Fantasy recommendations

[Farseer]

Thanks for the tip, Manephelien !

[NeverBeenWise]

I have a few:

Fire Bringer, The Sight, and Fell by David Clement-Davies. They might be Young Adult fiction, but are very well-written. The first is about a red deer named Rannoch, the second is about a white wolf named Larka, and the third is about her brother Fell. Very good. And you never forget that you're reading about animals, not humans in animal shapes. Fire Bringer can be read alone, but you have to read The Sight before reading Fell.

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear, Rumo and his Miraculous Adventures, and The City of Dreaming Books by German author Walter Moers. The English translation is amazing, done by John Brownjohn. They're off-the-walls insanity. One review says that Moers writes like J. K. Rowling on heroin. Oh, and they can all be read individually. The characters are a little bit flat, but that's kind of necessary and almost a relief for the insanity going on around them.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It's AMAZING, and mostly told in first person. It blew me away. The main character is a bit arrogant, but the writing is wonderful. It's the first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles, and the second one isn't coming out until 2011, so you might want to wait for this one...

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Yeah, I've had The Name of the Wind on my radar for a while, but indeed, I am waiting for the author to get at least a second book out before I'm going to read it.

[NeverBeenWise]

Good idea. I was obsessed for a while, and absolutely furious when I found out the second book wasn't coming out until 2011. Oh, incidentally, it takes a really long time to read. Or at least it did for me. The hardcover version (which has an AWFUL cover, by the way) is pretty thick, and it actually took me almost a month to read it, which never happens for me. I'm a fast reader, and I didn't really take breaks; it was just a dense book.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

I suppose that's the "romance cover" you're talking about, right?

[NeverBeenWise]

The "romance cover?" I've never really heard of that... but anyway, it's awful because it's far too dark and because there's a half-shirtless red-haired man on the cover. It's because he's too poor to be able to afford new clothes, but it just looks like he's baring his chest at the ladies. I couldn't take that book anywhere unless I turned it upside down. Thankfully, it was the library's copy, and now I have the paperback. MUCH better cover. Except it fell off... but now it's a bookmark!

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Yeah, that's the cover I was talking about. It's often jokingly called the romance or Fabio cover, because apparently it looks it belongs on a romance novel.

[Chrischa]

Ah, you're talking about The Name of the Wind - that's one of my favourite books, too! It's such a fresh story, so well written, I enjoyed it very much.

The second one is indeed taking a very, very long time. For the first half of last year it was listed as coming out this year, but then it changed to 2011. Either he's a very slow writer, or he's working on this book inbetween a normal day job.
His website is a bit strange as well; he's only written this one book, but his site profiles him as this highly succesfull author. Maybe it's an investment in the future?

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Well, it did sell quite some copies, right? And there are very postive reviews by a number of genre heavyweights on the site, including our very own tangle leader. Not too shabby [Stuart Rachels does not approve this word] I would think.

[Chrischa]

Have any of you read anything by Elizabeth Haydon? I've bought this 'Legends II' book of short stories from various authors - the reason being quite obvious, I hope. The short overview of her stories reminds me of our three word story on this forum; it seems like a patchwork of an enormously complicated tale. But the short story itself is not turning out bad. I'd love to know what her full books are like.

And I thought I'd finally take the opportunity to ask about the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I started reading the first book once (and please correct me if I'm thinking about the wrong books), but after a few chapters I put it aside. The main character was such a b¨¨stard! When he raped the daughter of the first people who ever showed him any hospitality and friendliness, I tossed the book to the other side of the room (even though it was a library copy... my bad), and never picked it up again. Yet I see the series mentioned time and time again in people's favorites. Anyone care to set a strayed reader straight?

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And there are very postive reviews by a number of genre heavyweights on the site, including our very own tangle leader.

Indeed, there she is! Hands up everyone who now goes to this website to read her review - even if it's only a review of a book, it's still something new from Robin Hobb to read.

Bit of a silly review from Orson Scott Card above that. If you ask me, ever since that man became obsessively religious, everything he writes preaches and is all about morality and doing good. His Alvin Maker books started out so well, but by now the main character is such a saint it becomes unreadable.

All in my opinion of course...