Fantasy Series Fans

[Cdw]

https://mobile.twitter.com/WoTonPrime/status/1179425813327798273

I'm going to dive into WoT today and try to stay a book ahead of the upcoming show

[Captroop]

I picked up Age of Myth from the library based on the recommendation of this thread. Really enjoying it so far. I was despairing of ever finding a fantasy series I'd like after starting and abandoning so much crap. But Sullivan does an amazing job introducing you to this new story arc.

I've noticed he does something really effective in the first few chapters that ropes you in. In each of the first few chapters, 1) he introduces only two or three characters, 2) has them interact with each other so you learn about the characters without it being an exposition dump, and 3) introduces the plot line that will affect these characters. Really neat technique.

 

Also, I'm surprised that it hasn't been mentioned here yet, but has anyone read the Witcher series?

[Khyber53]

On 8/22/2019 at 10:01 AM, Bronn said:

On the space front, check out Hugh Howey's "Beacon 23."

 

It's a quick read, if you get time.

Hugh is one of NW NC's great success stories and one of the first people to really, really make it big as an Amazon writer. Wool was an excellent read.

[Cdw]

I finally finished Red Seas Under Red Skies.  Was a good read, not as good as the first book though.  Mainly the first half of the book was building to one thing and then things took such a drastic turn once they start planning to head out to sea, so it kinda bogged down in the middle.  The payoff was good though and everything came together in final chapters of the book.   *Spoilers from book 1 ahead*  I miss the gang  from book 1.  Locke and Jean are a great team, but, it was fun having Bug and and Sanza's around to fill out the team.  I'll definitely be reading Republic of Thieves in the future to see where things go - I mean, Locke has a pretty pressing problem on his hands now and I'm gonna have to see how that works out.

I also read Wheel of Time - Eye of the World.  I loved it and blew through the book.  I don't know why I was hesitant to start this series.  I guess just because of the amount of books, I figured it may be a slog.  It was definitely chocked full every fantasy cliche you can imagine, but it was fast paced and a very fun book.  I'm liking the world building and look forward to reading more.

[Captroop]

Okay, snap poll:

Both "Lies of Loch Lamora" and "The Way of the King" are on Kindle sale today. Which way should I go? Gentleman Bastards or Stormlight Archive?

[Cdw]

44 minutes ago, Captroop said:

Okay, snap poll:

Both "Lies of Loch Lamora" and "The Way of the King" are on Kindle sale today. Which way should I go? Gentleman Bastards or Stormlight Archive?

I haven't read Stormlight yet, but I've heard its good.  Can't go wrong with Lies of Locke Lamora, I really enjoyed it.  So, I'll vote - why not both?

[Captroop]

1 minute ago, Cdw said:

I haven't read Stormlight yet, but I've heard its good.  Can't go wrong with Lies of Locke Lamora, I really enjoyed it.  So, I'll vote - why not both?

Spend $7 on 1,800 pages worth of reading material? In this economy?!

[Cdw]

Anyone read anything lately?  I took a bit of a break but now I'm starting The Great Hunt - WoT book 2

[Captroop]

On 10/26/2019 at 6:16 PM, Cdw said:

I finally finished Red Seas Under Red Skies.  Was a good read, not as good as the first book though.  Mainly the first half of the book was building to one thing and then things took such a drastic turn once they start planning to head out to sea, so it kinda bogged down in the middle.  The payoff was good though and everything came together in final chapters of the book.   *Spoilers from book 1 ahead*  I miss the gang  from book 1.  Locke and Jean are a great team, but, it was fun having Bug and and Sanza's around to fill out the team.  I'll definitely be reading Republic of Thieves in the future to see where things go - I mean, Locke has a pretty pressing problem on his hands now and I'm

It's so funny you say that because I just finished LOLL and that was my exact complaint about that book. I was really enjoying the first half when I thought it was going to go in a completely different direction. I was totally okay with it being "The Sting," set in a fantasy world, with the Bastards pulling elaborate cons on fantasy universe barons and dukes while navigating the dangers and pitfalls of the underbelly of the society of Camorr. I was excited to read that book! And then it just completely shifted gears more than half way through and became a by-the-numbers revenge story. (With a baffling, mind-numbingly long sequence in the middle to steal someone's clothes.)

I enjoyed the story-telling, and like the characters. But if you're telling me the second book does the exact same thing, I think I'm done with the series.

Anyway, I'll need a lot more reading material over the next few months, so yeah. Any recommendations?

[Bronn]

55 minutes ago, Captroop said:

It's so funny you say that because I just finished LOLL and that was my exact complaint about that book. I was really enjoying the first half when I thought it was going to go in a completely different direction. I was totally okay with it being "The Sting," set in a fantasy world, with the Bastards pulling elaborate cons on fantasy universe barons and dukes while navigating the dangers and pitfalls of the underbelly of the society of Camorr. I was excited to read that book! And then it just completely shifted gears more than half way through and became a by-the-numbers revenge story. (With a baffling, mind-numbingly long sequence in the middle to steal someone's clothes.)

I enjoyed the story-telling, and like the characters. But if you're telling me the second book does the exact same thing, I think I'm done with the series.

Anyway, I'll need a lot more reading material over the next few months, so yeah. Any recommendations?

Stick with it. IMHO the series is up there with ASOIAF as being one of the better fantasy things out there right now.

I haven't looked back at the thread in a while, but here's another list.

The Legends of the First Empire series by Michael J. Sullivan is really good so far. I've read the first three books, and the series of six books is supposed to be done in May the last time I checked. It is lighter fantasy IMHO and doesn't have a lot of grimdark stuff that is popular because of GoT.

The Kingkiller Chronicle series by Patrick Rothfuss is still a solid recommendation. Eventually it'll be a show/movie/video game thing. (it is still one book short of completion)

The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks is underappreciated to me. It does have a lot of grimdark elements but I like the concept a lot.

I can't recommend Hugh Howey's stuff enough. Wool and Sand were both great imho. If you like dystopian sci-fi stuff, he's a must read. Even Beacon 23 is good, and it is somewhat short.

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie has its share of grimdark stuff but I liked the characters a lot. It has some Conan elements to it, and is a pretty good story.

China Mieville's stuff is good too if you're a fan of weird/steam punk kind of fantasy/sci-fi. The Scar and Perdido Street Station are great. They are somewhat tougher reads because I feel like they require more thought than outright reading. But it is worth it.

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series is at least 10 books long. I read the first one, Gardens of the Moon, and own the second one (even though I haven't read it yet.) It is really in-depth and has a crap ton of characters to keep up with. But, when I get more time and a lot of other books off my plate I'm going to continue on with this one. I could see it being up there on my list once I get around to reading them all.

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman is what I'm actually finishing up now. It's a show on HBO, and the books are probably more YA than adult, but I like the story. It is an easy/quick read trilogy though.

Rogues by GRRM and others is a collection of really good short stories about everyone's favorite character archetype. It'll give you a variety, too.

The Millenium series by Steig Larsson is good if you like crime/hacker stuff.

The Fifth Season is a book by NK Jemisin that I liked pretty good. I'll get into the series more eventually, but it has some pretty cool concepts in it as far as fantasy goes.

 

If you're looking for a specific style or w/e just let me know and I'll try to think of more.

[Bronn]

On 3/10/2020 at 9:26 PM, Cdw said:

Anyone read anything lately?  I took a bit of a break but now I'm starting The Great Hunt - WoT book 2

I'm almost done with the His Dark Materials trilogy. After that I think I'm going to start Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations series, or The Witcher trilogy that I've got.

[Captroop]

1 hour ago, Bronn said:

Stick with it. IMHO the series is up there with ASOIAF as being one of the better fantasy things out there right now.

I haven't looked back at the thread in a while, but here's another list.

The Legends of the First Empire series by Michael J. Sullivan is really good so far. I've read the first three books, and the series of six books is supposed to be done in May the last time I checked. It is lighter fantasy IMHO and doesn't have a lot of grimdark stuff that is popular because of GoT.

The Kingkiller Chronicle series by Patrick Rothfuss is still a solid recommendation. Eventually it'll be a show/movie/video game thing. (it is still one book short of completion)

The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks is underappreciated to me. It does have a lot of grimdark elements but I like the concept a lot.

I can't recommend Hugh Howey's stuff enough. Wool and Sand were both great imho. If you like dystopian sci-fi stuff, he's a must read. Even Beacon 23 is good, and it is somewhat short.

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie has its share of grimdark stuff but I liked the characters a lot. It has some Conan elements to it, and is a pretty good story.

China Mieville's stuff is good too if you're a fan of weird/steam punk kind of fantasy/sci-fi. The Scar and Perdido Street Station are great. They are somewhat tougher reads because I feel like they require more thought than outright reading. But it is worth it.

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series is at least 10 books long. I read the first one, Gardens of the Moon, and own the second one (even though I haven't read it yet.) It is really in-depth and has a crap ton of characters to keep up with. But, when I get more time and a lot of other books off my plate I'm going to continue on with this one. I could see it being up there on my list once I get around to reading them all.

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman is what I'm actually finishing up now. It's a show on HBO, and the books are probably more YA than adult, but I like the story. It is an easy/quick read trilogy though.

Rogues by GRRM and others is a collection of really good short stories about everyone's favorite character archetype. It'll give you a variety, too.

The Millenium series by Steig Larsson is good if you like crime/hacker stuff.

The Fifth Season is a book by NK Jemisin that I liked pretty good. I'll get into the series more eventually, but it has some pretty cool concepts in it as far as fantasy goes.

 

If you're looking for a specific style or w/e just let me know and I'll try to think of more.

Thank you for the super comprehensive list! I don't have much in the way of specific style to request. 2020 is my SciFi/Fantasy experiment year. I realized last year I read almost exclusively action-thriller, legal-thriller, techno-thriller, and non-fiction. As much of a nerd as I am, I never gave fantasy or scifi a chance, even as a kid or young adult. So I'm adult reader trying to get started in the genre from ground zero, and I have no idea where to begin.

[Bronn]

23 minutes ago, Captroop said:

Thank you for the super comprehensive list! I don't have much in the way of specific style to request. 2020 is my SciFi/Fantasy experiment year. I realized last year I read almost exclusively action-thriller, legal-thriller, techno-thriller, and non-fiction. As much of a nerd as I am, I never gave fantasy or scifi a chance, even as a kid or young adult. So I'm adult reader trying to get started in the genre from ground zero, and I have no idea where to begin.

I think I've said it here before but Game of Thrones the show got me back into reading. I hadn't read much in the way of fiction since high school when the show came out, but after seeing the pilot I went out and bought the whole ASOIAF series.

I do lean heavily on fantasy and sci-fi in my reading, so if I think of any more I'll let you know.

My sci-fi preference is dystopian. If I were you, and I was considering more sci-fi than fantasy, I might start with Hugh Howey's Wool or Sand. I read Wool first, but I think I ended up liking Sand better.

Wool (get the omnibus edition if you go for print for all of Howey's books) is basically a collection of novellas all dealing with the same story. Dust is the sequel, and Shift is the prequel IIRC.

Sand, at least the theory goes, is set in the same universe but a different geographic region.


Basically, Wool is the story of a community forced to live inside a missile silo in a post-apocalyptic world. It has a strong female lead, and I could really imagine something like it happening in real life.

Sand is basically post-apocalyptic Tatooine from the Star Wars universe, minus the aliens.

[Cdw]

On 3/16/2020 at 12:28 PM, Bronn said:

I'm almost done with the His Dark Materials trilogy. After that I think I'm going to start Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations series, or The Witcher trilogy that I've got.

Can definitely recommend the Witcher books, I listened to the audio books, really enjoyed them