Want some blatant stereotypical fantasy.

[Glelas]

After a string of great, heavy, gritty reads: Abercrombie, Erikson, Bakker, Martin, Rothfuss, Lynch, Donaldson et al. I am looking for some stereotypical fantasy swill which I may have missed.

I have read the obvious - Tolkien, Eddings, Feist, Williams, McKiernan, Odom, Weiss - Hickman, Salvatore, Brooks, et al.

Are there any diamonds in the rough I may have missed whose story contain all the stereotypical elements of fantasy. I am in the mood for some good fun.


PS I have read the gray area ones as well: Jones, Bishop, Jordan et al.

[phil_geo]

Simon Green? Try Blue Moon Rising. Great read, although by the end it has grown beyond sterotypical fantasy. The subsequent Fisher and Hawk adventures are much more sterotypical and also enjoyable.

<edit:> Oh! And early Thieves' World was pretty good and very sterotypical.

[Physics Knight]

Though not really a novel, you could give The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Dianna Wayne Jones a try. It's like an encyclopedia of all the fantasy cliches. It is very amusing and worthwhile for any fantasy fan, imo.

[Optimutt]

I don't know how much you like humor mixed in with your fantasy, but I have three recommendations.

Discworld - the series by Terry Pratchett. Great reads.
Goblin Quest - by Jim C. Hines. I just finished the first of 3 books, and it's a hoot.
Piers Anthony.

Between the three of them, there are about 50 books give or take a dozen. All have very traditionalist Fantasy elements with a heavy dallop of humor.

[bossfan2000]

I seem to like ONLY the stereotypical stuff nowadays, which is obvious by the reviews on my site. I try to branch out, but the stuff that tries to distance itself from the "tropes" i just cant seem to get into.

Here are a few series i liked in the last year or two:
The Obsidian Trilogy - Lackey and Mallory
The DragonCrown War Cycle - Michael Stackpole
Winds of the Forelands - David B Coe

[Severn]

Sara Douglass, Janny Wurts, and Jane Welch might work for you. Oh and Maggie Furey's The Artefacts of Power is stock-standard, and a fun read too. (Four books in that series, first being Aurian).

[Bluestar]

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon is stereotypical fantasy with elves, dwarves and all that. Some say she was inspired heavily from Dungeon and Dragons.

It's about a young woman that flee her family and arranged engagement to join a mercenary company.

[Severn]

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon is stereotypical fantasy with elves, dwarves and all that. Some say she was inspired heavily from Dungeon and Dragons.

It's about a young woman that flee her family and arranged engagement to join a mercenary company.

I'm reading that now, and liking it muchly.

[SteveF]

Dave Dunca's Kings Blades series is pretty good. Well sketched, well paced, reasonably stereotypical fantasy. Start with The Gilded Chain.

[Arrgh]

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

[algernoninc]

I found Greg Keyes - Kingdom of Thorn and Bone pretty full of fantasy cliches - mostly in character development, the worldbuilding may be original, but I wouldn't put keyes on the same league with the heavyweights you mentioned.

[Rob B]

Winds of the Forelands - David B Coe

This series has been on my radar since I saw the first book. I heard it was a bit better than the typical run-of-the-mill stuff.

[bossfan2000]

This series has been on my radar since I saw the first book. I heard it was a bit better than the typical run-of-the-mill stuff.

I liked it a lot, though i never saw much (any) discussion about it on any of the forums. I was pretty happy to hear there is a follow-up series, with the first book due out in a couple of weeks. I am hoping that means more people read about the Forelands than I thought.

[Gear]

Fire of Heaven trilogy by Russell Kirkpatrick

The Three Worlds Series by Ian Irvine

Saga of Recluce by L.E Modesitt

[bossfan2000]

Fire of Heaven trilogy by Russell Kirkpatrick

Is this the trilogy that is coming out here in the US starting Jan 1, 2008? I am really looking forward to this one. The series sounds like exactly the type of fantasy I like, and makes we wish my blog was popular enough to get me early copies of books, so i could read all 3 right away

I have been meaning to start a thread about the Kirkpatrick trilogy, just to ask if anyone here has read it.