Books Fantasy Reads

Revan said:
Around half way of Royal Assassin. It is very very slow, practically as slow as Martin/Jordan at their slowest. Until the last 10% or so, nothing has happened. By nothing, I mean literally nothing.

The character progression isn't that good. Yep, Fitz is great. Verity and the Fool have been quite good in this book. And to a degree the young queen. Other than that, the characters are exactly as they were in the beginning of the first book.

I am liking it, but I don't see why people put these books in the piedestal and compare them to the best sagas in fantasy. They aren't even Mistborn/The First Law level (so far). Still plenty to read though.
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Philistine! :mad:

Hobb's books often have a fairly slow pace for the most part, the only time it bothered me was in the middle of the third book. It's been a while since I've read the first trilogy though, can't actually remember what happens in the second book at all... :confused:
 
Raptori said:
Philistine! :mad:

Hobb's books often have a fairly slow pace for the most part, the only time it bothered me was in the middle of the third book. It's been a while since I've read the first trilogy though, can't actually remember what happens in the second book at all... :confused:
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Its basically a travelogue as far as i remember?
He leaves the castle at the start of the book and is basically heading east for the next two, wasn't it?
 
caid said:
Its basically a travelogue as far as i remember?
He leaves the castle at the start of the book and is basically heading east for the next two, wasn't it?
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Hmm, I thought the third one was the travelogue, and the second was mostly in Buckkeep.

Doesn't it end with him running around the keep and killing Regal's Coterie in revenge for them killing Shrewd, then feigning death and taking refuge with Nighteyes? The third one definitely starts with him re-learning how to be human at least. :confused:
 
Yeah, the Travelogue was mainly the 3rd book. The 2nd book is the best of the lot for me.

As I recall the 2nd book starts with him recovering from Regal's attempt to kill him. There is a bit of travelogue when he heads back eact towards Buckkeep but not much of it.
 
Raptori said:
Hmm, I thought the third one was the travelogue, and the second was mostly in Buckkeep.

Doesn't it end with him running around the keep and killing Regal's Coterie in revenge for them killing Shrewd, then feigning death and taking refuge with Nighteyes? The third one definitely starts with him re-learning how to be human at least. :confused:
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Correct.
 
akash02 said:
Yeah, the Travelogue was mainly the 3rd book. The 2nd book is the best of the lot for me.

As I recall the 2nd book starts with him recovering from Regal's attempt to kill him. There is a bit of travelogue when he heads back eact towards Buckkeep but not much of it.
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Fool's Quest is the best of the lot for me, though the final book could surpass that if it fulfils the promises set so far! :D

harshad said:
Correct.
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Cool. Definitely need to re-read them now that my mamories are vague enough that I can barely remember what happens.
 
I have started the second book of the first Farseer trilogy. Like most here I really enjoy it. I like the medieval feel of how life in the Castle is described.

I would call it a mix of Name of the Wind, MS&T by Tad Williamns and the Earthsea books.

And a positive aspect is that this trilogy is finished as well as some other series by Hobb. There are so many series I read parallel that are still ongoing so that it is always great to finish one off.
 
Finished Royal Assassin. Good but not great (rated it 3/5 on goodreads).

Lets see where the story is going now in the final book.
 
Raptori said:
Hmm, I thought the third one was the travelogue, and the second was mostly in Buckkeep.

Doesn't it end with him running around the keep and killing Regal's Coterie in revenge for them killing Shrewd, then feigning death and taking refuge with Nighteyes? The third one definitely starts with him re-learning how to be human at least. :confused:
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yeah ... my memory sucks lol
2nd one was probably the best of that trilogy wasn't it?
 
caid said:
yeah ... my memory sucks lol
2nd one was probably the best of that trilogy wasn't it?
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Not sure really, I remember liking the first one slightly more, but it was close. GR ratings agree with you though, so I could easily be wrong! :p
 
Reading Sword of Destiny (The Witcher) right now...pretty good. I haven't read a non-fiction book in many years so can't say if it's actually good.
 
Finished the Liveship Traders trilogy. I'll have to revise my ratings for Farseer because this was certainly a step above for me. A much stronger plot with a bunch of excellent characters thrown in.

Ship Of Magic - 8/10
The Mad Ship - 8/10
Ship of Destiny - 9.5/10

I loved the last book! It started a bit slowly like "Assassin's Quest" but while that one seemed to fizzle out a bit towards the end this one pretty much exploded. Dragons, Serpents, Pirates and half mad ships make for a great combination it has to be said. Paragon might be one of my favourite characters ever....what a fecking badass:lol:

Also, I'm assuming Amber=Fool?

Not too sure about Kennit's ending though....did he deserve such a decent ending given he's such a massively selfish cnut throughout? On the other hand Paragon certainly deserved his ending which might not have been possible otherwise....Poor Althea though:(

One complaint would be that there aren't enough liveships for a series called the Liveship Traders. There are only 3 Liveships that have any sort of role in the books.
 
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akash02 said:
Finished the Liveship Traders trilogy. I'll have to revise my ratings for Farseer because this was certainly a step above for me. A much stronger plot with a bunch of excellent characters thrown in.

Ship Of Magic - 8/10
The Mad Ship - 8/10
Ship of Destiny - 9.5/10

I loved the last book! It started a bit slowly like "Assassin's Quest" but while that one seemed to fizzle out a bit towards the end this one pretty much exploded. Dragons, Serpents, Pirates and half mad ships make for a great combination it has to be said. Paragon might be one of my favourite characters ever....what a fecking badass:lol:

Also, I'm assuming Amber=Fool?

Not too sure about Kennit's ending though....did he deserve such a decent ending given he's such a massively selfish cnut throughout? On the other hand Paragon certainly deserved his ending which might not have been possible otherwise....Poor Althea though:(
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The assumption in spoiler is correct.

I rate Liveships more than the Farseer Trilogy simply because I am a sucker for POV structure of story telling.

I am 2/3rd of my way through The Martian and absolutely love it. Its a welcome break from Fantasy reading.

Also finished Theft of Swords - Book One of Riyria Revelations. I have mixed feelings about it. It is fast paced and I did like the story but there were certain occasions where I felt the author could have written better. I mean when I am reading High Fantasy I really don't expect to come across sentences like 'Just Kidding' , "...... has a crush on you".

As I said it is a good story and I will read the remaining two books and Riyria Chronicles.

Midway through Avemparth, I was sure
Royce was the Heir. I guessed he was half-elf or had elvish blood in Crown Conspiracy
Guess we will find out about it in the next two books.
 
@akash02
Yup, Amber = Fool. The reason she's able to create such amazing carvings is that she uses the skill on her fingertips to make them. Plus obviously she carves Fitz's face onto Paragon! That's really the only thing people

I wasn't really happy with Kennit's ending either, or Malta's for that matter. I can't stop thinking of her as a spoiled little shit despite her growth throughout the series. She doesn't deserve to be happy. :p
I was never that bothered about the low number of liveships, since I never really liked the sound of the idea to begin with. On reflection it is a bit weird though!

@harshad
Riyria isn't intended to be high fantasy, it's adventure fantasy, which is why it's a lot lighter than a lot of other series as well. ;)
 
Finished In the Night Garden by Catherynne M Valente. I liked better the second half. If I want to read the second book, I shouldn't wait long since with this kind of story, any character that appear in a random part of the book can reappear anytime. It can still be quite confusing for a reader at the beginning of the short chapters, I don't know if for the author it was fun to break in many parts many stories.

Reading The Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shepard and The Fell Sword by Miles Cameron.
 
Raptori said:
@akash02
Yup, Amber = Fool. The reason she's able to create such amazing carvings is that she uses the skill on her fingertips to make them. Plus obviously she carves Fitz's face onto Paragon! That's really the only thing people

I wasn't really happy with Kennit's ending either, or Malta's for that matter. I can't stop thinking of her as a spoiled little shit despite her growth throughout the series. She doesn't deserve to be happy. :p
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not only the face but the axe as well, it's a dead giveaway
 
Assassin's Quest is just the worst. I've read only 22% of it since I started it 3-4 days ago. It is just going slow and boring.

Someone tell me that it is going to be better and have a good payoff!
 
Revan said:
Assassin's Quest is just the worst. I've read only 22% of it since I started it 3-4 days ago. It is just going slow and boring.

Someone tell me that it is going to be better and have a good payoff!
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I found it a satisfying ending but i enjoyed the whole series so ...
Pretty common complaint that it drags a bit though.
 
Cnaiür urs Skiötha said:
I have started the second book of the first Farseer trilogy. Like most here I really enjoy it. I like the medieval feel of how life in the Castle is described.

I would call it a mix of Name of the Wind, MS&T by Tad Williamns and the Earthsea books.

And a positive aspect is that this trilogy is finished as well as some other series by Hobb. There are so many series I read parallel that are still ongoing so that it is always great to finish one off.
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Your name makes me think about the ending of that book again...what a waste!
 
Finished A Crown of Swords last night, mixed feelings on it. Jordan's writing obviously went a bit downhill here, waaaay too many words and overly long descriptions - I started skipping the big page-long paragraphs that list every single type of person/shop/building while the characters walked through a street. Since I speed read it the main story wasn't that bad, roughly on par with the previous books, with some interesting new ideas thrown in. What really bugged me was that the climax had absolutely no relation to the rest of the book whatsoever. It was like Rand spend all his time doing random shit and then just got out of bed one day and thought "Hey, now's a great time to go attack one of the Forsaken!"

Revan said:
Assassin's Quest is just the worst. I've read only 22% of it since I started it 3-4 days ago. It is just going slow and boring.

Someone tell me that it is going to be better and have a good payoff!
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Yah that's why I don't rate that one as highly as the rest of the series, usually I don't mind slow books that much but that one took it way too far. The ending is good though.
 
Just bought the First Law trilogy second hand, no idea what to expect from it whatsoever. I must have like 30 physical books that I still haven't read...
happy.gif
 
Raptori said:
Just bought the First Law trilogy second hand, no idea what to expect from it whatsoever. I must have like 30 physical books that I still haven't read...
happy.gif
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Expect brilliant things from it (particularly the last book). And then go read The Shattered Sea trilogy.

Abercrombie is the best.
 
Revan said:
Expect brilliant things from it (particularly the last book). And then go read The Shattered Sea trilogy.

Abercrombie is the best.
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Brilliant like Robin Hobb? :angel: no, really

The Blade Itself has been on my tbr for over a year now, it'll be good to finally get it out of the way. After I've read the second half of Wheel of Time, the rest of Gentleman Bastard, Time Salvager, Armada... :D
 
Raptori said:
Brilliant like Robin Hobb? :angel: no, really

The Blade Itself has been on my tbr for over a year now, it'll be good to finally get it out of the way. After I've read the second half of Wheel of Time, the rest of Gentleman Bastard, Time Salvager, Armada... :D
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Far far better! Abercrombie's characters are second only to Martin's (and even that is debatable).

I need to go back to Assassin's Quest. Haven't read that in the last two days. It is so boring.
 
Revan said:
Far far better! Abercrombie's characters are second only to Martin's (and even that is debatable).

I need to go back to Assassin's Quest. Haven't read that in the last two days. It is so boring.
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Lol we'll see. You shouldn't really make judgements until you've read Liveships, it's a lot better than the Fitz books. :p
 
Raptori said:
Lol we'll see. You shouldn't really make judgements until you've read Liveships, it's a lot better than the Fitz books. :p
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That shouldn't be that difficult.

I'll go back to Liverships (read your comments that it is better and has complex characters), though probably I'll take a break from Hobb. Most likely will go with Asamov.
 
Revan said:
That shouldn't be that difficult.

I'll go back to Liverships (read your comments that it is better and has complex characters), though probably I'll take a break from Hobb. Most likely will go with Asamov.
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Lol :p

From what I remember they're not the fastest of books either, but I don't remember there being any painfully slow bits like the third Fitz book. And they definitely build to a brilliant climax.

I wonder if you'll like Asimov, there's so much more wrong with his writing than with Hobb's... but then again I guess it might just be that something about Hobb's writing doesn't fit with you. :)
 
With all your talk, I feel I have to read Ship of Magic as my next fantasy book in english (and that may lead me to read french fantasy books or SF first).

Finished The Fell Sword, it was good even if it was puzzling at first having so many things going in different places and obviously the MC couldn't solve all. I really liked better the first book because
the main default of the second book is that a lot of building is actually for the following book, so the bad guys of the 2nd book aren't really shown to be that strong
I should be looking forward the next book out in 2 months, except I was expecting it to be the last and now I learnt it has been expanded to a 5-book serie.
 
Revan said:
That shouldn't be that difficult.

I'll go back to Liverships (read your comments that it is better and has complex characters), though probably I'll take a break from Hobb. Most likely will go with Asamov.
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I dunno, I really liked liveships but unless your married to multiple pov's your not going to like it more than the fitz books imo.
I feel wrong for putting someone off it because its worth it for paragon if nothing else and one of my favorite series but there you go
 
caid said:
I dunno, I really liked liveships but unless your married to multiple pov's your not going to like it more than the fitz books imo.
I feel wrong for putting someone off it because its worth it for paragon if nothing else and one of my favorite series but there you go
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If the main thing that bugs him about the Fitz books is the small number of complex characters, then I think Liveships is a perfect antidote for that. It happens to hit the spot for me, but it's definitely not going to be perfect for everyone. :)
 
I've just finished reading Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer! and the other Elric stuff (well, except the Moonbeam Roads bits, i think) and i've loved every second of it. I'm also kind of gutted that i've reached the end now though, i've found it such a compelling read.
 
TheSwagginator said:
I've just finished reading Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer! and the other Elric stuff (well, except the Moonbeam Roads bits, i think) and i've loved every second of it. I'm also kind of gutted that i've reached the end now though, i've found it such a compelling read.
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Funny i read that when i was about 10 and was thinking about re reading it.
Kind of dismissed it as probably junk that wouldn't hold up if i read it again, maybe i will.
 
caid said:
Funny i read that when i was about 10 and was thinking about re reading it.
Kind of dismissed it as probably junk that wouldn't hold up if i read it again, maybe i will.
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Well, i'm no critic or anything but i personally have found the Elric books to be very enjoyable to read. Course, we aren't all the same. Might be kiddy stuff for you if you read it at 10.
 
TheSwagginator said:
Well, i'm no critic or anything but i personally have found the Elric books to be very enjoyable to read. Course, we aren't all the same. Might be kiddy stuff for you if you read it at 10.
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Ah you know yourself - sometimes revisiting old stuff doesn't end well.
Its about an albino with a sentient sword isn't it? or am i thinking of something else?
 
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Revan said:
Assassin's Quest is just the worst. I've read only 22% of it since I started it 3-4 days ago. It is just going slow and boring.

Someone tell me that it is going to be better and have a good payoff!
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I don`t know. Just started Assassin`s Quest and thought it is already interesting enough after 77 pages.
Really liked the second book. The ending was brilliant.
 
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