High Fantasy Books That AREN'T The Lord of The Rings Or George R. Martin
Top 10 High Fantasy Books That AREN'T The Lord of The Rings Or George R. Martin
: Theft of Swords, His Majesty's Dragon, The Eye of the World, Kushiel's Dart, Wise Child, The Way of Shadows, The Dragonbone Chair, The Thousand Names, The Warrior's Path, Daughter of the Blood
| Author | Michael J. Sullivan |
| ISBN | 0316187747 |
THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOSE POORLY.
There's no ancient evil to defeat or orphan destined for greatness, just unlikely heroes and classic adventure. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, are two enterprising rogues...
| Author | Naomi Novik |
| ISBN | 0345481283 |
Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life...
| Author | Robert Jordan |
| ISBN | 0812511816 |
The first series that showed it was possible to do an uninspired rewrite of Tolkien and make a mint was Shannara. After that the doors were flung wide, and the next to profit off the scheme was was Robert Jordan. Of course, I'm not suggesting it's bad to take inspiration from older authors--all authors...
| Author | Jacqueline Carey |
| ISBN | 0330493744 |
The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good... and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.
Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet...
| Author | Monica Furlong |
| ISBN | 0394825985 |
I heard about Monica Furlong's Wise Child from fellow goodreader Ruby Hollyberry. She wrote that a friend of hers attributed this book making her a witch. That's a neat as hell description of a book, and of course, I had to check it out. I feel some major digressions coming on... Wait, is it just gas? Nah...
| Author | Brent Weeks |
| ISBN | 0316033677 |
From New York Times Bestselling author Brent Weeks...
For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist.
For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people...
| Author | Tad Williams |
| ISBN | 0756402697 |
A war fueled by the powers of dark sorcery is about to engulf the peaceful land of Osten Ard—for Prester John, the High King, lies dying. And with his death, the Storm King, the undead ruler of the elf-like Sithi, seizes the chance to regain his lost realm through a pact with the newly ascended king. Knowing...
| Author | Django Wexler |
| ISBN | 0451465105 |
Enter an epic fantasy world that echoes with the thunder of muskets and the clang of steel—but where the real battle is against a subtle and sinister magic....
Captain Marcus d’Ivoire, commander of one of the Vordanai empire’s colonial garrisons, was resigned to serving out his days...
| Author | Catherine M. Wilson |
| ISBN | 0981563619 |
When she was a child, the author of When Women Were Warriors happily identified with all the male heroes she read about in stories that began, "Once upon a time, a young man went out to seek his fortune." But she would have been delighted to discover even one story like that with a female protagonist. Since...
| Author | Anne Bishop |
| ISBN | 0451456718 |
Librarian's Note: Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.
The Dark Kingdom is preparing itself for the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy--the arrival of a new Queen, a Witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself. But this new ruler is young, and very susceptible...
Gamaliel Tumpin has never been much more than a klutz. He can't shape-change into a mouse like his werling peers, and he can't run as fast as everyone else, and about all that he can do is fall flat on his face. Or so it seems. But on the day a dark force led by the wrathful High Lady of Hollow Hill threatens the...
| Author | Sharon Shinn |
| ISBN | 0441013031 |
Gillengaria seethes with unrest. In the south, hostility toward magic and its users has risen to a dangerous level, though King Baryn has ordered that such mystics are to be tolerated. It is whispered that he issued the decree because his new wife used her magic powers to ensnare him… The King knows...
He is DRUSS the Legend. His skill in battle has earned him a fearsome reputation throughout the world and the stories of his life are told everywhere. But the grizzled veteran has spurned a life of fame and fortune and has retreated to the solitude of his mountain lair to await his old enemy, Death.
Meanwhile,...
| Author | K. Arsenault Rivera |
| ISBN | 0765392534 |
Even gods can be slain….
The Hokkaran empire has conquered every land within their bold reach―but failed to notice a lurking darkness festering within the people. Now, their border walls begin to crumble, and villages fall to demons swarming out of the forests.
Away on the silver...
| Author | Janny Wurts |
| ISBN | 0061054623 |
“The waters of the world are deep. Chart your course with care.”
Wizards, demons and coming of age story with a twist. All in a classic epic fantasy setting of the noble good against the hideous evil.
Stormwarden! What a great title, no? Yet, be warned that the wizard of wind and wave,...
| Author | Mervyn Peake |
| ISBN | 0879514256 |
What an odd fantasy! No swords, no sorcery, no elves, no thieves, no imaginary beasts, no multiple planes of existence . . . nothing but a cavernous castle peopled by eccentrics with Dickensian names (Sepulchrave, Prunesquallor, Swelter, Flay) whose lives are determined by centuries--perhaps...
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
| Author | Margaret Weis |
| ISBN | 0786915749 |
Life-long friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales with strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets....
| Author | Christopher Paolini |
| ISBN | 0375826696 |
One boy...
One dragon...
A world of adventure.
When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled...
| Author | Mary Stewart |
| ISBN | 0060548258 |
Fifth century Britain is a country of chaos and division after the Roman withdrawal. This is the world of young Merlin, the illegitimate child of a South Wales princess who will not reveal to her son his father's true identity. Yet Merlin is an extraordinary child, aware at the earliest age that he possesses...
| Author | Melanie Rawn |
| ISBN | 0756403014 |
Gather round children, and cast your minds back to the ye old days of the late 80's/early 90's, when fantasy was still very much an underground thing, most stories were tedious Tolkien retreads or Dungeons and Dragons sessions put down on paper, and writers of the feminine persuasion were notably light...
| Author | Kai Meyer |
| ISBN | 3785723369 |
Am Tag seiner Geburt trug sein Vater ihn auf einem fliegenden Teppich hinauf in den Himmel über Samarkand - Tarik al-Jamal, der beste Schmuggler auf den Himmelsrouten des Orients. Keiner reitet einen Teppich wie er - bis er draußen im Dschinnland, den tödlichen Wüsten zwischen Samarkand und Bagdad,...
| Author | Paul Hoffman |
| ISBN | 0718155181 |
“Listen. The Sanctuary of the Redeemers on Shotover Scarp is named after a damned lie for there is no redemption that goes on there and less sanctuary.”
The Sanctuary of the Redeemers is a vast and desolate place—a place without joy or hope. Most of its occupants were taken there as boys...
| Author | David Eddings |
| ISBN | 0345352661 |
Garion has slain the evil God Torak and been crowned King of Riva. The Prophecy was fulfilled—or so it seemed. While the strange child Errand was growing up in the Vale of Aldur with Polgara and Durnik, showing only occasional flashes of inexplicable knowledge and power, Garion was learning to rule...
| Author | David Eddings |
| ISBN | 0345468643 |
A magnificent epic set against a history of seven thousand years of the struggles of Gods and Kings and men - of strange lands and events - of fate and a prophecy that must be fulfilled! THE BELGARIAD
Long ago, so the Storyteller claimed, the evil God Torak sought dominion and drove men and Gods...
| Author | Raymond E. Feist |
| ISBN | 0553564943 |
An alternate cover edition of this ISBN can be found here.
To the forest on the shore of the Kingdom of the Isles, the orphan Pug came to study with the master magician Kulgan. His courage won him a place at court and the heart of a lovely Princess, but he was ill at ease with normal wizardry. Yet his...
| Author | Terry Goodkind |
| ISBN | 0765346524 |
In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher's forest sanctuary seeking help . . . and more.
His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. In a dark age it takes courage to...
| Author | Michael J. Sullivan |
| ISBN | 0316187704 |
A PUPPET IS CROWNED. THE TRUE HEIR REMAINS HIDDEN. A ROGUE'S SECRET COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.
War has come to Melengar and once more Royce and Hadrian are hired to make a desperate gamble and form an alliance with the Nationalists whom are fighting the Imperialists in the south. As the power of...
| Author | Sara Douglass |
| ISBN | 0765356163 |
A millennia-old prophecy was given when the Forbidden Ones were driven from Achar. And now, the Acharites witness its manifestation: Achar is under attack by an evil lord from the North, Gorgreal-his ice demons strike from the sky and kill hundreds of brave warriors in the blink of an eye.
All...
| Author | J.V. Jones |
| ISBN | 1857233751 |
THE BOOK OF WORDS is a thrilling new fantasy adventure series, where the lethal conspiracies and deadly intrigues of the mighty can be countered only by the power of magic.
At vast Castle Harvell, Where King Lesketh lies dying, two fates collide. In her regal suite, young Melliandra, the daughter...
| Author | R.A. Salvatore |
| ISBN | 0786939532 |
Drow ranger Drizzt Do'Urden, first introduced in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, quickly became one of the fantasy genre's standout characters. But Homeland first reveals the startling tale of how this one lone drow walked out of the shadowy depths of the Underdark, leaving behind a society of evil and a...
