Favorite Fantasy Authors

George RR Martin
Game of Kings
Clash of Kings
Storm of Swords

Raymond E. Feist
Magician
Silverthorne
A Darkness at Sethanon
Shards of a Broken Crown
The King's Buccaneer

David Eddings
Magician's Gambit
Queen of Sorcery
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanter's Endgame
Guardians of the West
King of the Murgos
Demonlord of Karanda
Sorceress of Darshiva
Seeress of Kell

Frank Herbert
Dune
Children of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune
DUNE: House Atriedes
DUNE: House Harknonnen
DUNE: House Corrino

    I have many different fantasy authors that I enjoy.  I know at least one of these is considered more of a Science Fiction author but for the moment I will include him in my fantasy author listing.  Among the many fantasy authors that I enjoy, the ones that I enjoy the most are Robert Jordan, George RR Martin, Raymond E. Feist, and Frank Herbert.  I have included a small section dedicated to each authors work.  I am still awaiting feedback to see if most viewers believe this to be acceptable or if they would rather have separate pages for each author.

    I first started Robert Jordan's books when the book The Dragon Reborn came out on paperback.  I remember seeing the cover for this book at Wal-Mart and thinking that it might be an interesting book to read.  I was right.  The book was fabulous and encouraged me to purchase the two books that came before it (The Eye of the World and the Great Hunt).  I have since bought each of the sequels as they have come out on hard back.  Of the sequels, my favorite is The Shadow Rising.  It takes the reader out into a foreign and harsh land and introduces you to a new group of people that have only been referred to or glanced at.  It also has a few nice twists and tangles to the story that makes it interesting.  Since the start of the series, Mr. Jordan's books have been said to take up the torch that Mr. Tolkien put down when he passed on.  You can follow this link to find one of my pages with a more in depth look at Robert Jordan's work and whether or not I agree with that thought.

     One of the most exciting new series of fantasy books being written now is by George RR Martin. Mr. Martin lays out a detailed environment in a new land.  The characters are brought to live with good detail and room for imagination.  The first book of this series, The Game of Kings, introduces the reader to the troubles and conflicts that are occurring and provides some history for the reader.  Most of the characters are given their own point of view of what is occurring and why they carry out the action that they do.  In that way it is very similar to Mr. Jordan's books.  It also gives the reader some amazing changes versus the expected results.  The suspense is built up and prepares you for the second book, The Clash of Kings.  This book, luckily for me, came out right after I bought the first one so I didn't have to wait long to read it.  Clash of Kings follows in the tradition of its prequel in providing good details about the characters and history.  It also introduces more conflicts and resolutions that the reader might have been unprepared for.  Many of the characters that you might think would be a hero from the first book is torn down in this one or makes a big mistake that renders them harmless.  The next book, Storm of Swords came out on October 31, 2000.  I will have to say that Mr. Martin has delivered another great book.  I did not think that he could pull off many more turns and twists in his story than he did in the first two books.  I was wrong.  I would definitely call this another must read book.  Characters continue to die off and leave only a few characters with which to call heroes.  Many characters that you begin to feel sympathy and warmth towards are dashed down to the dirt in a few simple paragraphs while others are built up throughout the book.

     A series of books that I started on back in the late 80s was the Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist.  The series starts off wonderfully in the Magician two-part book.  Here we are introduced to the main characters who will play a large part in all of the following books.  The readers are allowed to embrace the young Pug and his hardships that he faces being small and non-warlike.  The second part of the book tells how Pug achieves the status of a Great Magician and prepares the reader for a brief respite.  This respite is then overcome with the introduction of Murmandus in Silverthorne, the second book in the series.  Silverthorne follows the story of Jimmy the Hand and Prince Arutha.  Prince Arutha finally asks the Princess Anita to marry him.  At the wedding, she is shot by a poisoned arrow which sends Arutha and Jimmy on a long and difficult path to try to find the cure.  While they are on their journey, Pug travels across the Rift to search for what is behind the Darkness that he is seeing.  Along the way he begins to discover a truth that until now Macros the Black only knew.  A Darkness at Sethanon is the closing book for the Riftwar Saga and provides an interesting narrative for Macros the Black, who has been to this point one of the greatest mysteries of the story.  Other characters are brought to light in this book as well.  The Valheru mantle that Thomas took on is explained in greater detail and why it had to be passed on.  Pug also begins to realize the burden that he must carry and the role that he is to play on his home planet.  There are several small books connecting the Riftwar Saga to the next series of books by Mr. Feist.  Among these books is the King's Buccaneer, which focuses on young Prince Nicholas and his infirmities.  I really like this book for some reason.  I guess it might be due to the way in which Nicholas infirmity is described and how it is overcome.  This book helps to prepare the reader for the next series of books.  I liked this new series especially Shards of a Broken Crown.  I liked the way that everything was resolved in preparation for possibly a third series of books.  I am eagerly awaiting them.  Mr. Feist has also been writing what could almost be called second thought books.  Many know that Mr. Feist's story has spurred two excellent computer games that were bestsellers and one of them an award winner.  The story line for each was not necessarily prepared by Mr. Feist but he did assist some (I believe).  At this point, due to popular demand, Mr. Feist has gone back and written books to provide a greater story depth behind the games.  At this point there are two books out to accomplish this goal with a third one expected out in May 2001.  These books are Krondor: The Betrayal, Krondor: The Assassins.  Both are good reading.

     Another author that sparked my interest in fantasy is David Eddings.  I first started his Belgariad series when I was in elementary school.  I still remember seeing Castle of Wizardry at the Johnson County Public Library and picking it up to read.  The story line and characters are mainly designed for the teenage group but older adults can still enjoy the comical dialogue that often goes on between characters.  The Belgariad series begins with Magician's Gambit.  This book introduces the reader to the growing up and development of Garion.  Garion is a young stable boy on a small farm in Sendaria.  He is raised by his Aunt Pol and oft visited by his grandfather the Old Wolf.  Due to difficulty in the area, the Old Wolf shows up and tells Pol that she and Garion must leave the area and come with him.  He has several companions gathered together to begin the search for the Orb.  Among the companions are Goodman Durnik, Barak, and Prince Kheldar.  As the end of this book get closer we begin to be introduced  to more of the evil characters involved in the story and in this series.  The second book, Queen of Sorcery, begins Garion and his families quest for the Orb.  Garion travels through Tolnedra and many other lands.  During the travels, Garion discovers that he has the ability to cast magic.  Several new travel companions are introduced in this book as well.  By the end of the book, the reader discovers the power of the prophecy and the way it can affect Garion.  The third book continues with Garion's quest to recover the Orb and to learn more about magic.  I will expand upon this area soon.  After the fifth book in this series, there was several years in which I didn't think anymore was going to be written.  To my suprise and delight, Mr. Eddings came out with a second series with the same characters.  This series is entitled the Mallorean.  The bulk of this new series takes place on the continent of Mallorea and in what was considered hostile territory.  New characters are introduced and new plots unfold.  The first book in this new series is Guardians of the West.  This series focuses upon the last confrontation between the Child of Light and the Child of Dark.  The series overall contains many of the same characters with a few new introductions and a nice conclusion to the series.  This is the final series of books for these characters.  There has been several books published by Mr. Eddings that includes these characters.  These books are side books that tell the history of a few of the main characters.  There are also two other series of books that Mr. Eddings has written.  I will not discuss these but I will say that they are of comparable quality as those of the Mallorean and the Belgariad series.

     I don't believe that an honest reader can discuss the best fantasy books without mentioning Frank Herbert.  His Dune series is a classic.  This series, in my opinion, linked the fantasy and sci-fi genres.  The first book, Dune, has such depth and understanding of the land and culture that it takes more than one reading to fully understand some of the nuances that are mentioned.  The following books are all excellent.  The series order is Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Dune Heretics, Chapterhouse: Dune.  I would highly recommend reading Dune first and going through the whole series.  If you can not do this then I would recommend reading Dune, Children of Dune, Dune Heretics, and Chapterhouse: Dune.  There have been some new additions to the series recently.  These additions were made by Mr. George Herbert, Frank's son.  The first was entitled Dune: House Atriedes. The book provides an interesting background to some of the characters and some depth to the hatred that is shown by House Atriedes for House Harknonen.  It is hinted at in this books cover that Mr. Herbert might also try to work on a conclusion to the series that his father was not able to finish with his untimely death.  I hope that he does.  He and Mr. Anderson have finished and released a new book entitled Dune: House Harkonen.  I think this book does well in preparing the reader for the book DUNE.  In this book, Jessica becomes the concubine for Leto and Liet-Kynes is one of the main characters.  We are also introduced to Gurney Halleck.  After this book I can only expect the next book in the prequel to focus on the birth of Paul and expand on the power base that Liet-Kynes establishes on Dune.   Well, I was right.  DUNE: House Corrino is a good sequel/prequel.  It works to blend the previous two books together with the events that we know unfolded in the DUNE book.  I think the authors did a good job.