What is your opinion?

J

jbcohen

Wildrunner
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Nov 13, 2001
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What is your oppinion.

I have been away from the fantasy genre of novels for some time now and come back on occasion. There is one question I would like to get input on. I am addicted to action novels where the plot moves along at a very fast pace and characters seem to never sit down of more then a second at a time. I have not been able to find a fantasy book(s) that seem to fit this characteristic. I have been looking elsewhere outside the fantasy genre for books that feed this addiction. Some fantasy novels I have read where one can read half of the book and nothing really happens.

What is your suggestion for novels where the characters seem to never sit down and action is more of the theme of the novel(s)?
 
Definitely Conan. The book are mostly collections of short stories of one crazy encounter after another, so the pace is naturally very fast.
 
You could check out "Heroes Die" by Matthew Woodring Stover... it's an extremely good book, and there is most definately quite a bit of action!
 
I'd suggest Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series. The heroine does occasionally stop to catch some sleep, but the stories are pretty much all action from beginning to end. Sex plays an important role in the plots and the sexual content of the series seems to be increasing due to a big plot arc she's got going, but if you don't mind that sort of thing, :), then she's the most action-packed fantasy I've read in awhile. Start with the first book in the series, Guilty Pleasures.
 
Originally posted by jbcohen
who writes the conan books? I think its Robert Jordan.
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Robert E Howard did them originally as pulp novels in th 1920s/30s- still the better ones
 
Yep Howard did the orignals but other authors have written new ones as well. RJ has written seven Conan books. have not read the Howard ones so can't comment on them.
 
Have you read all of Jordan's? I'm guessing you have. I read one, and it was okay, but I hoped for something better.
 
Yep. They arn't as good as a WoT book but they are a good light fun read.
 
ok, who else writes the novels? I don't care for Robert Jordan's writting. I have read his Wheel of Time series.
 
From a quick search on amazon:

Robert E. Howard (the origianl author)
Conan of Venarium by Harry Turtledove
Conan and the Spider God by L. Sprague De Camp
Conan: The Sword of Skelos by Andrew Offut
Sagas of Conan by Lin Carter

Oh and th RJ conan books are written completely different to his WoT books. So imo you can't judge them on his WoT work.
 
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Robert Jordan's Conan books are dire (for obvious reasons). Don't know about the others.
 
how bout Dave Duncan then.. read Paragon Lost a few days back and loved it
 
I'll assume that you've already read all of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd & Gray Mouser collections. And all of Moorcock's Elric collections.

And since I'm assuming that, then I have to say Matt Stover is your best bet for hard-hitting, all-out action fantasy. HEROES DIE is an action movie in prose.

--gabe chouinard
hypermode
 
Originally posted by kahnovitch
Definitely Conan. The book are mostly collections of short stories of one crazy encounter after another, so the pace is naturally very fast.
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As I recall, all of Howard's Conan tales were, indeed, short stories, and all (or at least most) were published in Weird Tales (a seminal magazine of the fantastic published roughly between 1923 through 1953).

This link contains more information:

http://www.barbariankeep.com/conan.html

Note that I really can't vouch for the site's contents - I checked just now to see if it's still online and it is - but that's about it.

Conan was mauled by comics and a few movies - and somewhat cuddled to death by a few well-meaning writer-fans like L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter.

I'm not sure about more modern writers like Jordan, but I'd be very surprised if those managed to do Howard justice.

In other words, if you're at all interested in Conan, I'd strongly recommend reading Conan - by which I mean Howard.

Getting back to the original question: yes, these are action stories, though written some time ago (sixty years or so) and dated, both in a positive and negative way. Hardly the short of recommendation you seem to be looking for (depending, of course, on how long you've drifted away from fantasy ;) ).

If you'd like a more modern (and intricate) slant on action-packed fantasy, I'd recommend Steve Erickson. However, you should know what you're embarking on: Erickson might be packed to the gills with action, but he's also very convoluted and, simply put, difficult. Very, very worth while, but you have to keep those little brain cells ticking along at full throttle to be able to keep up with him.

If, alternatively, you'd like something just a little less ambitious, you could do a lot worse than Glen Cook's "Dark Company" series. Quick, smart and quirky - and yes, lots and lots of action. Humour, too, if occasionally a little on the grim side.
 
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