What are some of your favorite fantasy books?

[morrighan's mom]

Hick and Wiseman's Dungeon's and Dragon's novels were my first introduction to Sci-fi. Then I moved onto the Star Wars books. It's been a gradual progression to more and more autors like Terry Goodkind, which I picked up because it was sooo big and I was trying to impress the guy in the sci-fi/fantasy aisle at B&N. Tolkien came closer to the movies coming out. I tend to enjoy books that are part of a series because I love to read and can't seem to get enough. Then when I am done with a series i am disappointed to find no more books will be written so i move on to another series.

[Theomanic]

These days, I find I enjoy more "modern" fantasy like Neil Gaiman's books (I don't really think of Good Omens as Fantasy though I see how it is). I also like urban fantasy (shameful!) like Ilona Andrews. Her Kate Daniels books are very fun though light read. Holly Black wrote a trilogy of teen modern fantasy novels: Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside. I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys the occasional YA novel.

I also liked Stephen King's Dark Tower series, the His Dark Materials trilogy, and the first few Narnia books. I found the religious symbolism got a bit heavy handed for me after a while. Another YA series that I really loved was the Abhorsen books (Sabriel, Abhorsen, and Liriel) from Garth Nix. I have recommended them to a lot of people and so far received only favourable responses.

I used to read more series stuff like the Wheel of Time and the Forgotten Realms books, but the quality level really can't be kept up. I gave up on the WoT books long before Robert Jordan died. I think some people get really attached to characters, and for those people, long series are ideal. I don't get that attached to characters unless I really love them, though (for instance, I could read the Kate Daniels books forever). But even then, it seems to be difficult to not jump the shark after a while.

[Isilrien]

Some of my favorite authors/books include (aside from the infamous Tolkien):

George R. R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire series.
Neil Gaiman - American Gods, Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, Smoke and Mirrors, Fragile Things.
Guy Gavriel Kay - Everything he's written.
Lois McMaster Bujold - For fantasy: The Hallowed Hunt, The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls; The Sharing Knife series; The Spirit Ring.
Gregory Keyes - For fantasy: The Kingdoms of Thorn and Blood series.
Tad Williams - For fantasy: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series; The War of the Flowers; Shadowmarch series.

[Kayta]

My two favourites, although very different, would be by Pratchett and Eddings.

Eddings is so "old fashioned" fantasy when you know good will win out but it's so well written you just have to keep reading to find out how. I loved Belgariad and Mallorean and Elenium/Tamuli. Couldn't get into the Elder/Younger Gods series but think I should retackle it at some stage.

Pratchett is just so rich. I can (and do) read and re-read the discworld series so many times and still pick up a new in-joke or pun that I'd missed before. In Pyramids, I only got the Djelibeybi/Jellybaby pun on the 5th or 6th reading and only because I read the choice bits out loud to my hubby. Discworld novels make me giggle, then think. There's always an underlying message or comment on society. But not good to read in public 'cause people look at you funny when you giggle and snort.

[MLeigh85]

I am currently reading the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I'm on the third book now "The Waste Lands". The book has engrossed in me and I'm not able to go more than an hour with out picking it up.

[Theomanic]

In really enjoyed the Dark Tower series as far as I read it, which was book 4. Well, I HATED the first book, but I was assured the series became amazing, so I persevered and it really did. I can't even say for certain which book of the ones I read is my favourite! I stopped only because there were no more books out at that time. Now I have all of them, but I feel I need to start from the beginning and reread the whole thing before I continue to book 5, which is a daunting task! But it's definitely on my to-do list. You'll have to let us know what you think of books 5, 6 and 7.

[margie]

The Shamer's Daughter by Danish author Lene Kaaberbol. It is yet another book written for children, but the children ARE the heroes and they accomplish amazing things and have to deal realistically with so many responsibilities because their mom works. I especially like that the dragons in this story are creepy and dangerous, while still having magical power.