Best Fantasy Authors

All right. I'm honestly surprised there hasn't been a topic like this yet, but who do you guys think are the best fantasy authors? My favorite author is George R.R. Martin, but in terms of fantasy and the originality of the world - don't get me wrong, the world he has crafted is pretty great - I think Brandon Sanderson would take the cake when it comes to that. How about you guys?

To be honest, I haven't read all that much fantasy, oops!
However, I know a lot about Game of Thrones and I've seen the first season of TV show, so I think that George R.R. Martin is incredibly good at creating a story.
I think that J. K. Rowling is my favourite fantasy author, though. (Maybe I'll change my mind after reading Game of Thrones though, ahah.) I found Harry Potter to be a really well plotted out story, and the worldbuilding was great.

I'm not sure if Harry Potter can be chalked up to being fantasy. I never got the well-written vibe out of it, either.

I loved the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. You all should read it someday.

If Suzanne Collins didn't write the hunger games, I'd have chosen her for the outstanding Gregor the Overlander series. Though she's not my favorite due to the whole mainstream pickup.

Not really sure who my favorite it, but I also like Eoin Colfer for the Artemis Fowl series, that one was really enjoyable. And then the two authors of the Grey Griffins trilogy, but their names escape me.

Pr0nogo wrote:I loved the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. You all should read it someday.

You are officially amazing. xD First fellow Sword of Truth fan I've met, besides that one forum full of them that I joined.

Terry Goodkind is probably my favourite fantasy author. As for the best... Well, he and George R. R. Martin are very good. Tolkein is good as well, for what I've read.

Fyodor wrote:Other authors I like are Eoin Colfer, I read most of Artemis Fowl and found those to be really enjoyable.

Oh yeah, I forgot all about Eoin Colfer! Artemis Fowl was definitely one of my favourite books series. Still have to get that second book some time.

I've only read the first Artemis Fowl book, but it was rather entertaining - particularly the dwarven poo scene.

Lawl, I'm being overwhelmed with Goodkind fans. -hides in his fortress with all the rest of GRRM fans- YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

GRRM is very good too. xD I've, sadly, only read the first two books of A Song of Ice and Fire, but it is what most of my reading, other than a bit of some other books and my Sword of Truth reread, goes into when I have the chance.

You should definitely take a gander at Brandon Sanderson's works. If you're looking for something short, his stand-alone novels Warbreaker and Elantris are great reads. The Mistborn Trilogy is amazing. It's a bit slow to start, but it gets really interesting after the first 40 pages. His new series, Stormlight Archive, starts out with the thousand page book, the Way of Kings. Great stuff. It's like he was practicing with Warbreaker, Elantris, and Mistborn Trilogy, and perfected his art with the Stormlight Archive. I'd recommend it to anyone. Brent Weeks is also a superb author. His Night Angel Trilogy is at the top of my list, and his new series, the Lightbringer, is also pretty good.

Yes, I should. I'm more of a longer books reader, but I'm reading a few things right now, so something shorter like Warbreaker or Elantris, which I've been hoping to eventually read for a while now, would probably be better to start with.

I always thought that Rick Riordan was a good author when it came to fantasy. Although, I am not too partial to fantasy books usually, and it takes a great deal of encouragement for me to even attempt the first few pages.
I can say I absolutely loved the lightning thief series.