Best Fantasy Writers ... ?

[Stomorel]

One of those corny starting-out threads ... I apologize.

So. Name your five favorite fantasy writers. Not Science Fiction, mind you (do feel free to start an equivalent discussion in Arrakis, though), just fantasy. Furthermore, back up your choices with reasons. A lot of people will inevitably choose Tolkien, for instance: give us the reasons you think Tolkien is one of the best writers of all time, not just, "Well, he wrote the LOTR trilogy." I'm sure you see what I mean.

So I'll go first. Feel free to add a post-script to yours if you think my choices are wrong.

Jacqueline Carey - Alright, I admit it, I got bored halfway through Banewreaker and have not yet finished the book. On the other hand, Carey did an absolutely spiffing job on the Kushiel Trilogy: the world was well-made, the characters well-written, and the overall concept was original. (When I say original, what I mean is this: lots of people write stories about masochists, prostitutes, and spies, but it takes a very good writer to pull off a story about all three, and furthermore, to make the story relatively lacking in cliche.) The story had plenty of opportunities to become controversial and titillating for the sake of controversy and titillation, and Carey did not slack off in the task of keeping chapters relevant. Besides which, Carey created one of the sexiest villains of all time. I approve.

J.R.R. Tolkien - Oh, what a cliched choice. The concept of a world with elves, orcs, trolls, dwarves, hobbits, humans, and evil wizards (not to mention dashing, mysterious rangers and unlikely heroes) is hardly original. In fact, I'd say that Tolkien was not even very original within the general theme of his story. However, it is the writing which made me choose him as one of the top five authors. Tolkien remains the only author whose writing does not seem to fall into distinguishable patterns or normal literary traps. He does not over-write, nor does he underwrite. The writing sucked me in enough that I pretty much stopped eating for the two days in which I read the trilogy. Also interesting is that Tolkien was proficient in the religious writing style as well - check out Silmarillion and I think you'll agree.

Patricia C. Wrede - The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (at least the first three of the four books) is one of the best sets of books I have ever read. Though she certainly doesn't have fluffy plots or characters, Wrede has a charmingly irreverant approach to writing fantasy. It keeps me from getting much too serious about the fantasy books I read. Fantasy isn't all about epic quests and high melodrama. Wrede's books are also free of blatant social criticism which, though it may be useful, can get boring on occasion.

Madeleine L'Engle - this woman churned out an amazing number of very, very good fantasy books (along with a good number of non-fantasy as well - she's multi-talented), including A Wrinkle In Time and Many Waters[I]. Her writing style is never unecessarily dense, her characters are always interesting, and there never seem to be any "easy answers." Because her books are thought of as classics, it's also good to read them in order to understand the constant references to her work.

Brian Jacques - okay, so his writing probably isn't the best. But those Redwall books were freakin' awesome, and I make no apologies for loving them. If you haven't read them, you must read at least one (your administrator commands it!), and don't be surprised if you get a hankering for bread, cheese, and vegetable stew at some point. I think Terry Jacques is secretly a gourmet chef. Besides which, his plots are amazing and he doesn't write "flat" characters. Go read!

There you go! Also in the running were C.J. Cherryh and Diane Duane. Robert Jordan was, I confess, NOT on my list.

[Osakazuki]

Alright, I'll take a stab at this, though there may be some repetition.

Jacqueline Carey
The Kushiel's Legacy trilogy is hands down my favorite series ever. Rich world, epic and engaging story, superb characters, beautiful prose. I reread them at least once a year. I could wax poetic about this trilogy for pages, but I'd rather try to address the other part of her work. I think she's on her way to becoming one of the really GREAT writers. Not just because of Kushiel, but because of the Sundering duology. I wasn't as attached to or enamoured of the plot or world as I was of Terre D'Ange, but I was highly impressed by the quality of the writing. I was drawn into the books, in spite of my lower interest in the story, and I think that is the hallmark of a great writer. On a technical scale, the writing in Banewreaker and Godslayer is good, and in some ways is more advanced than that of Kushiel, which makes sense, as JC has learned and grown from her first project. I'm not in love with the Sundering, like I am with the Kushiel books, but I appreciate them as and for being an intellectual and creative exercise.

Robin Hobb
I confess, I've only made it through Assasin's Apprentice and Royal Assassin, but it's only because I've put a geis on myself to not buy any more new books until I've read all the unread stuff I already have. I'll probably break that promise simply because I've been chomping at the bit to finish the Farseer trilogy and start on The Liveship Traders and Tawny Man stuff. Very, very good reading. Her writing and her world doesn't hit you over the head and drag you into the cave, but the attachment is just as strong for it starting out softer. I appreciate her most, perhaps, for not trying to hard to be clever or expansive. It's much too easy, as many writers have evidenced *coughRobertJordancoughTerryGoodkindcough*, to try and reach too far or stretch one's characters too much simply to get that presumed necessary quality of "fantastical." What I've read impresses me by being solid, and more importantly, believable--world, plot, and characters all.

Diane Duane
Fascinating and engrossing. I am particularly impressed with her versatility. Her Young Wizard's series is wonderful fantasy with beautiful thematic treatment. I absolutely adore Book of Night with Moon, and I'm desperate to get my hands on To Serve the Queen. She's also written the best media tie-in novel I've ever read, Spock's World, which I utterly love as a book in its own right.

Roald Dahl
So long as we're going with authors whose every work I adore, I need to mention this pillar of my childhood. Now, I find it interesting that Roald Dahl is usually first categorized as children's literature, but when I examine his stories today, they clearly qualify as fantasy. If the author does not take the time to integrate "world building" then is that work any less fantasy? I think not. And I actually didn't like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as much as I did The BFG, The Witches, and Matilda. And James and the Giant Peach was a small little boy in a dark, cramped space with awful relations that had something fantastic happen to him well before Harry Potter.

Laurel K. Hamilton
Okay, we're talking about favorite fantasy authors, not the greatest fantasy authors, right? Well, LKH qualifies as one of mine, a bit to my chagrin. I still buy her recent stuff, ABVH and Merry Gentry alike, as one of those guilty pleasures- it's not that good anymore, but I buy it and read it anyway because of character loyalty and I admit she can write a decent sex scene. But her early stuff... Willow once said something about falling on the early Anita Blake stuff like a recently relapsed crack addict, and I agree. Everything up to Obsidian Butterfly is utterly fantastic at satisfying my cravings for dark, sexy, kickass, and witty all in one seamless go. Everything from Narcissus in Chains on, including the Merry Gentry stuff, satisfies my cravings for mindless, magical, and quasi-erotic entertainment. So while I bemoan her drop in quality, I still find myself going back. In terms of how much of my shelf space she occupies, LKH has some of the most.

And speaking of shelf space, that's Brian Jacques, Stomorel my dear. I've read that whole series from Redwall all the way to Loamhenge. Reading him always makes me hungry.

[Stomorel]

It definitely is Brian, isn't it? I looked him up real quick (googled "Redwall"), and it came up with Terry. I was much too tired to do anything other than say, "Jacques! That is indeed the last name!"

O.o

Also, I just spied a copy of Crown Duel on my bookshelf. Oh, god, that set was good. I'm wavering, trying to decide whether to submit Silverwood Smith in for Madeleine L'Engle.

[TheClownPrince]

Well, my thoughts on this:

Jacqueline Carey
Original, with a unique writing style. I fear, however, she might become a more cliche and typical author as she continues to write, but the original Kushiel trilogy was definitely rather good. I enjoyed it, certainly, and I think it's an interesting viewpoint.

Tad Williams
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. You think it's so stereotypical, then you get fucked at the end. It's wonderful. Also, there is much more to the books than once appeared, if you go back and re-read it after going through the first time. I definitely liked them, but then he added more good stuff, like Tailchaser's song.

David Eddings
In terms of classic high fantasy, the first books by Eddings were quite good. He's definitely one of the people who I believe slid downhill a bit as more books were published (and probably too quickly), but his first set of books were quite good.

I will add more later, but those are three off the top of my head.

[Saeril]

Though I will supply a greater list in the near future:

Garth Nix -- The Abhorsen Triology:
Nix weaves together science fiction and fantasy into a beautiful harmony that is the Abhorsen trilogy. Nix develops a world full of adventure, including journies into death, bells that bind and banish the undead, a unique magic system, and some very interesting companions which accompany their respective characters. The second book, Lirael, is my favorite. I'm a big fan of music, libraries, and magic.

[LawnmowerElf]

Oh yes, the Abhorsen trilogy was beautiful. I think Sabriel remains my favorite of the three though, maybe because it wasn't as...terminology-laden, shall we say?

Am still trying to come up with a coherent list of "Best Writers"...It's rather difficult when they have their good works and then a series of not-so-good ones.

[Ember]

Robin Hobb - Easily my favourite writer. Her world and characters are phenomenally deep, and her writing deceptively simple. She uses English amazingly; every time I read her books, I'm pulled right in to the cold, the Skill magic, Fitz and the Fool's relationship ... Everything's so real, her characters especially.

Terry Pratchett - Pratchett has two modes of writing: really good and unbelievably brilliant. Apparently his new book, Thud!, is in the latter category. He twists everything on its head, his writing is both funny and amazing, and his characters are unforgettable.

Ursula le Guin - As a friend of mine noted, I've become a Le Guin fangirl overnight. I've only read Left Hand of Darkness, but I'm hunting down everything else as fast as possible. Her writing is wonderful and original.

Jacqueline Carey - I've still only read the Kushiel Legacy and, while it took me a bit of time to get into the books, I'm so happy I didn't give up. She carried me through Phedre's life so beautifully and -- bloody hell, the history of it. Carey's world is so well thought out that it's completely believable.

Jasper Fforde - Okay, I've recently become a fangirl, but damn it, this man deserves it. You could fit his books under a number of different genres, but fantasy works as well as any other. Thursday is a brilliant main character -- how often do you see plain, thirty-something females taking the lead? His books are so funny and clever, and the world so well thought out. Acheron Hades is one of my favourite villains -- not only sinister and really quite scary, but prone to beating peasants with his walking stick. Marvellous.

[ValerianCorvidae]

Fantasy writers, hm? Okay, so for the ones that I read when I'm too tired to tackle something new.

Jacqueline Carey - It's not often that someone can create world that's just that VIVID.

CL Moore - The first Grand MISTRESS of Fantasy. Her character (Jirel of Joiry) could take on Xena and Wonder Woman and win.

CS Lewis - The Narnia books are my all time favorite.

Mercedes Lackey - Most of her work is very good. The Herald Mage books were the first positive representation of homosexuality in modern fantasy. The Arrows of the Queen book are used as therapy for survivors of child abuse.

Peter S. Beagle - The Last Unicorn. 'Nuff said.

Diane Duane - Book of Night with Moon and the Wizard books.

And I'm cheating and adding a sixth -

Tamora Pierce - The Lioness books are great. I just gave copies to a friends daughter last Yule. She LOVES them. So do I.

And now I'm really cheating and adding a seventh-

Anne Bishop - Her worlds are JUST as vivid as JC's. And try writing a Night Court role playing game after reading the Black Jewels. You wind up with interesting juxtapositions.

[Stomorel]

I totally remember when I read the Tamora Pierce Lioness Quartet and thought it was really racy. Ah, the days of innocence ...

Those were (and are! I have them around somewhere!) awesome books, though. Really awesome.

Gar, everyone making me rethink my choices ^^

[Kiran]

My picks are:

Jacqueline Carey. I'll confess, I put down Banewreaker a while ago and haven't gotten back to it, and definitely haven't gotten up to Godslayer. But the Kushiel's Legacy books were good enough that even if she never writes anything else I enjoy, she'll still keep her place on my favorite author's list. Kushiel's Legacy is also the only fantasy series that I own completely in hardcover. I got Chosen and Avatar before the paperbacks came out, and Dart...well, I first bought it in paperback, but then I started loaning it out to people, and ended up getting a second copy for myself in hardcover instead of waiting for it to be returned.

George R. R. Martin. Completely different style from Carey, even though they both use low-magic settings. His world is gritty, realistic, and honestly rather depressing at times, but the story and world are fascinating. Most authors who write "epic" fantasies end up feeling like Tolkein clones -- Jordan, Brooks, Goodkind, and Eddings come to mind as examples -- but Martin's story, while on the same scale, is very different. (I can't be the only person who's sick of the same story of another unlikely hero from another remote and secluded village saving the world from another Dark Lord.)

Laurell K. Hamilton. Well, sort of. I'm not counting the later Anita Blake books, or any of the Merry Gentry books (which I haven't even read). But as for the first six or seven Anita Blake books...I wouldn't call them quality literature, but they were definitely a LOT of fun to read. I devoured most of the early books in the space of a few hours, and was always left hungry for more. Until I got to Blue Moon, at least. But it was fun while it lasted!

Roger Zelazny. What can I say? I think Corwin is the only male protagonist I've ever truly liked, at least as far as fantasy goes. (Most of them start out alright, and then get ridiculously powerful and ridiculously annoying further down the road.) My copy of the Great Book of Amber is ripped and virtually ruined. People shouldn't make books that big, really. But I'm working on collecting the individual books, at used bookstores and online...

Mervyn Peake. Okay, he's probably not technically fantasy. I don't know what he counts as, really, but I'm putting him here anyways. He's not someone most people have heard of, although the Gormenghast BBC miniseries definitely made him more popular, but he's definitely someone more people should know about. I'd put him in the same league as Tolkein, as far as being a "classic", but he's a very different kind of writer, and I much prefer him to Tolkein.

...

Just as a side note, I didn't list any authors whose works I haven't read in the past three years or so. My tastes have probably changed -- a lot. But it was Patricia C. Wrede, Tamora Pierce, and Mercedes Lackey who got me into the genre in the first place, in about that order, so they deserve a mention as well.

[Nardaviel]

Jacqueline Carey
Duh. Kushiel's Legacy is hands-down my favorite series ever. I cry at three or four places in each book, every time I read it. And, um... what everyone else said. Yes. Although I have to be really really a really really horrible fan and admit that I've not even started the Sundering. I've been meaning to, but I was waiting for it to come out in paperback, and then I just... never got around to it.

J. R. R. Tolkien
a'[spdfmkl/ansd;lfjasnmd;fklsdo iaskldfj Tolkien. What is there to say about Tolkien? Firstly, he was an amazing linguist. I'm starting to teach myself Quenya this summer, and every time I sit down to study it I'm amazed all over again by his inventiveness and creativity and tidiness, and how realistic the language is. And secondly, his stories. He is an amazing storyteller and I don't care what anyone says. His writing is lyrical and soothing, and his imagination is just... there are no words. Everything about his work is sparkling and beautiful. (And if you look up Tolkien quotes, some of them are absolutely hilarious.) I think if I had to choose one person who I idolized, it would be Tolkien.

Mercedes Lackey
I'll be the first to admit that some of her work isn't of the highest quality. But some of it is. And those are some of the best fantasy out there, in my opinion. I have a special place in my heart for the Last Herald-Mage trilogy, since it portrays homsexuality in a positive light and it, like Kushiel's Legacy, tends to make me cry when I read it. Anyway, Lackey helped expand the fantasy genre and make it more well-known, for which alone I'd be grateful.

Garth Nix
I actually only started his Abhorsen trilogy because it was about death, and I was at the time a Morbid Gothic Teenager. But it's still among my favorite series, because it's at the same time supernatural and magical, and immediate and gripping. I love the resemblance between Dante's Hell and the river of Death, I love the characterization, I love the magic (I'm a nerd, I like a certain amount of explanation in magic, as opposed to a writer just saying, "And then she said X and Y happened."), and I love the series. Yes.

Lynn Flewelling
Her Nightrunner series is amazing (and as yet incomplete!). I'm kind of a sucker for gay men in fantasy literature, so it'd appeal to me even if it weren't fascinating. The first two books are kind of separated from the third, in that the first two deal mainly with one plot and the third deals with a completely different one, but since the series still has more to come that's okay. I absolutely adore her character Seregil. Dark, mysterious, not-quite-human, slightly rogueish, and gay. You can't get better than that, dude.

[Gleep]

To resurrect a really old thread...

1. Robin Hobb. Because Fitz is an amazing protagonist - not a hero, but not quite an anti-hero either. Just a very interesting, thoroughly fucked up person who gets involved in big events. The only person I've ever heard complain about anything in these books said that it's too much about Fitz' life and not enough about the adventure. That's how I like my fantasy books, though. Sure, I care about the adventure too, but not as much as I care about the characters. And the author absolutely -has- to make me care about the characters for the books to end up anywhere on my top list. The relationship between Fitz and Fool is probably the best depicted relationship ever in fantasy, if you ask me. So nuanced, so non-stereotypical, so profound. The world soul mates is too easily thrown around these days. This is the only situation where I would not hesitate to use it. As for the story, Hobb just keeps pulling new stunts and you -know- that she has the guts to kill off main characters and leave off a series with a less than happy ending, so the suspense was unbearable the first time around. Don't much care for The Liveship Traders though - not as interesting characters, although one needs to read them to truly understand what goes on story-wise in The Tawny Man. I tried one of the books Hobb wrote under a different alias, long before she got famous for The Farseer Trilogy. Nowhere close in quality. I didn't care enough to buy the second book.

2. Jacqueline Carey. Wonderful world, very colourful and stand-offish in an extremely appealing sort of way with all the night court houses and the mythology. Also, Phèdre is the only heroine I have ever read of who pulls off saving the world - it's not like there's any question who's the more important character when it comes to that - using only classical female skills to do so. No sword fighting, no military tactics, no wilderness survival skills (she has men to do those things or her, yet she's always the one in charge, the brains of the group, the one with the divine power). She never even throws any spells! And she manages to be relatively mature and not annoy the hell out of me, like so many female characters in fantasy do. Then there's the fact that The Kushiel Legacy just happens to cater to several of my particular interests: It's got some seriously dark and angsty passages (although I wish that Carey didn't feel the need to make the books end in such an overly cheerful manner, after all that angst. All the characters don't have to survive and be paired up with someone), and lots of beautiful people who do shameless things to each other (inside and outside of the bedroom), there's epic fantasy and political intrigue. And the language... *shivers* As for The Sundering, it took me a while to get caught up in it, but at the end of Godslayer I wept for like an hour straight while reading. An epic tragedy... what a glorious concept! If any of the characters had been more captivating it'd have gotten full score. As it is, the mad cripple-half-elf was the only one I was particularly fond of. I'd love to see a sequel with him as the main character.

3. David Eddings. How does he fit in, you wonder, where the two authors listed above are so drastically different in writing style? Well, The Belgariad was my first love, the books that ensured that I became an ardent fantasy fan (and wouldn't read anything else). I adore Eddings' dry sense of humour and several of the characters are very entertaining. One just can't read these books for profound characterization. But year after year, it's as much fun to reread them. Nothing released after Polgara The Sorceress is much worth reading, though.

4. Katherine Kerr. She had a real hollow around the fifth book in the Deverry series, but around the eight, she caught up again. I never completely lost interest in the series although it has waxed and waned a bit. It was renewed once more as I read the last page of her most recent book. Poor Rhodry... Problem with those books really is that I just don't care about all the reincarnations of the characters - i only ever really cared about Jill, Rhodry and Salamander. Also, Kerr says on her homepage that in the last book that is forth coming, all the lose ends from the previous twelve books will be tied together and it'll all make sense. Somehow I seriously doubt that. There are just too many lose ends. But I'm going to enjoy seeing her try. Either way, for a fantasy series to have stayed with me over this many years shows that it must be pretty captivating after all, since I read the first book in 1994 and the last one isn't out yet...

No more memorable fantasy writers. That's it.

[Amyblu]

jonathan nasaw and susan wright

[ValerianCorvidae]

Ummm.... Amyblu, could you maybe just write them out and not put the HUGE GRAPHICS in your reply???

Kthanxbi

[Amyblu]

i guess so