Quote:
Originally Posted by JudgeSmails 
I searched but didn't see a pre-existing thread and I apologize if it already exists. The post about Martin's lateness got me thinking. What fantasty novel or fantasy series would you recommend to others?
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Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, of course. Some are better than others, and the first few are the least best, as they say, but there's no need to read them in any particular order. Quite the humanist is Terry Pratchett. Discworld isn't so much a series of books entailing one long plot, it's just a very clever setting for Terry Pratchett to tell humanist stories and make jokes in. The stories and jokes have both changed over 25 years, but with one or two exceptions they're all solid. If you like audiobooks, Nigel Planer gives them the greatest flavour with his readings, although Steven Briggs has really started to put his stamp on the newer characters.
Yes, I'm a fan.
Stephen R. Donaldson's books can be pretty heavy business. Not many jokes to be found in Stephen Donaldson books. Most fantasy is just some variation of the chicks-in-chainmail-bras sort of stuff, but Donaldson can make you cry.
Mordant's Need is a pretty good fantasy/mystery in the Donaldson vein, and people seem to either love or hate
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. There's certainly more to those books than a bunch of guys going on a quest, despite the fact that's exactly what the first one is. A lot of people despise the Thomas Covenant character, but I think no one despises him more than Donaldson. Each book may as well be subtitled
A World of Hurt. Great stuff.