La crème de la crème (part 2)

Okay, so here are those series I believe no fantasy fan can do without. . .:-)

THE DUNE SAGE by Frank Herbert

- Dune (1965)
- Dune Messiah (1969)
- Children of Dune (1976)
- God Emperor of Dune (1981)
- Heretics of Dune (1984)
- Chapterhouse: Dune (1985)

***Unique. The monument of science fiction.

GUY GAVRIEL KAY

The Fionavar Tapestry

- The Summer Tree (1984)
- The Wandering Fire (1986)
- The Darkest Road (1986)

- Tigana (1990)

- A Song for Arbonne (1992)

- The Lions of Al-Rassan (1995)

The Sarantine Mosaic

- Sailing to Sarantium (1998)
- Lord of Emperors (2000)

- The Last Light of the Sun (2004)

***A storyteller on the grandest scale and fantasy's best kept secret. How, after such an illustrious career and so many magnificent novels, this author is not more popular is beyond me. He is renowned the world over, and yet has never appeared on the NYT Bestseller List. . .

Those who have read his books all agree: He just might be the best fantasy writer in the world today. The way that man can blend history and fantasy is simply unbelievable! If you only read one book this year, make it one of his!;-)

DRAGONLANCE by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Chronicles

- Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984)
- Dragons of Winter Night (1985)
- Dragons of Spring Dawning (1985)

Legends

- Time of the Twins (1986)
- War of the Twins (1986)
- War of the Twins (1986)

- The Second Generation (1994)

- Dragons of Summer Flame (1995)

***The original series. Forget about the War of Souls trilogy, which was of very poor quality compared to its predecessors. But the originals were responsible for an entire new generation of people falling in love with the fantasy genre. Yours truly included!;-) Twenty million people worldwide cannot be wrong! As memorable a cast of characters as can be.

So this is it, folks!:-) The list of my all-time favourites is now out! In the next one, I will include the runner-ups, those who almost qualified to "La crème de la crème."

Until then, take care and be good, all of you,

Patrick

2 commentaires:

Mark Drury said...

Saw your review to Tad Williams' new fantasy novel on Amazon and thought I would take a look at your blog. We appear to differ quite a bit in our assessment of fantasy writers -- I read Robert Jordan's "Eye of the World" after reading George R. R. Martin's first three books in "A Song of Ice and Fire" and feel Jordan is, to be blunt, a wart on Martin's small toe. Actually, "puerile" was the one thing that came to mind when reading Jordan. I probably would have liked Jordan's writing ten years ago, before having read Martin and authors such as Mervyn Peake.

Incidentally, why isn't G. R. R. Martin on your list? Surely you've read his ASOIF series? A "must read" if you have not. Regards,

-- Mark

Dan Hitt - The Prince of the Morning said...

There is something so amazing about the world of The Wheel of Time that it cannot be explained. Much as I couldn't explain McDonald's, pizza without pineapple, the designated hitter, The Hangover or why corruption is good. You simply have to have a double cheese burger value meal at 2:30am while drunk and 'grooving' over the night because I really can't explain how good it is. But I guess I can try.

And then GRRM and the Song of Ice and Fire? Perfect in the genre that Jordan made me love. If I had to choose which I would choose if I had to live in an insane, stupid universe where there could be only one..??!!??

Epic world building. Insanely cool characters. Bad ass magic. Cool ass relics and legends.

or.

Sometimes perfect prose. Complex characters I love to love and love to hate. A f-in raw, visceral world with leviathan deep subtext. A story that gives you the shivers because it just keeps building, just keeps getting tighter.

Luckily I live in this world where I don't have to choose...