Seriously, this is an outdated thread and all, and no one will likely read it, but I can't let this pass. Goodkind is crap; utter, shallow, ridiculous, Randian crap. Rothfuss, well, put it this way: I have a large room, there are bookcases in every conceivable spot, filled with books, almost floor to ceiling (the books are also stacked on top). It looks awful. At last count there were over 4K. Out of those, Rothfuss is in the top five authors, for both storytelling and tightness (and by this I mean ne'er a wasted/out of place word, not necessarily conciseness). Where as I have the Goodkind series up on Craigslist (where it has sat for over a year), listed at $30, without a single offer, ever. Think of Rothfuss as the original Torment, and Goodkind as the 2007 Shadowrun FPS.

I resisted Rothfuss at first, because my friends were pestering me so much to read him, much the same way I resisted watching Seinfeld. I have since determined that I am an idiot.

Aha! Thank you very much for that input.

I agree, Goodkind is crap. :) Utter crap. I read the entire Sword of Truth series, and really, I had to *drag* myself through it, forcing myself to finish it.

But anyway, I feel more inclined now to give Rothfuss a shot…
If I may be so bold, what other authors would you list in your top five? As far as fantasy/sf goes, that is… I am just trying to gauge how similar our tastes are. :)

I don't think in terms of "best of the best", which makes this trickier. I tend to appreciate different authors for different aspects of their writing. Having said that:

Peter Hamilton: Great Space Opera (Donaldson's Gap series great too)
Guy Gavriel Kay (esp Lions and Mosaic): Most beautifully written
Steve Perry (Matadora trilogy): most concise series ever (and very well done)
Mickey Zucker Reichert: Best mythology adaptation (Renshai trilogy)
Steven Erikson: Best (dark) epic fantasy (ending left me a little cold)
Charles Sheffield/Ken MacLeod: good hard sci-fi

Man, I could go on all night, I'll just list a few other authors I like, then I gotta go to bed:

Joe Abercrombie, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Jack McDevitt, Lois McMaster Bujold, Sara Douglass, Alan Dean Foster (most, anyway), George RR Martin, Julian May, Robin Hobb (sans Liveship), KJ Parker (excellent), Harry Turtledove, Vernor Vinge, etc., etc., etc. -I left out a lot of worthy authors, but I need to crash (~3AM)

Good luck; you won't regret Rothfuss- somewhat traditional storyline, he just wrote the hell out of it.

My favourite fantasy authors are: GRRM, Joe Abercrombie, Daniel Abraham, and Patrick Rothfuss. Scott Lynch is very good too, and R. Scott Bakker. I quite enjoyed Miles Cameron's debut fantasy novel The Red Knight.

If you want to read some beautifully written fantasy with great worldbuilding that is very different from the normal stuff, then I must recommend The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham. Rothfuss is also really easy to read, his prose is just outstanding and so lyrical. Abercrombie writes fantastic characters and has built an amazing setting. Abraham does the relationships between his characters especially well. GRRM is GRRM, and you should definitely read Ice and Fire if you have not already.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, Santos and Badesumofu.
Joe Abercrombie looks interesting, I think I'll be picking up that First Law trilogy, and I'll give Rothfuss a shot too.

My personal favorites include Robin Hobb, Raymond Feist (esp. the Empire trilogy) and, of course, GRRM.

I would have listed Feist, but I find his later work to be too directive of his earlier stuff, sort of like Eddings that way. (Having said that, my first email address was Krondor@…). The good thing about The First Law, is that the trilogy is pretty good (the characters are great), but the books that come after are even better. Hobb is indeed excellent, especially the Tawney Man series (waiting for her to finish Rain Wilds before I jump on that one).

Lynch and Bakker were enjoyable, they didn't make my list because they don't have enough work out there yet to see if they have staying power (though, Bakker is getting there). I have not tried Abraham yet, but the recommend from GRRM makes him tempting to try (GRRM himself would have come with more than an honorable mention, were it not for the Bran chapters :P ).

Oh, Tawny Man's her best. One of my all-time favorite trilogies. I quite enjoyed the Farseer one as well.

I feel the same way, but with the Arya chapters. :)

Well then, it's now looking like Rothfuss is less and less of a risk then.

You…don't like Arya? How can this be D:

Yeah, I don't mind her; but, Bran and Stannis….blah.

I don't care about anyone who's left after book 5 except Daeny and Tyrion.

I just had to come back, and add this:

http://www.youtube.com/user/axisofawesome?feature=watch

(not work safe, with sound up)

Oh, I like her fine as a character, just her chapters are kind of… eh… boring.

Mind, I am only about 75% through book 3… and it's starting to pick up, finally… Book 3 has been a bit long windy, whereas I felt like 1 and 2 were more action-packed.