Robert Jordan wrote WOT. Along with Brandon Sanderson I suppose.
Books Fantasy Reads
- Thread starter Alock1
- Start date
More like Sanderson finished the series by writing the last three books after the untimely death of Jordan.
And @Edgar Allan Pillow Steve Erikson wrote the Malazan Series.
Yeah, my bad.
Just slogged through The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson. By far the worst Malazan book so far. I picked up Reaper's Gale, stared at how thick it was, then threw it aside. I can't face another 1000+ pages of nothing happening. If I wanted that I'd read the Wheel of Time.
Someone please tell me Reaper's Gale is better. In the meantime, I blitzed through Ender's Game in two days. It was good, though startlingly predictable. Even the huge twist at the end was telegraphed.
Someone please tell me Reaper's Gale is better. In the meantime, I blitzed through Ender's Game in two days. It was good, though startlingly predictable. Even the huge twist at the end was telegraphed.
@Revan Somehow i forgot a few books that you should check out. Dune, Ender's Game, 1984, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and Watchmen. They're more scifi but are all great.
Revan has hugely underrated the first law books in this thread. Racing through the second now, not as well written as something like Asoiaf but with a lot less guff.
Not particularly. The final books are so tedious to read, that I mostly skipped pages to get on with the story. The standalone books are much better.
Damn
Not what I wanted to hear. Each book up to this one was properly amazing, even Midnight Tides -- which took a while to get going -- had me utterly gripped by the end.Agree with this. I love the Harry Potter universe. I read The Philosopher's Stone for the first time a few years ago, but only recently decided to read the entire series. I last read Goblet of Fire and am currently taking a break from the series but will start reading it again in the next week or so. The first two books seem a bit childish though, so if you don't like that just try and stick with it till you get to Prisoner of Azkaban and see what you think then.
Yeah even as a teenager at high school I thought the first 2 books were simple and childish. The third is darker, but still pales in comparison to 4 onwards which are really good.
Some people are definitely a little snobbish towards them, and think they've above them but they're much better than people who haven't read them believe. They're easy but fun, with great characters and a great urban world.
@Twigg - if you haven't read Dark Materials then I recommend that too. It's on a similar level to Potter.
Some people are definitely a little snobbish towards them, and think they've above them but they're much better than people who haven't read them believe. They're easy but fun, with great characters and a great urban world.
@Twigg - if you haven't read Dark Materials then I recommend that too. It's on a similar level to Potter.
I like Harry Potter (well, loved it in school) but there are some plot points that don't make any sense at all. If you want a good story then it's well worth a read but if you are more into world building then it lacks a bit. I think JK Rowling missed a trick by having 95% of the chapters from Harry's PoV.
I've seen the film The Golden Compass (a while ago) and didn't really enjoy it so I've had no motivation to go and read the book, but I will check it out at some point. Thanks for the suggestion
I watched that and switched it off after about 20 minutes. Don't judge it on the film.
Yeah, I'll definitely check it out at some point, films can be terrible representations of books.
Yeah. Like I say they're not the most sophisticated of books but in the same vein that Potter is great fun then this is too.
Ravens Shadow 2 was very good for anyone interested. Highly recommend both. It wasn't quite as good as Blood Song but it was a worthy successor for sure.
Ravens Shadow 2 was very good for anyone interested. Highly recommend both. It wasn't quite as good as Blood Song but it was a worthy successor for sure.
Anyone read Southern Vampire Mysteries? I'm a big fan of True Blood and wondered if the Southern Vampire series was worth reasing.
I read the first two books but gave them up after that. They're entertaining enough but it's a bit...too romance novel for me.
Potter wins hands down. I watched the movie and read the Godlen Compass, but gave up half way through. Was quite a long time ago. Maybe I'll give it another try once I finish the Black Company.
Potter is definitely better but it's better than a lot of the more sophisticated ones too.
Still, I always thought Dark Materials was one of the better books to introduce someone to fantasy. It's definitely decent if nothing special.
Still, I always thought Dark Materials was one of the better books to introduce someone to fantasy. It's definitely decent if nothing special.
this!
unfortunately i only found out afterwards.
Still enjoyed the read tough while i didnt know what a bigot sanderson is.
Black Company is fantastic.
Maybe my favourite saga.
Malazan is great too, but way too scattered sometimes.
Just found this thread. I think I read almost all of the books.
"The warded man" is fantastic...one of my favourites.
Completely (almost) a new sort of magic.
The last book that is out at the moment has the biggest cliffhanger (literally) ever...After that I swore that I will only start to read series that have been finished.
I can't agree with Raven's Shadow 2 being very good.
I thought it was a huge let-down. The first book was a 4 out of 5 for me, meaning I'd recomend it to any fantasy lover to read it. The 2nd a 2 out of 5, maybe 2.5/5 if I'm being generous. It was as average as Valencia in the last 2 seasons.
Some things I didn't like:
- The Frentis chapters are way too long and nothing really happens. In the first book the assassinations would have been one short chapter or a flashback.
- Reva is a cheap female copy of Vaelin in the end and her transition from hateful zealot to powerful hero with unbelievable fighting skills (which she developed miraculously in a short time) is just too hard to believe.
- The Lyrna chapers are okay...nothing more.
- Vaelin is nothing like the character at the end of book 1. At the end of book 1 he was a man with a purpose (he had several goals actually), in book 2 he abandons all that goals and becomes a pacifist who probably wants to sit at a warm chimney and wait until he dies.
- The characters basically walk/ride from one place to the other for 90% of the book with a few meaningless fights in-between.
- The One Who Waits / The Ally / The 7th Order and the magic system in general were intersting in the 1st book but he doesn't advance those plots and mysteries in any meaningful way.
Really? Damn. I thought it was really good, just not upto the standard of the first. I'll get back to you on those points later.
I'm now at the Murgen's book...but haven't progressed after first couple of pages. Taking a break now...
I read The Books of the North (The Black Company, Shadows Linger, The White Rose), The Silver Spike and The Books of the South (Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel).
The Books of the North were great, one of my favorites. The Books of the South weren't as enjoyable anymore but still very good.
I love Cook's style. Dark/gritty Fantasy with a lot of humor (One-Eye and Goblin made me laught numerous times) always works for me.
Are The Books of the Glittering Stone (Bleak Seasons etc.) as good as older books?
I liked them alot. It brings the saga to an end (of sorts).
I like the way the narrator changes again and some things are made clear that have been left open.
All in all not worse than the books of the south.
There is also the problem that I can not start a book or a series of books and not finish them.
There is only one book that I started reading and could not finish.
Just finished Glittering Stone books.
A fitting finale, I should say... But a tad drawn out. The story has shifted from the black company to Croaker along the way.
A fitting finale, I should say... But a tad drawn out. The story has shifted from the black company to Croaker along the way.
THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA
It's great. Really loved the characters and the humor.
The second not so much. The 3rd Gentlemen Bastards book is better again.
Finished The Dark Elf Trilogy by RA Salvatore, all 3 books over the weekend. This is a prequel to the famous Drizzit character from Icewind Dale series. Not that long and surprisingly very good trilogy. I like it!
Starting on Icewind Dale trilogy now.
Starting on Icewind Dale trilogy now.
The second one isn't bad. It's not as good as the first but it's still pretty good. Pirates are interesting to me though.
I'm most of the way through Words of Radiance right now. These books are awesome. I guess I'll need to go back and read the Mistborn books.
Why? Don't actually feel the link between the series yet. I've read these 2 books a couple of times now. Can't wait for the next in series...
Huh? What's Words of Radiance and how does it link to Mistborn? It's a Sanderson book?
They are in the same universe. The original entity 'Adonalsium" was split into several shards in the Cosmere, to which various beings actually managed to grab their hands on it. So in the world of the Mistborn series, there's "Ruin" and "Preservation", Shards who give the people power based on Metal. Interestingly, Sanderson did state that the amount of Cosmere power in the Mistborn world pales when compared to that of the Stormlight world. The world of the Stormlight Archives (Words of Radiance is Book 2) uses a different magic system and has different Shards governing it as well.
So essentially, there's a fight between people in their respective "worlds" and a fight between the various Shards/Gods which you can only get tidbits of while reading Sanderson's various book series. And there are also characters capable of traversing between universes/worlds in his books, so sometimes you can see a certain character from another world with a different magic system popping up in a chapter or even becoming a main driving influence in the plot itself.
Oh shit, when did that come out? I didn't even realize it was coming this early.
Awesome. Cheers.
Awesome. Cheers.
Also, there are several characters who have been in different books, worlds. Like Hoid/Wit
I read the first 2 Misborn books. I really liked the magic system(s) based on metals. What ultimately prevented me from reading the 3rd is his writing style in the Mistborn books. It's like "reading a video game" which didn't really appeal to me.
I'm reading the first Stormlight Archives book right now and it's far more appealing to me. I think his writing is far more conventional (in a sense that it really feels like a book to me not a game I'm reading). I really like it so far.
What's annoying me a bit though is that I bought it for my Kindle Paperwhite and it's a bit of a hassle when I have to go back and forth between the story and the maps. Also the sketches are almost unreadable because the resolution is much too low.
You can see the sketches on his website.
That's good news. Thank you