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r/Fantasy•
zeroRepent

Suggestions for fantasybooks as christmas gifts

Hi, Christmas is closing in really quickly and I am having problems figuring out what fantasybook to give to my brother. He, just like me is a big fan of a ton of different fantasy series. Any Suggestionts? Writers of books I know he enjoyed reading very much are Elisabeth Moon (Paksenarrion Saga), David Eddings (Belgarion Sag), Brent Weeks (Night Angel Trilogy), Robert Jordan (WHeel of time-series), as well as a lot of other series and authors. I am thinking about Oath of Fealty by Elisabeth Moon since it quite new and I dont think he have bought and/or read it. Is it a good read and therefore a good gift? Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

Posted Nov 26, 2010, 12:38 PM UTC

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Differentiate•

George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series is top notch. The first book is The Game of Thrones if I remember correctly.

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vizzle_•

You remember correctly.

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g00lan•

Haven't read anything of Elisabeth Moon, but your own idea seems very good and he would probably love it:)

I would suggest First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, a funny series that breaks away from some of the clichés in Fantasy. Packed with humor :) It also reminded me a little of Belgarion in the beginning. Picking out a crew and so on.

Next I would recommend Robin Hobbs Assassin's Apprentice. It's about a Bastard of a prince, becoming an Assasin for his King. It's a very rich world she has created, but read the wiki-page, better info there.

Third would be, Brandon Sandersons Elantris, mostly because he's finishing The Wheel of Time^^

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zeroRepentOP•

Thanks for the suggestions, tbh I forgot to mention Robin Hobb as one of his (and mine) beloved fantasy authors ^^

I enjoyed reading Mistborn (book one) and haven't read Elantris yet myself, though I've been thinking about reading it for ages since I've heard so much good things about, so I definitely will consider buying it for him!

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mistborn/r/Fantasy Best of 2014 Winner, AMA Author•

If you do read it, keep in mind that Elantris was my first published novel, so some of the writing is a little less polished than what you'll find in Mistborn. I think the story is solid, though.

I'm pretty sure Oath of Fealty is in the same world as the Paksenarrion trilogy, so you may want to consider grabbing that one first. I think Oath stands on its own, but does build upon the Paks books. (Which I think are quite good, though I haven't read the new one yet.)

Also, I'm going to second what thriceraven said below. If you or he haven't read any Kay, Tigana is all kinds of awesome and makes a great gift, since it's a stand-alone novel. (And, in my opinion, the standard by which all stand-alone epic fantasy books are judged.)

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doshiamit/r/Fantasy Best of 2012 Winner•

I thought Tigana was the best stand alone fantasy I had ever read until I read Under Heaven also by Kay. What a story.

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zeroRepentOP•

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, sadly my mom said that he ordered Oath of Fealty just recently, so thats out of the question now.

I tried to find a hardcoveredition (He more or less collects hardcover books) of Tigana but I couldn't find a store in sweden that had it. Still I think I will buy the pocket edition for myself.

So for now it seems like I will buy Elantris or The Way of Kings (as recommended by Robertjordanforever) for him, tha later seemed really awesome when I read about it at Wikipedia.

To be honest I doesn't need to be a stand-alone fantasy book, he introduced me to a lot of long-going series, I probably got worse grades when I was 13-18 or something because of that. If I can return the favour, I'll be more than happy (especially if it's a series that neither of us have read).

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mingdamirthless•

While anxiously waiting for Towers of Midnight to come out in ebook, I took a shot and read Elantris. Then Warbreaker. Now I'm at 88% of book three of Mistborn. (Don't tell me how it ends). I will have finished these in less than a month, which is a lot of reading for me. I liked them all, and the more I read, the better they got.

The point is, my impatience in waiting for ToM got me to read new fantasy books for the first time in several years. I figured I might as well read some more from this Sanderson guy, and I am glad I did. I guess the ebook delay worked out all the way around.

Good to see you on Reddit, and congrats on the awesome job you're doing on the WoT series. As someone who's been reading those books since the early 90's, it's nice to not only see the story finally being brought to a conclusion, but also to see it going out much like it came in. With a bang.

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minium11•

The name of the wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, is awesome and very well written.

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zeroRepentOP•

Yes, I have to agree, he is among " a lot of other series and authors" ^^ He and I was quite dissapointed when the second book of the series was delayed until 2011.

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minium11•

Well it's almost 2011, perhaps you could pre-order the sequel :D

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[deleted]•

I have some recommendations...

  • Michael Moorcock's Elric, Von Bek, Corum, and Hawkmoon novels.
  • Roger Zelazny's Amber novels.
  • Andy Remic's Clockwork Vampire novels
  • David Gemmell's Legend
  • China Mieville's Perdido Street Station
  • Neil Gaiman's American Gods
  • Stephen Brust's Vlad Taltos novels and To Reign in Hell
  • Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun
  • Glen Cook's novels of the Black Company
  • KJ Parker's Engineer Trilogy
  • Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart
  • Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold
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[deleted]•

Vlad Taltos novels == Amazing.

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[deleted]•

Elric, Corum and Hawkmoon are a YES. Zelazny's Amber series was quite good too. I haven't read the rest. Avoid Terry Brooks' Shannara series.

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[deleted]•

I refrained from mentioning The Sword of Sha-na-na and its sequels for a reason. :)

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[deleted]•

You are much wiser than I.

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thriceraven•

If he hasn't already read Guy Gavriel Kay he would like it. the Fionavar Tapestry and Ysabel aren't his best -- any of the others are great.

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Moyz32•

Totally. There are four or five brilliant books, if you haven't read them

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zeroRepentOP•

I haven't read any of his book, but I do believe my brother borrowed some of his books at the local library when he was younger. I will definitely consider it!

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thriceraven•

Read them! There are few who can build so rich a world and such human characters as Kay.

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undergarden•

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart is amazing.

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Robertjordanforever•

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind (forewarning--serious sadism. Still fantastic series!)

The Icewind Dale trilogy by Robert Jordan

Frankenstein series by Dean Koontz

Top of my head, but I know I enjoyed these kickass series

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[deleted]•

Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind (forewarning--serious sadism. Still fantastic series!)

Also, Goodkind goes full Randroid in book six of the series.

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Robertjordanforever•

Goddamn right he does.

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[deleted]•

Stay away from Goodkind, his first books were O.K. because they were rip-offs of WoT, and his later books are useless.

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panders•

Jim Butcher: Codex Alera (traditional fantasy) and Dresden Files (modern fantasy) series.

More modern stuff: Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs.

For a good time, read some Tom Robbins, which explores the fantastic, but isn't in the fantasy genre.

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undergarden•

Here's a different approach: Fabled Lands

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Moneo•

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman? It's about two brothers :D

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titanicx•

Fablehaven series. Entertaining read, fun writing style. Good resolution that leaves you satisfied, but wanting more.

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mynoduesp•

KJ Parker The Scavenger trilogy

It's slow but really good and addictive!

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[deleted]•

I've haven't read that, but I enjoyed Ms. Parker's Engineer Trilogy.

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dzudz•

Three thoughts:

Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. The most original and amazing fantasy series I've ever read. Stunning work, and it's her first series - she could end up being one of the greats if she keeps this up.

Conn Iggulden's Genghis Khan series is fantastic, he's a great writer and tells an epic story. Best part about this series is that so many of the bits where the hero turns out to be an unbelievable badass actually happened. Historical drama is probably more accurate, but it reads like fantasy.

Lastly, anything from David Gemmell. The Troy series is probably the pinnacle of his work, but it's difficult to pick a bad book out of his body of work. The king of fantasy, rest in peace.

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Jackson3125•

David Eddings - The Belgariad Series.

It's a set of five or so fantasy books that is an excellent change of pace from your standard LOTR Universe fantasy books. If you're into those, though, you can't go wrong with R.A. Salvatore.

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epicfantasybooks•

check out http://www.epicfantasybooks.com for great prices on fantasy books

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