Favourite Standalone Fantasy

[Yobmod]

Hi, not much going on on the board, and i'm skiving off work. So starting a thread:

Anyone got recomendations for good standalone fantasy books?

I've got loads of trilogy / saga / epic recomendations from here, but i don't have trouble finding them 'cos they're all lined up at the bookshop.

Anything that uses less than 500 pages to tell the story would be appreciated I really need to spend more time on my thesis.

To start things off:

I really enjoyed Tigana (G G Kay), Perdido Street Station (C Mieville), Forgotten Beast of Eld (P Mckillip).

Thanks Yobmod

 

[Wabbit]

Tigana is good

I'll say my fav is Rusalka by C J Cherryh! One of the reasons that I like this book, apart from being well written and a great story, is that it's not typical fantasy. It's set in pre-christian Russia and there are no elves and dragons and there's not even a quest!

Synopsis
Impetous Pyetr Kochevikov, a fugitive from Vojvoda, with a price on his head has none of the superstions of his fearful young companion, Sasha, as they flee though the vastness of the forest.

But when they arrive exhausted at the cottage of the wizard Uulamets, Pyeter is dismayed to learn that the can mock the spirits no longer. And when he finfds himself enchanted by Uulamet's beauitful and wraithlike daughter, no mortal power can assuage the Rusalker's terrible thirst for life...


Also really like Dragons Bane by Barbara Hambly. This is a really great book, again not typical fantasy. Although it has a dragon and magic it's not stuffed full of the worn out old plots of other novels. It feels very realistic and gritty with the characters very real and not just cardboard cut out heros.

Found a short review on it that sums things up.

SynopsisThe story opens in the Winterlands, which are on the edge of a decaying Kingdom. Lord John Aversin, the only living man to have killed a dragon, has a hard time protecting his people and maintaining the King's Law. Without some help from the Kingdom, the Winterlands will soon fall into anarchy and be picked clean by the raiders from the north. Then Gareth arrives, with a message from the King. A dragon has descended on the capital and taken up residence in the Deeps below the city - an extensive system of caverns formerly the principal city of the gnomes. John is asked to come and kill the dragon, and end its reign of destruction. In the hope of receiving help from the King in return, John sets out for the south, together with Jenny Waynest his partner, and of course Gareth. As a travelling companion Gareth is a total liability, being a dreamer and a city boy. To cap it all he loathes witches, and Jenny is a witch.

This is a book about realities. John didn't kill the previous dragon by bravely riding up to it on his milk-white charger. Instead, Jenny brewed up a potent batch of poison, and John dipped his weapons in it before sneaking up on the dragon from behind. Even then he only just won. Gareth, a great lover of chivalrous ballads, is deeply shocked when told of this reality. To make life more interesting, the dragon John killed was a lot smaller than the one he is now going to face.

John is a wonderful character in several senses! As Jenny comments, the only heroic thing about him are his very athletic reflexes. His sense of humour is a social disaster area and his favourite hobby is collecting lore about pigs. Taking him to the King's court is not the most sensible thing to do.

Jenny is a quieter character, but still extremely tough. She and John have two sons and Jenny is always having to divide her time between family, midwifery and studying her magic. Her powers were never great and now she fears that they will not be up to the task ahead of them.

The plot then gets really complex, but to carry on would be rather a spoiler.

 

[Litany]

I had a little thinky, and the standalone books are few and far between. But a few came to mind.

Malignos - Richard Calder. A bit of a mix of sci fi and fantasy, but mostly fantasy. Set far off in the future after the ubiquitous catastrophe that these books are so fond of, humans are divided into non-mutated types that live on the surface and the Malignos who are generally scaly, horned and a bit weird all round who live under the ground like your common or garden Morloks. The protagonist is a human who has a bit of a thing for Malignos, but his scaly wench gets poisoned and he has to venture underground to find a cure and have all sorts of ripping adventures.

The Physiognomy - Jeffrey Ford. Another weird one. There's this big city run by an evil ne'er-do-well who employs a lot of physiognomists to run round measuring people's noses and decide if they're criminals or not. One particular physiognomist gets sent out of the city to investigate a crime but bites off more than he can chew. I prefer the early part of the book to the latter. In fact, I found the ending a little disappointing, but I enjoyed the rudeness and arrogance of Cley, the physiognomist, so I'll still recommend it.

Grunts- Mary Gentle. A spoof of standard fantasy novels. The forces of darkness are fed up that even though they consistently bring more troops and better weapons to the Final Battle they always lose to the good guys. Determined to redress the balance a gang of Orcs gets hold of a stash of machine guns and starts the Final Battle Mark II.

A Plague of Angels - Sherri S. Tepper. Another one set in the future long after whatever happened to kill people off happened. It's the story of a young man who runs away from his farm to seek his fortune in the big city and a young orphaned raised in an archetypal village where people who fit certain criteria are sent so as to preserve old stereotypes. They both get drawn into the plans of a bonkers woman who's really rather evil.

 

[Yobmod]

Cool! Thanks

I've read Plague of Angels (a long time ago) and Dragonsbane, looks like a D&D wannabe from the cover, but i agree it is very different from the standard fare (and good too ) I really liked Hanbly's Darwath (sp?) trilogy too. Do you know if the sequel(s) to Dragonsbane are worth reading - i'm sure i've seen some in a shop somewhere.

The Physiognomy is waiting on my shelf. Its quite slim so i may go for that next.

I've heard lots of good things about Rusalka, i'll add that to my TBR list, i'm stuck about halfway through Cherryh's Downbelow station at the mo, so might give her a rest before i start another one.

I like Mary Gentle too (Ash and Rats & Gargoyles is all i've read). Got 1610 too, but not in the mood for it. I've not read Grunts tho, put off by the parody aspect i guess, lots of 'humerous' books seem to think that internal logic is a waste of time, and then i wonder what the point is in a story where anything can happen.

Whoops, i've mixed up my reply so it sounds like i'm talking to one person only. Thanks to both of you!

 

[Yarr]

Stand alone fantasy books? Does such rare breed still exist?

I enjoyed back then "The Eyes of the Dragon" by Stephen King. It has 380 pages. I don't think it's top notch, but I enjoyed the fact that Stephen King could create something more subtle and medieval fantasy.

I also know a few trilogies from which each book gives a clear ending to the story presented in each book. Not that it completely wraps up all side plots, but the story that matters in that certain book is taken care of and doesn't have a cliffhanger that says "Ha! Gotcha! Want to know if he survived? Go buy the other books!"

 

[dele]

Some of my favourite standalone fantasies are Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams and The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.

 

[Wabbit]

Cool! Thanks

I've read Plague of Angels (a long time ago) and Dragonsbane, looks like a D&D wannabe from the cover, but i agree it is very different from the standard fare (and good too ) I really liked Hanbly's Darwath (sp?) trilogy too. Do you know if the sequel(s) to Dragonsbane are worth reading - i'm sure i've seen some in a shop somewhere.

The Physiognomy is waiting on my shelf. Its quite slim so i may go for that next.

I've heard lots of good things about Rusalka, i'll add that to my TBR list, i'm stuck about halfway through Cherryh's Downbelow station at the mo, so might give her a rest before i start another one.

I like Mary Gentle too (Ash and Rats & Gargoyles is all i've read). Got 1610 too, but not in the mood for it. I've not read Grunts tho, put off by the parody aspect i guess, lots of 'humerous' books seem to think that internal logic is a waste of time, and then i wonder what the point is in a story where anything can happen.

Whoops, i've mixed up my reply so it sounds like i'm talking to one person only. Thanks to both of you!

Dragonsbane may look like a DnD wannabe from the cover but I assure you it's not! The main character is bascially a nerd. He's not strong or a great warrior.

Could never get into Mary Gentle. Have Rats and Gargoyles and have tired to read it 3 times because the idea is such a great one, but alas no. Same with Ash, I tired twice and can't. For me, it's her characters. She just can't write good characters, IMO. They are all so flat and cardboard cut out that I just can't make myself care what happens to them in the story.

 

[StarFields]

This is probably completely off topic but - was The Dark Crystal ever a book before it became a movie?


hmmm ....

SFxxx

 

[Yobmod]

Could never get into Mary Gentle.

I'm not a huge of Hers either, but i liked the premise of Ash a lot. Thought the whole historical document thing was cool, although i've heard some people call it a conceit.

Some of my favourite standalone fantasies are Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams and The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.

Not too sure about Tad Williams. I liked Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, but Otherland dragged on and on, and i've seen lots of reviews of his latest saying it's a bit stinky.
Been meaning to read neverending story for ages. I vaguely think it was originally written in german, so might try to brush up on my language skills if its not too complexely written. The film is sehr cool tho, is the book better?

Just thought of another one i liked a lot: Gloriana by Michael Moorcock, always fun to lend it to people and wait til they realise the subtitle is literal (or, the Unfulfilled Queen).

 

[dele]

Not too sure about Tad Williams. I liked Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, but Otherland dragged on and on, and i've seen lots of reviews of his latest saying it's a bit stinky.
Been meaning to read neverending story for ages. I vaguely think it was originally written in german, so might try to brush up on my language skills if its not too complexely written. The film is sehr cool tho, is the book better?

I haven't read any other books by Tad Williams, just Tailchaser's Song. It's a great, I really recommend it.

You're right, The Neverending Story was written in German. I don't speak German at all, so I have no idea how difficult it is in its original language, but it isn't too difficult in English. I found the book much more enjoyable than the movie. It's pretty hard to have a book-to-movie where the movie's the better one.

 

[Oberon]

One for the Morning Glory by John Barnes is a very solid fantasy in 318 pages. From Booklist: "Known for his breathtakingly innovative hard sf, Barnes offers a surprising change of pace in his new novel, a delightfully entertaining regal fantasy." May need to check it out at your library!

O

 

[magemanda]

The Princess Bride is a wonderful fantasy book, as is the Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle (I think?)

 

[crowsplitter]

The Princess Bride is a wonderful fantasy book, as is the Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle (I think?)

I must get a copy of that - love the film.....

How about "Beauty" by Sheri S Tepper - great fun and well written.

PS Forgotten Beasts of Eld was a cracker too... have re-read it many times...

 

[Litany]

How about "Beauty" by Sheri S Tepper - great fun and well written.

I love that book. It was quite upsetting in places though.

I found The Princess Bride to be a very disappointing read. It just wasn't as much fun as the film. It didn't have the same charm and it left me wishing I'd just stuck with the film.

 

[Wolhay]

If you liked 'Perdido Street Station' then you might like 'The Scar' by the same author and set in the same world. I haven't read the first book myself but I thought that 'The Scar' was okay. I think it's longer than 500 pages however.

 

[rune]

I've just read a good standalone by Paul Kearney - Riding the Unicorn. Don't be deceived by the title into thinking it's a soft read This is a good, gritty book, and I think a lot of people would enjoy it

 

[marxlaws]

the legend of nightfall great book one of the few stand alones ive read.

 

[Twigleg]

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke was an exceptional read. It is over 500 pages though, but not by much

 

[VTChEwbecca]

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke was an exceptional read. It is over 500 pages though, but not by much

Glad to hear someone mention this...I've been thinking of trying out her books. Are the others good, as well?

 

[funes]

Little, Big by Jonathan Crowley

It's got a little bit of the same "problem" as Snow Crash, but there's really something about the book that hangs on to you. Also, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami was pretty good.