Dragonlance Chronicles or HDM ?

[Axire]

Looking at a series of books to pass some free time, not having read much since lord of the rings 10 odd years ago thought i would try my luck at some other fantasy classics.

So which to start with, Dragonlance series (12+? books) or His Dark Materials! Some opinions would be lovely.

[Aamina]

HDM can be a bit more kiddy than Dragonlance, but the problem with Dragonlance is sometimes the quality is really shaky. You'll go from one great book (Soulforge) to absolute shit (Riverwind, the Plainsman). The other problem with HDM is the third book blows, but I consider the trilogy to be an important read.

If you're looking for a solid fantasy "world" and a book to start with, I recommend Waylander, by David Gemmell, but if you have your heart set on DL or HDM, and you go with DL, I'd pick up the Dragons trilogy and move into the War of the Twins/Time of the Twins/Test of the Twins, then get Soulforge and Brothers in Arms.

[Azrayne]

Just gonna do some more sucking off GRRM and say: read Song of Ice and Fire. It really doesn't have any equals if you're looking for epic fantasy.

Personally not a fan of Dragonlance. I found them extremely cliche, boring and predictable, with mediocre writing, I know a lot of people like the series though, but not sure how much of that is childhood nostalgia.

[Man0warr]

Have you read Sword of Ice and Fire series yet?

Anything in Dragonlance by Weis/Hickman is a safe bet, some of the other authors are suspect..

[cyanbane]

DL: Chronicals -> Legends -> War of Souls -> Lost Chronicals

Then Dark Materials

I am actually in the middle of Subtle Knife right now. I am really enjoying them a lot, but they are really hard to compare to Dragonlance. DL is such high fantasy compared to the somewhat steampunkish Dark materials. I would certainly make sure you read both at some point, but my vote is go with the big DL books first (don't hit the non Weiss/Hickman fringe stuff) then hit Dark Materials.

Not downing Pullman stuff, it is really good, but I think that if you are looking to something to get into the DL universe is much richer and better developed just because it has had time to marinate.

[cyanbane]

RR Martin stuff is great political intrigue too (and you got the HBO series in the works). I still vote DL though, even though I don't have high hopes for the animated movie in Jan, the books speak for themselves.

I will say the RR Martin stuff is top knotch though. It steers a little away from fantasy and into the political cutthroat realm also.

I would also suggest the Deathgate cycle (7 books), again Weiss/Hickman.

[Phelps McManus]

I loved the DL Chronicles and followup trilogy (War of the Twins), but I was a teenager when I read them. I read the Deathgate cycle in college and enjoyed them too, though.

I did not like HDM, and didn't finish the 3rd book. My wife did finish them and told me not to bother.

These are introductory works into the fantasy genre. I second recommendations for GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire, even though it is unfinished and won't be anytime soon. There is also Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time which should be finished within the next two years despite him being dead.

You should start one of those series after reading all of the Heis/Wickman DL/Deathgate books.

[Grave]

Dragonlance. I didn't like HDM, though my girlfriend did.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Depends if you've read a lot of fantasy (100 books+). Like a lot of people I read DL back when I was in high school and loved it, but flipping through it recently, dear god, the horror. Its D&Dish, its cliche, but its fantasy royalty as well and any fan should probably look into it (War of the Twins still holds up better than the other stuff).

[Arative]

The Sun Sword series by Michelle West is fairly good, 6 books in total.

L.E. Modesitt's Recluse series is a decent read, up to about 14 books now I think.

Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliott is pretty good, 7 books in total.

A couple of series by David Coe are also good, Winds of the Forelands series only read two of the 5 books. His other series Lon Tobyn is fairly good too, coming in at 3 books.

I'd say Terry Goodkind but that series went down hill after about the 4th or 5th book, basically I'm just reading that series to finish it out.

Some classic fantasy, David Eddings, his books are generally a fast read.

[Flinch]

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville

Pick this up if you're a fan of steampunk.

[Disp]

Weiss and Hickman rock! I also highly recommend the Deathgate Cycle books (7 total) by them above any of their other work. Think I'll start the series again tomorrow.

[Waedar]

i'll second Chronicles - Legends /2ng gen/chaos war of souls really wasn't that good imho but i worked it out to just finish off the series

[Wolfen]

I'll pimp a series that I don't see mentioned very often. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams is a great read.

[spronk]

theres a dragonlance straight to vid animated movie coming out this year btw, although its supposed to be terrible.

its sci-fi and not fantasy but I recently read Ian M. Banks Algrebaist and its a great story, wonderful characters and setting (Banks has a number of other great books like Excession, all are pretty stand alone). Also liked Charles Stross' Singularity Sky, again sci-fi but deals with interesting stuff like AI, technical singularity, and space warfare.