T'other day as I sat in the departures lounge at Paris Orly Airport waiting for my delayed plane (typical England that, bit of fog and all society comes crashing down) to leave, I read through the book Eragon, first of the Alagaesia series (probably has a more official name which I don't know of) which I'd bought at the airport on the way there having watched the mildly entertaining but very average film before I left. I really enjoyed it and as I'm still stuck for what I want for Christmas I've decided I wouldn't mind another fantasy book series or two to read (I've already ordered the second book Eldest). But fact is, I haven't a clue what's good and what's not, so I pondered, who do I know that knows a lot about this sorta thing.... why, those wacky Lusternia kids of course.

So anyway, I've come out of hibernation to ask you this; which books do I want, and why?

The Old Kingdom Trilogy - By Garth Nix
-in order Sabriel, Liriel, Abhorsen.
Kind dark, they focus on the Abhorsen a necromancer who uses their ability to lay the dead to rest. One thing I liked was that there is only one part of the world where magic exists, Get too far away it becomes harder to use before you can't at all. Bring something from the other parts of the world into the magical one and it will most likely decay very quickly.

The Witches of Elieanan - By Kate Forsyth
-Rhiannons ride is the sequal you can probably get the gist if you read it alone but you really need to read all of them.
Great story, it was inspired when the author had a dream about the first chapter. There are 9 books in total, I loved the way magic was depicted as a more natural force something like magical flight is seen as a talent unique to a single person. People can kill themselves if they over use the power.
It starts in a sort of Burning Times/Witch Trials era, witchcraft has been outlawed the faerie creatures (original inhabitants of the planet, humans came from elsewhere) who don't serve a purpose for the AWL are murdered. People suspected of witchcraft are tortured if not killed outright. Those with talent but no training are found and either killed or taught to use their abilities to help the AWL.
But there are those who resist them of course, hidden away trying to survive.

Throughout are a few hints that seem to hint that the humans came from earth during the witch hunts. Magical talent was spread out and feared there so they all banded together and left.

sigh now I need to stop myself

Im addicted to the Dragon Lance Series.

They usually have a book containing lots of short stories so its not really time-consuming, you could read it while waiting for the plane, or in the plane and finish a story.

I'm going to suggest Neal Stephenson, of course. Buy Snow Crash if you like cyberpunk, The Diamond Age if you like nano-punk, Cryptonomicon is a thriller and Quicksilver is historical fiction.

Saran - Thanks for the ideas! They both sound great, specially the Old Kingdom, anything about magic is right up my street.

Gelo - Sounds just like my sorta book, except reading speed is one of my more bizarre talents (I got through all 500-600 pages of Eragon in about 3-4 hours, something like Lord of the Rings I can read in a night if I get right into it) so I'm not afraid of tackling a book in one go. I'll look em up though.

Verithrax - I'm not sure I'm intelligent enough for those books! Quicksilver sounds like something I wish I could understand but won't. I'm a fairly unoriginal fantasy reader really... I like magic and myths and Gods and stuff like that. I think they'd confuse me... but I'm tempted to give Quicksilver a go nonetheless.

Thanks for all suggestions, keep them coming

Dragonlance has a lot of the regular novels as well as the short story books (which I don't like, but to each his own.)

I was, and I still like them. Raistlin is my hero!



I have 117 118 Dragonlance books currently, only some are the short stories, most are novels, and then there are the "dragons of" series, and the twins, etc. I liked most of them, and all the different authors means the styles are different enough to keep reading them.

Edit: found one more, and to stay on topic, if you want to give Dragonlance a try, start with the Chronicles Trilogy - Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning.

Another author I'd recommend is David Eddings, his recent series, Dreamers is disappointing, but The Belgariad and The Mallorean, the Tamuli and Elenium were all very enjoyable. If you want to give him a try, then search out Redemption of Althalus, that's a stand alone novel, and also very good.

There is mathematics in the Cryptonomicon that is somewhat over my head, but that didn't keep me from understanding the story. Quicksilver is different - most of the complexity comes from the fact that it's, generally, similar to a Russian 19th-century novel in terms of character amount and length.

Unfortunately, the different styles of Dragonlance series puts me off. It takes me a couple of chapters to adjust to the writing style, so that means I have to waste more for the Dragonlance. I just stick to the three books you mentioned.

One thing to note about David Eddings. He is very predictable in his writing style. Its almost as if the characters are the same, only with different names and situations. In my opinion, his best series would have to be Belgariad, but Redemption is awesome. And yes, Dreamers disappointed me.


I have no idea why, but this makes me think of Terry Prattchet and his Discword series. Really funny books.

118 Dragonlance books?? Thats my deam-to have a Dragon Lance library! *turns green in envy*

Dreamers was a compete let down. Yes his writting style/plot is very similar in all books, but I think he has lost it comletely in Dreamers. I'm actually of the opinion that the introduction of "Leigh" Eddings as the "always there" second author is a hoax, because as far as I can tell the style has changed since. I don't believe Leigh had as much input on the previous books, as he claims. Mallorean is a repeat of Belgaraiad, Elenium has different characters, but same basic ideas, Tamuli is a repeat of Elenium, however I still enjoyed following them through to the end. Also the Belgarath and Polgarath books were nice! But Dreamers... I'm losing the will to live... In fact the fourth book of dreamers, The Younger Gods, is on my shelves unread. Such a shame because I found Redemtion of A to be excellent. (side rant, ack i hate german keyboard the Z and Y are in the wrong place) I would still recommend him as an author, even if he re-uses ideas quite a bit.



It is my pride and joy. (well all my books infact not just Dragonlance) Many years and many trips to central London to get that collection. Amazingly I don't have them all, but most! Missing a few from a few of the recent series. One from Kingpriest thingy and couple from Minotaur Wars, and some others... I forget....

Yargh, I hate German keyboards *curses all german people, apart from the one who bought me all the wine*

A book I was reading today while flying, "Does Anything Eat Wasps" (interesting collection of New Scientist reader Q&A's) reminded me of another series, Duncton Wood, I can't quite remember the author right now, but they are two trilogies of books based in communities of moles. (and yet according to this book today moles are solitary animals, whoda thunk it?) They are a fictional look at religion and I remember I enjoyed those two series! Anyway, going back to Stollen and wine, l8rs.