Looking For A Good Series Of Books To Read.

The Riftware Series by Raymond E. Feist.
http://www.crydee.com/raymond-feist/reading-order/written

It's quite a long series. However, that is due to some stories not being a direct continuation. It presents stories from other character's points of view or from events happening elsewhere in the world during a certain period of time.

In the Sword of Truth series?

Huh. Must be pretty minor or too subtle for my dumb ***...

It's really not significantly different from LotR in that fashion. It switches point of view by chapter, so it may leave you in a bit of a mini-cliffhanger for a chapter or two, but it's really not bad at all. I always felt it worked for him. Helps keep you turning pages.

I love the Riftwar books. Almost beyond words. If I remember when I get home I'll post a pic of my Feist collection. I have an original printing of Magician in hardcover that I found at a YWCA book sale last falla few years ago (holy ***time flies). That is to say, the original version that was just "Magician," before it was two volumes "Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master."

I also really love Prince of the Blood and King's Buccaneer as transition novels. The subsequent Serpentwar Saga is a bit greyer for me:

Three very good series for you!!!

The Painted Man (The Demon Cycle Series) by Peter V. Brett

The Name Of The Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle Series)by Patrick Rothfuss

The Black Prism (The Lightbringer Series) by Brent Weeks

One of my all-time favorites is the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. But take note that if you are religious, you are unlikely to enjoy that series. Also, the first book was published under two different names. If you are inside the US and/or Canada, then you will find it as The Golden Compass. If you are outside the US/Canada, then I believe you will find it as Northern Lights. I forget if it's a children's series or a teen series, but either way, it's excellent. (Also, if you watched the movie, don't judge the book by it. Ignore the movie, read the book, then watch the movie for fun later if you like.)

If you enjoy a superfluous and dumb romantic triangle ruining a perfectly good story, then you may enjoy the Hunger Games trilogy. (Also if you enjoy a girl being a good strong character for two books, then throwing it all out the window to marry a guy she's not sure whether or not she loves and have children she doesn't want because... um... reasons? MUST MARRY THIS CHICK OFF. NO SHE CAN'T JUST STAY SINGLE, WHAT NONSENSE IS THAT. NO SHE CAN'T BE CHILDFREE IF SHE DOESN'T WANT CHILDREN. WOMEN HAVE CHILDREN. GET WITH THE PROGRAM.) God, I hate that third book. Um, but you might like it.

I agree that the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin is good, but be prepared to wait for absolute EVER for every new book in the series to come out. He takes forever. Seriously, forever.

I've only read the first book in the Necromancer Chronicles by Amanda Downum. It's called The Drowning City. I did enjoy the lush, beautiful language, but not enough to go grab the second book. The setting was pretty cool, but the characters were pretty forgettable. I might read the second one later. But if you enjoy a mix of fantasy and politics, you may enjoy that one.

If you like new takes on old fairy tales, then the Starcatcher series by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson might catch your interest. It's a retelling of Peter Pan, and I love it. The first book in the series is called Peter and the Starcatchers, then Peter and the Shadow Thieves, then Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, followed by Peter and the Sword of Mercy, then The Bridge to Neverland. They are children's books, but I'd say the reading level is about the same as the early Harry Potter books, and you mentioned that you'd read those. (I think. Or I might be nuts and don't remember the OP that well.)

That series got, I'm pretty sure, a bad rap in the States due to the high budget, fairly star-studded-cast of a movie that didn't do well. I haven't seen it myself so I'm not sure what did it in, but I've heard mixed reviews at best.

The movie just does not do it anything close to justice. If you didn't read the book, you'd probably be confused by the movie because it does a terrible job at explaining what's going on. If you did read the book, you'd probably dislike the movie, because it still does a terrible job at explaining what's going on.

And if you did like it, you'd be straight out of luck, since it's the first in a trilogy, but did badly enough that they didn't make the rest of the series. So you'd have this one unfinished half-story just kind of... dangling.

Anyways. Ignore the movie, read the book.

All but 3 people have forgotten the faces of their fathers.

Read The Dark Tower series.

I thought about adding Anne McCaffrey and the Dragonriders of Pern series into the list, but despite there being firebreathing dragons who are telepathic and can move between time (which the author tries to scientifically explain), the series isn't really fantasy (if the OP actually cares to distinguish it from sci-fi). Rather it's about an pre-industrial society that slowly rediscovers its ancestors' technology and uses it to end the threat of flesh-eating rain from a neighboring planet. The series does mostly focus on the dragonriders (sort of the police/army/heroes of their world) and the harpers (a mix of bard/teacher/spy/reporter). Still a great series though.

I'll also mention Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Paksenarrion series. A farmgirl who runs away from home to join a mercenary company, and gets into all sorts of adventures (fighting evil priests, freeing her unit from a ruthless warlord, searching a haunted ruin for treasure with a pompous half-elf wizard) until she realizes that her good luck is a sign from the gods that she's to become a paladin. And then she gets into even more scraps trying to prove herself worthy (searching for a lost fortress and being cursed by dark elves, learning woodcraft from rangers and druids, uncovering plots by evil gods and saving her old mercenary captain). A really good mix of adventures and characters you can really feel for.

And back to what I was saying about those anthologies, since so many people keep bringing up the same authors, and since most have contributed to the Legends books, I thought I would include the tables of contents here, in case posters didn't realize there were extra stories out there for their favorite series (especially important now that many of those authors have passed away):

Legends I:

Stephen King: "The Little Sisters of Eluria" (The Dark Tower)
Terry Goodkind: "Debt of Bones" (The Sword of Truth)
Orson Scott Card: "Grinning Man" (The Tales of Alvin Maker)
Robert Silverberg: "The Seventh Shrine" (Majipoor)
Ursula K. Le Guin: "Dragonfly" (Earthsea)
Raymond E. Feist: "The Wood Boy" (The Riftwar Cycle)
Terry Pratchett: "The Sea and Little Fishes" (Discworld)
George R. R. Martin: The Hedge Knight (novella, A Song of Ice & Fire)
Tad Williams: "The Burning Man" (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)
Anne McCaffrey: "Runner of Pern" (Dragonriders of Pern)
Robert Jordan: "New Spring" (The Wheel of Time)

Legends II:
Robin Hob: "Homecoming" (The Realm of the Elderlings)
George R. R. Martin: "The Sworn Sword" (A Song of Ice and Fire)
Orson Scott Card: "The Yazoo Queen" (The Tales of Alvin Maker)
Diana Gabaldon: "Lord John and the Succubus" (Outlander)
Robert Silverberg: "The Book of Changes" (Majipoor)
Tad Williams: "The Happiest Dead Boy in the World" (Otherland)
Anne McCaffrey: "Beyond Between" (Dragonriders of Pern)
Raymond E. Feist: "The Messenger" (The Riftwar Saga)
Elizabeth Haydon: "Threshold" (Symphony of Ages)
Neil Gaiman: "The Monarch of the Glen" (American Gods)
Terry Brooks: "Indomitable" (Shannara)

There's also a Legends IV apparently (III is just a remake of I) with an extra story by Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E. Feist, and George R. R. Martin

I bought the first Legends book.

I actually didn't like it all that much, even from the authors I normally enjoy.

what is this? not a single mention of mercedes lackey and her heralds of valdamar books? there's quite a few of them, and they're all enjoyable. fantasy, lots of psychic powers, and also magic as well.

if you don't mind a main character and a few supporting ones who are gay (or if, like me, you actually find this a pleasant surprise), mark anthony and his Last Rune series, starting with the book Beyond the Pale, is uh...

fantasyscifihorrorcomedyromancewesterngodsknowswhatelse

yeah, its quite a mix. great story though!

incidently, mark anthony and mercedes lackey are the only two authors i can think of who ever had main characters who were gay. hell, i can't think of any others off the top of my head who had gay characters at all. in lackeys case, only a couple of the trilogies involved such, but vanyel and firesong both wound up being some of the most powerful characters in the whole storyline, haha.

regardless, both are great authors.