I’ve been reading much more fantasy in this last year. Probably because I’ve already exhausted too much of sci-fi, or perhaps the impending singularity is making good sci-fi harder to write ;)
Anyway, my recent favorites:
The Song of Fire and Ice Series (Thrones): This really may be the best fantasy series of all time. I can’t remember enjoying a series this much since first reading Dune when I was young. It really is as good as the hype. Martin’s skill is multifaceted: his dozens characters are believable and captivating, the world is vast and deep, and there are few dull moments in any of the multiple arcing plotlines. The world is gritty and random, the characters are real, and sometimes they die. The subtlety in his art is in how he adapts his writing to the narrator’s point of view to really submerge you in their stream of thoughts. In this respect his work almost reminds me of Faulkner and “As I Lay Dying”. The dialog is second to none. My only minor complaint would be that some of the seemingly important moments, such as some of the battles, are skipped over in the transitions between character chapters. But in the end there are probably reasons for that.
The Dying Earth, Jack Vance: I found and read this specifically and solely because Martin mentioned it as a major influence. The Dying Earth is a stories and one novella set in the same world. The world setting is the unique selling point. It’s fantasy, but it takes place in a far future earth where humans have long since developed technology indistinguishable from magic, and then much later completely forgot how any of the technology worked until they are left with literal magic which some of them can use but none really understand. The sun is old and dying, and more or less every mode of existence has already been attempted at least once. The dialog is sometimes obtuse to the point of annoyance but if you can get over that the world and adventures are fascinating.
Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay): Tigana is a long stand alone fantasy set in a world you could summarize as somewhat like medieval italy + magic. The plot is multifaceted but centers around complex multi-generational crimes and revenge in a war-torn realm. Of the recent fantasy I’ve read, Kay at times most reminds me of R Martin: they both build detailed worlds modeled after medieval fact for substance and then add in a system of magic on top, they both interweave multiple narrations from believable characters, and both use well structured plots which build up to satisfying climaxes. Kay’s writing is sometimes a little slower than Martin’s but in the end he achieves a simliar high quality. I’ve just picked a few of his other novels (none of which appear to be series).
I’ve been reading much more fantasy in this last year. Probably because I’ve already exhausted too much of sci-fi, or perhaps the impending singularity is making good sci-fi harder to write ;)
Anyway, my recent favorites:
The Song of Fire and Ice Series (Thrones): This really may be the best fantasy series of all time. I can’t remember enjoying a series this much since first reading Dune when I was young. It really is as good as the hype. Martin’s skill is multifaceted: his dozens characters are believable and captivating, the world is vast and deep, and there are few dull moments in any of the multiple arcing plotlines. The world is gritty and random, the characters are real, and sometimes they die. The subtlety in his art is in how he adapts his writing to the narrator’s point of view to really submerge you in their stream of thoughts. In this respect his work almost reminds me of Faulkner and “As I Lay Dying”. The dialog is second to none. My only minor complaint would be that some of the seemingly important moments, such as some of the battles, are skipped over in the transitions between character chapters. But in the end there are probably reasons for that.
The Dying Earth, Jack Vance: I found and read this specifically and solely because Martin mentioned it as a major influence. The Dying Earth is a stories and one novella set in the same world. The world setting is the unique selling point. It’s fantasy, but it takes place in a far future earth where humans have long since developed technology indistinguishable from magic, and then much later completely forgot how any of the technology worked until they are left with literal magic which some of them can use but none really understand. The sun is old and dying, and more or less every mode of existence has already been attempted at least once. The dialog is sometimes obtuse to the point of annoyance but if you can get over that the world and adventures are fascinating.
Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay): Tigana is a long stand alone fantasy set in a world you could summarize as somewhat like medieval italy + magic. The plot is multifaceted but centers around complex multi-generational crimes and revenge in a war-torn realm. Of the recent fantasy I’ve read, Kay at times most reminds me of R Martin: they both build detailed worlds modeled after medieval fact for substance and then add in a system of magic on top, they both interweave multiple narrations from believable characters, and both use well structured plots which build up to satisfying climaxes. Kay’s writing is sometimes a little slower than Martin’s but in the end he achieves a simliar high quality. I’ve just picked a few of his other novels (none of which appear to be series).