Books Fantasy Reads

Raptori said:
Tin is shown in much more detail later on (third book?) when Spook becomes a major character, complete with some good fight scenes. Agree that it's pretty awesome.

I think Sanderson missed a trick by putting so much fighting and so little stealth in the books. Could've been a good way to mix things up a little.
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There is enough stealth on Mistborn books (in fact there is stealth on all the three books). Also, as far as I can remember there aren't many fights (like 5 fights for book or so, with one of them being a big one while the other Vin being on a situation when she couldn't win).

I think the biggest Mistborn problems was the writting which was average (at best) and over simplifying things (like Kelsier plan on the beginning which was the shittest plan I've ever seen). Contrary to akash, I loved the fighting on Mistborn. Thought that it had enough depth and was quite awesome.
 
This might be out of place in this thread, but am I correct in assuming that if I buy the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I get all the unabridged version of all the 5 novels in the series. Something akin to buying the box set of the 5 novels but combined into one novel?

And @Raptori thanks for the recommendation on Liveship Traders Trilogy. Loved the trilogy.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
The fact is I must have liked the book as I recall finishing the trilogy, which I don't do of books I don't like. It's been years since I read that and the only thing I still remember is him being a leper and switching between worlds and the eternal suffering. Maybe I'll give a refresh read again something near future.
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To tell the truth it's more than 3 decades since I read the Covenant books, so there's no saying if I'd feel the same way about them now. There's always a danger going back to stuff you enjoyed in your youth; sometimes you're delighted the old magic is still there, sometimes...the ship has sailed and you can't go home again.
 
Revan said:
There is enough stealth on Mistborn books (in fact there is stealth on all the three books). Also, as far as I can remember there aren't many fights (like 5 fights for book or so, with one of them being a big one while the other Vin being on a situation when she couldn't win).

I think the biggest Mistborn problems was the writting which was average (at best) and over simplifying things (like Kelsier plan on the beginning which was the shittest plan I've ever seen). Contrary to akash, I loved the fighting on Mistborn. Thought that it had enough depth and was quite awesome.
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Odd, I remember there being very little stealth and a huge amount of fighting :D Yeah I agree about the main problems, those things in particular bugged the hell out of me all the way through. Sadly it's even worse when re-reading!

harshad said:
This might be out of place in this thread, but am I correct in assuming that if I buy the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I get all the unabridged version of all the 5 novels in the series. Something akin to buying the box set of the 5 novels but combined into one novel?

And @Raptori thanks for the recommendation on Liveship Traders Trilogy. Loved the trilogy.
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You're welcome, glad you liked them :)
 
Will Absolute said:
No accounting for taste, I guess.

You put your finger on the books' most unattractive element - the self-absorption of poor Tom in his endless miseries does strain the reader's patience - but the books show considerable creative imagination, and are much better written than the truckloads of sub-literary dross which followed them.
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I mentioned them way back in the thread!

I actually really enjoyed them, well the first two series, especially. The third series had it's moments but just felt a bit stretched at times.
 
Whiteside1985 said:
I mentioned them way back in the thread!

I actually really enjoyed them, well the first two series, especially. The third series had it's moments but just felt a bit stretched at times.
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Didn't read the whole thread. Sorry.

I was surprised nobody had mentioned them because they were the first big sellers in the modern genre, and in many ways fathered the fantasy explosion that followed. Tolkien was the grandaddy of it all of course.

In those days the trilogy was virtually an unknown idea - I was amazed there was more than one book! There were no dedicated Fantasy racks in bookstores either - there wouldn't have been enough books to fill one!
 
Just finished Hyperion.

I liked it, but not loved it. Was expecting it to be epic, and instead I got 6 stories. Saying that, each of the stories were bizarre and kept me interested on them. My absolute favorite that with the girl who aged backwards.

About the tunnels and the Shrike, I thought from the beginning that it is something from the future. I would guess that the Shrike is an AI (or organic-AI hybrid) sent from the future for whatever reasons. Probably the mentioned Ultimate Knowledge.

Anyway, I am definitely going to continue with the series. 7/10
 
Waldner said:
Has anyone read Bone Season by Samantha Shannon? Apparently its ridiculously popular and has a film in production. I've just met the authors younger brother today who says he's really excited with what it could turn out to be
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So I really had a good sense of what would be my opinion of this book based on some GR critics (Mostly because if some people find some flaws, incoherency, I know I would see them too because I like stories to make sense, to not contradict themselves). I disliked this book, though the beginning was more boring that annoying. Lot of info-dumping with the slang (gang slang, "voyant" slang), not much about the world, I strictly had no clue why it's 2059 and not 2010, except to have the oxygen bar widely accepted. Maybe the year would make more sense in the next book.

I didn't care much about what happened most of the time, except to sometimes facepalm. So we got our special girl, the handsome man and his fiancee, the cruel woman. Sounds like our lovely YA cliché romance with our two becoming special to each other though they deny it at first and they have many obstacles on the way. Especially our evil, cruel, brutal but stupid girl. Busier working on her evil show than thinking about serious things like security, not letting traitors... betraying. Though we don't see her that much.

I disliked the main character, too much of an hypocrite for me and too obstinate denying things. I didn't care about the others since they were mostly one-dimensional. There's actually one single chapter I liked, probably the only one I found Paige true and understandable. There were too often things that didn't make any sense for me. I would have given up before the third of the book but since I had already criticized the book before reading it, I thought it would be fair to give it a complete reading.

Actually it isn't really a romance book, we got a beginning and some kind of ending, but absolutely no developpement between so I was readier to think I was wrong about the YA-like triangle.


I read The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu. Bittersweet short story.
 
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Just finished Promise of Blood, first book in the Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan. It's a gunpowder fantasy, so the setting and magic have a very different feel to them which I really enjoyed. The series is supposedly loosely inspired by the US Civil War. The writing was excellent, it took a while to care about the characters but the pace was really fast all the way through with a ton of action happening right from the beginning. I think the only disappointment I felt was that it ended up with gods and shit like that being important - I think the first half of the book where it looked like it'd avoid that kind of stuff was much stronger than the second half.

Can't wait to start the second book :)
 
Revan said:
Just finished Hyperion.

I liked it, but not loved it. Was expecting it to be epic, and instead I got 6 stories. Saying that, each of the stories were bizarre and kept me interested on them. My absolute favorite that with the girl who aged backwards.

About the tunnels and the Shrike, I thought from the beginning that it is something from the future. I would guess that the Shrike is an AI (or organic-AI hybrid) sent from the future for whatever reasons. Probably the mentioned Ultimate Knowledge.

Anyway, I am definitely going to continue with the series. 7/10
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First book is excellent I thought, I really liked the linked short stories idea. The second book is worth reading just for the conclusion, but the third and fourth books (which are a new series of books only partly related to the first) aren't worth bothering with.
 
bishblaize said:
First book is excellent I thought, I really liked the linked short stories idea. The second book is worth reading just for the conclusion, but the third and fourth books (which are a new series of books only partly related to the first) aren't worth bothering with.
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Cheers! I liked it but my expectations were higher (regularly mentioned as arguably the best sci fi of all time) and I was expecting it to be different.

If the sequels are readable, I'll read all of them. I hate to leave series unfinished, even if the quality isn't as good as in the beginning.
 
Revan said:
Cheers! I liked it but my expectations were higher (regularly mentioned as arguably the best sci fi of all time) and I was expecting it to be different.

If the sequels are readable, I'll read all of them. I hate to leave series unfinished, even if the quality isn't as good as in the beginning.
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I wouldnt say its a GOAT book by any means, but it was certainly very influential. If you look at the hard british sci fi that came out in the 90s and 00s, there's an echo of that book in them all. Particularly Alastair Reynolds.
 
Revan said:
Cheers! I liked it but my expectations were higher (regularly mentioned as arguably the best sci fi of all time) and I was expecting it to be different.

If the sequels are readable, I'll read all of them. I hate to leave series unfinished, even if the quality isn't as good as in the beginning.
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I think that's part of why I was so underwhelmed by it too. I've seen the connected short story thing done better as well, with much more interesting shorts - I, Robot for example - so the format wasn't that impressive either. Only a 3 star book for me.
 
Raptori said:
I think that's part of why I was so underwhelmed by it too. I've seen the connected short story thing done better as well, with much more interesting shorts - I, Robot for example - so the format wasn't that impressive either. Only a 3 star book for me.
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I gave it 4 stars at goodreads, but I have to say that it was more near 3 stars, rather than 5 stars for me (for that I gave it here 7/10, which would be like 3.5 stars).

Still an enjoyable book but not near GOAT tier for me.
 
Revan said:
I gave it 4 stars at goodreads, but I have to say that it was more near 3 stars, rather than 5 stars for me (for that I gave it here 7/10, which would be like 3.5 stars).

Still an enjoyable book but not near GOAT tier for me.
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Yeah, really wish goodreads would have half stars or an /10 rating system, five stars isn't accurate enough. 3.5 is pretty fair, I round down by default :D
 
I started the first book in the Eternal Champion series last night, aptly named 'The Eternal Champion'. I read 60 or so pages but i knew after about 10 that i was 100% up for this. It's definitely a bit rough around the edges but i'm enjoying it so far and excited to see where it goes.
 
'Our UI* can beat your UI at any day of the week' - The Fall of Hyperion

It made me laugh, but it was quite childish.

* Ultimate Intelligence, an artificial God
 
I'm reading three fantasy books at the same time because I wasn't impressed by the beginning of one (The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Key), I didn't like the voice of the narrator of the second (Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence) and I had nothing against the third, City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer but it's quite long and I always have a hard time with books with shorts stories or novellas since I need time to be immersed again after each story. I really like the three first stories though, I am not sure about the forth because it seemed more like a literary exercise or a kind of joke.
 
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It's been mentioned a few times I think, but Perdido Street Station by China Melville is a great read
 
I have finished The Summer Tree. Quite cliché and the characters are so shallow. Not sure sometimes why they behave that way. Not sure why for four of them weren't suspicious or a bit wary of being invited to another world. It seems like for them it was just the neigbour town where they just have to know few customs and they would be fine. And I guess the author really feel that way since he didn't really characterize this world and the newcomers weren't surprised by it. I guesss it helps when the women, noblewomen included, find perfectly normal to come to the beds of the men the first night. The story with the last character was really better. Part of the story of another was also quite good. Though it wasn't helped by something at the end that seemed unnecessary.

Instead of picking the first book of the trilogy of a famous author, I should have read the GR 1 or 2 star reviews since half of them seem to say they enjoyed/loved the latter books of the author but this one is awful.
 
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celia said:
I have finished The Summer Tree. Quite cliché and the characters are so shallow. Not sure sometimes why they behave that way. Not sure why for four of them weren't suspicious or a bit wary of being invited to another world. It seems like for them it was just the neigbour town where they just have to know few customs and they would be fine. And I guess the author really feel that way since he didn't really characterize this world and the newcomers weren't surprised by it. I guesss it helps when the women, noblewomen included, find perfectly normal to come to the beds of the men the first night. The story with the last character was really better. Part of the story of another was also quite good. Though it wasn't helped by something at the end that seemed unnecessary.

Instead of picking the first book of the trilogy of a famous author, I should have read the GR 1 or 2 star reviews since half of them seem to say they enjoyed/loved the latter books of the author but this one is awful.
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Tigana is absolutely brilliant (standalone novel). I think that is his most rated book.

So, if you haven't read it, I would recommend to do so, despite that you didn't like his book.
 
I still plan to read it. I just need to be more cautious of my next SF or fantasy books, by checking the titles, not only the authors. But I will probably read other fantasy books before.
 
The Fall of Hyperion - I think it was a quite decent read. Not as good, elegant and innovative as the first book, but still it was very enjoyable. There were some parts that dragged more than it should, but that is something to be expected on SFF books (don't all have this problem).

What I was slightly dissapointed though, is that I predicted correctly most of the things:
That in the end, humans and Ousters will make a coalition and will strike at the Web. However, I was expecting a bigger fight, not something that lasts for 2.3 seconds. But to be fair, it makes sense in this way. If it would have dragged then obviously the AI would have won.

That Moneta is Rachel from the future. Predicted it quite early

Not great, but decent enough to make me continue the series (although it already ha a quite a good closure). 6/10
 
Finished the Mistborn Trilogy:

Final Empire - 7/10
Well of Ascension - 4.5/10
Hero of the Ages - 8/10

Final Empire - Reminded me of Name of the Wind (Not as good of course), in that it was a very smooth read and it barely took me any time to finish it. Kelsier was a very good character and intrigue around the Lord Ruler guy was very well written. The politics seemed a bit forced and unrealistic for the most part but rather surprisingly and unexpectedly I found myself enjoying the part where Vin went to the balls and met Elend. The characters (aside from Kelsier, Sazed and Vin) felt a bit flat though. Didn't really care about the rest of the crew. Initially, I felt the end was a bit abrupt and I wasn't sure if killing a character who's more than a millennia old was the right move but given the way the rest of the series panned, Sanderson got that right.

Well of Ascension - Unfortunately, it was the complete opposite to the Final Empire. Slow, boring and I had to crawl through this. Having a siege as pretty much the main plot point was a shit idea. Siege's by very definition are going to be boring more often than not. That's aside from the various logistics of the siege never added up. The city has 8 gates for christs sake! Really hated the Zane character. I suppose Sanderson intended for him to be some sort of tragic character. In a way he was but in a ridiculous sort of way. The whole thing between Straff, Zane and that whore was utterly amateur-ish stuff and just plain shite. I found it hard to buy anything related to the Zane character including Vin's apparent indecision about Elend or Zane. And coming to Vin, her arc felt a bit OTT although that may just be down to my dislike of "super" characters. Kolos can't be controlled? Nah, Vin's got it. Kandra have no weakness? Nah, Vin's got it. Atium is unbeatable? Nope, Vin can beat it. Meh. Still didn't care about any of the crew and seems like neither did Sanderson. The deaths of Dockson and Clubs were brushed over and almost ignored. Elend started to become more interesting towards the end which was great because he spent most of the book being knowingly stupid. The only parts of the book I liked were the parts that dealt with the deepness. Basically all the chapters where Sazed/Tindwyl/Vin researched through the deepness were interesting. The twist at the end was nice. Definitely did not see that coming!

Hero of the Ages - Easily the best book of the series for me. Started of excellently with the Kandra and Inquisitor chapters and more information on Hemalurgy. Could never have predicted Atium being the body of Ruin, so that was another nice twist and whole 16% thing was another nice addition. A bit proud that I figured out why Vin was only able to draw mists on certain occasions!:cool: One complaint would be that Sazed was too moan-ish for a lot of the book but that was made up for by how important his religion collection eventually turned to be. Nice character. Loved the Lord Ruler character as well. Still bit of a selfish cnut but on the flip side, a lot of his actions were quite intelligent and intent on saving the world. The end was alright. Vin, I expected to die about half way through the book so didn't surprise me. Felt a twinge of sadness when Elend's head was taken off but that passed. We never did get to know about the 15th and 16th metals though? Planning to read Alloy of Law to see if it's in there.


On the whole, a decent series but not a classic by any means. Could have done with better and more engaging characters as most of them weren't all that. The writing wasn't bad but at the same time something felt off about it.
 
akash02 said:
Finished the Mistborn Trilogy:

Final Empire - 7/10
Well of Ascension - 4.5/10
Hero of the Ages - 8/10

Final Empire - Reminded me of Name of the Wind (Not as good of course), in that it was a very smooth read and it barely took me any time to finish it. Kelsier was a very good character and intrigue around the Lord Ruler guy was very well written. The politics seemed a bit forced and unrealistic for the most part but rather surprisingly and unexpectedly I found myself enjoying the part where Vin went to the balls and met Elend. The characters (aside from Kelsier, Sazed and Vin) felt a bit flat though. Didn't really care about the rest of the crew. Initially, I felt the end was a bit abrupt and I wasn't sure if killing a character who's more than a millennia old was the right move but given the way the rest of the series panned, Sanderson got that right.

Well of Ascension - Unfortunately, it was the complete opposite to the Final Empire. Slow, boring and I had to crawl through this. Having a siege as pretty much the main plot point was a shit idea. Siege's by very definition are going to be boring more often than not. That's aside from the various logistics of the siege never added up. The city has 8 gates for christs sake! Really hated the Zane character. I suppose Sanderson intended for him to be some sort of tragic character. In a way he was but in a ridiculous sort of way. The whole thing between Straff, Zane and that whore was utterly amateur-ish stuff and just plain shite. I found it hard to buy anything related to the Zane character including Vin's apparent indecision about Elend or Zane. And coming to Vin, her arc felt a bit OTT although that may just be down to my dislike of "super" characters. Kolos can't be controlled? Nah, Vin's got it. Kandra have no weakness? Nah, Vin's got it. Atium is unbeatable? Nope, Vin can beat it. Meh. Still didn't care about any of the crew and seems like neither did Sanderson. The deaths of Dockson and Clubs were brushed over and almost ignored. Elend started to become more interesting towards the end which was great because he spent most of the book being knowingly stupid. The only parts of the book I liked were the parts that dealt with the deepness. Basically all the chapters where Sazed/Tindwyl/Vin researched through the deepness were interesting. The twist at the end was nice. Definitely did not see that coming!

Hero of the Ages - Easily the best book of the series for me. Started of excellently with the Kandra and Inquisitor chapters and more information on Hemalurgy. Could never have predicted Atium being the body of Ruin, so that was another nice twist and whole 16% thing was another nice addition. A bit proud that I figured out why Vin was only able to draw mists on certain occasions!:cool: One complaint would be that Sazed was too moan-ish for a lot of the book but that was made up for by how important his religion collection eventually turned to be. Nice character. Loved the Lord Ruler character as well. Still bit of a selfish cnut but on the flip side, a lot of his actions were quite intelligent and intent on saving the world. The end was alright. Vin, I expected to die about half way through the book so didn't surprise me. Felt a twinge of sadness when Elend's head was taken off but that passed. We never did get to know about the 15th and 16th metals though? Planning to read Alloy of Law to see if it's in there.


On the whole, a decent series but not a classic by any means. Could have done with better and more engaging characters as most of them weren't all that. The writing wasn't bad but at the same time something felt off about it.
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Didn't thought that The Well of Ascension was that bad, but it was definitely the worst on the series. I rated them on GD with 4, 3 and 4. Though I must say that I liked The Final Empire more than the Hero of the Ages. I also liked Zane quite a lot.

Otherwise, I agree with your review and Sanderson is easily the best author when it comes to making twists (and they are planned from the beginning). Each book has many nice twists.

The battle between Vin and Ruin looked to me similar to the final battle between Rand and Shai'tan. Am I the only one who thought this?
 
akash02 said:
Finished the Mistborn Trilogy:

Final Empire - 7/10
Well of Ascension - 4.5/10
Hero of the Ages - 8/10

Final Empire - Reminded me of Name of the Wind (Not as good of course), in that it was a very smooth read and it barely took me any time to finish it. Kelsier was a very good character and intrigue around the Lord Ruler guy was very well written. The politics seemed a bit forced and unrealistic for the most part but rather surprisingly and unexpectedly I found myself enjoying the part where Vin went to the balls and met Elend. The characters (aside from Kelsier, Sazed and Vin) felt a bit flat though. Didn't really care about the rest of the crew. Initially, I felt the end was a bit abrupt and I wasn't sure if killing a character who's more than a millennia old was the right move but given the way the rest of the series panned, Sanderson got that right.

Well of Ascension - Unfortunately, it was the complete opposite to the Final Empire. Slow, boring and I had to crawl through this. Having a siege as pretty much the main plot point was a shit idea. Siege's by very definition are going to be boring more often than not. That's aside from the various logistics of the siege never added up. The city has 8 gates for christs sake! Really hated the Zane character. I suppose Sanderson intended for him to be some sort of tragic character. In a way he was but in a ridiculous sort of way. The whole thing between Straff, Zane and that whore was utterly amateur-ish stuff and just plain shite. I found it hard to buy anything related to the Zane character including Vin's apparent indecision about Elend or Zane. And coming to Vin, her arc felt a bit OTT although that may just be down to my dislike of "super" characters. Kolos can't be controlled? Nah, Vin's got it. Kandra have no weakness? Nah, Vin's got it. Atium is unbeatable? Nope, Vin can beat it. Meh. Still didn't care about any of the crew and seems like neither did Sanderson. The deaths of Dockson and Clubs were brushed over and almost ignored. Elend started to become more interesting towards the end which was great because he spent most of the book being knowingly stupid. The only parts of the book I liked were the parts that dealt with the deepness. Basically all the chapters where Sazed/Tindwyl/Vin researched through the deepness were interesting. The twist at the end was nice. Definitely did not see that coming!

Hero of the Ages - Easily the best book of the series for me. Started of excellently with the Kandra and Inquisitor chapters and more information on Hemalurgy. Could never have predicted Atium being the body of Ruin, so that was another nice twist and whole 16% thing was another nice addition. A bit proud that I figured out why Vin was only able to draw mists on certain occasions!:cool: One complaint would be that Sazed was too moan-ish for a lot of the book but that was made up for by how important his religion collection eventually turned to be. Nice character. Loved the Lord Ruler character as well. Still bit of a selfish cnut but on the flip side, a lot of his actions were quite intelligent and intent on saving the world. The end was alright. Vin, I expected to die about half way through the book so didn't surprise me. Felt a twinge of sadness when Elend's head was taken off but that passed. We never did get to know about the 15th and 16th metals though? Planning to read Alloy of Law to see if it's in there.


On the whole, a decent series but not a classic by any means. Could have done with better and more engaging characters as most of them weren't all that. The writing wasn't bad but at the same time something felt off about it.
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It's funny, I completely agree with most of this (though I'm with @Revan on WoA), plus I had some big problems with Sanderson's prose being extremely irritating and thought that even Kelsier Sazed and Vin were a bit flat, but I enjoyed them enough to give them five stars on Goodreads... :confused:
 
Revan said:
Didn't thought that The Well of Ascension was that bad, but it was definitely the worst on the series. I rated them on GD with 4, 3 and 4. Though I must say that I liked The Final Empire more than the Hero of the Ages. I also liked Zane quite a lot.

Otherwise, I agree with your review and Sanderson is easily the best author when it comes to making twists (and they are planned from the beginning). Each book has many nice twists.

The battle between Vin and Ruin looked to me similar to the final battle between Rand and Shai'tan. Am I the only one who thought this?
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Yeah, very similar. Not just the way it happened but even the prophecies. The Hero of the Ages was supposed to unite and then destroy the world before things could get better just like Dragon Reborn. Lots of similarities between the two. When Tin is described for the first time in Final Empire, it's eerily similar to someone using the One power in WoT. In WoT it's advised that you don't use the one power for to long as it can have negative consequences on your body. Same here with the metals burning and basically entire spook character.
 
Starting today The Chronicles of the Black Company. I am planning to read the books of the North, before I jump somewhere else and then return for the books of the South.

I guess this way would be better than reading the entire 10 books in a row.
 
Finished Alloy of Law.

Very simple and enjoyable read. I assume there's a sequel in the pipeline? The ended wasn't very satisfying if not.
 
akash02 said:
Finished Alloy of Law.

Very simple and enjoyable read. I assume there's a sequel in the pipeline? The ended wasn't very satisfying if not.
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Yeah it'll be a trilogy of full-length Wax & Wayne novels, similar length to the Mistborn trilogy. He's already finished two of them in fact (apparently he was supposed to write the first one, but ended up writing two at once), titled Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning - the first one should be out near the end of this year and the second early next year.
 
I read the WoT series back when I was a young fella, pretty much back to back.
Until I finished book 11 and went looking for 12, only to find out your man had died.

That Sanderson fella finished them years later but I never got around to finishing them.
I'd love to at some stage but I reckon that:

1. I wouldn't enjoy them as much now.
2. I'd need to start the whole bloody ordeal all over again.
 
Raptori said:
Yeah it'll be a trilogy of full-length Wax & Wayne novels, similar length to the Mistborn trilogy. He's already finished two of them in fact (apparently he was supposed to write the first one, but ended up writing two at once), titled Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning - the first one should be out near the end of this year and the second early next year.
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Cheers. Looking forward to them!

diarm said:
I read the WoT series back when I was a young fella, pretty much back to back.
Until I finished book 11 and went looking for 12, only to find out your man had died.

That Sanderson fella finished them years later but I never got around to finishing them.
I'd love to at some stage but I reckon that:

1. I wouldn't enjoy them as much now.
2. I'd need to start the whole bloody ordeal all over again.
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You should read the last 3. Sanderson does a good job all things considered even if the writing is not at Jordan's level.
 
Kevin said:
Read Red Rising and Golden Son (book 2 of the Red Rising trilogy). http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15839976-red-rising

Thank me later.
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Read these a few months ago, loved them. Can't wait for the third.

Raptori said:
Just finished Promise of Blood, first book in the Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan. It's a gunpowder fantasy, so the setting and magic have a very different feel to them which I really enjoyed. The series is supposedly loosely inspired by the US Civil War. The writing was excellent, it took a while to care about the characters but the pace was really fast all the way through with a ton of action happening right from the beginning. I think the only disappointment I felt was that it ended up with gods and shit like that being important - I think the first half of the book where it looked like it'd avoid that kind of stuff was much stronger than the second half.

Can't wait to start the second book :)
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The whole series is excellent, I thought the first book started a bit slowly but once I got into it it was fantastic.
 
akash02 said:
You should read the last 3. Sanderson does a good job all things considered even if the writing is not at Jordan's level.
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I'm sure he does.
My issue is it's been 10 years since I read the others.

And as I recall it, the first 11 books weren't short on detail and tangents!
I'd need to start at the beginning again or I'd be lost!
 
Mogget said:
The whole series is excellent, I thought the first book started a bit slowly but once I got into it it was fantastic.
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Yeah I really enjoyed the rest of the series too, couldn't put them down. The novellas in the same world aren't bad, just not quite as good because they lack depth (for obvious reasons). Apparently he's writing a sequel trilogy, hopefully he keeps up the quality!
 
Doing a reread of Harry Potter. Currently on the third book. Nostalgia!
 
Finished the first book of The Chronicle of The Black Company (The Black Company). During the first half of the book, I was tempted quite a few times to abandon it because of the terrible, horrible writting. 80-90% of the sentences had no more than 5 words, and every page had like 10-20 names on it. It was annoying and difficult to read. With the story going very fast, little to no description and that bad writting, it was a boring nightmare.

The second half of the book either was much better, or I got adapted, but I actually quite liked it. It was quite epic, had drama, betrayel, prophecies and all the other shit. 5/10.

Melvyn said:
Doing a reread of Harry Potter. Currently on the third book. Nostalgia!
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How it is Harry Potter? I didn't read it as a kid and then never bothered to read it. Nostalgia aside, is it worthy to read it after reading a lot of more serious fantasy books?

 
That's funny cos I'm reading Assassin's apprentice and it seems to be the exact opposite. Exceedingly well written so far but I have no idea where the story is going. Enjoyable mind.

HP is a kids story. Some will say it gets darker in the latter books and it does in bits and pieces I suppose but by and large it' still a kids story. The writing is questionable but the plot is good albeit fairly simple (i.e good beats evil).
 
I finished The Shadow Of What Was Lost the other day, it was pretty good but quite confusing at times. There were so many layers of things happening at once that it could get a little hard to follow, probably because you don't know everything until the end of the series. A few of the secondary characters blurred together as well, had a hard time remembering who was who. Still recommended though, particularly for people who like Malazan.

akash02 said:
That's funny cos I'm reading Assassin's apprentice and it seems to be the exact opposite. Exceedingly well written so far but I have no idea where the story is going. Enjoyable mind.
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Make sure you don't skip Liveships if you decide to carry on after the first trilogy :nono: :p
 
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