There is nothing like settling into a great read. The hunger felt as you anticipate the time alone with your book nestled in your palms as you curl up on your favorite couch... or sit in your own world on a busy commuter train... or while waiting for your doctor to call you into her office is almost insatiable. But there is no more satisfying a novel as a good Fantasy. Talk about being taken away from the everyday...
Here are my favorites:
1 - The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien - The prequel to the mega-trilogy, The Lord Of The Rings. The story of Bilbo Baggins and his unwanted adventures. "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit."
2 - The Lord Of The Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien - The greatest fantasy trilogy ever written. Bar none. A classic tale of Good vs. Evil.
3 - The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan - "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again."
4 - The Earthsea Trilogy, Ursula K. Le Guin - Story of an archipelago ruled by magic.
5 - The Sword of Truth Series, Terry Goodkind - A very complex world with complex characters. Great read, nonetheless.
6 - The Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny - Sword and sorcery at its best.
7 - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever - Stephen Donaldson - This was a surprise to me that immediately while reading took a favorite spot in my bookcase.
8 - The Princess Bride, William Goldman - A funny, witty, swashbuckling tale full of fun.
9 - The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis - No surprises here... I knew even before I read them that these would be classics destined to greatness as evidenced by the major motion pictures made based on them.
10 - The Once and Future King, T.H. White - Four Classic Arthurian Legends - my favorite, "The Sword in the Stone."
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Yes on 1, 2, 4 and 9. I couldn't get through the first book of The Wheel of Time -- I just got bored. I read the first book of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever many years ago, and recall that while the setting and some other characters were vivid and different from other fantasy stories out at the time (which were mostly Tolkien ripoffs), I found the main character too unsympathetic to continue with the series. I haven't read any of the others on the list. I liked the Princess Bride movie, but haven't read the book.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about my list being "the greatest fantasy stories of all time", but these are my favorites:
1. Lord of the Rings
2. The Hobbit
3. The Earthsea Trilogy -- but not the two sequels, they suck
4. The Chronicles of Narnia
5. The Harry Potter series
6. The Jargoon Pard and Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton (the first is a sort of sequel to the second -- they are just two of her Witch World stories but I think they are the best ones)
7. The Worm Ourobouros by E.R. Eddison
8. The Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy by Patricia McKillip
9. Titus Groan and Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake -- not so much a fantasy as just a straight novel in a made-up country, but I think it qualifies
10. A Walk Out Of The World by Ruth Nichols.
That's all I can think of. I've gotten off fantasy and science fiction lately, and haven't read any new stuff that I find compelling enough to remember.