I just re-read FfC as preparation for Dragons, and while I was decidedly "meh" the first time round, I thought it was very very good upon reappraisal. About 10% through Dragons and loving it so far. Yes, different to the carnage of Storm of Swords but at this rate I have a feeling that the final two books are going to be superb.
Love fantasy and tend to get hooked into big, long, seemingly never-ending series like Wheel of Time and A Song of Fire and Ice.
Going on holiday next week.
I don't want to start anything that is huge and detailed and ends with the realisation that you are going to have to read the next book just to get into the story.
Can anyone recommend any lighter single volume fantasy books?
N.B. I have read all the Discworld books already.
Cheers,
Nigel
Have you read Weaveworld by Clive Barker? There's also the Great and Secret Show which is worth a punt.
Do you just want single book recommendation or are you also interested in short series/trilogy's?
Trilogies might be okay but really looking for a single book.
As an example, The Hobbit shows that it is possible to write a decent fantasy story as a single book.
Just wondered if there are any other good examples out there.
Cheers,
Nigel
Quite weighty, but this is an excellent book:
The Keys to Paradise: Amazon.co.uk: Robert E. Vardeman: Books
He also did the War of Powers (two of them)
The War of Powers: v. 1: Amazon.co.uk: Robert E. Vardeman, Victor Milan: Books
No idea where I got these from, but had them 20years, and read them multiple times.
Thought i'd jump in on this one as I recently finished reading The Dark Tower as well, and have to agree Wizard and Glass is brilliant.Masterful story telling.And the ending..........wow
Sadly theres little or no reference to Rhea of the Coos in the other books, I would have loved to read more about how Roland met up with her again, and his actions in her direction, rather than just a couple of sentences later.
I am gobsmacked that no one has yet added Paul Kearney! (unless I mucked up the search somehow).
Anyway, I strongly urge you to try the Monarchies of God series (re-released as a 2 book omnibus edition, it was originally a 5 book series).
The Monarchies of God
Hawkwood's Voyage (1995)
The Heretic Kings (1996)
The Iron Wars (1999)
The Second Empire (2000)
Ships from the West (2002)
These are the titles of the omnibus editions:
Hawkwood and the Kings
Century of the Soldier
The Sea Beggars
The Mark of Ran (2004)
This Forsaken Earth (2006)
Storm of the Dead (forthcoming in late 2012)
The Macht
The Ten Thousand (2008)
Corvus (2010)
Kings of Morning (forthcoming in late 2011)
I also have been enjoying Scott Odin's books (Lion of Cairo for example) which veer more towards historical fiction than fantasy but have 'seers' in much the same way that David Gemmell did, rather than might sorcerors, etc.
Otherwise, books by Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, R Scott Bakker, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Brent Weeks, Brandon Sanderson and Peter Brett are what keep me going in fantasy land data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I'll suggest The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings
It's a stand along book which follows the same style and formula as his other books. Seems to be the old book in my Fantasy collection that isn't part of a series.