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The Lord of the Rings
by
J. R. R. Tolkien
This is a single-volume edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which the hobbit Frodo and his elfish friends get swept up in a mighty conflict with the dark lord Sauron (who owes much to proud Satan in Paradise Lost), the monstrous Gollum, the Cracks of Doom, and the awful power of the magical Ring. The book's characters--good and evil--are recognizably human, and the realism is deepened by the magnificent detail of the vast parallel world Tolkien devised, inspired partly by his influential Anglo-Saxon scholarship and his Christian beliefs. |
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War of
the Gods
by
Poul Anderson
The story of the great King Hadding is one of the darkest and most violent to come down to us from the old North. Hadding was raised by giants far from his rightful throne, as his father, a Danish king, was slain shortly after Hadding's birth. But the time comes when Hadding feels he must reclaim his legitimate place in the land of the old North. He must endure ferocious battles, the charms of voluptuous Valkieries, and a War of the Gods to rival Armageddon. |
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The Hobbit: Or There and
Back Again
by
J. R. R. Tolkien
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." The hobbit-hole in question belongs to one Bilbo Baggins, an upstanding member of a "little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves." He is, like most of his kind, well off, well fed, and best pleased when sitting by his own fire with a pipe, a glass of good beer, and a meal to look forward to. Certainly this particular hobbit is the last person one would expect to see set off on a hazardous journey; indeed, when Gandalf the Grey stops by one morning, "looking for someone to share in an adventure," Baggins fervently wishes the wizard elsewhere. No such luck, however; soon 13 fortune-seeking dwarves have arrived on the hobbit's doorstep in search of a burglar, and before he can even grab his hat or an umbrella, Bilbo Baggins is swept out his door and into a dangerous adventure. The dwarves' goal is to return to their ancestral home in the Lonely Mountains and reclaim a stolen fortune from the dragon Smaug. Along the way, they and their reluctant companion meet giant spiders, hostile elves, ravening wolves--and, most perilous of all, a subterranean creature named Gollum from whom Bilbo wins a magical ring in a riddling contest. It is from this life-or-death game in the dark that J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork, The Lord of the Rings, would eventually spring. Though The Hobbit is lighter in tone than the trilogy that follows, it has, like Bilbo Baggins himself, unexpected iron at its core. Don't be fooled by its fairy-tale demeanor; this is very much a story for adults, though older children will enjoy it, too. By the time Bilbo returns to his comfortable hobbit-hole, he is a different person altogether, well primed for the bigger adventures to come--and so is the reader. |
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Snow Brother
by
S. M. Stirling
Ordered to cross the steppes and enslave a Mintzan city or die in disgrace, nineteen-year-old Shkai'ra leaves her warring tribe to complete the task, never planning to find a village so resistant to enslavement. |
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The Cage
by
S. M. Stirling
and
Shirley Meier
He stole her life she had built up from nothing and sold her to slavery thinking she was gone forever. Now she is back to destroy her worst enemy that caused her unbearable pain. He had stole her friends, house, money and everything she had every worked for and cared about, but he gave her something no one could ever take away inless she eased it. Revenge. Now Habiku Smoothtongue will feel the stress that he had given to Megan. He will pay. |
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Legends: Short Novels by the
Masters of Fantasy
by
Robert Silverberg
Acclaimed writer and editor Robert Silverberg gathered 11 of the finest writers in fantasy to contribute to this collection of short novels. Each of the writers was asked to write a new story based on one of his or her most famous series, and the results are wonderful. From Stephen King's opening piece set in his popular Gunslinger universe to Robert Jordan's early look at his famed Wheel of Time saga, each of these stories is exceptionally well written and universally well told. The authors here include King, Jordan, and Silverberg himself, as well as Terry and Lyn Pratchett, Terry Goodkind, Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. Le Guin, Tad Williams, George R.R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey, and Raymond E. Feist. This is not only a great book in and of itself, but it's also a perfect way for fantasy fans to find new novels and authors to add to their "to read" lists |
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Grendel
by
John Champlin Gardner
Grendel is a beautiful and heartbreaking modern retelling of the Beowulf epic from the point of view of the monster, Grendel, the villain of the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon epic. This book benefits from both of Gardner's careers: in addition to his work as a novelist, Gardner was a noted professor of medieval literature and a scholar of ancient languages. There is little to say about this book, which hasn't been said, except that its author's tracing of a philosophical development runs the gamut from Kant to Augustine. It concerns human beings, and is based upon the Promethian premise, but at a meaningful reduction: Prometheus suffers because the gods have rejected him; Grendel suffers because humans have rejected him. The premise necessarily suggests hope for the human race, whilst the monster's nihilism protests too much. I especially loved the description of Beowulf, and that hero's visual hypnotic effect upon the monster. And the fight scene wherein Beowulf demands that the monster sing of walls. Chaos being bent to order. This is great stuff. In its own way, this is a better book than many of the other greats published in this century: it can be read at so many levels. I first read it in junior high school, and loved the story of the monster and his mother and the enigmatic hero Beowulf with shoulders rippling with horse-like muscles. |
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Replay
by
Ken Grimwood
Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn't know he was a replayer until he died and woke up twenty-five years younger in his college dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again and died again -- in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle -- each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: "What if you could live your life over again?" |
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The Blue Sword
by
Robin McKinley
The main character is Harry Crewe, a young, inexperienced, rather plain girl. She is orphaned and is taken under the wing of a military couple who live on the exotic desert frontier. Harry doesn't quite fit in. Once she gets to Damar, she finds out that there are rising tensions between the military and the natives. Harry ends up getting magically kidnapped out of her bedroom by the king of the natives, a certain Corlath. Corlath is no ordinary king. He has a magic gift that helps him out all the time. He didn't really want to kidnap Harry but his "gift" insisted that he did. So he kidnaps her and Harry isn't really that broken up about it, but she is confused why she is there. She adapts quickly. Soon Harry starts having visions, with the help of some malak, or "seeing water", of Aerin, the legendary queen of Damar. Because of this, Corlath starts teaching Harry how to be a warrior, giving her a war horse, Sungold, who she loves, and sending her into the mountains with one of the king's trusted kind of knight guys. Anyway, Harry proves herself, and eventually ends up saving all of Damar, all the while struggling with her feelings about her duty to Corlath and his people and also her duty to the people she left behind. I would tell more, but it would ruin the book. Just remember, it may be a little slow at first for some people, but it is worth it, oh so worth it, to continue reading. I love this book so much. It it realistic and full of adventure, but is at the same time a beautiful fairy tale that took my breath away. |
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Riddle-Master: The Complete Trilogy
by
Patricia A. McKillip
The majority of fantasy fans refer to Tolkien, so I am definitely NOT like other fantasy fans. This trilogy is to me what the Lord of the Rings is to everyone else (although I loved the movie very much and I've read the first two books and understand why people love it so much). I'm not the biggest fantasy fan--I've only read fantasy books when I was in middle school, and this trilogy is perfect for middle schoolers. It is definitely my favorite story of all time (not to mention the first fantasy story I ever picked up) and it has helped developed me as a person. Because of Mckillip, I came to love fantasy (for young adults, that is) and discovered other writers like Louise Lawrence and Meridith Ann Pierce. I love that Mckillip's works are not as popular as other fantasy writers'--it just makes it all the more special to me. I definitely recommend this trilogy to anyone who values innocent stories that feed the imaginations of young adults. As a college student now, I have my own criticisms about the trilogy, but I can never forget the effects it has had, and still has, on me. It is the epitome of my childhood and my innocence--I love it with all its flaws. Mckillip has created a magical world full of mysterious shape-changers, harpists, and wizards that is extremely unique from any other fantasy worlds(despite what other reviewers might say). Trust me--it is worthwhile to read. |
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The Heretics' Power
by
Kenneth A. Baumbach
In this epic fantasy, The Heretics' Power, war looms over Reldaria. A new religion divides the kingdom as the Ancient Ones fear the Heretics' Power... Wuldarad, a priest of the Ancient Ones, meets Palidor, a master of a new religion, the Sons of Light, and trains with him. He brings newfound knowledge back to Sarkuth, the high priest of the Ancient Ones, only to be attacked by his former mentor and friend. Wuldarad escapes and the following of the new religion grows. As the Sons of Light grow in power, Sarkuth, growing more fearful and angry, brings the kingdom to the brink of civil war! |
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Bond
by
Noel
On a world somewhere in the universe is a land on the brink of self-destruction. In the hope of saving it, Dominion has sent a caustic silver messenger with cracked-crystal eyes and a bluefire staff. His opposition is a Warrior-Master risen with Athanatos' aid to the highest levels of power. Bond introduces the reader to an eidolic papal figure who had come to prefer another before God; a deceived King; a tainted Bishops plotting his downfall; a charismatic son of the desert East and his shrewd Chieftain father; the "grotesque ones" whose tragic history brought them to the land's forbidding swamp and the deadly patronage of the Guardians; an anti-hero son of Virtue who stumbles into another province's upheaval and into the eyes of a rebellious daughter of wealth and lineage lost. Bond is a fascinating, full-blown, multi-dimensional work of heroic adventure complete with memorable characters and romantic romance. Highly recommended! |
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Sparrow's Flight
by
Curtis Craddock
Devouring evil, in the form of the magical creations and ruthless host of the immortal Hezra-Thrall, is marching on the kingdom of Neffron. Hope of resistance lies with Sparrow of Blackaker, a dispossessed nobleman's heir, and the blind swordswoman Kisha, Sparrow's companion. Together they face the enemy, physically and psychologically, and learn the power and the danger of sacrifice before struggling through to victory. Very little in Craddock's remarkably deft first novel is not archetypal to fantasy fiction, but very little lacks enough originality (note the character of Kisha, in particular) not to raise the whole book to a respectable level of readability and suspense. |
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Sablewood
by
Brenna McKaye
SABLEWOOD by Brenna McKaye is a wonderfully written novel of epic porportions. Page by riviting page the charaters practiclly jump of the pages and become almost real. KcKaye has a way with words, explaining and discribing the detail, people and there feelings in such a vivid way that you really feel as if you were part of the story. The reader is so drawn in by McKaye's use of details that you'd almost believe you'd been to the land of Sablewoo, experienced the romance first hand, became intimate with the land's inhabitants and fought side by side the heroes in the efforts to overcome their obsticles. It is my hope the Ms. McKaye will honor her readers with yet another novel of Sablewood and I for one am waiting on the edge of my seat for it's release. A rich blend of magic and science, dragons and danger, Sablewood is an intelligent tale of two people stretched to the limit by power, corruption, and war. In a world where technology is banned, Garland Ardracon's comfortable life has drastically changed with her father's dying words. Now she must learn, as quickly as possible, who she really is, who can be trusted, and who the real players are in a dangerous game of political intrigue. When Cavell Ardracon comes for her, claiming to be a distant relative, she begins a frightening journey that brings her face to face with magic, dragons and dire circumstances that shake her world to its foundations even as a war is about to begin. |
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The King of Ys
by
Poul Anderson
and
Karen Anderson
This is a stunning book. It has a wonderfully complex plot that weaves actual late-Roman Empire events with Breton myth, but one of its greatest attributes is the way the characters are brought to life. By the end of the books, what you remember most isn't the plot but the emotional struggle of the main character, Gratillonius, as he loses everything that was ever dear to him, and has to go on. The final scene is only a few pages long but is gut-wrenching because you feel every bit of pain it brings him. I normally don't enjoy fantasy because many books seem like a pale attempt to imitate Tolkein. This book is completely different but yet has the same ability to pull you into the story until you feel like these events actually happened. A word of warning: like the Lord of the Rings, it is written in slightly stilted, 'epic' English, which may bother some readers. |