Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

30 of the Best Fantasy Novels of All Time
The Standard (U.K.) ^ | SASKIA KEMSLEY

Posted on 02/16/2024 4:00:53 PM PST by nickcarraway

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-96 next last
To: Lurking Libertarian

“Howard wrote one Conan novel, “Hour of the Dragon” (later re-published as “Conan the Conqueror”).”

Good point.


61 posted on 02/16/2024 5:23:35 PM PST by buwaya (Strategic imperatives )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: meowmeow

Exactly, Hazel was a BOY, ended up being chief rabbit in short order.

I loved that book even as an adult.


62 posted on 02/16/2024 5:23:57 PM PST by hellinahandcart
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Two worthy, missing cases -

“Gormenghast” series, Mervyn Peake. A bit of an outlier, I grant. A most unconventional fantasy.

“King of Elflands Daughter” and etc., Lord Dunsany. Everyone copied him, arguably including Tolkien, but he did all sorts of things first, and often more weirdly.


63 posted on 02/16/2024 5:33:47 PM PST by buwaya (Strategic imperatives )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

bfl


64 posted on 02/16/2024 5:34:59 PM PST by beaureguard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
It depends, I suppose, upon when you think time began.

I've always thought that The Illiad and The Odyssey were the two greatest fantasy novels of all time.

65 posted on 02/16/2024 5:36:47 PM PST by Mr. Lucky
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: buwaya

Thorne Smith wrote some really funny fantasy. He’s probably best known for “Topper”, but things like “Night Life of the Gods” and “The Glorious Pool” were even better IMO.


66 posted on 02/16/2024 5:41:34 PM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: wbarmy

I had Dragonriders for a while before I knew there were more; that it was a series. I made a point of getting all the rest and have read them all several times.

Same with the Covenant trilogies.

I have a vivid imagination and can “see” and “hear” everything going on as I read. I enjoy spending time in the worlds authors create.

My favorite part of the Covenant trilogies was in the first one - - the Dance of the Wraiths. What a mental visual that is!


67 posted on 02/16/2024 5:41:52 PM PST by radu (God bless our military men and women, past and present)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: BlueLancer; wbarmy
What made it so unbearingly long and boring was also the fact that Thomas Covenant was not the most sympathetic of main characters.

Thomas was a jerk! I won't mince words. LOL
But I didn't find the stories boring at all.

68 posted on 02/16/2024 5:44:16 PM PST by radu (God bless our military men and women, past and present)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Rastus

Chronicles by Hickman and Weiss got me into reading in my early teens.


69 posted on 02/16/2024 5:44:46 PM PST by EEGator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

The Song of Achilles sounds gay.


70 posted on 02/16/2024 5:46:02 PM PST by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: radu

Yes, I totally agree. Thomas was a vile person but thankfully changed during the story, grew into the hero. And it was not boring. But people with shorter attention spans probably had a hard time with all of the books.


71 posted on 02/16/2024 5:46:12 PM PST by wbarmy (Trying to do better.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: buwaya
Gormenghast. +1

Also: “The Worm Ouroboros” by E. R. Eddison

72 posted on 02/16/2024 5:59:00 PM PST by HandyDandy (Borders, language and culture. Michael Savage)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Philip Pullman hated C.S. Lewis and his said that drove his writing.


73 posted on 02/16/2024 6:03:47 PM PST by Cold_Red_Steel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

No David Gemmell?


74 posted on 02/16/2024 6:04:10 PM PST by Cold_Red_Steel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goodnesswins
You are welcome. Youngest Daughter is reading through the Chronicles of Narnia now.

"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" has the best opening line ever. "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

75 posted on 02/16/2024 6:04:12 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Strange. I have read lots of science fiction in my life but none of these books at all.


76 posted on 02/16/2024 6:18:13 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oblomov

A Canticle For Leibowitz was a very good book. Was it Sci-Fi or Fantasy?


77 posted on 02/16/2024 6:19:53 PM PST by Sawdring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
You did read the title didn't you?

Nobody said anything about science fiction.

78 posted on 02/16/2024 6:21:39 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: HartleyMBaldwin

Came to add that one


79 posted on 02/16/2024 6:24:02 PM PST by TheConservator (Either the Deep State destroys America, or we destroy the Deep State!--President Donald Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Sawdring
Science Fiction.

Generally considered Apocalyptic Science Fiction which is it's own sub genre.

80 posted on 02/16/2024 6:24:24 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-96 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson