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Favorite fantasy stories/series?


Chris Zulas

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Not anything specific - books and book series, comics, TV shows, video and tabletop games, audio narratives like RPG podcasts etc., movies etc. Basically looking for the will to actually take in media which I'd love to do but am HORRIBLE at.
Some of my favorites:

Books - Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Robert E. Howard's Conan stories (have only read the first two stories, very dated but SO fun) Throne of glass (left off at the end of the 4th book) what few D&D books I've read

Comics: Nimona (have read few other comics lol)

TV Shows: Game of Thrones (haven't seen the new eps, as in this season other than ep 1, apparently it's gone downhill) Adventure Time, Samurai Jack, Steven Universe and Voltron (very different fantasy but it counts) Avatar: Last Airbender, Drifters (only seen the first few episodes but it's fantasy by the Hellsing guy - noice)

Video Games: Elder Scrolls 3-5, Dragon's Dogma, Divine Divinity (haven't even close to finished it but oh well) Zelda (especially Wind Waker) Mount & Blade (not fantasy but close enough)

Tabletop: D&D (my edition is Pathfinder - it's totally an edition of D&D fite me, the built-in setting is rad but I don't use it) Conan D20 looks great

Movies: Kubo and the Two Strings, Conan the Barbarian 1&2 (haven't seen 2 in forever but I'd probs still like it TBH) Lord of the Rings trilogy (what got me into fantasy) Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Yellow Submarine, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dungeons & Dragons (it's a perfect representation of a newbie's first campaign and sometimes cheesy fun like the Mari movie) Tales From Earthsea, The Princess Bride is GREAT, Prince of Egypt (arguably doesn't count but it's mythology and amazing, not saying anything about Judaism or Christianity I swear lol)

What are yours? What are your tastes in fantasy?

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First and foremost

LOTR, which is what got me into fantasy MANY years ago (in the 1960s) - the books (and the maps!), the movies

 

In no particular order

HP - books and movies (although I'm not a hardcore fan)

Love The Princess Bride

Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books

Dennis McKiernan's books (especially the ones that are obviously based on Tolkien's works)

Lawrence Watt-Evans's Ethshar stories

Jim Hines' Goblin books

 

Can't think of any other movies.

 

Games

Various board games, like Descent, Runebound, Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, as well as rpgs (although I haven't had much opportunity for those)

 

(just a few off the top of my head - I would have to do some digging/thinking to come up with others)

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Hmm,

 

Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane collection is excellent.

 

David Gemmell's Drenai series is awesome.

 

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and Alera Codex are great as well.

 

John Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice is YA, but an entertaining series to read all the same.

 

Berserk is and excellent Manga, and fairly good Anime.

 

Although these movies bombed, they both had excellent fantasy themes: The 13th Warrior (1999) and Outlander (2009)

 

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1 minute ago, daveb said:

(just a few off the top of my head - I would have to do some digging/thinking to come up with others)

Yeah, I spent half-an-hour thinking and Googling and glancing at my once-less-bad collection to remember what I HAVE seen/read lol my memory is atrocious

And yeah,

2 minutes ago, argar said:

Berserk is and excellent Manga, and fairly good Anime.


Berserk has great art and story etc. but I'll admit, I accidentally spoiled the ending of the Golden Age arc for myself and bailed fast. It's okay to have that in a story of course, just not something I wanna watch/read. Which is a shame I'm so sensitive to stuff like that, because things of that nature are very very common in adult fantasy lol

I also REALLY wanna get Descent miniatures for my games - they're cool and I just love fantasy miniatures in general lol

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My FLGS even has some. Really my gaming store is excellent, all it needs is a used miniature bin (and they now have used games/sets) and it'd be a literal paragon of nerddom in southwest Michigan.

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Favorite tv series: Avatar the last Airbender and the sequel series; the Legend of Korra

Favorite movie: ummmmmmm... Interstellar???

Favorite book series:(this isn't a question) Wings of Fire(dragon book series, great characters)

Favorite book: 😐 idk.

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Just now, Zenzencat104 said:

Favorite tv series: Avatar the last Airbender and the sequel series; the Legend of Korra

Avatar is stupidly good. Have yet to see much of Korra.

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I am currently rereading the book A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. I absolutely love it, and would recommend it to any fantasy lover. It is a fantasy book written for adults (also suitable for teens, but a bit dark), and it reminds me a lot of reading fantasy books as a kid, and loving being able to escape into another world.

 

I also love the book series Gregor the Overlander by Susanne Collins. In my opinion it is better than The Hunger Games. This is a kids book, but it is so well written that anyone can enjoy it. My mom started reading the series to my younger brother, and when he was not interested in continuing she finished it on her own and loved it.

 

I play a bit of the tabletop RPG Dungeon World. I have been told that it is like a simpler version of D&D, but I have never played D&D, so I can't really compare. From what I know of D&D, Dungeon World is a little more open ended. The thing I most dislike about Dungeon World is that I often play with my brother and his friend, and whoever gets to be the Druid insists on finding a pig to study so that they can shape shift into a pig for the sole sake of shape shifting into a pig. :lol:

 

I may add more later if I think of it.

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Anything by Tamora Pierce! I got First Test (book 1 of the Protector of the Small series) from a book fair in elementary school, and Tamora Pierce is still my favorite author 10+ years later. All her books are medieval-type fantasy (Tolkien was a major influence on her work), but they take place in two different universes. I prefer her "Tortall universe" books (Song of the Lioness, Immortals, Protector of the Small, Beka Cooper, and Trickster series), but her "Circle universe" books (Circle of Magic, Circle Opens,  and Circle Reforged series) are also really good. My personal favorite Tamora Pierce series is Song of the Lioness, and since those were the first books she wrote, I'd recommend starting with that series. There's a scene in book 4, Lioness Rampant, that I'm pretty sure is based off of the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where they're climbing Caradhras!

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Books by the following authors: Elizabeth A. Lynn (it was her books that got me into loving to read, especially fantasy), Richard K. Morgan (A Land Fit for Heroes series), Mercedes Lackey (her Valdemar books are amazing), Carol Berg, Karen Miller, George R.R. Martin, Michael J. Sullivan, Lynn Flewelling (the Nightrunner series is my favorite)...and ok, so a lot of different authors. <3 I really only read fantasy novels. :P 

 

Video games...oh gosh, there's so many to choose from. But I'm totally with you on Dragon's Dogma!!! One of the best. <3 Also Dragon Age, Kingdoms of Amalur, Nii no Kuni, and yeah, seriously I've played too many to list.

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Fantasy used to be my main fare in terms of books. I haven't read anything in the genre for years, but some of my favourites were:

1. Glenn Cook - Black Company    I used to re-read it every year 8) (a company of mercenaries traverses all the known world fighting in wars and trying to find  its lost brithplace ).

2. Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Mists of Avalon (a really great and moving re-telling of the Arturian myth)

3. C. S. Friedman - The Coldfire Trilogy (dark fantasy set on a distant planet thousands of years in the future. I really dig the world the author created.)

4. G. Martin - The Game of Thrones (I haven't read the latest volumes, though. Also, I'm not familiar with the TV series. I wonder how many TV series fans are familiar with the books...).

 

Shoutout to @kelico for mentioning the Valdemar books :D I read a few of them some 20 years ago.

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Brighterside

Currently for me the main focus is on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (both the anime and manga), I couldn't recommend it highly enough

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slothdetective

Book series - I really enjoy the book series Stravaganza by Mary Hoffman. It's fantasy YA literature, perfect for my tastes: time travel and alternative timelines (kinda, it switches between 2000's London and 1500's Italy)!

 

Books - I like Cecelia Ahern's novels a lot (especially The Gift and The Time of My Life). I don't really know which genre to put them into (probably at least romance? depending on the book) but I really like how the stories are based in the real world but with a fantasy twist in them. I can also say the same about The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.

 

Comics - Natsume's Book of Friends, a very sympathetic manga series about a 15-year-old boy dealing with seeing demons that other people don't see.

 

TV shows - I liked BBC's Merlin a lot. (I'd like to like Game of Thrones too but so far I haven't been able to get through the first episode of the first season LOL it's a shame though because the latest teasers look so damn awesome, maybe someday)

 

Movies - Interstellar, Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit movies, Iron Man movies (and some other Marvel superhero movies too)

 

Games - Dragon Age universe, The Elder Scrolls universe (although I've only properly played Skyrim and a bit of Oblivion), Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy X and XV

 

+ I'll add also that I like fantasy music a lot too, for me that means "adventure/fantasy metal" (bands such as Twilight Force and Rhapsody, they sing about dragons and knights and kingdoms and the like :lol:)

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Books:

All the Harry Potter stuff

The Fool on the Hill, by Matt Ruff. (In fact, writing this has made me want to dig out my copy and re-read this. Again.)

That's all I can think of, off the top of my head, although I think I'm missing something really obvious here. To be honest, I've read more science fiction than I've read fantasy, and it's been a while since I read much of that.

 

TV:

Don't judge me too harshly, but My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a very guilty pleasure of mine. 

Game of Thrones. I was a latecomer to the series and it took me two or three goes to get past the first episode. However, once I managed that, I was hooked.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

Sapphire and Steel. (That counts as fantasy, right?)

 

Do superhero comics / tv series count as fantasy? If so, I really got drawn in by Jessica Jones and I have long loved the character of Daredevil. Looking further back, I really enjoyed Lois and Clark: the New Adventures of Superman

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2 hours ago, Piotrek said:

Fantasy used to be my main fare in terms of books. I haven't read anything in the genre for years, but some of my favourites were:

1. Glenn Cook - Black Company    I used to re-read it every year 8) (a company of mercenaries traverses all the known world fighting in wars and trying to find  its lost brithplace ).

2. Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Mists of Avalon (a really great and moving re-telling of the Arturian myth)

3. C. S. Friedman - The Coldfire Trilogy (dark fantasy set on a distant planet thousands of years in the future. I really dig the world the author created.)

4. G. Martin - The Game of Thrones (I haven't read the latest volumes, though. Also, I'm not familiar with the TV series. I wonder how many TV series fans are familiar with the books...).

 

Shoutout to @kelico for mentioning the Valdemar books :D I read a few of them some 20 years ago.

Haha, thanks! Yes, they're soooo good!! <3 Oh wow, 20 years ago! For me, maybe 8 or so years ago. But the Valdemar world is so memorable. The Coldfire trilogy sounds really interesting. O: I'm on book 5 of the Game of Thrones novels (the last one that's currently out), and I haven't watched any of the tv show. The friends I know that have watched the tv series read the books first, but there's probably a lot of people that haven't!

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5 minutes ago, kelico said:

But the Valdemar world is so memorable.

So true. While I loved the books, I can't get past the fact that she made Vanyel apologize to his father for being gay.

Haven't been able to re-read the series. Maybe someday.

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4 minutes ago, Tja said:

So true. While I loved the books, I can't get past the fact that she made Vanyel apologize to his father for being gay.

Haven't been able to re-read the series. Maybe someday.

I know, right? Really sad.  : ( Gosh those books gave me so many feels...especially Magic's Price. I was on the verge of tears at the end! I haven't re-read them either, but I think they'd be great to. I haven't read all of her Valdemar books, just the Last Herald-Mage series and Collegium series (hmmm...actually not sure if I read all of them!), as well as Brightly Burning.

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I'm not much of a fan of Manga/Anime though I really loved the storytelling and artwork of Mushi-shi. Absolutely gorgeous. Also really enjoyed The Tsubasa Chronicles and Exxholic.

 

If you can find it (Amazon Prime had it last), Disney's Gravity Falls is what you get when you mix 12 year old twins and X-Files/Friday the 13: The Series/Warehouse 13 elements and storytelling together. Great fun!

 

Favorite books:

daveb suggested Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books. I concur! Great series.

Harry Dresden by Jim Butcher

Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch

Nightrunners series by Llynn Flewelling

Alex Verus by Benedict Jacka

Vicki Nelson series by Tanya Huff - also: Tony Foster Trilogy, The Gale Women trilogy, and The Keeper Chronicles

The Vampire Files by PN Elrod

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan - I've read the first book but am definitely going back for more!

The Tufa series by Alex Bledsoe

The Supervillainy Saga by C.T. Phipps (if you don't mind masked anti-heroes)

World of the Five Gods series, esp. The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of the Souls and Penric & Desdomona series by Lois McMaster Bujold

Rai-Kirah series and The Sanctuary Duet books by Carol Berg

The Deathspeaker Codex by Sonya Bateman

Heartstrikers by Rachel Aaron

Black Knight Chronicles by John G. Hartness (if you don't mind vampires)

Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard

Discworld & Tiffany Aching by Terry Pratchett

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

American Gods  & The Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole

Dry Water and Game of Universe by Eric S. Nylund (if you can find these books!)

The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper (my oldest favorite series - the one that got me started on fantasy along with The Chronicles of Narnia - try as I might, LOTR just doesn't hold my interest).

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

Escape to Witch Mountain & The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

 

I could keep going .... I read a lot and this only scratches the surface of what I have read ....

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14 minutes ago, fuzzipueo said:

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan - I've read the first book but am definitely going back for more!

 

Discworld & Tiffany Aching by Terry Pratchett

 

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

I agree with these. (I haven't read some of the others)

 

A few others I have really enjoyed:

The Thraxas stories by Martin Scott (fantasy noir detective stories[ set in a more traditional fantasy world, not modern urban fantasy)

Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series and her other books set in that world (steampunk, werewolves and vampires, London, mostly light-hearted, but maybe too much romance for some)

James Blaylock's books (both his steampunk books featuring Langdon St. Ives, and some of his fantasy books, such as The Elfin Ship and The Disappearing Dwarf)

Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest books (maybe more young adult/children's books, but fun)

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I'm a huge fan of The Hobbit, but I for some reason couldn't stand LOtR. That and Critical Role are really the only fantasy that's really ever grabbed me.

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@daveb

Thraxas :D I read 4 volumes, I think. I like how the author smuggles all those ancient Rome analogies ("As easy as bribing a senator" :D ).

 

Which remind me, one more cycle which I really like and which you should have additional fun reading if you like figuring out analogies with the history of our world is "The Monarchies of God" by Paul Kearney. It's a story of two warring civilizations  and religions and a quest to re-discover a now-forgotten continent.

 

@kelico @Tja

When I read the Valdemar books the world actually struck me as being very rich in LGBT references and characters.

 

By the way, seeing as I come from the country that gave the world "The Witcher" cycle ;) I was just wondering how popular those books are in your countries. Mostly when I hear references to the Witcher, it's about the computer games.

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- Game of Thrones

- Attack on Titan

- Sonic the Hedgehog (if that counts)

- The Neverending Story

- Owls of Ga'Hoole

- Kung Fu Panda

- Last Exile

- HTTYD (How to Train Your Dragon)

- Skyland

- Adventure Time

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Here are my favourites:


Books: Night on the Galactic Railroad, the Odyssey, The Lies of Locke Lamora, Septimus Heap series, the original Mistborn trilogy (haven't read the other books yet). They aren't my favourites, but I love the Harry Potter series and La Passe-Miroir series as well.
(there are so many fantasy novels that I have yet to read...)


Movies: Stardust, The Princess Bride, Donkey Skin, How to Train Your Dragon (1 & 2), Pan's Labyrinth, The Mummy, many Disney movies...


Video games: Final Fantasy (especially IX), Dragon Age, The Elder Scrolls, Odin Sphere, Golden Sun, Loom... there are too many good fantasy video games.


Manga and anime: Does Attack on Titan count as fantasy? ~Smugleaf~ named it so I'm gonna name it too. I usually get bored of popular stuff pretty quickly, and I'm not too fond of violent stories, but I really, really love that series. It's so gripping, and I could gush about the characters for hours. 
I love Kanata Kara, Crystal Dragon and Sailor Moon as well. 

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12 hours ago, kelico said:

I know, right? Really sad.  : ( Gosh those books gave me so many feels...especially Magic's Price. I was on the verge of tears at the end! I haven't re-read them either, but I think they'd be great to. I haven't read all of her Valdemar books, just the Last Herald-Mage series and Collegium series (hmmm...actually not sure if I read all of them!), as well as Brightly Burning.

All of the other Valdemar series are worth reading. Such a vivid world and characters.

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AssassinBabs

For the love Fantasy!!!!

 

Okay my list, I have the habbit of beginning a new book even if still reading an other book. And due to my dislectia I am not a quick reader...

 

books:

 Inheritance cycle~ Chistopher Paolini (serie)

 Harry Potter, duh, who of my generation hasn't read it.. 

 Hogwarts a Library (the tales of Beedle the Bart, Fantastic beasts&where to find them(schoolbookthingy) Quidditch through the ages)

 The original screenplay; Fantastic Beasts and where to find them.

 HP and the Cursed Child.

 The Mortal Instruments (1,2,3,4 already read, stuck in the 5th and 6 unread in the closet)

 Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy (unread)

 Throne of Glass series (currently reading the second book)

 The Hobbit

 LOTR (stuck in the second book) 

 Games of Thrones ( gave them to a friend of mine, and I got her LOTR books. Started in GoT 1 but due to the so many personages who where discribed I lost the whole idea of the serie)

Divergent series (not real Fantasy I know, but still a little so on my list of fantasybooks)

 

The books who are filmed I have seen them! Except GoT

 

TV series;

 Charmed

 Teenwolf 

 The Shadowhunters

 The Tomorrow People

 Once upon a Time

 Wherehouse13

 

I probably forgot a whole bunch of movies and series.. hard to remember if you've seen so many of them!

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4 hours ago, Piotrek said:

When I read the Valdemar books the world actually struck me as being very rich in LGBT references and characters.

Absolutely. All other reference to LGBT is fine.

The author just bungled the original series. Full of stereotypes, unfortunately.

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I just looked up the info about the Valdemar books to see if I could remember which one I read. I definitely read "By the sword" and the "Arrows" trilogy. Maybe also something else, but I can't remember.

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10 hours ago, Piotrek said:

By the way, seeing as I come from the country that gave the world "The Witcher" cycle ;) I was just wondering how popular those books are in your countries. Mostly when I hear references to the Witcher, it's about the computer games.

Nearly anybody here who knows of the books does so through the games, even if they don't play games. If you get into Witcher fan communities (I'm not a part of those but I've looked) you'll find people who've read them. Not many in general though.

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8 hours ago, Piotrek said:

I just looked up the info about the Valdemar books to see if I could remember which one I read. I definitely read "By the sword" and the "Arrows" trilogy. Maybe also something else, but I can't remember.

Both were excellent.

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@Araminta Luz: Ooh! Stardust! I didn't think about that one, but, yes! (Originally, I was interested in seeing the movie because I'd heard at least parts of it were filmed on Skye. But, when I saw the movie, I fell in love with the whole thing. I've seen it several times since. I particularly enjoy the pirates!)

 

Going back to books, I enjoyed The Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko. Somehow, though, I haven't got around to reading the rest of the series.

 

For the most part, I like my fantasy to be set in a world that could be ours, but with only a few things changed. If it gets too weird and, yes, fantastical, that becomes a bit of a turn off for me.

 

I've enjoyed a couple of Terry Pratchet's Discworld novels ('Mort' and 'Reaper Man') but that was becasue I liked Death rather than because I liked the series. (I read others, but got bored after a while.)

 

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