Fantasy Series Recommendations

Does anyone know any good fantasy series they can recommend for me apart from Shannara, Landover, or Xanth and don't span more than 3-4 books (i.e. no Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind)? There is just so much out there and I need to narrow the search a bit and I don't want to accidently pick any that will turn out to be utter pig swill.

Greenwood's "Spellfire" series

Feist's "Riftwar Saga" series (1st three books)

Dragonriders Of Pern Trilogy - Anne McCaffrey
Majipoor Cycle - Robert Silverberg
The Chronicles Of Amber: Corwin Cycle - Roger Zelazny
The Chronicles of the Deryni - Katherine Kurtz
The Legends of Camber of Culdi - Katherine Kurtz
The Histories of King Kelson - Katherine Kurtz (my son's name comes from this series)
don't forget Elric of Melniboné - Michael Moorcock

Super Old Skool:

Zothique
Hyperborea
Xiccarph
Poseidonis

Cool short story cycles by Clark Ashton Smith(Huge fan of his work)

The Conan series - Robert E. Howard

Also:

Gormenghast Series(Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone) - Mervyn Peake

Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. Le Guin (Love this series)

A personal favorite:

The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien. If you haven't read this book do it NOW!!!! GO!!! Stop reading this and go out and get!!!!!!!!! GIT!!!! Good Grief!!! Just GO!!!

chewie wrote:

Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. Le Guin (Love this series)

Terrible series. Haha. I could not get into it at all.

Anyway, DB, I highly recommend George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. It's a nine-book series, but only four are out right now. It's not heavy on the fantasy at this point, but it's one of the best--and baddest--series I've ever read. It's brilliant!

Eyesore wrote:

chewie wrote:

Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. Le Guin (Love this series)

Terrible series. Haha. I could not get into it at all.

Anyway, DB, I highly recommend George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. It's a nine-book series, but only four are out right now. It's not heavy on the fantasy at this point, but it's one of the best--and baddest--series I've ever read. It's brilliant!

Really!!!! To each his own

chewie wrote:

A personal favorite:

The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien. If you haven't read this book do it NOW!!!! GO!!! Stop reading this and go out and get!!!!!!!!! GIT!!!! Good Grief!!! Just GO!!!

x2. Great book!

chewie wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

chewie wrote:

Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. Le Guin (Love this series)

Terrible series. Haha. I could not get into it at all.

Anyway, DB, I highly recommend George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. It's a nine-book series, but only four are out right now. It's not heavy on the fantasy at this point, but it's one of the best--and baddest--series I've ever read. It's brilliant!

Really!!!! To each his own

Man, I heard so many great things about that one. I just found the style of writing to be absurdly boring.

Below are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. May I ask why you don't want anything longer than a 3-4 book series? You're missing out on SEVERAL very good series...

Brandon Sanderson - The Mistborn trilogy (The Final Empire, The Well Of Ascension, The Hero Of Ages)

C.S. Friedman - The Coldfire Trilogy (Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, Crown Of Shadows)

Thomas Harlan - The Oath Of Empire (Shadow Of Ararat, The Gate Of Fire, The Storm Of Heaven, The Dark Lord)

Stephen R. Lawhead - The Celtic Crusades trilogy (The Iron Lance, The Black Rood, The Mystic Rose)

Steven Brust - The Viscount Of Adrilankha trilogy (The Paths Of The Dead, The Lord Of Castle Black, Sethra Levode) (two books prior have direct links to this series...The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After)

David B. Coe - The Lon Tobyn Chronicle (Children Of Amarid, The Outlanders, Eagle-Sage)

David Eddings has several series that I enjoyed several years ago. The Belgariad (two series) and the Mallorean series in particular.

Eyesore wrote:

chewie wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

chewie wrote:

Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula K. Le Guin (Love this series)

Terrible series. Haha. I could not get into it at all.

Anyway, DB, I highly recommend George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. It's a nine-book series, but only four are out right now. It's not heavy on the fantasy at this point, but it's one of the best--and baddest--series I've ever read. It's brilliant!

Really!!!! To each his own

Man, I heard so many great things about that one. I just found the style of writing to be absurdly boring.

Aaaaah.... When I read it, I just happened to pick it up at my local library because I liked the cover, never heard of it beforehand. That was during a time in Jr. High and early High School when I would read all kinds of stuff(being a loner and all, especially when my best friend moved away) Fantasy/Sci Fi/some Classics(David Copperfield still haunts me) and that's one I liked.

One I couldn't get into was the Stephen Donaldson series... I can't remember what it was called, but I didn't like it.

Besides a lot of good recommendations already made, I like David Gemmell's stuff. He writes a variety of series but I guess his main one is his Drenai saga, which starts with Legend. He also wrote a Scottish-flavored series called the Rigante, which should probably be read with Iron Maiden's The Clansman playing in a continuous loop as background music, and I also enjoy his Jon Shannow trilogy, which is sort of like Mad Max reimagined as a Christian fanatic battling demons from hell.

You could also try the Dune series by Frank Herbert, although I would only recommend reading the first book "Dune" the rest are ok... to booorrriiinnngg.......

The Dragon Bone Chair series by Tad Williams is amazing fantasy. Dark, intense and a great selection of characters.

QuothTheRaven wrote:

David Eddings has several series that I enjoyed several years ago. The Belgariad (two series) and the Mallorean series in particular.

The Belgariad is awesome. Never read anything after that ties in, though. Years ago, I tried his Dreamers series and after two books I had to quit. It was terrible. Cardboard characters, silly concept, and just boring overall.

I've got another to recommend you, one I've just discovered myself. Almost through the second book of the trilogy, and it's a good one!

The Broken Well trilogy by Sam Bowring

The books are: Prophecy's Ruin, Destiny's Rift, and Soul's Reckoning

Book 1 started off with a VERY big bang! Tapered off a bit towards the middle, but the author kept things interesting. Not QUITE as detailed in environments, travels, etc as some fantasy authors can be, but he does a pretty good job of bringing his characters to life. Book 2 is a bit slower than book one, but has the feel of building for the climax in the final book.