CBG Fantasy Book Rankings [Discussion]

[Wensleydale]

Certainly ASOIAF. It may have its faults, but I'm personally glad it was extended to seven books. Provided GRRM doesn't go and kick the bucket before the series is finished.

As for WoT, I'm not such a fan. I feel the series started well, but slowly got bogged down and slightly boring.

Votes should come later.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Well, I'd give the Belgariad a 3. Barely readable.

Well, guess I'll bump that down to the bottom of my reading list ;)

Sounds like Tad Williams and Gene Wolfe need to be on the top. And maybe Terry Prachet.

[brainface]

Darkover series - Marion Zimmer Bradley - 5

queen[/i]. :P) Instead she relied on more standard male sci-fi/fantasy protagonist that didn't really have a lot to do with the story, and it kind of fell flat.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I imagine I've read a lot of books you didn't know I've read ;)

And no, I haven't read Stormqueen, but I know what it's about.  I didn't really like the Darkover series enough to read more books about Darkover.

[snakefing]

Well, I'd give the Belgariad a 3. Barely readable.

Get some Gene Wolfe from the library if you can. His style is quite distinctive and not really easy to read. Some people can't get into it.

Terry Pratchett is just good goofy fun with a bit of a cynical edge. Definitely worth looking into.

I'm really not sure what to say about the Belgariad. When I read it, I got the sense that it was really aimed at kids. So maybe it is not so bad, if you look at it that way. But I couldn't stomach it myself.

I like Tad Williams okay, but haven't read that much of him.

[LordVreeg]

Well, I'd give the Belgariad a 3. Barely readable.

Get some Gene Wolfe from the library if you can. His style is quite distinctive and not really easy to read. Some people can't get into it.

Terry Pratchett is just good goofy fun with a bit of a cynical edge. Definitely worth looking into.

I'm really not sure what to say about the Belgariad. When I read it, I got the sense that it was really aimed at kids. So maybe it is not so bad, if you look at it that way. But I couldn't stomach it myself.

I like Tad Williams okay, but haven't read that much of him.

Wolfe is near the top of my list as wel.  I rarely feel a story being written at so many different levels at once as I read it, yet it still engrossed me.  The strange characters and the way he makes the bizarre seem to fit is also amazing

[Kindling]

Someone asked why I voted the Belgariad so low. My answer - it read like a series of children's books. It was as if he'd taken the fantasy genre and decided to "dumb it down" and simplify it until everything was easy enough to understand for children... and yet, as far as I'm aware, it's supposed to be "adult" fiction.

The plot was laughable, the characters less than two-dimensional... I can't tell you how bad I think the Belgariad is. I only finished it out of a kind of sick fascination - the way you can't help but poke at a sore tooth.

His Elenium series is marginally better, as it at least has some vaguely entertaining characters, and I will admit I enjoyed some passages, but it's still, in my opinion, drivel. He spoiled any sense of tension there might have been by having the goodies (and they definitely are goodies, not just protagonists) overcoming every challenge set before them with little to no losses.

[Raelifin]

Luminous Crayon, I'd like to hear your reasoning behind calling the books (you know which ones) on your list "Fantasy." I respect your taste in literature, but I just don't think they belong in this list.

[Superfluous Crow]

... where is the list we're referring to?

[Matt Larkin (author)]

... where is the list we're referring to?

Here. I originally thought a separate discussion thread would work better for me keeping track of votes. But since I track both, it doesn't really matter.

[Pellanor]

I gotta say, I'm surprised at how well rated Memory Sorrow & Thorn is. It was the first series of books that I put down without finishing. Of course that was a lot of years ago, so I may like it more now.

Also, as I said in my vote, more of you need to read The Black Company (Glen Cook) and the Malazan Book of the Fallen (Steven Erikson)

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Pellanor, MS&T has a notoriously slow start - in fact, the very first time I attempted to read it, I remember I took a vacation from it around chapter 6, and didn't get back to it for a couple months.  You should give it another try sometime.

Also, Steve Landers mentioned over in the ratings page that he didn't like the ending.  I see that comment every now and then too, but I think Tad Williams said it best in an interview, which I will paraphrase in Ish-Speak (spoilering below for those who haven't read - I recommend you don't read it, lest something be spoiled, though I will try to be ambiguous):

[spoiler]
Tad has said that he is constantly surprised at how people complain about such a happy ending, considering the fact of how many people die (and actually stay dead, JORDAN!), and how dark the story is up until the last two chapters.  All the "surprises" in those last 2 chapters are well thought-out, and are even foreshadowed throughout the entire series, so I've never really been able to understand people complaining about too happy an ending. [/spoiler]

[Kindling]

Oddly enough, although I never finished MS&T, it wasn't due to the slow start... I loved the first two books, I've even re-read them several times, but when I started reading the third, To Green Angel Tower or whatever it was called, just... I dunno... my interest waned.

[khyron1144]

Discworld 10
American gods/ Anansi Boys 10
Vampire Chronicles 6
Conan 8
Elric 8
Corum 8
Harry Potter 6
Lord of the Rings 5
Alvin Maker 7
The Tempest 7
Belgariad 6
Cthulhu Mythos 8
Xanth 6
Incarnations of Immortality 7
Blue Adept 7
Chronicles of Narnia 4
Word and the Void 5
Circle of Magic 5
Dark Tower 6
Prydain Chronicles 6
Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare 8
Oz by L. Frank Baum 5


Those were my rankings.  I think the general trend is I like action better than plodding exposition.  I also like works with a sense of humor better than ones that are written in a dead serious tone.

Lord of The Rings in the specific got about three bonus points for importance to the genre and detailed mythology.  I have tried to read it a number of times.  I have so far ended up stalling out somewhere in the stuff in Rivendell in Fellowship.  It doesn't flow well for me.  I can read The Bible better than this stuff, and that is not meant to be a compliment towards The Bible.

[Elemental_Elf]

Has no one else read the L5R: Clan Wars series? Come on, they're the classics of the 'western interpretation of traditional Pseudo-Sino-Japanese literature!' IMO, L5R is the LotR of Asian Fantasy (though, obviously not its peer).