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 Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 5:46 pm
Recently I took a trip to the bookstore, and I was looking at the young adult with a friend. What I normally do at bookstores or libraries I pick up a book with either a good title or cover (I know I"m not suppose to judge a book by its cover.) Anyways, I picked up a couple random books and read the summary. Most where about vampires/supernatural beings falling in love with a human, or some random crap like that. And I got to thinking...
What happen to the Medieval books? Like sword fighting and bows and arrows? That is like one of my favorite time periods and I can't even find a single book like that.
So after I determined I couldn't find a book in the young adult I went to the Fantasy section (if that's what it's called I can't remember right now.)
I picked up a couple books that looked interesting only find out that they where either vampire hunters falling in love with vampires, or demon hunters falling in love with demons! My friend loves those books, for some reason besides after reading a couple I find out that their all the same thing. And I was talking to my friend asking her where she thought medieval books would be. And she guessed the Romance Section...
I stood there with a blank expression..
I don't like reading hardcore romances because eventually its going to have sex which will become half the book. Sorry but I don't want to read about two people having sex, I want killing and mass slaughtering!!
So the question is... Do you guys know of any Medieval books? That don't have vampires?
I know there's Forgotten Realms and Dragon Lance, but I kind of was pushing that off to the side. Cause if I read one of those my brother will attack me and tell me to read all his books.... which most are Forgotten Realms.
My last option is reading Lord of The Rings... which I heard has a TON of description.
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:42 am
There are quite a few good fantasy books in medieval settings, and lots of them are very good. For a very intense, good read, get George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, the first of which is A Game of Thrones. It has nothing even resembling vampires, and is a very strong example of medieval fantasy.
For a twist on the genre, you might like Katharine Kerr's Deverry series, which is a more Celtic bent on the idea with some very interesting concepts. The series is something like 26 books long now, arranged in trilogies which leave few loose ends, so you can finish a trilogy without having to read the other books. It is somewhat tricky to find the first books in the series nowadays, though.
Harry Harrison's The Hammer and the Cross trilogy are very good medieval novels as well. They are alternate histories about the wars between Saxons and Norsemen in which the Norse only grow stronger rather than fade away in the face of a Europe unified by christianity. A very good alternate history that is grounded in a real world setting.
Pretty much anything that can be termed 'Sword and Sorcery' is going to fall under the medieval umbrella to a degree. Conan the Barbarian and all the countless books and stories derived from him make for excellent reads.
Also, READ Lord of the Rings! No self respecting fan of fantasy literature can skip those books, even if you end up not liking them.
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 3:09 pm
You might try the Green Rider series by Kristin Britian, The Heralds of Valdamar by Mercedes Lackey, or any of Tamora Pierce's series. Though I warn you these are all heavy into the sword & sorcery business.
If you want want less magic try The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by JRR Tolkien, Beowulf by Nye, or Eaters of the Dead (aka The 13th Warrior) by Crichton.
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Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2009 3:19 pm
I might try some of those if I can find them.
@Mare353: I've read Tamora Pierce before, some of her books are pretty good. But one of my friends can't read her because at some times she uses wrong grammar or something like that. Though I found a couple mistakes in her books. I still read them.
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Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:18 pm
To my knowledge, Timeline by Michael Crichton is the most accurate medieval setting I have read. It almost feels like you are really back in time.
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Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 5:12 pm
For just medieval type settings I suggest:
Any Joe Abercrombie, he only has four and they were all interesting.
The Shannara series and Heritage of Shannara series by Terry Brooks were great when I read them.
A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans, it was fantastic.
If you want some stuff set in a Renaissance type era full of intrigue and suspense or flat out mysteries with a fantasy setting I could suggest some interesting things.
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