Books Fantasy Reads

Revan said:
I loved the Shadow Rising. The history of Aiel is one of the highlights of the series.

Fires of Heaven (as I said many times) is definitely the best book in the saga. The ending is just :eek:
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Yeah the ending of that book was a great pay-off, it's awesome when books manage to reach that level of excitement. The Ketty Jay books somehow managed to sustain it for almost the entirety of books 2, 3, and 4 for me, don't think anything else has ever come close. :drool:
 
akash02 said:
That review is a bit ridiculous and lacks any sort of context. For instance, it mentions Jaime trying to kill Bran as sickening and unredeemable and yet he was voted the best character in the series on Reddit a couple of weeks back by a comfortable distance. So, it appears a large part of the fanbase completely disagree with that statement. In fact, my top two best written characters in the series have both either killed or tried to kill children. Even the breastfeeding part of the review lacks context.
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That testifies to our uncertain relationship with 'good' and 'evil' rather than serving as an endorsement of child murder.

(See the stairs scene in 'A History of Violence.')
 
Revan said:
I loved the Shadow Rising. The history of Aiel is one of the highlights of the series.

Fires of Heaven (as I said many times) is definitely the best book in the saga. The ending is just :eek:
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Many of my friends rave about the books when Sanderson takes over (seeing as The Stormlight Archives is one of my favourite series of all time already, I'm hoping they're right).
 
I have finished The King of Elfland's daugther. I am not sure if it's my lack of proficiency in english that made me lose easily what was the beginning of the sentence... but my opinion of the book didn't change. Hard book to follow, not because of complex plot, but because of the writing. The kind of book that makes me think it's time to read another Charlotte Brontë book.

I am reading In the Night Garden by Catherynne M Valente. I like it better than I expected since I was completely indifferent to her most popular book. Stories into story into story..
 
I've read ASOIAF and think it's overrated. It's good, very good at times/at some things, but there's plenty that hold it back for me.
 
IrishLegend said:
Many of my friends rave about the books when Sanderson takes over (seeing as The Stormlight Archives is one of my favourite series of all time already, I'm hoping they're right).
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The Gathering Storm (first book from Sanderson) is brilliant, second best in the serie IMO. A Memory of Light (the last one) is very good too, although there seems to be a lot of people who hate it. The middle book (Towers of Midnight) is very average but with a wonderful beginning and an even better ending.

Make sure to read the prequel (New Spring) sometimes during the reading (but aftr book 8). I read it between Jordan's and Sanderson's books (after book 11).
 
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - this book was brilliant. Weird, but a very nice reading. Philip Dick must have really been a strange person. Kudos to Ridley Scott for taking this book and transforming it into a wonderful movie. In fact, I think that Blade Runner is even better than this.

Saying that, I didn't like the ending. It wasn't bad - far from it - but I was expecting a spectacular ending, while I think the ending was a bit ordinary. Still worthy to be read and would recommend it to everyone.
 
Revan said:
Haven't read it but is generally mentioned in all 'hall of shame' when it comes to fantasy series. From what I've read other people saying, it is a LOTR copy, with full of cliches and shit characters.
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Raptori said:
What @Revan said. ;)
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Kallech33 said:
This basically:



A guy who went to school with me had all Sword of Truth books and lent them to me.
The first book is okay. After that it's complete trash. Twilight-level trash with wizards and witches instead of vampires and werewolves.
I still read them all. This book series had the same effect on me as some incredibly shit RealityTV series has on other people.
It's crap but you can't stop because it feels so good to hate it. You NEED to hate it, to be outraged about it. It was like an addiction.

I read that Goodkind wrote new books which play after the end of the series. To be honest I'm tempted to read them just to get that feeling of hate and outrage back. Unfortunately I know no one who has them and one thing is certain: I won't spend money on that trash.
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Thanks. Almost bought the book online :nervous:
 
The Martian - a very nice book. Quite unique how it was written, and despite the batshit crazy things going on there, they have always a scientific plausible solution. I liked it quite a lot.

Mistborn: The Alloy of Law - booooo! This book was crap. Far worse than the trilogy in every aspect (writing, plot, twists, characters etc).
 
Alock1 said:
I've read ASOIAF and think it's overrated. It's good, very good at times/at some things, but there's plenty that hold it back for me.
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Id certainly agree its abit over-hyped, personally I much prefer Robin Hobb and WoT. Always thought ASOIAF was held up in parts by the deaths of decent characters, any time it got abit weak he'd kill off a decent character. Annoying but seems to work. Always thought the red viper was wasted. Really liked that character.

Revan said:
Mistborn: The Alloy of Law - booooo! This book was crap. Far worse than the trilogy in every aspect (writing, plot, twists, characters etc).
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I just read The Alloy of Law last week. Thought it was quite good, not as filled out and detailed as the other mistborn's, but for its length I thought it was good. Characters definitely could have done with more pages to be fleshed out but I thought there was plenty of potential.
 
Revan said:
Mistborn: The Alloy of Law - booooo! This book was crap. Far worse than the trilogy in every aspect (writing, plot, twists, characters etc).
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I'm with you on that one, still a bit wary about the sequels since I didn't really like the characters that much. Hopefully they'll be a lot better in full length novels though...
 
Revan said:
The Martian - a very nice book. Quite unique how it was written, and despite the batshit crazy things going on there, they have always a scientific plausible solution. I liked it quite a lot.

Mistborn: The Alloy of Law - booooo! This book was crap. Far worse than the trilogy in every aspect (writing, plot, twists, characters etc).
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I have The Martian lying on my table since last two weeks, just can't get time to start it. Is the science stuff complicated? I ask because I want to finish the book in one sitting and if there is complex stuff involved then I know I would be googling them as I come across any complex theory or a special scientific device to better understand what the writer means to convey, which would take up time to finish the book.

Also, I had read Alloy of Law last year, and I agree its not as good as the original trilogy but still found it to be an interesting take on the Mistborn world as Scadrial is becoming technologically advanced.

Probably Sanderson also felt the same thing as regards the characters as you feel seeing as I think he has said that he was facing some difficulty in writing these characters for the second novel so when he got in his groove he wrote two novels and finished this trilogy instead on just the second book as he had originally planned.
 
Raptori said:
I'm with you on that one, still a bit wary about the sequels since I didn't really like the characters that much. Hopefully they'll be a lot better in full length novels though...
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I didn't know that the following 2 novels will be in full length. That's good.

harshad said:
I have The Martian lying on my table since last two weeks, just can't get time to start it. Is the science stuff complicated? I ask because I want to finish the book in one sitting and if there is complex stuff involved then I know I would be googling them as I come across any complex theory or a special scientific device to better understand what the writer means to convey, which would take up time to finish the book.
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Hmm, I don't think that you need to google the science there. Obviously, be prepared to miss many things going on science. Most of the science is basic chemistry, biology and a bit pf physics/maths. I guess that a diligent high school student should understand most of it.
 
harshad said:
I have The Martian lying on my table since last two weeks, just can't get time to start it. Is the science stuff complicated? I ask because I want to finish the book in one sitting and if there is complex stuff involved then I know I would be googling them as I come across any complex theory or a special scientific device to better understand what the writer means to convey, which would take up time to finish the book.
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It does get fairly complicated at times, but it's explained well enough that it's pretty easy to understand. It's a great book though, can't wait for the film.

Revan said:
I didn't know that the following 2 novels will be in full length. That's good.
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Pretty sure he's writing three, it's a full trilogy in addition to AoL. :)

Edit: yeah it's three. Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning are both already written, that trilogy ends with a to-be-written book called The Lost Metal.
 
Raptori said:
Pretty sure he's writing three, it's a full trilogy in addition to AoL. :)

Edit: yeah it's three. Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning are both already written, that trilogy ends with a to-be-written book called The Lost Metal.
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Holy shit, I thought that it wil be a full trilogy (including the alloy of law), not a trilogy in addition to it.

I still am more interested in his second planned Mistborn trilogy (Wax and Wayne trilogy/quadrology wasn't originally planned, he just suddenly decidede to write it).
 
Revan said:
Holy shit, I thought that it wil be a full trilogy (including the alloy of law), not a trilogy in addition to it.

I still am more interested in his second planned Mistborn trilogy (Wax and Wayne trilogy/quadrology wasn't originally planned, he just suddenly decidede to write it).
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As I understand, he has two more planned trilogy. One mirroring 1980s world i.e advent of computers and another one based on space travel. Think we had a discussion on this in this thread only.
 
Revan said:
Holy shit, I thought that it wil be a full trilogy (including the alloy of law), not a trilogy in addition to it.

I still am more interested in his second planned Mistborn trilogy (Wax and Wayne trilogy/quadrology wasn't originally planned, he just suddenly decidede to write it).
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Yeah he's an absolute robot. He'll be ancient by the time he's finished the cosmere. :D

Same, and actually I want the third one even more. ;)
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Just finished all of The Dresden Files. Brilliant! Loved every book and hope more comes...
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They really are fun and the scope just gets bigger with every novel.

I particularly liked the Light Saber part.

Any theory on
who the guy in the crystal was on the Island? The guy with the British accent
 
Finished Half a War (Shattered Sea #3)

While it looks to me that the series was declining with every book, it is still a very good reading and better than most of the fantasy books right there. It is as good conclusion as it can be.

Father Yarvi succesfully completed his transformation from Glokta to Bayaz (my two favorite characters from The First Law) and by the end of the trilogy it can be argued that he is a better written and more complex character than both of them (and pretty much any character in fantasy). Basically, he makes Varys and Littlefinger look like a puppy in comparison.

Joe Abercrombie in my eyes is the best fantasy writer. Or at least the best fantasy writer who actually writes book (cough cough, Martin).
 
harshad said:
They really are fun and the scope just gets bigger with every novel.

I particularly liked the Light Saber part.

Any theory on
who the guy in the crystal was on the Island? The guy with the British accent
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Yeah, that was particularly cheesey! Nope, don't have a clue on that character, though this has quite a bit of British tinge (as in the song from Queen) etc.

I can think of numerous aspects for the story to branch out.

BlackStaff McCoy
History of GateKeeper
More on White Council, Black Court and Outsiders

I really liked it. Though he manages to squeeze in some saucy hot segments. :D

Just read "Book #16, Peace Talks does not have a release date yet, but we predict it may arrive late 2015/early 2016."
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Yeah, that was particularly cheesey! Nope, don't have a clue on that character, though this has quite a bit of British tinge (as in the song from Queen) etc.

I can think of numerous aspects for the story to branch out.

BlackStaff McCoy
History of GateKeeper
More on White Council, Black Court and Outsiders

I really liked it. Though he manages to squeeze in some saucy hot segments. :D

Just read "Book #16, Peace Talks does not have a release date yet, but we predict it may arrive late 2015/early 2016."
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I am more interested in seeing Harry meet Kincaid and their interaction during Peace Talks. In a manner of speaking Kincaid failed in the task Harry gave him and what will McCoy do about it when he comes to know it was Kincaid.
 
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Revan said:
Starting Farseer Trilogy.
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:D

I'm only halfway through Lord of Chaos still, taken me twice as long as any of the other books so far. That's partly because we spent a while finishing off something to send to the MJS story competition, and partly because we've just joined a writing group - much less time to read.
 
Raptori said:
:D

I'm only halfway through Lord of Chaos still, taken me twice as long as any of the other books so far. That's partly because we spent a while finishing off something to send to the MJS story competition, and partly because we've just joined a writing group - much less time to read.
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Lord of Chaos is really good. That climax :drool:
 
The Climax of Winter's Heart is the best in the series imo. although the book itself is a bit meh.
 
akash02 said:
The Climax of Winter's Heart is the best in the series imo. although the book itself is a bit meh.
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The Gathering Storm chapters 39-42 are probably better but that's it. Winter's Heart, The Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos have all excellent endings (in that order). The Gathering Storm too.

@Raptori , read 1/3 of Assassin's Apprentice so far and it is great. It gives me the feeling of Name of The Wind and Blood Song. Would be interesting to know if Rothfuss and Ryan have read this book before they wrote their books.
 
Revan said:
@Raptori , read 1/3 of Assassin's Apprentice so far and it is great. It gives me the feeling of Name of The Wind and Blood Song. Would be interesting to know if Rothfuss and Ryan have read this book before they wrote their books.
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Glad you're enjoying it! I guess you're roughly at the bit where they visit Forge? Iirc that's where it starts to get more interesting. :p I'm tempted to re-read them again... so much other stuff to read though. :rolleyes:
 
harshad said:
I am more interested in seeing Harry meet Kincaid and their interaction during Peace Talks. In a manner of speaking Kincaid failed in the task Harry gave him and what will McCoy do about it when he comes to know it was Kincaid.
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well...

Well, Harry did die. Not sure how Kincaid can be held responsible for angelic interventions. Though I predict Harry will have some dry humourous quip when they meet.

Peace Talks is about the supernatural powers meeting about Unseelie Accords. Maybe Fomor wants to replace Red Court in the Accords? The Black Council could make an appearance too.
 
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Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Well, Harry did die. Not sure how Kincaid can be held responsible for angelic interventions. Though I predict Harry will have some dry humourous quip when they meet.

Peace Talks is about the supernatural powers meeting about Unseelie Accords. Maybe Fomor wants to replace Red Court in the Accords? The Black Council could make an appearance too.
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FFS use spoiler tags.

I read somewhere that
there are government agents who deal with the supernatural. Maybe they also could also be part of Peace Talks
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Spoilered. Edit your quote yoo.

Where did you hear about this? Did any of the books have any reference to this angle?
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I read a post on reddit which claimed it as a WOJ. No source was given so take it with a pinch of salt.No its not in any books. The closest we have been is perhaps in Fool Moon.
 
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