Nice list indeed! I’ve read the rest and enjoyed them, so I swiftly added the two Susanna Clarke books to my tbr - TIA! As you enjoy Rothfuss’ writing style: Have you read his The Slow Regard of Silent Things? I must say that I really enjoyed that one. I hope we live to see both Kingkiller and ASOIAF finished, I really do.
I came across this video by acciedent and absolutely love it. I usually don't know 90 % of the fantasy books the booktubers recomment, I am very behind on modern fantasy:D However, I have read and loved most of the books in your video. I especially appreciate you including Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell, I re-read it recently and it does get better with additional reading. Also the BBC miniseries is amazing. Different but almost as good as the book itself.
UA-cam recommended you to me, and Im so glad! You have a new subscriber! Im a huge epic fantasy lover! My TBR list is *huge,* but I'm thrilled to be working through it!
I always like a list that includes Wizard of Earthsea! The other books in the series didn't grab me as much, but that will always get read again. In a similar vein, The Riddlemasters Game by Patricia M McKillip is another favourite.
Interesting list. Love, love love A Song of Ice and Fire, and all the Joe Abercrombie. I've read Equal Rites and liked it ok. But I really enjoyed a couple of Tiffany Aching (is that right?) books I read. I know those are aimed at kids but they are so charming. Jonathan Strange....couldn't get into it but Piranesi is good. Wizard of Earthsea is fantastic. I have that fancy deluxe huge edition. The Hobbit is part of my childhood too. Haven't read it since but I should. Finished six Robin Hobb books recently and she is definitely a favourite of mine along with Mark Lawrence and many others.
Often heard that about Jonathan Strange, and I'll freely admit it's a slow burn. I might have been primed for it cause I'd had a Winter of reading Wilkie Collins and Bram Stoker. It found me at the right time!
Haha I've got nothing against Hobb! The look on Laura's face when I said it didn't make my top 10 😂 She deserves her own list-I'll see if I can get her to make one
Think my top 10 (not necessarily in order) would be something like: -Fellowship of the Ring -Princess Bride (does this count as fantasy?) -A Song of Ice and Fire (don't remember which book I liked best) -Dragons of Autumn Twilight -Name of the Wind -Skavenslayer (Gotrek and Felix) -Witcher: The Last Wish -The Castle of Llyr (Prydain Chronicles) -Redwall I want to get into Terry Pratchett so bad but every time I start trying to read Color of Magic I can't get past the first 20 pages without flipping to something else.
I am reading Guards! Guards! and Sharp Ends right now!! My fav fantasy books are Hunger of the Gods, Enemy of God, Daughter of the Empire, When They Were Hanged & Fellowship of the Ring! Also Storm of Swords.
MoonHeart - reference to folk groups and mix of legends: pre-christian Irish and Native American and its sequel added COLTRANE and the House is Sentient!@@hardysbooks
Great list! Turns out we have similar tastes! I read all of these and loved them. Okay here’s mine with the same rules: 10. Words of Radiance 9. Hogfather 8. Starless Sea 7. Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norell 6. Perdido Street Station 5. Men at Arms 4. Piranesi 3. Scar 2. Storm of Swords 1. Lord of the Rings
@@hardysbooks yes it’s Mieville, my favorite living UK author together with Susanna Clarke! Btw I would also include Abercrombie and he missed the list just because I had so much fun with Words of Radiance.
Any inclusion of Joe Abercrombie is a great one. Although his best book, IMO, is The Heroes. Logen Ninefingers is one of the best characters ever in fantasy IMO.
I'm really worried about the third book of the King Killer (Name of the Wind) series, it seems he's just floundering, I heard he did a Kickstarter to publish a chapter or two maybe of the book and he just didn't even deliver on that ! The Lies of Locke Lamora (The Gentlemen Bastards series) and the Blade Itself (First Law Trilogy - and others in his writing) are just simply amazing - a true joy to read. Brian Sanderson books are a strange one, I like them and they go deep also.
Do you think it's going to happen? I'm not sure, honestly. In any case, if he said he was working on it again, I don't think most people would believe him.
Hi! I just found your channel. I really like your list. I also checked other people’s lists. It’s always so interesting to see what’s common and what are the differences. I love fantasy, always enjoyed it, but I haven’t actually made a list like that. It seems to me that lately I prefer fantasy that balances on a border to be literary fiction, or magical realism more than a classic high or epic fantasy, but there are exceptions! I guess if I had to do top 10, first of all it would be top 12, because I can’t choose, my will is weak. Secondly, I would definitely start with two of my beloved, but nostalgic series (yes, entire series, I just can’t split them, am I cheating too much?): 1. Lord of the Rings; 2. The Witcher, my teenage sweetheart from 20 years ago; 3. Farseer Trilogy, especially the first two volumes; 4. Master and Margarita - is this even a fantasy? 5. Daughter of the Forest; 6. Blindness by Saramago; 7. Neverwhere by Gaiman; 8. Piranesi; 9. Nettle and Bone; 10. Odin’s Child - I read it years ago, it felt so refreshing, I think it may be considered young adult now; 11. Game of Thrones, the first book knocked me out of my socks; 12. Lincoln in the Bardo. And I have to say, your mum did an amazing job with this cover! I think it may be worth a lot in few years, but it's of course pricless now.
@@hardysbooks She has a great taste! ;-) Have you read any of the Realm of the Elderlings books? Did you like them? I plan to start the Liveship Traders trilogy when I finish Frankenstein. I already got them from the library. I can’t buy them anymore because they were published so long ago in my country that they are all sold out, and I haven’t heard about any reprints. The worst part is that we don’t have the Rain Wild Chronicles translated. I guess I will have to read them in English, if I decide to continue.
I have! I loved the Farseer Trilogy. I tried to get into Liveship Traders and read the first, but I've stalled on the second because I'm struggling to connect with any of the characters. Laura's favourite sequence is the Tawny Man trilogy, so hopefully those ones have been translated for you!
Have some recommendations for you. The Broken Sword - Poul Anderson Takes it back old school. The Dying Earth & The Eyes of the Overworld - Jack Vance The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever - Stephen Donaldson It's a controversial series the protagonist is kind of a unlikable character (but that's the point) in the first book there is a part that can make or break it for the reader. It may be harder for a female to get past. The Gap Cycle - Stephen Donaldson It's SF. Great series Some short stories not so much fantasy. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison The Jaunt - Stephen King Mrs. Todd's Shortcut - Stephen King Enoch - Robert Bloch
I've largely avoided Stephen Donaldson for said part. As someone who also writes it's hard to put myself in the mindset of someone who would want to write those kinds of scenes you speak about. Thanks for the recs though, I know all these authors but I've read ashamedly few. This should give me a place to start!
I want to read Rothfuss but don't want to set myself up for disappointment lol. I wish he'd just get on with it and finish the series. The same goes for Martin.
I know… as much as I hate to say it considering how much I loved those books, those who haven't started with Rothfuss or Martin would probably do better to focus on the highly talented fantasy authors who are still churning out books
Roger Zelazny has too many titles. "Nine Princes in Amber" started what turned into a decades long, 10 book franchise, but the first one is super-memorable and worth it on its own. "The Changeling" is another very memorable stand-alone that got a worthy sequel. You'll love the depiction of magic. Finished after his death by Jane Lindskold "Lord Demon" is great. "Dilvish the Damned", "Jack of Shadows", and "Roadmarks". Arthur Clarke said "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Zelazny's "Lord of Light" is another example of his effortless blending of fantasy and S.F.: the crew of the starship kept the technology and styled themselves a gods of the East and India. It helped that psi powers exist and can be mixed with the technology of the gods to make them in effect, gods. The protagonist's followers called him Great-Souled Sam "Mahasamatman" and said he was a god. He dropped everything but "Sam", and never claimed to be a god, but never said he wasn't. He said he knew of several instances where the printing press had been independently reinvented, and each time the fire of the heavens rained down, destroying the society that gave birth to such advancements in the lives of the colonists, who lived basically in the iron age. Praying to and paying the temples of the gods so that they might ascend to being reincarnated by the god's technology into a new young body and in higher status, if their piety through life is enough. The Earthsea series was amazing. the finale "The Other Wind" continuation of the story of little Tehanu and of course of Ged, broke me😭 but not to be missed even if you sort of need the rest of them to understand why it's so gripping. I was recently talking to a friend & fellow Studio Ghibli fan about Earthsea, and how Ged met Tenar by way of rescuing her from a bloodthirsty cult of brutal human sacrifices -not that she was to be the victim: she was to become a priestess of the cult doing the brutal bloodthirsty sacrifices and he was to be the victim... Speaking of which, "Howl's Moving Castle" is loosely derived from a 1986 book by Diana Wynne Jones that's quite good, and it's follow-on books maybe especially "House of Many Ways" 2008 which is almost stand-alone. 2013 "Stormdancer: The Lotus War Book One". A strong female protagonist and mythical creatures, necromancy, magic, and steampunk cyborg samurai with chainsword katanas... 2010 "Darkborn" by Alison Sinclair. First of a trilogy, memorable and worthy on its own. So much of Andre Norton's 1963 "Witch World" (and the long not quite series that's also involved in that world) is iconic. Especially 1972 "The Crystal Gryphon" and 1983 "Gryphon in Glory" pair of novels. Robert Silverberg 1980 "Lord Valentine's Castle" might more accurately be S.F in that it's set on a future planet colonized ages ago by humans and other species, but most of it is fantasy setting. Piers Anthony 1983 "On a Pale Horse" starts the "Incarnations of Immortality" series, following the careers and stories of Death, Time, Fate, War, and Nature, and Evil or the Devil. Not to skip 1963 "Glory Road" by Robert Heinlein. Commonly called "science fantasy" (but not to be confused with space opera so-called S.F). It's an obvious swords & sorcery quest adventure, but the magic in question is more of Clarke's advanced science and "applied mathematics". Last but not least (honestly the first thing that came to mind) was 1982 Robin McKinley "The Blue Sword". Necessary reading. It's definitely one which I always kept a couple of copies around, to push it onto people. the prequel was also worthwhile, in learning magic that's peculiar to fighting dragons. She also wrote retelling of known stories "Beauty" (" ---and the beast"_ sort of) "Rose Daughter" (also a "-and the beast" retelling) "Spindle's End", and others like "Pegasus" which are also memorable.
Wow. @JFrazer4303 you've done your homework. I've heard of most of these authors though I admit my familiarity with books released pre-1990 is disappointingly low.
I don’t usually laugh out loud there’s only a few books that have done it for me one being the author Pratchett, outside of a few books, Tom Sharp is pretty funny, the magazine Mad has also done it for me.
The first time I read Game of Thrones, I think around chapter 7 or so, I found the book so distasteful that I literally threw it in the trash. Several years later I came back and started again, and managed to get past that early nastiness. The story definitely falls off quickly after the 3rd book. I recently read Equal Rites and I was super bored. It felt like a Seinfeld episode. A lot of nothing happens. I remember loving The Color of Magic and craving more, but I haven't yet found a single Terry Pratchett book that lives up. The closest one is a cheat, Good Omens, also written by Neil Gaiman. Piranesi has been on my TBR forever but the list keeps growing. Not sure I'll ever get to it.
This really interests me @hyrumtanner5584! I also loved The Colour of Magic but it's so commonly talked of negatively in comparison to the rest of Discworld.
Ross here-Laura commented on the other one! It's high up my TBR too for 2024. I'm a bit worried I'm going to bounce off it, but I'm determined to give it a go.
It is different from other series in that the author does not hold your hand through the story, he drops you in the middle and let's you figure it out for yourself. It changed my life.@@hardysbooks
I'm not sad about this one, arguably it's at least as precious as any other copy of The Hobbit I have. But I will say… why did we all write our names in the front of our books when we were kids anyway?
No offense but the infancy of fantasy started long before Le Guin and even Tolkien. All the way back to Beowulf, George MacDonald, Lord Dunsany, Robert E. Howard and others set the groundwork of what fantasy is today.
A valid point; if I'd scripted this I might have caught it and used a more specific word like "adolescence", but it doesn't always come to you in the moment
@@AgnosticTruth My point was Beowulf was a spoken poem before it was written anonymously way in the ancient past. Some ancient author didn't decide to invent the fantasy genre. It was considered a real occurrence to them. I just don't think it should have been included with the other books you mentioned.
Nice list indeed! I’ve read the rest and enjoyed them, so I swiftly added the two Susanna Clarke books to my tbr - TIA!
As you enjoy Rothfuss’ writing style: Have you read his The Slow Regard of Silent Things? I must say that I really enjoyed that one.
I hope we live to see both Kingkiller and ASOIAF finished, I really do.
I have Slow Regard but haven't read it! It's one of my close friend's favourite books so I really should give it a go.
I came across this video by acciedent and absolutely love it. I usually don't know 90 % of the fantasy books the booktubers recomment, I am very behind on modern fantasy:D However, I have read and loved most of the books in your video.
I especially appreciate you including Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell, I re-read it recently and it does get better with additional reading. Also the BBC miniseries is amazing. Different but almost as good as the book itself.
I have searched high and low for that miniseries on some streaming platform 😭 I may just have to suck it up and buy a DVD, like it's 2005.
UA-cam recommended you to me, and Im so glad! You have a new subscriber! Im a huge epic fantasy lover! My TBR list is *huge,* but I'm thrilled to be working through it!
You're most welcome here @jessezigg!
Great list! Added some of these to next year’s TBR, so I thank you!
We love to hear it ☺️
I always like a list that includes Wizard of Earthsea! The other books in the series didn't grab me as much, but that will always get read again. In a similar vein, The Riddlemasters Game by Patricia M McKillip is another favourite.
It was worth doing this video for the recommendations I've been getting alone. The reviews look great. I'll check McKillip out.
Interesting list. Love, love love A Song of Ice and Fire, and all the Joe Abercrombie.
I've read Equal Rites and liked it ok. But I really enjoyed a couple of Tiffany Aching (is that right?) books I read. I know those are aimed at kids but they are so charming.
Jonathan Strange....couldn't get into it but Piranesi is good.
Wizard of Earthsea is fantastic. I have that fancy deluxe huge edition.
The Hobbit is part of my childhood too. Haven't read it since but I should.
Finished six Robin Hobb books recently and she is definitely a favourite of mine along with Mark Lawrence and many others.
Often heard that about Jonathan Strange, and I'll freely admit it's a slow burn. I might have been primed for it cause I'd had a Winter of reading Wilkie Collins and Bram Stoker. It found me at the right time!
You put the Hobb book down!!!! I want Laura’s list 😉 😆
Haha I've got nothing against Hobb! The look on Laura's face when I said it didn't make my top 10 😂 She deserves her own list-I'll see if I can get her to make one
Good news-Laura's list drops tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm GMT
Muum’s… what would we do without them?
She's truly the best.
I didn't know any of these books! thank you :)
Think my top 10 (not necessarily in order) would be something like:
-Fellowship of the Ring
-Princess Bride (does this count as fantasy?)
-A Song of Ice and Fire (don't remember which book I liked best)
-Dragons of Autumn Twilight
-Name of the Wind
-Skavenslayer (Gotrek and Felix)
-Witcher: The Last Wish
-The Castle of Llyr (Prydain Chronicles)
-Redwall
I want to get into Terry Pratchett so bad but every time I start trying to read Color of Magic I can't get past the first 20 pages without flipping to something else.
I love Terry's books but I will freely acknowledge they're not for everyone. Great list!
I am reading Guards! Guards! and Sharp Ends right now!! My fav fantasy books are Hunger of the Gods, Enemy of God, Daughter of the Empire, When They Were Hanged & Fellowship of the Ring! Also Storm of Swords.
Great choices!! I honestly can't say enough positive things for Joe Abercrombie.
Oh my gosh where did you find that gorgeous edition of Wizard of Earthsea? It’s one of my favorites too!!
It's a UK 1st edition! I looove the US 1st edition though, I'm hoping to replace it as soon as I can afford it
@@hardysbooksI can remember reading that version in school library 40 years ago
Charles DeLint - modern urban fantasy - I like his early stuff best
been going back to Andre Norton one of the 1st SF books I ever read, back in '73
Can't believe I'd never heard of de Lint. Seems prolific and well-reviewed. Thanks for the recommendation!
MoonHeart - reference to folk groups and mix of legends: pre-christian Irish and Native American and its sequel added COLTRANE and the House is Sentient!@@hardysbooks
Great list! Turns out we have similar tastes! I read all of these and loved them.
Okay here’s mine with the same rules:
10. Words of Radiance
9. Hogfather
8. Starless Sea
7. Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norell
6. Perdido Street Station
5. Men at Arms
4. Piranesi
3. Scar
2. Storm of Swords
1. Lord of the Rings
That's a great list!! Men At Arms doesn't get enough love. Is Scar the China Mieville novel?
@@hardysbooks yes it’s Mieville, my favorite living UK author together with Susanna Clarke!
Btw I would also include Abercrombie and he missed the list just because I had so much fun with Words of Radiance.
Any inclusion of Joe Abercrombie is a great one. Although his best book, IMO, is The Heroes. Logen Ninefingers is one of the best characters ever in fantasy IMO.
In this house we are Team Glokta
I'm really worried about the third book of the King Killer (Name of the Wind) series, it seems he's just floundering, I heard he did a Kickstarter to publish a chapter or two maybe of the book and he just didn't even deliver on that ! The Lies of Locke Lamora (The Gentlemen Bastards series) and the Blade Itself (First Law Trilogy - and others in his writing) are just simply amazing - a true joy to read. Brian Sanderson books are a strange one, I like them and they go deep also.
Do you think it's going to happen? I'm not sure, honestly. In any case, if he said he was working on it again, I don't think most people would believe him.
@@hardysbooks I dunno. he was on his Twitch stream last night but no mention of the upcoming book. All very suspicious
Hi! I just found your channel. I really like your list. I also checked other people’s lists. It’s always so interesting to see what’s common and what are the differences. I love fantasy, always enjoyed it, but I haven’t actually made a list like that. It seems to me that lately I prefer fantasy that balances on a border to be literary fiction, or magical realism more than a classic high or epic fantasy, but there are exceptions! I guess if I had to do top 10, first of all it would be top 12, because I can’t choose, my will is weak. Secondly, I would definitely start with two of my beloved, but nostalgic series (yes, entire series, I just can’t split them, am I cheating too much?):
1. Lord of the Rings;
2. The Witcher, my teenage sweetheart from 20 years ago;
3. Farseer Trilogy, especially the first two volumes;
4. Master and Margarita - is this even a fantasy?
5. Daughter of the Forest;
6. Blindness by Saramago;
7. Neverwhere by Gaiman;
8. Piranesi;
9. Nettle and Bone;
10. Odin’s Child - I read it years ago, it felt so refreshing, I think it may be considered young adult now;
11. Game of Thrones, the first book knocked me out of my socks;
12. Lincoln in the Bardo.
And I have to say, your mum did an amazing job with this cover! I think it may be worth a lot in few years, but it's of course pricless now.
Loving the Farseer love (Laura's absolute fav). I saw Nettle & Bone won the Hugo! And consequently it's crashed the TBR 😂
@@hardysbooks She has a great taste! ;-) Have you read any of the Realm of the Elderlings books? Did you like them? I plan to start the Liveship Traders trilogy when I finish Frankenstein. I already got them from the library. I can’t buy them anymore because they were published so long ago in my country that they are all sold out, and I haven’t heard about any reprints. The worst part is that we don’t have the Rain Wild Chronicles translated. I guess I will have to read them in English, if I decide to continue.
I have! I loved the Farseer Trilogy. I tried to get into Liveship Traders and read the first, but I've stalled on the second because I'm struggling to connect with any of the characters. Laura's favourite sequence is the Tawny Man trilogy, so hopefully those ones have been translated for you!
Have some recommendations for you.
The Broken Sword - Poul Anderson
Takes it back old school.
The Dying Earth & The Eyes of the Overworld - Jack Vance
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever - Stephen Donaldson
It's a controversial series the protagonist is kind of a unlikable character (but that's the point) in the first book there is a part that can make or break it for the reader. It may be harder for a female to get past.
The Gap Cycle - Stephen Donaldson
It's SF. Great series
Some short stories not so much fantasy.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison
The Jaunt - Stephen King
Mrs. Todd's Shortcut - Stephen King
Enoch - Robert Bloch
I've largely avoided Stephen Donaldson for said part. As someone who also writes it's hard to put myself in the mindset of someone who would want to write those kinds of scenes you speak about. Thanks for the recs though, I know all these authors but I've read ashamedly few. This should give me a place to start!
Some amazing Fantasy books 😊
I think so too!
I want to read Rothfuss but don't want to set myself up for disappointment lol. I wish he'd just get on with it and finish the series. The same goes for Martin.
I know… as much as I hate to say it considering how much I loved those books, those who haven't started with Rothfuss or Martin would probably do better to focus on the highly talented fantasy authors who are still churning out books
Roger Zelazny has too many titles.
"Nine Princes in Amber" started what turned into a decades long, 10 book franchise, but the first one is super-memorable and worth it on its own.
"The Changeling" is another very memorable stand-alone that got a worthy sequel. You'll love the depiction of magic.
Finished after his death by Jane Lindskold "Lord Demon" is great.
"Dilvish the Damned", "Jack of Shadows", and "Roadmarks".
Arthur Clarke said "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Zelazny's "Lord of Light" is another example of his effortless blending of fantasy and S.F.: the crew of the starship kept the technology and styled themselves a gods of the East and India. It helped that psi powers exist and can be mixed with the technology of the gods to make them in effect, gods.
The protagonist's followers called him Great-Souled Sam "Mahasamatman" and said he was a god. He dropped everything but "Sam", and never claimed to be a god, but never said he wasn't.
He said he knew of several instances where the printing press had been independently reinvented, and each time the fire of the heavens rained down, destroying the society that gave birth to such advancements in the lives of the colonists, who lived basically in the iron age. Praying to and paying the temples of the gods so that they might ascend to being reincarnated by the god's technology into a new young body and in higher status, if their piety through life is enough.
The Earthsea series was amazing. the finale "The Other Wind" continuation of the story of little Tehanu and of course of Ged, broke me😭 but not to be missed even if you sort of need the rest of them to understand why it's so gripping.
I was recently talking to a friend & fellow Studio Ghibli fan about Earthsea, and how Ged met Tenar by way of rescuing her from a bloodthirsty cult of brutal human sacrifices -not that she was to be the victim: she was to become a priestess of the cult doing the brutal bloodthirsty sacrifices and he was to be the victim...
Speaking of which, "Howl's Moving Castle" is loosely derived from a 1986 book by Diana Wynne Jones that's quite good, and it's follow-on books maybe especially "House of Many Ways" 2008 which is almost stand-alone.
2013 "Stormdancer: The Lotus War Book One". A strong female protagonist and mythical creatures, necromancy, magic, and steampunk cyborg samurai with chainsword katanas...
2010 "Darkborn" by Alison Sinclair. First of a trilogy, memorable and worthy on its own.
So much of Andre Norton's 1963 "Witch World" (and the long not quite series that's also involved in that world) is iconic. Especially 1972 "The Crystal Gryphon" and 1983 "Gryphon in Glory" pair of novels.
Robert Silverberg 1980 "Lord Valentine's Castle" might more accurately be S.F in that it's set on a future planet colonized ages ago by humans and other species, but most of it is fantasy setting.
Piers Anthony 1983 "On a Pale Horse" starts the "Incarnations of Immortality" series, following the careers and stories of Death, Time, Fate, War, and Nature, and Evil or the Devil.
Not to skip 1963 "Glory Road" by Robert Heinlein. Commonly called "science fantasy" (but not to be confused with space opera so-called S.F). It's an obvious swords & sorcery quest adventure, but the magic in question is more of Clarke's advanced science and "applied mathematics".
Last but not least (honestly the first thing that came to mind) was 1982 Robin McKinley "The Blue Sword". Necessary reading.
It's definitely one which I always kept a couple of copies around, to push it onto people. the prequel was also worthwhile, in learning magic that's peculiar to fighting dragons.
She also wrote retelling of known stories "Beauty" (" ---and the beast"_ sort of) "Rose Daughter" (also a "-and the beast" retelling) "Spindle's End", and others like "Pegasus" which are also memorable.
Wow. @JFrazer4303 you've done your homework. I've heard of most of these authors though I admit my familiarity with books released pre-1990 is disappointingly low.
I’ve read these all!!!
I don’t usually laugh out loud there’s only a few books that have done it for me one being the author Pratchett, outside of a few books, Tom Sharp is pretty funny, the magazine Mad has also done it for me.
One other author has done it for me, that being Spike Milligan.
The first time I read Game of Thrones, I think around chapter 7 or so, I found the book so distasteful that I literally threw it in the trash. Several years later I came back and started again, and managed to get past that early nastiness. The story definitely falls off quickly after the 3rd book.
I recently read Equal Rites and I was super bored. It felt like a Seinfeld episode. A lot of nothing happens. I remember loving The Color of Magic and craving more, but I haven't yet found a single Terry Pratchett book that lives up. The closest one is a cheat, Good Omens, also written by Neil Gaiman.
Piranesi has been on my TBR forever but the list keeps growing. Not sure I'll ever get to it.
This really interests me @hyrumtanner5584! I also loved The Colour of Magic but it's so commonly talked of negatively in comparison to the rest of Discworld.
Have you not read The Malazan Book of the Fallen yet?
Ross here-Laura commented on the other one! It's high up my TBR too for 2024. I'm a bit worried I'm going to bounce off it, but I'm determined to give it a go.
It is different from other series in that the author does not hold your hand through the story, he drops you in the middle and let's you figure it out for yourself. It changed my life.@@hardysbooks
Yes! Del Toro doing the Hobbit! If only...
So relatable; my Hobbit is also from elementary school and I cringe when I see my name written inside in the horrible handwriting I had as a kid
I'm not sad about this one, arguably it's at least as precious as any other copy of The Hobbit I have. But I will say… why did we all write our names in the front of our books when we were kids anyway?
Is that a 000-15M hanging on the wall?
Very close! It's a 00-15M! I preferred the body size of the double.
Hard to tell by looking I guess. I have the 000-15M and it looks pretty much identical in a photo.@@hardysbooks
Truly wonderful guitar.
No offense but the infancy of fantasy started long before Le Guin and even Tolkien. All the way back to Beowulf, George MacDonald, Lord Dunsany, Robert E. Howard and others set the groundwork of what fantasy is today.
A valid point; if I'd scripted this I might have caught it and used a more specific word like "adolescence", but it doesn't always come to you in the moment
coughs. Pushes up glasses. Um Akshually......
No one likes you.
Beowulf is historical, not fantasy.
@@shawnlinnehan7349
There is no evidence of a historical Beowulf, but some characters, sites, and events in the poem can be historically verified.
@@AgnosticTruth My point was Beowulf was a spoken poem before it was written anonymously way in the ancient past. Some ancient author didn't decide to invent the fantasy genre. It was considered a real occurrence to them. I just don't think it should have been included with the other books you mentioned.
First fantasy book I was forced to read was the Bible.
Did you know there's a dragon in the apocryphal chapters of Daniel? It's amazing. We did a podcast about it.
Good luck
Thanks!
This is a list for beginners. All of these books are extremely well known.
Cool thanks for letting us know 👍