recommendations on GREAT fantasy books

Any Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey. Medieval Europe but fits everything else you want.

Steven Erikson's 10-book epic Tales of the Malazan Fallen is my current favorite. It has everything you mentioned plus a hundred times more. The first seven books currently are available.

Try the Second Son trilogy by Jenniffer Fallon. It's very awesome, and fits all your requirements.

Try Roald Dahl's work, or perhaps Robert Jordan's work (though that is a gigantic task to begin).

I recommend visiting the AW Library:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=93

The Magic Time series by Marc Scott Zicree and various other authors is a great choice.

Newton's Cannon by John Gregory Keyes.

I would recommend my own books, of course, Unbinding the Stone and A Warrior Made, as well asLois McMaster Bujold's Curse of Chalion and its various sequels. Anything by Bujold, really. Tanya Huff has a number of good series, the Confederacy of Valor, the Keeper Chronicles. Patricia McKillip's RiddleMaster of Hed trilogy is very nice.

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Dale

Dale Emery said:

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Dale

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Elantris is very good.

Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner (setting is post-renaissance, pseudo-baroque; definitely not medieval)
Territory, Emma Bull (Western)
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers (Uh... um... modern, 1800s, and ancient Egypt?)
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch (not sure of the period but definitely post-medieval)
Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones (modern setting, will be shelved as YA)

Ummm maybe I should stop there for now

write2livelive2write said:

I'm looking for some great fantasy books to read. Lots of actions, fast paced, strong female characters, not medieval Europe setting, no exotica, no elvs, dwarves and dragons ...

I need your recommendations. Thanks in advance.

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Well...Greg Keyes' Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series is fantastic. It has VERY strong female characters, a late 1600s-ish setting, tons of action...the only downside is that it does have the occasional mythological beastie. They don't talk though. They just kill things.

Start with The Briar King, followed The Charnal Prince, then by The Blood Knight. The final book in the series is The Born Queen, but it isn't available yet. I seriously heart this series.

And I want to second Shweta's recommendation of Fire and Hemlock...absolutely amazing book.

Finally, for light-hearted fun, try Avalon High by Meg Cabot. (YA again) It's an interesting take on the Arthurian legends, with a smart-aleck heroine. It's not the greatest book I've ever read, but its flaws are only really apparent once you're done reading. It was an entertaining way to spend an afternoon.

No dragons... Well, that pretty much rules out all the fantasy books I've ever read.

Some of my favourites with non-traditional settings for Fantasy

The Drawing of the Dark - Tim Powers
On Stranger Tides - Tim Powers
The Face in the Abyss - A E Merritt
The Dwellers in the Mirage - A E Merritt
The Ship of Ishtar - A E Merritt
The House on the Borderland - William Hope Hodgson
The Chronicles of the Runestaff - Michael Moorcock
Mythago Wood - Robert Holdstock

Willie

Last Dragon by JM McDermott


There's not much dragon in that. Seriously.

Muhahaha
I get to say one of my fave books.

Chronicles of Morgaine, CJ Cherryh

No dragons, elves, imps, pixies, talking trees, or fluffy unicorns. Promise.

There is a tiny little soupcon of sci fi, but it doesn't really count because everyone thinks it's magic anyway....

- The Scar, China Miéville, also his Perdido Street Station, although that's more of a horror story.
- Ditto on Bujold.
- Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay, also his Sailing to Sarantium and its sequel.
- An oldy but a goody: The Riddle-Master Trilogy, Patricia A. McKillip

Metropolitan, by Walter Jon Williams. The world is a city, a combination of magic and steampunk, and the heroine is trying to accumulate the magical power she'll need to break out of the underclass....

Why don't people like the Wheel of Time?

Steve Perry's Matadora series: The Man Who Never Missed; Matadora; The Machievelli Interface; The Omega Cage; The 97th Step; The Albino Knife; Black Steel; Brother Death and The Musashi Flex.

David Gemmell's Hawk Queen Series: Ironhand's Daughter and The Hawk Eternal. Also his Drenai Saga: Legend; The King Beyond the Gate; Waylander; Quest for Lost Heroes; In the Realm of the Wolf (Waylander 2); The Fist Chronicles of Druss the Legend; The Legend of the Deathwalker; Winter Warriors; Hero in the Shadows; White Wolf and The Swords of Night and Day.

Darzian said:

Why don't people like the Wheel of Time?

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Because it needed editing, really really needed editing.
The phrase 'lost the plot' comes to mind.

*gets out notebook* I never even heard of most of these!

write2livelive2write said:

I'm looking for some great fantasy books to read. Lots of actions, fast paced, strong female characters, not medieval Europe setting, no exotica, no elvs, dwarves and dragons ...

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No dragons? Aww...

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones might fit your criteria. I don't think much about how paced some books are - if it moves fast enough I don't mind it. It's funny though. The first third of the movie Howl's Moving Castle is similar to the book but the rest isn't.