Rank your top 3 fantasy series

[Neilcoffey]

1. His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.

I loved the language and the worlds created, as well as the dark theology throughout. Favorite characters: Lyra, Mrs. Coulter, and Iorek Byrnison

2. Madeleine L'engle's Quintet series beginning with "A Wrinkle in Time"

I loved the concepts, the travelling, the deeper messages, and the strong characterizations of all.

3. Chronicles of Narnia Series -all except for "the horse and his boy because I haven't read it" C.S. Lewis

I liked them originally because I used to be a christian and so it delighted me to open them up and to see all of the Biblical pictures and comparisons. After my sort of reverse redemption I have decided I still adore them simply because I love Aslan, and Reepicheep, and Caspian, and yes, even Edmund.

The only fantasy I have truly read so far has been children's fantasy because when I was a kid I read everything in site and then when I grew up I kind of stopped. And now I don't have access to a library and am poorer than a churchmouse. But as soon as I move and hopefully have access to a library again I want to start reading adult fantasy.


Out of the adult fantasy I have read :
A song of Ice and Fire - first 2 books
About 5 books out of the Anita Blake series
3 books from the Mercy Jackson? She's a shapeshifting coyote mechanic who was raised by wolves?

Thanks. I like "A song of Ice and Fire".

[chris777]

This has been done a million times here, but why not again?!

1. First Law Trilogy - Joe Abercrombie
2. Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
3. Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson & ICE

[Shadowcharge]

1. "The Lord of the Rings" (sorry, but it's true)
2. Tad Williams's "The Dragon Bone Chair" series
3. Pier Anthony's Xanth books, but only up to about the 8th book, "Crewel Lye," after which he gets rather... perverted. lol

And a very close 4th is the series I'm finishing up now, Julian May's Saga of the Pliocene. It's beautiful.

[ShandaLear]

For sheer re-readability:

Pratchett's Discworld
Moon's Paksenarrion
Rawn's Dragonprince

[Heather Myst]

1. Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin - Even though the series is not finished it sets the bar for every other book that I read. What sets it apart for me is the fact that even when I am not reading the books I still think about them.

2. Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind - I know you hate this and I must say I am a little upset thinking that some of my money went to grooming his pony tail ( before he went bald) but I love the whole Richard/Kahlan relationship and several of his other characters especially the Mord-Sith.

3. Second Sons trilogy by Jennifer Fallon - I loved the fact that the hero of the story used his brains instead of magic to solve his problems.

I really wish this was a top five because I feel bad not being able to mention Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria series or any of the Joe Abercrombie books.

[Agassizii]

1. Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
2. Riftwar Saga - Raymond Feist
3. Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

[Twinner]

1) GRRM ASoIaF

2) Abercrombie First Law (But I liked Best Served Cold more than any of the trilogy!)

3) King - Dark Tower Series

Honorable Mention- Mistborn, Dresden Files, Gentlemen Bastards, Wheel of Time (I'm back in now that Sanderson took over)

Hall of Shame- Sword of Truth

[mshnd06]

1) Riddlemaster by McKillip
2) Amber by Zelazny
3) Middle-earth by Tolkien

Honorable Mention: Thursday Next by Fforde

[rx8]

In no particular order ...

1. Farseer - Hobb. I really like her writing style.
2. Kingkiller Chronicle - Rothfuss. There is not alot of action in the books
and it surprises me how much I enjoy them.
3. Song of Ice and Fire - Martin. Fantastic world.

[symbolhunter]

The Middle Earth trilogy--J. R. R. Tolkien
The Chronicles of Narnia--C.S.Lewis
The Darkangel trilogy--Meredith Ann Pierce

Honourable Mention:
His Dark Materials sequence by Philip Pullman
The original Earthsea trilogy--Ursula LeGuin {I think the later novels don't work as well}
The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander
The Dark Is rising sequence by Susan Cooper

[End Of Disc One]

1. The Malazan Book of the Fallen
2. The Wheel of Time
3. A Song of Ice and Fire

You can tell I like the big epic stuff.

[C-1]

1. The Wheel of Time

2. The Dark Tower

3. Malazan book of the Fallen

[bearcatmark]

1. ASOIAF- Martin
2. Bas Lag- Mieville (not a series in the traditional sense, but love those books).


As for the others I am not sure...of the completed stuff probably First Law (though I liked Best Served Cold more and you could include that in the same sense you include the Bas Lag books together). Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles and Lynch's Gentleman Bastards have also been a ton of fun so far. I wish they'd come out more regular. I am still waiting to jump into Malazan.

[sullivan_riyria]

1. Lord of the Rings - great characters, drew me in, made me fall in love with reading and dream of being a writer
2. Harry Potter - because at the time in my life when I bought the series I had become a bit worn out by years of sticking to "award winning" (Pulitzer etc) novels that were great from a prose standpoint, but not fun to read. I started reading the first book out of boredom and the first thought that came to mind was, "Ah yes! This is what what I remember about loving fantasy! Adventure, great characters, interesting setting. It spurred in me the desire to write again.
3. Dresden Files - because a lot of the current fantasy is just a bit too dark and gritty for my taste. I read fantasy for escapist entertainment and Dresden has a lot of that 'fun feel' that whisks me away and a character that I love to hang out with.

[Rexington]

Malazan by Erickson- It is my favorite, but it is also the only series I may never re-read. I don't have the time and I have such a long to-read pile.

Empire by Feist/Wurts- I absolutely love this series. It is a terrific world and the main character drew me in almost immediately

Mistborn by Sanderson- It may not be the deepest, but it sure is fun.

The next two series that I will be reading are The Prince of Nothing by Bakker and Nightangel by Weeks. Those might change my list some