Books Fantasy Reads

Just finished The Emperor's Blades, book 1 of the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne trilogy by Brian Staveley. I have no idea why I bothered finishing it, but my god am I glad that's over. It's another one of those books where I'm completely baffled by its Goodreads 4+ stars average. I found it offensively bad, bordering on terrible. Poor, staggeringly incompetent characters, zero direction, barely any narrative at all actually, laughable descriptions of female characters, I thought pretty much everything went wrong. The prose is decent, I guess. The reception on Goodreads indicates there's an audience for everything, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
 
Took me a few times to get through that one (in audiobook format). I don’t even remember if I listened to the next book in the series, so I guess that says something.
 
WI_Red said:
Took me a few times to get through that one (in audiobook format). I don’t even remember if I listened to the next book in the series, so I guess that says something.
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Edgar Allan Pillow said:
I finished that too but didn't really feel the need to continue further. One of those books that I don't remember anything about. It was that bland.
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This makes me hopeful I also won't remember much about it soon enough. :lol:

One thing it has made me realize is I'm becoming increasingly weary of how so many male fantasy writers handle female characters. Not all of them, of course, but still, it's a recurring issue. I think I'm going to look specifically for female authors for a while, just to have some balance.
 
Ainu said:
Just finished The Emperor's Blades, book 1 of the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne trilogy by Brian Staveley. I have no idea why I bothered finishing it, but my god am I glad that's over. It's another one of those books where I'm completely baffled by its Goodreads 4+ stars average. I found it offensively bad, bordering on terrible. Poor, staggeringly incompetent characters, zero direction, barely any narrative at all actually, laughable descriptions of female characters, I thought pretty much everything went wrong. The prose is decent, I guess. The reception on Goodreads indicates there's an audience for everything, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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One of those guys who gave it 4/5 in Goodreads. Found it pretty decent, although not spectacular.
 
Ainu said:
One thing it has made me realize is I'm becoming increasingly weary of how so many male fantasy writers handle female characters. Not all of them, of course, but still, it's a recurring issue. I think I'm going to look specifically for female authors for a while, just to have some balance.
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I just read a book by a female author that has worse writing of women.

However I can suggest ML Wang's Sword of Kaigen.
 
Ainu said:
Just finished The Emperor's Blades, book 1 of the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne trilogy by Brian Staveley. I have no idea why I bothered finishing it, but my god am I glad that's over. It's another one of those books where I'm completely baffled by its Goodreads 4+ stars average. I found it offensively bad, bordering on terrible. Poor, staggeringly incompetent characters, zero direction, barely any narrative at all actually, laughable descriptions of female characters, I thought pretty much everything went wrong. The prose is decent, I guess. The reception on Goodreads indicates there's an audience for everything, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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It's a stereotypical fantasy. Routine story & bland, interchangeable characters. I struggle so much to find interesting fantasy. It's a genre that seems to be so devoid of humor, personality, and memorable voices. There are a few writers that try to add some identity to their writing and characters but they really seem to be the exception.
 
SmashedHombre said:
I struggle so much to find interesting fantasy. It's a genre that seems to be so devoid of humor, personality, and memorable voices.
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You haven't looked enough. Like in this very thread, like 10 posts above :D
 
giorno said:
You haven't looked enough. Like in this very thread, like 10 posts above :D
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Do you happen to have ebook versions? I saw that some guy created an epub but the links were expired and i absolutely hate reading from PC/phone.
 
Rake said:
Do you happen to have ebook versions? I saw that some guy created an epub but the links were expired and i absolutely hate reading from PC/phone.
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Nope. Author plans to publish so no ebooks. Either wait or have to read online. Considering the series ends in two weeks, he's likely going to go through rewriting and editing aftetwords so it shouldn't be more than a couple years, hopefully
 
giorno said:
Nope. Author plans to publish so no ebooks. Either wait or have to read online. Considering the series ends in two weeks, he's likely going to go through rewriting and editing aftetwords so it shouldn't be more than a couple years, hopefully
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I helped myself and created an epub :) If anyone else wants to read it that way, drop me a message.

As I understood, the author doesn't mind individual people making reading the book easier, he just doesn't want mass sharing of the material that way, so it should be fine.
 
Rake said:
I helped myself and created an epub :) If anyone else wants to read it that way, drop me a message.

As I understood, the author doesn't mind individual people making reading the book easier, he just doesn't want mass sharing of the material that way, so it should be fine.
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Yep. Avoid mass sharing of the material through a medium that would affect his plans for publishing...
 
giorno said:
Only 4 chapters left to the end of A Practical Guide to Evil and H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T-B-A-L-L-S

This is the greatest fantasy work I have ever read. It's better than Malazan even. It's fecking better than Malazan

Y'all need to read it. Now! :D

https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/prologue/
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Is this a medieval-era fantasy? I ask because I checked out the prologue and in the first paragraph, I see the simile "like a bottlecap" and bottlecaps didn't exist in the medieval era. I know it's fantasy but do they actually have bottles with caps in the book? Details like that bother me if writers use simile and metaphor that wouldn't exist in that time period.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
Is this a medieval-era fantasy? I ask because I checked out the prologue and in the first paragraph, I see the simile "like a bottlecap" and bottlecaps didn't exist in the medieval era. I know it's fantasy but do they actually have bottles with caps in the book? Details like that bother me if writers use simile and metaphor that wouldn't exist in that time period.
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It's simil-medieval yeah. Honestly no idea if they have caps, it's really not something that comes up :lol: even though there's a lot of drinking going on :D

For the most part the metaphors and similes make sense in story. The swearing too
 
Rake said:
Starting the last book in the Licanius trilogy. First two books were quite good and I can safely recommend them.

james-islington-the-licanius-trilogy-3-volume_315562-1.jpg
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Just finished the first after seeing this post, really decent.
 
So only the epilogues are left. The finale was, frankly, perfection. Just wow. I'm still too elated right now but damn this is gonna hit me in a huge way next week :(:(:(

@Rake how far have you got?
 
giorno said:
So only the epilogues are left. The finale was, frankly, perfection. Just wow. I'm still too elated right now but damn this is gonna hit me in a huge way next week :(:(:(

@Rake how far have you got?
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Just 100ish pages in, mate. And, if I recall correctly, there were around 7200 :) Nothing groundbreaking so far, but still early days. I remember by page 100 of Gardens of the Moon i wanted to scratch my eyes out ( had to start over several time before I really got into it).
 
First few chapters are a bit clunky and not anything mind-blowing, though some of the characters coolness shows up. Story and writing really start to pick up around chapter 15 or so, then takes off in book 2, book 3 is a ride, book 4 has a great first half before getting a bit bogged down in the second(but then the finale makes up for it with interests), book 5 is exceptional(honestly the best book imo), book 6 also has ups and downs with really great highs but also some slow-burn, more clunky stuff - with perhaps the most emotionally charged finale of all -, then book 7 is great from the beginning to the end
 
So if I want to get this book, erm, hows? And is it finished completely or should I wait a bit?
 
Beachryan said:
So if I want to get this book, erm, hows? And is it finished completely or should I wait a bit?
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Wordpress. Posted a link in spoiler tags, it's a few posts up. It ends next week, only the 2 epilogues left. There's a few extra chapter for patreons only too, backstory for side characters
 
giorno said:
First few chapters are a bit clunky and not anything mind-blowing, though some of the characters coolness shows up. Story and writing really start to pick up around chapter 15 or so, then takes off in book 2, book 3 is a ride, book 4 has a great first half before getting a bit bogged down in the second(but then the finale makes up for it with interests), book 5 is exceptional(honestly the best book imo), book 6 also has ups and downs with really great highs but also some slow-burn, more clunky stuff - with perhaps the most emotionally charged finale of all -, then book 7 is great from the beginning to the end
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Oh, I`m finishing all of it and we will discuss afterwards. The start hasn't put me off reading it by any means.

Beachryan said:
So if I want to get this book, erm, hows? And is it finished completely or should I wait a bit?
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I have created an epub from the website and can share it with you, but it is only for easier reading and not distributing to other places. Although technically it is something anyone could do, we should respect the author's wishes. Send me a msg if you want the file. I`ll recompile it with the latest chapters.
 
Anyone read The Pariah? I was looking for more to read (while waiting for Sanderson's next, or Abercrombie's next, or for Scott Lynch to finally release his new Gentleman Bastards novel), so I just took a punt and ordered it.

I really rather liked it, and to my disappointment discovered that it was actually a very new book. I thought I was reading the first book in a series which I could binge if I liked the first one. Haven't read anything by Ryan before.
 
giorno said:
It's simil-medieval yeah. Honestly no idea if they have caps, it's really not something that comes up :lol: even though there's a lot of drinking going on :D

For the most part the metaphors and similes make sense in story. The swearing too
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Well, saying something popped like a bottlecap in a world that doesn't have bottlecaps doesn't make sense in story. It's also, to be frank, a sign of novice or poor writing.

I made it to Chapter 1 until another such sign hit me. A character is supposed to be in the middle of a fight and there are these immersion-breaking lines of interiority. After getting punched in the face hard enough to cause a black eye no one is going to be thinking about spending their winnings and having to face some lecture by another character. That's just bad writing for violence. No one has those types of thoughts in the middle of a fistfight where they just got slugged hard in the face. Those types of thoughts would come after the fight is over not right after being punched in the face. Violent fight scenes need to confer the physical immediacy of actually being in a fistfight not interrupted by thoughts a real person would never have in the middle of a fight. I'm guessing the author has never been in a fistfight but one piece of advice I've heard is "go down to a dive bar and get yourself into a fistfight and see how much interiority you experience after getting punched in the nose."

I know I'm being picky here but you did praise this story as the greatest fantasy work you've ever read and better than Malazan. So compared to that praise, the writing just feels very amateurish. If you'd just said "hey check out this story on Wordpress" I wouldn't be nearly this critical. I'm sure the worldbuilding is fantastic and the plot seems interesting but being an avid reader, I just can't get past some of these writing 101 errors (that can be easily fixed on revision). Maybe I'll give it a go at a later date.
 
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oneniltothearsenal said:
Well, saying something popped like a bottlecap in a world that doesn't have bottlecaps doesn't make sense in story. It's also, to be frank, a sign of novice or poor writing.

I made it to Chapter 1 until another such sign hit me. A character is supposed to be in the middle of a fight and there are these immersion-breaking lines of interiority.
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Oh that's simple. You're reading the very first chapters. The writing isn't great in those. I'm conditioned because by around book 5 it becomes genuinely stunning at times - and then pretty much all the time by book 6 - but yeah, need to understand that:
1) it's a first draft
2) those first chapters are very much the work of a somewhat rookie author
3) the writing improves by leaps and bounds eventually
4) it still remains a first draft

5) bolded really is nitpicking :lol: that kind of thing is fairly standard in my opinion
 
I wish I'd never started The Wheel of Time. On book 7 at the moment and it's fecking hard going.

I only started around November, so maybe I need a break. Gonna get to the end of this story and then hold off on the next one till at least the summer.

The first few books had a much better pace to them. These middle volumes are really dragging.
 
giorno said:
Oh that's simple. You're reading the very first chapters. The writing isn't great in those. I'm conditioned because by around book 5 it becomes genuinely stunning at times - and then pretty much all the time by book 6 - but yeah, need to understand that:
1) it's a first draft
2) those first chapters are very much the work of a somewhat rookie author
3) the writing improves by leaps and bounds eventually
4) it still remains a first draft

5) bolded really is nitpicking :lol: that kind of thing is fairly standard in my opinion
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1-4 are all fair points and I'll keep that in mind. But 5 is not fairly standard in the books I read. In crime fiction, a lot of care is taken to depict violence realistically and take care not to do what the author here did in a fistfight ,even in some of the more "Hollywood" type stories like Bullet Train. I also like the challenge that any writer that thinks someone would be thinking like that right after getting punched in the eye should try it! Go to a dive bar and get punched in the eye and see how much interiority they have at that moment. Even if it's fantasy or superheroes, I think care should be taken to depict violence as realistically as possible.
 
nimic said:
Anyone read The Pariah? I was looking for more to read (while waiting for Sanderson's next, or Abercrombie's next, or for Scott Lynch to finally release his new Gentleman Bastards novel), so I just took a punt and ordered it.

I really rather liked it, and to my disappointment discovered that it was actually a very new book. I thought I was reading the first book in a series which I could binge if I liked the first one. Haven't read anything by Ryan before.
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I haven't, but most of my blog has. And they all have very good reviews on this. Was similar to John Gwynne books is what I hear!
 
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He Who Fights With Monsters
- Shirtaloon

Review of books 1-4:

Its a LitRPG lite and one of the best reads across genres! There's a bit of stats and skills but overall the prose, plot and world are simply superb!

Started off a bit bland and took about 15% to hit it's stride. Lots of humor, lots of intelligent banter, lots of old fashioned adventure and fun.

Just when you think you get hold of series, book 4 turns things on its head.

9/10
 
Dante said:
I wish I'd never started The Wheel of Time. On book 7 at the moment and it's fecking hard going.

I only started around November, so maybe I need a break. Gonna get to the end of this story and then hold off on the next one till at least the summer.

The first few books had a much better pace to them. These middle volumes are really dragging.
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7-10 are the worst in the saga. 9-10 in particular are pretty bad. I think that most people who don't finish the sage leave it in one of those books.
 
nimic said:
Anyone read The Pariah? I was looking for more to read (while waiting for Sanderson's next, or Abercrombie's next, or for Scott Lynch to finally release his new Gentleman Bastards novel), so I just took a punt and ordered it.

I really rather liked it, and to my disappointment discovered that it was actually a very new book. I thought I was reading the first book in a series which I could binge if I liked the first one. Haven't read anything by Ryan before.
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I read his Raven's Shadow trilogy. The first book there is excellent, the second one is ok, and the third one is probably the worst book in the genre. It is really that bad.

Hope this doesn't go that way. Personally, I decided to avoid anything by him after that book.
 
Rake said:
I have created an epub from the website and can share it with you, but it is only for easier reading and not distributing to other places.
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Just to clarify, do you really mean an ebook? I find it really hard to believe that those 7 volumes and how many millions of words can fit into a single ebook. If you did, I would like to know what program you used to compile it.

To explain further, I also compile ebooks from web series using GrabMyBooks, and there are limits to the size of epub that it can compile. For example, I managed to fit Worm into three ebooks, but I'm having trouble compiling something like The Wandering Inn to fit the author's volumes. I have 7 epub volumes for APGTE.
 
DMacgraw said:
Just to clarify, do you really mean an ebook? I find it really hard to believe that those 7 volumes and how many millions of words can fit into a single ebook. If you did, I would like to know what program you used to compile it.

To explain further, I also compile ebooks from web series using GrabMyBooks, and there are limits to the size of epub that it can compile. For example, I managed to fit Worm into three ebooks, but I'm having trouble compiling something like The Wandering Inn to fit the author's volumes. I have 7 epub volumes for APGTE.
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Yep, i have created one ebook containing all the books. It's currently around 7.3k pages and 7MB in size. I used a handy Firefox plugin called "WebToEpub". It works better than any other software/website I've previously used.
 
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