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Fantasy
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youngishbear




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 5:26 pm
Please post each suggestion separately so we can count votes.

Related question: can I vote for more than one book?
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:16 pm
youngishbear wrote:
<snip>

The question is a bit deeper than "why don't Jews write fantasy." It's more along the lines of "can fantasy be based on Judaism the way Narnia is based on Christianity?"

Oh, and I don't think Quentin was supposed to be likable.


How would you classify the supernatural goings on in the books written by Meir Uri Gottesman (Deep Blue, Morning Star, The Meshulach, etc)? Not quite fantasy and yet...
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tigerwife




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:17 pm
cbsp wrote:
How would you classify the supernatural goings on in the books written by Meir Uri Gottesman (Deep Blue, Morning Star, The Meshulach, etc)? Not quite fantasy and yet...


I was thinking of him as well! He’s pretty unique in his genre.
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Ravenclaw




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:31 pm
youngishbear wrote:
Please post each suggestion separately so we can count votes.

Related question: can I vote for more than one book?


I do
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Ravenclaw




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:33 pm
Guards! Guards! By Terry Prachett

Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all...). How did it get there? How is the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night involved? Can the Ankh-Morpork City Watch restore order – and the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork to power?

Magic, mayhem, and a marauding dragon...who could ask for anything more?
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Ravenclaw




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:34 pm
Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy—until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save—or destroy—the Empire.
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youngishbear




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:45 pm
cbsp wrote:
How would you classify the supernatural goings on in the books written by Meir Uri Gottesman (Deep Blue, Morning Star, The Meshulach, etc)? Not quite fantasy and yet...


I remember being very confused and slightly uncomfortable reading his books for the first time as a kid. Why is he making up stuff that was nisht geshtoigen, nisht gefloigen, based on holy stuff? It also triggered questions (bordering on chassidic heresy) about what other stories we have passed down from gedolim that were similarly invented and aren't quite based on real events.

As an adult, I can appreciate his creativity. I do wonder whether my discomfort with this meshing of holiness and imagination is because fantasy is indeed un-Jewish.
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youngishbear




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:47 pm
Ravenclaw wrote:
Guards! Guards! By Terry Prachett

Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all...). How did it get there? How is the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night involved? Can the Ankh-Morpork City Watch restore order – and the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork to power?

Magic, mayhem, and a marauding dragon...who could ask for anything more?


Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night LOL
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 6:55 pm
youngishbear wrote:
I remember being very confused and slightly uncomfortable reading his books for the first time as a kid. Why is he making up stuff that was nisht geshtoigen, nisht gefloigen, based on holy stuff? It also triggered questions (bordering on chassidic heresy) about what other stories we have passed down from gedolim that were similarly invented and aren't quite based on real events.

As an adult, I can appreciate his creativity. I do wonder whether my discomfort with this meshing of holiness and imagination is because fantasy is indeed un-Jewish.


Interesting. I only read his books as an adult (and, full disclosure, discovered that he's a relative based on a comment he made about the family plot in our cemetery) and actually never thought of it as heresy. Maybe I thought he sourced everything?
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 7:04 pm
Ha, so I "liked" the Magicians recommendation only to discovered that it was not a recommendation for Magician (sans s) by Raymond Feist.

https://www.goodreads.com/book.....ician

Raymond E. Feist's classic fantasy epic, Magician, has enchanted readers for over twenty years. The revised edition was prepared to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its publication, and incorporates over 15,000 words of text omitted from previous editions.

At Crydee, a frontier outpost in the tranquil Kingdom of the Isles, an orphan boy, Pug, is apprenticed to a master magician – and the destinies of two worlds are changed forever.

Suddenly the peace of the Kingdom is destroyed as mysterious alien invaders swarm the land. Pug is swept up into the conflict but for him and his warrior friend, Tomas, an odyssey into the unknown has only just begun.

Tomas will inherit a legacy of savage power from an ancient civilization. Pug’s destiny is to lead him through a rift in the fabric of space and time to the mastery of the unimaginable powers of a strange new magic.
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Ravenclaw




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 7:08 pm
By the way, I found Guards! Guards! for free in e-book format here:
http://stealthgerbil.com/files/pdf/Guards!%20Guards!%20-%20Terry%20Pratchett.pdf
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 7:13 pm
Ravenclaw wrote:
By the way, I found Guards! Guards! for free in e-book format here:
http://stealthgerbil.com/files/pdf/Guards!%20Guards!%20-%20Terry%20Pratchett.pdf


Thanks!

Not sure why your link broke (I'm guessing it's the !), but here's a tinyurl:

http://tinyurl.com/GuardsGuards-pdf
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youngishbear




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 7:52 pm
cbsp wrote:
Interesting. I only read his books as an adult (and, full disclosure, discovered that he's a relative based on a comment he made about the family plot in our cemetery) and actually never thought of it as heresy. Maybe I thought he sourced everything?


I didn't think his writings were heretical. I was saying that his works were so clearly fictional, yet reminded me of some stories of chassidic rebbes, so that it made me wonder whether those stories were invented by some master storyteller, as well.

And that makes me a chassidic heretic.
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Shabbosiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 7:59 pm
I'm loving this thread! So many favorites were mentioned.
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 8:46 pm
youngishbear wrote:
I didn't think his writings were heretical. I was saying that his works were so clearly fictional, yet reminded me of some stories of chassidic rebbes, so that it made me wonder whether those stories were invented by some master storyteller, as well.

And that makes me a chassidic heretic.


Ah, ouch. I'd like to think his intent may have been for the opposite to happen...
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tigerwife




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 18 2019, 9:55 pm
cbsp wrote:
Thanks!

Not sure why your link broke (I'm guessing it's the !), but here's a tinyurl:

http://tinyurl.com/GuardsGuards-pdf


Thank you for this!
So tempted to read this now but emailing to myself for later on my laptop since I’ve really been straining my eyes badly reading on my phone.
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Miri7




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 19 2019, 1:03 pm
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. (A must read if you like fantasy)

(I did this wrong the first time, so I'm posting one title per post - sorry for the multiple posts! This is my favorite genre and I can't help myself!)
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Miri7




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 19 2019, 1:03 pm
Series: Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb (16 books!)
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Miri7




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 19 2019, 1:03 pm
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (not very medieval but swords and time travel)
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Miri7




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Mar 19 2019, 1:04 pm
Game of Thrones - R R Martin. Loved reading this.
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