Make sure you don't skip Liveships if you decide to carry on after the first trilogy
Plan to read all of them books (inc the Tawny man, rain wild and the latest one). Are they all linked?
Books Fantasy Reads
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Plan to read all of them books (inc the Tawny man, rain wild and the latest one). Are they all linked?
I liked it. It was written in a offhand way and I agree on the character introduction (or lack of thereof). Thought it was still a 7/10 for me.
They're still very enjoyable, though you have to approach them differently than the serious fantasy books. It's children's fantasy more than anything, so you have to expect less well rounded characters, more simplistic plot lines etc. But the whole world building aspect to Hogwarts is absolute class. You'll fly through them as they're quite easy reads.
I'm heavily biased though, I loved those books as a kid/early teen.
Planning to go with Hobb's books next, but just saw that The Realm of the Elderlings has 14 novels (and 2 others who have yet to be published).
This is Wheel of Time-level of task.
Cheers! I probably go with them sometimes, but right now, I have a lot of other books to read. Not a fan of young adult books.
Writing wise, it's definitely subpar to a lot of series out there, especially the first 3 books. And if you're someone who analyses plots closely, you'll find a few plot holes. It's hard for me to review them for someone who's never read it and is an adult because, yeah nostalgia. The books are relatively short compared to other fantasy series so you should get through them fairly quickly.
However, the world she created is extremely compelling and draws you in. I guess it depends on how much you want to be a wizard and go to a magic school
The closest comparison I can make would be the going to the university in Kingkiller Chronicles, but a less serious/mature version.Yeah they are, to varying degrees. Characters from one series often make a cameo in later books, and the events in each have some effect elsewhere (though not as big an effect as they should imo... hopefully that changes in the next couple of books).
The Farseer, Tawny Man and Fitz & The Fool trilogies all follow Fitz, so they're essentially a continuous narrative. There are fairly big gaps between them, so a lot of stuff changes in the time in between. The first two are really good, and the first book of the third felt the same level of quality imo.
Liveships is set to the south of the Six Duchies, and there are only a small number of crossovers between the two. It's a brilliant series in its own right though, the setting is awesome, the characters and interrelationships are all really complex, and the plot is great. Since it's third-person with many viewpoints set in trading ports and tropical islands infested with pirates, it can be a bit of a jolt after reading Farseer and it's single first-person viewpoint set in a more northerly location!
The Rain Wilds Chronicles are set in (a small part of) the same place as Liveships, but follow new characters. Didn't enjoy them as much to be honest, though they're still fairly decent.
Yup, though since it's broken down into separate stories it doesn't suffer from the major issues people seem to have with WoT (have never got around to reading them myself). Liveships has such a completely different tone that getting bored of the characters and setting isn't an issue - the real problem is that most people tend to love Fitz and the Six Duchies so much that they skip Liveships completely
Shadows Linger - The second book on the Black Company saga. While I think that the plot was weaker than the plot of the first book, the book in general was better. The writting now is on an acceptable level, I understand what the heck is going on all the time. On the other side, no Taken is near as good character as
who was my favorite character in the first book.
Anyway, a decent book. 6/10
Quite clearly this particular story will end on the next book. All hail the White Rose.
Soulcatcher
Raven dying off-screen was kind of pointless. Didn't like it at all. He was my favorite character on this book.
Anyway, a decent book. 6/10
Quite clearly this particular story will end on the next book. All hail the White Rose.
@Revan is writting an actual word or are you just misspelling writing? The latter seems unlikely so I'm asking.
Sorry, grammer nazi
I am writing from the phone (during the last couple of months a lot of my posting here is from the phone) so I make a lot of typo.
That might or might not be true.
Sorry, grammer nazi
I am writing from the phone (during the last couple of months a lot of my posting here is from the phone) so I make a lot of typo.
That might or might not be true.
it's grammar. I follow your posts and noticed that spelling of writing quite a few times. Couldn't ignore any longer, sorry.
I follow your posts and noticed that spelling of writing quite a few times. Couldn't ignore any longer, sorry.
Thanks! It might be one of those words that I always write incorrectly. Recently I saw that I write 'intelligient' instead of 'intelligent'.
Maybe, there are others.
grammer was a definite typo. I can't use the autocorrector cause I write on three languages from my phone.
Don't want to spoil it for you, but don't give up. Keep reading
Yes, it's actually 3 different trilogies. It's a trilogy sequel, to say. Distinct storylines but each one depends on read to have read the story before.
I tried to restart around book 8. Only to find out I had forgotten about more than half of the 100 or so characters in the book. So I decided to start all over again. Haven't regretted it at all actually. The reading is going slower than the first time (not a student anymore, so less time) but I'm now half way through book 4 and it's still as good as I remember it to be.
I have finished The Wyrd Sisters, I found it was a good reading but nothing that special, but I found the ending brilliant
.
from the moment the lost troup asks for help from women to when one of the witches send the duchess to see herself.
The White Rose - Third book in the Black Company. A very nice ending to this story arc. While there weren't many battles, I liked it more than the other two books. The development on characters were better, especially the Croaker and Lady. The ending was epic.
Saying that:
Wonder how the things will be built after this ending. 7/10
Saying that:
All those people - including some important ones like Elmo, Lieutenant, Limper and Whisper - dying could have been done a bit better. Elmos was Croaker's best friend and we barely hear 2 sentences about it
Wonder how the things will be built after this ending. 7/10
It gets a lot slower after book 4. After book 4 I didn't find any of the books as entertaining until book 11 and then of course Sanderson's 3 books are fast paced and exciting. He did a great job with the ending for the series.
Fires of Heaven (book 5) is generally accepted as the best book on the saga, and for me, it was easily the best book there, while being the second best fantasy book I've ever read (after A Storm of Swords).
In any poll, I've looked, Fires of Heaven is on the first place from WoT books.
I think that the saga becomes slightly boring only in the books 7-11 with 9 and 10 being really bad, while the other three being ok but the story not progressing that much. From Sanderson's book, Towers of Midnight is quite pointless (bar the first three chapters and the ending). The Gatherin Storm IMO was his best book, but A Memory of Light was great too (very strange how many people hate that book, but it brought the story as much closure as it is possible).
I've been reading The Legend of Eli Monpress, pretty light and fun. The first two books have a lot of issues, but in the third one the author starts to hit her stride, looking forward to reading the next two. Very interesting magic system, and the demonseeds are really cool.
Yeah I'm aware of that actually but my opinion differs surprisingly. Till book 6 I found the series interesting and you're right - it takes a turn for the worse from book 7. Book 11 is when things pick up again.
I like the last three simply because they're far better paced than some of Jordan's books. Gripping reads right till the end like the first few books. Also Mat's arc was a laugh-a-minute ride. Really enjoyed that.
LOTR I've read three times, first aged eleven. It's a book that makes you want to be a better person when you read it at a young age, well that's my opinion. Can't claim to be that literary enlightened that I noticed it was written in a 'proper' way.
Len Deighton's Bernard Samson series is by far the best book series I've ever read, I'm fascinated with the cold war, and love the character development over the series. Some of the character plots and twists I didn't necessarily like, but it's a brilliant read and series.
Yeah they are, to varying degrees. Characters from one series often make a cameo in later books, and the events in each have some effect elsewhere (though not as big an effect as they should imo... hopefully that changes in the next couple of books).
The Farseer, Tawny Man and Fitz & The Fool trilogies all follow Fitz, so they're essentially a continuous narrative. There are fairly big gaps between them, so a lot of stuff changes in the time in between. The first two are really good, and the first book of the third felt the same level of quality imo.
Liveships is set to the south of the Six Duchies, and there are only a small number of crossovers between the two. It's a brilliant series in its own right though, the setting is awesome, the characters and interrelationships are all really complex, and the plot is great. Since it's third-person with many viewpoints set in trading ports and tropical islands infested with pirates, it can be a bit of a jolt after reading Farseer and it's single first-person viewpoint set in a more northerly location!
The Rain Wilds Chronicles are set in (a small part of) the same place as Liveships, but follow new characters. Didn't enjoy them as much to be honest, though they're still fairly decent.
Yup, though since it's broken down into separate stories it doesn't suffer from the major issues people seem to have with WoT (have never got around to reading them myself). Liveships has such a completely different tone that getting bored of the characters and setting isn't an issue - the real problem is that most people tend to love Fitz and the Six Duchies so much that they skip Liveships completely
I actually started her books with the Liveships. All of the stories are pretty self contained i'd think ... Or at least the first two were, I didn't feel i was missing out.
Started with the liveships because the idea of a murderous / suicidal, crazy, living ship was basically enough to sell the trilogy to me. It was a good trilogy. A lot of great characters.
Went back and read the first fitz trilogy which i'd recommend to anyone interested in the genre. Up there with Kingkiller Chronicles and Game of Thrones imo.
2nd Fitz trilogy was enjoyable but felt a bit forced and pointless. I enjoyed it despite that but kind of gave up on the later books after and haven't gone back to it since.
Heard the Rain Wild Chronicles was kind of meh so.
Interesting that you preferred the first Fitz trilogy to the second one, I generally preferred the second. A few sections of the first dragged a little for me, which didn't happen as much in the second. They were both really enjoyable in spite of that though, like you mentioned, head and shoulders above most other series that I've read. Definitely one of the first things people should read if they're interested in fantasy!
Rain Wilds was a bit meh but Fool's Assassin was fairly promising, though it's been a while since I read it now so my impression of it is a bit hazy. It's worth a look anyway.
Haven't finished Farseer yet but so far I'd say it's a whole level (and then some) above Kingkiller Chronicles.
That's as big praise as I have ever seen.
The writing is so much better imo which makes that much more enjoyable. I always felt the first person perspective held back the Kingkiller and did not make best of the other characters. Farseer is also written in first person and like KC it's flashback but the other characters are much more developed and interesting. Plus, I thought Wise Man's fear was a bit crap.
Some genuinely emotional scenes that had me on the brink
The writing on Kingkiller was absolutely fantastic (IMO better than ASOIAF and WoT). I haven't read Farseer yet (will definitely do it this year) but saying that it is a level above Kingkiller is quite weird (does even Robin Hobb says so), mainly because there aren't fantasy books which are a level (and a bit more) than Name of The Wind.The writing is so much better imo which makes that much more enjoyable. I always felt the first person perspective held back the Kingkiller and did not make best of the other characters. Farseer is also written in first person and like KC it's flashback but the other characters are much more developed and interesting. Plus, I thought Wise Man's fear was a bit crap.
Some genuinely emotional scenes that had me on the brink
Completely disagree. The the writing is nowhere near that level. When I think about ASOIAF or WoT I can immediately recall of the top of my head several truly outstanding quotes and just general wow moments in the series. With Kingkiller, other than the quote which came with the first book I genuinely can't recall anything. It's just not in that league for me. It's written well but at no point in the series does it ever achieve the emotional impact the other two did.
I'm talking about the series as a whole. Name of the Wind is fine in itself as a build up book which is what it is and I enjoyed it. Wise Man's fear on the other hand is something of a disaster. When you spend half the book writing about sex and some shit sign language then you're really struggling.
Also, I struggled to care too much about any of the KC characters aside from Kvothe. Elodin for instance is an interesting character but I struggle to give a shit about him.
Farseer is more gripping and gets you to care about the characters in a way KC never did. Not for me at least.
I thought the writing and dialogue in Kingkiller was peerless tbh.
Hundreds of brilliant, funny, witty lines. I love a lot of the denna scenes with them speaking in rhyme or him using 7 words (again and again and again).
Theres so much self reference and foreshadowing. I just found it really clever and ... charming (?)
I've read the books 3 times in the last 2 years so ... I kind of like the series
I think the good of 1st person perspective far outweighs the bad.
Matter of taste i guess.
Robin Hobb is a great writer and creates brilliant, interesting characters. So I get where your coming from I guess.
Yup Definitely
There aren't a huge number of series I'd recommend. A lot are pretty unrewarding time sinks.
A lot are fairly throwaway, they might have a redeeming feature or two but generally a crippling weakness or two to go with it. Really 90% of whats out there is interchangable, enjoyable trash.
Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Farseer, Kingkiller Chronicles ... theres probably one or two others that i cant think of offhand.
Hundreds of brilliant, funny, witty lines. I love a lot of the denna scenes with them speaking in rhyme or him using 7 words (again and again and again).
Theres so much self reference and foreshadowing. I just found it really clever and ... charming (?)
I've read the books 3 times in the last 2 years so ... I kind of like the series
I think the good of 1st person perspective far outweighs the bad.
Matter of taste i guess.
Robin Hobb is a great writer and creates brilliant, interesting characters. So I get where your coming from I guess.
Interesting that you preferred the first Fitz trilogy to the second one, I generally preferred the second. A few sections of the first dragged a little for me, which didn't happen as much in the second. They were both really enjoyable in spite of that though, like you mentioned, head and shoulders above most other series that I've read. Definitely one of the first things people should read if they're interested in fantasy!
Rain Wilds was a bit meh but Fool's Assassin was fairly promising, though it's been a while since I read it now so my impression of it is a bit hazy. It's worth a look anyway.
Yup Definitely
There aren't a huge number of series I'd recommend. A lot are pretty unrewarding time sinks.
A lot are fairly throwaway, they might have a redeeming feature or two but generally a crippling weakness or two to go with it. Really 90% of whats out there is interchangable, enjoyable trash.
Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Farseer, Kingkiller Chronicles ... theres probably one or two others that i cant think of offhand.
Completely agree. Kvothe-Denna dialogues (in rhymes) were absolutely brilliant.
It is also the only series, when I read every song writen there. On most of them, I just skip songs.
For me, I put Mistborn and Kingkiller in the same category. Enjoyable reads for the most part but I've never truly cared for any of the characters. And if you don't care whether someone lives or dies in the story then it's hard to get too engrossed in the series.
You might be the only person in the world who thinks so. Pretty sure that even Sanderson himself rates Kingkiller significantly higher than Mistborn.
Kvothe and Denna are two of the best writen characters I've ever seen in fantasy books.
I am disapointed in you akash. You were my reading buddy (we've read almost the same books during the last 2-3 years).
Interesting, my recommendations would be Farseer, Liveships, Powder Mage and Long Price. At the moment at least! There are a lot of really creative and unusual ones that are complete unknowns though - Eli Monpress is pretty compelling after the first couple of books, Riyria is a lot of fun, Old Kingdom worth a mention as well. Lots of the more popular stuff is pretty formulaic though.
Haven't read Kingkiller, though it's on my to-read list. GoT just sounds crap from what I've read (don't kill me
). LotR I enjoyed when I was a kid, but can't stand now. I'm not talking about the actual quality but more my level of involvement in the series.
And I really really do not like Denna.
So, I just finished the second Mistborn book and didn't think it lived up to the first. I'm trying to decide if I should start the third book, being my re-read of ASOIAF, Dracula, or the Assassin's Apprentice.
Suggestions? I also have some non-fiction books I'm partially through that I need to finish (Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Guns of August, Influence of Sea Power upon History).
Suggestions? I also have some non-fiction books I'm partially through that I need to finish (Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Guns of August, Influence of Sea Power upon History).
Most people find the first Mistborn book the best, second worst, and third somewhere in the middle. It's definitely worth reading it imo. Assassin's Apprentice (and the rest of the series) are on a whole different level to Mistborn though, best fantasy books I've read.
Kingkiller > Mistborn. No doubt about it!
I haven't read Kingkiller, but it wouldn't surprise me. Even though I loved Mistborn for what it was, it's at best a highly enjoyable but flawed trilogy.
I have to agree there. Denna's extremely annoying. Also Kingkiller series is a bit predictable. Name of the Wind was excellent but I didn't like book two half as much. Here's my theory for what's in store in book three.
Kvothe will probably change his own name to Kote because of some tragedy or to avert more tragedy. His obsession with that prescient tree in the fae will probably lead him down this road.
Has anyone heard of the Fantasy Masterworks series? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_Masterworks
Want to know if you're fans of any of the books in that. I might start reading some of them.
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Definitely it is worth to read it. Better than the second, slightly worse than the first. Very enjoyable and brings closure.
I can't stand leaving something unfinished, so defo read it. Miles better than the 2nd book.