Poll of the Day > What are some good fantasy series to read?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I already love Tolkien's world, and I'm a fan of the Shannara series from what I've read and looking for more great fantasy

TekWar

common answers for good fantasy are Discworld (its heavy satire/comedy tho) and Wheel of Time

I like the early Raymond Feist Krondor novels. He did keep writing books and I eventually grew tired of it, but at least it wasn't a single massive series so there are points where you can stop and the story feels done.

agesboy posted...

common answers for good fantasy are Discworld (its heavy satire/comedy tho) and Wheel of Time

Wheel of Time is only good for the first four or five books, which unfortunately leaves nine or ten more books to finish the story...and the ending wasn't worth the effort. (At least in my opinion.)

I hear mistborn(however its spelled) is great.

hypnox posted...

I hear mistborn(however its spelled) is great.

I did enjoy the 1st book and will eventually read more but I can't find books by Sanderson at any of the book stores I go to

The Abhorsen series.

The Abarat series.

The Dark Tower series.

Muscles posted...

I already love Tolkien's world, and I'm a fan of the Shannara series from what I've read and looking for more great fantasy

If that's the flavor of fantasy you like, look into David Eddings.

He's got two main series (each broken into two parts) - the Belgariad and the Mallorean (5 books each, 10 books total), and the Elenium and the Tamuli (3 books each, 6 books total). The Belgariad/Mallorean books are a bit more traditional fantasy in the Tolkien flavor (and the Belgariad leans a bit young adult, with a kid protagonist, which makes it easy entry-level fantasy for a lot of people), while the Elenium/Tamuli books are a bit more complex and maybe shading closer to more modern fantasy.

I'd also recommend Roger Zelazny's Amber novels, though they're not just fantasy, but also have elements of modern setting, noir, and even a bit of philosophy. There's 10 of them, again divided in half (5 and 5, with two different protagonists), though you can probably buy them all in a single book (The Great Book of Amber combines them all).

The Fred Saberhagen Book of Swords/Book of Lost Swords series is pretty good (11 books overall) if you can find them, but it admittedly has a fairly weak ending, as it feels like he was tired of the series and just wanted to end it quick in the last book.

Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series is pretty good (it's one of my favorites), but really dark and kind of complicated, so it's not for everyone. It's basically divided into three series (the first two having 3 books each, the last one having 4), though the last series isn't really as good as the first two. For Donaldson I'd also recommend Mordant's Need (a series with 2 books - The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through), though those might be hard to track down these days.

For funsies, you could also look into the Lone Wolf books, which are set in their own fantasy world... with the added perk of being Choose Your Own Adventure style books where you play as the main character and can choose your skills, collect items, etc. And you can actually read those for free online:

https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home



Beyond that, there's the Night Watch series (if you're interested in modern fantasy, and don't mind reading "foreign" writers that have been translated into English). It's a Russian fantasy about how wizards and vampires and other supernatural creatures all exist in the modern world and secret police each other to stay hidden (the "Night Watch" of the title is the collection of Light Others who track down and deal with Dark Other criminals, and later books deal with the Day Watch that is basically the reverse). There are actually two movies based on the books, though the movies kind of diverge from the books' stories a fair amount.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwjw6wk-1fk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S6-VlssdUI



If you're looking for a bit lighter fare (ie, young adult fiction, a la something like Harry Potter), you might like The Dark is Rising series.

Piers Anthony is another writer with a lot of "light" fiction. His Xanth books are almost entirely built on puns and fantasy aimed at younger readers (and there's like a million of them), but he also has a few series that are a bit more mature. His Apprentice Adept series (7 books) is sort of a cross between fantasy and sci-fi.

The Death Gate Cycle is another interesting fantasy (7 books) written by Weis/Hickman, the authors who created Dragonlance and Ravenloft for D&D.

And there's always the Dragons of Pern series - Anne McCaffrey started writing it decades ago, and her kids have continued it after she died - it's technically sci-fi (it's set in outer space, in the future, on an alien planet, with genetically engineered dragons), but for most of its stories it's very much presented as pure fantasy, because the people in the books have completely forgotten about most of the technology and knowledge they used to have, and live at a roughly medieval level of technology. And a lot of the plot revolves around people who fly around on dragons.

Most of these series are all famous enough and old enough that you could probably find more in-depth summaries of them if you wanted to, or find Wikipedia or Goodreads summaries of the plots. I've mostly avoided talking about the actual plots because for some of them, it's best to avoid too many spoilers.

Sulugnaz posted...

He then finds a young girl who gives him a magical mud that cures him of his leprosy.

Aww, you stopped at the point where he rapes a 12-year old girl.

That's the point where most people stop reading that series. Granted, it makes sense in context and the story certainly explores the ramifications of it (and it's never treated as an acceptable thing), but some people just can't process the idea of reading a book about a main character who could/would do that sort of thing.

Although that's honestly the point - the entire premise of the series is that the main character isn't a traditional hero. He's about as far away from one as you can possibly be. Which is why you're never entirely sure which side of the "he will save or damn the earth" prophecy he's actually going to come down on.



Sulugnaz posted...

Greeted by The Destroyer who gives him a prophecy to give to the Lords of The Land about how the Land will be destroyed.

Pedantic correction - Lord Foul is The Despiser, not The Destroyer.

In fact, Foul never really destroys anything. His whole gimmick is he's a corrupter, a seducer. He gets other people (like Kevin) to do the destroying for him. He is hatred personified, but he almost always needs to work through others.

He's behind nearly all of the greatest atrocities in The Land throughout its entire history - but he's never the one who actually does those things. At the end of all things, the people of The Land have only themselves to blame.

The Soveriegn Stone Trilogy.

It's incredible. Has some of my favorite versions of the classic fantasy races. Orcs are highly superstitious seafarers, Dwarves are nomadic horse people, elves are like Japanese high class meets American south high class (all about keeping up appearances but all about subterfuge and maintaining their caste system).

If you want something really dense and really weird, try Malazan. The first book is Gardens of the Moon, and it's very strange and he does not hold your hand with all the weird fantasy concepts. It took a while for it to click with me, but once I got a handle on what was going on I couldn't put it down.

The Broken Empire (and its companion trilogy, The Red Queen's War)

Mark Lawrence has a way with words that other authors just lack.

Tons of good ones already here was totally gonna mention the Belgariad by david eddings.

You might also try the Recluce series and other series by Le Modisett Jr (spelling). There are freakton of em and they are all good.

Jim butchers most famous for his urban fantasy Dresden books, but he also did the Codex Alera books which are pretty much pure fantasy and quite good.

Way back in the stone ages Jack Chalker wrote a few fantasy books including river of the dancing gods (which was one of the first semi-lit-rpgs...where people form our world get put into a fantasy world). They are pretty good as well.

Then you have actual lit-rpgs out right now, of which there are a ton AND a ton are free if you have kindle unlimited. I would suggest Dungeon Crawler Carl and He Who Fights With Monsters (although there are tons of other good ones as well, those are good to start with). They focus on people getting trasfered into a fantasy land or actual game world and usually include actual leveling up/classes etc.

Tons more to suggest but so many good ones have been mentioned here that I would put on top of the list. Also the original Dragonlance books by Weis and Hickman are great, and many of the forgotten realm books (especially the Drizzt books and Elminster books) are great as well.

For a fun early urban twist you might try the old Shadowrun books, the first 3 were really good (the rest are by random authors and are hit and miss, but the first three are a nice intro to the world.)

Does it have to be a series or are single books acceptable?

Dark Tower
One Piece

wolfy42 posted...

Way back in the stone ages Jack Chalker wrote a few fantasy books including river of the dancing gods (which was one of the first semi-lit-rpgs...where people form our world get put into a fantasy world).

I think the first actual RPG-flavored novel was Quag Keep by Andre Norton. It was a direct D&D tie-in in the 70s. Right down to the characters literally having bracelets that contained rolling dice.

As for Chalker, my favorite of his is the Warden Diamond books, though they're sort of a hybrid between fantasy and sci-fi (magic in space), and they're pretty strongly influenced by Chalker's weird fetish for body transformation (which, once you know about it, you start seeing everywhere in his stuff). They're also extremely difficult to find these days (I've looked).



wolfy42 posted...

Also the original Dragonlance books by Weis and Hickman are great, and many of the forgotten realm books (especially the Drizzt books and Elminster books) are great as well.

I'd say both of those unfortunately suffer from "genre trash" rot. The first six books or so in both series are pretty good, but after that they just keep going and going and going and going to the point where you're reading more out of inertia than because they're actually good.

For Dragonlance, I feel like the best books are the original three (Autumn Twilight, Winter Night, Spring Dawning) and the Twins books (Time, War, Test). Basically, the "Chronicles" and "Legends" trilogies. After that it kind of feels like the franchise loses its heart (possibly because it lost its original writers). And it progresses in time until you're dealing with entirely new characters you don't necessarily care about.

For Drizzt I'd say the worthwhile books are the first three (Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver, Halfling's Gem) and the three Drizzt origin books (Homeland, Exile, Sojourn). After that I feel like the series gets progressively worse and worse. They're more than 30 years and almost 40 books deep at this point, but so much of it just feels so meh.

I never really liked any of the other Forgotten Realms novels (Elminster or otherwise), though the Azure Bonds/Finder's Stone Trilogy is the classic one.

papercup posted...

If you want something really dense and really weird, try Malazan. The first book is Gardens of the Moon, and it's very strange and he does not hold your hand with all the weird fantasy concepts. It took a while for it to click with me, but once I got a handle on what was going on I couldn't put it down.

Seconded. It's long and takes a while to get going, but the payoff is worth it.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

As for Chalker, my favorite of his is the Warden Diamond books, though they're sort of a hybrid between fantasy and sci-fi (magic in space), and they're pretty strongly influenced by Chalker's weird fetish for body transformation (which, once you know about it, you start seeing everywhere in his stuff). They're also extremely difficult to find these days (I've looked).

Yeah I liked the diamond books (wolf in the fold etc I think they were, but there were so many that I do get em confused). He did do body shaping/changing a ton from his Well World books, to his Soulrider books, and even the river of the dancing gods books, he pretty much loved transforming people lol. I have not read any of his stuff in decades though.

And yeah, I liked the Cadderly books as well (by the same author as Drizzt but I forget his name now) they even crossed over a bit. I do agree that many of the authors/series were hit and miss for them, but if you like DnD it's still usually worth a read (with some exceptions).

Dragonlance I pretty much only liked the weis/hickman books, but all of them were pretty good. Loved Tass heh...was my favorite char. The deathgate books were good as well (and had a tie in with Fizban).

I pretty much read all the science fiction and fantasy out there up till the late 90's when I got married. Then I still kept up with alot of authors, but didn't read a book a day anymore so I fell behind. Since my wife passed I mainly just read a few authors like Dresden, and recently have been reading Lit-rpg books. I'm also writing my own book ( slowly like 20 pages a day lol).

It's insane how many books I have forgotten at this point lol.

There's always the Redwall series... excellent books

For a more light hearted YA Id recommend The Rangers Apprentice. Nothing genre defining or groundbreaking but they are fairly fun to read.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazil_Broketail

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Knight_(novel_series)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Prince_and_Dragon_Star_trilogies#Dragon_Prince_trilogy

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/AUS/dragon-nimbus-history (multiple trilogies/more in same world)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_Gate_Cycle

https://www.goodreads.com/series/53041-dragonrealm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Reign

pern was mentioned.

if you only try one, try this.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/4/1/AAceWkAADCZR.jpg

dresden files

David Gemmell, I only read Legend but it had me rapt and reading it in almost an entire sitting. If I ever see his books in the wild (and remember who he is) I will likely pick it up.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

David Eddings

(I get Eddings and Gemmell confused with each other) I have Ruby Knight sitting on my bookshelf but I've been putting off reading it while I search for a copy of The Diamond Throne.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Piers Anthony

I really like the Incarnations of Immortality series; each book focuses on a different incarnation of concepts important to humanity, Death, Time, War, Fate, etc seven book in all. I find Anthony has some undertones that were apparently seen as progressive at the time, but now seem a little misogynistic.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

For Dragonlance, I feel like the best books are the original three (Autumn Twilight, Winter Night, Spring Dawning) and the Twins books (Time, War, Test). Basically, the "Chronicles" and "Legends" trilogies.

^100% Weiss and Hickman at their best.

The first few books of the Sword of Truth series are very good (with a major caveat) and one or two of the subsequent novels after that are decent enough, but.... what is it with fantasy writers and rape and why do they have to make it a central part of their stories?

If you can get through Wizard's First Rule and still want to continue the series, there are quite a few of them, though the last couple have just been blatant cash grabs and are really superfluous to the series. If you can find the short lived (two seasons from ABC) Legend of the Seeker series, it's a better introduction imo.

rjsilverthorn posted...

Wheel of Time is only good for the first four or five books, which unfortunately leaves nine or ten more books to finish the story...and the ending wasn't worth the effort. (At least in my opinion.)

The first of the Sanderson books was a little rough and flet like he was finding his footing but the last two were fantastic, though the walk to get there was really bogged down by those middle books and the time Jordan took to talk about every single Aes Sedai and what dress they were wearing today.

The Edge Chronicles
The Saga of Recluce

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/4/AAQwHjAADCZy.jpg

A lot of people have already commented on my suggestions.

Tad Williams is a good author. The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy is well done (but long!)

Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman put out some real quality series. The Death Gate cycle is a good set. The Sovereign Stone Trilogy is good. They also have written the core books in the Dragonlance series (harder to come by today). The Legends and Chronicles trilogies are the best, IMO.

Raymond Feist's Krondor books are good (there are a lot). They actually did conclude, and come full circle. There are many sub-series that are quite good (Empire Trilogy, Serpent War saga, etc.) and they do happen in chronological order. His books become better and better - the first was a rather large volume that was good - but not as polished as his other works. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

There are more - but these are like the first that come to mind.

Matlock the Hare was a great trilogy. The really interesting part is the use of a made-up language, Dalespeak. You might be clottabussed at first, but you'll quickly learn the griffles and you'll discover a saztaculous adventure.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/7/AAQwHjAADCZ1.jpg

The Chronicles of Amber - The Corwin Cycle, by Roger Zelazny
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake

Gormenghast might be the wrong kind of fantasy, but the first book(Titus Groan) is my favorite fiction book. Chronicles of Amber is just a fun, easy read that you can blaze through and be entertained by. I used to compare it to Chronicles of Narnia since it involves traveling between modern day earth and fantasy worlds, but I haven't actually read Narnia so that's where the comparison ends.

kind9 posted...

Gormenghast might be the wrong kind of fantasy

It can be a slough to get into because of how detailed of a writer Peake is, all the miniature carvings and the guys poor knees take up a good portion of that first book before we actually get to the plot. I had the single volume compendium on my shelf for years and I don't think I ever got to the second book in it.

I read somewhere about the Gormenghast series:

Where Tolkien draws you in by leaving much to your own imagination, Peake draws you in by telling you every minute detail

or some such.

Seems to me someone should mention Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire. I dunno what it would be like to read if you watched the series, but it was best ever tier until...it didn't finish and ended up with a TV ending.

Among others I've read: Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy is simple fantasy fun. It's somewhat cheesy at points, sure, but it's a trilogy so it actually wraps up and ends in a reasonable amount of time. The premise is pretty good.

The Demon Cycle by Brett is somewhat similar fantasy fun, although it goes five novels and thus has more time to get weird. I haven't read the fifth.

KodyKeir posted...

It can be a slough to get into because of how detailed of a writer Peake is,

I suppose so, but I enjoy his writing style enough that I'm not really bothered by it. I wouldn't call it a flaw or anything.

wpot posted...

Among others I've read: Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy is simple fantasy fun. It's somewhat cheesy at points, sure, but it's a trilogy so it actually wraps up and ends in a reasonable amount of time. The premise is pretty good.

I just finished this one about a month ago. Not great tier, but probably the best brand new fantasy that is out if you are looking for something current.

Some other suggestions:

Weis & Hickman Dragonships of Vindras if you are looking for some more viking-like fantasy

Brandon Sanderson Stormlight Archives - not a bad read. Some characters aren't very interesting IMO, but the series pretty well done overall.

I think I saw someone mention the Terry Goodkind books. They are a little. . . .creepy IMO. If you are into the sexual fetish stuff, I guess go for it. It was enough to ruin the series for me.

You have, of course, already mentioned the Sword of Shannara books. I haven't read them in decades, but I recall enjoying them.

Mickey Zucher Reichert has some decent novels (Renshai series)

Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince trilogy was all right - although I recall thinking these were borderline fantasy/romance novels. I haven't read it in more than a decade.

I really enjoyed the Elven Nations Trilogy by Douglas Niles. He was one of the early creators of Dragonlance & Forgotten Realms and has written many books in both series.

11110111011 posted...

brand new fantasy that is out if you are looking for something current.

To be fair I think I read it a decade ago (were they released in 2008?) but I am retro enough to think of 2008 as 'new' so that works for me. :)

11110111011 posted...

Terry Goodkind books. They are a little. . . .creepy IMO.

That's an understatement actually, the first couple of books are incredibly creepy, and somewhat overly detailed, but they also happen to be the better ones in the series. If it weren't for The Legend of the Seeker and being able to get my hands on the series through the audio books while I was doing night security, I don't think would have ever gotten past Wizards First Rule.

11110111011 posted...

Sword of Shannara books

There is also the Knight of the Word series which Brooks recently married up with his Shannara series, both are pretty good though the more recent entries in the Shannara chronicles are very formulaic that if you have read that deep into the series, you are going to easily predict the story beats a couple of chapters in advance. The Magic Kingdom of Landover seems to be loosely related to Shannara and is a fun series in and of itself. The last book I read was the Black Elfstones, so I'm behind by about 5 books, the final three of the Fall series, and the two new ones in Child of Light.

kind9 posted...

Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake
Gormenghast might be the wrong kind of fantasy, but the first book(Titus Groan) is my favorite fiction book.

Mervyn Peake's writing is slow-paced, but it is just fucking phenomenal, like honey. Unfortunately, Peake passed away in the middle of writing the third book. If I recall correctly, a family member finished it (much like how one of Tolkien's sons finished The Silmarillion, which is why the late parts of that book are distinctly different), and Titus Alone suffers as a result. But the prose in these are excellent, and the books have an incredibly kooky cast of characters- think Harry Potter characterizations, but, you know... they actually stand up to scrutiny. Come to think of it, the first two books also take place in a castle. Ha.

My mother's favorite books are LotR and the first 2 Gormenghast books. Uh, here's a sample, if you want to determine if it's up your alley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESnTPAtniqE

As for the Great Book of Amber, I actually have this but did not finish it. It's uh... it's fucking huge, lol, and it did not grip me, but it did seem good. I should pick it up again sometime.

Llamachama posted...

The Abhorsen series.

They have a great tone and I think he does a good job of characterizing his moody female leads. Poor Lirael could use some medication, I think, lol.

To name a couple more...

I remember reading the Wyrd Museum books by Robin Jarvis as a teen. Those were interesting but I'm pretty sure some of the rather shocking death scenes in the books traumatized me as a kid, so I have not read them again, lol. They make reference to Norse and Abrahamic religions particularly, and mostly follow a boy and a girl and some rather grim goings-on related to artifacts and people at a museum in London.

I guess you could try some books based off D&D stuff. None of it is particularly outstanding, but RA Salvatore's books have fun fight scenes.

I read some books by... what was her name... Kristen Britain, and the first book was Green Rider. Those were entertaining, though I lost interest after 3 books. The first book is about a girl who is forced to take up the dying mission of an assassinated messenger that serves the crown, only to find herself hunted by that assassin, who is a skilled horseback archer.

There's the obvious His Dark Materials series, and Artemis Fowl. These are hardly books targeted at adults but they're entertaining media, unlike the disaster films that were made out of them. If you aren't familiar, His Dark Materials = cool familiar+Abrahamic stuff, and Artemis Fowl is basically "fantasy characters vs malignant child genius." Both enjoyable. Real shame about the garbage films, though. Artemis Fowl got done particularly dirty.

Oh, if you want something super niche that I'd be surprised if anyone else has read here, a ways back I read a book called Villains by Necessity. You follow a group of "evil" people trying to save the world from the consequences of having too much "goodness" in it. It's deliberately highly referential to other fantasy books and tropes, including LotR. I thought it was a fun read.

Recommending books is always a YMMV thing, especially because the target age ranges vary wildly and a lot of the stuff I've found most enjoyable has been aimed at younger authors, as if those aiming for adult audiences are too fixated on edge to make their writing actually enjoyable. Maybe I've just been unlucky in my picks, lol. It didn't help that I was reading adult books at a very young age which causes my taste to whip all over the place.

KodyKeir posted...

There is also the Knight of the Word series which Brooks recently married up with his Shannara series

I just finished wishsong of Shannara and the Ildatch said it was from the time of the word, so I feel like they were already connected.

I'll read more from Brooks eventually though

Thanks for the recs guys, I'll look into these

I am going to disagree with the person that said the Wheel of Time is only good for the 1st 4-5 books. In my opinion all books outside of 8-10 are great. Books 8 and 9 are a bit slow but have their moments and book 10 is the only one I don't like. I would say if you don't feel it after book 4 (of course you can quit earlier, I just think that is the point you are either all in or done), then don't continue.

I think A Song of Ice and Fire is worth even though the series will likely never be finished. The 1st 3 are so good on their own.

It doesn't seem like anyone has recommended Joe Abercrombie's first law series. This is my favorite current author, his books just get better and better with each one. This one is grimdark, but there is a lot of humor.

Dont read anymore but i can second the Night Angel trilogy suggestion at any rate. Was the last series i read and the one i liked most.

wpot posted...

To be fair I think I read it a decade ago (were they released in 2008?) but I am retro enough to think of 2008 as 'new' so that works for me. :)

Yeah, I guess it was released in 2008. I found it on a list of modern 'non-woke' fantasy and just assumed it was more recent.

Gaawa_chan posted...

As for the Great Book of Amber, I actually have this but did not finish it. It's uh... it's fucking huge, lol, and it did not grip me, but it did seem good. I should pick it up again sometime.

Keep in mind, it's large because it's literally 10 books in one.

And those 10 books are divided up into two smaller overarching stories (the first 5 books are from Corwin's perspective, the second 5 books are set years later and follow someone else's story in the same universe... and are generally considered to be not as good).

It's also written in an older, new wave style that was more popular in the 60s/70s, so if that style doesn't appeal to you you'll get less out of the series. But Amber is actually one of my two favorite fantasy series of all time (the other being the Thomas Covenant books).



KodyKeir posted...

I really like the Incarnations of Immortality series; each book focuses on a different incarnation of concepts important to humanity, Death, Time, War, Fate, etc seven book in all. I find Anthony has some undertones that were apparently seen as progressive at the time, but now seem a little misogynistic.

Most people worry less about how he seems to be strongly sex positive and maybe a bit sexist and instead worry more about the occasional pedophile undertones in some of his writing.

It rarely becomes obvious, especially if you're not really paying attention, though the last book of the Incarnations series kind of makes it blatant.

Still, Incarnations was probably by favorite series by him, but I'm not sure I'd consider it full-on fantasy. Which is the main reason why I didn't recommend it, or any of his other stuff.



KodyKeir posted...

That's an understatement actually, the first couple of books are incredibly creepy...

...I don't think would have ever gotten past Wizards First Rule.

With Terry Goodkind, the thing that bothers people a lot is the fact that he is (or was) an Objectivist, so he seeded a lot of Ayn Rand's ideas into his work.

People whose politics and worldview are diametrically opposed to that sort of philosophy tend to pick up on it more, and are bothered by it more. And thus don't necessarily like books that are stealth influencing you with it.

Archgoat posted...

It doesn't seem like anyone has recommended Joe Abercrombie's first law series. This is my favorite current author, his books just get better and better with each one. This one is grimdark, but there is a lot of humor.

I mainly didn't recommend it because I kind of lump it in with the Alex Marshall fantasy trilogy (A Crown for Cold Silver/A Blade of Black Steel/A War in Crimson Embers) as books that are trying so hard to be "dark fantasy" like A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones that they sort of miss the reasons why people liked George RR Martin's work in the first place and focus excessively on the "dark" part of dark fantasy. You used the term "grimdark" (which is usually used more as an insult), and it's pretty appropriate.

I'm sure there are people who like that sort of thing (probably a lot of people), but it feels too excessive for me. Like the writer is trying too hard to be shocking or outrageous rather than telling a strong story you'd actually want to read. It's sort of how I see Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, and Mark Millar as comic writers (and obviously, they have a tons of fans themselves) - who all feel to me like they started out as fans of Alan Moore and Frank Miller's darker work, then decided to pay homage to it by doubly down on the dark part and completely missing the other parts that made it good.

For someone saying they loved Tolkien and liked Shannara, that's very much a lighter, more traditional fantasy take. Fans of pure high fantasy or lighthearted good versus evil fantasy may be less interested in stories that deep dive into misery and darkness and mostly winds up being "everyone is evil or just sucks, and the main conflict is basically just evil versus evil".

Everything's subjective, though. One person's favorite series is going to be something someone else hates.



Archgoat posted...

I am going to disagree with the person that said the Wheel of Time is only good for the 1st 4-5 books. In my opinion all books outside of 8-10 are great.

I'm going to semi-disagree with your disagreement.

Wheel of Time starts out as blatant Tolkien rip-off for the first couple books (1-2), then slowly morphs into an interesting story in its own right (3-6). But then Jordan realizes how much money he can make milking the shit out of the franchise, and the books become more and more filler, introduce more and more pointless characters and story threads, and bog down in a mess that never goes anywhere that becomes a dull, boring slog (7-11).

Books 7 through 11 were painful to read in real time, and even some of the most devoted fans of the series started losing interest because it felt like nothing important was ever happening and nothing was ever going anywhere. And then when it finally did (cleansing the Source), it felt so abrupt and anticlimactic that it was almost worse. A lot of people only kept reading the series in spite of those books, not because of them - because they wanted to know how the actual interesting plot points and stories set up in the first 6 books would eventually pay off. If the first six books hadn't been so good (and honestly, it's more than 3-6 were good), no one would have bothered suffering through 7-11.

When Sanderson took over the series at book 12 it was a massive blast of fresh air, because he finally cut out all the bullshit dicking around and padding things out with filler and started finishing the story. Which is what Wheel of Time fans had mostly wanted for like 5 books and 15 years at that point.

What really hurt Wheel of Time was that it was originally supposed to be a trilogy. Then the trilogy stretched out to supposedly be six books, because Jordan was having trouble being concise. Then he started deliberately padding things out so the six book series was suddenly going to be twelve books long (without any real increased major story arc justifying it). And then even the twelfth book wound up turning into three books because it was going to be so long (so the whole mess wound up being 14 books long).

It's the exact same problem that A Song of Ice and Fire suffered/is suffering from (Martin originally planned for it to be a trilogy, lost control over the story and started padding things out once it became a success and expanded it to six books, then seven, then theoretically more). And part of the reason why people started comparing George RR Martin to Robert Jordan, and asking him if he was planning on leaving behind notes so a ghostwriting partner would be able to finish the story if he died - which annoyed the shit out of him, and may be part of why he hates the series now and is probably deliberately avoiding finishing it as a fuck you to the fans (and why it's been implied his wife has instructions to burn all his notes when he dies, because he doesn't want anyone else ever finishing the story either).

Massive fantasy series becoming big business is a large part of why so many of them never seem to end anymore (and why the stories get more and more padded, turn into more and more filler, and get boring and lame after the first few strong books). People forget, but Lord of the Rings (the series that arguably started the whole "fantasy trilogy" concept in the first place) was originally written as a single book/story, and just got broken into three parts because of the war-related paper shortage.

Now every aspiring fantasy writer goes to the publisher with grandiose ideas for a 17 book epic fantasy cycle they'll never be good enough to finish in a satisfying way, and the few good writers who don't get told that the publisher only wants franchises so they shouldn't even bother writing anything unless they can turn it into a trilogy at the very least.