anyone got any good suggestions for great high fantasy books? in the style of a song of ice and fire? I just got myself dragonquest by anne mccaffrey but I barely got through the first chapter so I can't say if it's any good yet...

I have never read a song of ice and fire, so I don't know if the book I am about to suggest is anything like it, but if you are looking for good fantasy novel, you might try Tad Williams' Shadowmarch. It is the best fantasy novel I have read in quite a while.
Edit: I just remembered: the first several chapters can be found here.

I have read a couple of Anne McCaffrey, they are pretty good.

I tend more toward the comic fantasy, but there are some good serious ones too. It depends on what you class as High Fantasy though.

Terry Goodkind isn't bad, if a little heavy. I have just realised that there are a few books that I haven't read, mostly because they are part way through series, but I also seem to be missing some...

I should check my attic - maybe there is another box somewhere?
:oops:

Try Tad Williams 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' trilogy (or quadrilogy? if it's in paperback) or anything by Guy Gavriel Kay, a really good writer. With Anne McCaffrey it might have been better to start with Dragonflight as it introduces the characters and was the first book written.

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is definatly worth a read. However, I think Williams' latest novel Shadowmarch (which I mentioned earlier in this thread) is slightly better written.

Also, I believe that the proper word for a series of four related dramatic, operatic, or literary works is Tetralogy (sorry, I was raised by an english teacher, and sometimes I just cant help myself).

I grew out of Anne McCaffery as soon as I started high school and developed a taste for David Eddings, Sean McMullen, Anne Rice, Gaiman, and of course Pratchett. I'd reccomend the first two of those authors for a good fantasy read, so long as you don't mind a little scifi in Sean McMullen's writing (start with Voyage of the Shadowmoon if you're interested in him, Pawn of Prophecy if you're interested in Eddings).

I've seen them called Quartets, namely the Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce.

Anne McCaffery: Consider reading the Earthsea trilogy. I only read the first book, but I liked it and plan to look up the other two. Don't expect a grand plotline, or a truly well-written book, but it is better written by far than The Lord of the Rings. The story comes across well, albiet with the... slightly archaic style that was used by many fantasy writers of that period.

Consider looking up Clifford Simak. He didn't write that many fantasy books, but I liked Where the Evil Dwells.

Tad Williams 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' trilogy is amazing, and I thank Mynona again for reccomending it to me. Be aware though, that 'slow-paced' would be an understatement in describing it, and that the third book in the series is equal in size to the other two combined, hence the split it underwent when it was sold in the mass-market form.

And of course, Raymond E Feist. He's written a lot of books, in a lot of series and though the series are connected, by using the same world an occational character, you can read them in any which order. I did that, because the people who translate books in Sweden are... [enter several not very nice words]

I believe the third book can now be bought in one volumn (it is a big one, though.)

That was written by Ursula LeGuin, or isn't that what you meant?


P.S. No offence to Anne McCaffery fans, but I hate her writing - at least that stuff about all the different colour dragons, it's one only two stories in my life that I couldn't finish because it irritated me so much.

Damn, my mistake. Yes, Ursula LeGuin. McCaffery mainly writes a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, which could really be better.

I can recommend David eddings the Elenium,trilogy followed by the Tamuli trilogy the six books follow one man Sparhawk and his companions through adventures with magic, monsters and gods and theres a bit of a love story as well. I found myself laughing out loud at some bits and actually crying at others.
The seperate titles for the books are
THE ELENIUM
1. The diamond throne
2. The ruby night
3. The sapphire rose
THE TAMULI
1.Domes of fire
2.The shining ones
3. The hidden city
read and enjoy.

I agree with all above...I love Anne Mccaffery, but some of her best work is not the much celebrated Pern books but her earlier books. The Rowan and the following books, the Power Trilogy/whatever (with Elizabeth Anne Scarborough) and my favorite, the Freedom's books. These are more science-fictiony then fantasy, but good nevertheless.

Overall, though, the best advice is to get your hands on a copy of Legends (preferbally volume I) and just see who you like. There's a short story by Pterry in there too; you can't go wrong.

This topic caught my eye and I just had to add to it.
Apart from Tolkien and Lewis which I started with at 9

I really started reading high fantasy (previously known as Sword & Sourcery fantasy) because of one man

Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone

since then I have enjoyed

André Norton
Ursula LeGuin
C.J. Cherryh
Guy Gavriel Kay
Anne McAffrey
Terry Brooks
All of the Eddings books (except High Hunt)
Janny Wurtz
Raymond E. Feist
Mercedes Lackey (with /without Larry Dixon)
L. Sprague de Camp
David Gemmel
Stephen Lawhead
Katherine Kerr

and many others

Can I put Uderzo & Goscinny in under special mentions or don't they qualify?

edit: Spelling. Thanks Buzzfloyd
inwig

It's Uderzo, without the n. He and Goscinny are definitely not even close to being high fantasy, but are always worth reading.