Downers' Famous Fantasy Five

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

Groin! Homer is NOT fantasy! All that stuff actually happened. Especially the magic parts.

What are you talking about Gwathagor? Do you call the Greek Gods real? Do you believe in Cyclopes'? That stuff is no more real than Lord of the Rings. Trojan war may have been real, but not all the Gods, magic, and monsters that Homer puts in his book.

Plus, Dwarves in barrels.

That part was one of the funniest parts in the books. Thanks for bringing that up Ka.

[Lalwendë]

The Steward comes out of the errr...place where Stewards hang out...

1. You can have Greek myths if you like. They were the only 'fantasy' for many centuries so that's OK by me!

2. If you put two things by one author down I will have to leave the second out of the count - this applies to Groin Redbeard who was naughty and chose two Tolkiens.

3. Specify your order, please, and that one's for Mithalwen.

4. I have to ask Folwren - going by the rules then, you do have just the four, yes?

5. I will do some scores when I feel less peaky.

Some tasty choices here! Keep 'em coming!

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

3. Specify your order, please, and that one's for Mithalwen.

Objectively, subjectively or pretentiously?

[Folwren]

4. I have to ask Folwren - going by the rules then, you do have just the four, yes?

We are getting scored? Perhaps I should find a 5th, then. But, yes, going by the rules, I have just four, as of now.

EDIT: I will add a fifth favorite... I don't know if you'd count it fantasy, but it certainly isn't very realistic. Mom calls it fantasy.

5. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

Does it count? *hopeful grin*

Edit #2: If it counts, I'll have to re-arrange the order, since you're also particular about that.

[Mithalwen]

Pretentiously:

Life of Pi, History of Danish Dreams, The Christmas Mystery, Children of Hurin, Maskerade

Subjectively: CoH, M, CM, HoDD, LoP

Objectively: CM, CoH,M, HoDD, LoP

[Lalwendë]

Folwren - if you could defend it as fantasy then it is OK. This is simply for fun, to find what our faves are, and it could make for a decent list of recommended reading too. You don't have to have five, but you cannot have six (or more!). And yes, I'll score them when I get the chance, but I need a clear head for even the most basic of Maths and I don't feel well today

Mithalwen - I'll take pretentiously shall moi?*




*geddit? Eh? Eh?

[Mithalwen]

cos of course Booker Prize winners and Scandinavian philosophers form such a high percentage of my reading matter .... they are there partly because I read so little that could be classed as fantasy... and I did resist including an Umberto Eco...

Of course if you had gone for romances you would have exposed my weakness for Isabell Wolff and Maeve Binchy...

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

If you put two things by one author down I will have to leave the second out of the count - this applies to Groin Redbeard who was naughty and chose two Tolkiens.

Then I guess the Odyssey should also be taken out, since Homer also wrote that book as well as the Iliad.

I don’t read fantasy that much and I don’t know of any other good fantasy books.

1. The Hobbit
2. Iliad
3. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

[Dimturiel]

It took me quite a lot to make up my mind about my choices and the order in which I should put them, but here they are at last:

1. "The Lord of the Rings", in my opinion the best book ever, and surely the one that had the greatest impact on me.


2. The "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling. I was really hooked on these books. I'm sorry they're finished, really, as there'll be nothing to wait for with so much excitement from now on.

3. "Something wicked this way comes" by Ray Bradbury. It's an impressive book, very very well-written. I read it in only one day, I just couldn't put it down.

4. "The Neverending story" by Michael Ende. This book held once the place that LOTR now has in my heart. I remember reading it over and over again. I was very fond of the characters, especially of Bastian, and I still identify with him, being an avid reader myself.

5. "The wonderful adventures of Nils Holgersson" by Selma Lagerlof. I was really small when I read it, and it was the first book that had a great impact on me, and for this, it still has a special place in my heart.

[Lord Gothmog]

Lord of the Rings. (not surprising)
The Belgariad - David Eddings
The Pern books - Anne McCaffry
Time Enough for Love - Robert Hienlen.
I Robot - Issac Asimov

[THE Ka]

especially at this time when some of us are liable to be worshipping "Bilious"

~ Mith

The Oh-Great-god indeed. The Hogfather is amazing, as of so far, it is one of two I've enjoyed the most out of the series, but I have much more to read. I'm particularly fond of the Death series.

Objectively, subjectively or pretentiously?

~ Mith

Oops, I didn't consider that. Must have been slighted by Bilious then. So, I guess for the majority of the later choices, they are pretentious to inspire curiousity and hopefully a good read.

So, to be specific about Discworld, of the ones I have come across so far, I am really enjoying Mort. I greatly enjoy the escapades of Death and Binky.

~ An acknowledging Ka

[Thinlómien]

My Famous Fantasy Five? Here it comes...

1. The Lord of The Rings / The Silmarillion
The problem is, I really can't choose. Sometimes I like one better, sometimes the other. In a way, I like The Silmarillion more, all the great tales and the strong feelings it creates, but LotR, well, it is kind of a second home to me, so I can not choose.

2. The Earthsea books by Ursula Le Guin
I reread these a year or two ago and I was astonished. Le Guin is a true master of stroytelling and world-creating and there is a lot of depth to her books. Her world is believable, intriguing and personal, one of the few fantasy universes that has seemed really real to me, like Middle-Earth. Le Guin's storytelling is something many fantasy authors could learn from: she manages to say the important without horribly long decorative phrases and her books (my Finnish copies of the first three books are 200+ pages each) are more complicated and breathtaking adventures than many 1000-page mammoths by various mainstream fantasy authors. There's something rough in Le Guin's style of writing and I like it very much. She also writes subtly and everytime you reread her books you find new things in them. Of her Earthsea books, the first three are certainly better than the latter ones (although they are far better than "average" fantasy as well) and The Tombs of Atuan remains a particular favourite of mine with it's original atmosphere and mystical world that it's totally its own...

3. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
My absolute favourites of "lighter" fantasy. Hobb has said that the Farseer Trilogy was born when she thought of the most common fantasy clichés and decided to try if anything good could be made out of them. I must say she succeeded very well. When reading the books, none of the cliché-elements really bothered me, they were turned into somethign interesting enough and just fit the story perfectly. Hobb tells the story smoothly and her characters are excellent. I will probably remain awed for the rest of my life for how Hobb writes her main character who is also the narrator. In my opinion, it is a very difficult task to create a typical fantasy main character and still be able to make him a personality of his own and make him seem real. I think many fantasy protagonists even by good authors are haunted by a certain hollowness or simplicity that often totally lacks from the same author's side characters. This is not true in Hobb's case. Also, I must say Hobb is the author that had made me cry the most (after Tolkien, of course). Her books make me too sentimental. But when I first read The Farseer Series it was just amazing, for whatever mistake the protagonist did, I knew it was stupid, but I knew that I would have done the same in his situation as well. After a few reareads and growing up a bit I'm not so sure. Anyway, The Farseer Series are worth reading, like the trilogies that followed it (The Liveship Traders and The Tawny Man).

4. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
I actually like Kay's alternative history novels (especially The Lions of Al-Rassan and A Song for Arbonne) more than his fantasy ones. Tigana, however, is almost the same level as those two I mentioned. It's the perfect book for anyone who looks for epic fantasy mixed with tragedy, political plotting, adventure and relationship drama.

5. ?
Now this is a place the holder of which depends on what I've been reading lately. Currently, I feel like nominating George R.R. Martin's to-be-megalomaniac epic fantasy series The Song of Ice and Fire. Now that I think of it, it seems I have a soft spot for well-written epic fantasy with intriguing characters and lots of political plotting...

[Gwathagor]

Originally Posted by Groin Redbeard

What are you talking about Gwathagor? Do you call the Greek Gods real? Do you believe in Cyclopes'? That stuff is no more real than Lord of the Rings. Trojan war may have been real, but not all the Gods, magic, and monsters that Homer puts in his book.

OF COURSE IT'S REAL! Do you think Homer just MAKES STUFF UP? Why are gods, magic, and monsters no longer plausible? What happened to us? Why COULDN'T there have been giants on the earth? What reason do you have to not believe "that stuff" existed?

Fate was God, the gods were demons, magic was magic, and the monsters were dinosaurs (and demons). It's fairly straightforward.

EDIT: Wildcats of Kilkenny? Why did I put that in there?

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

OF COURSE IT'S REAL! Do you think Homer just MAKES STUFF UP? Why are gods, magic, and monsters no longer plausible? What happened to us? Why COULDN'T there have been giants on the earth? What reason do you have to not believe "that stuff" existed?

Fate was God, the gods were demons, magic was magic, and the monsters were dinosaurs (and demons). It's fairly straightforward.

EDIT: Wildcats of Kilkenny? Why did I put that in there?

I like how you say these things Gwathagor! Demons, demons, and even more demons! Being a Christian I do believe in Demons, but some people don't! And yes I do believe in Demons and Dragons too!( yes I did say dragons)


Anyway,I don't read much fantasy except for Tolkien... there is a bunch of newer fantasy out now that seems nockoffish(I make up words) well from what I've heard!

1: Lord of the Rings... I LOVE hobbits... well and for other reasons too! That is why I'm on the Barrow-Downs people!

2: The Chronicles of Narnia: I remember when I was like five or so my mom read them to me and in the last book I got freaked out because of the one God thing Tash (I think that was his name) anyway the picture in our book scared the living daylights out of me! I think I should read them again...


Well as I said I don't read much fantasy, but Harry Potter was banned by my mom (because it had witch craft in it or something) otherwise I would have probably read it...

But if you call the Illiad fantasy, I've never read it, but I've seen many adaptations of it... Of course I'm still young and I can take some books off of this book list! They probably would be good reads!

~TGEW

[THE Ka]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

OF COURSE IT'S REAL! Do you think Homer just MAKES STUFF UP?

Well, if you look at it from the Aristotle perspective of literary critique, that could be easily supported. Considering that Homer was said to be 'blind', which symbolistically gives of the impression of a developed 'inner eye/sight', Aristotle's method could argue on the behalf of his poetics and epics by saying they emphasis the 'universal' (nature of everything, human nature...) which is seen as something nearer to the 'ideal' of Greek philosophy (according to only Aristotle, of course). So, unlike Plato, he's fine with showing the flaws of heros and gods, as long as it furthers the underlying message of character improvement and polishing the coal into diamond, etc.
Sort of like this: "writers of great dignity imitated the noble actions of noble heroes; the less dignified sort of writers imitated the actions of inferior men."

On the other hand, if you had Plato take a gander at it, he might take Homer's works and stomp them into oblivion because poetic works are the 'flit of imagination' and thus the threat of a 'state and ideal completely of logic morality and reason'. As long as the poets 'behave' and celebrate only the completely falseless of the Platonic state of reason, then Plato seems okay.


Sorry, I have a slight amusement in playing devil's advocate.

Though, that is a good topic to bring up reguarding familiar works.
Particularly though, The Odyssey is an amazing work. Lovely use of puns and development, plus the wit. I admire the Cyclops scene most of all, and the brief adventures of 'Nobody'.

~ Ramble for rambling Ka

[Gwathagor]

Plato was grumpy.

However, I could have fun with the idea that imagination is essential to morality and reason, as well as the preservation of the state.

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

OF COURSE IT'S REAL! Do you think Homer just MAKES STUFF UP? Why are gods, magic, and monsters no longer plausible? What happened to us? Why COULDN'T there have been giants on the earth? What reason do you have to not believe "that stuff" existed?

Fate was God, the gods were demons, magic was magic, and the monsters were dinosaurs (and demons). It's fairly straightforward.

Thank you Gwathagor! I've never thought about it like that before, thanks for proving me wrong!

[ninja91]

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
3. The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore
4. The Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini
5. Forgotten Realms books from the early 1990's and

No explanation yet...need to check my Tribal Wars account!!!

*Not very groundbreaking, but they were some of the first fantasy novels I ever read. They're a bit close to me, although most are far from a masterpiece.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

OF COURSE IT'S REAL! Do you think Homer just MAKES STUFF UP?

*walks in, whistling* It's very probable Homer did not even exist... *walks away, whistling*

Anyway, to be on-topic, does SF count? Probably not, but just to be sure. (There are things however, that are SF, but in fact are better classificated as fantasy among my picks, but I am asking about pure SF here.)

[Gwathagor]

Regardless...

[arcticstorm]

1. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
This is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche from the perspective of Psyche's older sister.

2. Descent into Hell by Charles Williams
This book by the second inkling on the list is a theological fantasy that deals with the themes of redemption and condemnation through the use of supernatural elements such as dopplegangers and ghosts. Certain concepts from Zoroastrianism and some images from Dante weave their way through the entire story.

3. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
The third inkling in the top three spots. I do not need to explain this book.

4. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson.
This series is also fairly well-known so I don't need to explain here either.

and Finally,

5. The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot
This is a medieval journey tale about an Irish monk who searched for the land promised to the saints. His journeys around the Atlantic have such elements as having easter dinner on the back of a whale, a monk being taken by a demon and bursting into flames, and Judas Iscariot sitting on an Iceberg so that he could be released from his punishment one day each year. Some, like me, consider the story to be a fantastic retelling of actual events. Although maybe not as much a fantasy as the others, I would still classify it under this genre.