Need a good fantasy series

[Grampa]

Nancy Drew  mysteries

[corey]

I too hear good things about the Elric books.
Third one is releasing soon, so now would be a good time to get the first two down i bet.

Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr are the book titles.

[DCXCV]

The Black Company - Glen Cook

[c_rex]

Well it's not exactly 'fantasy' but there's a great historically based adventure series by Neil Stephenson, 3 books- that DOES finish and is written quite well. 
The Baroque Cycle has swords, horse chases, guns, harem women, deceipt, greed, explosions, beheadings, snipers, hookers, and a load of history to boot.
http://www.amazon.com/Quicksilver-Baroque-Cycle-Vol-1/dp/0060593083/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217609047&sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.com/Confusion-Baroque-Cycle-Vol/dp/B0009K765I/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217609047&sr=8-7
http://www.amazon.com/System-World-Baroque-Cycle-Vol/dp/B0009K76DA/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217609047&sr=8-5

I think you can get them all in one big book now but it would be quite big and/or have tiny print I'd think.



If you gotta have fantasy and haven't read Robert Lynn Asprin's 'Myth Adventures' series it's a nice break from all that 'high' fantasy stuff. 

Re-reading LOTR is always an option.  I'm currently slogging through 'The Silmarillion' again at about 8 pages a night before I conk out.  I feel like I need a children's edition everytime I open that book but it sure does explain a lot about the rest of the story.

[numbskull]

I can't recommend Elric enough.  I've read all the Elric books and most of the other Eternal Champions books at least 4 or 5 times.

+11ty
I've re-read the Elric series every couple of years since the early eighties. It never disappoints.

[Mother]

Whoa, lets not get hasty here the guy died of a horribly painful blood disease. 
Someone else is finisihing the last book.

having been enslaved by that stupid series since my freshman year of high school

and looking for the next book every trip to the book store for the last 16 years

I have every right

The books are way too long with far too many characters

resulting in re-reading the the story every time a new book comes out

So I have read:

1. The Eye of the World (x11)
2. The Great Hunt  (x10)
3. The Dragon Reborn (x9)
4. The Shadow Rising (x8)
5. The Fires of Heaven (x7)
6. Lord of Chaos  (x6)
7. A Crown of Swords (x5)
8. The Path of Daggers (x4)
9. Winter's Heart (x3)
10. Crossroads of Twilight (x2)
11. Knife of Dreams (x1)

not to mention I have purchased the last 5 on multiple occasions thinking it was the next book only to find I already have it when I get home

because so much damn time has past between books

[krolik]

David Drake" The Isles" series.

[Bun-bun]

the Ender series by Orson Scott Card.

+1 on The Ender series.
Also try these:
L.E.Modesitt - The Corean Chronicles (6 books)
L.E.Modesitt - The Ecolitan series
Lois McMaster Bujold - The Miles Vorkosigan series (Starts with "Shards of Honor")
David Weber - The Hradani series (Starts with "Oath of Swords". Really, really funny.)
David Weber and John Ringo The March series (Starts with March upcountry - 4 books)
Elizabeth Moon - The Vatta Wars series
Jacqueline Carey - The Kushiel series (Latest book out in hardcover now, not sure if the series is finished or not.)
S.M.Stirling - The Protectors series (Starts with "Dies the Fire")

Try some of these, then get back to me, I'll have more by then.
Jeff

[ducsix]

1. Gene Wolfe.  Any of his stuff is just amazing.  My #1 favorite author of any genre.  Try his Book of the New Sun series, 5th Head of Cerberus, Book of the Long Sun series and the follow-on Book of the Short Sun series.

2. China Mieville.  Modern fantasy that borders on Literature.  Perdido Street Station is a good place to start.  The guy has a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics, super-bright and it shows in his writing. 

[scoprire]

A short series is The Windrose Chronicles by Barbara Hambly.  They're all out of print ( I think), but you can get them thru Amazon. 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/series/92831/ref=pd_serl_books?ie=UTF8&edition=mass_market

I haven't read the 3rd one, but the 1st 2 were really good. 

[metallimonster]

Hey guys thanks for all of the ideas, I now have a list with enough books for a whole year.

I've always wanted to read the Elric books but I'm having trouble finding the correct order to read them in.  Can anyone help?  This is the series I'm going to read next.

[numbskull]

Hey guys thanks for all of the ideas, I now have a list with enough books for a whole year.

I've always wanted to read the Elric books but I'm having trouble finding the correct order to read them in.  Can anyone help?  This is the series I'm going to read next.

Here's some info for you:

Book One: Elric of Melnibone
Book Two: The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
Book Three: The Weird of the White Wolf
Book Four: The Vanishing Tower
Book Five: The Bane of the Black Sword
Book Six: Stormbringer

Then there's various anthology collections:
-Tales of the White Wolf
-Elric at the End of Time

I know there's more out there, maybe someone else can help.

[metallimonster]

Thanks DucAtomic that is what I needed.

[factorPlayer]

I know there's more out there, maybe someone else can help.

There's others written after the core 6 but they are pretty tangential IMO.

It's interesting that the order of the books is not the order Moorcock wrote them in.  First Elric story in print I believe was The Dreaming City which takes place in book 3, Weird of the White Wolf (my fav title of them all, lol).

He wrote all of it in the 60's so bonus points if you can pick up on the counter-revolutionary themes 

After that you might as well move on to the Hawkmoon and Corum books, they are also both very excellent as well 

[herm]

Re-reading LOTR is always an option.  I'm currently slogging through 'The Silmarillion' again at about 8 pages a night before I conk out.  I feel like I need a children's edition everytime I open that book but it sure does explain a lot about the rest of the story.

that was exactly how i felt when i worked my way through 'the silmarillion'
found myself wishing i had a cliff notes version to refer to at some points