The New and Improved Recommendation - Fantasy / Horror

[coka_im_fine]

thank you so much for all your suggestions!! i will definitely start looking them up

i guess i also really like the "coming-of-age" theme, like in Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow, Diadem, Harry Potter. I donno if there is a more adult/mature version of something like that.

[PeterWilliam]

[I] guess i also really like the "coming-of-age" theme, like in Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow, Diadem, Harry Potter. I donno if there is a more adult/mature version of something like that.

Mmmm, maybe Hobb's Farseer trilogy or Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy.

[Sapph]

I'm struggling to put what I want into words, but I'll try and do so below.

I'm looking for a real page turner that keeps you hooked and interested the whole way through. I don't want the plot to be over complicated or dark, but that's not a necessity, just what I;m wanting to read right now (been reading a lot of heavy, dark, broody books lately. I also would like to rule out any incomplete series, I'm really looking for soemthing I can breeze through without waiting for the next installment (so not GRRM )

I guess you could say I'm looking for books in a similar vein to Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy, most David Gemmell books, Michael J Sullivan's books, Garth Nix Abhorsen series (I know this is YA!).

But I'd like to avoid really overdone and cheesy plots like Eragon, Shannara etc.

Books I've read and enjoyed

The First Law (I know this is dark, but it's EXACTLY the sort of book I'm looking for in every other way)
Night Angel Trilogy
Sorrow's Light (standalone by Freda Warrington)
Lies of Locke Lamora
Neverwhere
Abhorsen series
Riyria Revelations (Sullivan)
Shadows of the Apt
Harry Potter ( know the plot is cheesy, but I liked it )
Tigana

That enough info for you?

Bold text = Best matches I can think of

[Liane Merciel]

I think in order for something to truly "creep you out" in a way that successful horror books do, I think it would have to play on your real life fears, cultural taboos, etc. For that to happen, I think the fantasy world would have to at least resemble our own world in some sense, in order to strike those chords of fear in the reader.

Would love to get an authors perspective on this, and whether or not they think it's possible to successfully marry classical fantasy and horror.

Anything is possible in fantasy. That's why it's fantasy. Creating horror isn't much different from creating any other emotion... which doesn't mean it's easy, just that there's no intrinsic reason it can't be done in fantasy.

Here's one way to approach it:

(1) Start with realistic, convincing characters in a realistic, convincing setting. The closer to reality this is, the easier it is to pull off, but it can be weird as long as it's consistent. The point is to establish what the rules of the world are, so that it's disturbing when something comes along that breaks them.

(2) Demonstrate that there are real threats to the characters: they can die, and if they die, they don't come back... or better yet, they come back wrong. Lady Stoneheart in ASOIAF is a great example. A lot of ASOIAF, actually, has touches of horror. It isn't a sustained mood because that isn't the point of the story, but when GRRM wants to use horror for effect, he does so very well.

The point here is to show that the characters do not have a magical Get Out of Jail Free card for every occasion. Low-magic settings work best, I think, but if the characters do have magic it should be clear that they can't wave a wand and turn Cthulhu into a nice pink bunny.

(3) Create a truly monstrous threat. It should be mysterious, seemingly unstoppable, and impossible to reason with. It can be either a Terror Inside -- like a werewolf, where the horror comes from the character being transformed into a monster -- or a Terror Outside, where the horror comes from some alien will being imposed on the character.

In either case it should be at least partly unexplained: once a thing is fully understandable, it's not as scary, and you start shifting moods from horror to action-adventure. I think that one of the big reasons vampires and werewolves aren't as effective in horror anymore is because we all know their "rules." Grab some holy water or silver bullets and you're set.

(4) Show what happens when the threat hits the characters. It should be ugly.

(5) Show how the characters react. This should be, at least initially, with despair and terror. If they react with swords and wisecracks, then you're back to action-adventure rather than horror.

(6) Resolve.

I think you're right that it is easier to generate horror in a contemporary Earth setting, but I don't see any reason why it couldn't be done in a classic sword and sorcery setting.

[PeterWilliam]

I'm struggling to put what I want into words, but I'll try and do so below.

Sapph,

It's not a series, but you might be interested in Michael A. Stackpole's Talion: Revenant.

[Sapph]

Sapph,

It's not a series, but you might be interested in Michael A. Stackpole's Talion: Revenant.

That sounds good Peter Thanks for the suggestion! I'm not particularly looking for a series, standalone or a series doesn't matter to me as long as it's a good read, so thanks

[Twinner]

I would suggest Best Served Cold by Abercrombie (author of First Law series).
I was looking for something gritty and page-turning and folks here recommended it to me. I just finished it and thought it was amazing!
The good part of GRRM being such a slow writer is that I have found lots of good reads while I wait. Just started Lies of Locke Lamora.
Roy

[superreader]

some very good suggestions here... time to pick up a new book

[Shayna]

thank you so much for all your suggestions!! i will definitely start looking them up

i guess i also really like the "coming-of-age" theme, like in Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow, Diadem, Harry Potter. I donno if there is a more adult/mature version of something like that.

I was reading some of the fine suggestions everyone has made. may I? How about Dragon Wing! It is the beginning of the Death Gate cycle books(7 in all) My daughter had read them and suggested them for me. I really did enjoy them all!

One other suggestion might be Tad Williams' memory, Sorrow and Thorn. it is a coming of age story about Simon. I truly enjoyed this trilogy as many others here have also! Have fun!

[Seak]

thank you so much for all your suggestions!! i will definitely start looking them up

i guess i also really like the "coming-of-age" theme, like in Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow, Diadem, Harry Potter. I donno if there is a more adult/mature version of something like that.

I would say The Warded Man. It's kind of a coming of age theme, but done a bit differently and more adult but not too adult . Loved the book.

[beopposed]

Hello! I'm new to the forums, and I've gotten quite a few recommendations from this thread, but I'd like to have some more personalized recommendations .

I'm currently reading Glen Cook's The Black Company, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm also reading The Blade Itself, and I just finished Stone of Tears, book 2 in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

Goodkind's novels are a bit too cliche for me, however, and I find myself gravitating to the darker side of fantasy, like The Black Jewels Trilogy and The Black Company. Goodkind's characters are just too good to be believable, and although his stories wrap up nicely I just find myself facepalming throughout the story at the ridiculous dialogue.

In short, I'm looking for a fantasy novel that isn't contrived at all. Something that obviously took a lot of thought and makes you just say "WOW" at the end.

What would be the best for me? Guy Gavriel Kay, Zelazny, or Erikson? Or what? Thanks in advance!

[DurzoBlint]

Hello! I'm new to the forums, and I've gotten quite a few recommendations from this thread, but I'd like to have some more personalized recommendations .

I'm currently reading Glen Cook's The Black Company, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm also reading The Blade Itself, and I just finished Stone of Tears, book 2 in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

Goodkind's novels are a bit too cliche for me, however, and I find myself gravitating to the darker side of fantasy, like The Black Jewels Trilogy and The Black Company. Goodkind's characters are just too good to be believable, and although his stories wrap up nicely I just find myself facepalming throughout the story at the ridiculous dialogue.

In short, I'm looking for a fantasy novel that isn't contrived at all. Something that obviously took a lot of thought and makes you just say "WOW" at the end.

What would be the best for me? Guy Gavriel Kay, Zelazny, or Erikson? Or what? Thanks in advance!

The obvious choice every one will tell you is George RR Martin's ASOIAF (A Song of Ice and Fire) it starts with Game of Thrones.

But there are a few others that are very good as well:

James Barclay's The Raven series starts with DawnThief
Michael J Sullivan's The Riyria Revelations series starts with The Crown Conspiracy
Brian Ruckley's Godless World series starts with Winterbirth
Richard Morgan- The Steel Remains
Standalone- James Grossbart's The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

[beopposed]

Thank you for the recommendations

I've read A Song of Ice and Fire, and I love it, so I guess you hit the nail on the head, hehe.

[Nausikaa]

Hi!
Well, I haven't posted much before, but I've just hit a blank stretch where I don't know what I should read, and so I come asking for recommendations!

I really, really love high/epic fantasy, but what I'm looking for right now isn't one of those long serieses. I recently read The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, and Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy, and I'm really looking for fantasy like that. Can you reccommend any books with thieves or assassins, or dry humor? I've read so much of the dramatic, chosen-one, the-world-is-going-to-end novels that, while I still love them, I'm really itching to read something different for me.

I don't like urban fantasy for the most part, and while I do like many of the novels in this "dark, gritty" theme that seems to be pretty common now, I don't want to read a book all about depression and hopelessness and loss. I want something amusing and fascinating, and before the novels I mentioned I had never really read anything about thieves and assassins in fantasy and I find I want to read more.

Any other novels you could recommed would be great, too.

Some other novels I have read, and my oppinions to help:

The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series: I really liked this, it seems to get better as it goes on, while it is really confusing at times (just finnished House of Chains)

ASOIAF: Loved this also, though there was a lot of, well, unhappy and hopeless times.

Shannara: Ok, I read this in middle school, but I loved it then! It was my first intoduction to fantasy.

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb: I know this is a well-loved book on this site, but I just...really didn't like it. There was practically nothing good (by this I mean for the charecters) or happy in this novel, or series (I read through the second then gave up), too much beating down of the main charecter. It was too depressing, I kept reading only in the hope that something good would happen, but it never did.

Other books would be...I loved Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy, Jaqueline Caery's Kushiel trilogy, the Pellinor series by Alison Croggon, Dragonlance (again, from middle school), the Dark Elf Trilogy by Salvatore, Empire in Black and Gold (forgot the author right now, but I'm on the second in the series), Tigana (was pretty good) by Kay, and that's just about everything I can think of right now.

I also really love beautiful, or poetic writing, such as that in the Pellinor series, and LOTR.

Since I'm probably a bit unclear in the post, I'll list really fast here what I'm looking for (I don't mean all in the same book, of course).

1. Assassins or thieves
2. Amusing novels, specifically dry or sarcastic humor
3. Beautiful writing

So, any suggestions?

(sorry if this is really long.)

[vangel]

Has anyone read "Seventh Son" by Orson Scott Card? The book was nominated for the World Fantasy Award and Hugo Award back in 1988. Is this book worthwhile?