Must read books, to me, are the ones that I feel shaped the genre. With that in mind, I would say:
* Wheel of Time
* Harry Potter
* Lord of the Rings
* Dragonlance and/or Forgotten Realms (not all of them, but the core few books)
* Game of Thrones, although I feel it might be better to wait for it to be finished
There are plenty others, but I feel all of those were hugely influential on the fantasy genre as a whole, and definitely deserve a must-read status because of it.
I've read them twice and I have to agree they're not an easy read. Jordan did a really good job hooking me with the first few books, and I loved the way that he was able to turn each book into its own separate story while advancing the overall plot. The problem is that fatigue set in after a while and it was clear he was slogging through them painfully, especially when he started ending books with cliffhangers for the next ones. Sanderson was able to restore my interest in the series when he took over after Jordan's death.
Re-reading the series for the second time allowed me to catch a lot of the detail that simply wasn't possible to get the first time through. Jordan was world-building, and as fans of Tolkien can remind us world-building often requires sacrifices in character development. Each character becomes their own trope and follows formula without too much deviation. Some issues have scripted resolutions that come out later but they don't really feel like natural progressions so much as "and then this person experienced an epiphany."
Having said that I still think the series is powerful and explores a lot of fantasy concepts that could be cliche in other settings but are skillfully managed here.
For world-building and extraordinary character development in fantasy novels my unreserved recommendation goes out to Jim Butcher in both his Codex Alera series and his still ongoing Dresden Files series.
I already struggled with the first book, when chapter after chapter was basically the same, but only happening in different towns.
Rand and Mat would go to a town, perform there, get into trouble and then leave, to enter the next town where basically the same happened. Meanwhile the reader is left in the dark where Moiraine, Egwene and Perrin were.
Must read books, to me, are the ones that I feel shaped the genre. With that in mind, I would say:
* Wheel of Time
* Harry Potter
* Lord of the Rings
* Dragonlance and/or Forgotten Realms (not all of them, but the core few books)
* Game of Thrones, although I feel it might be better to wait for it to be finished
There are plenty others, but I feel all of those were hugely influential on the fantasy genre as a whole, and definitely deserve a must-read status because of it.
With WoT I'd say, 'should attempt' instead of 'must read'.
Because, man, are those books tedious.
I managed to struggle my way to halfway the second book, before I gave up.
Some people love them, but I wouldn't say that that series is a must-read.
I've read them twice and I have to agree they're not an easy read. Jordan did a really good job hooking me with the first few books, and I loved the way that he was able to turn each book into its own separate story while advancing the overall plot. The problem is that fatigue set in after a while and it was clear he was slogging through them painfully, especially when he started ending books with cliffhangers for the next ones. Sanderson was able to restore my interest in the series when he took over after Jordan's death.
Re-reading the series for the second time allowed me to catch a lot of the detail that simply wasn't possible to get the first time through. Jordan was world-building, and as fans of Tolkien can remind us world-building often requires sacrifices in character development. Each character becomes their own trope and follows formula without too much deviation. Some issues have scripted resolutions that come out later but they don't really feel like natural progressions so much as "and then this person experienced an epiphany."
Having said that I still think the series is powerful and explores a lot of fantasy concepts that could be cliche in other settings but are skillfully managed here.
For world-building and extraordinary character development in fantasy novels my unreserved recommendation goes out to Jim Butcher in both his Codex Alera series and his still ongoing Dresden Files series.
I already struggled with the first book, when chapter after chapter was basically the same, but only happening in different towns. Rand and Mat would go to a town, perform there, get into trouble and then leave, to enter the next town where basically the same happened. Meanwhile the reader is left in the dark where Moiraine, Egwene and Perrin were.