Bertass's Top 5 Favourite Fantasy Authors Of All Time
I'm going to start this one off with a controversial statement - JRR Tolkein is not on this list.Phew, I'm glad that's out of the way.
Oh. You want an explanation, and to cry havoc. Ok, well, it's simple - the world owes a debt to Mr Tolkein, and the world of Fantasy in particular, but there are authors out there who's books I just enjoy reading more. The Lord of the Rings is a phenomenal piece in it's scale and ambition, but I have never been able to get over the fact that I find the style it's written in a little difficult to crack. In fact, without having seen the films first, I'm not sure when I would have made any headway, as I'd tried to read it once before and not been successful. I've also tried to read other books by Tolkein, Children of Hurin being the worst offtender, where I just couldn't get into them in the slightest.
Oh, and I've never read Game of Thrones.
So, allow yourselves a few minutes to berate me.
Done?
Let's move on.
*THERE ARE CERTAIN SPOILERS IN THIS ARTICLE - I'VE TRIED TO HINT WHEN THEY'RE ABOUT TO APPEAR, BUT BE WARNED!*
5. Kelley Armstrong
Known for: The Women of the Otherworld Series
We being with Canadian author Kelley Armstrong, who introduced me to the joys of having a lengthy continuing fantasy series, rather than a trilogy. The joy of a series, of course, is that you can tell an entire story within one book, but add to an overall arc with character- and world-building. And boy does Armstrong know how to do this well.
What is so great about her Women of the Otherworld series is that nearly all of the books are written from the viewpoint of a different character, for the entirety of that book. It keeps the series interesting, giving you a different set of ethics and understanding of the world each time, and, although some authors do this within a single book, if you like to keep your narrative confined to just one character to keep all the mysteries and suspense of a novel intact without the risk of another character spoiling it in their mind, Armstrong's books are most certainly for you.
In a change to the type of fantasy I usually read (usually heroic, epic or high), the Women of the Otherworld series is set in our reality, with supernatural beings hiding in plain sight. It's nice to read something different, and this secret world-within-our-world that Armstrong has built, and the characters that inhabit it, is so engaging that I've come back to it time and time again. I love seeing characters from stories I've already read cropping up as the narrator, or focal point of the story, and seeing their personalities in more detail.
Armstrong has written a couple of other young adult series, and although I haven't personally read any (I had too much fun with the Women of the Otherworld to have time to try another series of hers!), I know they've been very well received.
Whenever anyone wants a new fantasy or paranormal series to try in the library, Kelley Armstrong comes up each time. For a series to still grip you after 13 novels, you know the author has to be a master at writing wonderful worlds and colourful characters.
Must-Read: Stolen
4. Sarah Ash
Known for: The Tears of Artamon Trilogy
At university, like most people with a student loan, it struck me that I suddenly had a vast wealth that I could spend however I damn well pleased. Food had to come into it somewhere, but obviously the vast majority was for me to spend on 'other' items. With a Waterstones on campus, I took advantage early on of expanding my book collection, and still being in the grip of Lord of the Rings fever, I decided to plump for a few more fantasy books, one of which was Lord of Snow and Shadows, book one in the Tears of Artamon trilogy by Sarah Ash.
Now, it might be going a little over the top to say that my life would have turned out very differently had Sarah Ash not come into my life at that time, but I must credit her with kick starting my true love of fantasy fiction. The Tears of Artamon trilogy captivated me from start to finish, forcing me to rush back out to buy the next two books before I'd even finished the first, lest I go longer than an hour before starting the next book in the series. The world that Sarah weaved made me want to be there, the characters were deliciously evil or inspiringly good, and the symbiotic relationship that Gavril Nagarian has with Drakhaoul, forcing him to do evil in the hope of doing good, is one of the best I have ever read.
To this day, it's a trilogy that I recommend whenever anyone comes into the library, and if it wasn't for the fact that I've only read the three books in this trilogy (there are a couple more set in the past of the same world as Tears of Artamon, and a couple more stand-alone novels) she'd probably be higher up.
Must-Read: The Tears of Artamon Trilogy
3. CS Lewis
Known for: The Chronicles of Narnia
If Tolkein is the most influential fantasy writer of all time, CS Lewis must be a close second. The reason that children have to be warned not to play in wardrobes, his 7-book Chronicles of Narnia are my fondest literary moment from childhood, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favourite book of all time. The world that Lewis built is rich with talking beasts, islands of adventure, and some of the best known characters in all of literary history. Everybody knows who Aslan is, even if not everybody has read the books.
Out of all the choices in this top 5, Lewis is the only one writing in what could be termed an 'old-fashioned' style ('You rotten beast, Edmund!'). I've never quite been able to put my finger on what it is that separates an 'old-fashioned' style, with a 'modern' style, but I could show you examples, and I'm sure you know what I mean. I love it all the more for this in many way, even though I worry nowadays that a lot of children are put off by this style.
The whole concept of finding a world within a wardrobe is exactly what childhood imagination is all about - finding an object and turning it into a vehicle for adventure, whether it's a cardboard box becoming a plane to take you over mountains, to a cardboard tube becoming a sword for you to slay dragons. Not only do we have wonderful adventures in the land of Narnia itself, we also journey to the Outlying Lands and explore everything up to the edge of the world. It's all painted in such a way that we don't have to put any effort into imagining it - the pictures fly out of the pages at us, leaving us in no doubt that we're off in a magical land.
It was hard to pick a must-read out of the seven books, but for my money the lands visited in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are the most exciting of all, from it's invisible enemies to it's magical dragon. Any time I imagine the journey I would want to take readers on as an author, I immediately head to this quest, and realise the best journey in the world has already been written
Must-Read: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
2. Fiona McIntosh
Known for: The Trinity Trilogy, The Quickening Trilogy
It's difficult to pick between them when you have two authors that you can't put down - both leave you hungry for the next books in the series, both can write a twisting, turning plot, and both have heroes and villains to make you cheer and jeer. In many ways, Fiona McIntosh deserves to be number 1 in this list - I've read multiple trilogies by her, can write an evil character better than anyone else in the business, and she's one of the first authors I recommend to other people. It's for two reasons that she misses out on the top spot - firstly, I read Jennifer Fallon's books first, and secondly, there's just something about Fallon's The Demon and The Second Sons trilogies that stand out that little bit more than The Trinity Trilogy, The Quickening Trilogy, and the Percheron Trilogy. But don't misunderstand - McIntosh writes some of the most exciting and un-put-downable books that I've ever read. And my GOD, can she write a villain.
I'll start with that last statement - the villain Goth from The Trinity Trilogy is one of the most evil and despicable bad guys that I've ever read, and no matter what she throws at him, he won't die! If you think the Terminator was tough, try throwing him up against Goth. You think Sauron had it bad losing his ring? *SPOILER* This guy had his 'Little Goth' chopped off and still manages to stick around to cause havoc. *END SPOILER*
In her Percheron Trilogy, she throws in one the biggest twists I've ever read in a book, outside of something like Game of Thrones. *SPOILER* The main character, Boaz (or at least, the person I assumed to be the main protagonist) dies in the third book, in a place I was least expecting it, and in many ways without a fanfare - to me, this was an incredibly brave move, which led the way to another character being set as the real protagonist of the story. Similar, I suppose, to how if you take all six Star Wars films, the real protagonist of the lot is Anakin Skywalker. Although I try not to acknowledge the prequels, as I'm sure most of you do, so take of that what you will. *END SPOILER* There are several instances where she delivers a shocking twist throughtout her different series, and we never know whether there's going to be a follow up that explains the trick in further detail, or whether it really is the death of a character, for example.
She also has the ability to create a complex story and keep it easy to follow - in The Trinity Trilogy, takes the concept of a conflict from years before being played out once again through re-incarnation, which could have become hideously complicated, but was spread out so well over the trilogy that it becomes a natural way for the story to progress, and keeps a grand idea within easy reach.
You know with Fiona McIntosh that you're going to be gripped from start to finish, with characters that you fall in love with, to those you can't wait to see get justice. You'll be twisted and turned, shocked and delighted, and you'll want to hunt out the next series to get your teeth into as soon as you've finished the previous one.
Must-Read: The Trinity Trilogy
1. Jennifer Fallon
Known for:
And so to our winner. Arise, Jennifer Fallon! I can honestly say that there isn't a trilogy that I have devoured as quickly, and as passionately, as The Second Sons Trilogy, followed in close second by The Demon Child trilogy, both written by the author. I read The Demon Child trilogy first, and as with Sarah Ash, I had to rush out to buy the next novels halfway through the first. In fact, I loved them so much that I ended up buying all of The Second Sons as well, based purely on the fact that I was entranced by her ability to weave a tale.
She has a real gift for making you love or hate a character, twisting a story on its head and making you shout and scream at the unjustice that has just occurred in the story as she does so. She plants grand plans in a story, leaving you unable to understand how she can possibly pull it off, and then doing so in such a manner that it takes your breath away. Only Fiona McIntosh comes close to her with these two points.
I knew that Fallon should top this list when I realised that every time I come across a fantasy reader in the library, my first question is 'Have you read anything by Jennifer Fallon?'. My second question is 'Shall I order you one of them in?'. When one of her books arrives as a request, I can feel the excitement I knew as a first time reader of her books, and also a pang of jealousy as I realise someone else is lucky enough to be embarking on that same journey.
In addition, there really could be only one winner when two of her trilogies are my two favourite trilogies of all time, ahead of Sarah Ash's Tears of Artamon. Whilst I'm not sure you could classify her work as full-blown 'epic' fantasy like you would Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire, and the ambition and scope of the worlds in her books doesn't reach the heights of these, she creates such wonderful worlds that they work as more intimate settings. At least, intimate compared to Middle Earth or Westeros - they don't exactly feel small when you're reading them. It's a Fallon-esque world that I want to write about whenever I sit down to plan a story - a tale of neighbouring countries who are friends and enemies, with the low-born rising up to take their place amongst the high-born.
If I had to sum up exactly what it is that makes Jennifer Fallon my favourite fantasy author of all time, it's this: no other fantasy author has kept me as utterly hooked to a series as she has, caring about its characters, applauding the solutions the characters find to the problems they find themselves in, and the physical need to turn the page to see how they'll fight on for another day.
And she managed this with TWO trilogies.
Must-Read: The Second Sons Trilogy
If I had to sum up exactly what it is that makes Jennifer Fallon my favourite fantasy author of all time, it's this: no other fantasy author has kept me as utterly hooked to a series as she has, caring about its characters, applauding the solutions the characters find to the problems they find themselves in, and the physical need to turn the page to see how they'll fight on for another day.
And she managed this with TWO trilogies.
Must-Read: The Second Sons Trilogy
I'm curious about how you can get through a whole article about fantasy without even mentioning the most successful fantasy series of recent times; namely Harry Potter. There's plenty you can say about JK Rowling, for good or ill, but I will put down one simple reason why she deserves to be in the top 5 - she got children interested in reading.
ReplyDeleteOf course the real issue with your list is your opening gambit; and while you at least acknowledge the flaw in your Tolkien-less list, you haven't got to the nub of the problem. Every single fantasy novel of the last sixty years has been heavily influenced by Tolkien; even if it's by a choice to consciously reject his approach. All of your authors apart from Lewis sit in that time-period apart from CS Lewis, as it is well-known that he and Tolkien worked very closely on their writing - proof-reading and making suggestions to each other. The best example of his influence is the depiction of elves - when you think of an elf, what do you think of? If you think of a long-lived human-like creature with pointy ears and loads of wisdom (and probably a bow-and-arrow), or something that deliberately rejects that archetype, then you are being influenced by Tolkien. If you look at elvish depictions in Nordic mythology, then they tend to be closer to how you would think of a Faerie. Of course his real contribution to the genre isn't any specific cliche or archetype, but the world-building that he did. Every other fantasy world tries to be as detailed as his, or it simply falls apart in comparison otherwise.
You've also missed a couple of modern masters, in Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett; I'm not sure any list is complete without looking at either of them. Gaiman is superb at meta-stories, telling stories about the art of storytelling, often using fantasy as his way into a surreal world. His Sandman stories are absolutely superb, and use the central character of Morpheus, Lord of Dreams to create a story that shows the importance of storytelling itself. And nobody does parody fiction better than Pratchett, who has used fantasy as a way of satirising hundreds of aspects of modern society.
ReplyDeleteI'll give you George RR Martin though; Game of Thrones is pretty good, but the sequels are less so. It suffers from a simple problem of far too many point-of-view characters; for example, in the 3rd book (A Storm of Swords) there are 12 point-of-view characters, almost all of whom are in different places (and in one instance, on a different continent) from all of the other characters, and thus have their own set of supporting characters and sub-plots. Apart from the amount of confusion that causes, it means that the pace is glacially slow - if you enjoy one character's storyline, you may have to wait a couple of hundred pages before you get another chapter from their perspective again; the end result is that all of the plot-lines get really bogged down. In the later books, he actually has so many narrators that he splits them into different books - so book 4 (A Feast of Crows) follows one set of characters, and book 5 (A Dance with Dragons) follows a completely different set - between them, they have 30 point-of-view characters!
You are also missing the most famous fantasy author of all time, William Shakespeare. Hamlet and Macbeth have fantasy elements in them, in the ghost and the witches respectively, but in particular it's in A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest that he shows his fantasy skill. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a brilliantly trippy tale of four lovers spending one night in a forest being tormented and misdirected by Puck, the ultimate trickster (and a slightly more harmless version of the original faerie archetype I mentioned as Tolkien's elvish inspiration earlier). There's also the tempestuous marriage of the king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, whose bickering sets the tone of a hilarious play that uses magic to show that 'The course of true love never did run smooth'. And what is The Tempest, if not the beautiful final tale of a wizard before he breaks his staff?
Dude, I think you're missing the part where I said 'there are authors out there whose books I just enjoy reading more'. In terms of influence, I'd agree that Tolkein, Rowling and Pratchett should be up there, along with Lewis, but when it comes down to pure enjoyment I just found myself enraptured more with those on my list. This is from the last part about Jennifer Fallon: 'If I had to sum up exactly what it is that makes Jennifer Fallon my favourite fantasy author of all time, it's this: no other fantasy author has kept me as utterly hooked to a series as she has, caring about its characters, applauding the solutions the characters find to the problems they find themselves in, and the physical need to turn the page to see how they'll fight on for another day.' How can I possibly put anyone else in front of her, if I've never enjoyed anything else as much as her books?
ReplyDeleteI wasn't saying that Game of Thrones isn't on the list because it doesn't deserve it though, just that I've never read it!
I very, very nearly put JK Rowling on there, but there's one reason I didn't - I see the Harry Potter series as a coming-of-age series with fantasy elements, rather than a fantasy series. I know that's a very strange (and pretty much inaccurate) way of looking at it, considering there are wizards and dragons etc. in it, but when I thought about it I didn't see it as being a part of my fantasy-education, whereas Kelley Armstrong has been a major part of that. However, I do think that it deserves a mention in that respect, so I'm going to edit the article to feature that. I'm also going to edit the title to reflect that this list is a 'favourite' list, rather a 'best/most influential' list, to avoid any more confusion.
With Pratchett and Tolkein, when it comes down to it I just don't find the books as accessible and enjoyable to read as those on the list. I loved the Bromeliad trilogy when I was younger but any of his adult books that I've read I've had to work really hard at to get into, which can't qualify him to be one of my favourites. With Tolkein, I couldn't get into Lord of the Rings until I'd seen the first film, when I knew how some of the story was going to go and I could then get used to the style knowing what was coming, and again I just can't see how I can therefore count him as one of my favourites. I've mentioned Children of Hurin above, and I think perhaps the problem with that particular book is that it was edited together by Christopher Tolkein rather than JRR, so I might have been a bit hasty with that comment, but then I feel the same about the writing style of The Hobbit - what particularly grates me about The Hobbit is that it has always felt to me as an adult that it's very hard to get into, when it's technically meant to be a children's book. Although CS Lewis has a similar writing style, typical of the period, I find his to be much easier to get into. I can't comment on Neil Gaiman as I've never properly read anything by him, although his writing on Doctor Who is exceptional.
I do think with authors like Tolkein and Pratchett it's easy to think that they SHOULD get put on a favourites list, because of their status in literary history - I wanted to avoid doing this by having the authors I've personally enjoyed most on it. I always think that certain 'classic' authors end up on lists time and time again because people think they SHOULD be voting for them, although the flip side of this is of course that people do have to genuinely enjoy them to vote for them on a favourites list at all - I just think that, if they had 5 'classic' and 5 non-'classic' authors and could only vote for 5, they'd be more likely to go for the 'classic' authors for no reason more than they think people would look down on them for not doing so.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare, I suppose, has to go on any list of influential writers for any genre of anything ever by default, but I still find everything he's every written ridiculously tedious and mind-numbingly dull. I could possibly enjoy a modern-English re-telling, but then that wouldn't be Shakespeare I was enjoying.
That's fair enough; I guess my perspective on the list comes from a different interpretation of your title. Your argument on classic verses non-classic authors is an interesting one, that may be worth I full blog someday - are the big name authors mentioned because of their skill, or just because they've had good marketing, and are now the established name? Given your obvious interest in mentioning slightly more obscure authors, perhaps any future lists that you do should be specifically about that - so in this case, it could be Top 5 fantasy authors that should be mentioned in the same breath as Tolkien?
ReplyDeleteI know that sometimes I have a different feeling of my 'favourite' something as opposed to what I think was technically the 'best' something so I'll have to watch out for that in the future!
ReplyDeleteThere's been a lot of people mentioned how they think that people have voted for the 'classics' just because they think they should, with our favourite read poll in the library. But yeah, I think that could warrant a full post!
I like the title you've come up with, but I'd call them 'less mainstream' rather than 'slightly more obscure', just because they're big names in the world of Fantasy - I know it's essentially the same thing but I think the former sounds slightly more positive! I think I might have to re-do the list again in a couple of years, when I've finally got round to reading other big Fantasy authors like Robin Hobb (mega embarassment there that I've got three of her books and never read any...), Terry Goodkind, and more by Brandon Sanderson.
You should definitely revisit in a few years - but not just because you've caught up on the authors you mentioned, but because hopefully there will be some new ones! I'd be a bit disappointed if the greatest works of any category were already written, and the future didn't have anything more to offer.
ReplyDeleteNice review.
ReplyDeleteI'm into my fantasy and ready Lord of the Rings when I was a kid. The problem was I didn't then go and read any loads of other fantasy, other than childrens stuff and Terry Pratchett (also a Terry Brooks). I've got more into it the last couple of years, reading Game of Thrones series and a lesser known one by James Maxwell.
So I'm looking to find some new fantasy stuff to read, looks like there is some to look at here. I was going to ask what you thought about some of the bigger ones not yet mentioned in this post e.g. Robin Hobb, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind but realise they were mentioned in the final post doh! Well, except for Robert Jordan, have you read any of him?
Agree with Andy's critism of Game of Thrones, but still not a big enough downside for the series to be amoungst my favourite books ever.
I also think it makes sense to go with non-classics. There are normally always authors I prefer more the the well known authors. Same goes with all things (music, board games, films etc.)
ReplyDeleteI've never managed to get round to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, mainly because it's such a daunting task! 14 volumes + a prequel and they're all huge! The main criticism that gets levelled is that it's almost impossible to keep up with all of them, especially as there are hundreds of characters to remember over the course of the series. I've read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson who took over the series for the last 3 books, and he's well worth giving a go - he's trying to do his own 10-book epic saga called The Stormlight Archives in a similar vein, the second volume of which is out next year.
ReplyDeleteI've got a few Robin Hobb and just never managed to start them, but from what I've heard she writes exactly the sort of thing that I like, similar to Jennifer Fallon.
You might also want to check out Trudi Canavan, who's got a few series under her belt. I've read The Magician's Guild which was very good, and at some point I'll complete the trilogy.
I'm not about to suggest that I'm non-conformist which is why there aren't many 'classic' authors in this list, as they are usually classic authors for a reason, but I think it's too easy to just fill it with them. Although, as Andy says, JK Rowling possibly deserved a place on the list, and I did promise to edit the article to write a bit about her which I haven't done yet - as I say in the comments, I think more of Harry Potter as a coming-of-age series with fantasy elements, but strictly speaking it's certain fantasy.