My favorite genre! Discuss them here.

I recently read Magician: Apprentice by.. uh.. Robert Fiest maybe? It was good, and after Christmas I'll use my zillions of Barnes and Noble Gift Cards to pick up more of that series.

Any other fantasy books you all recommend?

My favorite fantasy novels of all time are the Mars and Venus series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. These books are absolutely amazing, especially considering the time period in which he wrote them. If you can them, you really need to read these books. I think I will start a topic just for Burroughs under authors because he has so many other books. By the way, I am also really excited because his book "John Carter of Mars" is finally getting adapted for the big screen. The Conran brothers are directing/producing and our friend Harry Knowles from Ain't It Cool is involved as well.

Venus and mars.
A great album Paul.

Most people here are probably a bit old for these, but when I was younger I read the "His Dark Materials" series by Phillip Pullman and really enjoyed them. They were so original and beautifully written. And they were full of great action and plot twists and overall very cool, interesting books. Anybody else ever read them? I'd recommend checking them out, even if you're an adult.

I LOVED his dark materials. Some of my favorite books. I think this is a VERY general discussion though.

I enjoyed those as well. Read them (re-read for the first two, actually) about this time last year. Good stuff. Yeah, they're kind of children's books, but they are surprisingly deep.

My all time favorite book is BRIDGE OF BIRDS by Barry Hughart. I'm not a fantasy reader, but I love Hughart's three books about "an ancient China that never was" and about his hero, Master Li who has "a slight flaw" in his character.

I'm a big fan of the Terry Pratchet novels. I recently enjoyed "The Hogfather" so I would recommend that as a good read. It was more of a comedy fantasy book and if we're talking about that genre then my second is "Road to Mars" by Eric Idle.

The Well of Tears:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765312069/ref=nosim/sfwa-20
http://www.ceciliadartthornton.com/freeshot.html
http://www.sfwa.org/pressbook/2006/0116a-Dart-Thornton.html
Poetic prose master author. A joy to read.
Wonderful adventure and landscape.

Stephen Donaldson's "The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant" are stunning books. They have been recognised as among the real true 'classics' of the fantasy genre. Up there with 'The Lord Of The Rings'. There are 8 books so far - the 1st 6 having been written over 20 years ago. The author picked up his pen in the last few years to carry on with the chronicles. the latest one "A Fatal Reverent" was released just last month. They are intense, beautiful and very rewarding but NOT an easy read!