Favorite Fantasy Universe/Franchise

[Hellsbuttmonkey]

I voted Discworld

Seconded. Pratchett is a god.
36 books. All awesome. So easy to pick up and get lost in, smart, funny, and full of awesome.

 

[Taskmaster]

I have three, two of which are mentioned above.

Dune


I don't care for the various sequels and prequels of Dune as much as I like the original book, but all in all they are good quality, even the ones written after Herbert's death. The whole interplay between the ruthless Harkonnens and noble Atreides, and thier manipulation by the conceited Corrinos is just epic and hellaciously awesome to read.

The Dark Tower

I really enjoy this series, though the ending was somewhat weak. However, since King has a habit of rewriting entire books, he might do the same for Dark Tower. I especially enjoy how he ties elements from all of his books into this series.


A Song of Ice and Fire

Written by George R.R. Martin. Not completed as of yet, but has excellent character development, a cast of thousands, and several major and dozens of minor storylines which are skillfully interwoven. The guy is an effin genius. He writes deaths very well. For example, when one character, Joffrey Baratheon, a satanic little snot, died from poisoning, I actually didn't want him to die, as much as I hated him. I thought he deserved a much more painful death. Its hard for me to explain, but it is a great series.

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

I went with Dark Tower, cuz I loves it so hardcore.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia
I read The Magician's Nephew and saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I thought the books were written badly and I couldn't get into the movie at all. So I don't like this.

I have to disagree. the books were written for children, so they seem simplistic, but they are not writtenbadly, if they were they wouldn't have sold as much as they have around the world. These books are treasured by me because they got me to imagine for the first time.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld
I believe I tried one of his illustrated novels with all of the old warriors going up a mountain or something...

Yes, that book is very well done if you have the previous books knowledge to fall back on. You see the old heroes are trying to achieve one thing that you can't beat down, escaping death. They plan on doing it by becoming legends, and bringing fire back to the Gods. Of course be fire they mean explosive, and blowing up the God's home in the middle of the world, thereby setting off a chain reaction that would destroy the world. What Prachett does that I like is create characters that are not one dimensional, but multi faceted. he also writes stories were characters, without compromising there beliefs, see the world in a different light. The best example of this is his book Carpe Jugelum where a priest learns not to only believe in his god, but to believe in himself. It's a well written book. It's too bad you picked up one that was so dependent on established contnuity.

 

[Volunteer Fire Detective]

I had to go for Other, as George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire wasn't present. It is excellent (and extremely dark). I haven't finished the most recent one yet, but all of the books are amazing. Also, there are rumours that HBO is going to be making a TV series out of it, which likely means that we're going to have to get HBO, as I'm not waiting for this to come out on DVD.

 

[ultimatedjf]

I should mention that I hope to start reading the His Dark Materials trilogy before I see the first movie.

I also read the first Artemis Fowl book when I was 13, and I couldn't put it down until the last bit, which I thought was really stupid and robbed me of the desire to continue the series.

I forget, how did it end again? (That being the only one I read, too.)

 

[Ice]

I had to go for Other, as George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire wasn't present.

Dude, I'm always being cockblocked.

 

[Lynx]

I dunno, honestly. I want to say Lord of the Rings, but the Hobbit and the Silmarilion are honestly the only books I can finish. The other three are ridiculously dry. Of course, I always get odd looks when I say I finished the Silmarilion but not the LotR trilogy. *shrugs*

I tried to get into both Narnia and His Dark Materials, but haven't been able to get past the the second book (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe) and the first book (The Golden Compass/Northern Lights) respectively. I dunno why. . .I just lost interest.

Harry Potter. . .hmmmmm. You know, now that I know how the series ends, it just isn't as good as it used to be. My opinion on Book 7 has shifted widely from enjoying it to be disappointed with it. I still enjoy the series, but it's lost some of its magic, I guess.

As for the others, I haven't gotten a chance to read the rest. I'm curious about The Dark Tower, Discworld, and A Song of Fire and Ice, though. One day, I'll get to them.

 

[Iceshadow]

where the hell is Animorph's?!

W00T! That's why I voted other. If I was counting the movies then LOTR wins, but the books were hard for me to get through (still haven't finished them), and I haven't read any of the others except for Narnia. I used to read Dragonlance and Star Wars but I don't really like them any more (Dragonlance more so).

 

[Planet-man]

I forget, how did it end again? (That being the only one I read, too.)

Spoiler

I just thought it was really stupid how Artemis broke the time-warp the warlocks had set up around the mansion by knocking himself and his friends out, because apparently you don't usually sleep during a time warp so this unnaturality counteracted it. Never mind that that's absolutely ridiculous and how he could have possibly figured that out in the first place.

I think there was some other stuff too, but I can't quite recall it.

Harry Potter. . .hmmmmm. You know, now that I know how the series ends, it just isn't as good as it used to be. My opinion on Book 7 has shifted widely from enjoying it to be disappointed with it. I still enjoy the series, but it's lost some of its magic, I guess.

I'm inclined to agree. Aside from the fact that I think in retrospect Deathly Hallows was the weakest of the books, the knowledge of its finite end and the character's futures really does sort of change how I look at the series now. The notion that it's somehow less magical is one I agree with.

 

[Lynx]

I'm inclined to agree. Aside from the fact that I think in retrospect Deathly Hallows was the weakest of the books, the knowledge of its finite end and the character's futures really does sort of change how I look at the series now. The notion that it's somehow less magical is one I agree with.

Looking back, do you know what I hate about Book 7?

Spoiler

She based an entire book around Red Herrings.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

But they taste so good

 

[moonmaster]

I haven't read a lot of these...

I couldn't get through the first Lord of the Rings book. Tolkien writes fiction like he's doing a history textbook. I like the story and the mythology, but I just can't bear that style of writing.

The Narnia books hold a special place in my heart. I loved them when I was a kid, though I can't seem to remember any of them past the first one. I never picked up on the Christian undertones, though I thought Aslan coming back from the dead was pretty awesome.

I read the first Artemis Fowl ages ago. It was entertaining, but a little too silly. Like a cartoon trying to be a decent fantasy book.

I tried reading the first Dark Tower book,...and I didn't like it. I couldn't get past the first fifty pages or so. It seemed like a lot of mildly confusing stuff that wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. If I can't figure out what a book is about by a few chapters in, I'm going to lose interest. I don't know, I might get back to them at some point.

And so, I picked the Harry Potter series. I love the characters and the world and I've been reading them since I was maybe nine or ten. They really made me read more and it's a testament to their quality that I made it all the way to the last book.

Of the other stuff listed, I'd like to try out His Dark Materials (From what I've read, it's fantasy with a lot of cool, old science stuff, which sounds good to me.) and Dune. (I caught the movie on tv a while back and though it's supposed to be different than the books, it makes me want to try them.)

 

[Lynx]

This thread has given me a lot of good suggestions for future reading material. Anyone want to make a sci-fi thread? Because, honestly, it's hard to find good sci-fi nowadays.

 

[Lynx]

But they taste so good

The ones made out of words don't.

 

[ourchair]

Brooks is a dick, so I'm not going to vote for Shannara, which is basically Middle Earth anyways.

Yeah, the Shannara trilogy is a total piece of Tolkienesque wannabe drivel. But to be fair, Brooks started showing some inspired-ness in the post-Trilogy books.

I still have a soft spot for the Heritage of Shannara Tetralogy, mainly because it had an apocalyptic tone and a utopian resurrection plot that I enjoyed.

I'm curious though, why is he a dick? That's a story I'd like to hear (I love teh creator/writer gossip).

 

[Ultimate Houde]

Well, I feel he's a dick simply because he had a trilogy of books called the Word/Void, which unlike Shannara, were inspired in my opinion in their story line.

But they didn't sell well. So, he writes another series, which the first book was MAgic Kingdom for sale/sold, which is a fun series that has some dark overtones, but also doesn't sell as well as Shannara. SO what should a writer do?

He takes the awesome ending that is Angel Fire East and spits on it, making a fourth book in the series that wasn't needed, and it tells the story of the tradegy that befallen Earth to make it the world in Shannara. Pissed on the awesomeness of the Word/VOid trilogy, and turns it into a SHannara book to increase sales of that series.

He still refuses to finish Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold series because he keeps thinking up ideas for Shannara. He has the next book written, he just doesn't want it to interrupt his Shannara flow as he calls it.

Annoys me.

The Heritage World was the best of the Shannara series. It dropped off quickly though

 

[ourchair]

Well, I feel he's a dick simply because he had a trilogy of books called the Word/Void, which unlike Shannara, were inspired in my opinion in their story line.

But they didn't sell well. So, he writes another series, which the first book was MAgic Kingdom for sale/sold, which is a fun series that has some dark overtones, but also doesn't sell as well as Shannara. SO what should a writer do?

He takes the awesome ending that is Angel Fire East and spits on it, making a fourth book in the series that wasn't needed, and it tells the story of the tradegy that befallen Earth to make it the world in Shannara. Pissed on the awesomeness of the Word/VOid trilogy, and turns it into a SHannara book to increase sales of that series.

Wow. What a jerk indeed. I mean, even if it wasn't a sales-motivated move, it's still a dumb idea.

The Heritage World was the best of the Shannara series. It dropped off quickly though

I'm glad to find an agreeing voice on this.

Seriously, no matter how CASUALLY I mention that I liked Heritage of Shannara, the conversation frequently steers back to Shannara frequently being a Tolkien rip off.

It's true. It IS a Tolkien wannabe.

People should live with it, instead of making it obvious that the only thing they have to say about the series is a one note conversation about an opinion they may or may not have stolen off the Internet or a fantasy magazine.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

The part that was great in Heritage was how the stories were intertwined. Granted each book focused more on one character than the other, but characters appeared in both books, and events that would happen in one book severally influenced another.

And Walker Boh was awesome

 

[ourchair]

The part that was great in Heritage was how the stories were intertwined. Granted each book focused more on one character than the other, but characters appeared in both books, and events that would happen in one book severally influenced another.

And Walker Boh was awesome

Walker Boh > Allanon

Allanon was just Dark Gandalf. Gandalf with an attitude.

...

Rob Liefeld's Gandalf.