I am looking for some fantasy novels

I'm suprised nobody has mentioned A Song of Ice and Fire series by George Martin. Very good books and theres even a TV series based on "Game of thrones". Its not quite japanese stuff but its still unique in its own way.

 

David Gemmell's Trojan War trilogy. An author, in my opinion, that seemed to get better with age. I found this series utterly absorbing and better than anything else he'd written previously. I assure you, it's definitely worth hunting down and the reviews on Amazon agree with me!

 

Suggestions:

Lawrence Watt-Evans - The Lords of Dus series (4 books) (My personal favorites)
Jim Butcher - The Codex Alera (6 books) (Feels very Roman)
Michael Moorcock - The Elric Saga (6+ books) (A fun read)
David Eddings - The Belgariad (5 books), The Malloreon (5 books), The Elenium (3 books), The Tamuli (3 books) (These books had parts where I actually laughed out loud- - Very enjoyable)
Piers Anthony - The Incarnations of Immortality (8 books) (Interesting take on Death, Mother Nature, Time and the other Incarnations)
Robert E. Howard - Conan (Classic Swords and Sorcery)

These books will keep you busy for some time!

~Mordred

 

Neil Gaiman. He has several really good fantasy novels. Stardust, Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys. Piers Anthony and Terry Pratchet have written quirky fantasies. There are the InuYasha graphic novels by Rumiko Takahashi. Several good ones were mentioned before. Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori, His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, Harry Potter by J.K Rowling, Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, and Sabriel, Lirael, and The Abhorsen by Garth Nix. There's also Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, books by Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton, The Hobbit, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, The Dark Tower series and by Stephen King, and The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Struab.

 

How is the Elric Saga? I've been interested in picking those books up for a while.

Oh yeah, Howard's Conan stories are the sh!t!

 

Much more lighthearted than a lot of the books mentioned, but try Terry Pratchett- any of the books in the discworld series. Any of his books really, but Discworld is a very diverse fantasy setting, featuring a big variety of locations and characters. They've had me laughing out loud, and at the same time putting forth some really interesting concepts.

 

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. Reimagines the time of the Napoleonic Wars but with dragons. No magic (that I remember), though the different types of dragons and their characteristics fulfill much the same fix for me. Although the English Culture is present throughout, the series visits France, China, Africa (and more I think, but I've not read all of them). Great read.

I'll also second the Mistborn novels by Brandon Sanderson. The first three are medieval, the fourth starts off a new trilogy set in a more modern age. The magic system is unique, and though central to the book isn't overpowering to the plot or the characters. His Way of Kings is also really good, but a long read and you can tell it's the first of 10 in the way it starts building a lot of storylines.

 

don't think anyone has mention this yet, but what about "The Wheel of Time series"? at the minute its thirteen books with another being released in April 2013. the first eleven(I think) are written by Robert Jordan (now deceased) and the rest are being finished with his note by Brandon Sanderson. swords, magic, masses of bloodshed and entire global conflict. worth read at any rate, I am currently on book ten myself (playing catch-up!)

on an unrelated note, have you tried the Broken Empire Trilogy (prince of thorns,King of thorns, third not out yet) by Mark Lawrence.
or maybe the painted man?

(I hope at least one of those suggestions meets you criteria)

enjoy

 

i would suggest you to read a book by micheal chrichton named ODESSA FILE its awesome and is totally based on your preferfnces