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Originally Posted by Grymir  Wowee Etexas, I haven't read in years this kind of stuff. Philosophy has been my forte'. But maybe it's time again. CalvinandHodges, your post interested me. Ayn Rand is perhaps my favorite philosopher to read, and your mention of Tery Goodkind got me thinkin' it time again to read. And with her novels, ie Atlas Shrugged, does that count as fantasy?
Etexas, I really enjoyed Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné series, also his Corum, though not as good as Elric. Roger Zelazney's The Chronicles of Amber series was also very good. Lesser favorites were the Camber of Culdi series by Katherine Kurtz, of which I only read the first 3 with interest, by the 5th book it became lame, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant 6 book series by Stephen Donaldson, and of course the Sword of Shanara series. But Elric was my favorite next to Tolkien. I must be showing my age, as these are older books.
Good topic!  |
Hi:
Goodkind is an intelligent read. Richard, the protagonist, is on a par with Howard Roark, and, especially, John Gault. As the series progresses the Randian influence becomes more apparent. A major figure who appears is the Emperor Jagang (one whom Rand would label as a brute, a "mystic of muscle"), and Brother Narev (Rand would label him a witch doctor, a "mystic of spirit"). As I read Rand it is the witch doctor (one who represents organized religion) who gives power to the brute. Consequently, enslaving the whole human race under the illogical premises of altruism:
What is the moral code of altruism? The basic principle of altruism is that man has no right to exist for his own sake, that service to others is the only justification of his existence, and that self-sacrifice is his highest moral duty, virtue and value, - Ayn Rand.
As products of the split between man's soul and body, there are two kinds of teachers of the Morality of Death: the mystics of spirit and the mystics of muscle, whom you call the spiritualists and the materialists, those who believe in consciousness without existence and those who believe in existence without consciousness. Both demand the surrender of your mind, one to their revelations, the other to their reflexes. No matter how loudly they posture in the roles of irreconcilable antagonists, their moral codes are alike, and so are their aims: in matter - the enslavement of man's body, in spirit - he destruction of his mind. - Ayn Rand.
I think Rand considered her novels to be fiction and not fantasy. If you take up
Wizard's First Rule you will not be dissappointed.
Blessings,
-CH
PS. Raymond Feist has a good series out, and I enjoyed Ann McCaffery's Dragon series as well - though the titles of both escape me.
-RPW