[dura]

I like fantasy, but after reading hundreds (started when I was 12, am 41 now) of them it gets alittle bit borting, all those Eddings-books "Orcs in the south, desperate situation, find orb cure queen blah blah blah!" or all that PMS-women of Jordan, yech!
So I was very happy to discover Sean Russell.
Completely new genre of fantasy, very mature, very well written, excellent plot- and character develeopment.
Try "beneath the vaulted hills" and its three sequels, great stuff.

[Zeddicus]

I haven't heard of him. Care to write a short summary of his first book in the series? http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif You've definately got me interested.


btw
glad you could come on over
http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[dura]

O.k. but the important part is that mr Russell is a very good writer. The books are not like most full of action. Instead there is character development and suspension, intriques. The books handle about magic, but supernatural phenomenea are very few.
Sometimes I found these books to be closer to classic novels then to modern fantasy.

The books play in a sort of 16-centrury England, in a kind of parallel universe. Society and science are roughly the same though more friendly.
In the past there were mages, extremely powerfull men who lived long and were rather frightning.
Nowadays only one seem to be still alive, Eldrich. He is a secretive person, feared by everyone. It seems to be his main goal to rid the world completely of magic.
There are other fractions however, who seek for the old secrets. Most important is the church, for its own political reasons and a group of followers of a former mage-drop-out. In the first book these people meet during their searches. After that in the second book, we see more of Eldrich, and the story gets more fast paced. Book 3 and 4 were in fact published before beneath the vaulted hills, but should best be read afterwards.

[Zeddicus]

Everything but the setting kind of sounds similar to Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannarra. Have you read Brooks? If you have I was wondering if you've seen the similarities or if its just me.

It does sound like a good series to check out.

[Keyoke]

So, which book should we start off first? I am curious about the series, and may just pick it up tomorrow.. So, what order should I read it in?

Keyoke

[Sandy Price]

Dura. I called my local book store yesterday and ordered two paperbacks by Russell. My daughter will be here for Thanksgiving and I will share this writer with her. I don't even know which ones I ordered just two different ones. It is a pleasure to get off of politics for a while. Politics in the 90s is far more bizzare than Si-Fi. Thanks
Sandy

[Dejaxo]

I have read alot of Fantasy Novels. It is very Hard to say who is my alltime favorite Author, I don't think that I have A Favorite. But the most recent that I've read that I really enjoy is George R. R. Martin. His Song of Fire and Ice series is brilliant. The Character development and the plots and subplots really keep you reading past your bedtime. He makes all the characters real, the bad guys aren't always evil and foul, makes you kind of cheer for the bad guys (until you realize what your doing). On the flip side the so called good guys do some pretty vile and bad things. Great series and great Author would recomend to all.

[dura]

Zeddicus, it is not like Tery Brooks at all!
Frankly I do not find mr Brooks a gifted writer, his first Shannarra- book was alomst a (very bad) lord of the rings rewrite; two little men, a mighty sourceror, elves, dwarves. His landover novels are slightly better, though still so bad composed that afterwards they never give the feeling of having read a whole real book.
I have to admit that his books running with the demon/a knight of the word are much much better. Probably proofs writing can be leaned.
I hope I did not upset fans.

Keoke read them in this order:
Beneat the vaulted hills
The compass of the soul
World without end
Sea without a shore

Again, these are not slambam action books.

[pootie tat]

I have to agree with dura about Mr.Brooks, the sword of Shannarra was nothing more than a badly written rewrite of lord of the rings. after the first few chapters I found I even knew what would come next. I'm reading a new book right now, called wizard of the grove by Tanya Huff. it moves right along but i'd like to see more of the landscape. has any one else read this one?

[Sacorian]

I like fantasy, but after reading hundreds (started when I was 12, am 41 now) of them it gets alittle bit borting, all those Eddings-books "Orcs in the south, desperate situation, find orb cure queen blah blah blah!" or all that PMS-women of Jordan, yech!
So I was very happy to discover Sean Russell.
Completely new genre of fantasy, very mature, very well written, excellent plot- and character develeopment.
Try "beneath the vaulted hills" and its three sequels, great stuff.

Fantasy is a far broader Genre than most people give it credit for. Fair enough there is a lot of the same archtypes repeated (especially Post-Tolkein) but there are a lot of others that do not follow the trend

There's Robin Hobb for starters and all the old fantasy about Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummies etc., There The Chronicles of Narnia, The Iron Dragons Daughter, What about wind in the willows or Redwall? Harry Potter (fair enough not the first wizard school in history but still very innovative) and what about Science Fiction which is (as my Favorite Author Terry Pratchett would say) "Fantasy with Bolts on!"

what about shakespeare? who said Macbeth was not Fantasy
If your not picky you could try "Once more with footnotes by Terry Pratchett" there are a lot of interesting short stories in there