Books Fantasy Reads

celia said:
What annoys me more in ASOIAF is the many POVs. Few I like, but more I don't care, or worse dislike or despise. Really annoying when I leave a character I like in a critical/interesting scene and then going with the problems of someone I dislike.

I have started His Majesty's Dragon.
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There aren't many POV in ASOIAF. Like 10 or so for book. For example, Wheel of Time has significantly more.

Edgar Allan Pillow said:
I have a high dislike for ASOIAF since I just can't see a purpose to the story. In WoT, we know Rand will fight Shai'tan at the end. In ASOIAF, characters just come and die and story plods on with no end in sight. I don't like books like that.
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Ultimatelly it should be the battle with the Others. However, unlike in most of fantasy sagas the goodies and the baddies aren't seperated as much. Every person can potentially be good or bad.

It also is far more concentrated on politics, which I loved. And it has been done perfectly well. And the characters have far more depth than in any other fantasy book. It is 'The Wire' of fantasy books.

But obviously if you want a fast paced story when good people fight against darkness, then it isn't the book for you.
 
Revan said:
Ultimatelly it should be the battle with the Others. However, unlike in most of fantasy sagas the goodies and the baddies aren't seperated as much. Every person can potentially be good or bad.

It also is far more concentrated on politics, which I loved. And it has been done perfectly well. And the characters have far more depth than in any other fantasy book. It is 'The Wire' of fantasy books.

But obviously if you want a fast paced story when good people fight against darkness, then it isn't the book for you.
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What about a fast paced story where every person can potentially be good or bad? Love it when a book has depth without bogging itself down ;)
 
Raptori said:
What about a fast paced story where every person can potentially be good or bad? Love it when a book has depth without bogging itself down ;)
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The closest to that thing is Joe Abercrombie. It's probably why he is now considered as arguably the best fantasy writter.
 
Revan said:
The closest to that thing is Joe Abercrombie. It's probably why he is now considered as arguably the best fantasy writter.
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Sounds good, The Blade Itself has been on my to-read list for ages now, guess I'll have to bump it up a few places :)
 
Comment on Mistborn: The Final Empire

Just got to the bit in the first Mistborn book where Kelsier dies. Fuuuuuuuck it's like reading ASOIAF again :(
 
Waldner said:
Comment on Mistborn: The Final Empire

Just got to the bit in the first Mistborn book where Kelsier dies. Fuuuuuuuck it's like reading ASOIAF again :(
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Haha, Sanderson is like Jordan with Martin's ruthlessness.
 
Waldner said:
Comment on Mistborn: The Final Empire

Just got to the bit in the first Mistborn book where Kelsier dies. Fuuuuuuuck it's like reading ASOIAF again :(
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:lol: Yeah, shame that it's one of the best characters.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Brandon Sanderson - Stormlight Archives
Harry Potter
Christopher Paolini - Inheritance series.

All classic and easy reads.
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Really enjoyed Stormlight (recently) and Harry Potter (when I was a kid - tried to read it recently but the earlier books are very childish), but they're not on the same level as Liveships imo. I haven't read Inheritance, I heard it's basically a rip off of Star Wars (original trilogy) set in a fantasy world... :confused:
 
I need to read Stormlight. Have been planning it for a while but still didn't read it. Mainly because I don't have currently time to read books all day and Sanderson pretty much cannot be read in an another way. I read Mistborn on four days and probably the same for his three WoT books.
 
There should be no hurry to read Stormlight. Even going by Sanderson's super human pace it will take another decade and half at least before the series reaches it's conclusion.
 
akash02 said:
There should be no hurry to read Stormlight. Even going by Sanderson's super human pace it will take another decade and half at least before the series reaches it's conclusion.
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He could do it much faster, but he said that he wants to do something else (probably Mistborn 2) after he finishes half of Stormlight book.

Well, that might have been the original reason why I didn't read the books yet. Don't want to get caught into a series that will last for another 15-20 years.
 
I think Sanderson did a good job of making each book satisfying enough on its own, but it really will be an insanely long time before it's all done. I remember reading that it takes him around a year to write each Stormlight book, so even if he wrote only Stormlight it'd be a long time to wait. With all his other series in between it'll take even longer...

There are two more Mistborn books coming out soon, they'll be released October 2015 and January 2016. They're not the originally planned urban fantasy Mistborn 2 trilogy, they're full-length Wax & Wayne novels (which will get another book so it's yet another trilogy). Apparently he set out to finish off Shadows of Self and ended up writing the sequel as well :wenger:
 
Revan said:
He could do it much faster, but he said that he wants to do something else (probably Mistborn 2) after he finishes half of Stormlight book.

Well, that might have been the original reason why I didn't read the books yet. Don't want to get caught into a series that will last for another 15-20 years.
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It's a 10 book series (for now) so still 8 left to be published. Assuming 2 years/book, 15 years for the entire set seems a bit on the conservative side. Add in other projects and inevitable delays, I'd say 20 years will be closer to the mark
 
akash02 said:
It's a 10 book series (for now) so still 8 left to be published. Assuming 2 years/book, 15 years for the entire set seems a bit on the conservative side. Add in other projects and inevitable delays, I'd say 20 years will be closer to the mark
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I wouldn't be surprised if he did a book every other year to begin with, then focused solely on Stormlight for a while. But yeah, even with that 15 years is realistic, without it's definitely a best-case scenario. It's apparently roughly structured as two 5-book series though, so it's possible that could have some effect on it...
 
Raptori said:
I wouldn't be surprised if he did a book every other year to begin with, then focused solely on Stormlight for a while. But yeah, even with that 15 years is realistic, without it's definitely a best-case scenario. It's apparently roughly structured as two 5-book series though, so it's possible that could have some effect on it...
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From what I've heard, Stormlight will be his version of WoT, LotR etc.. so he'll want to get it right. And writers do tend to slow down with time as well. Jordan slowed down, Martin's slowed down and hell even Tolkien never got around to finishing his main body of work.
 
akash02 said:
From what I've heard, Stormlight will be his version of WoT, LotR etc.. so he'll want to get it right. And writers do tend to slow down with time as well. Jordan slowed down, Martin's slowed down and hell even Tolkien never got around to finishing his main body of work.
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The entire Cosmere is his big project so I doubt he'll slow down, at least not as much as Jordan or Martin. Plus he has first-hand experience wrapping up a big series (which seems to be the sticking point for a lot of those authors), and for someone else's story too which makes it a lot harder. Plus the fact that he has so many different series set in the same universe means he has other stuff to keep him motivated if he ever burns out on one particular series - for example, he has plans for a 7 book series called Dragonsteel which he plans to write after Stormlight. Mistborn is intended to have two more trilogies as well, not including the one he's writing now.

He's definitely some kind of robot.
 
Raptori said:
The entire Cosmere is his big project so I doubt he'll slow down, at least not as much as Jordan or Martin. Plus he has first-hand experience wrapping up a big series (which seems to be the sticking point for a lot of those authors), and for someone else's story too which makes it a lot harder. Plus the fact that he has so many different series set in the same universe means he has other stuff to keep him motivated if he ever burns out on one particular series - for example, he has plans for a 7 book series called Dragonsteel which he plans to write after Stormlight. Mistborn is intended to have two more trilogies as well, not including the one he's writing now.

He's definitely some kind of robot.
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7 book series after SA? Geez, the man is a machine!
 
akash02 said:
7 book series after SA? Geez, the man is a machine!
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Yup! It's pretty ridiculous. The Cosmere looks like it'll have at least 30-35 books if he sticks to the current plan. That doesn't seem likely though, he just keeps adding new books into it (Wax & Wayne novels, Rithmatist was at one point meant to be in the Cosmere too) so it'll probably end up unfinished but containing over 50 books :D
 
So I just finished Final Empire...

Can't say I'm a massive fan of how the book ended. Thought it would've followed the same kind of structure as Inheritance - massively powerful enemy, seemingly can't be beaten and hangs around until the last book. Don't like that Kelsier died too - was a very easy character to like and I think he won't be replaced very well. Same with Sazed, if he ends up going back to his homeland for a while. Does the series get better than the first book?
 
Waldner said:
So I just finished Final Empire...

Can't say I'm a massive fan of how the book ended. Thought it would've followed the same kind of structure as Inheritance - massively powerful enemy, seemingly can't be beaten and hangs around until the last book. Don't like that Kelsier died too - was a very easy character to like and I think he won't be replaced very well. Same with Sazed, if he ends up going back to his homeland for a while. Does the series get better than the first book?
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The first book is easily the best. However, I liked the third book almost as much as the first one.

Also, it is clear that everything was planned from the beginning. There are bigger troubles than the antagonist of the first book. And finally, as cool as Kelsier is, Vin is even cooler :)
 
Raptori said:
The entire Cosmere is his big project so I doubt he'll slow down, at least not as much as Jordan or Martin. Plus he has first-hand experience wrapping up a big series (which seems to be the sticking point for a lot of those authors), and for someone else's story too which makes it a lot harder. Plus the fact that he has so many different series set in the same universe means he has other stuff to keep him motivated if he ever burns out on one particular series - for example, he has plans for a 7 book series called Dragonsteel which he plans to write after Stormlight. Mistborn is intended to have two more trilogies as well, not including the one he's writing now.

He's definitely some kind of robot.
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And then some other books, like Elantris 2. He's really a robot.

Not the best writter around, but really entertaining and productive.
 
Revan said:
And then some other books, like Elantris 2. He's really a robot.

Not the best writter around, but really entertaining and productive.
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Yup, his to-write list is ridiculous. Elantris 2, Warbreaker 2, White Sand, Skyward, The Silence Divine, Aether of Night, Mistborn x 6, Stormlight x 8, Dragonsteel x7, plus non-cosmere stuff like Reckoners, Rithmatist, Alcatraz, Legion... really wonder if he'll really finish it all. :nervous:

Hopefully he'll keep growing as a writer, Stormlight is much higher quality than his earlier stuff so he's on the right track at least.

Edgar Allan Pillow said:
All this talk of Mistborn leads me to start Alloy of Law.
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Was a bit disappointed with that, it's fun but pretty shallow.
 
So 4 books for Wax and Wayne, I wasn't really a fan of Alloy of Law but

I think you’ll find the Wax and Wayne books to be fun, quick reads—and they introduce some very, very big things coming in the Mistborn world.
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I finished His Majesty's Dragon, nice book to read but more a comfort reading than a really thrilling one. I wasn't really a fan of the fact that Temeraire was so special and even less of the end that nearly seems like a deus ex machina.
 
Revan said:
The closest to that thing is Joe Abercrombie. It's probably why he is now considered as arguably the best fantasy writter.
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Mwoah. He's a good writer, but at no point does he manage to get me emotionally invested (unless 'grossed out' counts on the emotional spectrum). The First Law trilogy started of great, got even better throughout book two, and then in my opinion utterly imploded rather disappointingly with book 3. Similar with Best Served Cold, which started great, kept the pacing and intrigue going for a good while, and then fizzled out in the latter third section. Must confess I haven't read The Heroes or Red Country yet and I'll definitely give them a go, as I do enjoy his books, but 'arguably the best fantasy writer' for me tops at 'arguably'.
 
Gorefest said:
Mwoah. He's a good writer, but at no point does he manage to get me emotionally invested (unless 'grossed out' counts on the emotional spectrum). The First Law trilogy started of great, got even better throughout book two, and then in my opinion utterly imploded rather disappointingly with book 3. Similar with Best Served Cold, which started great, kept the pacing and intrigue going for a good while, and then fizzled out in the latter third section. Must confess I haven't read The Heroes or Red Country yet and I'll definitely give them a go, as I do enjoy his books, but 'arguably the best fantasy writer' for me tops at 'arguably'.
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Well, it is between him and Sanderson currently. Obviously Martin and probably Rothfuss are better than them, but they don't even bother writting these days.
 
Revan said:
Well, it is between him and Sanderson currently. Obviously Martin and probably Rothfuss are better than them, but they don't even bother writting these days.
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Daniel Abraham? Robin Hobb? I'd say both of them are on a higher level than Sanderson (Abraham less so with his new series), no idea about Abercrombie though since I've never read any. If Sanderson is the best fantasy writer around then that shows how little quality there is out there... :(
 
Raptori said:
Daniel Abraham? Robin Hobb? I'd say both of them are on a higher level than Sanderson (Abraham less so with his new series), no idea about Abercrombie though since I've never read any. If Sanderson is the best fantasy writer around then that shows how little quality there is out there... :(
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Sanderson was brilliant on WoT, and I've heard that the Stormlight is even better.

He's also easily the best when it comes to create magic systems, and extremely good at making stories. His writting level on Mistborn was extremely average but since then he has significantly improved.

I say the same for Abercrombie. He was only decent (from a technical point of view in The First Law, although the story and the 'grimmness' were superb), but on the Shattered Sea it is clear that he has become a significantly better writter (on the other side, the story is less complex than on TFL).
 
Rothfuss was good in Name of the Wind. The second one dragged quite a bit for me. Doesn't help that I didn't really like that Denna-Kvothe sort of relationship thing. The magic is where it's at in that series. The Chandrian and that evil tree were really nicely done.

I'm not too keen on book 3 because I've sort of guessed how Kvothe ended up at that inn in the village. Too much wallowing in self pity there for my liking.
 
Revan said:
Sanderson was brilliant on WoT, and I've heard that the Stormlight is even better.

He's also easily the best when it comes to create magic systems, and extremely good at making stories. His writting level on Mistborn was extremely average but since then he has significantly improved.

I say the same for Abercrombie. He was only decent (from a technical point of view in The First Law, although the story and the 'grimmness' were superb), but on the Shattered Sea it is clear that he has become a significantly better writter (on the other side, the story is less complex than on TFL).
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Yeah Stormlight is very good, but has a lot of flaws (particularly characterisation) and there are still some consistent problems with the writing quality. I agree that he's the best for setting and plot, but they're usually let down by his characters. I'd say he's something like 9/10 for setting, 9/10 for plot, 5/10 for characters (1/10 for characters in his earlier work so he's definitely improving).

In comparison, I'd give Hobb 9/10 for setting, 8/10 for plot, 10/10 for characters, particularly in Liveships (and avoiding Soldier Son like it's the plague). The thing that really lets her down in comparison to Sanderson is that Sanderson is a robot, and brings out 10 novels for every 1 Hobb writes :p
 
Raptori said:
Yeah Stormlight is very good, but has a lot of flaws (particularly characterisation) and there are still some consistent problems with the writing quality. I agree that he's the best for setting and plot, but they're usually let down by his characters. I'd say he's something like 9/10 for setting, 9/10 for plot, 5/10 for characters (1/10 for characters in his earlier work so he's definitely improving).

In comparison, I'd give Hobb 9/10 for setting, 8/10 for plot, 10/10 for characters, particularly in Liveships (and avoiding Soldier Son like it's the plague). The thing that really lets her down in comparison to Sanderson is that Sanderson is a robot, and brings out 10 novels for every 1 Hobb writes :p
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Too low. Even in Mistborn, both Kelsier and Vin were amazing, while Sazed was great too. The same can be said for the two main antagonists. And for Zane.

But the others were really forggetable. So, I think that he can make good characters, but only a few of them. Unlike the likes of Martin (as an extreme case) who literally has more than a hundred of characters with awesome depth.
 
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Revan said:
Too low. Even in Mistborn, both Kelsier and Vin were amazing, while Sazed was great too. The same can be said for the two main antagonists. And for Zane.

But the others were really forgivable. So, I think that he can make good characters, but only a few of them. Unlike the likes of Martin (as an extreme case) who literally has more than a hundred of characters with awesome depth.
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1/10 for Elantris. Didn't realise Mistborn was released so soon after Elantris, I'd have given Mistborn maybe 4/10 - there are a few good characters but the supporting cast are a bit cardboard. WoK is slightly better, WoR is a noticeable improvement. In comparison, every major character in Liveships makes Sanderson's best characters feel very shallow (Ronica, Keffria, Althea, Wintrow, Malta, Vivacia, Paragon, Kennit, Etta, Sorcor, Brashen, Jani, Reyn - 13 in total, plus there are some more that could be included). The supporting cast are arguably deeper and more nuanced than Sanderson's protagonists as well, let alone his supporting cast. Hopefully he reaches that level, would be an incredible author :)
 
Raptori said:
1/10 for Elantris. Didn't realise Mistborn was released so soon after Elantris, I'd have given Mistborn maybe 4/10 - there are a few good characters but the supporting cast are a bit cardboard. WoK is slightly better, WoR is a noticeable improvement. In comparison, every major character in Liveships makes Sanderson's best characters feel very shallow (Ronica, Keffria, Althea, Wintrow, Malta, Vivacia, Paragon, Kennit, Etta, Sorcor, Brashen, Jani, Reyn - 13 in total, plus there are some more that could be included). The supporting cast are arguably deeper and more nuanced than Sanderson's protagonists as well, let alone his supporting cast. Hopefully he reaches that level, would be an incredible author :)
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I agree with the main point. But no-one can make Vin, Kelsier or

Ruin

very shallow. The problem - at least for me - are that the supporting characters (bar Sazed and Zane) were as generic as you can get.

I really loved what he did with WoT though. The characters were already developed, but he developed them further. Which was incredibly difficult considering that they weren't his characters. His writting style has significantly improven since then (Elantris/Mistborn) too.
 
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