Books Fantasy Reads
- Thread starter Alock1
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Nice bookshelf there.Err yeah, looking at the post that had the word counts you're right...
We're halfway though setting up our shelves actually, might have to post a pic once they're done.Nice bookshelf there.
Of course you have to! Also happy to know that you care about hardcovers. They are the bestWe're halfway though setting up our shelves actually, might have to post a pic once they're done.
Speaking of Wheel of Time...
I finished Winters Heart a while ago but id got so fed up with the slow pace i just haven't got back into it.
Do people think it's worth getting back into?
I finished Winters Heart a while ago but id got so fed up with the slow pace i just haven't got back into it.
Do people think it's worth getting back into?
Yeah, you are over the hump. Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight and Memory of Light are cracking books.
The ending of Winters heart was great. Probably the best in the series imo. Also, it's the book where Mat and Tuon meet I think which was good
Skip the 10th book and just a read a summary of it on wiki. It's the worst book of the lot and almost nothing happens. The last 4 are quite good though
Will do! It'll probably take a couple of weeks now, there's a fair bit of stuff to do for them and we don't have any tools...
Most of our books are paperbacks actually, we can't afford hardcovers most of the time. I'm probably 50/50 on them - hardcovers look nicer and last a hell of a lot longer, but they're not quite as convenient. That's less of a downside since we usually get an ebook copy before a physical copy though!
Winter is the worst book by far so it's uphill from there.
I just realized that Perrin & Elayne were not critical to the theme of the book at all. Remove their characters totally and will there be any impact to the story?
Depends on what you mean by the 'theme'. Perrin, in any case, isn't expendable. Elayne is a maybe but then again she was more of a support cast to Rand than anything else.
Finished the First Law Trilogy.
Very underwhelming if I'm honest. I was expecting a lot more given the praise it's been receiving.
Blade Itself - 6/10
Before they are Hanged - 6.5/10
Last Argument of Kings - 6.5/10
The series ended the same way it had begun and everything in between was a bit meh. Abercrombie is clearly a good writer but the plot was nowhere near engaging enough. The characters were alright, well, Glotka was very good and quite funny given the dark nature of his work. The ending didn't really work for me either.
Very underwhelming if I'm honest. I was expecting a lot more given the praise it's been receiving.
Blade Itself - 6/10
Before they are Hanged - 6.5/10
Last Argument of Kings - 6.5/10
The series ended the same way it had begun and everything in between was a bit meh. Abercrombie is clearly a good writer but the plot was nowhere near engaging enough. The characters were alright, well, Glotka was very good and quite funny given the dark nature of his work. The ending didn't really work for me either.
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Since I wasn't really interested by The Blade itself (wasn't the first book an entire presentation ?), I guess I can skip the other books.
Finished reading The Red Knight by Miles Cameron. I enjoyed the complex and violent story (it seems like quite realistic battles) even I had probably disliked more one character than I have liked some. I will probably read the 2nd book in 2 months, so I have two other months before the 3rd is out.
I probably need to really read The King of Elfland's daugther or finish this other K.J. Parker book.
Finished reading The Red Knight by Miles Cameron. I enjoyed the complex and violent story (it seems like quite realistic battles) even I had probably disliked more one character than I have liked some. I will probably read the 2nd book in 2 months, so I have two other months before the 3rd is out.
I probably need to really read The King of Elfland's daugther or finish this other K.J. Parker book.
Just bought the whole Wheel of Time second hand, someone nearby was selling a full set of hardcovers for 25€, couldn't pass it up at that price. Haven't ever read them, so I guess I've got a lot of reading to do... apparently WoT is 3.3 million words in total.
Show off
FWIW- Sanderson is shit.
He's better than a load of others that I've tried to read, tons of stuff gets published that is completely unreadable. Sanderson has a lot of bad points, but he has some good ones too.
You might be right... Maybe I've just not made it far enough through any of his books to discover any of the good points.
There are so many better fantasy writers / series out there though.
I think the biggest plus point of his writing is that he's good (though not brilliant) at plot climaxes, so if you haven't read any to the end then you'll have missed out on that. His characters are cardboard and his writing is flawed at times, but overall I find them enjoyable enough. I think at the moment he's got potential but isn't quite realising it, if they cut about 50% of the wordcounts out of some of his novels you'd miss almost nothing and they'd be a hell of a lot better.
Mmh I don't know about there being loads - there are a few that I rate a level or two above Sanderson, but most are similar level but with different strengths.
He's pretty good from what I've read and his writing definitely improved from Mistborn to WoT. Haven't read SA and don't plan to anytime soon but be interesting to see if he can step it up in that series. His characterizations need work mind but then he's not the only one. Rothfuss is another one who's characters I struggle to give two shits about.
SA has a similar feel to Mistborn, but has a noticeable improvement in the characters (though they're still a bit flat), and is just generally deeper, broader, and more epic. Definitely a step up imo even if it is fairly similar in tone and content. It'll be interesting to read the WoT books he wrote, though I still have quite a bit to read before I get there...
I really didn't have an issue with the way Mistborn was written, personally. Thought they were good books in nearly every sense. Not outstandingly written granted, but hardly definitely not worthy of any criticism writing-wise. Lots of worse books out there.
I'd agree with this. Mistborn for me were good books. In the end I read for entertainment, and if the story and plot is good enough I'll generally ignore any minor flaws. Plenty of other 'better' writers that while the characters are deeper and better written, the overall books plot is so slow or boring. I'd prefer the Sanderson version of writing over that.
Yeah I'm the same. I really enjoyed the Farseer and Kingkiller series, but at times the pace of the books is just so damn slow. They've got better characters than Mistborn (although Vin was brilliant and I still love Kvothe) but the pace of the books kind of let's it down for me. Still really enjoyed all three series though, just picking out the flaws.
It's been a while and I can't remember if I've ever posted in this topic... but is everyone aware of the Prince of Nothing/Aspect-Emperor series? It's just fantastic high fantasy, and it's philosophical style sets it apart from most other fantasies I have read. I'm working on the second series now but since it's been so long since I finished the first I was considering given the whole thing a read through again. My only gripe is that it lacks enough likeable characters, but it's a read I'd put up there with the best of em.
Definitely yes. After Winter's Heart, it improves quite a bit, with The Gathering Storm being absolutely brilliant.
You're a fool!
The Last Argument of Kings is absolutely brilliant. The Blade Itself is comfortably the worst book in the trilogy. You should go and read the other two.
Heh.
The Blade Itself reads like one of those gigantic prologues from Wheel of Time. Except there's no actual story beyond it in this case. Before they are Hanged is probably the best book but the main plot line which takes most of the book is a dead end and the story is further along than it was a the start of the book. Last Argument of Kings is decent but that ending renders the whole series pointless. What was the point? That life is unfair? I really did not need to read 2000 odd pages to know that!
The Blade Itself reads like one of those gigantic prologues from Wheel of Time. Except there's no actual story beyond it in this case. Before they are Hanged is probably the best book but the main plot line which takes most of the book is a dead end and the story is further along than it was a the start of the book. Last Argument of Kings is decent but that ending renders the whole series pointless. What was the point? That life is unfair? I really did not need to read 2000 odd pages to know that!
Bayaz' schemes in The Last Argument of Kings are great. How he pretty much manipulates everyone (and has been doing so since the beginning) is incredible.
Second book is Glotka show. While I wasn't that interested in the story at North, Glotka parts were amazing.
Anyway, during my absence here I read these books:
Rise of Endynium (Hyperion Cantos #4):
I absolutely loved it. While the ending was predictable (Raul admits a few times that he's dumb, and so he was dumb to not predict how the things will end), I must say that I absolutely loved it and it was one of the best bittersweet endings that I have ever seen (bittersweet endings are by far my favorites). On these 2 books I learnt to love Aenea and Raul, and respect De Soya.
I must say that I loved this book as much as the original Hyperion and more than Fall of Hyperion and Endymion. A good solid ending to finish this serie.
If anyone has read it, I would like to answer these questions:
The questions I put in spoilers would be interesting to discuss. @Raptori
Dreams of Steel (Black Company #5)
I liked this book quite a lot (joint favorite so far in the series with the thrd book). Lady was amazing and I loved her as a narrator. The ending was also awesome.
The Silver Spike (Black Company #3.5)
A spin off in the series which deals with Raven, Silent and Darling after they left the company. Was pretty meh.
Bleak Seasons (Black Company #6)
Thought that it was awful. Murgen was a shit narrator.
Currently at half of the seventh book in Black Company. Much better than the previous one.
Rise of Endynium (Hyperion Cantos #4):
I absolutely loved it. While the ending was predictable (Raul admits a few times that he's dumb, and so he was dumb to not predict how the things will end), I must say that I absolutely loved it and it was one of the best bittersweet endings that I have ever seen (bittersweet endings are by far my favorites). On these 2 books I learnt to love Aenea and Raul, and respect De Soya.
I must say that I loved this book as much as the original Hyperion and more than Fall of Hyperion and Endymion. A good solid ending to finish this serie.
If anyone has read it, I would like to answer these questions:
Did the entire journey to Earth, and then the Raul's journey to find the ship was just Aenea teaching in her way Raul? Because we know that Aenea could have done that in her way, but then I guess that Raul wouldn't be able to escape from Schrodinger's cell prison.
When Aenea in the end tells Raul that we have infinite time and we won't speak more for time, was it a metaphore or they were going into phase shifting and so time will go that slow that will basically be infinite time?
Was the Core destroyed in the end? The physical location of the Core were the cruciforms, and by the end of the book from 700-800 billion people who had the cruciform, remained only a few millions, which practically means that Core was alsmost completely destroyed. If that is the case, then how Shrike was created, Core Ultimate Intelligence was created and pretty much how the entire events of the books happened? Or somehow Core survived and so those events happened anyway?
Was Aenea an avatar of humanity Ultimate Intelligence. We know that in distant future, it will have a war with Core UI and will be losing that war.
Why Aenea chose Raul as her chosen one? His only good attribute was his unconditional love for Aenea.
Just for fun. What is Aenea didn't come back in time but stayed with Raul and their child? Would the history be rewritten? Of course, this question cannot have an answer cause going in the past is theoretically impossible in the first place.
When Aenea in the end tells Raul that we have infinite time and we won't speak more for time, was it a metaphore or they were going into phase shifting and so time will go that slow that will basically be infinite time?
Was the Core destroyed in the end? The physical location of the Core were the cruciforms, and by the end of the book from 700-800 billion people who had the cruciform, remained only a few millions, which practically means that Core was alsmost completely destroyed. If that is the case, then how Shrike was created, Core Ultimate Intelligence was created and pretty much how the entire events of the books happened? Or somehow Core survived and so those events happened anyway?
Was Aenea an avatar of humanity Ultimate Intelligence. We know that in distant future, it will have a war with Core UI and will be losing that war.
Why Aenea chose Raul as her chosen one? His only good attribute was his unconditional love for Aenea.
Just for fun. What is Aenea didn't come back in time but stayed with Raul and their child? Would the history be rewritten? Of course, this question cannot have an answer cause going in the past is theoretically impossible in the first place.
The questions I put in spoilers would be interesting to discuss. @Raptori
Dreams of Steel (Black Company #5)
I liked this book quite a lot (joint favorite so far in the series with the thrd book). Lady was amazing and I loved her as a narrator. The ending was also awesome.
The Silver Spike (Black Company #3.5)
A spin off in the series which deals with Raven, Silent and Darling after they left the company. Was pretty meh.
Bleak Seasons (Black Company #6)
Thought that it was awful. Murgen was a shit narrator.
Currently at half of the seventh book in Black Company. Much better than the previous one.
That's kinda the point. Nothing really changes from the first page of the series to the last one. There's some King in the North, there's a puppet on the throne and Gurkish are still in the South. We didn't even get a face-off between Khalul and Bayaz.
Glotka was an interesting and funny character but his storylines were dreadful and pointless in the first 2 books.
I like Glotka parts when he was commander of that small city and kept the war going against all odds for some time. His letters were great too.
I agree that in the end we are basically at point 0, but I don't think that is the point. The geopolitical structure hasn't changed, but who cares. After all if
Aegon/Daenerys wins the Iron Throne and humanity defeats the Others, Tyrion gets Casterly Rock and Rickon gets Winterfell (all of these events have a high chance of happening) the political structure of the world of ASOIAF would be exactly the same as when Rhaegar 'kidnapped' Lyana. Would that make the entire series pointless?
I've only read the first Hyperion and didn't really like it, so won't be much use there!
It's not no much the politics itself but even the characters. Jezal for instance seemed to grow a backbone through the series until the last 100 pages where he stumbled back to being a buffoon. Glotka was the only one who went anywhere and maybe even became a better person. Really, my main frustration is Bayaz needed to be brought down a couple of steps and for that to happen you needed a wider storyline involving Khalul and rest of the eaters.
Too many fantasy books to read though, so reading the sequel to the First Blade isn't my priority.
I have finished The Folding Knife of K.J. Parker. It was a fun reading of politics and manipulation. Even if part of the end was a bit predictable since the prologue seemed to say it would be a fall
I have finished The Folding Knife of K.J. Parker. It was a fun reading of politics and manipulation. Even if part of the end was a bit predictable since the prologue seemed to say it would be a fall
so around the two thirds of the novel, I asked myself "what's the worst that can happen to the MC" though this question can be asked and answered correctly earlier. So I dreaded reading the rest since I didn't want this outcome. I hope not all his novels finish not really well for most of his characters because I don't mind unhappy endings, but it's another thing than to be sure to have funny doom every time.
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This I agree with. I felt there needed to be one more sequel, where Bayaz's follies are exposed and he gets his due!
Edit: The Logen sequel 'Red Country' is a bad read, in case you didn't know!
We are not in the fifties, when the antiheroes in the end gets defeated. Bayaz winning 'the game of thrones' was something I really loved.
No idea why akash compains for that. We are having something similar in ASOIAF, with Varys masterminding a lot of stuff.
I have yet to read the other three standalone books in the same universe, but I will definitely give it a try. 'Better Served Cold' and 'The Heroes' seems to be highly rated. Abercrombie is one of my favorites, so will go back to them.
For those who are interested, next month he'll publish the final book in The Shattered Sea trilogy. Cannot wait.
It's not a question of Bayaz being defeated. There wasn't even a conflict! He got a magic power and wham! Game over. Everyone goes home.
Varys is different in a lot of ways. And no doubt it will end up very differently as well.
I read the first 3 parts of Better Served Cold. As the the name suggests it's a revenge story and fairly good but quite predictable as is the case with such stories.
It's not a complaint. Bayaz history and his part in death of Juvens and Kaneidas is definitely worth a book on it's own. Did he kill Juvens and Tolomei? What's happening with Khalul? For me, the whole trilogy lacks a purpose. The basic question why is Bayaz doing all this is hinted but never answered clearly. I hope Abercrombie write more books on this. The feeling is not a bad thing on current series, but rather one wanting more books on these characters.
^That's true. The chapters in the 2nd book where he told stories about Euz and his sons were excellent. Best parts of the books along with Glotka
I just re-read the OP and about to start on Dresden Files and Night Angel trilogy!