So, let's do it here: What Fantasy authors do you like?

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

60. I've just discovered this thread

I like Tolkien, who could write -- read the chapter on the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King aloud as if it were epic poetry.

I like George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, which is well written and has some very interesting characters -- my favorite is Tyrion Lannister. Daenerys Targaryen, who keeps trying to do the right thing, only to find that doing it (1) is not easy and (2) can have unintended consequences is also very interesting. She would certainly be a better queen of Westeros than Cersei Lannister. I also want to find out what happens to Arya Stark.

I actively dislike Stephen Donaldson. Donaldson seems to go in for unsympathetic protagonists. In the Thomas Covenant books, Covenant feels guilt. He goes on and on, endlessly kvetching about his guilt. In one place, he feels guilt because of something another character did. Donaldson also suffers from what I call "William F. Buckley's Disease", in that he has an immense vocabulary and wants to show it off. He uses the word "coign" where any other person would have "balcony". He has one character say to Covenant that he is uxorious; a claim that is meretricious. Indeed, the claim is completely mendacious (for one thing, the character is unmarried) -- but what can one expect from a man who is wearing a carcanet?

I really liked Steven Erikson's Malazan books. I will warn you that the first book of the Malazan series, Gardens of the Moon, does toss you in medias res, and lets you figure out for yourself what is going on. The glossary at the back of the book and the list of characters in the front of the book are very useful.

Keep track of the characters; for example, in Deadhouse Gates, (which should have the title The Chain of Dogs), there is a very minor character, Toblakai. His real name is Karsa Orlong, and he is a very important character in House of Chains and most of the succeeding novels.

The overall tone of the series is rather grim, although there are some bits which are quite funny; for example, the conversation Bugg has with his lawyer in Reaper's Gale just before he goes bankrupt is a first-rate piece of comic writing. Another bit I liked was Kallor having one of the best boasts in the history of boasts: "I walked this land when the T'lan Imass were but children. I have commanded armies a hundred thousand strong. I have spread the fire of my wrath across entire continents, and sat alone upon tall thrones. Do you grasp the meaning of this?" Caladan Brood immediately shoots back with "Yes. You never learn."

There are no guarantees that anyone survives. For example, Whiskeyjack, the main character in the first book, is (spoiler) killed in the third book. Although being killed in this series does not necessarily prevent a character from reappearing, since (spoiler) Whiskeyjack shows up again in two of the later books. And Toc the Younger (spoiler) manages to get reborn twice, and loses his left eye three times. Hood, the god of death, is killed in Toll the Dogs, but reappears in The Crippled God. When someone says to him "I thought you were dead", Hood replies that being the former god of death gives certain advantages with regard to leaving the land of the dead.

There are also some novels by Ian Esslemont set in the same world at the same time. These novels are canonical, and do give necessary information; for example, we find out what happens to Lasseen in The Return of the Red Guard. Unfortunately, Esslemont is not as good a writer as Erikson (who can write a bit clunkily at times).

There is a unique system of magic, "warrens" from which a magic user can draw power. A character can "ascend" to godhood, sometimes involuntarily. The Crippled God makes Karsa Urlong a demigod (Knight of Chains) without consulting Karsa, and both Karsa and Heboric (a former priest who has accidentally killed his god) realize that the Crippled God is going to come to regret it. Similarly, Ganoes Paran becomes Master of the Deck of Dragons (a Tarot-like card deck which can be used to divine the future and has some aspects of control over the warrens) and doesn't want the job, since he feels that it gives him more power than he can deal with.

One character I should mention is Kruppe, who wants people to underestimate him as a minor magic user and fence who is interested mainly in good food and good wine. He is, in fact, probably the most intelligent character in the novels, and is a friend of the Elder god K'rull (not a worshiper of K'rull, nor K'rull's disciple or priest, but K'rull's friend). At the end of the first book, K'rull owes Kruppe a favor, something which Kruppe is not sure is a good thing or a bad thing. Kruppe also has an annoying habit of referring to himself in the third person.

I have very mixed feelings about Raymond Feist. He can write, and the trilogy he wrote with Janny Wurts, Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire are really good. However, he just seems to go on and on, book after book, and never comes to a conclusion. In the latest of his books, he has a character who is the great-great grandchild of someone who is a boy in the first book.

I started reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. However, after about the eighth book, in which everyone seemed to going to and fro but not on, I lost interest.

David Eddings started well with The Belgarion, but the next series, The Malloreon is the same story retold. Eddings seems to believe that people living in one country are all exactly alike, which is simply laziness on his part. Eddings' last series, The Dreamers, is total crap. Much of it consists of the same incidents as seen by two different characters -- and since the two have very similar reactions, why bother? The series ends by a god "hitting the cosmic reset button", which is cheating.