Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

With summer coming around you may be thinking about embarking on a new adventure. And barring a vacation in a European Medieval Castle there are few ways as rewarding as starting a new series of fantasy books. In this post I give you my opinion as to the top 5 series of all time (longevity and popularity are the keys for this selection and I just leave Lord of the Rings right out of it. No need for me to cover that one. It is head and shoulders above all the rest and is in a category all by itself.)

I haven’t placed these series in order of importance

Terry Brooks: The books of Shannara series.

There are currently twenty books in the Shannara series and they are roughly broken down into trilogys. It all began in 1977 with the release of the first book The Sword of Shannara This series of books is often heralded as the rightful heir to the Lord of the Rings and I have to agree I read the first book when it came out and fell in love with the series. The books all take place in Shannara but cover a lot of time and a lot of different characters. If you are considering an adventure into Shannara you should start right here with the first book of the first trilogy. The second book is The Elfstones of Shannara which is currently being made into a major motion picture. The third book of the trilogy is The Wishsong of Shannara.

Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series

This is a series of books that currently number 11. The twelfth and final book is scheduled to be out in the Fall of 2009. Robert Jordan passed away while working on this final book but he has extensive interviews and work with Brandon Sanderson who will complete the work for him. It’s a wonderful series of books and is extremely large! The page count of each book goes anywhere from 700 to 1100 pages. I personally devoured the first five books in the series one right after the other. After reading the first I ordered the second and so on right through the first five. Never got a chance to go past the fifth. Had to try other things. Well written and very complex. Nice stuff but does get some criticism for tending to keep you hanging all the time. I would say this series is a bit more serious than the Shannara series. The Second Book is The Great Hunt.

Terry GoodKind Sword of Truth Series

The first book in this series is Wizards First Rule. I have read the first three books in this series and thoroughly enjoyed them. I will get to the others eventually. The Very first book (Wizards First Rule) is just phenomenal. It was released in 1994 to much critical acclaim. You may want to get the box set of the first three novels. You are going to burn through the first one pretty quick. The Sword of Truth,  Books 1-3: Wizard’s First Rule, Blood of the Fold ,Stone of Tears

Stephen Donaldson The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever:

Lord Foul’s Bane; The Illearth War; The Power That Preserves ) - Of all the series I have read this is my absolute favorite. I have read through the whole series twice. This world stands apart from the others for a couple of reasons. True it is a fantasy work with all the usual things like magic, wizards, big battles and well you know. But it is also very sharply balanced by a peculiar main character - Covenant. He is a leper and a bit of an anti-hero. For a portion of the story he doesn’t believe what is happening and he doesn’t want to be the hero. There is a very strong internal conflict in him and it goes nicely with the external conflict. Love these books. The first one isLord Foul’s Bane Book 1) and it was released in 1977. There are currently eight books in the series and two more are scheduled.

George R.R. Martin: A Song of Ice and Fire Series

This is a series of currently four books and the first book is A Game of Thrones published in 1996. There are three more books planned for the series and several prequel novellas. The fifth book in the series (A Dance with Dragons) is scheduled to be released in Sep 2008) This series of books is more contemporary than the other series; It was started in 1996. And it tends to have much more of a Medieval Europe flavor to it. Political intrigue and the maneuverings between various factions play a big part in the story.

If you are a big fan of epic fantasy you might want to check out The Fantasy Guide which gives you guides to lots of fantasy fiction including hero and heroine guides.

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I was over a friends house and the television show “Eli Stone” happened to be on. Normally I wouldn’t have noticed much of it but I am familiar with the theme that Eli has some kind of a brain disorder and he often hallucinates in ways that are very real. Anyway, I was immediately drawn to the show when, as Eli was walking down a normal street, a dragon appeared out of nowhere and swooped down on him. This was quickly followed by a knight in armor who challenged the dragon and chased it away.

And it made me wonder why the archetypes of the dragon and the knight are so deeply ingrained in our collective psyche? Well, I kind of answered the question by saying “archetype”. and it is interesting how this struggle between knight and dragon has come to represent so much to us. And it is ironic how so much of epic fantasy writing has forgotten that very point!

The archetypical struggle between the knight and the dragon has come to signify the mighty struggles that we as human beings undergo. It represents Eli’s struggle with his brain tumor and with the ethics of his profession. It also represents the struggle we all as human beings face every single day - the struggle with the mystery of living. It is truly a very big dragon. … It’s a shame we don’t get any insights about it in modern fantasy anymore. They have lots of dragons but never point out what the dragon really means. I wonder what the writer of Beowulf would say about this.

Businessman-Knight Fighti…

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I put in a serious blitz this week with the Fantasy Guide website and it is now complete and uploaded to the server. Well, complete is a term I use loosely because no website is ever complete. They always need to be updated on a regular basis and added to with fresh new content. Anyhoo, the new template is completed and the new information design etc. and it is now live.

So, if you are a big fan of fantasy books, epic fantasy, series of books like the wheel of time, chronicles of thomas covenant, Shannara and the like you might want to check it out. The basic goal of the site is to be a guide to fantasy books. There are essays, articles and guides for reading and finding books. The Fantasy Guide

Youre going to have to poke around a bit on the site to dig up all the things. i have a fantasy newsletter you can sign up for, top ten lists, bestsellers and lots of great resources including articles I have written for people  who want to write fantasy. There are also live feeds direct from amazon with their hourly updated lists of fantasy books in a lot of different areas. Have fun!

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