Favourite fantasy-writer

[WolfGaidin]

You can't call a forum a *real* forum, when there's no 'Favourite writer'-thread.
So here it is. ;D

Who is your favourite fantasy-writer? Of course we all know our favourite character, which is *of course* Nynaeve al'Meara. But does that mean Robert Jordan is automatically your favourite writer? Nay!
In my case, he isn't.

The world's best fantasy-writer is: W.J. Maryson.
'Huh? Who's that?!' is what you are all thinking now, isn't it? Of course you are. W.J. Maryson is a, no, the Dutch fantasy-writer. Too bad for you English-speaking people his books are not translated into English. Not yet, I must say, for it will happen. There are already German and French translations of his books.
So don't be too sad, for one day you will all read his books and you will all *know* who is the best fantasy-writer on the planet.

Though my dear lady - known to you as Liandra - is better.

[Kagrim]

I am horridly shocked and slightly appalled (just kidding ), that Mercedes Lackey is not up on that poll list ^.^

Yes, you figured it out. Mercedes Lackey is my favourite fantasy author. Sorry lol.

Kagrim

[Kagrim]

I hate to double post here. But something just struck my mind.

Another author I am reading right now is Glen Cook. He writes the Black Company Chronicles. They are excellent books, mostly written in first person. It is a unique chance for readers, I believe. Though, I would rate it PG-13 with the frequent cusses that are in it. It is still very very good. Let's just say that it is a twist on Wheel of Time in my eyes through the POV of a soldier. The "Forsaken" (called Taken) of this series are all ruling openly and well known. No secretive plotting like in Wheel of Time. Ah well, it is fun. Hope you possibly read that series

Kagrim

[Isabel]

My favourite writer is RJ, ofcourse. And no I don't like everything with RJ on it. I am not a huge fan of Conan. And the rest of his other books I haven't read yet.

And Kagrim: Mercedes Lackey isn't translated in dutch. Or at least, there is one book translated like 10 years ago.
But I have read books from her, and although I really like it much. I do think it is more standard fantasy.
(but I dón't have much time now, so I will tell you soon, why I think that)

bye isabel

[Ziburan]

David Eddings en Juliet Marillier.
And I like loads of other writers.

[Liandra]

My favourite writer is Robert Jordan. (How shocking!) Lately, though, I'm beginning to think that there a lot of things in his work I do not like all that much, and I'd do better. Not in the story itself, but in the way he writes it.
Other writers I like are J.R.R. Tolkien and Jane Austen. I used to read Federica de Cesco when I was about twelve. She has written a beautiful novel about the Aztecs; I think I've read it five times at least.
I also like books by G.R.R. Martin and Robin Hobb, though I only read the first book of both. Should read their entire series...

[WolfGaidin]

Yes you should indeed, my love.

The next best writer after W.J. Maryson is Robin Hobb, by the way. And after her, comes George R.R. Martin. Then Steven Erikson (does anyone know him?), David Gemmell and Robert Jordan.

Yay! This is the 100th post of this forum!

[HammerOfGod]

Robert Jordan has been my favorite Author for the last three years...

One of the strange things is that I believe that part of my love for the WOT is the Audio Books...

There is a way that Kate Reading does Nynaeve's or Lanfear's voice that adds depth to the characters...

Michael Kramer makes Rand and Mat come alive with the way he does there parts... It is like a Movie without the picture..

[Ziburan]

Wolf, as far as I know, only W.J. Maryson's Onmagiër books will be translated, not the Meestermagiër books.

[Shikoba]

The anonymous author of Beowulf...

[Terje]

WolfGaidin said:

Of course we all know our favourite character, which is *of course* Nynaeve al'Meara.

Actually, Nyn isn't my fav; I like some of the (man, it's been a year since I last read WoT, and I've already started to forget the OT names of stuff. Time for a re-READ!) Asha'man better, as well as Mat.

But to get on topic: I was gonna try to be original and vote for someone besides RJ, but I realized that I couldn't decieve myself in such a way.
Jordan is my King; all the others pale besides him.

As for GRRM, who someone claim to be better, I have to say that altough I like his books very good, he has this annoying habit of killing off his main characters (mentioning no names, ofc), once you begin to get related to them.

As for Hobb, I like her very good as well, but the ending of the Farseer Trilogy actually made me cry. Fortunately, the Liveship Traders were more cheerful, and I've heard good things about the Tawny Man, who at the moment is on hold in my bookshelves.

Terry Goodkind, now there's a man I have an ambivalent relationship with; his first books were totally captivating, but the latest books were so disgustingly full of Ayn Rand-libertarianistic propaganda that I have been inspired to write a comparative analysis of the ideology of Richard Rahl and the Church of Satan (whose Bible is one of my current reading projects).

Tolkien's The Hobbit was my first fantasy book, with LotR, Silmarillion and Unfinished tales at 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I just love his works, so he's prolly my 2nd fav, but his work are something more than fantasy, I feel, so I rate him below RJ.

Amongst my other favs are ofc the magnificent Terry Pratchett, whose satire is some of the best and funniest I've read.

I can come back and write a little more about my favs once I've read all the books I have bought this autumn; Katherine Kerr and China Miéville are in my bookshelf, waiting to be read...

[Shikoba]

I finally read something by Terry Pratchett [Moving Pictures] & like it very much.

I think my favourite fantasy author is Patricia McKillip. Such beautiful tapestries of girliness

[Shandy]

I have to go for Martin. I love Jordan because for me the tremendous courage, beauty and passion of the characters really appeals to me... and of course all the lovers in it are dedicated and devoted to one another.

With Martin on the other hand, there are a lot of characters who are craven, or not particularly bright, or just completely unnattractive, or crippled... it's just more realistic take on a mix of people. And the good guys get killed just as often, if not more often than the bad guys. It's just more gripping than Jordan, and more varied.

Also I think Martin's work has been consistently good, whereas like many people feel, Jordan's has been slipping since about volume 7.

Don't think I could survive without either of them, though!

Oh, and Terry Goodkind? I admit, I absolutely ADORE his first book, 'Wizard's First Rule', but the rest of the series makes me cringe. All the bad guys have bad teeth and bad breath, and all the women are dazzingly attractive and they all fall head over feet for perfect, perfect Richard. It drives me mad! And yes, I know Jordan goes out of his way to describe how perfect all of the women in his book are too, but Goodkind's way is about 10000 times more annoying as he dives into every feature...

[Squilo]

I love jordan for a simple reason, i like fantasy, and his writing is beautiful. It follows basic rules of writing and doesn't revert to gender roles and inhuman characters just because its fantasy.

I adore the way jordan describes people, the words he chooses always seem to enhance the mood or even sound like what their describing. On top of which, the descriptions always have a sort of down to earth wonder to them, kind of like a memoir writing style but it in fantasy. Part of the reason i never liked tolkien was that his writing always seemed to pristine and detached for me to relate to the characters.

The sad thing is that if Jordan wrote a book with less plot then CoT in which the characters sat around drinking tea and talking, i would read it and probably love it because of the way his characters are.

[Sarafelle]

My Favorite, hmm lemme see. RJ is definately my favorite fantasy writer, although Tolkien is one of my favorites, that is, is you can get past the first 150 -200 pages of Fellowship. But RJ tops the list. But, of course, I read a lot of different kinds of books besides fantasy.