Amethyst wrote:
Have you read The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper? There're five books, first one is Over Sea, Under Stone. I highly recommend them^^
I recommend starting with the
book The Dark is Rising, the second book -- think of
Over Sea, Under Stone as sort of a prequel . . . it'll come into play with other books in the series, but I think
TDiR is the best introduction (and perhaps the best of the lot). I gather there was also some sort of snarl with the publishing, with at least one imprint putting out
only books 2 through 5.
I do enjoy Mercedes Lackey, but she does have a tendency to make her protagonist the best/most ______ ever -- a bit of what is called (I think) Mary Sue syndrome. It can get a bit tiring.
I just read Robin McKinley's
Spindle's End, which is fantastic. (It almost cries out to be read aloud.) The other books I've read of hers were also enjoyable.
And Eliabeth A. Lynn's
Dragon's Winter -- though much darker -- is extremely good, and appears set up to become a series.
On a completely different tack (though still fantasy, dealing with talking animals & such) are Rudyard Kipling's
Jungle Books. A bit old-fashioned (and Kipling is indeed a product of his time, though not nearly as racist as some of his contemporaries), but the short stories are poetic. His
Just So Stories are good also.
Esther Freisner (I think I've got the spelling right) writes in an astonishing range of fantasy modes -- all of them great.