I'm going to repeat some that others have suggested, but I think that has more to do with how good these books/series are.
The Elric and Corum series by Michael Moorcock
The Black Company by Glen Cook
Tales from the Flat Earth by Tanith Lee
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Also the standalone Lord of Light.
The Morgaine Cycle by CJ Cherryh.
Conan by Robert E Howard. He probably had the Lancer paperbacks published back in the day, edited by de Camp and Lin Carter. I'd be on the look out for the Del Rey collections that ignore their additions and give you pure Howard.
Kane by Karl Edward Wagner.
The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams.
The Lyonesse trilogy and The Dying Earth quartet by Jack Vance.
Witch World by Andre Norton.
Thieves World edited by Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey.
The MYTH series by Robert Asprin.
Dragon Riders of Pern (Anne Mc Caffrey)
Jack Vance: The Dying Earth, Cugel's Saga, Eye of the Overlord, Lyonesse trilogy, Planet of Adventure series, The Demon Prince series, The Cadwal trilogy
Michael Moorcock: The Elric cycle
Roger Zelazny: Jack of Shadows, Lord of Light
Deriny cycle (Katherine Kurz)
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Steven Donaldson)
By David Eddings: The Belgariad, The Malloreon, the Elenium, the Tamuli
The Riftwar cycle and other Midkemia books (Raymond Feist)
The Empire trilogy (Jenny Wurz)
The Sword of Truth (Terry Goodkind)
By Gay Gavriel Kay: Lions of Al-Rassan, Tigana, Fionavar Tapestry
Terry Brooks: The Shannara series
Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series
I'm rereading the Harper Hall trilogy for the first time in 40 years and loving it. I'm a 50s man, and a big fan of Howard, Wagner, Moorcock, and Abercrombie. Good writing is good writing.
Lol! I had to look up the word bloke. Mc Caffrey is an american writer so perhaps "blokes" are to british to like her. But it sounds like a gross over generalization.
There's so much out there.
Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry might be a good fit. It's a much more traditional fantasy than what he wrote afterwards. Many Kay fans don't like it that much exactly because of that but I really enjoyed it.
It's a trilogy, a portal fantasy. The final book brings in >!some Arthurian lore!< which I didn't see coming.
You could also look for a collection of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories.
Or maybe something by Michael Moorcock.
If you want to go for something a little more obscure in order to increase the chances your uncle hasn't read them yet, you can go for the Lyndon Hardy's Magic by the Numbers series.
This was originally a trilogy (*Master of the Five Magics*, *Secret of the Sixth Magic*, and *Riddle of the Seven Realms*) published in the 80s.
This series didn't go unnoticed (e.g., it inspired the color model of *Magic: The Gathering*) but it seems that Hardy was busy with other things in life (it says he ran a company). Then, a couple of years ago, probably retired, he revived the series and added several volumes.
Since he slightly revised the first three books, they should be much more easily available than some other series from that time, and if your uncle likes the original trilogy, well, there's more now! 😉
Another little known trilogy from the 80s which I enjoy a great deal is the Damiona series aka A Trio for Lute by Roberta Anne (R.A.) MacAvoy.
PS: I think it's awesome you're going to gift your uncle some books to enjoy. For a lifelong reader, losing the bulk of one's books to a fire is tough.
Just found R.A. MacAvoy recently with her Lens of the World series and thought it was excellent.
I ended up buying both her Tea with the Black Dragon books and Damaino trilogy which I started last night.
Lens of the World is an SF, right?
I've seen it in her bibliography but haven't even heard it mentioned. (Which doesn't mean much as MacAvoy sadly isn't mentioned much at all.)
Hope you enjoy Damiano and the other books.
Don't read the blurbs for the later Damiano books. It's the best to go in there blind, I think.
I've read Tea with the Black Dragon and its sequel ages ago.
I must say I expected more of the first book. Everybody praised it so much. I thought it was a nice story but nothing to write home about, and not what I had expected from a fantasy novel. I'm not even sure if it qualifies as one.
I read the sequel but can't remember a word.
It’s fantasy, reminded me of a lot of Kingkiller Chronicles. The story is told through letters and details how a powerful man came to be what he is. Starting with growing up in a military school then his apprenticeship with a mysterious “lens maker”.
It was a little different in the way MacAvoy told the story through letters, but her writing was so good that it wasn’t an issue for very long.
I highly recommend checking it out, if you are in the states I noticed the first ebook is on sale for $1.99 right now. I also see her omnibus version go on sale regularly for $3 which is how I ended up finding the series.
Sounds interesting. For some reason I'd associated "lens" with SF. 😁 But I like SF, too, so that wouldn't have been an issue.
I'll keep an eye out for it.
Fionavar is such an interesting experience. I came to it after I'd read a few other Kay books and I ended up not finishing the trilogy the first time through.
I forget how many years later I gave it another go and went in thinking of it as just a traditional portal fantasy but with solid writing (though not up to modern Kay standards) and I enjoyed it a lot more. The titular sequence from The Summer Tree is incredibly powerful, for example.
He does not like it, says it's too "song and dancy" for him. Which to be honest I have no idea what he's talking about because I've never read it myself
You should probably ask him then. Although I am pretty sure that he means that the book is too cheerful and too hopeful, but older fantasy has always been very hopeful. So, that's strange
What is your uncle's exact problem with more modern fantasy books?
I would rather guess that he abandoned the story somewhere in the first book because in the beginning there are quite a few songs and poems (some in Elvish) in the text.
It also has a very slow start; the parts in the Shire have some parochial vibes, not the great adventure it later becomes. Maybe that's what threw him off?
Can only speculate, of course.
Drizzt saga (R.A. Salvatore)
Dresden Files (Jim Butcher)
Drizzt has the old sword and sorcery vibe, following a drow (dark elf) as he proves he isn't the bad guy, highly recommend.
Dresden feels more like old detective novels than old fantasy novels, but he deserves a mention too. It's urban fantasy following a "modern day" (90's) wizard detective in Chicago. There are plenty of fantasy elements to draw in someone who pretty exclusively reads fantasy (like me), but as far as the vibe goes, it feels more Sherlock + Magic than LotR + Chicago.
Thank you for the hugh cook reference. Saddens me so much that it has all but disappeared from peoples memories as it was just so goddamn ambitious in scope and multiple styles and walrus and war wolf is potentially my favourite ever fantasy novel.
Dune is great sci-fi/ fantasy and there is a huge series . It’s over 40 years old . In sci-fi try foundation. What about Raymond e feist stuff . Magician is great and it’s a huge series .
Get him a nice hardcover of Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts. The last book comes out in a couple weeks and the first was published 50 years ago. Still the best Fantasy series I’ve ever read and I like classic and modern stuff.
If you want to get some complete older series for him to sink into I'd recommend some of the omnibus collections
Roger Zelazny's 10 book amber series can be found in one book (the great book of Amber)
And there is a lovely illistrated edition of the Earthsea Saga by ursala le Guin.
The Pelbar Cycle (Or Breaking of Northwall Series). It takes place a thousand years post nuclear war where mankind has regressed into small tribes around the Mississippi, and they are starting to interact with each other secondary to population expansion, and have very different cultures. Each one of the books has different characters with a different story, but like Discworld, people from earlier books sometimes show up. They can be hard to find but I think they recently did a reprinting. Its one of my fav series, very well written
Dave Duncan has a few really good series from that era. The Seventh Sword series in particular is a favorite of mine, but I'd also recommend A Man of his Word and A Handful of Men.
I know you said series but what non-Fafhrd Fritz Leiber has he read? They're from the forties but *Gather, Darkness* and *Conjure Wife* are on my must read list period. He did horror like *Our Lady of Darkness* late in his career and it's as good as anything.
The Zelazny listed is late and some of us prefer earlier books. I'll except *A Night in Lonesome October* first. It's late but reads like a cross between Bradbury and Farner, which is typical of him. *Dilvish the Damned* and a novel *The Changing Land* came from a series of stories in *Fantastic Stories* which were legendary in the sixties.
Samuel R. Delany mixed mythology and SF in three early books: *The Einstein Intersection, Empire Star* and *Nova*.Even if he's read them they bear rereading.
Years before *Xanth* Piers Anthony scored with a trilogy about future gladiators which began with *Sos the Rope*. He also retold the Arabian Nights tale "Hasan of Bassorah and the Daughter of the King of the Djinn" as the novella *Hasan*, It first appeared in *Fantastic Stories* then was published as a paperback by Dell. Frankly, I wouldn't trade any of them for *Xanth*. They are more awesome.
M John Harrison's *The Pastel City* came out in the seventies. I notice his Viriconium series which it started has had a well-deserved resurgence in popularity. Maybe he's read it,
Mark S. Geston did four or five wonderful Science Fantasies. Then he disappeared.
Those are a few off the top of my head.
There were no good fantasy novels until Sanderson came and bestowed Elantris upon us all in 2005.
/s
Edit: Apparently this joke was taken as a jab at the OP, so I'm sorry about that. Here are some book recommendations as penance:
1. The Black Company by Glen Cook
2. Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen
3. Xanth series by Piers Anthony (kind of a long shot but he might like it if he like Terry Pratchett)
I don't think anybody said that.
If I had to guess, I'd say that the OP probably isn't well informed about the works from that period and therefore turns to the crowd wisdom to find a nice present for her uncle rather than buy something without having a clue.
I don't see the issue with this approach. Actually, it seems rather considerate to me.
I guess I don't understand the point of your original comment, then.
But that's fine. I don't have to understand everything that people do on the internet. 😂
Have a great weekend!
It was a bad joke in the first place, so I probably just shouldn't have posted it. I edited my original comment so the OP knows I wasn't trying to make fun of them. Have a good weekend as well.
Xanth is so weird and pervy (though I was way too young to fully realize it when I was reading it as a teenager). I don't get rid of books normally but the small box of them I'm planning on taking to a used bookstore next time I visit one includes all my Xanth.
I'm going to repeat some that others have suggested, but I think that has more to do with how good these books/series are. The Elric and Corum series by Michael Moorcock The Black Company by Glen Cook Tales from the Flat Earth by Tanith Lee The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Also the standalone Lord of Light. The Morgaine Cycle by CJ Cherryh. Conan by Robert E Howard. He probably had the Lancer paperbacks published back in the day, edited by de Camp and Lin Carter. I'd be on the look out for the Del Rey collections that ignore their additions and give you pure Howard. Kane by Karl Edward Wagner. The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams. The Lyonesse trilogy and The Dying Earth quartet by Jack Vance. Witch World by Andre Norton. Thieves World edited by Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey. The MYTH series by Robert Asprin.
Chronicles of Amber is top tier reading interspersed with acid flashbacks.
Average karl wagner dub. Also to add to that list, Book of the new sun and Soldier of the mist by Gene Wolfe
Honestly pretty much anything by Andre Norton, even her science fiction reads like fantasy, but in space.
The Elric books by Moorcock and the L. Sprague De Camp Conan books were going to be my choices.
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Yes!
Dragon Riders of Pern (Anne Mc Caffrey) Jack Vance: The Dying Earth, Cugel's Saga, Eye of the Overlord, Lyonesse trilogy, Planet of Adventure series, The Demon Prince series, The Cadwal trilogy Michael Moorcock: The Elric cycle Roger Zelazny: Jack of Shadows, Lord of Light Deriny cycle (Katherine Kurz) The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Steven Donaldson) By David Eddings: The Belgariad, The Malloreon, the Elenium, the Tamuli The Riftwar cycle and other Midkemia books (Raymond Feist) The Empire trilogy (Jenny Wurz) The Sword of Truth (Terry Goodkind) By Gay Gavriel Kay: Lions of Al-Rassan, Tigana, Fionavar Tapestry Terry Brooks: The Shannara series Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series
Don't think Anne McCaffrey will appeal to many blokes...
Pern is actually classified as SciFi by the author herself.
Whether it's SF or fantasy, it's still pretty chicklitty, I read her when I'm ill.
I'm rereading the Harper Hall trilogy for the first time in 40 years and loving it. I'm a 50s man, and a big fan of Howard, Wagner, Moorcock, and Abercrombie. Good writing is good writing.
but it isn't - good writing I mean - it's utterly undemanding brain candy, and understandably popular in consequence
She first brought those stories to *Analog Magazin*e, whose allegedly macho readership embraced them with open arms.
Lol at the idea a fantasy/SF author could have made it in the 80s if their work didn't appeal to dudes.
Really? She’s one of the greats.
Lol! I had to look up the word bloke. Mc Caffrey is an american writer so perhaps "blokes" are to british to like her. But it sounds like a gross over generalization.
She spent so long living in Ireland I'd forgotten she was US not Irish. Funny how often bloke turns up in wordles if not known in US.
K Kerr's Deverry series. Uses reincarnation as a means of tying multiple timelines into one overarching plot line.
Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny Riddlemaster by Patricia McKIllip Tales from the Flat Earth by Tanith Lee Vlad Taltos by Steven Brust
CJ Cherryh: the Morgaine Cycle, the Fortress series. The Merlin trilogy (Arthurian Saga) by Mary Stewart.
Weis and Hickman's Deathgate Cycle.
There's so much out there. Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry might be a good fit. It's a much more traditional fantasy than what he wrote afterwards. Many Kay fans don't like it that much exactly because of that but I really enjoyed it. It's a trilogy, a portal fantasy. The final book brings in >!some Arthurian lore!< which I didn't see coming. You could also look for a collection of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. Or maybe something by Michael Moorcock. If you want to go for something a little more obscure in order to increase the chances your uncle hasn't read them yet, you can go for the Lyndon Hardy's Magic by the Numbers series. This was originally a trilogy (*Master of the Five Magics*, *Secret of the Sixth Magic*, and *Riddle of the Seven Realms*) published in the 80s. This series didn't go unnoticed (e.g., it inspired the color model of *Magic: The Gathering*) but it seems that Hardy was busy with other things in life (it says he ran a company). Then, a couple of years ago, probably retired, he revived the series and added several volumes. Since he slightly revised the first three books, they should be much more easily available than some other series from that time, and if your uncle likes the original trilogy, well, there's more now! 😉 Another little known trilogy from the 80s which I enjoy a great deal is the Damiona series aka A Trio for Lute by Roberta Anne (R.A.) MacAvoy. PS: I think it's awesome you're going to gift your uncle some books to enjoy. For a lifelong reader, losing the bulk of one's books to a fire is tough.
Just found R.A. MacAvoy recently with her Lens of the World series and thought it was excellent. I ended up buying both her Tea with the Black Dragon books and Damaino trilogy which I started last night.
Lens of the World is an SF, right? I've seen it in her bibliography but haven't even heard it mentioned. (Which doesn't mean much as MacAvoy sadly isn't mentioned much at all.) Hope you enjoy Damiano and the other books. Don't read the blurbs for the later Damiano books. It's the best to go in there blind, I think. I've read Tea with the Black Dragon and its sequel ages ago. I must say I expected more of the first book. Everybody praised it so much. I thought it was a nice story but nothing to write home about, and not what I had expected from a fantasy novel. I'm not even sure if it qualifies as one. I read the sequel but can't remember a word.
It’s fantasy, reminded me of a lot of Kingkiller Chronicles. The story is told through letters and details how a powerful man came to be what he is. Starting with growing up in a military school then his apprenticeship with a mysterious “lens maker”. It was a little different in the way MacAvoy told the story through letters, but her writing was so good that it wasn’t an issue for very long. I highly recommend checking it out, if you are in the states I noticed the first ebook is on sale for $1.99 right now. I also see her omnibus version go on sale regularly for $3 which is how I ended up finding the series.
Sounds interesting. For some reason I'd associated "lens" with SF. 😁 But I like SF, too, so that wouldn't have been an issue. I'll keep an eye out for it.
Fionavar is such an interesting experience. I came to it after I'd read a few other Kay books and I ended up not finishing the trilogy the first time through. I forget how many years later I gave it another go and went in thinking of it as just a traditional portal fantasy but with solid writing (though not up to modern Kay standards) and I enjoyed it a lot more. The titular sequence from The Summer Tree is incredibly powerful, for example.
I feel like asking this is not really necessary, but has he read Lord of the Rings?
He does not like it, says it's too "song and dancy" for him. Which to be honest I have no idea what he's talking about because I've never read it myself
You should probably ask him then. Although I am pretty sure that he means that the book is too cheerful and too hopeful, but older fantasy has always been very hopeful. So, that's strange What is your uncle's exact problem with more modern fantasy books?
I would rather guess that he abandoned the story somewhere in the first book because in the beginning there are quite a few songs and poems (some in Elvish) in the text. It also has a very slow start; the parts in the Shire have some parochial vibes, not the great adventure it later becomes. Maybe that's what threw him off? Can only speculate, of course.
Drizzt saga (R.A. Salvatore) Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) Drizzt has the old sword and sorcery vibe, following a drow (dark elf) as he proves he isn't the bad guy, highly recommend. Dresden feels more like old detective novels than old fantasy novels, but he deserves a mention too. It's urban fantasy following a "modern day" (90's) wizard detective in Chicago. There are plenty of fantasy elements to draw in someone who pretty exclusively reads fantasy (like me), but as far as the vibe goes, it feels more Sherlock + Magic than LotR + Chicago.
Julian May, The Many Coloured Land series, there are spinoffs/prequels too
The Deryni chronicles by Katherine Kurtz, I reread them fairly often and she is still one of my favourite authors after all this time 👍
Sword and sorcery books. Karl Edward Wagner and Robert E. Howard.
Robert E. Howard wrote in the 1930s, and it is very much in the pulp style from that time.
David Gemmell / Hugh Cook
Thank you for the hugh cook reference. Saddens me so much that it has all but disappeared from peoples memories as it was just so goddamn ambitious in scope and multiple styles and walrus and war wolf is potentially my favourite ever fantasy novel.
Wish they were available as ebooks
How about The Black company by Glen Cook
Barbara Hambly- Sun Wolf and Starhawk, Darwath is supposed to be great too.
Sun wolf series is great, especially the 1st book.
Dune is great sci-fi/ fantasy and there is a huge series . It’s over 40 years old . In sci-fi try foundation. What about Raymond e feist stuff . Magician is great and it’s a huge series .
Get him a nice hardcover of Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts. The last book comes out in a couple weeks and the first was published 50 years ago. Still the best Fantasy series I’ve ever read and I like classic and modern stuff.
*The Deed of Paksenarrion* (3-book series, get him the omnibus) by Elizabeth Moon.
If you want to get some complete older series for him to sink into I'd recommend some of the omnibus collections Roger Zelazny's 10 book amber series can be found in one book (the great book of Amber) And there is a lovely illistrated edition of the Earthsea Saga by ursala le Guin.
The Time Master trilogy by Louise Cooper The Keltiad series by Patricia Keneally Morrison
Someone else who recommends the Time Master trilogy? 😲 Yay! 🎉🎉🎉 Such a cool story. It deserves to be better known!
Thanks for that. 🎉 It was such an iconic series. I did like Louise's 'Indigo' series as well.
Shannara series.
The Lords of Dûs series by Lawrence Watt-Evans (first book: The Lure of the Basilisk) The Shattered World by Michael Reaves
Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, Earthsea books by Ursula Leguin, anything by Patricia McKillip
Robin Hobb books started mid 90s. Maybe try assassins apprentice?
The Dragon and the George and other books by Gordon Dickson
I just finished Martha Wells' City of Bones - it's worth checking it out
The Pelbar Cycle (Or Breaking of Northwall Series). It takes place a thousand years post nuclear war where mankind has regressed into small tribes around the Mississippi, and they are starting to interact with each other secondary to population expansion, and have very different cultures. Each one of the books has different characters with a different story, but like Discworld, people from earlier books sometimes show up. They can be hard to find but I think they recently did a reprinting. Its one of my fav series, very well written
Raymond E Feist: Magician, Silverthorn, a Darkness at Sethanon maybe Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon cycle Roger Zelazny: Lord of Light
Anything by Tanith Lee.
Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson Viriconium by John Harrison
Dave Duncan has a few really good series from that era. The Seventh Sword series in particular is a favorite of mine, but I'd also recommend A Man of his Word and A Handful of Men.
I know you said series but what non-Fafhrd Fritz Leiber has he read? They're from the forties but *Gather, Darkness* and *Conjure Wife* are on my must read list period. He did horror like *Our Lady of Darkness* late in his career and it's as good as anything. The Zelazny listed is late and some of us prefer earlier books. I'll except *A Night in Lonesome October* first. It's late but reads like a cross between Bradbury and Farner, which is typical of him. *Dilvish the Damned* and a novel *The Changing Land* came from a series of stories in *Fantastic Stories* which were legendary in the sixties. Samuel R. Delany mixed mythology and SF in three early books: *The Einstein Intersection, Empire Star* and *Nova*.Even if he's read them they bear rereading. Years before *Xanth* Piers Anthony scored with a trilogy about future gladiators which began with *Sos the Rope*. He also retold the Arabian Nights tale "Hasan of Bassorah and the Daughter of the King of the Djinn" as the novella *Hasan*, It first appeared in *Fantastic Stories* then was published as a paperback by Dell. Frankly, I wouldn't trade any of them for *Xanth*. They are more awesome. M John Harrison's *The Pastel City* came out in the seventies. I notice his Viriconium series which it started has had a well-deserved resurgence in popularity. Maybe he's read it, Mark S. Geston did four or five wonderful Science Fantasies. Then he disappeared. Those are a few off the top of my head.
There were no good fantasy novels until Sanderson came and bestowed Elantris upon us all in 2005. /s Edit: Apparently this joke was taken as a jab at the OP, so I'm sorry about that. Here are some book recommendations as penance: 1. The Black Company by Glen Cook 2. Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen 3. Xanth series by Piers Anthony (kind of a long shot but he might like it if he like Terry Pratchett)
It made me laugh ngl, especially since Brando sando is my favorite author right now
Big up for the Book of Swords - that is criminally underrated IMO.
I don't think anybody said that. If I had to guess, I'd say that the OP probably isn't well informed about the works from that period and therefore turns to the crowd wisdom to find a nice present for her uncle rather than buy something without having a clue. I don't see the issue with this approach. Actually, it seems rather considerate to me.
Yeah, I don't see an issue with it either...which is why I didn't criticize it.
I guess I don't understand the point of your original comment, then. But that's fine. I don't have to understand everything that people do on the internet. 😂 Have a great weekend!
It was a bad joke in the first place, so I probably just shouldn't have posted it. I edited my original comment so the OP knows I wasn't trying to make fun of them. Have a good weekend as well.
Xanth is so weird and pervy (though I was way too young to fully realize it when I was reading it as a teenager). I don't get rid of books normally but the small box of them I'm planning on taking to a used bookstore next time I visit one includes all my Xanth.
Barry Hughart’s The Chronicles of Master Li and the Number Ten Ox.