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Favourite Fantasy Authors

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Oponn

New Member
I know that this, or something similar, has been done before, but I hope to have a really comprehensive list by allocating points to authors on people's list according to their rank. So if everyone gave their top five authors, the first on the list gets 5 points, 2nd 4 points, et cetera down to 5th who gets one point.
I'll keep track of scores and update a rank board every 15 posts or so. No draws between authors, only five allowed, I'll just take the first 5 people mention if there are more than five on the list :)
My list:

1) Steven Erikson (highest)
2) Gene Wolfe
3) Jeff Vandermeer
4) Jacqeuline Carey
5) Robin Hobb (lowest)

Man, that was hard.
 
Ok then, I'll play.

1. George R R Martin.
2. China Mieville.
3. Sheri S Tepper.
4. Melanie Rawn.
5. Frank Herbert.

I've always counted Dune as fantasy in space rather than proper sci fi. But I'll accept it if no one else agrees and replace Frank Herbert with someone else. But working out the someone else will be awfully tricky.
 
1. Mercedes Lackey
2. Alice Borchardt

I'll edit if I think of any others. It's hard to post away from my bookshelf.
 
1. Terry Pratchett
2. Philip Pullman
3. J K Rowling
4. J R R Tolkien
5. Eoin Colfer.
 
RaVeN said:
What have these 2 written?


RaVeN
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Melanie Rawn wrote the Dragon Prince books which are set in a world with dragons and a sort of light based magic. She's not afraid of killing main characters, and all the characters are very believable and well-rounded. She writes a good baddy. They can be a bit girly romantic at times, but they can also be quite blood thirsty and mean, so it all balances out. Also wrote 2/3 of the Exiles trilogy, which is a little weaker. Too many complicated family trees and politics for my liking. This one has magic, but no dragons. And she co-wrote The Golden Key, which I personally loved. About magical paintings, and a one-off book rather than a trilogy. I will always prefer her villains to her good guys though.

Tepper writes books about dystopic future societies. Generally Earth is over crowded and everyone's been farmed out to new worlds, and there's be a terrible dark secret of some sort. Though some don't fit into this format, most do. Beauty is a reworking of the fairy tale, and some of the others are set after some disaster has occurred and wiped out most of the population. They all come with a moral, which is generally along the lines of 'Stop being a big fat meany' and they're all really easy reads. Though she's likely to appeal to women rather than men. She's not a militant feminist but she's definitely writing from a woman's perspective.
 
Thank you,
Rawn sounds more to my liking. How many books are in the Dragon Prince series?

The Golden Key sounds interesting as well. Not sure I understood your comment about liking the villians to her good guys though. Does that mean GK is centered around good guys without any villians?


RaVeN
 
RaVeN said:
Thank you,
Rawn sounds more to my liking. How many books are in the Dragon Prince series?

The Golden Key sounds interesting as well. Not sure I understood your comment about liking the villians to her good guys though. Does that mean GK is centered around good guys without any villians?
Click to expand...

Can't really speak for someone else with 100% confidence, but I think Litany meant that she finds the villians in the novel more interesting and enjoyable to read about. I had the same experiance with Rawn, but I love a great villian, so it's fine by me. :)
 
RaVeN said:
Thank you,
Rawn sounds more to my liking. How many books are in the Dragon Prince series?

The Golden Key sounds interesting as well. Not sure I understood your comment about liking the villians to her good guys though. Does that mean GK is centered around good guys without any villians?
Click to expand...
Nope. Baddies in all of them. They're just more fun. Dragon Prince has 3 books, then a further 3 in a second series I think called Dragon Star or Dragon Token or Dragon something or other. All set in the same place with the same people, but with a different focus to the story. The first three are focused on Rohan and Sioned falling in love and whupping down on some baddies and setting up kingdom and such. The second three are more centred on their families and all the people they've affected and a big old messy war.

The Golden Key is set in a place when portraits are used to record all important events, and certain painters are able to impart a certain magic on their paintings. But one of the painters is a big fat meany, and the bird he fancies doesn't fancy him back so he behaves in a most ungentlemanly manner.

And shouldn't you be posting your authors now before you get us both in trouble?
 
Oponn said:
Can't really speak for someone else with 100% confidence, but I think Litany meant that she finds the villians in the novel more interesting and enjoyable to read about. I had the same experiance with Rawn, but I love a great villian, so it's fine by me. :)
Click to expand...
That's exactly it. Sometimes her goodies are just too good. She tries to throw in a darker side to them, but still they can be a little too Dudley DoRight. But her baddies are mean and nasty and charismatic and great fun. Roelstra from Dragon Prince would be equally at home in a James Bond film, hanging out in his secret volcanic head quarters, gently stroking a pussy. :D
 
Litany said:
And shouldn't you be posting your authors now before you get us both in trouble?
Click to expand...


Can't have that now can we.
My reading of fantasy is very limited. I can barely think of 5 authors that I've read & most of them have been years ago. I've read some Stephen Lawhead, Stephen Donaldson, Raymond Feist & Dan Simmons. They were all ok, but the ones I enjoyed the most were the simple King Arthur/Merlin series by Mary Stewart.

I've got some catching up to do.

RaVeN
 
1) Mercedes Lackey
2) Elizabeth Kerner
3) Anne McCaffrey
4) Catherine Asaro
5) William Goldman
 
1. Melanie Rawn

2. Kate Elliot

3. George R. R. Martin

4. Terry Goodkind (first two books)

5. Elizabeth Haydon (hey, she used my name!)

-shane
 
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