tensions between the paganism of Avalon and the introduction of Christianity to the Isle. Quite a good read with strong characters.
I read and enjoyed The Mists of Avalon. I LOVE strong female characters. :)

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

I recall you saying you read Song of Achilles, then you will enjoy Firebrand since it is also written in the spirit of The Mists of Avalon and is set in Ancient Greece. I kinda like it more than Mists.

[Ouch!]

I will say that I LOVED the magic system in the book. It was fantastic.
To be fair, his habit for developing strong magic systems is probably the best reason to read any Sanderson book.

The only perspective I can offer about what makes high fantasy so different is that--except for maybe a few outlying examples--the story, world-building, and characters are most certainly not directly tied to the quality of the writing. They're often a separate endeavor entirely, particularly the world-building. If you want evidence of that, go check out r/worldbuilding and see how many of those people create worlds but aren't writers. A great deal of creative effort goes into creating these worlds. Some people are good at creating worlds. Some people are good at writing. Doing both very well is rare.