[Astra]

I have read only Robin Hobb so far, and she is at the top 3 of my favorite fantasy writers.

[Werthead]

Raymond Luxury Yacht;116638 said:

David Eddings' wife turned his work from entertaining to the young and a decent intro to fantasy into something completely unreadable. Not that this reflects on all women writers, but this seemed a relevant place to mention it.

I believe that Eddings' wife actually collaborated on all of the earlier books as well, she just wasn't credited until Belgarath the Sorcerer came out.

[Darkwatch]

Storm Constantine. Though I wouldn't call her a pure fanatsy writer, she's more of a gothic fiction/"vampires" (as in that kind of fantasy) writer from what I found out about her. But I discovered her by the Magravandias Chronicles which is an excellent trilogy, I simply loved these books. All the best fantasy has to offer, Old lore, myth, good intrigue, with the gothic atmosphere and characterisation. It was a perfect mix and her take on magic isn't has extensive as most authors in fanatsy, its very mystical and arcane.
There isn't so much action as in Erikson, at least not in the epic sense, but you keep reading with interest.
Other then that I read Alice Brochart, avoid her at all costs.

[Wry]

I've read some female fantasy authors, but i only enjoyed a few, and Hobb was the only re-readable one. I've come to some conclusions about female authors at the moment:

1) Often (not always) they tend to write character driven books while the plot can be a bit slapdash.

2) Few women can write men well, or relationships between men. but this goes both ways as regards many male authors.

3) Because less women are avid fantasy readers there's a smaller pool of talent out there. I think we can all agree that the majority of male fantasy is pretty poor and there are only a few dozen really gifted writers. So say out of every 10000 readers 100 become writers, and of that hundred 10 are good and one is trully great it would make sense that female fantasy has less of a showing than male. Fewer ascendants so to speak.

Any agreement?

[philospher77]

I'll throw in my 2 cents for my favorite author, C.J. Cherryh. Who does write fantasy (the Fortress books, the Arafel books, the Rusalka books, etc.), SF with heavy fantasy trappings (the Morgaine books and to an extent the Fenisterre books), and then some straight SF. You'll either like her style or hate it. Her stories are very much concerned with the characters and their relationships, although not so much on "romance". But they do delve into who do you trust, how much are you willing to do for someone else, what do you do when you are thrown into an environment that is entirely outside your normal society and culture? And, of course, how do you deal with aliens/fairy folk, who aren't just humans in funny clothes?

Hambly is good. I am especially fond of her Sunwolf series, which is about a mercenary captain, who is not a nice person, and how his life changes. These are the kinds of mercenaries who are happy when their orders allow them to not kill everyone, because then they can sell the pretty ones off as slaves. And who will happily torture, rape, and pillage as part of their job.

McKillip, as mentioned by others. Jo Walton, although I've mostly read her King's books, and I'm not entirely sure I'd call those fantasy. P.N Elrod, if you like vampire detective stories. Jane Yolen, who's writing is best described as unique.

But in general, I'm not sure that it is fair to classify writers based upon gender. Should we read some Jordan, Eddings, and Goodkind, and conclude that all male writers have shallow characterization? It's more helpful to figure out what you want out of your reading, and then find out who writes that kind of stuff. Personally, I like my reading to include the way the story affects the characters in it.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Werthead;116701 said:

I believe that Eddings' wife actually collaborated on all of the earlier books as well, she just wasn't credited until Belgarath the Sorcerer came out.

This is true, but it wasn't until she got fully credited that his books went from "not great unless you're a kid" to "total craptacular suckfest that I would not allow my child to read for fear that they would never read another book." Seriously, his newest book is one of the worst novels of any genre I have ever read. Is the timing coincidence? Could be, but it's more fun to blame her.

[Wry]

Raymond Luxury Yacht;116958 said:

This is true, but it wasn't until she got fully credited that his books went from "not great unless you're a kid" to "total craptacular suckfest that I would not allow my child to read for fear that they would never read another book." Seriously, his newest book is one of the worst novels of any genre I have ever read. Is the timing coincidence? Could be, but it's more fun to blame her.

Can we start with the Yoko jokes then?

[Dr Trouble]

Wry;116897 said:

I've read some female fantasy authors, but i only enjoyed a few, and Hobb was the only re-readable one. I've come to some conclusions about female authors at the moment:

1) Often (not always) they tend to write character driven books while the plot can be a bit slapdash.

2) Few women can write men well, or relationships between men. but this goes both ways as regards many male authors.

3) Because less women are avid fantasy readers there's a smaller pool of talent out there. I think we can all agree that the majority of male fantasy is pretty poor and there are only a few dozen really gifted writers. So say out of every 10000 readers 100 become writers, and of that hundred 10 are good and one is trully great it would make sense that female fantasy has less of a showing than male. Fewer ascendants so to speak.

Any agreement?

Here here!

Stay away from Kate Elliot. Thats all I can say.

She drove me to insanity trying to read her books.

[Shryval]

Katherine Kerr has done some great fantasy work. Firm plots with nice twists, decent characterisation, and an original magic system, all with a celtic flavour.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Wry;116960 said:

Can we start with the Yoko jokes then?

Ono! Is it time for Yoko jokes already?

RLY~feels bad for the bad wordplay and ripping of Abyss, all at the same time. (It's just such a fun way to end a post though!)

[Valgard]

Storm Constantine is not everyones cup of tea. I have read her wraethethu??? series which is absolutely awful about david bowie androgenous people wiping out the world, really stay away before you become to disturbed. I can't describe anymore due to not being allowed use foul language on the board.

Her other series is slightly better but again not everyones cup of tea I didn't really enjoy it.

Katherine Kerr is good and nearly finished the whole series now which is great news.

KJ Parker is brilliant definatel worth reading.

[Whelp]

Robin Hobb, definitely.

Janny Wurts had also a few interesting books (the Kelewan-trilogy).

Ursula LeGuin is also worth reading.

[stone monkey]

Katherine Kerr's early Deverry books were moderately well written and handled their interesting central idea of a man atoning for his part in tragedy throughout the reincarnated lives of that tragedy's victims very well...Unfortunately she quickly succumbed to a bad case of sequelitis (Robert Jordan is another sufferer) and the books soon tailed off in quality and originality.

Patricia McKillip's RiddleMaster of Hed series worked very well for me; her writing style reminds me somewhat of that of Ursula LeGuin (whom I consider to be one of the best prose stylists in the genre) I also like the way that the series builds from small scale to insanely grandiose pyrotechnics without ever seeming to lose its way.

It has already been said but, stereotypically, female writers concentrate more on what's going on in their characters' heads than what it is they're doing - which can lead to decent characterisation but poor plotting. They also (again stereotypically - And I do know there are exceptions...) tend to go for the romantic angle in character interaction; male authors seem to go for conflict and/or competition - presumably because they write the kind of stories they themselves want to read.

What no one appears to have touched on yet, is the subject closest to my heart; style. I'll forgive a book a lot if the author uses the language well. Does anyone believe there's a qualitative difference in the way male and female authors use the language? In theory -according to the neuroscientists, at least - women should be better at it. Does anyone think that's actually true?

ps. I might, as most of the really bad prose stylists I've ever read were men.

[Aimless]

Perhaps it's not so much what the extra X-chromosome adds as what it takes away, which often seems to be: the focus on all the warring and campaigning etc. I do find the writing of female fantasy writers to be more personal, more intimate, often more moving.

There are good female fantasy authors out there. Robin Hobb is a given, as is LeGuin. Mckillip and Mcaffrey are very popular. Weis and Hickman's Deathgate Cycle was a great read, I thought And while I've read only one book by Sarah Ash, I must give her props for including gunpowder and treks across frozen straits.

And there will always be a place in my heart for Susan Cooper (The Dark is Rising) and Jennifer Roberson (the Cheysuli series). Oh, and Diana Wynne Jones!!

[philospher77]

I have to admit that I found it rather surprising that someone (I forget who, and don't really want to go and double-check to find out) said that they had tried a few female authors, didn't like them, and now won't even bother picking up a book written by a female. I could say that about several male authors I've tried, but to write off everything by the sex would mean never reading Erikson, which I think we would all agree would have been a loss. It just seems like a really bad basis for determining whether you should read a particular author or not.

[ObsoleteResolve]

I liked Storm Constantines Wraeththu trilogy alot.

I want to get whatever was that new book she published in that world.

Fascinating stuff. If you can somewhat black out the hermaphroditic sex scenes.

I also have liked all of Anne Bishops stuff.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

I read a book when young about a girl who hunted dragons, and she had some sort of greasy paste she rubbed on herself, which protected her from dragon fire. I think it was by a woman. That's all I really remmeber of it. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[Abyss]

CS Friedman's Coldfire trilogy is quite good fantasy lit. Unfortunately many of her other books are less so, but those are sf more than fantasy.

Rawn's work isn't bad.

Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series is 'modern fantasy'. The first nine books are good fun. After that i pretend she stopped writing.

- Abyss, master of selective reality.

[Reborn]

Anne Bishop, Robin Hobb and C.S. Friedman are the three best female fantasy authors I have read so far, and of these three I would rank Hobb as superior. I could refer you to some reviews of books by Hobb -- in which i would explain what it is with her work that I love so much -- I have written, but, unfortunately, those reviews are in Swedish.