Chris,

I may be in the minority, but I have to agree with you. Just because a fantasy book is part of a series is no indicator of the quality of the series. There are many reasons why a book series is published, but not all of them involve whether the series is actually good or not. I think you can easily run into a problem where books 1-4 are hardly worth the time it takes to read even if the author finally hits his/her stride by book 5 and manage to make something of a series. I think readers have been conditioned to read fantasy series, thus ensuring huge profits for the publisher. Whether or not these books are worth their salt is a whole 'nother subject.

Hmmm, I love anything in the "Forgotten Realms" or "Eberron" sections of DnD. R.A Salvatores works are some of my favorites. I also love Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover".... all of the books in it. My hands down favorite though is "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Jack L. Chalker is one of my favs.

Oh, Chalker, I remember reading Midnight at the Well of Souls in '93 and though it was a great book. I need look into his other books(only read the Well series.)

I am a huge fan of character development and the best writer for this that I've found in a fantasy genre (or maybe period) is George R. R. Martin. A friend of mine got me reading the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series (yes, I know) but I found it so compelling that I raced through them like a plate of cookies. Unfortunately, Mr. Martin has several other series that he works on (none of which I enjoy so much) and he has put off completing his next book for who knows what reason. I highly recommend reading his Ice and Fire series though because he breaks a lot of molds with it and draws the reader into the characters fully. I have to say that its my favorite series of all time.

My all time favorite is Michael Moorcock. His was a more dark, adult fantasy. Elric is of course his most well known work, but all his Eternal Champion titles are money. His concepts of the E.C. and law v chaos are very appealing to me. Both are capable of good and bad, and are both unpredictable in their own ways.

Also liked his story "Behold the Man"....excellent.

Other than that. I love Piers Anthony's Xanth for light-hearted fun reads. I mostly gear toward Sci-Fi as opposed to fantasy though...but love it all!

Neil Gaiman and and Tolkien are my favs.

I like Mercedes Lackey for an easy read, and I love Terry Pratchett for a silly read.

However, I must admit that right now, I am re-reading The Wheel of Time Series just for kicks.... I don't know what exactly that says about me though.

I think the reason there are so many series' in the fantasy genre is due to the fact that the author is not simply telling a story but is creating a whole world and 1 book is simply not enough for that... imo.

My favourite fantasy series' are the assassin and liveship trader books by Robin Hobb and also the Wheel of Time series, I am looking forward to the publication of the final book(s)!

Chris OConnor wrote: As I've said in other threads I really am not fond of how all the best fantasy books seem to come in long series. I'll be in a book store looking at what appears to be a really great fantasy books, only to learn that it is Book 4 out of a 6 book series.

I agree. I hate it when that happens - you know the story's good and you want to get the whole pack, but you'd have to hunt for the rest of the books in the series.

Although I read a variety of books, I'm really a fantasy-fiction lover. I like Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan (although it's a series AGAIN - with 12 books no less), The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub, Weaveworld by Clive Barker, some Lloyd Alexander books, Lynne Reid Banks books, Phantoms by Dean Koontz - and some of his books, too.

...too many to fish out of my memory tank... an angel emoticon wow! haven't seen this...

Dark Rivers of the Heart by Dean Koontz
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson
River world series (First book was the best)Philip Jose farmer
Live ship and assassins apprentice series Robin Hobb
Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind

omg so many more its kinda painful to not post them.

This is here because I like it.

ps when are they going to add omg to the spell checkers? lol