| Forum Index > General Forum |
|
tronix
United States95 Posts
-Lamentations - Ken Scholes -Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson (this is the trilogy that led Robert Jordan's wife to ask Sanderson to finish the WoT Series) -Name of the Wind/Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss (warning: 3rd/final book in progress and far from release >.<) | ||
|
sc14s
United States5052 Posts
On April 11 2012 11:49 tronix wrote: hmmm...here are some of the most recent series/books that i have finished and found quite good: -Lamentations - Ken Scholes -Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson (this is the trilogy that led Robert Jordan's wife to ask Sanderson to finish the WoT Series) -Name of the Wind/Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss (warning: 3rd/final book in progress and far from release >.<) mistborn trilogy was pretty damn good, i just finished reading that recently as well. edit: godamn why is it so long until gsl  sorry random tangent just saw that there are like 6 hours until it starts. | ||
|
Kurr
Canada2338 Posts
I just read this book in about 1 week, during my exam week, and I have to say it's without a doubt the best fantasy book I've read yet. Granted, I haven't read that many series, but I couldn't put this down. The story really suceeds at telling a relatively complex storyline (in that it has several characters and things going on at once) in a way that is easy to follow and remember as well as make sense of. There are some good plot developments that I didn't see coming, and some that I saw coming but enjoyed either way, and the story really felt memorable. Even secondary characters don't feel pointless despite having few lines or scenes which is awesome. I also didn't start getting confused with all the names like I usually do in large stories. The characters feel distinct and I never had trouble identifying them. The author slowly builds up a story for one character then introduces new ones in interludes --- characters that don't have a main point to the story yet, but will become important in later books. It helps give a complete vision of the world they are on. Certain characters that I didn't enjoy at first became more interesting as the story went on, and there was always one character that was interesting enough to make me read the book to get to their next chapter. The story uses fantasy elements well; I'm not a huge fan of books such as A Song of Fire and Ice which mention them once every few hundred pages. Still, it's not over done and the world feels really well thought out. When something DOES happen, it fits. The placement of chapters and elements is pretty spot on. Only once did I think "come on, we're in a climatic scene, do you need to put this here?" and honestly that scene was just a couple of pages; I just wanted to read the rest of the epic scene without interruption. Finally, the book leaves me wanting more. I have a decent idea of what we can expect from future events, but at the same time a lot of mysteries remain hidden and leaves me with a lot of questions. The author does a good job of building up hype for future events while keeping a shroud on a lot of the reasons for certain actions and events. Overall, I'm definitely in this for the long run with this series. 10/10 for me and recommend for fans of fantasy series. | ||
|
sc14s
United States5052 Posts
On April 28 2012 08:18 Kurr wrote: I'm bumping this thread to talk about the first book in The Stormlight Archive. I know it's mentionned in the OP but I rarely see people talking about it. It's going to be a huge series, and book 1 is the only one available at this moment with book 2 due next year after some delays by the author (nothing like A Song of Fire and Ice don't worry) I just read this book in about 1 week, during my exam week, and I have to say it's without a doubt the best fantasy book I've read yet. Granted, I haven't read that many series, but I couldn't put this down. The story really suceeds at telling a relatively complex storyline (in that it has several characters and things going on at once) in a way that is easy to follow and remember as well as make sense of. There are some good plot developments that I didn't see coming, and some that I saw coming but enjoyed either way, and the story really felt memorable. Even secondary characters don't feel pointless despite having few lines or scenes which is awesome. I also didn't start getting confused with all the names like I usually do in large stories. The characters feel distinct and I never had trouble identifying them. The author slowly builds up a story for one character then introduces new ones in interludes --- characters that don't have a main point to the story yet, but will become important in later books. It helps give a complete vision of the world they are on. Certain characters that I didn't enjoy at first became more interesting as the story went on, and there was always one character that was interesting enough to make me read the book to get to their next chapter. The story uses fantasy elements well; I'm not a huge fan of books such as A Song of Fire and Ice which mention them once every few hundred pages. Still, it's not over done and the world feels really well thought out. When something DOES happen, it fits. The placement of chapters and elements is pretty spot on. Only once did I think "come on, we're in a climatic scene, do you need to put this here?" and honestly that scene was just a couple of pages; I just wanted to read the rest of the epic scene without interruption. Finally, the book leaves me wanting more. I have a decent idea of what we can expect from future events, but at the same time a lot of mysteries remain hidden and leaves me with a lot of questions. The author does a good job of building up hype for future events while keeping a shroud on a lot of the reasons for certain actions and events. Overall, I'm definitely in this for the long run with this series. 10/10 for me and recommend for fans of fantasy series. I have to agree with you The Stormlight Archives books are certainly my most looked forward to books to read next to (funnily enough) the last Wheel of Time book. I am sort of torn to what series i like better, when i made this thread i was sort of into Brandon Sanderson and George R. R. martin. As of now though its mostly just Sanderson since i've been reading all his books recently. | ||
|
LiamTheZerg
United States523 Posts
| ||
|
Bunn
Estonia934 Posts
If I recall correctly, its main protagonist was a thief, who took jobs with a contract. What else... The world had a certain number of gods if I'm not mistaken; no one had seen the face of the god of the thieves. There were guilds(or maybe not). I think there was some evil mage as well, who tried to take over the world/kingdom, by summoning out demons/the demon world; half of the world/kingdom was already conquered by him. At some point I think the thief joined the royal forces, to help them against the evil mage. I hope I make some sense and haven't mixed up different books. | ||
|
Ghardo
Germany1685 Posts
| ||
|
revel8
United Kingdom3022 Posts
Some additions I would recommend are The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. A fantasy novel with some amusing characters. The Stainless Steel Rat books by Harry Harrison. These are Sci-Fi books that are like a humerous James Bond/Ocean's Eleven in space. Quite old books now but a must read. | ||
|
Acrofales
Spain18224 Posts
On May 10 2012 03:27 Bunn wrote: I don't know if this is the correct place to ask it, but I'd like some help remembering the name of a book and its author. If I recall correctly, its main protagonist was a thief, who took jobs with a contract. What else... The world had a certain number of gods if I'm not mistaken; no one had seen the face of the god of the thieves. There were guilds(or maybe not). I think there was some evil mage as well, who tried to take over the world/kingdom, by summoning out demons/the demon world; half of the world/kingdom was already conquered by him. At some point I think the thief joined the royal forces, to help them against the evil mage. I hope I make some sense and haven't mixed up different books. This somewhat sounds a bit like Raymond E. Feist, but it has been a looooong time since I read the Magician series. While there's nothing about gods as far as I remember, the rest seems to fit with some later book in the series that focuses on Jimmy the Hand. Does that sound familiar? | ||
|
Ryuhou)aS(
United States1174 Posts
First off, the ENDER's series, is incredibly good. I consider this to be 2 side-series (series that occur in the same universe, but not necessarily having to do with each other). Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind are great insights into the moral human, while the Shadow series(the side series) are all great books about the unity of earth and the moralities of it. Secondly, Dragonlance authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have a couple other series that are just as good if not better than their origional D-lance. The Deathgate cycle is my favorite by them, but also very good series are the Dragonship series and The Bronze Canticles. Their Annals of Drakis is another great series. Third, Orson Scott Card (author of Ender's series) is really my favorite author and I would highly recomend anything he's written. His Homecoming series is very good mixture of both sci-fi and fantasy. He also has an incredible American Epic fantasy called The Alvin Maker Tales, that are a really fun read. He's currently working on two new series one mixing real life with fantasy starting with the book The Lost Gate, and another that mixes sci-fy and fantasy starting with the book Pathfinder. His Short story collections are also great for a quick read, and his standalone novels such as Magic Street, The Worthing Saga, and Treason, are all some of my favorite reads. Fourth, I don't care who says what about it, but Christopher Paolini's Inheritence series was incredible to me. maybe not exactly high fantasy, but the world he creates is so good, it just sucks me in and there's parts in this book that make my spine shiver+ Show Spoiler + When they can't stop those sorcerer's from creating a shade, and it appears holding Arya up by her neck going "Our name is Vaurag. Fear us." oooooooooooo For some SF, it's kind of dry, but i really like Ben Bova. Moonbase and Moonwar are great looks into what could be happening in the next 10-20 years in real life. He continues that "universe" with books like the mars series, and a visit to basically all the other planets. And I really really loved his Sam Gunn Chronicles. Something a little childish, but if you like Harry Potter, you'll probably like Michael Scotts "Nicholas Flamel secrets of the immortal alchemist" series. I really like how every charactor except for the main 2 twins, are all people from either in real life history, or from actual legends of the peoples around the world. Some other good reads, if you like the halo storyline, the halo books are actually okay.. Aurthur C. Clarke's Rama series gets undermentioned because his "2000" series is more well known (Damn you hollywood) Dan Simmons Illium and Olympius are both great books, but kind of hard to follow along exactly (he basically makes 4-5 different stories that you feel have absolutely nothing to do with each other, and ties them all together in the end. when i was finished with those books i was like "HEY!!!! I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!!" There ya go, these are all basically things that i didn't see mentioned, and if they were already mentioned i wanted to reiterate how incredibly good they are. | ||
|
Bunn
Estonia934 Posts
On May 10 2012 03:56 Acrofales wrote: This somewhat sounds a bit like Raymond E. Feist, but it has been a looooong time since I read the Magician series. While there's nothing about gods as far as I remember, the rest seems to fit with some later book in the series that focuses on Jimmy the Hand. Does that sound familiar? It sounds very similar, but it sadly isn't the book which I'm looking for . Thanks for the response though(and I have now found a new fantasy series thanks to you!) | ||
|
CaM27
Belgium392 Posts
Now i just started an ebook of the first book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. There is or were a lot of hype around this book on TL (even got his own thread). Problem is it's rather difficult to comprehend. Seems the author made it rather difficult for foreigners to grasp the meaning of every single word in this book! Anyway, what do you guys think of this series? Is it not too hard to comprehend because there are 10 books, im gonna go for a one trip order,l buy it all and i hope im not doing a mistake! | ||
|
ThaZenith
Canada3116 Posts
On October 10 2012 11:56 CaM27 wrote: Recently i ordered and read all the books of the series of a song of ice and fire. It was my first experience reading an english fantasy book and i enjoyed it a lot. The text were quiet easy to comprehend. Now i just started an ebook of the first book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. There is or were a lot of hype around this book on TL (even got his own thread). Problem is it's rather difficult to comprehend. Seems the author made it rather difficult for foreigners to grasp the meaning of every single word in this book! Anyway, what do you guys think of this series? Is it not too hard to comprehend because there are 10 books, im gonna go for a one trip order,l buy it all and i hope im not doing a mistake! Honestly, the Malazan series are hard enough to read for a native english speaker. I've been a 'bookworm' all my life, i read a ton. Those books were HARD to get through, and I eventually dropped them after the 4th book because I read to relax, and that series was way too tiring. Felt like I was studying half the time, trying figure out what he was saying, and to remember wtf was going on constantly. xD Right now I'm reading the Wheel of Time series, for the third or 4th time, in preparation for the final book coming up. Still good as ever.  | ||
|
Critter
United States196 Posts
That being said, I absolutely love the series. Yes, it's a tougher read than ASoiaF, and it's a different style, but I think it's the pinnacle of modern story driven Epic Fantasy. For more character driven Epic Fantasy, I'd suggest something like the Kingkiller Chronicles, which I also thought was fantastic, and will probably prove to be an easier read. Stormlight Chronicles are good as well, but imo not as good as Kingkiller. EDIT: I also don't get all the love of the Wheel of Time series. I read quite a bit of the series (7ish books I think) but it got to the point where his repetitive descriptions really started to grind on me, and on top of that, the story hadn't moved in the last 3,000 or so pages. Once that second fact sunk home I put the series down and never looked back. | ||
|
RuskiPanda
United States2906 Posts
| ||
|
CaM27
Belgium392 Posts
Now that im done with aSoIaF, can anyone recommend anything at the same level of this? edit, thx critter | ||
|
Nesto
Switzerland1318 Posts
On October 10 2012 13:28 CaM27 wrote: Thanks for the replies. I wanted to read these books so bad because people hyped it like the best of the best in fantasy. I got a cambridge certifcate, travelled twice in australia for a mid long term. All these facts felt quiet short or inexistant while reading the first book of the malazan of the fallen. Well i'm super sad and dissapointed tbh for not having the comprehension skills for these books! Now that im done with aSoIaF, can anyone recommend anything at the same level of this? edit, thx critter well, I wouldn't give up on the books so fast. I think it took me well in to the second book to grasp what a Warren is and how the magic system works... and even longer to get the differences between Kurald Galain, Denul, Meanas and whatever. Erikson doesn't make it easy, but I'd recommend to keep on reading - even if you don't get all those details - because the series is really worth it, and the second book is certainly far easier to understand and by the third book you will start to get the hang of it anyway. | ||
|
Sedzz
Australia391 Posts
And what were your thought on it? | ||
|
Noruxas
Netherlands129 Posts
| ||
|
CaM27
Belgium392 Posts
| ||
| ||
Sparkling Tuna Cup
Weekly #121
ByuN vs KrystianerLIVE!
herO vs Percival
PiG Sty Festival
PiGFest 7.0 FINAL DAY
Clem vs SerralLIVE!
TBD vs Maru
[ Submit Event ] |
|
|
|
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
Replay Cast
Wardi Open
Monday Night Weeklies
Replay Cast
Replay Cast
Replay Cast
The PondCast
KCM Race Survival
Replay Cast
[ Show More ] |
|
|
EPT
