# Your Favorite "Light" Fantasy Books



## Mistwell (Jan 30, 2009)

I've been reading some denser fantasy lately (like Erikson's "Malazan: Book of the Fallen" series).  It's good stuff, but it requires attention to detail, is lengthy, and isn't what you would call "light" fantasy reading.

I am looking for some lighter fantasy right now.  Something similar to Harry Potter.  I was considering maybe Coraline from Neil Gaiman (I've read just about all of his other stuff).

I am not looking for something as light as the Xanth series or anything.  Harry Potter probably is a better level than Xanth, for what I am interested in.

Anyone have any recommendations?


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## Thanee (Jan 30, 2009)

Quicksilver Trilogy (Quicksilver Rising, Zenith & Twilight) from Stan Nicholls

Great read IMHO and definitely on the light side. Cool characters and a lot of modern-style elements, which are nicely incorporated into the fantasy world.

Also the Gentlemen Bastard series, The Lies of Locke Lamora, is reasonably light and very fun.

Bye
Thanee


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## The Human Target (Jan 31, 2009)

I second the Lies of Locke Lamora.


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## Mallus (Jan 31, 2009)

Eddings's Belgariad, Fiest's Riftwar, and more recently, Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora --which gets decidedly _not light_ in places.


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## GSHamster (Jan 31, 2009)

Jim Butcher's _Dresden Files_ or _Aleran Codex_.


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## Merkuri (Jan 31, 2009)

I liked the Deathgate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, but I read it a long time ago and don't recall how mature it was.  I think I read them in either middle school or early high school - I always had a high reading level so sometimes I'd read age-appropriate books and sometimes I'd read more mature books and I don't recall which category these fall into.  

Oh, and if you haven't read them before, don't read the Wikipedia article.  In the first paragraph of the article they reveal some secrets that you don't learn until the fourth book, I think.  Geeze!

If you haven't read them already any of the Dragonlance books are good, too.  I remember reading the original trilogy (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning) and I felt like I was partaking in the candy of the book world.  They were good stories, a nice adventure, but not very filling.  

I just realized that both sets of books I recommended were by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.  In my opinion they do good "candy" fantasy books.  Anything by them will probably fit your needs.


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## Wombat (Jan 31, 2009)

For me, it's probably Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd & Grey Mouser series -- whopping fun, not much to have to think about, and origins of every thieve's guild in ever game


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## drothgery (Feb 1, 2009)

Almost all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos books. Naomi Novik's Teremaire series.


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## BadMojo (Feb 1, 2009)

drothgery said:


> Almost all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos books. Naomi Novik's Teremaire series.




I second the "Vlad Taltos" books.  The writing itself is excellent and I think *most* of the books would qualify as light.  The ones that fall in to the "caper gone horribly wrong" category are fun, fast reads.

I enjoy Simon Green's "Hawk and Fisher" books which come across as a mixture of a fantasy novel and a cop buddy movie.  The writing isn't exactly good; maybe average at best, but the subject matter is entertaining.


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## Mouseferatu (Feb 1, 2009)

I'll second (third, fourth, whatever) Brust's _Vlad Taltos_ series and Green's _Hawk and Fisher_ series. I also enjoyed Eddings' _Belgariad_, though I preferred the _Elenium_ (his first trilogy about the knight Sparhawk) myself.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Feb 1, 2009)

1) The _Diskworld_ books rock

2) Green's_ Hawk & Fisher_ books are a good, fast read, and his _Nightside_ novels are good as well, if you like urban fantasy.

3) Glen Cook's _Garrett, PI_ stories are a comedic fantasy take on the Nero Wolfe detective stories.

4) You're a Gaiman fan- check out his book with Terry Pratchett, _Good Omens_ if you haven't already.

5) Alan Dean Foster's _Spellsinger _books are a good read.

6) If you haven't found them already, the _Thieves World_ story collections are awesome!


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## Zaukrie (Feb 2, 2009)

Brust's Vlad Taltos - great "light" reading fantasy.

I'm re-reading Feist's books right now. While they aren't mature, they are more desnse with information than I recalled. They are actually better than I remember them being (and I now see why my oldest son has read them about 4 -6 times the last two years).


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## Graybeard (Feb 3, 2009)

Try Peter David's Apropos series. There are three books (I think only 3 anyway). Each one is very light fantasy.


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## Glyfair (Feb 4, 2009)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> 3) Glen Cook's _Garrett, PI_ stories are a comedic fantasy take on the Nero Wolfe detective stories.



A small nit-pick:

It's a fantasy take on Sherlock Holmes.  The second book has a Nero Wolfe pastiche as a side character, but the main character is Sherlock Holmes.


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## garyh (Feb 4, 2009)

Mouseferatu said:


> I also enjoyed Eddings' _Belgariad_, though I preferred the _Elenium_ (his first trilogy about the knight Sparhawk) myself.




Another vote here for Eddings' Sparhawk books, the _Elenium _and _Tamuli_.  Fun, quick, easy.

On the more youth-targeted side, I recommend Brandon Sanderson's _Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians_.  Good fun in the Harry Potter vein.  I also recommend Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, but those are _not _light.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Feb 5, 2009)

Glyfair said:


> A small nit-pick:
> 
> It's a fantasy take on Sherlock Holmes.  The second book has a Nero Wolfe pastiche as a side character, but the main character is Sherlock Holmes.




With respect, you're incorrect.  I've read both series.

In the Nero Wolfe books, there is a character, Archie, who is the main narrator and "adventurer":


> *Nero Wolfe Wiki*
> Archie Goodwin is the narrator of all the Nero Wolfe stories and a central character in them. He is occasionally referred to by the New York newspapers as "Nero Wolfe's legman". Like Wolfe, Archie is a licensed private detective and handles all investigation that takes place outside the brownstone. He also takes care of routine tasks such as sorting the mail, taking dictation and answering the phone.




This is the character Garret is modeled after.

Nero Wolfe himself is a reclusive genius with a great understanding of culture and epicurean delights...and as a result, has become quite fat.  He is quite irascible by nature.  He almost never leaves his house, doing so only when necessity forces him to do so and always with great loathing.  Most of his interactions with the world outside his house are through Archie.

He, then, is the character after which The Dead Man is modeled.

In addition:


> *Nero Wolfe Wiki*
> * The characters from this series parallel characters from the Nero Wolfe series:
> o Garrett parallels Archie Goodwin
> o The Dead Man parallels Nero Wolfe
> <snip>


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## CCamfield (Feb 6, 2009)

Sherlock Holmes is a lot smarter than Garrett.  

I seem to recall that Feist wrote one book which was a sort of fantasy pastiche of Holmes, or one of the characters in one of his books was.  But, that's by the by.

Lighter fantasy... 

stuff by Patricia McKillip tends to be not DARK and EVIL.  

Pratchett, of course, as was mentioned. 

I wouldn't have suggested Locke Lamora, honestly.  Yeah, it's not grim grim dark dark, but it's all criminal gang fights and so on.  Some humour but it's not as light as Pratchett.


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## Thanee (Feb 6, 2009)

Well, depends on what you think 'light' means, I guess. 'light' does not have to mean 'light-hearted' or 'humorous', or the opposite of 'grim and dark'.

I see it as more 'trivial' read as compared to something that requires a lot of concentration to 'get' everything.

Locke Lamora might not be the lightest, but I would still consider it more on the light side.

Bye
Thanee


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## Dannyalcatraz (Feb 6, 2009)

Sure- those awesome pulp-era sci-fant novels like Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter novels or Leigh Brackett's Eric John Stark novels are so fast paced that they really don't require a lot of mental effort to read.  No intricate sub-plots, no cast of thousands to keep track of.


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