Need a few suggestions of good fantasy authors like GRRM.


Books


I have read just about everything GRRM has written, love Abercrombie and Lynch. Have not finished the Wheel of Time since Jordan passed (RIP). Read all the Tolkien and Howard. Dabbled with Fritz Leiber. And I have burned out on all the "Fast food fantasy" dished out by WoTC and TSR (don't get me wrong they have a few gems in those series). I have even visited China Melvile's collection.

I'm looking for something gritty and meaty.

Suggestions?


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Chris Evans - Iron Elves series: sword and sorcery with muskets, bayonets, and shakos. First book is "A Darkness Forged In Fire".


If you like Leiber and Howard, you might try:

  • Anderson, Poul. The Broken Sword, Operation Chaos, Three Hearts and Three Lions.
  • Bellairs, John. The Face in the Frost.
  • Brust, Steven. VLAD TALTOS series; The Phoenix Guards.
  • Burroughs, Edgar Rice. MARS series.
  • Herbert, Frank. The Dosadi Experiment; DUNE series.
  • Moorcock, Michael. ELRIC OF MELNIBONE series (1st six books only, not the later "sequels");
  • Ibid. HAWKMOON series (the 1st four books, not the three "sequels");
  • Ibid. CORUM series (both trilogies are good, but the first one is better).
  • Niven, Larry. "What Good is a Glass Dagger?"
  • Simak, Clifford. The Goblin Reservation.
  • Vance, Jack. DYING EARTH series; LYONESSE series.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Lord of Light, Isle of the Dead, AMBER series.


  • Jib wrote:

    I have read just about everything GRRM has written, love Abercrombie and Lynch. Have not finished the Wheel of Time since Jordan passed (RIP). Read all the Tolkien and Howard. Dabbled with Fritz Leiber. And I have burned out on all the "Fast food fantasy" dished out by WoTC and TSR (don't get me wrong they have a few gems in those series). I have even visited China Melvile's collection.

    I'm looking for something gritty and meaty.

    Suggestions?

    R. Scott Bakker is what you are looking for. He's in the middle of writing an eight or nine (he's not sure which yet) volume series called THE SECOND APOCALYPSE, divided into three sub-series, THE PRINCE OF NOTHING (a trilogy), THE ASPECT-EMPEROR (another trilogy, with Book 2 due out in about a year) and a third series of unknown length at the moment. It's a very dark epic fantasy which reads like LORD OF THE RINGS if it was written by Frank Herbert and Nietzsche. Excellent prose, extremely detailed and in-depth, and it goes beyond the normal epic fantasy conventions and examines some interesting philosophical ideas about manipulation and self-violition as well.

    It is excellent, but incredibly, unrelentingly grim. He makes GRRM read like Eddings, and the urelenting grimness makes it a hard read sometimes. The first book is called THE DARKNESS THAT COMES BEFORE.

    Otherwise Paul Kearney is your man. He has a stand-alone book called THE TEN THOUSAND which came out last year (a fantasised retelling of the Anabasis by Xenophon, which recounts a Greek mercenary army getting stuck in the middle of the Persian Empire and having to fight its way home) and a brilliant five-book series called THE MONARCHIES OF GOD (which is currently out of print but a new omnibus edition is due next year).


    You might also try Gene Wolfe: The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor, The Citadel of the Autarch.

    And don't forget Clive Barker's Imajica, an enormous masterpiece of a fantasy novel.


    Wolfe is a good one, although it's more of an intellectual puzzle box of a story than a 'gritty' and 'meaty' massive fantasy epic, which is what I think the OP was asking for.

    Steven Erikson's MALAZAN novels may also be worth a shot although I've kind of gone off the later books. But the first three (starting with GARDENS OF THE MOON) are pretty impressive. Someone needs to make a roleplaying game based on the MALAZAN world ASAP, as it would be pretty cool.

    IMAJICA is a good book. WEAVEWORLD is another excellent Barker novel. In the same vein is Stephen King's THE STAND and his DARK TOWER sequence.


    Thanks gang for the suggestions! A few of these I have enjoyed so it is nice to see that we are on the same page as far as "taste".

    Any more?


    Have you read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy? Consists of The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower (split into two parts in paperback). I guarantee you'll love it.

    I also really enjoyed Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies.

    And finally, JV Jones Sword of Shadows series is good stuff.

    Enjoy!


    Jib wrote:

    I have read just about everything GRRM has written, love Abercrombie and Lynch. Have not finished the Wheel of Time since Jordan passed (RIP). Read all the Tolkien and Howard. Dabbled with Fritz Leiber. And I have burned out on all the "Fast food fantasy" dished out by WoTC and TSR (don't get me wrong they have a few gems in those series). I have even visited China Melvile's collection.

    I'm looking for something gritty and meaty.

    Suggestions?

    Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry:

    Book 1 The Summer Tree
    Book 2 The Wandering Fire
    Book 3 The Darkest Road

    David Gemmell's Drenai series
    1. Legend
    2. The King Beyond the Gate
    3. Waylander
    4. Quest for Lost Heroes
    5. Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf
    6. The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend
    7. The Legend of Deathwalker
    8. Winter Warriors
    9. Hero in the Shadows
    10. White Wolf
    11. The Swords of Night and Day


    Gene Wolfe's The Knight / The Wizard - it's high fantasy in the spirit of Lord Dunsany, but just about the best of that approach that's ever been done.

    (in addition to all the great stuff that's already been mentioned)


    Big Gemmel fan!


    Adventure Path Charter Subscriber
    Can I Call My Guy Drizzt? wrote:
    Have you read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy? Consists of The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower (split into two parts in paperback).

    i agree. while williams isn't as good a writer as martin (who is?), his series has many of the same qualities. i'm on book one right now, and enjoying it.


    Steven Erikson's Tales of the Malazan series is absolutely riveting.

    If you like George RR Martin you will love Erikson, as Martin is one of Erikson's influences.

    It's dark, it's gritty, and there are no dwarves or elves running around.

    Also, if you like Fritz, I would of course suggest Robert E Howard's Conan stories, or even his Solomon Kane stories. Can't go wrong there (and most of them are free!).


    David Anthony Durham's Acacia is a lot in the fashion of GRRM, and although not exactly in the mold of Martin, Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana is magnificent in scope and storytelling.

    I know Martin decided to write SOIAF after reading Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. There's motivation to read William's stuff...

    Other authors I can recommend is the first book in the Dragoncrown War Cycle, Fortress Draconis by Michael Stackpole. That one is a gem but the rest in the series never measured up. And of course The Name of the Wind by Rothfuss.


    Another one to look at is Daniel Abraham's LONG PRICE QUARTET, starting with A SHADOW IN SUMMER (or SHADOW AND BETRAYAL in the UK, where the series is published in two omnibuses). Abraham was GRRM's protege, for lack of a better word, and his star student at Clarion Writers' Workshop and shares some of the same qualities, but also has a lot of influences from the likes of Guy Gavriel Kay as well. An excellent author.

    Abraham's next series, THE DAGGER AND THE COIN, will apparently be a riff on Martin's ASoIaF with heavy influences from Joss Whedon. Apparently the story will revolve around a young orphan who is raised by her world's equivalent of the Medici bank which is an enormously powerful political and economic force in the world. Sounds like it should be cool.


    Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson has been a great audiobook so far (about 1/3 way through second book).

    Liberty's Edge

    Raymond E. Feist's RIFTWAR trilogy is good. I can't speak for the subsequent books, I never got to all of them. Robert Silverberg's GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME is also good. I am a huge fan of Terry Brooks SHANNARA books.
    Just throwing in some stuff I hadn't seen mentioned yet.


    Jerald Schrimsher wrote:
    I am a huge fan of Terry Brooks SHANNARA books.

    A lot of people liked them, I guess -- for reasons I'm evidently unable to grasp. Personally, I found them to be poorly-written Middle-Earth ripoffs, devoid of any originality, distinctive style, or even casual interest. To each his own.

    Dark Archive Owner - Johnny Scott Comics and Games

    Can I Call My Guy Drizzt? wrote:

    Have you read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy? Consists of The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower (split into two parts in paperback). I guarantee you'll love it.

    I also really enjoyed Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies.

    And finally, JV Jones Sword of Shadows series is good stuff.

    Enjoy!

    Wholeheartedly agree about JV Jones. I'd also recommend her other stuff, too.

    And, I will always recommend Robin Hobb whenever I get a chance. I truly believe she is one of the best fantasy writers currently out there.


    Werthead wrote:

    Wolfe is a good one, although it's more of an intellectual puzzle box of a story than a 'gritty' and 'meaty' massive fantasy epic, which is what I think the OP was asking for.

    Steven Erikson's MALAZAN novels may also be worth a shot although I've kind of gone off the later books. But the first three (starting with GARDENS OF THE MOON) are pretty impressive. Someone needs to make a roleplaying game based on the MALAZAN world ASAP, as it would be pretty cool.

    IMAJICA is a good book. WEAVEWORLD is another excellent Barker novel. In the same vein is Stephen King's THE STAND and his DARK TOWER sequence.

    Erikson is the best in decades, no joke, nothing compares. GRRM is kindergarten compared to the guy. Bakker is good but it's very nonredemptive and sort of leaves you hanging. But excellent writing. In my opinion, and I read a lot of fantasy, these two are the best "writers" today.

    Sovereign Court

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    I'd agree with everything posted so far and add:
    Glen Cook: The Black Company -- Hard and Gritty.


    Saradoc wrote:
    Erikson is the best in decades, no joke, nothing compares. GRRM is kindergarten compared to the guy.

    This should be the new dictionary definition of 'hyperbole'.

    Erikson is good, but he's writing above-par D&D fiction. His world is FORGOTTEN REALMS on steroids. With thankfully no Elminster (although unfortunately with about 73 Drizzts and an Elric clone thrown in for good measure). It's enjoyable stuff, but it has a lot of problems, most notably in the characterisation department.

    In terms of modern epic fantasy writers, Erikson would probably be in the Top Ten, but he's lost a lot of traction in the series since the glory days of DEADHOUSE GATES and MEMORIES OF ICE.

    Although the T'lan Imass remain inherently awesome.

    Silver Crusade

    Robert Hawkshaw wrote:

    I'd agree with everything posted so far and add:

    Glen Cook: The Black Company -- Hard and Gritty.

    I'll pipe in and say Cook is good, but he will be more spartan in prose than many may prefer, I suspect.

    Also, I really need to read the rest of Gemmel's work, especially after starting back-asswards and reading only Hero In The Shadows.


    Brent Weeks, Night Angel trilogy

    also recommend Bakker


    Knoq Nixoy wrote:

    Brent Weeks, Night Angel trilogy

    also recommend Bakker

    Sorry, I have to disagree with this.

    Brent Weeks, Night Angel trilogy should be avoided at all costs. These books are nowhere near the pedigree the other authors recommended here. The dialogue is juvenile, the story cliche and the characters superhuman in the formula of Drizzt. Sorry Knoq, I can't believe I got suckered into buying one of these books by the positive reviews by others.

    eg.

    "So what does that teach you about being a leader?" Kylar asked.

    Logan looked perplexed. "Eat your vegetables and get enough sleep?"

    "How about, 'be nice to your inferiors or they might kick your ass'?" Kylar suggested.

    "Are you asking me to spar, Baronet Stern?"

    " Your exalted dukeliness, it will be my pleasure to take you down."

    Is this from one of the Twilight movies? I have a hard time picturing two swordsmen in a rough and tumble alien fantasy world telling each other they will open a can of whoop ass and take each other down.


    I picked the one with the most similar story, those above aren't that close


    Steven Erikson - Malazan series, though House of Chains is work to get through, im currently halted in the series because Im not a fan of Karsa Orlong.

    Greg Keyes - A Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series (starting with the Briar King) is abit lighter than GRRM or Erikson and a great series.

    Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth Series, very adult.

    I hear alot about Tad Williams, and the Dragonbone Chair is looking at me from my shelf, maybe Ill try that next.

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