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I've been having trouble lately--I stumble through bookstores, trying to find some good fantasy to read, and I wind up spending more time cringing at the writing in the books than I do buying or reading.

If any of you fine folks could recommend some fantasy authors who can write worth a darn, I would be much obliged. I guess for reference, I should say that Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, George RR Martin, Robin Hobb, Jonathan Carroll, Clive Barker, Susanna Clarke and Gene Wolfe are among writers I consider "able to write and not just jumble up words trying to tell a fantastic, but never-well-represented-due-to-lack-of-skills, story."


Thank you!

If you enjoy Neil Gaiman you might like Charles de Lint. Although he is not very popular in this group, his works have been praised by many well known authors. Like Gaiman, De Lint is highly original and not formulistic.
IMO his Newford books are the strongest, however I would NOT recommend starting them in the suggested order. Rather, start right away with his adult novels like:
Memory and Dream
Trader
or Someplace to Be Flying
These novels are a lot stronger and more representative of his style.
I recently discovered Nina Kiriki Hoffman. She is also very different and reminds me a little of Diana Wynne Jones.

Have you read CURSE OF CHALION? Or the Bartimaeus books by Jonathan Stroud?

Brenda

Content wise, I don't know how you'd like it, but in terms of prose the first that came to mind was Firethorn and its sequel Wildfire. It is meant to be a trilogy, and the last has yet to come out.

Patricia A. McKillip is also one to try. She's got quite a bit to choose from, but I'd start with Riddle-Master: The Complete Trilogy or The Bell at Sealey Head.

Oh, and Ellen Kushner's Riverside books are worth a try. Her Thomas the Rhymer might do.

Wow... that's a conversation opener. :)

P. c. Hodgell's, God Stalk etc.. (It's a series....don't think its done yet, though.)


Any Jennifer Roberson, Karavans has me caught right now.


Definitely...Brandon Sanderson.

Ursula K. Le Guin

Rad Bradbury usually gets classified as an SF author, but much of his work is closer in mood and theme to fantasy, and his writing is often lyrical.

I second the recommendation for The Curse of Chalion. Also, especially if you're looking for one-shots instead of series, Guy Gavriel Kay's works are fairly reliable, and of them I would recommend Tigana. He is one of the few fantasy authors I have read who have made the world actually feel like there's magic in it without that magic just being another form of science. And, if you don't mind a fairly lengthy read, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is very well done and researched (with footnotes even).
Also, while I have admittedly only started this book and as such cannot guarantee it is good, K. J. Parker's "The Hammer" has, at the very least, writing of similar quality to that of Robbin Hobb.

Kit Whitfield - In Great Waters

Morgan Llywelyn - Bard, Druids, The Greener Shore, Elementals

Martha Wells - Books of the Raksura series

Beth Bernobich - River of Souls series

Kate Elliott - Spiritwalker series

Alison Sinclair - Darkborn series

Jo Walton - Tooth & Claw, Small Change series

Dave Duncan - Kings Blades series

Brent Weeks - Night Angel series

Steven Brust - Vlad Taltos series

Michael J. Sullivan - Riyria Revelations series

Barb Hendee -Noble Dead series

Well, my first instinct when I saw the topic was Gene Wolfe, but you're already familiar with him.

So, I'll second Bradbury, DeLint, and LeGuin.

Add to that Pamela Dean and Harlan Ellison (though he never writes "wizards & elves"-type high fantasy; more contemporary or magical realism; heck, he's just a good writer without labels)

Lovecraft, Dunsany, and Peake for just lovely language, if not always great story-telling.

Thank you for all the suggestions--for some reason, I didn't get any notifications.

I read some of de Lint's first Newford books, and they weren't for me (the first two, in order). However, I will definitely try the ones mentioned, as I did enjoy his prose greatly.


As for content, I definitely prefer darker, but that being said, I love fantasy as a whole, so long as the writing is sound.

I actually own "The Curse of Chalion," as well as Gavriel's "Lions" and Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "Stir of Bones." Mostly why I'm asking is I was sent a bookstore giftcard, and want to put it to the best use possible.


I'm going to be checking out *literally* all the authors mentioned that I don't yet know, so thank you all so much!

My mistake and my apologies. Please go ahead and delete my post.

S.J. wrote: "My mistake and my apologies. Please go ahead and delete my post."

Actually, you can do this yourself. If you look way down at the bottom of your post, in the lower right-hand corner there is a tiny little link that says "delete" - click that, confirm that you really want to delete it, and it vanishes in a puff of electrons.

I run into this very same problem all the time. Please try Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind. He is one of the most beautiful writers I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

I'd second God Stalk. Dark but really, really good.

Oh, and if you like Diana Wynn Jones, seek out the work of Peter Dickinson, another Brit writer of great versatility. His YA fantasy work is just superb, and he;'s written some wonderful detective fiction.

You know, I answered without really thinking too much about it, but now I'm curious: what do you mean when you say "someone can write worth a darn"?

Is it more about, as Robert put it, lovely language or great story-telling? I suppose ideally it would be both, but "great story-telling" is a pretty subjective concept. For my part, most of my suggestions are based on language use and that the authors tend to have some strange and alluring concepts in their work (@ least, strange and alluring to me).

After thoroughly enjoying Game of Thrones first two seasons on HBO, I read the first book in the series and it was absolutely fantastic. George R.R. Martin is a sensational writer.

I actually own "The Name of the Wind" and am going to be starting it soon.


By "writers who can write worth a darn," I mean those who have lovely language. I have fairly broad tastes as far as fiction is concerned, so I tried to keep certain requests out of it beyond language. I've simply run into too many books that are the stumbling, jumbled messes of good story tellers with terrible writing skills.

Jesse wrote: "Thank you for all the suggestions--for some reason, I didn't get any notifications.

I read some of de Lint's first Newford books, and they weren't for me (the first two, in order). However, I wil..."


Unfortunately a lot of people think they have to read the Newford books in the order they were written in and as a result never make it past the first few books, and this is a shame. The first is a collection of short stories, some good, some not so good, and the second is a YA novel. Both are not his strongest books. # 3 and #4 are so different from his usual style that De Lint originally published them under a different name. The series starts getting really good around book #5, but for me Someplace to Be Flying is his masterpiece. By starting there you will not be missing any important background information and you will be introduced to a cast of colorful characters who will reappear in later novels.

I agree Re: Ray Bradbury. I've only read Something Wicked This Way Comes and I certainly would not classify that as Science Fiction. It is great literature!

If you want lovely language, there's always Margo Lanagan. I think her books have some problems, but the one thing I couldn't possibly criticise is her prose. It varies between 'interesting' and 'drop dead gorgeous'.

However, she's more fairy tales than epic fantasy, so may not be what you want.

And....
;)

C. S. Friedman's ....Coldfire Trilogy.
Starting with Black Sun Rising.

For exceptional writing and beautiful language and a more than average depth of plot, I would highly recommend Guy Gavriel Kay, Patricia A. McKillip, Carol Berg, in particular her Lighthouse Duet. Barbara Hambly also has a beautiful style. Try also (for literate work) Jonathan Carroll and Little, Big by John Crowley.

Kushner and Roberson were mentioned up the page, and I would second them as stylists who write a good story. If you want to delve into older 'classics' where the prose style may be so rich it all but obscures the plot, try Mervyn Peak, also mentioned up the page, and definitely
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

I'm a great admirer of M. John Harrison's Viriconium. He's a stylist and his ideas intrigue me, too. Be aware that the later instalments -- Viriconium: In Viriconium/Viriconium Nights -- are very different to the first, The Pastel City. It grew, or else the writer earnt his freedom.

if it hasn't been mentioned yet, I humbly submit


equal parts crass and beautiful, it is the go to book when I recommend anything to anyone.

Two of the best writers I can think of are Laini Taylor and Frances Hardinge

I second Harlan Ellison. You may also want to try Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials

Wow, I lost track of the notifications on this thread!

Jonathan Carroll is actually one of my favorite writers currently--I've just bought six more of his novels.

Also, I loved Philip Pullman's trilogy.

From this authors recommended to me in this thread, here's what I grabbed so far:

Scott Lynch's "The Lies of Locke Lamora"
Guy Gavriel Kay's "The Lions of al-Rassan"
Patricia A. McKillip's "Alphabet of Thorn"
P. C. Hodgell's "God Stalk"
Steven Brust - "To Reign in Hell"
Charles de Lint - "Trader"


Definitely going to check out Harlan Ellison's work soon--sounds like it is right up my alley.

Great suggestions! I would like to add Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series (and the Dresden Files if you like urban fantasy), Patricia Briggs' Raven's Shadow and Raven's Strike, and Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series.

I read Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland and found it an interesting read.

I would recommend Joe Abercrombie (The first Law Trilogy)

Try something modern and fabulous, like Daniel O'Malley's The Rook, or Lighthousekeeping, or Hidden Things: A Novel or Raising Stony Mayhall or The Last Werewolf or Bone Song or Kameron Hurley's God's War, or almost any Connie Willis time travel book.
Hope you find something you like.

I second the Dresden Files; my husband and I have been reading Storm Front, the first in the series, and I'm already sucked in. I love the tone that practically screams '50's detective, just without the sexist portrayals of women.

Since you like Gaiman, how about Terry Pratchett? Despite a fondness for puns, he's definitely a wordsmith and great with humorous satire. Gaiman and Pratchett collaborated on Good Omens, which might be one to try. Otherwise, Pratchett's really improved both in writing style and subtlety during his career, so I'd recommend his later books--his earliest are very straightforward spoofs. (GR lists them as part of one massive series, but they are actually a set of subseries and standalones that take place in one fantasy world.) Good ones to try: Small Gods, Going Postal, or Men at Arms.

I don't find Neil Gaiman to be a good writer at all. For me its George R.R. Martin. I just read Game of Thrones and I was wowed by the quality of his writing.

Never thought of Jim Butcher as someone with good writing style-wise, but to each their own.

Catherynne M Valente has gorgeous prose, and if you enjoy myths and fairy tales I'd look at In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice, or Deathless. If you're not totally sold on myths, I'd look at Palimpsest, which is probably still my favourite, but it is polarizing.

I second Guy Gavriel Kay "Tigana" and "The Lions of Al-Rassan." You might try Jack Vance's "Lyonesse" series. For something different try Jeff Vendermeer's "Shriek: An Afterword."

Malrubius wrote: "I second Guy Gavriel Kay "Tigana" and "The Lions of Al-Rassan." You might try Jack Vance's "Lyonesse" series. For something different try Jeff Vendermeer's "Shriek: An Afterword.""

If you like The Lions of Al-Rassan it is on the poll for the April group read!