Fantasy books with weird worlds

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East
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Fantasy books with weird worlds

Post by East »

I am looking for fantasy books that take place in really strange, unusual worlds. Examples are the Darkangel trilogy, Monster Blood Tattoo, etc. Discworld is also that way, but it's kinda too silly to be taken seriously. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had books to recommend with great worldbuilding. I'm a big fan of the books mentioned above, and would love to get my hands on some more like them. Any feedback is appreciated.

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East
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Post by thankyou »

Try "The Hobbit" by Tolkien. Although it is mainly for younger readers, it can be quite appealing to others as well.
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Post by alamorn »

The Bel Dame Apochrypha is a sci-fi series set on a three thousand year colonized world that primarily uses bug-tech and magic, and has been undergoing religious war for almost the entire history. It's kind of hard to read the first book for the first time, because it just dumps you in with no explanation and expects you to pick it up as you go, but it gets easier, and it's one of the most stunningly inventive sci-fi worlds I've ever seen. It's by Kameron Hurley. I've only read the first two so far, so I don't know what the third one's like, but I highly recommend them to anyone who wants a very different sort of sci-fi. It also has the feel of a Western in some places.
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Post by Richard Falken »

Well, the "The Death Gate Cycle" is hard to beat when it comes to creativity and world weirdness. The word has been destroyed during a war of epic proportions, and the fragments are now worlds by themselves (more or less). Each one has its particularities. The series is one of those people loves or hates.

Deathstalker is... hmmm... VERY bloody space opera with very interesting civilizations. It is pretty cliché, and not something to take too seriously, but it still has aliens who live in their own pocket dimensions, cyborgs who want to turn any form of life into cyborgs, three AI that rule a whole planet and want to destroy everything, aliens, thematic park bots that go mad and start killing everybody until they rule the planet...
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East
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Post by East »

Wow! Thanks for all the great recommendations, everybody.
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J_Sheffield77
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Post by J_Sheffield77 »

I would recommend weaveworld by Clive barker it is definitely a weird world a great story and hooked me almost immeditly Clive Barker is an amazing story teller with a brilliant imagination I think its more of a dark fantasy although he is more known for his horror stories.

It's about a group of beings called the Seerkind consisting of demon like creature, elves and other creatures based on myths that magically wisked to safety in a magic carpet from being hunted to extinction by humans until it was safe to return. I don't want to give nothing away but its great book and I hope you give it a read and enjoy it as much as I did. Lol now I want to read it again now to find my copy :)
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Post by gipps »

If you like Discworld I would recommend the Xanth books by Piers Anthony, as well as almost anything by L Sprague de Camp. Both of those tend to be a bit more funny than completely serious, with the Xanth series definitely played more for humor. L Sprague de Camp's books, though, like The Fallible Fiend, are great examples of excellent world building and entertaining stories.
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Post by Age777 »

Check out The Coldfire Trilogy by C. S. Friendman
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Post by Jmorgan217 »

Try The Obsisian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. All three are great fantasy novels set in weird worlds. I loved all three. Good luck!
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Post by gothicbookworm »

The Xanth novels are great if you like puns, but be prepared for every book to contain nothing but puns. One of the books is called Cubed Root which is a pun because it is the twenty-seventh book in the series. Another series by Piers Anthony that is good with a weird twist on our world is the Incarnations of Immortality.
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Post by whero »

Try the John Carter series, it's a little bit more Sci-fi sort of, but has a really well formed world system.
Queenmagic, Kingmagic by Ian Watson has a really interesting world which more or less forms the basis for the story.
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Post by MiaeCook »

The Inkheart trilogy definitely fits that criteria. It literally takes place in various books. Those are the settings: other novels. Not novels that already exist, mind you, but worlds inside worlds that the author creates just for their story.
I've read almost all of all three. I had the ending spoiled for me, so I quit before I finished the third book. They're all very good, though, so I recommend that series to you.
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yuki sujio
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Post by yuki sujio »

a really good book would be FIRE: a companion to GRACELING by kristin cashore. in the setting of the dark ages (or in a time of kings and queens) there is a world changing war and the main character FIRE is right in the middle of it. she's such a beautiful human that the people in her world call her a monster. why? well, not only because her beauty is so great men lose their minds and women feel great jealousy or love for her, but also because she has the mind to enter ones mind and control them. king nash of the dells needs the lady monsters help. will she do it or is she to afraid of her power? read to find out. it could certainly slake the thirst of twilight fans.

-- 01 Jan 2014, 18:10 --

spoiler:
the last dragon chronicles definitely fit that criteria. its all about the creation and undying generation of dragons. the main character dragons on this trilogy are called the pennykettle dragons and the have been made out of clay. their hearts are made out of a magical ball of ice and snow formed in another life over 15 thousand years ago. when entered into the dragons the ice turns to fire and the only thing able to quench that fire is that dragons tear.

the hole book is basically a magical alternation of global warming. the world being thrown into an eternal winter and dark forces wanting to bring back Gaia, the legendary mother dragon that created all and was the last dragon to die, and use her to control the world.

the main characters: lucy, david, zanna, elizabeth, and alexa pennykettle are all thrown back and forth between different worlds, discovering their past lives and who the really are and just how capable the are to changing the world.

-- 01 Jan 2014, 18:33 --

spoiler:

another series would be warriors by Erin hunter. it is also about global warming but through the eyes of cats. a whole society of cats. whole clans of cats that are like Indians, living and surviving in the wild. there are 4 earthly clans total: thunderclan, windclan, riverclan, and shadow clan. every cat of each clan is one way or the other related to the name. thundreclan cats are the dominant, bursting with energy and are the main points of prophecy. windclan cats live in the grasslands, their fast as rabbits and quiet as a mouse; also they have proven throught the series to be peace loving and as unpredictable as the wind. riverclan cats are as slippery as water when it comes to trust and deciding who their allies are; they live by the river and are apart from other cats because of their love of water. shadowclan cats trust nocat but themselves; always lurking in the shadows and using their dark coats and muscles to their advantage.

humans coming from all around are destroying the forest and the clans are forced to put aside their chains of distrust and differences. after much death and disruption form the humans the cats finally come together and make the long and dangerous journey of finding a new home.

the clans are lead by the cats,that have died long ago, and are watching them fro their heaven named starclan. their pelts filled with the stars and their minds filled with the wisdom of life and the practice of watching others in their death.
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Post by malloryraec »

I have never heard of the books that you listed, but the "Uglies" series by Scott Westerfeld explores an interesting world. When born everyone starts out as Littlies living with their parents. When they turn twelve they become an Ugly and live together in dorms in Uglyville. The book follows a girl waiting for her 16th birthday when she will get a surgery to turn her from an Ugly to a Pretty so she can live in New Pretty Town. New Pretties do not have to work, their life revolves only around their social life, and the clique that they join. In addition the surgery they go through makes them more compliant, but also not as smart. As they grow older they move on to be Middle Pretties and then Late Pretties.
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Post by nowanico2403 »

books by amanda hocking are always bring new and wonderful ideas to the supernatural book world. stories about trylle/trolls/changelings are rarely seen among the common supernatural trio of vampire, werewolve and zombie books. The stories are fresh, new and well worth the read
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