Originally Posted By Steelgrave
^I'm a big fan of the Game of Thrones books, and I (im)patiently awaited the sixth book, Dances with Dragons. I'm about 75% finished with it and frankly, I'm getting worried that GRRM is following down the path that Jordan went by having too many characters and subplots the longer the series goes on. I've eagerly followed the main characters through five books, but in the sixth book he spends too much time with secondary lords, knights, sellswords and ironmen, and for the first time in the series I've found myself asking "who the hell is this cat?". Even his main characters in Dances seem to fiddle around too much and advance the storyline too little. There are a few of his famous "wow" scenes in the book, things you wouldn't want to miss, but I'm sad to say that he could have easily shortened this novel by 100-150 pages.... And that's really tough for a diehard fan to admit.

Originally Posted By Epee1
        So did anyone do a good book of the Space Marines?         BTW Finished Speaker of the Dead, and Xenocide.  Both were well written and entertaining.    

For nostalgia reasons and The Hobbit and LotR which I read when I was 12 opened up the fantasy genre and felt like I'd found something that slotted in perfectly with my imagination. So saying that JRR Tolkien is my No1.

I also loved the first four (I think it war four, might have just been three) books by   Raymond E. Feist.

The main problem with fantasy novels is that it's hard to find something that isn't just a rehash of other books.

In my teenage years it's a genre I read obsessively. David Gemmel being another author I read alot, though I found Terry Jones to be hard work and could never get into his books. 

As I got older I discovered Moorcock (god I can see a carry on style comment coming from this statement). I love Hawkmoon and Von Bek. He is an author who really does do things differently and does it well.

So I'd say..

1. Tolkien

2. Moorcock

Oh and though not fantasy as such but a serie sof Novles I read as a teanager and then a few years ago saw them alltogether including a later rlelease I didn't know about all in one volume so bought it staright away and still loved it. I highly recommend it to everyone... the book is called ...

The Borribles by Michael de Larrabeiti.

 The Borrible Trilogy is a series of young adult books written by English writer Michael de Larrabeiti. The three volumes in the trilogy are The Borribles, The Borribles Go For Broke, and The Borribles: Across the Dark Metropolis. Each book contains a separate story but they form an overall larger story.

The Borrible Trilogy was unusual in the way it tackled the class war in the medium of childrens' literature. Elements of grunge, pain, and violence feature strongly. The language of the book is the London street cockney, and uses strong language. The Borribles' antagonists, the Rumbles, who play a significant part in the first book, are satires of perennial children's favorites The Wombles.

The critically acclaimed books been rilified over the violence and language. The release of the third book coincided with the riots in Brixton and Tottenham and because of the strong anti-authoritarian theme, the publishers took the decision not to publish it. The books went out of print but have been republished as a single volume. (June 2002) the trilogy UK by Pan Macmillan as a trade paperback with an introduction by China Miéville; in April 2003, the UK branch of Tor Books reissued the trilogy in a smaller paperback volume. Tor released the trilogy as three separate paperback volumes in the USA in late 2005

 The world of the Borribles

 The trilogy is set in the large city of London. Borribles are runaway children, who eventually become "borribled," when they wake up and find their ears have become pointed. Visually very similar to the mischievous elves and pixies of English folklore., Borribles wear woollen hats pulled low over their ears to avoid being easily identified by the police "Woolies". The woolies believe that the Borribles' freedom is a threat to the social order and will clip the ears of any Borrible in their custody. If their ears are not clipped, Borribles will maintain the appearance of a child forever and cease to physically age. Being caught by the police is a prospect worse than death for Borribles as it will signify the end of their lifestyle and they will become a boring, adventureless adult.

Borribles are skinny, scruffy, and tough; they have nothing to do with money, and steal what they need to survive. They generally live in abandoned houses, though they will live wherever they can, existing on the edge of an adult world. Borribles aren't given their names at birth; they earn them through an adventure of some sort.

They have many saying and practices such as "Fruit of the barrow is enough for the Borrible," "Never stand behind a door when there's someone coming through the other side," "It is sad to pass through life without one good adventure," and "It is better to die young than to be caught."

In the trilogy, the neat, orderly and boring adult world positioned in direct contrast to the wild, scruffy world of the Borribles. Along with structure and organisation, materialism is heavily derided; the Borribles have fulfilling existences despite their lack of possessions, while those who crave material wealth are inevitably presented as villains. Comradeship and cooperation are also presented as highly laudable traits - the Borribles will go to any length and take any risk in order to protect one of their own. Though written as young adult fiction, the books deal with themes, such as debate over what causes are noble enough to die for and which aren't.

How long Borribles can live is never made quite clear. One character in The Borribles speaks of having been Borribled in the time of "the old queen" (although it is unclear whether this refers to Victoria or Elizabeth I). Furthermore, although Borribles do not age physically, the wisdom they gain through their way of life and, in some cases, extreme old age, is often foregrounded in the books. Borribles are stated throughout the books to live forever. It is inferred that only the most cunning survive for excessively long periods of time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Borrible_Trilogy 

Oh thats sad just found an article the author died in 2008.  

DCosta, I love Tolkien for the same reasons as you and was led to others (as well as D&D) by Tolkien and LOTR.  One of the writers I discovered and liked, for different reasons, was Moorcock.  Suffice it to say, when I found out that Moorcock wrote an essay bashing Tolkien, I was appalled!  I read the essay, found here http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=953 , and see where he was coming from.  I don't agree with him, but, I understand what he was trying to say.

Originally Posted By Epee1 (22 JUL 2011 1:59pm)
Love Edgar Rice Burroughs stuff.  Just plain fun and quick with lots of action.  Finishing up the 3rd book in the Dune series. I don't know if I will continue after that. I'm also reading the Alexander Kent, Bolitho series.  Just quick and fun. I have the Forever War also on the list. So reading through this thread, some people LOVE Game of Thrones, and some didn't? I found the first 5 or 6 books in the Wheel of Time series pretty good, but after that it became painful.  I doubt I will ever finish that series. Oh yeah, for a fun read don't miss out on The Walking Drum, by Louis L'Amour

I grew up reading ERB and Robert Heinlein (who was incredibly naughty....glad my Mom never read his books!). I really believe that I read every single book published by the two of them. Then I graduated to Arthur C. Clark and Ray Bradbury. Those guys are just..... magical writers. Good stuff!

I already replied to this topic in here somewhere's, but wanted to send a shout out to a new discovery of mine.  Rod Redux.  I've read three books by him in the last few weeks, and found them to be pretty good.  They are:

The Oldest Living Vampire Tells All

http://www.amazon.com/Oldest-Living-Vampire-Tells-ebook/dp/B0041G6NGO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1327665312&sr=8-4

The Oldest Living Vampire On The Prowl

http://www.amazon.com/Oldest-Living-Vampire-Prowl-ebook/dp/B004INHPNA/ref=pd_sim_kstore_5?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

These two books tell the story of Gon, a cro-magnun (sp?) man who becomes one of the rare truly immortal vampires.  I got engrossed in the story & can't wait for the next one.

Mort

http://www.amazon.com/Mort-ebook/dp/B004APA452/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

This is a zombie apocolypse story, but with a pretty big twist.  I won't give it away.

And speaking of apocolyps stories with a twist, I'm currently reading this one:

Robopacalypse, by Daniel H. Wilson

http://www.amazon.com/Robopocalypse-A-Novel-ebook/dp/B004CFAWS4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327665518&sr=1-1

If you have a Kindle, and are an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow these for free and take your time (no deadline date)  Happy reading!