If you like humor with a very intelligent and profound undercurrent, set in a recognizable fantasy landscape, you should fall in love with Pratchett and the Discworld. Guards and Small Gods are great choices to start with. Pratchett is amazing and I’d be surprised by your taste if you didn’t Love all the Discworld. Enjoy!
Oh my gosh I loved the chronicles of prydain as a kid! Its been over a decade since I read them, and I can't remember alot but I am so glad its on this list 👍👍
You should reread them again. They are quick reads and I think they hold up. Don't get me wrong, I love my Game of Thrones (as an example of modern fantasy), but I definitely don't read there for 'life lessons'. When I reread Chronicles of Prydain to my daughter as an adult I was pleasantly surprised at how well it holds up.
"I have to say something because I'm going to shoot some B-roll and stick it in the video here". - Josh, Red Fury Books. "Amazing" - Brian Bell, BellTube.
* David Gemmel * Last year I read "Legend" (1984) by David Gemmell and I plan to continue with: "The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend" (1993). I think I'll read a few of The Drenai Saga, and definitely the Waylander Series.
Yes! I love this video so much, and I think this is missing in Booktube right now. I just started delving into classic fantasy and I am BLOWN AWAY by how incredible it is! I really enjoyed John Carter of Mars and Elric! I love the combination of whimsical story telling with the backdrop of a deceptively cruel world! My favorite so far though is The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson. Sword and sorcery meets The Odyssey. Highly recommend! My next adventure in this will be The Jirel of Joiry by C L Moore. Supposed to be the best of the best pre-tolkein fantasy.
@RedFuryBooks it has that pre-tolkein style sword and sorcery that I've grown to love. The Broken Sword feels a lot like the odyssey at times with the sense of adventure and journey. It has every magical race you can think of in it as well. It's a cruel world but feels so whimsical at the same time. It has this sense of the siren scenes in The Name of The Wind or The Odyssey. Everything is beautiful and colorful and nice but there is this undertone of cruelty and danger. Super great stuff!
Good to see some love for Eddings and for DragonLance! I discovered Eddings in high school, and DragonLance shortly thereafter. One series I think you should consider adding to your list is one I'm reading now: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams. Reading the first book, I can really see where Martin derived a great deal of his inspiration for A Song of Ice and Fire.
Yes! I have been alternating between Modern & Classic since I dove back into fantasy! After I finish Earthsea, Elric & Drizzt are on deck for my Classic TBR. I loved Prydain, The Black Cauldron is really truly perfect! I recently discovered Harlan Ellison narrating The Wizard of Earthsea. His exhilarating , kinetic reading is pure magic and probably the best 6 hours of fantasy I have enjoyed yet!!
I bought the first four books of The Earthsea Cycle last year and they're right up there with my favourite series now. Tehanu in particular absolutely blew me away!
Try some historical fantasy! Shauna Lawless’s Gael Song & Manda Scott’s Boudica series… fantastic female characters!!!! And very subtle romances to boot!
* Anne McCaffrey * The Dragonriders of Pern Series I'm curious about this, the original Pern Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey. I intend to read at some point the 1st novel and possibly this trilogy: -Dragonflight (1968) -Dragonquest (1971) -The White Dragon (1978)
* David Eddings * The Belgariad by David Eddings: -Pawn of Prophecy (1982) -Queen of Sorcery (1982) -Magician's Gambit (1983) -Castle of Wizardry (1984) -Enchanter's End Game (1984) I intend to read these at some point!!
@@RedFuryBooks Yes I know, I remember that you commented precisely that Eddings repeated himself again and again in his subsequent works. Still, thank you for the reminder Josh!! :D
Chronicles of Prydain 'middle of the road'. No way! That 4th book, the way Alexander delivered to us 'who Taran was' and showed us that it doesn't matter where you come from, but rather where you are going was so great. It was what Rian Johnson was trying to do with the Last Jedi but he fell short. If he had delivered it like Alexander the fans would have loved it rather than been divided over it... but it just shows how hard it is to do that and Alexander did it beautifully.
Thanks for shining a spotlight on these classic books and authors, Josh! I hope you enjoy Mary Stewart's Merlin series and Vance's Lyonesse as much as I do. I'm looking forward to hearing your upcoming discussion on what defines classic fantasy. :D
Solid picks! I agree it's unfortunate more classic fantasy isn't featured on Booktube, I do a fair bit but even so it's not that much. A few of these I want to get to sooner rather than later, mainly Prydain and Belgariad. I didn't know Legend was a standalone, will need to check it out sooner now - always thought it was the start of that ~10 book series. David Gemmell writes amazing stuff, I've really enjoyed all the books of his that I've read so far. Always happy to see Elric get a shoutout, Moorcock's Eternal Champion multiverse is just chock full of really great stories. Stormbringer's definitely seminal in the series, to say the least. As for Drizzt, you may want to consider actually starting with the Dark Elf trilogy, the first book being Homeland. It's first in chrono order, second in pub order, and shows how he became the character that's introduced in Icewind Dale. I'd normally say go pub order but in this case it's worth mentioning because I happened to read them recently myself and was completely shocked by how good those books are.
Yes, you can definitely read Legend as a stand alone! That was my plan and then I loved it so much that I added his entire bibliography to my TBR! Thanks for the info about Drizzt - I know when the omnibus editions came out, Salvatore did put those books first.
When you mentioned going back to classic fantasy my mind went to George MacDonald. Nope. Obviously I'm to old. 😀 So many of these I read back in the 60s and 70s and hearing titles such as Book of Three and The Crystal Cave brought back a bunch of memories. PS. George MacDonald had the advantage for a fantasy writer of looking like Rasputin. Obviously not totally human.
CS Lewis actually wrote a "code" into his Narnia series that made it shoot into the stratosphere. Look into it, and you will appreciate the series even more.
I am definitely more of a modern fantasy reader, but I will put some of your faves on my list to check out when I get in that classic fantasy mood! Especially the Empire trilogy calls to me, which is ironically the least classic fantasy of them all haha. Hope you enjoy the ones still on your TBR!
I love Conan! I have the same edition and also read the whole thing a few years ago. I would read one story every month. Conan is a barbarian but he is also very intelligent and speaks a lot of languages. He is not civilized but he knows more about other cultures than they know about him. He is also a total badass, biting off the vulture's head before he can get to him.
Highly recommend Mary Stewart's King Arthur series. I read the Crystal Cave while I was in high school and was pleasantly surprised when she followed up with The Hollow Hills and then the Last Enchantment. I have a fondness for Merlin/King Arthur stories and I think Mary Stewart's books are the best of those that I've read. Another series that I really enjoy is Steven Lawhead's versions: Taliesin, Merlin, and Arthur.
Great video Josh, I being a similar age to yourself have also read a lot of 'Classic Fantasy'. I have read 6 out of the 10 on your 'love' list, Conan, Narnia, LOTR, Belgariad, Legend & Empire and Discworld from your 'want' list. I maybe would have added The Riftwar Saga to the list also, but Empire is probably the best part of the whole saga for me. I keep meaning to give Earthsea and Elric a try, I'll have to do that sometime this year. Others that I love are: Mythago Wood book series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn The Song Of Albion Warlord Chronicles The Pendragon Cycle
Hay Josh, great video 🥳 I haven't read any disc world either looking forward to what u make of it. I have Drittz on my self to read also and looking forward to it. Ps Mary Stewart is one of the best writers I have ever read, I love the Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills I hope u like them half as much as I do
Something that was illuminating for me was discovering the World Fantasy and Mythopoeic Awards, both of which were founded in the 1970s. Going through their back catalogs helped me discover a trove of older fantasies that I never would have discovered otherwise, since most often it’s the best selling titles that get remembered (John Crowley, Gene Wolfe, Tim Powers, etc). I’ve still got tons of ground to cover in my quest, but I’m glad to see just how broad the genre has always been. Also, I recently read Once and Future King and it was amazing! Highly recommend!
Yes, and I also like looking at older editions of books and seeing the order forms for what other books the publishers were publishing at the time that have been lost through the years.
I want to read more classic fantasy! I generally like earlier published fantasy to newer published fantasy. (Early 2000’s and before). Some on my classics fantasy list are Lord Dunsany, William Morris and Janny Wurts... and earlier works that are not precisely fantasy but did influence the genre like Arthurian romances and other medieval lit. From your favorites list I think Earthsea is my priority, and I have a sample downloaded of The Book of Three since you recommended it in the Fireside 😍
it's great to watch the fantasy introduction for newbies. I have read some books from Narnia and Earthsea. I know about Lord of Ring but never attempted to read them. The rest are new to me.
Moorcock *posted* a new Elric novel. That was hilarious! 😁 That seven-volume series by Weis & Hickman should be the Death Gate cycle. Haven't read it yet myself but I've only heard positive things about it. You might also want to check out the Rose of the Prophet trilogy. It has some interesting worldbuilding in terms of the pantheon of gods and like the Death Gate cycle is overshadowed by the success of their Dragonlance books.
Always wish I felt the way you do about Lord of the Rings. I do appreciate seeing some Narnia love. I feel like sometimes we try to take everything so serious when we are reading its nice to just kind of relax and enjoy something thats a little more simple.
Thankful for your channel and especially this video :) Youre like Mike in that your tastes seem to align on most things, but you pivot in very interesting ways. Channels like yours are super important I think. Christopher Ruocchio said something the other week on his stream that he thought the Science Fiction community were poor stewards of their culture and history. That struck a chord in me. So many readers today have no idea of the rich history of the genre they read. Without sounding too snobbish I think we would hold a lot of authors up to higher prose standards if as a community were more aware of older works. Love the Empire trilogy btw. If you havent read it, the Wars of Light and Shadow is a 10/10 read. in my opinion its everything Malazan wants to be in terms of rereadability and complexity. Its just as deep, but it doesnt sprawl. It just recontextualizes. Its SO good. So hype for the finale to drop next month. Literally cant believe it. 30 years in the making. Monumental. Janny and Tad Wiliams ending their series in the same year. Incredible.
* Terry Pratchett * I've already started with Discworld, I have read Guards! Guards! and I intend to continue... :D I have been recommended: Nation (2008) by Terry Pratchett, and sooner or later I'll get to it, I'm quite intrigued by this work.
Josh you should read the Arthur retellings by British author Giles Kristian. The first is Lancelot, second is Camelot and Arthur is being published in June. I very much enjoy his style of writing.
* R. A. Salvatore * The Legend of Drizzt (1988-...) From this series I've read the first 4 sub-series (quite a long time ago!): -The Dark Elf Trilogy (Homeland; Exile; Sojourn) -The Icewind Dale Trilogy (The Crystal Shard; Streams of Silver; The Halfling's Gem) -Legacy of the Drow (The Legacy; Starless Night; Siege of Darkness; Passage to Dawn) -Paths of Darkness (The Silent Blade; The Spine of the World; Sea of Swords) Quite recently I re-read The Dark Elf Trilogy: -Homeland (1990) -Exile (1990) -Sojourn (1991) I am pretty fond of this trilogy! And I'm keen on getting into "The DemonWars Saga" by R. A. Salvatore! I want to read the first trilogy and Mortalis! -The Demon Awakens (1996) -The Demon Spirit (1999) -The Demon Apostle (2000) -Mortalis (2000) I think I heard Allen from the Library of Allenxadria said that he liked some of the things Salvatore did in "The DemonWars Saga", and I think Salvatore mentioned once that "Mortalis" was a special novel for him.
@@RedFuryBooks As commented by Mike (from Mike's Book Reviews), the books are so much based on all the DnD lore that Salvatore does not do much descriptions of the creatures, monsters or let's say "living" beings because "everyone knew" what he was talking about, so using the DnD Monster Manual or by checking the creature on the internet could be the way to go ;)
Gobbled up every second of this video. Thank Your. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Belgariad, Prydain. As a relative newby to this genre, I can fully relate to this 10. Thank you!
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Steven R. Donaldson are also great classic fantasy... Have you read either of them? I definitely have to check out the Elric books. The Drizzt books are great but I suggest starting with The Dark Elf trilogy. Thanks for the video!
The Chronicles of Amber was literally the last series I cut from my list to make it a top 10. I've read Donaldson's books, but they were in HS so I've forgotten them, but I'll definitely reread them at some point.
* Michael Moorcock * The Elric of Melniboné Sagas. I am at the moment not interested in these works, but I don't discount being intrigued in the future.
Others have said it but you should definitely add Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. And if you remotely like it, do the sequel/prequel books that have expanded it into The Osten Ard Series. The sequels are very thematically interesting in that while Williams started MST both homaging and critiquing Tolkien they seem more aimed at the Grimdark wave he unintentionally inspired through GRRM but without ever becoming post-modern or self-aware. I would call it one of the more interesting works of still traditional epic fantasy published in the last 5 years.
Great vid where would we be without some of these great classic, my first was the david eddings and david gemmell you mentioned, also Anne mccaffrey I have only read her dragon rider of pern there is very little sci-fi most of the book other than dragon dawn is 99% fantasy you will love them short and quick reads I will check you conan out and have just started reading moorcock elric would like to work my way through his work I have heard I will not love them all but thanks for the not read one you mentioned add to my tbr i heard of few more classes but not read them much lord dunsany and Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake two that sound very interesting both very old keep bring out great vids
Josh, once you finish Guards! Guards! and Memory, Sorrow & Thorn then I can welcome you into the secret society, The Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night!! You are almost there…😀
Arthurian? Have you read 'The Once and Future King' by T.H White? I'm half way. It's very different. All the pay offs are great. Some are even profoundly life altering. Admittedly there is some heavy reading to get there. So you kind of read it 1 chater or 2 at a time. But some of my best daily walks have been consumed by pondering the events of chapters and completly veiwing the world around me differrently.
Tried the Dragonlance Chronicles but hated the 1st book, shame as the second trilogy sounds like it would would be right up my street. Loved the Belgariad, although the story contains many standard tropes I loved the characters. A series not mentioned I would highly recommend is Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.
* Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman * The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman: -Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984) -Dragons of Winter Night (1985) -Dragons of Spring Dawning (1985) The Raistlin Chronicles, includes 2 works: -The Soulforge (1997) by Margaret Weis -Brothers in Arms (1999) by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin Or, the omnibus edition "The Raistlin Chronicles", which collects both books (The Soulforge and Brothers in Arms). Dragonlance: Legends by Margaret Weis: -Time of the Twins (1986) -War of the Twins (1986) -Test of the Twins (1986) I have read all of these and a few more! I really like "The Soulforge" (1997) by Margaret Weis. Josh, if you have not read it, I think that it is pretty good. At least that way is how I remember it from my youth! I enjoyed "Brothers in Arms" (1999) as well, not as serious.
@@RedFuryBooks It shows Raistlin's youth... I don't want to say more because I don't want to spoil anything!, but I wonder if "The Soulforge" wouldn't be the best entry point into The Dragonlance.
I thought about telling this to Petrick, and maybe even suggesting it to Johanna (who did not like much "Dragons of Autumn Twilight") but I don't dare ;P
* Ursula K. Le Guin * I read "A Wizard of Earthsea" (1968) before finding BookTube, and I plan on reading the following works: Earthsea: -A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) [already read] -The Tombs of Atuan (1970) -The Farthest Shore (1972) -Tehanu (1990) Tales from Earthsea: (a collection of fantasy stories and essays) -"The Finder". The school of magic is established on Roke island. -"Darkrose and Diamond" (1999). The daughter of a witch and the son of a rich merchant love each other. -"The Bones of the Earth". Ogion the Silent helps his wizard master deal with an earthquake. -"On the High Marsh". A mysterious healer arrives in a remote village threatened by a livestock epidemic. -"Dragonfly" (1998). This is a postscript to the novel Tehanu. -"A Description of Earthsea" (reference material) I am currently reading "The Left Hand of Darkness" (1969) by Ursula K. Le Guin [a science fiction novel].
* J. R. R. Tolkien * Regarding his works on Middle-earth: I have read and love The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1955). I've read part of the Silmarillion (1977), the portion closest to the events on The Hobbit and LOTR. Maybe the audiobook narrated by Andy Serkins could be a good way for me to consume this work. And I intend to read at some point: The Children of Húrin (2007) edited by Christopher Tolkien.
I'm slowly making my way through the "back catalog" of Tolkien (it's mostly Christopher Tolkien) and enjoyed the three "Great Tales" books and the Unfinished Tales.
I actually haven't read those. And probably won't, to be honest. I've never been big on military fantasy, so it's probably a series that won't be for me.
I could go on and on about the several meanings of traditional and classic fantasy and how generally people meaning Tolkien-esque yet the first one up (a great start btw), Conan, is the oldest and generally not what people mean when they say classic fantasy or traditional fantasy. Forgotten Realms is by no means high literature but as a big Realms fan Drizzt is my least favorite and it’s not even close. About as good as the original DL chronicles, sadly.
Yeah, Liam, you'll be my go-to when exploring Forgotten Realms. I know your'e low on the Drizzt books, but how about the Icewind Dale trilogy? As I understand it, he's just one of many characters in that series.
Great video. Not enough time is spent on classic fantasy on booktube (90% of fantasy that I read is classic vs modern). Drizzt is beyond amazing! I’m reading guards guards now, would be curious as to your opinion. Love Feist and grew up on Eddings. Read more classic!!!!😊😊
Some great choices. I'd add the first two trilogies of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Another one that seems to straddle newer and classic fantasy.
As always I love your video. I give a cheer to several that are my favourites too and have noted some to read soon. Among works I think you would enjoy I highly recommend Sheri Tepper. These were 1980s works - before she became noted for feminist leaning fantady. The True Game is an omnibus of 3, Kings Blood 4,Necromancer Nine and Wizards 11. She followed these with The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped - another 3 Book.collection- Jinian Footsere, Dervis Daughter and Jinian Stareye. I count this set of work amongst the best dantasy I have ever read. It is totally original, great characters, truly creative world building and brilliant story lines. Sometimes I think the SF Fantasy line is hard to.draw as with Ann Mcaffrey. Thismade me think of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover. The SF aspect is the discovety and colonisation of planet Darkover but Darkover itself is a fantastic planet. There are some great books in the series. It's hard to find a good starting point or reading order but well worth checking out. I love Mary Stewart. As a teenager I read her romantic thrillers - she came from North East England like me and her work was very popular. I do like her Arthurian books but I think Bernard Cornwell surpases her. And of course so does The Once and Future King - high on my list of best books in all genres.
Hey man I'm curious, are you at all a star wars fan? Also have you read the "thrawn trilogy" by tim zahn (I think thats the author at least) I havent read it but apparently its quite good, curious about your thoughts.
* Lloyd Alexander * I did not have The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander on my radar, but I think I could enjoy them very much, so I'll try to get to them kinda soon-ish... A children's high fantasy pentalogy: -The Book of Three (1964) -The Black Cauldron (1965) -The Castle of Llyr (1966) -Taran Wanderer (1967) -The High King (1968)
Hi! Good day! I wrote a novel, titled: Archangel world at war. I watched your informative videos and it's my pleasure that someday you will consider to review my book on one of your vlogs. It was not edited yet, nevertheless I published it to major EReading apps like Amazon and Kobo. Thank you in advance. Hopefully I can send you a physical copy in the final format of my book in the future. God bless.
Discworld is my favorite book series of all time. I reread them over and again. The writing is astounding, really, and it's so hilarious, amazing look at the human condition. I'd be very excited for you to read some of it - not at all like any other fantasy series you've shown. The two books you've got are probably the best recommendations to get started. Hope to hear your experience with it soon!
* Raymond E. Feist * From the "Riftwar Cycle" I want to complete up to The Empire Trilogy. The Riftwar Saga -Magician (1982) -Silverthorn (1985) -A Darkness at Sethanon (1986) The Empire Trilogy -Daughter of the Empire (1987) with Janny Wurts -Servant of the Empire (1990) with Janny Wurts -Mistress of the Empire (1992) with Janny Wurts I am currently in Mistress of the Empire, in the last half of the novel. Quite liked the journey, but I'll stop here. Possibly will do some other stand-alone from Janny Wurts from the 90s.
* Robert E. Howard * I have watched the Conan films and others. And I remember I read a few comics of Conan when I was very young. I'm curious, and at some point I intend to read: "The Hour of the Dragon" (1936) by Robert E. Howard, the best novel of Conan? and possibly a few of the short stories.
I just finished the Gormenghast books. Great series.I'm also making my way through the Books of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are awesome characters.
Great list, I finally picked up Elric because of this and I never even heard Prydain. I would add to the recommendations to read Lyonesse and at least the sequel "The Green Pearl". Vance's writing style blasts through purple prose out into ultraviolet and it's worth experiencing once. I think Lyonesse is a better sampling of his style than the Dying Earth.
I’m going to start with the Empire trilogy before I reread all the Riftwar books. I’ve read Dragonlance Chronicles so I’m more hyped to get to Legends now! Elric is high on my list! Many others here are on my list as well. Great video!
Of the ones on your list that I've read - Narnia, Rings (in fact everything ever written by Tolkien), Earthsea and Legend - I would include every single one in my own top 10. I am especially glad to see David Gemmell on the list as he was a fantastic writer (another one I have every book of) and someone whose work I would highly recommend. I loved his Jon Shannow books as well. Of the ones I haven't read, I probably have copies of most of them in my house since my, sadly late, husband was also a big SF/fantasy fan. I'm currently sorting through our joint book collection as I move to a new home and expect to have quite a stack of to-read titles once I'm done. Moving on to the ones you want to read... Pern is another great series. I'd say it started out as pure fantasy and then added some science-fiction elements later on which may explain the controversy. If you only read the first few books, it's pretty firmly fantasy though. I've also read some Pratchett, although my husband was the big fan in our house - and again I think we have every book he ever published. Among other authors/series I recommend are Terry Brooks' Shannara series (the first book, Sword, has its issues but once you get past that the rest of the books are fantastic), Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, Jack L. Chalker's Dancing Gods series (which turns the classic tropes into laws underpining his world to great effect) and his Well World series (which is possibly more science fiction), Simon Hawke, Sheri S. Tepper and Andre Norton. I also have to mention Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter books which, together with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger series, was my original entry into this world of imaginative story-telling and they remain some of my favourites today. The initial Barsoom trilogy starting with A Princess of Mars is a classic of fantasy adventure.
I've actually read some more Gemmell of late- two books of his this month! I definitely enjoy his style of fantasy a lot. Thanks for the recommendations - Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton were already on there but I want to explore the rest.
You didn't like Good Omens? Hmm. I don't know how much you'll like Terry Pratchett then. I've read the City Watch and the Death books and i really liked them. I'm definitely going to try more of Discworld. My favorite series as a child was Narnia. I've probably read them 10 times or more. I also read The Hobbit just as much. I didn't discover Feist until about 15 years ago in my 20's, but i read every book in Riftwar since then, and the Empire trilogy is amazing. I wish i knew about it when i was younger.
We'll see how Discworld hits for me - I'll give it at least those two books. I just finished a reread of Prince of the Blood today and it was as good as remembered!
80’s was the heyday of fantasy, some of the ones I loved were the Deryni series, Darwath trilogy, Shanarra, Lord Valentine, Fafyrd and the Gray Mouser, Darkover , Lords of Amber, Beserker, and Helconnia Spring. I read every book TSR put out to about 1992. Ask around about what Forgotten Realms to read, though a good rule of thumb is the early stuff is good, or at least fun and the later stuff is bad.
Good to know about the Forgotten Realms books - thanks! I had forgotten about the Deryni books - I read some of those in high school but it's been a long time...
First of all, let me write that is another good video, Josh despite the issues you had with the lighting. 😂 However, I have always felt conflicted towards classic fantasy. My entry into the genre was through the First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in my late teens (I’m 52 now). I had not read anything like that in my life at that time. And I wanted to read more of it. So I read the Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and several other works of classic fantasy. I did not connect with any of them. Fortunately, I discovered the work of Charles de Lint in the early 1990s and that turned me away from classic fantasy more into the hybrid contemporary fantasy/ magical realism that has become my favorite genre to read these days. However, I read the first books of the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula Le Guin & Camber of Culdi by Katherine Kurtz (1st in the Legends of the Camber series) a couple years ago and really enjoyed those novels. I plan to finish reading those series. So there might be a connection point with classic fantasy after all. Also, the first three books in the Landover Series by Terry Brooks has always intrigued me whenever I see copies in the local used bookstores here in San Antonio. If anyone has read those books..please share your thoughts. Anyway, I liked this video and watching it has made me revisit my conflicted feelings about classic fantasy!
Thanks, Marion, and greetings from Austin! :) I did read the Thomas Covenant books in HS, but frankly don't remember a whole lot about them. They are still on the shelf to be reread at some point. I had forgotten about Camber of Culdi, but I read some of those in HS too! I hope you can find some classic fantasy you enjoy!
A classic series not on your list is The Deverry Series by Katherine Kerr. Also unusual because of the many strong females characters and reincarnation. One of my early fav King Arthur series starts with Talesin by Stephen Lawhead. Loved your list, my other extras would be Megan Lindholm, and Anne Bishops dark Black Jewels series.
I picked up Daughter of the Empire after hearing you mention it a few times. I'm about 40% through it and really liking it so far. I've only read Magician from the main Riftwar series, but I think its totally fine to read Daughter without having read the mainline series (at least so far).
I haven't read Tad yet! But I also consider him more a bridge from classic to modern (like Robert Jordan) from what I've seen. I have the Dragonbone Chair on the TBR shelf to get to at some point.
The deathgate cycle is awesome. Very classic feel with some unique stuff thrown in especially for the time, and one of my favorite duos in all of fantasy.
I know I’m late to this but I just discovered your channel. I love that you mentioned the Belgariad. It was my main introduction to fantasy and I will never forget it nor have I looked back.
❤ Earthsea Mine starts with The Princess of Mars 😊 Dragon Riders of Pern is sci-fantasy and it evolves in a really cool way. Xanth, Incarnations of Immortality, and Aprentice Adept (Piers Anthony) I've returned to The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant as a fan. Couldn't finish the first book as a kid 🤔 Terry Brooks ❤
I never could really get into Moorcock's Elric books, but my first real foray into fantasy (sci-=fi as well I suppose) was his Hawkmoon Series, which my English teacher had the first and then bought the rest for her own classroom library because I loved them so much. I really should go back and read them again.
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I am old enough that “turn of the century” still means going from the 19th to the 20th century 😂😂😂.
Haha, yeah, I was originally going to say 1990 but realized the last Earthsea book was 2001, so I had to pivot and that's what came out of my mouth!
If you like humor with a very intelligent and profound undercurrent, set in a recognizable fantasy landscape, you should fall in love with Pratchett and the Discworld. Guards and Small Gods are great choices to start with. Pratchett is amazing and I’d be surprised by your taste if you didn’t Love all the Discworld. Enjoy!
Second this 👆
I'm looking forward to it!
Oh my gosh I loved the chronicles of prydain as a kid! Its been over a decade since I read them, and I can't remember alot but I am so glad its on this list 👍👍
It's so good!
You should reread them again. They are quick reads and I think they hold up. Don't get me wrong, I love my Game of Thrones (as an example of modern fantasy), but I definitely don't read there for 'life lessons'. When I reread Chronicles of Prydain to my daughter as an adult I was pleasantly surprised at how well it holds up.
The Belgariad is probably my favorite Fantasy series. I read it every few years.
Rock on! I've read it 3 times I think
"I have to say something because I'm going to shoot some B-roll and stick it in the video here". - Josh, Red Fury Books. "Amazing" - Brian Bell, BellTube.
I have read The magician 58 times still going
* David Gemmel *
Last year I read "Legend" (1984) by David Gemmell and I plan to continue with: "The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend" (1993).
I think I'll read a few of The Drenai Saga, and definitely the Waylander Series.
I read few of them few years ago was really good Gemmell is one of the all time best
Yes! I love this video so much, and I think this is missing in Booktube right now.
I just started delving into classic fantasy and I am BLOWN AWAY by how incredible it is! I really enjoyed John Carter of Mars and Elric! I love the combination of whimsical story telling with the backdrop of a deceptively cruel world!
My favorite so far though is The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson. Sword and sorcery meets The Odyssey. Highly recommend!
My next adventure in this will be The Jirel of Joiry by C L Moore. Supposed to be the best of the best pre-tolkein fantasy.
I've heard good things about Paul Anderson but not many people talk about him unfortunately, I should definitely give him a shot.
@RedFuryBooks it has that pre-tolkein style sword and sorcery that I've grown to love. The Broken Sword feels a lot like the odyssey at times with the sense of adventure and journey. It has every magical race you can think of in it as well. It's a cruel world but feels so whimsical at the same time. It has this sense of the siren scenes in The Name of The Wind or The Odyssey. Everything is beautiful and colorful and nice but there is this undertone of cruelty and danger. Super great stuff!
Good to see some love for Eddings and for DragonLance! I discovered Eddings in high school, and DragonLance shortly thereafter. One series I think you should consider adding to your list is one I'm reading now: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams. Reading the first book, I can really see where Martin derived a great deal of his inspiration for A Song of Ice and Fire.
Oh yeah, Tad Williams is a must read at some point!
Yes! I have been alternating between Modern & Classic since I dove back into fantasy! After I finish Earthsea, Elric & Drizzt are on deck for my Classic TBR.
I loved Prydain, The Black Cauldron is really truly perfect!
I recently discovered Harlan Ellison narrating The Wizard of Earthsea. His exhilarating , kinetic reading is pure magic and probably the best 6 hours of fantasy I have enjoyed yet!!
Harlan Ellison narrating Earthsea sounds like such an odd pairing it probably works.
I bought the first four books of The Earthsea Cycle last year and they're right up there with my favourite series now. Tehanu in particular absolutely blew me away!
Tehanu was my favorite of the novels too!
Saving this for reference because there's not much modern fantasy i like anymore.
Try some historical fantasy! Shauna Lawless’s Gael Song & Manda Scott’s Boudica series… fantastic female characters!!!! And very subtle romances to boot!
I hope you find some good ones here! (And elsewhere!)
* Anne McCaffrey *
The Dragonriders of Pern Series
I'm curious about this, the original Pern Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey.
I intend to read at some point the 1st novel and possibly this trilogy:
-Dragonflight (1968)
-Dragonquest (1971)
-The White Dragon (1978)
* David Eddings *
The Belgariad by David Eddings:
-Pawn of Prophecy (1982)
-Queen of Sorcery (1982)
-Magician's Gambit (1983)
-Castle of Wizardry (1984)
-Enchanter's End Game (1984)
I intend to read these at some point!!
Kyrosv, The Legendarium podcast has some great discussion after each book as well as Prydain too!!
@@heidi6281 Thank you!
I obviously enjoy Eddings' Belgariad, but don't recommend reading beyond it! Everything after that feels quite stale to me IMO
@@RedFuryBooks Yes I know, I remember that you commented precisely that Eddings repeated himself again and again in his subsequent works.
Still, thank you for the reminder Josh!! :D
Chronicles of Prydain 'middle of the road'. No way! That 4th book, the way Alexander delivered to us 'who Taran was' and showed us that it doesn't matter where you come from, but rather where you are going was so great. It was what Rian Johnson was trying to do with the Last Jedi but he fell short. If he had delivered it like Alexander the fans would have loved it rather than been divided over it... but it just shows how hard it is to do that and Alexander did it beautifully.
Taran Wanderer is downright existential! Such a great book!
Thanks for shining a spotlight on these classic books and authors, Josh! I hope you enjoy Mary Stewart's Merlin series and Vance's Lyonesse as much as I do.
I'm looking forward to hearing your upcoming discussion on what defines classic fantasy. :D
😀
Solid picks! I agree it's unfortunate more classic fantasy isn't featured on Booktube, I do a fair bit but even so it's not that much. A few of these I want to get to sooner rather than later, mainly Prydain and Belgariad.
I didn't know Legend was a standalone, will need to check it out sooner now - always thought it was the start of that ~10 book series. David Gemmell writes amazing stuff, I've really enjoyed all the books of his that I've read so far.
Always happy to see Elric get a shoutout, Moorcock's Eternal Champion multiverse is just chock full of really great stories. Stormbringer's definitely seminal in the series, to say the least.
As for Drizzt, you may want to consider actually starting with the Dark Elf trilogy, the first book being Homeland. It's first in chrono order, second in pub order, and shows how he became the character that's introduced in Icewind Dale. I'd normally say go pub order but in this case it's worth mentioning because I happened to read them recently myself and was completely shocked by how good those books are.
Yes, you can definitely read Legend as a stand alone! That was my plan and then I loved it so much that I added his entire bibliography to my TBR! Thanks for the info about Drizzt - I know when the omnibus editions came out, Salvatore did put those books first.
When you mentioned going back to classic fantasy my mind went to George MacDonald. Nope. Obviously I'm to old. 😀
So many of these I read back in the 60s and 70s and hearing titles such as Book of Three and The Crystal Cave brought back a bunch of memories.
PS. George MacDonald had the advantage for a fantasy writer of looking like Rasputin. Obviously not totally human.
CS Lewis actually wrote a "code" into his Narnia series that made it shoot into the stratosphere.
Look into it, and you will appreciate the series even more.
I am definitely more of a modern fantasy reader, but I will put some of your faves on my list to check out when I get in that classic fantasy mood! Especially the Empire trilogy calls to me, which is ironically the least classic fantasy of them all haha. Hope you enjoy the ones still on your TBR!
Oh Esmay, you really do need to read the Empire Trilogy! That's probably a good gateway into classics for you too! :)
Prydain had such a big influence on me. It's said Lloyd Alexander was the one to coin the phrase 'high fantasy'. And he translated Sartre's Nausea!
I hadn't realized Alexander coined that phrase!
I haven’t heard of a lot of these and have made note of some, thanks! Really enjoy listening to you talk about books!
Thank you!
I love Conan! I have the same edition and also read the whole thing a few years ago. I would read one story every month. Conan is a barbarian but he is also very intelligent and speaks a lot of languages. He is not civilized but he knows more about other cultures than they know about him. He is also a total badass, biting off the vulture's head before he can get to him.
Absolutely!
Highly recommend Mary Stewart's King Arthur series. I read the Crystal Cave while I was in high school and was pleasantly surprised when she followed up with The Hollow Hills and then the Last Enchantment. I have a fondness for Merlin/King Arthur stories and I think Mary Stewart's books are the best of those that I've read. Another series that I really enjoy is Steven Lawhead's versions: Taliesin, Merlin, and Arthur.
Awesome! I look forward to reading these!
Great video Josh, I being a similar age to yourself have also read a lot of 'Classic Fantasy'.
I have read 6 out of the 10 on your 'love' list, Conan, Narnia, LOTR, Belgariad, Legend & Empire and Discworld from your 'want' list.
I maybe would have added The Riftwar Saga to the list also, but Empire is probably the best part of the whole saga for me.
I keep meaning to give Earthsea and Elric a try, I'll have to do that sometime this year.
Others that I love are:
Mythago Wood book series
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
The Song Of Albion
Warlord Chronicles
The Pendragon Cycle
Yes, I didn't include Riftwar as I just wanted one selection per author and just HAD to talk about the Empire Trilogy.
Hay Josh, great video 🥳 I haven't read any disc world either looking forward to what u make of it. I have Drittz on my self to read also and looking forward to it. Ps Mary Stewart is one of the best writers I have ever read, I love the Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills I hope u like them half as much as I do
Glad to hear some positive love for Mary Stewart! I hope to get to those soon.
Something that was illuminating for me was discovering the World Fantasy and Mythopoeic Awards, both of which were founded in the 1970s. Going through their back catalogs helped me discover a trove of older fantasies that I never would have discovered otherwise, since most often it’s the best selling titles that get remembered (John Crowley, Gene Wolfe, Tim Powers, etc). I’ve still got tons of ground to cover in my quest, but I’m glad to see just how broad the genre has always been.
Also, I recently read Once and Future King and it was amazing! Highly recommend!
Yes, and I also like looking at older editions of books and seeing the order forms for what other books the publishers were publishing at the time that have been lost through the years.
So fun to chat about classic fantasy 🎉
I need to revisit Marion Zimmer Bradley 🤔
Disc World is definitely a crossover from classic to modern 🤪
Good to know about Discworld as I really was unsure.
Man I really need to catch up on all this classic fantasy! I did start Earthsea and loved bk 1, so I’ll need to continue that post haste!
I hope you enjoy Earthsea! I do think most of the books after the first one are stronger!
I want to read more classic fantasy! I generally like earlier published fantasy to newer published fantasy. (Early 2000’s and before). Some on my classics fantasy list are Lord Dunsany, William Morris and Janny Wurts... and earlier works that are not precisely fantasy but did influence the genre like Arthurian romances and other medieval lit.
From your favorites list I think Earthsea is my priority, and I have a sample downloaded of The Book of Three since you recommended it in the Fireside 😍
Awesome! I hope you enjoy Lloyd Alexander as I do! I read Janny Wurts' debut and will read more of her as well.
it's great to watch the fantasy introduction for newbies. I have read some books from Narnia and Earthsea. I know about Lord of Ring but never attempted to read them. The rest are new to me.
Wonderful! I hope you find some you enjoy as I have!
Really enjoyed this, thank you Josh 🙏
Thank you sir!
Moorcock *posted* a new Elric novel. That was hilarious! 😁
That seven-volume series by Weis & Hickman should be the Death Gate cycle. Haven't read it yet myself but I've only heard positive things about it. You might also want to check out the Rose of the Prophet trilogy. It has some interesting worldbuilding in terms of the pantheon of gods and like the Death Gate cycle is overshadowed by the success of their Dragonlance books.
Thank you!
Always wish I felt the way you do about Lord of the Rings. I do appreciate seeing some Narnia love. I feel like sometimes we try to take everything so serious when we are reading its nice to just kind of relax and enjoy something thats a little more simple.
Agreed! I enjoyed the whimsy in Narnia
Thankful for your channel and especially this video :) Youre like Mike in that your tastes seem to align on most things, but you pivot in very interesting ways. Channels like yours are super important I think. Christopher Ruocchio said something the other week on his stream that he thought the Science Fiction community were poor stewards of their culture and history. That struck a chord in me. So many readers today have no idea of the rich history of the genre they read. Without sounding too snobbish I think we would hold a lot of authors up to higher prose standards if as a community were more aware of older works. Love the Empire trilogy btw. If you havent read it, the Wars of Light and Shadow is a 10/10 read. in my opinion its everything Malazan wants to be in terms of rereadability and complexity. Its just as deep, but it doesnt sprawl. It just recontextualizes. Its SO good. So hype for the finale to drop next month. Literally cant believe it. 30 years in the making. Monumental. Janny and Tad Wiliams ending their series in the same year. Incredible.
I agree with your prose statement! I will read The Wars of Light and Shadow at some point, but I want to read the rest of Janny Wurts' books first.
* Terry Pratchett *
I've already started with Discworld, I have read Guards! Guards! and I intend to continue... :D
I have been recommended: Nation (2008) by Terry Pratchett, and sooner or later I'll get to it, I'm quite intrigued by this work.
Josh you should read the Arthur retellings by British author Giles Kristian. The first is Lancelot, second is Camelot and Arthur is being published in June. I very much enjoy his style of writing.
Oops meant *Arthurian
* R. A. Salvatore *
The Legend of Drizzt (1988-...)
From this series I've read the first 4 sub-series (quite a long time ago!):
-The Dark Elf Trilogy (Homeland; Exile; Sojourn)
-The Icewind Dale Trilogy (The Crystal Shard; Streams of Silver; The Halfling's Gem)
-Legacy of the Drow (The Legacy; Starless Night; Siege of Darkness; Passage to Dawn)
-Paths of Darkness (The Silent Blade; The Spine of the World; Sea of Swords)
Quite recently I re-read The Dark Elf Trilogy:
-Homeland (1990)
-Exile (1990)
-Sojourn (1991)
I am pretty fond of this trilogy!
And I'm keen on getting into "The DemonWars Saga" by R. A. Salvatore!
I want to read the first trilogy and Mortalis!
-The Demon Awakens (1996)
-The Demon Spirit (1999)
-The Demon Apostle (2000)
-Mortalis (2000)
I think I heard Allen from the Library of Allenxadria said that he liked some of the things Salvatore did in "The DemonWars Saga", and I think Salvatore mentioned once that "Mortalis" was a special novel for him.
This is great - I'm gonna do a screenshot of your comment here - thanks!
@@RedFuryBooks As commented by Mike (from Mike's Book Reviews), the books are so much based on all the DnD lore that Salvatore does not do much descriptions of the creatures, monsters or let's say "living" beings because "everyone knew" what he was talking about, so using the DnD Monster Manual or by checking the creature on the internet could be the way to go ;)
Gobbled up every second of this video. Thank Your. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Belgariad, Prydain. As a relative newby to this genre, I can fully relate to this 10. Thank you!
Try the Once and Future King for classic fantasy.
I honestly forgot about that book or it would've been a strong contender for this list.
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Steven R. Donaldson are also great classic fantasy... Have you read either of them? I definitely have to check out the Elric books. The Drizzt books are great but I suggest starting with The Dark Elf trilogy. Thanks for the video!
The Chronicles of Amber was literally the last series I cut from my list to make it a top 10. I've read Donaldson's books, but they were in HS so I've forgotten them, but I'll definitely reread them at some point.
* Michael Moorcock *
The Elric of Melniboné Sagas.
I am at the moment not interested in these works, but I don't discount being intrigued in the future.
Others have said it but you should definitely add Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. And if you remotely like it, do the sequel/prequel books that have expanded it into The Osten Ard Series. The sequels are very thematically interesting in that while Williams started MST both homaging and critiquing Tolkien they seem more aimed at the Grimdark wave he unintentionally inspired through GRRM but without ever becoming post-modern or self-aware. I would call it one of the more interesting works of still traditional epic fantasy published in the last 5 years.
I suspect when I get to Tad Williams I'll be adding a lot of his works to my TBR!
Great vid where would we be without some of these great classic, my first was the david eddings and david gemmell you mentioned, also Anne mccaffrey I have only read her dragon rider of pern there is very little sci-fi most of the book other than dragon dawn is 99% fantasy you will love them short and quick reads I will check you conan out and have just started reading moorcock elric would like to work my way through his work I have heard I will not love them all but thanks for the not read one you mentioned add to my tbr i heard of few more classes but not read them much lord dunsany and Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake two that sound very interesting both very old keep bring out great vids
Great info and I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Josh, once you finish Guards! Guards! and Memory, Sorrow & Thorn then I can welcome you into the secret society, The Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night!! You are almost there…😀
Yeah, I love secret societies lol
Arthurian? Have you read 'The Once and Future King' by T.H White? I'm half way. It's very different. All the pay offs are great. Some are even profoundly life altering. Admittedly there is some heavy reading to get there. So you kind of read it 1 chater or 2 at a time. But some of my best daily walks have been consumed by pondering the events of chapters and completly veiwing the world around me differrently.
I have read The Once and Future King and enjoyed how different it felt and how he approached the story.
Tried the Dragonlance Chronicles but hated the 1st book, shame as the second trilogy sounds like it would would be right up my street.
Loved the Belgariad, although the story contains many standard tropes I loved the characters.
A series not mentioned I would highly recommend is Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.
Yes, the Belgariad is trope filled but I love it too! Memory, Sorry and Thorn will be a must-read somewhat soon, since I already own the first book!
* Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman *
The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman:
-Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984)
-Dragons of Winter Night (1985)
-Dragons of Spring Dawning (1985)
The Raistlin Chronicles, includes 2 works:
-The Soulforge (1997) by Margaret Weis
-Brothers in Arms (1999) by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin
Or,
the omnibus edition "The Raistlin Chronicles", which collects both books (The Soulforge and Brothers in Arms).
Dragonlance: Legends by Margaret Weis:
-Time of the Twins (1986)
-War of the Twins (1986)
-Test of the Twins (1986)
I have read all of these and a few more!
I really like "The Soulforge" (1997) by Margaret Weis.
Josh, if you have not read it, I think that it is pretty good. At least that way is how I remember it from my youth!
I enjoyed "Brothers in Arms" (1999) as well, not as serious.
Good to know about that other Raistlin series!
@@RedFuryBooks It shows Raistlin's youth... I don't want to say more because I don't want to spoil anything!, but I wonder if "The Soulforge" wouldn't be the best entry point into The Dragonlance.
I thought about telling this to Petrick, and maybe even suggesting it to Johanna (who did not like much "Dragons of Autumn Twilight") but I don't dare ;P
* Ursula K. Le Guin *
I read "A Wizard of Earthsea" (1968) before finding BookTube, and I plan on reading the following works:
Earthsea:
-A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) [already read]
-The Tombs of Atuan (1970)
-The Farthest Shore (1972)
-Tehanu (1990)
Tales from Earthsea:
(a collection of fantasy stories and essays)
-"The Finder". The school of magic is established on Roke island.
-"Darkrose and Diamond" (1999). The daughter of a witch and the son of a rich merchant love each other.
-"The Bones of the Earth". Ogion the Silent helps his wizard master deal with an earthquake.
-"On the High Marsh". A mysterious healer arrives in a remote village threatened by a livestock epidemic.
-"Dragonfly" (1998). This is a postscript to the novel Tehanu.
-"A Description of Earthsea" (reference material)
I am currently reading "The Left Hand of Darkness" (1969) by Ursula K. Le Guin [a science fiction novel].
* J. R. R. Tolkien *
Regarding his works on Middle-earth:
I have read and love The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1955).
I've read part of the Silmarillion (1977), the portion closest to the events on The Hobbit and LOTR. Maybe the audiobook narrated by Andy Serkins could be a good way for me to consume this work.
And I intend to read at some point: The Children of Húrin (2007) edited by Christopher Tolkien.
I'm slowly making my way through the "back catalog" of Tolkien (it's mostly Christopher Tolkien) and enjoyed the three "Great Tales" books and the Unfinished Tales.
@@RedFuryBooks Thank you Josh! :)
What's your opinion on "The Black Company" by Glen Cook?
I actually haven't read those. And probably won't, to be honest. I've never been big on military fantasy, so it's probably a series that won't be for me.
I could go on and on about the several meanings of traditional and classic fantasy and how generally people meaning Tolkien-esque yet the first one up (a great start btw), Conan, is the oldest and generally not what people mean when they say classic fantasy or traditional fantasy. Forgotten Realms is by no means high literature but as a big Realms fan Drizzt is my least favorite and it’s not even close. About as good as the original DL chronicles, sadly.
Yeah, Liam, you'll be my go-to when exploring Forgotten Realms. I know your'e low on the Drizzt books, but how about the Icewind Dale trilogy? As I understand it, he's just one of many characters in that series.
* C. S. Lewis *
The Chronicles of Narnia
I've watched the films, but I'm not interested on the novels.
Great video. Not enough time is spent on classic fantasy on booktube (90% of fantasy that I read is classic vs modern). Drizzt is beyond amazing! I’m reading guards guards now, would be curious as to your opinion. Love Feist and grew up on Eddings. Read more classic!!!!😊😊
I just finished Prince of the Blood by Feist today (a reread) so I'll definitely be reading and rereading more!
Some great choices. I'd add the first two trilogies of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Another one that seems to straddle newer and classic fantasy.
Yes, I read those as a youth but they're gone from my memory. But I'll reread them at some point for sure.
As always I love your video. I give a cheer to several that are my favourites too and have noted some to read soon. Among works I think you would enjoy I highly recommend Sheri Tepper. These were 1980s works - before she became noted for feminist leaning fantady. The True Game is an omnibus of 3, Kings Blood 4,Necromancer Nine and Wizards 11. She followed these with The Chronicles of Mavin Manyshaped - another 3 Book.collection- Jinian Footsere, Dervis Daughter and Jinian Stareye. I count this set of work amongst the best dantasy I have ever read. It is totally original, great characters, truly creative world building and brilliant story lines.
Sometimes I think the SF Fantasy line is hard to.draw as with Ann Mcaffrey. Thismade me think of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover. The SF aspect is the discovety and colonisation of planet Darkover but Darkover itself is a fantastic planet. There are some great books in the series. It's hard to find a good starting point or reading order but well worth checking out.
I love Mary Stewart. As a teenager I read her romantic thrillers - she came from North East England like me and her work was very popular. I do like her Arthurian books but I think Bernard Cornwell surpases her. And of course so does The Once and Future King - high on my list of best books in all genres.
This is a great list - thank you! I've read the Cornwell books and of course love them but still want to explore more Arthur retellings!
Recommendation - JV Jones did a series called the book of words that is amazing, there are tropes but she does them so well.
I started reading fantasy five years ago and right now I'm mostly collecting and reading stuff from the 80's and 90's.
I love browsing the used book stores and seeing some gems from back then I'd forgotten about.
I miss playing D & D 😭😭😭
Hey man I'm curious, are you at all a star wars fan?
Also have you read the "thrawn trilogy" by tim zahn (I think thats the author at least)
I havent read it but apparently its quite good, curious about your thoughts.
Yes, I do enjoy Star Wars but actually haven't read the original Thrawn trilogy! But will at some point.
@@RedFuryBooks thats cool dude, let us all know what you think when you read it 👍👍
@@certified_geek7536 I second this!
I really like that trilogy!
* Lloyd Alexander *
I did not have The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander on my radar, but I think I could enjoy them very much, so I'll try to get to them kinda soon-ish...
A children's high fantasy pentalogy:
-The Book of Three (1964)
-The Black Cauldron (1965)
-The Castle of Llyr (1966)
-Taran Wanderer (1967)
-The High King (1968)
Dragon riders of Pern is one of my favorite series of books
Great choices. Glad to see Mara getting the love she deserves.
Oh yeah, Mara is on the short list for favorite characters if I ever get around to that video!
Hi! Good day! I wrote a novel, titled: Archangel world at war. I watched your informative videos and it's my pleasure that someday you will consider to review my book on one of your vlogs. It was not edited yet, nevertheless I published it to major EReading apps like Amazon and Kobo. Thank you in advance.
Hopefully I can send you a physical copy in the final format of my book in the future. God bless.
Discworld is my favorite book series of all time. I reread them over and again. The writing is astounding, really, and it's so hilarious, amazing look at the human condition. I'd be very excited for you to read some of it - not at all like any other fantasy series you've shown. The two books you've got are probably the best recommendations to get started. Hope to hear your experience with it soon!
I'm definitely looking forward to it!
* Raymond E. Feist *
From the "Riftwar Cycle" I want to complete up to The Empire Trilogy.
The Riftwar Saga
-Magician (1982)
-Silverthorn (1985)
-A Darkness at Sethanon (1986)
The Empire Trilogy
-Daughter of the Empire (1987) with Janny Wurts
-Servant of the Empire (1990) with Janny Wurts
-Mistress of the Empire (1992) with Janny Wurts
I am currently in Mistress of the Empire, in the last half of the novel.
Quite liked the journey, but I'll stop here.
Possibly will do some other stand-alone from Janny Wurts from the 90s.
* Robert E. Howard *
I have watched the Conan films and others.
And I remember I read a few comics of Conan when I was very young.
I'm curious, and at some point I intend to read:
"The Hour of the Dragon" (1936) by Robert E. Howard, the best novel of Conan?
and possibly a few of the short stories.
Yes! They are classics for a reason!
I just finished the Gormenghast books. Great series.I'm also making my way through the Books of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are awesome characters.
Good list I prefer classic fantasy over modern storytelling.
Great list, I finally picked up Elric because of this and I never even heard Prydain.
I would add to the recommendations to read Lyonesse and at least the sequel "The Green Pearl". Vance's writing style blasts through purple prose out into ultraviolet and it's worth experiencing once. I think Lyonesse is a better sampling of his style than the Dying Earth.
Good to know about Dying Earth - thanks!
Great list Josh! I loved Mary Stewart’s Merlin series when I was younger. I need to reread them.
Oh awesome! Good to know you enjoyed them!
I'll be publishing my video on the first six of Pern shortly. Hope that will help you out.
Oh, awesome timing! I look forward to seeing that!
I’m going to start with the Empire trilogy before I reread all the Riftwar books. I’ve read Dragonlance Chronicles so I’m more hyped to get to Legends now!
Elric is high on my list! Many others here are on my list as well. Great video!
Oh yes, Usman, if you've read DL Chronicles, I felt Legends is a decided step forward.
Of the ones on your list that I've read - Narnia, Rings (in fact everything ever written by Tolkien), Earthsea and Legend - I would include every single one in my own top 10. I am especially glad to see David Gemmell on the list as he was a fantastic writer (another one I have every book of) and someone whose work I would highly recommend. I loved his Jon Shannow books as well.
Of the ones I haven't read, I probably have copies of most of them in my house since my, sadly late, husband was also a big SF/fantasy fan. I'm currently sorting through our joint book collection as I move to a new home and expect to have quite a stack of to-read titles once I'm done.
Moving on to the ones you want to read... Pern is another great series. I'd say it started out as pure fantasy and then added some science-fiction elements later on which may explain the controversy. If you only read the first few books, it's pretty firmly fantasy though. I've also read some Pratchett, although my husband was the big fan in our house - and again I think we have every book he ever published.
Among other authors/series I recommend are Terry Brooks' Shannara series (the first book, Sword, has its issues but once you get past that the rest of the books are fantastic), Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, Jack L. Chalker's Dancing Gods series (which turns the classic tropes into laws underpining his world to great effect) and his Well World series (which is possibly more science fiction), Simon Hawke, Sheri S. Tepper and Andre Norton. I also have to mention Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter books which, together with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger series, was my original entry into this world of imaginative story-telling and they remain some of my favourites today. The initial Barsoom trilogy starting with A Princess of Mars is a classic of fantasy adventure.
I've actually read some more Gemmell of late- two books of his this month! I definitely enjoy his style of fantasy a lot. Thanks for the recommendations - Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton were already on there but I want to explore the rest.
Awesome video Josh!!
I really enjoyed and learned a few more things! ;)
Thank you!
...
And... You have got me to share a bit...
Glad you enjoyed it!
You didn't like Good Omens? Hmm. I don't know how much you'll like Terry Pratchett then. I've read the City Watch and the Death books and i really liked them. I'm definitely going to try more of Discworld. My favorite series as a child was Narnia. I've probably read them 10 times or more. I also read The Hobbit just as much. I didn't discover Feist until about 15 years ago in my 20's, but i read every book in Riftwar since then, and the Empire trilogy is amazing. I wish i knew about it when i was younger.
We'll see how Discworld hits for me - I'll give it at least those two books. I just finished a reread of Prince of the Blood today and it was as good as remembered!
80’s was the heyday of fantasy, some of the ones I loved were the Deryni series, Darwath trilogy, Shanarra, Lord Valentine, Fafyrd and the Gray Mouser, Darkover , Lords of Amber, Beserker, and Helconnia Spring. I read every book TSR put out to about 1992. Ask around about what Forgotten Realms to read, though a good rule of thumb is the early stuff is good, or at least fun and the later stuff is bad.
Good to know about the Forgotten Realms books - thanks! I had forgotten about the Deryni books - I read some of those in high school but it's been a long time...
First of all, let me write that is another good video, Josh despite the issues you had with the lighting. 😂
However, I have always felt conflicted towards classic fantasy. My entry into the genre was through the First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in my late teens (I’m 52 now). I had not read anything like that in my life at that time. And I wanted to read more of it.
So I read the Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and several other works of classic fantasy. I did not connect with any of them. Fortunately, I discovered the work of Charles de Lint in the early 1990s and that turned me away from classic fantasy more into the hybrid contemporary fantasy/ magical realism that has become my favorite genre to read these days.
However, I read the first books of the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula Le Guin & Camber of Culdi by Katherine Kurtz (1st in the Legends of the Camber series) a couple years ago and really enjoyed those novels. I plan to finish reading those series. So there might be a connection point with classic fantasy after all.
Also, the first three books in the Landover Series by Terry Brooks has always intrigued me whenever I see copies in the local used bookstores here in San Antonio. If anyone has read those books..please share your thoughts.
Anyway, I liked this video and watching it has made me revisit my conflicted feelings about classic fantasy!
Thanks, Marion, and greetings from Austin! :)
I did read the Thomas Covenant books in HS, but frankly don't remember a whole lot about them. They are still on the shelf to be reread at some point. I had forgotten about Camber of Culdi, but I read some of those in HS too! I hope you can find some classic fantasy you enjoy!
A classic series not on your list is The Deverry Series by Katherine Kerr. Also unusual because of the many strong females characters and reincarnation.
One of my early fav King Arthur series starts with Talesin by Stephen Lawhead.
Loved your list, my other extras would be Megan Lindholm, and Anne Bishops dark Black Jewels series.
Thank you!
My husband bought me David Eddings entire blacklist. He read it and loved it as a kid
I loved the Belgariad enough to buy a special edition boxed set!
I picked up Daughter of the Empire after hearing you mention it a few times. I'm about 40% through it and really liking it so far. I've only read Magician from the main Riftwar series, but I think its totally fine to read Daughter without having read the mainline series (at least so far).
Yes, I agree you can definitely read the Empire trilogy with no prior Riftwar knowledge. Glad you're liking it!
Roger Zelazny's Amber series ranks #2 for me behind only LOTR. If you haven't read it, I'd definitely recommend that one.
I did read the first five Amber books, and it was literally the last one cut to bring this list down to 10.
What's your take on Tad Williams, Josh? Thought I might see Memory Sorrow and Thorn on this list in either the read or want-to-read section.
I haven't read Tad yet! But I also consider him more a bridge from classic to modern (like Robert Jordan) from what I've seen. I have the Dragonbone Chair on the TBR shelf to get to at some point.
The deathgate cycle is awesome. Very classic feel with some unique stuff thrown in especially for the time, and one of my favorite duos in all of fantasy.
Great to know!
Josh, how have you enjoyed the Easton Press edition of The LOTR and The Hobbit?
Easily my favorite books I own.
I know I’m late to this but I just discovered your channel. I love that you mentioned the Belgariad. It was my main introduction to fantasy and I will never forget it nor have I looked back.
Glad to find another Belgariad fan! Modern readers may not love it, but for its time it was my favorite of that era.
@@RedFuryBooksFor sure.
❤ Earthsea
Mine starts with The Princess of Mars 😊
Dragon Riders of Pern is sci-fantasy and it evolves in a really cool way.
Xanth, Incarnations of Immortality, and Aprentice Adept (Piers Anthony)
I've returned to The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant as a fan. Couldn't finish the first book as a kid 🤔
Terry Brooks ❤
I did read some of the Xanth books as a kid, and read the first 6 Thomas Covenant books in HS, although they have been forgotten and need a reread.
@@RedFuryBooks I'm reading his Gap novels now and they're so tough but so good.
I never could really get into Moorcock's Elric books, but my first real foray into fantasy (sci-=fi as well I suppose) was his Hawkmoon Series, which my English teacher had the first and then bought the rest for her own classroom library because I loved them so much. I really should go back and read them again.