Good fantasy series

I've never read much fantasy in the past. I was a lit major in college and there always seems to be an unfair stigma on fantasy in academic circles, so I never really gave it a fair shake.

My girlfriend finally convinced me to read some of it, and I've enjoyed pretty much all the series I've read so far. I'm a pretty voracious reader; I blew through The Wheel of Time, The Dark Tower, A Song of Ice and Fire, Book of the New Sun, The Dresden Files, and the Harry Potter books in the span of about two months.

So, I'm looking for more suggestions for good fantasy series to read. Any help would be much appreciated.

The stigma on fantasy is by no mans unfair. Same goes to sci-fi. 99% of books in the genre are absolute garbage... and the remaining 1% is merely mediocre. I seriously doubt you could find a purely fantasy book that had any merit except for author's imagination.

That said, you might consider reading Tolkien, because he condensed all his life's imagination into his two big works. Writing is mediocre, as always (unless you consider the likes of Bram Stoker, Lovecraft etc., good writers).

Roger Zelazny - The Chronicles of Amber
Jack Vance - Lyonesse
Robin Hobb - The Farseer
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - The Death Gate and The Rose of the Prophet
Glen Cook - The Black Company
Terry Pratchett - Discworld

That should keep you busy for another two months

Thread is lacking Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, Abercrombie's The First Law, Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards.
Also give David Gemmell a try.

>>2
If you read for recreational purposes you should be able to disregard the "literary merit" of a book and just enjoy it for what it is, given that it IS enjoyable for you.
Same as everything else basically - as long as it's fun, who cares?

>>2
While most fantasy may be literary garbage, real science fiction, (NOT futuristic fantasy), can match or surpass many works of "classic" literature.

Nr. 2's comments aside, I'm always a bit saddened when science fiction fans join in on taking the piss out of fantasy.

OP here, I didn't really intend this to be a debate about whether or not fantasy is unfairly stigmatized. I personally believe it to be so because I have a newfound appreciation for well-written escapism.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions so far. I'll check them out.

Bakker, R. Scott - Prince of Nothing
Donaldson, Stephen R. - Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
Friedman, C. S. - Coldfire
Hughart, Barry - Master Li
Jones, J. V. - Book of Words & Sword of Shadows
Kay, Guy Gavriel - Sarantine Mosaic
Kearney, Paul - Monarchies of God
May, Julian - Saga of the Exiles
Parker, K. J. - Engineer
Rohan, Michael Scott - Winter of the World
Valente, Catherynne M. - Orphan's Tales
Vance, Jack - Dying Earth
Williams, Tad - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn

Those are about the series I can add to the aforementioned. Naturally I didn't try to scour the dregs of the barrel, I liked them all to varying degrees. I think Hughart, Kearney, May and Rohan are at least partially out of print, though. Also, everything except Jones' Shadows is complete.

Have fun. Grab some standalones next time, too.

>>5
While most fantasy may be literary garbage, real science fiction, (NOT futuristic fantasy), can match or surpass many works of "classic" literature.
I don't believe you. Give me an example.

>>9
RAY BRADBURY

PHILIP K DICK

Andrzej Sapkowski's nice and fun.  Not deep or anything but fun.

>>11

Have any of his books been translated into English yet?

I remember looking for them when The Witcher came out for PC, but all I could find was the originals in Polish.

>>12
A short story collection called "The Last Wish" and the first book in Geralt's saga "Blood of the Elves", with more to come.

Last Wish was actually published at about the same time as the game, but no matter, better late than never.

>>9

Dune

I don't know if you'd consider two novels (possibly three in the future), one short story, and one novella a series but check out American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

I don't know if the stigma for Fantasy is well deserved or not, assuredly, most fantasy Novels seem to lack the same level of planning or craft other works of "literary merit". Characters can be 2-dimensional, descriptions overgrown like weeds. I know I have trouble tolerating Fantasy sometimes, it tends to act arrogant or pretentious, acting like it's bigger than it is.

But it has the potential to be far more fun than most stories. Certainly Harry Potter is laughable, with it's terrible inconsistent and shallow characters, and indeed, the author didn't even bother to think about her magic system, it's half-assed and follows no rhyme or reason, if HP's magic system were real, the world would be in perpetual disarray. But it's a little fun, and while it's worth criticizing and utterly disgusting that the author got so rich off her bloody shitty writing, it's fun. I guess that's all that matters.

If you're truly a lit major, you shouldn't be afraid to read anything. Even if people say it's "bad" and therefore one shouldn't read it. Even the most uninsightful, dim, and narrow-thinking authors capture something when they write.

Journey to the West

Eyes of God by John Marco any good?

FUCK OFF YOU GODDAM NIGGERS, GODDAM CUNTRAD U FUCKN TARD, OMGOGMGOMG, CHEK IT IM BLACK, IM WHACK AND I DO THE SAME TO MY WIFE

>>19
wat

there are next to no fantasy books that are actually worth anything, though Little, Big by John Crowley is good

The Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake.  One of the best set of books you'll ever read, just for the style and surrealism.  If you can get through it, that is.  EXTREMELY thick.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
anything by China Mieville

also, in the young adult section, these are pretty classic:
The Wrinkle in Time series by Madelyn L'Engle
The Wizardry series by Diane Duane
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
(and questionably) Dragonlance by Weis & Hickman

>>19
Thank you for your valuable contribution to this board.

The pleasure of being cummed inside

Garth Nix's Abhorsen series is good. Also, I'm heartily seconding the His Dark Materials series.