[Rob B]

Figured I'd start another suggestion/recommendation topic, but with a bit of a twist of thinking.

This topic will be a place to compare different books or series that you have read with series or books that explore similar themes or tropes of the fantasy genre.

I guess the best way to describe what the purpose of this topic is is to give a few examples.

If you like the other-wordly magic, book-within-a book type story of The Little Country by Charles de Lint, you might like the dark, subtle magic of a book-within-a-bookness of Jonathan Carroll's Land of Laughs.

If you enjoyed Orson Scott Card's magic-ing and re-imagining of early America in The Tales of Alvin Maker you might like J. Gregory Keyes' Age of Unreason. Both series take an interesting look at the early days of America and employ an intersting dichotomy of good v. evil

So, let's see what everybody else can come up with.

C'mon, be a bit more creative than if you like Brooks then try Feist!

One of the two books/series compared has to be fantasy though, other than that type away!

[JohnH]

This is a tough one and a topic I generally avoid. First because I usually do not take recommendations. Secondly I find that while a person may love someone I also love, they turn around and adore someone I detest. Or vice versa. Not that eclecticism is not a good thing. Just that tastes can be so incredibly bizarre sometimes when looking at them from the outside.

But here goes.

If you like Melanie Rawn, you might want to try Joane Bertin's Last Dragonlord series. It was very similar yet not so in a way that you felt she was just copying.

If you like Guy Gavriel Kay, I suggest Patricia McKillip. You will not get the same type of story. But you will get rich prose and an approach to magic that is deft, sublte and masterful.

If you like Anne Bishop, you might want to try Jane Routley or Jacqualine Carey. Both
have a much more mature tone to them and the plotline is a bit more sensible and absorbing. Even if you did not like Anne Bishop, try these authors. I would also suggest Carey for those who like Tanith Lee, Storm Constantine, Clive Barker or Anne Rice.
Frankly I suggest that everyone like Carey as she incorporates so many fantasy traits I like in others' works and makes them all her own.

[Shehzad]

Oooohhh--this made me think.

Now these maybe a stretch, but these are books I FELT were similar...

If you liked the gritty medieval action in GRRM's ASoIaF then you might like John Marco's Tyrants and Kings or Feist and Wurts' Empire Trilogy

If you liked Stephen Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever then I'd suggest you give Guy Gavriel Kay's The Fionavar Tapestry a shot...

And if you like action-oriented fantasy a la Dragonlance Chronicles but want more depth then you should try Michael Stackpole's Talion: Revenant or, even better, Matthew Woodring Stover's Heroes Die.

[This message has been edited by Shehzad (edited February 05, 2002).]

[Erebus]

Okay..if you like Donaldson's Mordant's Need you may also like to try Ian Irvine's The View From the Mirror quartet.

[Personal plug] And...if you like stories with a mirror-based theme, then may I also suggest that you may like my own Erebus Equilibrium trilogy.[/Personal plug]


[This message has been edited by erebus (edited February 05, 2002).]

[Mithfânion]

John, that's an interesting parallel. I really liked Bertin's first book, the Last Dragonlord. Perhaps that opens a door to Rawn after all http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

It's obvious that there's a Kay/Mc Killip connection, so I would certainly agree with that one. The authors are different and alike at the same time.

The connection between Fionavar and Donaldson also seems obvious.

I suppose that if one likes Hobb, Martin, Tolkien and from what I've gleaned sofar, Memory, sorrow and Thorn will be appreciated.

If you liked the Book of New Sun, there's a decent chance you might like Vance's Dying Earth books, or even the SF/Fantasy combo, the Coldfire trilogy.

[Sammie]

erebus, you can't get your books here. Or rather, you can,but amazon import them at great personal expense. So i will read them - once you've persuaded the guys here in the UK to publish them!

[This message has been edited by Sam82 (edited February 06, 2002).]

[Erebus]

Sorry abou that, Sam. Yes, I checked, and AmazonUK charge just under 9 pounds for the trade paperbacks, plus shipping. Is this excessive in comparison to locally produced books?

But, you can get all three books of the trilogy, specially priced, direct from the publisher's site, delivered via surface mail for a little under 26 pounds, if this helps any?

[Shadowen]

Hmmm - well if you like Guy Gavriel Kay, I would think you'll like Sean Russell (the Swans War books anyway - haven't read anything else)! Both authors have luscious prose (and similar settings) imo!

[Warewolf]

If you like George Martin, then you might like Melanie Rawn. Lots of politics and action, huge casts, the authors aren't afraid to kill of main characters, vividly imagined worlds, and great characters. Rawn may not be quite as epic as Martin, but she's equally enjoyable (IMHO http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif )

[Lani]

I like neither, but somehow I noticed that people who like David Eddings often enjoy Terry Goodkind. Since those seem to me quite similar in atmosphere.