Fantasy do you have a fav

[disleksic]

I havent been a big book reader until the neighbor lady brought over a fantasy book with some real cheesy artwork on it for my wife to read because the neighbor loved it she thought my wife would too. ------My wife picked it up looked at the cover and put it back down and said I dont want to read that its got a dragon and a magician on it not for me. So I picked it up and decided I would read a little to see what kind of dribble was in it -----oooops I couldnt put it down I read the whole series I didnt realize I liked fantasy. The first book of the series is called Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind. Unfortunatley now I love to read fantasy my wife says its useless to read fantasy she says I cant learn anything reading fantasy. I say I dont care I love the escape Im a dreamer. Everything invented had to be dreamed up first :)

[CarolAnn]

Reading isn't just an educational tool - it's so much more than that and reading for pure pleasure is one of them. Sometimes it's great to get away from the "real" world and dive into what someone with a fabulous imagination and talent for words can provide.

My favorite fantasy author is R.A. MacAvoy. If you can find it, read the Damiano trilogy. In them, a young wizard becomes the musical student of the archangel Rafael. Dark ages sorcery and superstition meet up with raw, youthful Christianity. It's a beautifully written examination of good and evil, but also a rolicking adventure, and a love story or two, with some horror thrown in with details of the plague in Europe.

Another author I enjoy is Orson Scott Card - although he slips around generes between fantasy, science fiction and even horror stories. You just can't pin that guy down, but it's almost all very good!

[Toad_Sticker]

Raymond Feist my#1
David Eddings my#2
they are close to egual for me altho I didn't like Eddings new series so I only read 1/2 of the first book.
Tolkien/Farmer are a couple more
TS

[disleksic]

Hey Carol Ill have to look for R.A. MacAvoy and thanks for your coments -------- Toad Sticker Raymond E Feist yes I love his stuff I havent read any of Eddings though but Ill try him out thanx for the info

[bee_pipes]

Just came across Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series. Got turned on to Rides a Pale Horse and was hooked. Wound up reading all seven books. Quite satisfying and entertaining. I prefer horror or space opera, but these were okay for fantasy.

Also read "Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" and it's sequel "Son of a Witch" by Gregory Maguire. Not too shabby. Well written and easy reads.

Regards,
Pat

[candy]

I love Tolkein and all the Lord of the Rings books.

My sister is into all the Ann McCafferty books.

She's made Christmas presents to me of many of those. Not my favorite reading but I must say the concept of living on after the body dies and being used as the brains of a space ship is fascinating at times. worth a read if you havn't caught those.

[CarolAnn]

The Ship Who Sang (Helga) and The Ship Who Searched are two of McCaffery's books about brain ships, but they're not about people who died - they are about people who were either born extremely deformed or were physically damaged to the point of no return, so their damaged bodies were put into a "shell" and later, into a space ship that was directed by their neural responses. Rather than wasting away in a bed, they were given the freedom to travel the universe! What a cool concept!

Some other Anne McCaffrey series are the Pern series, where people ride fire-breathing dragons with whom they bond telepathically, the Crystal Singer series, where the heroine uses her singing voice to cut crystals and has adventures on many planets, and the Power Line series that feature a sentient planet that actually speaks to its inhabitants, and alters them genetically in some cases. She weaves a lot of folk lore into her tales, but is surprisingly original with what she does with them.

That said, sometimes she needs an editor with a big blue pencil. The plots OK, but just get on with it and cut some of the trivia out! Lately, she's better paired with another author.
~~~~

R.A. MacAvoy has some really unusual folk-tale related books - one is called "The Gray Horse" about a shape-changing man and his love for an Irish girl. (In horse shape, he manages to change back to a man pretty fast when the stable guy starts discussing gelding the wild Irish horse so it won't taint his thoroughbread lines!)

Another of my favorites is "Tea With the Black Dragon" - the dragon from the Damiano trillogy transforms into a man in his quest for knowledge and falls in love with a middle-aged woman. Cool! Romance for old people! 8)