Heheh, after years on LYN, I finally noticed this forum

My favourite genre is fantasy of course and just to share what I've read and been reading lately:

Series completed that I especially liked:
1. The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, plus the The Silmarillion; and related but not exactly novels: Unfinished Tales, Book of Lost Tales 1 & 2
- this was the very first fantasy fiction I ever read, and it just blew me away and made me a lifetime fan of the genre. I guess I'm lucky to have such a great intro to fantasy.
2. Dragonlance Chronicles and Dragonlance Legends by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
- considering I was an avid AD&D player and DM at the time, it was just perfect.
3. Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
- I really liked the conflict between the two major races, I found the concept quite unconventional at the time (first 4 books set on 4 seperate worlds, and events there leads to the last 3 books).
4. The first Shannara trilogy (Sword of Shannara, etc) by Terry Brooks
- I liked it then, but later stories couldn't sustain my interest.
5. The Belgariad and The Malloreon by David Eddings
- Loved it when I started out but eventually lost interest in DE's work.
6. The Elenium and The Tamuli by David Eddings
- Same as #5
7. Book of Words by JV Jones
8. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams
- Liked the story. He even wrote an adventure/fantasy with a cat as the main character (Tailchaser's Song - I liked it).
9. The Coldfire trilogy by Celia Friedman - my avatar is from the first book's cover (Black Sun Rising)!
- I bought the book because of the cool cover, and was hooked

Series in Progress:
1. Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
- One of my 3 current favourites, been reading since 14 years ago; now anxiously awaiting Brandon Sanderson's finishing of the series. I have to say I was lucky enough to meet RJ in person and have 3 of his books autographed by him
- I just love how the earlier books are so descriptive of the scenery. I kept reading The Eye of the World again and again.. the words are so descriptive I could imagine the scene in my mine so realistically.
- Loved it so much, I am now buying the unabridged audio CDs (audiobooks) to the series (from Amazon US), so I can have it on my iPod wherever I go. At about 20 CDs or so per book, it's a slow and steady effort.
- Re-read it many times and I still can't figure out who killed Asmodean!
2. Malazan Books of the Fallen - Steven Erikson (and related books by Ian Esslemont)
- Simply amazing! One of my 3 current favourites. Extremely complex storyline. I get lost sometimes but it's worth it!
3. Song of Ice and Fire - George RR Martin
- One of my 3 current favourites. I find his potrayal of characters to be so "realistic" that everything is in shades of grey.
4. Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
- I started only because he is finishing RJ's work on Wheel of Time, but so far I am enjoying his style.
5. Sword of Shadows - JV Jones
- on pause after the first book, too many to read
6. Shadowmarch - Tad Williams
- on pause after the first book, too many to read

Currently reading:
1. Elantris - Brandon Sanderson
- Brandon's first book IIRC. Unconventional to say the least. Pretty interesting so far.


Books in the queue: - the Malazan books get their turn next
1. Return of the Crimson Guard - Ian Esslemont
2. Toll the Hounds - Steven Erikson

Series in the queue:
1. Otherland - Tad Williams (already bought all the books)
2. Boreal Moon Tale - Julian May (already bought the first 3 books, don't know if there's more coz I didn't read them yet)

As you can see there's a lot of books I haven't read yet... been trying to go through my list but the stack of unread books keeps getting higher
I sometimes read 2-3 novels at a time (one at home - the main book; one in my car - when I am stuck somewhere coz of jam, I can stop for a drink and read; one in my travelling bag - for when I travel for work/holiday, I have something to read on the plane or at the airport).


dishwasher:
A Dance of Dragons is due out Sept this year... I've been waiting for ages for it, since I've pre-ordered it at Amazon (till they canceled it coz the book didn't get published last year as expected).
I've read 2 of Fred Saberhagen's work. My favourite was Empire of the East, and the other was a Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula novel.

Terry Goodkind's work - I started on the novels with Wizard's First Rule but after the 3rd book, I lost interest. Also read a bunch of other authors, mostly in past years when I was desperate for reading material coz I had read everything already published (at the time) by RJ, Steven Erikson and George RR Martin - Angus Wells (ok-la), Melanie Rawn, Dennis McKiernan (ugh... don't bother), Raymond Feist (the Riftwar books were good, but lost interest later – blame it on Steven Erikson for writing so good!).

In the past when I needed a break from fantasy I read espionage/sci-fi thrillers (Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, Craig Thomas), but these days I mostly read historical fiction (Dan Brown, Steve Berry, Valerio Manfredi, Raymond Khoury).