[Elemental]

Hi, the books that i really enjoyed reading were the black magicians trilogy by trudi canavan. they are easy to get into but are still complex, and they are full of magic and excitement. i highly recommend them!:D

[The Phoenix]

i've heard of those, what are they about? i'm sure they've been mentioned here before, but that would mean going through far too many pages...:rolleyes:

[U-Borat]

Trudi Canavan writes poorly. Very poorly.

One to avoid if appreciate fine writing.
But it's a pretty good yarn for teens.

Barclay is good.

But people on this forum need to read some of fantasy's pioneers apart from Tolkien- Moorcock, Leiber, Howard, Zelazny, Vance etc.

Oh, and read Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Paksennarion. Probably THE most underrated book ever.

[Elemental]

i've heard of those, what are they about? i'm sure they've been mentioned here before, but that would mean going through far too many pages...:rolleyes:

the story is about how a young thief called sonea becomes a very powerful magician. at the beginning of the books sonea soon realizes that she has magical powers, and is then hunted by the magicians guild (a university of magicians) the plot takes many unexpected twists throughout all 3 books(The Magicians Guild,The Novice and The High Lord)and they are told from different characters points of view. i enjoyed reading them but they might not be everyones cup of tea! :D

[Bridie]

Nightsorrow your reccs have been added to my list. Right after james barclay.

DONT EVER buy a cecilia dart thorton book. i bought one the other day and ughh far too much describtion. it was very boring. such a waste of money!

[StarLily]

what books has cecilia dart thorton wrote?? just out of curiousity... :p :D

[U-Borat]

She's written the Bitterbynde Trilogy, and she's writing the Crowthistle Chronicles- currently up to book 3, I think.

And the worst bit, I've wasted about 10 hours of my life, as I've read all of them. :(

I have loads of recommendations, Bridie. :D

Seeing as Martin is your favourite, we'll do it by a Martin-scale.

As good as martin:

Erikson, Bakker, Moon, Vance(heavy influence on martin's work), Leiber, moorcock, Zelazny, Gene Wolfe, Tolkein

Almost as good as Martin:

Keyes, Glen Cook, Matthew Stover, Tad Williams, Robert Howard, China Mieville, mary Gentle, Stephen Donaldson

A niche down from Martin:

Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson, Daniel Abraham (highly praised by Martin btw), Susanna Clarke, Jacqueline Carey, Guy Gavriel Kay

As to James Barclay, he's probably either at the lower half of "a niche down from Martin" to the higher half of the next level.

There's probably more, but I'm too lazy to check ATM.

[Bridie]

Thanks NS! Ill be broke by the time im done reading all that. not to mention considerable older!! :P You seem to have missed off Hobb who i think is up to a Martinesque standard. Should i take this to mean you dont like Hobb or that youve not read?

[StarLily]

haha thanks too! :D

[U-Borat]

Hobb minus Soldier Son= Almost as good as Martin.

Soldier Son=offal.

A few more interesting authors- KJ Parker, Empire trilogy by Feist and Wurts, Magician by Feist, Jeff Vandermeer, Lynn Flewelling, Alan Campbell, Ricardo Pinto.

Oh, and I just forgot Brian Ruckley's Winterbirth. Which is either as good as Martin, or almost as good as Martin.

Give a holla if you need any elaboration.

EDIT:

Forgot to say, don't take my word on it.
I take zero obligation should my recommendations fail to meet the required standard. :)
Check around on reviews, sffworld, and maybe borrow it from the library before you take my word for it.