WHOOHOO! Guest today is the mostest awesomest fantabuloustic Bree, the half of Moira Rogers that I have discovered how to trick…I mean manipulate…I mean, Donna's not as easy a touch, so guess who my ‘go-to' gal is?
Moira Rogers is made up of two best friends who now write the best books. They've got the fourth in their Red Rock Pass series releasing June 1, and THEN, they are taking us back in time to the establishment of Sanctuary by writing a lead-in series set in the dirty thirties. I can't wait!!
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Viv was really sneaky about getting this blog post out of me. I was actually in the middle of an epic rant on how I can't ever write intelligent guest blogs when she did it. I'm not sure how we got from, “Viiiiv, how do you write so many interesting posts?” to “Okay, Bree, I'll put you down for a blog on fantasy books” but here we are.
Of course, maybe it's because I don't make much of a secret about the fact that fantasy is my blood. Some of my very first and formative adventures in reading were all about the magic. I'm the girl who scoured bookstores looking for Sword & Sorceress anthologies so I could read high fantasy adventures of women swinging swords and slinging spells.
I love the fantasy genre. I love it so much that even though I haven't read much of it in the last few years (I'm all about paranormal romance at the moment) I can still list more fantasy series off the top of my head than anything else. So, in the finest of list traditions, I give you…
Bree's Most Excellent List Of Fantasy Series That Warped (Shaped?) Her Brain
#10) The Cheysuli Series by Jennifer Roberson. We might as well call this My First Shapeshifters. Clearly I started loving the idea young. I used to devour these books! I especially loved the strong heroines.
#9) The Sword-Dancer Saga by Jennifer Roberson. Oh, Tiger & Del. Your love was so bickering and beautiful and tested and redeemed. I love this couple, and every adventure they have together.
#8) The Quarters Series by Tanya Huff. Bards singing the elements and assassins gone wild, this series will always stay with me. It brought me some of the most complicated anti-heroes, redeemed heroes and fallen heroes I've ever seen.
#7) The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan. Okay, I admit…I'm a few books behind. I'm gearing up for an epic series read from start to end, but even though I'm behind, these books have been with me since I was 14. I used to play battle chess over my modem against my friend and we'd name all of our pieces after Robert Jordan characters. Of course, I kept naming my knight Lan and then I could never sacrifice him…
#6) The Exiles Series by Melanie Rawn. Curses! The series that taught me to weep for unfinished series. Even incomplete, the first two books in this aborted trilogy (read at your own risk) are some of my favorites of all times. I have rarely seen a complete reversal of a patriarchal society so carefully and meticulously created, and it made me think a lot. Always a good thing.
#5) The Belgariad & Mallorean by David Eddings. I read both series over spring break my when I was 15. 10 books, wham bam thank you ma'am. To this day I think I have at least one e-mail address referring to a character in these books. What can I say. Everyone loves a good Boy Goes On a Quest story. (I just like the Girl Goes On a Quest stories better!)
#4) The Valdemar Series by Mercedes Lackey. Yes. I'm that generation. The one who grew up on talking dragons, talking horses and (next point) talking cats. Honestly it's a wonder I have such problems with Disney Movies and their talking animals…you'd think I'd be used to it.
#3) The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. Come on. It's about a girl with a talking cat who cross-dresses, becomes a knight, hangs out with the King of Thieves and goes on grand adventures. As a little girl, I ate this stuff up. Girls can too kick ass!
#2) The Dragon Prince & Dragon Star Trilogies by Melanie Rawn. Six books of 600+ pages spanning three generations and so much delicious political intrigue. Also my favorite magic system. And dragons. Oh, dragons.
#1) The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. Oh yes. My most favorite of favorites. Dark, beautiful fantasy that is occasionally over the top but always so very good. Really, all of Anne Bishop's books might as well sit at the top of this list, but the Black Jewels stories are my favorite, so they hold place at #1.
Clearly there are so many more series that could be added–I had trouble stopping at 10! So tell me, fellow fantasy fans…which of your favorites am I missing? (Be sure to add a comment to be entered to win one of the prizes listed on Day 1)
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Okay.. I’m going to admit to this, but don’t tell anyone! I am in love with the Dinotopia series. Yes, I know they were written for children, but the actually books themselves are just stunning (beautiful drawings, ahh), and there were actually a few books written for adults (“Hand of Dinotopia,” “Dinotopia Lost”) and I loved them. They still hold a special place on my bookcase, top shelf, and I re-read them when my world is boring and dinosaur-free. No ones life should be dinosaur-free!
I have to admit that the only fantasy books I’ve read are The Lord of the Rings books. I tried to read Mercedes Lackey because both of my younger sisters loved her books but I just couldn’t get into her. I actually haven’t read any of the books you listed….sorry 🙁
I’m not sure if you consider them fantasy books or not but I do. I love Christine Feehan’s Dark series and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series. I also love Cheyenne McCray’s Seraphine Chronicles and Tielle St. Clare’s Dragon series.
Ooh! The Eddings series are definitely on my keeper list. And boy, I’m staying faaaaaar away from those unfinished series–I haaaaate that! It’s hard enough waiting for the next in the series to release when you KNOW it’s coming. I can’t stand being left hanging, permanently!
As for other fantasy series, my husband really enjoyed Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series (which he actually first learned about when he stumbled across an episode of Legend of the Seeker on Hulu); I haven’t read the whole thing, but the stories seem pretty engrossing. And this summer, we plan to read the Narnia series with our kids.
Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter (I know I have kids), Narnia, The 10th Kingdom, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kresley Cole Immortals After Dark (little paranormal and fantasy) Gena Showalter Lords of the Underworld.
I love the Anne Bishop series, plus I’ve read all the Tolkien books as well as the Dune series. Like you Bree, I am currently hooked on paranormal, but it’s those early fantasy stories that got me to try paranormal in the first place.
Aside from the Dragonlance series (we own like 4 copies of the Chronicles, it’s out of control), lately I’ve been reading fantasy/romance, like Mercedes Lackey’s Five Hundred Kingdoms series (from Luna books) and Lynn Kurland’s Nine Kingdoms books. Angsty wizards *and* romance, it’s two great tastes that taste great together.
@Morning Glow: Well, since we’re confessing…I read all the Jedi Apprentice young adult books when I was not so much a young adult. >.> No one’s reading this right? (Whaaat, I’m a geek.) NO SHAME! We should have no shame!
@Maria63303: No need to apologize! We all have our own tastes. 😀 Especially since I’m sure there’s a fantasy hit squad out there willing to take me down when I admit I’ve never finished any of the Lord of the Rings books.
@Sherry S: My favorite thing about fantasy is how diverse it is! I don’t think I ever REALLY left it behind…I still read about magic. I just started reading about it in the present world (urban fantasy) and then switched to reading about it with more romance! LOL
@Fedora: My husband loves Goodkind. I’ve read him and Prachett and Brooks a lot of others in that vein, but they never quite lingered with me as much.
@Desiree: Hey, I’ve read every Harry Potter book! (And that’s saying something since I worked at Barnes & Noble through most of their releases–if that couldn’t put you off the series I don’t know WHAT could!)
@Cathy M: Oh, I do enjoy the Dune books. Or at least the first three. 😉 (My teenage self threw up her hands somewhere in the middle of God Emperor and I never went back. LOL) I actually love the Sci-Fi miniseries they did of Dune & Children of Dune though…it’s my favorite.
I read Robert Jordan’s The Wheel Of Time Series, but stopped at either book 9 or 10… kinda got out of it… reading other things… I have to look into some of the other series that everyone else is sharing! 😀
I still have to read Anne Bishop. **ducks for cover**
And it’s fantasy/sci-fi, but I HAVE to re-read Orson Scott Card’s Enders Game once a year. Have to.
(Bree, WTF on LoTRs? REALLY?)
Oh, I’d forgotten about Pratchett–he does crack me up! That is something I definitely enjoy–the fantasy and the giggles 🙂
@Robyn: I haven’t read Lackey’s Luna books…I mostly read her stuff when I was a wee little girl. I may have to go and check them out though!
@Colleen: I’m biased. I say go for Anne Bishop first. 😀
@Viv: Yeah, yeah. I know. There’s a special place in False Fantasy Fan hell waiting for me. But I like the knock-offs better than the original! LOL
I think you have a great comprehensive list!
I really enjoyed the Shannara series by Brooks.
Confession time: Lord of the Rings, all seven Harry Potters, Mercedes Lackey- 500 Kingdoms books, her Dragon Jouster series, Bedlam Bard series, and her Diana Tregarde series.
Have to mention Anne McCaffrey and the Dragonriders of Pern. Have not read her in years but at one time waited for the next book on release day. Also Andre Norton had a number of series, that I would have to google, that were scifi into fantasy yarns that I loved.
Reading this post all I am thinking is I have never read any of these series except Sherrilyn Kenyon. That is as far as into fantasy that I have gone. 🙂
Ahhh, fantasy. No time to read… 😀 But time to close this contest down. Thanks for entering!!