Hidden Fantasy Gems

Heather Myst

Heather Myst

Chocolate.....Count Me In
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
399
I just joined the site today and I wanted to see if I could get some suggestions from all of you on some new fantasy books. Everybody knows about Martin,Tolkien, Abercrombie,Goodkind,Hobb,Brooks,Rothfuss, Butcher, Glen Cook, and J.V. Jones. They deserve all the love they get because I think they are all fantastic.

Here are some other authors that I think are under-rated or don't seem to get the attention that they deserve.

Jennifer Fallon: Her Second Sons trilogy that begins with the Lion of Senet is one of my favorites.
John Marco: Tyrants and Kings series is top notch.
David Coe: Winds of the Forelands is five books of plot twists and turns.
Fiona McIntosh: I have read seven of her books and loved them all.
Carol Berg: Never disappoints.
Scott Lynch: Only two books out but the quality is outstanding.
Giles Carwyn and Todd Fahnestock: Heartstone trilogy is worth a look.
Brent Weeks: Night Angel trilogy is very good for a first series.
Michael J. Sullivan: The Crown Conspiracy reminded me of Locke Lamora.
David Durham: Acacia sets the bar very high for the rest of his series.
Greg Keyes: I loved the first three books of Thorn and Bone but the ending seemed pretty hollow.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions that you think I might enjoy. Thank you.
 
Joanne Bertin. The Last DragonLord and Dragon and Phoenix. both wonderful books. Also you might want ot consider John Flanagan. He is technically young adult but still very good.
 
Lynch and Weeks have been talked about a lot on these boards. In fact, I wouldn't even know about them but for the readers here. Other names on your list crop up from time to time.

The one who I always thought was underrated is Charles de Lint. He's well regarded, but more of a cult/niche author.
 
P.C. Hodgell is one I've been beating the drums about for years. Her series on a chosen people given a hopeless war by their Three-Faced God, and his subsequent abandonment of them is one that I've loved since it was first published 20-some years ago. Luckily, Baen has recently reprinted her books.
 
Paul Kearney is the most underrated author in modern epic fantasy.

As discussed on the other thread, Daniel Abraham needs a lot more attention.

Robert Redick, Kristin Cashore and Carrie Ryan's debuts were all pretty decent and have done very well, but gotten next to zero discussion here.

Kate Elliott's Crossroads trilogy is very good, a real step-up from her overlong Crown of Stars septology. I'm guessing that series killed off a lot of interest in her other works. A shame as the Asian-influenced new work is far more interesting.

China Mieville's Un Lun Dun got such little attention that I've seen people missing it off their lists and erroneously calling The City and the City his fifth novel instead, which is just ludicrous.

Alan Campbell's Deepgate Codex is superb and with the recent release of the final book, I'm surprised not to be seeing more discussion of it.
 
You could take a look at L E Modessit Jr, he does Sci Fi and Fantasy. I think his fantasy series is called Recluce and the first book is called the Magic of Recluce.

And I'm gonna throw David Gemmell into the pot again :)

You might like him, quick and easy read but can be descriptive in his fight scenes if you don't like bloody details. His first book and in my opinion only his best is Legend.
 
Welcome to the forums Heather! I hope you find some good books to read and discover some new authors in your return visits.

One author I don't see mentioned very often is Holly Lisle. I read her Secret Texts a few years ago and thought it was pretty entertaining. She's got well over 15 books to her name but very few people 'round these parts seem to have read her.

As for other authors, we've got a lot of these recommendation threads floating around, here are some where you might find interesting books/authors:

Fantasy Epics (Ones to read, ones to steer clear of)
Underrated Authors
What Can You Tell Me About....
Hidden or Long Forgotten Gems in Your Book Shelves
The New and Improved Recommendation - Fantasy / Horror
Need help picking new fantasy series to read
Looking for something 'magical'.
Gimme some good adventure books! (Similar to Three Musketeers,Locke Lamora or Sharpe)
Book that just blew your mind....
The First Law (Looking for books like Abercombie's trilogy)
Just started in Epic Fantasy - What to read?
**looking For Fantasy Trilogies**
 
I'll second Modesitt, Elliott and Kearney, and add these:

Katharine Kerr - Her Deverry Series has suffered from publishing delays and lost a lot of the momentum built up early in the series. It is, however, a wonderful and extremely overlooked set of books.

Janny Wurts - Based on her Wars of Light and Shadow series, she has been in my list of top 5 favorite authors for years. Publishing woes have hurt the popularity of this series as well.

Both of these women write complex, intelligent stories set in worlds that are alive and have a great depth of history to support them. Their writing, especially Wurts's, is subtle and demanding, but well worth it for the reader who can handle it.
 
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Ohhhh I have to second Katherine Kerr :)

I forgot about her (waits for the slap). She writes celtic style fantasy. Her first book is Daggerspell i think. Unfortunately it is sort a series. To get the whole story you have to read the first one. But I found them to be quite an easy read and a good one.
 
Eckythump said:
Ohhhh I have to second Katherine Kerr :)

I forgot about her (waits for the slap). She writes celtic style fantasy. Her first book is Daggerspell i think. Unfortunately it is sort a series. To get the whole story you have to read the first one. But I found them to be quite an easy read and a good one.
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Interesting timing, as the last-ever book in the whole series is due out next year. I've been intrigued by these but the rather large chart in the back of the books which tracks which character is the reincarnation of some other character from six books back looked a bit off-putting.
 
Wert, if you are put off by the idea of reincarnation itself, for what it is worth, I think it is well done and makes sense in the context of the story. If you are worried about it being confusing, I only found the incarnations confusing after taking extended breaks from the series. I think if you can read the entire series without any huge breaks then it won't be a problem.
 
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I agree with Obtuse. The reincarnations aren't hard to follow as you read the series. And you only realy end up following 4 or 5 main characters if i remember correctly.
 
I'd reccomend Paul Kearney's The Ten Thousand, Daniel Fox's Dragon in Chains and KJ Parker's Engineer Trilogy.
 
I've seen these "tired of the same old names" topics before, and i always pick up a name or two from them that i overlooked. right now i would give a chance to Kate Elliott Crossroads (i read the whole Crown of Stars series, and i was waiting for a review of the new one) and maybe Katharine Kerr.

I'll trow a couple of names in the pot, too:
Juliet Marillier - Sevenwaters
Elizabeth Moon - The Deed of Paksenarrion
 
Brian Jacques. Whilst it's not your dragon filled, magical adventure, he's created this world that's very believable. His Redwall series is brilliant for adults and kids! Most of the series centers around an abbey called Redwall, and the books are about the creatures inside it. I think an influence to it would be a series called Dunston Wood (I think that's the name). I've got 7 of the 16 or so books, and I heartily recommend them. You don't need to read them in order, either. Redwall (the first book) is a nice one to pick up, but you'll want to read Martin the Warrior (before) and Mattimeo (after).

Another fantasy gem is oddly Stephen King. He did a fantasy book (that ties in heavily with The Dark Tower) named "The Eyes of the Dragon". Not the longest read, nor the most challenging, but a very good read all the same. I think it's a little sweary, but not as bad as his other books can be.
 
What about Brent Weeks and his Night Angel trilogy. A mix of Gemmell and a bit of epic fantasy thrown in too. I really enjoyed the first one, bought the second one over the weekend and am now going to get the 3rd coz I heard from a lot of people his books get better.
 
It's weird to me how often prominent and even bestselling authors pop up as purportedly "unknown" in these threads. Brent Weeks, David Gemmell and Scott Lynch are not exactly the genre's best-kept secrets, peeps.

Anyway, my scattershot impressions on a handful of authors whose names have been tossed out so far (i.e., the ones I've actually read or have some interest in reading):

Carol Berg - very solid writer but I wish she'd get over the vaguely homoerotic master-and-servant infinitely abused protagonist dynamic. It was interesting once, in Transformation, but repeat use is making it look like a fixation and it's starting to skeeve me out. I'm avoiding her work until somebody tells me this gimmick has gone away.

Carwyn and Fahnestock - lol wut. These books make me embarrassed to be a fan of the genre. Amateurishly written hott priestesses engaged in masturbatory sex magick = please god make it stop.

Kate Elliott, Crossroads - haha I just posted in the other thread that I've been avoiding the Crossroads books because I thought Crown of Stars sucked. I'm glad to hear the new books are an improvement, though.

Jennifer Fallon - on the good side of mediocre, but only just. Wolfblade was one small step above Extruded Fantasy Product. Her newest series might or might not be an improvement; I'll figure out my own opinion if I run out of anything else decent to read, which coincidentally is about when I'd recommend her work to anyone else.

Daniel Fox - I've been meaning to take a look at Dragon In Chains, but the cover makes my brain hurt and the near-total lack of reviews on Amazon makes me leery. They're all positive reviews, but there are only four of them. These are probably stupid reasons for me to hesitate at buying a book, but there you go.

P.C. Hodgell - I should take this off the unfinished pile and give it another shot. The first time, I hit a brick wall with the hallucinatory and under-explained weirdness of the opening and stopped barely 20 pages in, but it's due for another look. The cover of the Baen omnibus edition makes my eyes bleed, though.

Holly Lisle - I read, and hated, Talyn a while back. It was completely crapalicious. It may well be that I somehow managed to pick the one awful book in an otherwise solid body of work, but omfg it was so bad. I threw this one in the garbage when I was done, which I thought was something only spiteful Amazon reviewers said, but I actually did it here.

Carrie Ryan - I've had The Forest of Hands and Teeth on my TBR pile a while and should get around to it sooner rather than later. The excerpt on this one was stunning. Beautiful writing. The impact of what the narrator's telling you hits like a ton of feathers: it seems lovely and dreamy and then all of a sudden you realize you're suffocating in horror. Hopefully the rest of the book lives up to the opening, and I've got no excuse for dawdling so long on it.
 
Thank You

I just wanted to say thank you for all the suggestions. I have many books to look into now. Thanks again!
 
Cranky Hamster said:
It's weird to me how often prominent and even bestselling authors pop up as purportedly "unknown" in these threads. Brent Weeks, David Gemmell and Scott Lynch are not exactly the genre's best-kept secrets, peeps.
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You beat me to it, Cranky. I'll add Brian Jacques to that list too, since he isn't exactly unknown. You really can't escape his books in a book store or Lynch, Weeks, and Gemmell in online discussions like here and Westeros. Here at SFFWorld specifically, there are two relatively current Weeks threads, at least a half-dozen Lynch threads and double that for Gemmell.
 
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