[helenf]

I have a number of colleagues who read but who have never read, or wanted to read fantasy. A few have read books like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, but it's never occurred to them to read any further into the genre. Now they're asking me for recommendations. I've been told I can buy these books (not with my money!), so I need one set, rather than individual lists for each person.

I need a very short list of books - maybe 2-4 - that I can recommend/buy. Ideally I'd like female focused, fairly accessible reads. They can be in a series, but if they are should still be a satisfying read if someone is only going to read one. I don't need all plots to be tied up, but rather than someone put the book down and say 'it ended in the middle, what's the point?' etc, I'd rather they said 'what a great fantasy book, I can see why that would make people want to read more.'

I'd probably prefer the books to be ones that are easily available today, published within the last ten years or so (rather than classsics) and also by authors that are relatively successful in the fantasy field, so that I can say 'this is what sells today' (bear in mind I still want good books - dreadful books that sell anyway are not welcome :) ).

I was thinking along the lines of maybe the first Robin Hobb Liveship book, and also Lynn Flewelling's 'The Bone Doll's Twin.'

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

[BenIII]

Is there any particular reason the recommendations should be "female"?

[Erfael]

Patricia McKillip's books sell fairly well, and they're usually very good. Look through some of them at Amazon and see which might be appealing. She's been writing for 30 years, but has plenty of recent works, all beautifully written.


Also, I would probably reccomend Charles de Lint, almost any of the Newford books. A lot of female leads here. Some of these are better than others, and there are probably other people here who could tell you better what's what there.


Neil Gaiman -- Coraline is very good, as is American Gods. If you're looking for something a little on the silly side, he did a collaboration with Terry Pratchett called Good Omens that a lot of people I know have read and just adored.


Ask around the board here for some Jonathan Carroll recs. He's on my to-read list as someone that would be great, but I haven't gotten to any of them yet myself.


Also, a lot of people like MArion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, a female character oriented retelling of the Arthur legend that is much more oriented in reality than many of the mythical tellings of the tale. The conflict between the old gods and the new Christianity is interesting in this one.


That's a few off the top of my head. Hopefully that's a start for you. I stayed away from the fat fantasy authors because I don't think that's the way to get people interested in the genre. Even the Liveship Traders, as much as I love Hobb, isn't something I would give to someone to get them interested. And The Bone Doll's Twin definitely isn't finished at the end. That has one of the biggest cliffhangers I've seen in some time, though it's also an excellent book.


Keep us updated on what you decide.

[gswahla]

A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin, though only half of the series has been published.

Apart from that I would suggest Magician and possibly the Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist, Robin Hobbs Farseer Trilogy....cant think of much esle...

oh also Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

[Erfael]

gswahla, I disagree. They're all good books, but I don't think the way to get someone interested in a genre is to dump a several-thousand page committment on them. I think it best to get them interested with self-contained, stand-alones, then if they're interested they can branch out into the fat fantasy. If someone doesn't already know the genre, I think it would be quite a turn off to have all of the long stuff dumped into their laps. People who read general fiction aren't used to reading several thousand pages to get a complete story. Most general fiction are standalones of reasonable length, and I think it best to allow someone to approach something new from familiar ground.

[Hobbit]

Jonathan Carroll is strange; I love The Land of Laughs which has one of the best descriptions of a bibliophile I ve ever read, but possibly might put people not used to the genre off with the ending, which is odd.

Agree with Erf on this one - we need something short, accessable, and needs a hook to make them read more - no problem! :rolleyes: :D

With that in mind, wouldn't Assassin's Apprentice be better than the Liveships? (Not a female lead though, I know!)

Another option might be something like the Legends/Legends II books, which are short stories (short!) but give you a range of authors - could be used as a sampler (if you don't like this one, try this, sort of thing).

Haven't read them myself but Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters series might be an option here. Any Forumites who've read them care to speak up?

I'll have a think and come back.

Last point: helenf's from London, so it's got to be something easy to get in the UK - unlike the rest of us poor souls who already have the bug, they're probably not going to wait a week for it to arrive from abroad!

Hobbit - who for a change hasn't mentioned Ash - A Secret History because he's being good, and also because it's not for the faint hearted!

[Iskaral Pust]

Haven't read them myself but Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters series might be an option here. Any Forumites who've read them care to speak up?

Can't help but feel that I'm the only person here who's read them. Very good and I would reccomend them to anyone. There's a topic about her where I posted fuller comments so if anyone's interested do a search for her name.

Also I'll add Kristen Britain's Green Rider and perhaps some of David Gemmell's books could be considered. (Legend and Waylander esspecially)

[kegasaurus]

I'd suggest, and I know I'll take some flak for this, Daggerspell by Katherine Kerr. The first book can be read as a stand alone, even though you will know that it doesn't tell the full story. It confuses some, but if you make sure that your friends have a look at the incarnations and make sure that the story goes through generations, rather than moments. It has a strong bisexual (not in a sexual sense, but in the onmiescence) lead and will captivate and hook.

[Hobbit]

Thanks, Iskaral - here's the link (http://www.sffworld.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6016) but there are others.

Yes, keg - I thought of Katharine Kerr too. The reason I didn't put it down is because I thought the first was OK, but not fantastic - the series improves as it goes along, IMO.

Hobbit

[AuntiePam]

How about Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay -- I loaned this one to a friend who wasn't into fantasy and she liked it very much. It's a stand-alone and not terribly long.

I'd second Erfael's recommendation for The Mists of Avalon. It might not be "great" fantasy but it could hook somebody, easy.