

Ask YC: Favorite fantasy novel(s)? - wumi

What is your favorite fantasy novel(s)?<p>Mine: Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (RIP)
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inklesspen
Bridge of Birds, by Barry Hughart

Set in "an ancient China that never was", Bridge of Birds is a humorous, epic
tale of adventure as Master Li and Number Ten Ox attempt to cure the children
of Ku-fu, and uncover a vile crime perpetrated against Heaven itself.

<http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345321383/>

Amazon's review: Bridge of Birds is a lyrical fantasy novel. Set in "an
Ancient China that never was", it stands with The Princess Bride and The Last
Unicorn as a fairy tale for all ages, by turns incredibly funny and deeply
touching. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1985, and Hughart produced two
sequels: The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen. All present the
adventures of Master Kao Li, a scholar with "a slight flaw in [his]
character", and Lu Yu, usually called Number Ten Ox, his sidekick and the
story's narrator. Number Ten Ox is strong, trusting, and pure of heart; Master
Li once sold an emperor shares in a mustard mine, because "I was trying to win
a bet concerning the intelligence of emperors."

Number Ten Ox comes from a village in which the children have been struck by a
mysterious illness. He recruits Master Li to find the cure and comes along to
provide muscle. They seek a mysterious Great Root of Power, which may be a
form of ginseng. Of course, nothing turns out to be as simple as it seems;
great wrongs must be avenged and lovers separated must be reunited, from the
most humble to the highest. And even in the midst of cosmic glory, Pawnbroker
Fang and Ma the Grub are picking the pockets of their own lynch mob, who are
frozen in awe and wonder.

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johnmacshea
have to write quick before the link expires!

Erikson's Malazan series - excellent - in my opinion much better than Jordan's
WOT. WOT started very well but (IMO) degenerated into cloned characters with
nothing ever significant happening. Each Erikson book can more or less stand
alone, however the intra and inter plots are suitably intertwined and complex.
Reapers Gale did waver a little, one or two new characters are too similar to
other ones (a constant issue for me in WOT - the characters seemed so similar
that i could never remember who did what) But the characters are believable
and the archae/anthrop - ology expertise of Erikson is very evident. Patrick
Rothfuss' first book, The Name of the wind, was a great start to a new series.
These two (modern fantasy) authors are the only ones i trust currently to give
me a good read - in comparison to sci fi, fantasy seems (again IMO) to be in a
bit of a rut.

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wumi
what HP doesn't count as fantasy? ha ha.

Interesting point about WOT -- one has to wonder how much does this have to do
with book contracts and RJ's vision.

I think in reality he may just have had so many stories, so many characters,
so many people groups it was becoming hard to innovate while wrapping the
series up.

I'll have to check out Malazan

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jaltiere
A Song of Ice and Fire -- George RR Martin

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pchristensen
Currently re-reading the Riftwar trilogy by Raymond Feist and enjoying it
quite a bit.

~~~
wumi
great series

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cousin_it
Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea. Sapkowski's Wiedzmin. And Tolkien's LOTR, of
course.

~~~
wumi
guess i should have askd for a plot summary in the text.

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nazgulnarsil
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson.

~~~
wumi
plot summary?

~~~
nazgulnarsil
A leper awakens to find himself in a strange world of magic and finds himself
cured of his disease. The inhabitants of this world believe him to be the
reincarnation of a great hero from long ago due to his wedding ring which is
made of white gold. He, meanwhile, has no idea what is going on.

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jauco
is sci-fi allowed as well? In that case "rainbows end" by Vernor Vinge (can be
downloaded for free from his website) If just fantasy: "Monstrous regiment" by
Terry Pratchett

