[molybdenum]

This has probably been a thread before, but I can't find it so I'll ask the question.

What are the best type of titles for fantasy books. Personally, I like the titles such as the book I'm reading now, The Darkness that Comes Before because it is obscure until you get to a point in the book, where the title makes a ton of sense and has everything to do with the plot of the book. The discovery of this is exciting.

On the other hand you have books, such as Crossroads of Twilight where the title has very little to do with the title of the book, and Elantris or The Book of Joby where the title only names the main subject of the book. What does everybody like in a title?

[Michigan]

I hardly ever pay attention to the title of a book. Half the time I don't even know the title of what i am reading at the time. For instance, right now I am reading Perdido Street Station. It's the first book by Meville (sp?) I have ever read so the title sticks in my mind. When I get around to other books by him I will think of them as simply other books by the guy who wrote Perdido Street Station.

[ben1xy]

I hardly ever pay attention to the title of a book. Half the time I don't even know the title of what i am reading at the time. For instance, right now I am reading Perdido Street Station. It's the first book by Meville (sp?) I have ever read so the title sticks in my mind. When I get around to other books by him I will think of them as simply other books by the guy who wrote Perdido Street Station.

It's somewhat similar to me. However i like trilogies or longer. Most of the time, the only thing i can recall would be the name of the trilogy

[Power to the J]

I think that the titles in Stephen King's Dark Tower series are all pretty good. I like The Lies of Locke Lamora as well, along with the title of any book by Robin Hobb :D. Coincidentally, I loved all of the books that went with the title as well.

[Hobbit]

I'm going to quote Isaac Asimov here.

'To my way of thinking, a title is an integral part of a story... It is the essence of a good title, in my opinion, that it means more after you have completed the story than before you started it. If that is not true, then either the title or the story, or both, is trivial.' (Asimov: What makes a good title.)

Agree?

Mark / Hobbit

[suciul]

A good title attracts my attention, while a bad one makes me cringe. A title should somehow conveys some of the "essence" of the book since for most books that is the first and only thing I notice about them since I rarely read a blurb of an unknown book if the title does not attract me.

Example of titles that made me consider a book of a new (for me) author

The Somnambulist, Icarus, Recursion, Angel Stations, The Golden Age, The Meaning of Night, Napoleon's Pyramids, The Pope's Rhinoceros, The Quincunx, The Fermata, Leviathan 3, Arts and Wonders, The Inquest, In Kithairon's Shadow, The Twelfth Vulture of Romulus, The Divinity Student, Cloud Atlas...

[xvart]

Agree?

I completely agree. I couldn't think of a better way to described it, either. I guess that's why I haven't published a book in every single category of the dewy decimal system.

xvart.

[Fred Gallney]

The best titles for me are those that capture my attention and I "want" to read them. Such is the nature of things. :cool:

Fred :cool: