When I was studying in Bukit Panjang Government High School not so long ago *ok lah, more than 10 years ago*, Eddings' books provided my first contact with the genre of fantasy. I mean I was already into playing games of such content on SEGA *yes yes yes, it was that long ago* but never have I read books of this nature, that comes in trilogies and such. And yes, I have read them all.

• The Belgariad - A series of five novels about this boy called Garion realizing his magical powers. The very first series I read and am proud to possess now.

• The Malloreon - The follow-up series to The Belgariad epic. I still have yet to own this. Am waiting for the limited edition of the omnibuses to come out.

• The Elenium - A trilogy of similar concepts as The Belgariad involving Sparhawk, a war-ridden champion in his quest to rescue a princess.

• The Tamuli - The follow-up trilogy to The Elenium. I own this trilogy and have read it so many times but yet still love it.

• Belgarath the Sorcerer - I would consider this a Belgariad/Malloreon novel. Together with the next two novels, they provide the many pieces of information missing from the first two epics.

• Polgara the Sorceress

• The Rivan Codex

• The Redemption of Athalus 

• High Hunt 

• The Losers

• Regina's Song - The latest novel to hit the shelves. Written in collaboration with his wife, a compelling story about a pair of twins and how one had to deal with the traumatizing murder of the other twin.

When I was in the army, I had a friend who was reading a novel written by this author. The title of the book was MAGICIAN. If you know my obsession with this genre, of course I asked him what the story was all about and he dared to say I was too innocent to read it!!! *Indignant look* Well, I own 18 of his books now, so HAH!

• The Riftwar Saga - A very intricate and gripping epic that spanned many many generations of characters like Pug and such. A must-have for fantasy-fanatics out there. 

• The Riftwar Legacy - A trilogy written so far about what took place at Krondor, a key location in the Riftwar Saga. Compelling as well with many of the characters revisited.

• The Serpentwar Saga - You might think that this saga is separate from the Riftwar Saga. It is but I am always amazed at how Feist magically intertwine both sagas together. This is so also for the following saga.

• The Empire Trilogy - This trilogy depicts a different world from the Riftwar but was so realistically portrayed you almost believed these things could happen. Yet can you believe that these two worlds exist just across a plane. Written with Janny Wurts, you will have to read this in order to understand what I meant by intricate.

• Honoured Enemy - Written with William Forstchen, this is a Riftwar novel. It will make a lot of sense to read the saga first.

• Faerie Tale - A separate novel about the three children of a screenwriter who came into contact with the darkest magic one could ever know.

I owned my second fantasy series only when I went to NIE. I think I must have read the series like 3 or 4 times and the pages are yellow with age.

• The Death Gate Cycle - This is a story about a world that was torn apart into four realms, mainly sky, stone, fire and water. A fantastic saga about how enemies came friends and worked hand in hand to defeat the greatest enemy of all mankind - hatred.

• The Darksword Trilogy - A world where possessing magic is LIFE and set you above all others. This is a story about how the rightful heir to the throne of Merilon was born DEAD and his quest to rescue the world that had mercilessly forsaken him.

• Legacy of the Darksword - A Darksword novel depicting a world after 20 years. A must-read!

• Stars of the Guardian Trilogy - A different world created by these two authors. With space and technology involved, it is a wonder fantasy and science fiction can go hand in hand. The only series I have read but not owned :(

• Dragonlance Chronicles - I have always been curious why there are so many ardent fans of Dragonlance out there, so the best way to kill that curiosity was to read the first books. My oh my, was I blown away!! The character development was superb and all the characters were so unique and distinct it was wonder I did not come to know about it sooner :)

• Dragonlance Legends - The sequel to the Chronicles, where the story now focuses more on the damned twins, Raistlin and Caramon Majere. This pair of twins could not be more different than day and night.

• Second Generation - After the world was almost destroyed by Raistlin and yet ironically saved by him, this storybook tells of the aftermath and prepares the readers for what is to come in the subsequent books.

• Dragons of Summer Flame - After the Creator of the World was accidentally released, He wanted to destroy it in His anger. Thanks to Tasslehoff, the kender, the world was saved. A must-read for the sequel, which is bigger and better!!

• The War of Souls - This is the fitting conclusion to the entire saga created by Weis and Hickman. With the evil goddess becoming the ONE GOD and stealing the world, it was now up to Tasslehoff and an ugly human to save the world from total mindless devotion to Takhisis. Can I say by now I am a Dragonlance convert!! :p There are a total of 11 books from the Chronicles to The War of Souls and I finished reading all of them in two months...yes, they are THAT good :)

The movie "Interview with a vampire" starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt had just been shown in the cinemas. One day I met a friend who was reading the novel which had inspired the movie and I borrowed it for a while. I was captivated from the first line onwards.

• The Vampire Chronicles - A series having 8 books so far (and yes, I have all of them), it describes in detail how vampires were created and how they love and hate passionately. Once you read the series, you will be amazed at how sometimes vampires exhibit certain human emotions and could be destroyed by them. 

Need I even mention the father of all fantasy. I know I have to come back to the basics and read the famous trilogy. It is better when it comes in a box set with The Hobbit.

• The Hobbit - A story about Bilbo Baggins' journey to a far-away land which set the stage for the trilogy to come when he 'chanced' upon the ONE ring.

• The Lord of The Rings - With two instalments of the trilogy in movies, I will not go into detail here. It is about Frodo Baggins' journey to destroy the ONE ring owned by EVIL Sauron who once again sought to rule the lands.

I grew up reading many horror novels by Stephen King but the one I have to recommend is this:

• The Talisman - Written with Peter Straub, it tells a story about this boy who had to find a talisman that would be able to cure his mother of a terrible disease. Add in an alternate world and you should be able to see why I absolutely love this book. It was so good I read it day and night and finished over 700 pages in two days.

• Black House - The follow-up to The Talisman. I have yet to read this as I have just bought it but I cannot wait to sink my teeth in it after I have completed the following series.

To tell you frankly, I have never heard of this author till I came across this box set containing 7 books. With the title THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA written on it, it smells too much of fantasy all over. To my dismay, I realized Lewis had written only 7 books for children and this was it. However, surprisingly, the story was interesting and I would recommend these books for beginning fantasy-fanatics.

• The Chronicle of Narnia - A world where animals could talk and children were the kings and queens. A saga that tells the stories of Peter, Edmund, Susan, Lucy, Jill and Eustace.