Books Fantasy Reads

The Iron Druid Chronicles - Kevin Hearne

Book #1: Hounded

Very nice and light read. Lots of cynical light hearted humour. Not that much character development apart from the protagonist, but story moves at a nice place and keeps up the interest. Gods, Witches, Werewolves, Vampires, Druids. Kinda like the Indiana Jones story of fantasy. I liked it.

If you just finished a big/tough series and looking for a light break, this is a perfect fit.

Rating: 6/10
 
Finished Ship of Magic. I was surprised I liked it that much, and once into it, it didn't feel slow (while I remember saying to myself a lot that the first two books of the Farseer trilogy were too slow). Really great characters though Malta seems a too well-known (and irritating) character.

Reading now In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M Valente and the urban fantasy The Circle by Sara B. Elfgren & Mats Strandberg. Tempted to give up the latter one but since I managed to read the incredibly slow first half of the not-really-good novel, I will try to read until the end just to be sure I won't be tricked by Buffy-like comparisons.
 
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celia said:
Finished Ship of Magic. I was surprised I liked it that much, and once into it, it didn't feel slow (while I remember saying to myself a lot that the first two books of the Farseer trilogy were too slow). Really great characters though Malta seems a too well-known (and irritating) character.
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Yeah Malta is an irritating shit to begin with, but she goes through one of the best character growth arcs I've encountered. I actually found myself sympathising with her by the end, even though I wanted to hate her because of who she had been earlier on... :nervous:
 
I liked bratty Malta, she's great entertainment throughout. The one POV character who is a massive cnut from start to finish is King Kenny (nomen est omen).
 
ctp said:
I liked bratty Malta, she's great entertainment throughout. The one POV character who is a massive cnut from start to finish is King Kenny (nomen est omen).
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Yeah Kennit is a cnut all the way through, but I found him absolutely fascinating. Best villain ever.
 
Kennit deserved a worse ending than he got. That's the only thing I didn't like about the ending although it was slightly offset by how the story arc unfolded for Paragon. Malta was really fecking annoying at the start but her's are the kind of character arcs I like.
 
Akash said:
Kennit deserved a worse ending than he got. That's the only thing I didn't like about the ending although it was slightly offset by how the story arc unfolded for Paragon. Malta was really fecking annoying at the start but her's are the kind of character arcs I like.
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Yeah I agree. I reckon if he hadn't done that to Althea his ending wouldn't have felt quite as unsatisfying though.
 
Finally finished Assassin's Quest (final book in The Farseer Trilogy). I spent almost a month on it. It drained my reading ability.

Time for a pause from reading.
 
Finished the "New Crobuzon" books by China Mieville.

Very weird! Fascinating world and writing unlike anything I've read before. The story was a bit of a struggle though.
 
Thought Perdido Street Station was very good, the Scar ok but the Iron Council was a big struggle.
 
Why does Jordan so often skip past events that could've been utterly gripping? At the start of Crossroads of Twilight...
...it skips the battle between the Sea Folk and the Seanchan?! The build up to that took what, a third of the previous book? And come on, a battle between two armies of sorceresses, throwing lightning and fire at each other in the midst of a raging storm, one army trying to board and capture the other's ships in the middle of a packed harbour so they can escape, and he skips it completely? So much disappoint.
...and that's after a fecking 80 page prologue. :mad:
 
Some interesting match-ups in that book battles thing just now - Harry Potter vs Kingkiller, Malazan vs Long Price Quartet, Discworld vs Earthsea. Hard to predict which way those ones will go.
 
Finished Monarchies of God. First 2 books very very good and looked like the start of something very epic. The next two were equally good if not better but become more focused and almost completely ignore one of the main plot points in the first two books. The fifth book is a clear downgrade on the rest of the series and almost feels like Kearney belatedly realized he had to finish off the plots he had started early on. Feels very rushed and unsatisfactory. One of the few times where I find myself saying that a series could have done with a few hundred pages more. A solid 7/10 overall and worth reading.

Going to start Malazan next. The sheer volume of praise is too hard to ignore!
 
Akash said:
Finished Monarchies of God. First 2 books very very good and looked like the start of something very epic. The next two were equally good if not better but become more focused and almost completely ignore one of the main plot points in the first two books. The fifth book is a clear downgrade on the rest of the series and almost feels like Kearney belatedly realized he had to finish off the plots he had started early on. Feels very rushed and unsatisfactory. One of the few times where I find myself saying that a series could have done with a few hundred pages more. A solid 7/10 overall and worth reading.

Going to start Malazan next. The sheer volume of praise is too hard to ignore!
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Still a bit intimidated to start reading it. Though I am tempted now, it would be cool to read it while you're reading it, and so we could discuss.
 
If I wasn't in the middle of WoT I'd give Malazan another go just to read along too. Found it really hard to care about when I tried it though.
 
Revan said:
Still a bit intimidated to start reading it. Though I am tempted now, it would be cool to read it while you're reading it, and so we could discuss.
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It's probably going to take me months to finish this at the rate I read these days and that's without considering that this is supposed to be rather complicated. There's even a warning from Steve Erikson in my edition of Gardens of the Moon! Just gotta figure out the reading order now...
 
Akash said:
It's probably going to take me months to finish this at the rate I read these days and that's without considering that this is supposed to be rather complicated. There's even a warning from Steve Erikson in my edition of Gardens of the Moon! Just gotta figure out the reading order now...
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Wouldn't you be reading it in the publishing order.

FWIW I have started my second attempt at reading Gardens of the Moon last week. 2 chapters in.
 
harshad said:
Wouldn't you be reading it in the publishing order.

FWIW I have started my second attempt at reading Gardens of the Moon last week. 2 chapters in.
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There's the ICE books to consider and it's apparently recommended to read them alongside the Erikson books. Unfortunately, no one can seem to agree on any one order for the books. After a look around I decided to go with this order.
 
Akash said:
There's the ICE books to consider and it's apparently recommended to read them alongside the Erikson books. Unfortunately, no one can seem to agree on any one order for the books. After a look around I decided to go with this order.
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Didn't know Esslemont's work over lapped that much.

After some digging, found this suggested reading order

post-4844-0-70585700-1414377387.jpg


Regarding Esslemont's novels, I will decide to read them once I finish the first 5 books. Lets see if I can finish Gardens of the Moon this time round.
 
harshad said:
Didn't know Esslemont's work over lapped that much.

After some digging, found this suggested reading order

post-4844-0-70585700-1414377387.jpg


Regarding Esslemont's novels, I will decide to read them once I finish the first 5 books. Lets see if I can finish Gardens of the Moon this time round.
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That is fairly ridiculous. Love it. :D

I think if you enjoy a series enough to read five mammoth books, you're probably going to want to read the whole thing. I would at least. Even when some of them suck a fair bit (WoT).
 
Yeah, I saw that picture. Gave me aids I think trying to figure it out before I gave up...There's a discussion thread in the Malazan forum for that and not even the nerds can agree on any order.

Apparently, there are cases when characters are introduced by ICE and then used by SE (and vice versa) and there are spoilers going either way.

I have absolutely zero expectations from Gardens of the Moon tbh given what I've read. Just going to read along regardless of whether I understand anything or not and start the Deadhouse Gates.
 
Akash said:
Yeah, I saw that picture. Gave me aids I think trying to figure it out before I gave up...There's a discussion thread in the Malazan forum for that and not even the nerds can agree on any order.

Apparently, there are cases when characters are introduced by ICE and then used by SE (and vice versa) and there are spoilers going either way.

I have absolutely zero expectations from Gardens of the Moon tbh given what I've read. Just going to read along regardless of whether I understand anything or not and start the Deadhouse Gates.
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Have you read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow? They both show the same events from different perspectives, so naturally spoil the hell out of each other, but despite that I thought they were both brilliant. If Malazan does the same thing as those on a larger scale then I'll love it if I ever get that far.
 
Raptori said:
Have you read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow? They both show the same events from different perspectives, so naturally spoil the hell out of each other, but despite that I thought they were both brilliant. If Malazan does the same thing as those on a larger scale then I'll love it if I ever get that far.
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Can't say I have. Fantasy or Sci-fi?

But, I think this is more a case of one books referring to a huge event in one book as a passing moment and thus, perhaps diminishing the impact of the said event when you eventually get to it.
 
Akash said:
Can't say I have. Fantasy or Sci-fi?

But, I think this is more a case of one books referring to a huge event in one book as a passing moment and thus, perhaps diminishing the impact of the said event when you eventually get to it.
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Sci-fi, EG is generally thought of as a classic (though in some respects it doesn't hold up well nowadays). ES was written years later, and expands on one of the minor characters from the original book. The way it's done is great though, and I think it'd work regardless of which one you read first. That said, OSC is a raging homophobe who funds campaigns to criminalise homosexuality, so even though I love those books I'll never give him any of my money. And the Ender's Game film from a year or so ago was absolute garbage. :p

Ahh fair enough, I haven't read enough into Malazan really. That'd definitely suck. It's a shame more authors don't explore the same events from different perspectives (in different books, multiple-viewpoint doesn't count), if it turns out that we can write well enough then that's something we'd love to do. :cool:
 
Raptori said:
That is fairly ridiculous. Love it. :D

I think if you enjoy a series enough to read five mammoth books, you're probably going to want to read the whole thing. I would at least. Even when some of them suck a fair bit (WoT).
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Yeah, if I have read five books then I am definitely finishing the entire series. Right now though I have started GoTM again, I am not sure whether I will be finish it and not give up like last time.

Akash said:
Yeah, I saw that picture. Gave me aids I think trying to figure it out before I gave up...There's a discussion thread in the Malazan forum for that and not even the nerds can agree on any order.

Apparently, there are cases when characters are introduced by ICE and then used by SE (and vice versa) and there are spoilers going either way.

I have absolutely zero expectations from Gardens of the Moon tbh given what I've read. Just going to read along regardless of whether I understand anything or not and start the Deadhouse Gates.
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Yeah. I found that there isn't much consensus on the reading order. But most of the recommendations more or less agree on the first 4 - 5 books to be read. If I get to that point, I will once again check the discussions on the reading orders and decide how best to read it.
 
harshad said:
Didn't know Esslemont's work over lapped that much.

After some digging, found this suggested reading order

post-4844-0-70585700-1414377387.jpg


Regarding Esslemont's novels, I will decide to read them once I finish the first 5 books. Lets see if I can finish Gardens of the Moon this time round.
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I was not even aware of books 15 & 16. Thought the series ended after The Crippled God!

The problem with not reading the novellas is that they directly impact the subsequent books. I never did understand certain storyline relating to Daseem Ultor that I had to pick up later. You just have to read them in sequence.

Raptori said:
Have you read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow? They both show the same events from different perspectives, so naturally spoil the hell out of each other, but despite that I thought they were both brilliant. If Malazan does the same thing as those on a larger scale then I'll love it if I ever get that far.
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Brilliant. I started the series with Enders Shadow and got hooked. Though the whole concept of brilliant children never sat right with me.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
The Iron Druid Chronicles - Kevin Hearne

Book #1: Hounded

Very nice and light read. Lots of cynical light hearted humour. Not that much character development apart from the protagonist, but story moves at a nice place and keeps up the interest. Gods, Witches, Werewolves, Vampires, Druids. Kinda like the Indiana Jones story of fantasy. I liked it.

If you just finished a big/tough series and looking for a light break, this is a perfect fit.

Rating: 6/10
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Update

Powered through 6 novels now. It was quite a ride. It strikes a delicate balance between character development and lightning paced storyline. It may sound weird, but it tries to be stranger than fiction. Greek, Roman, Norse, Irish, native American and Indian gods interacting with werewolves, vampires and druids and other mythical creatures. A fine blend of mythology and modern age. It's like getting on a roller coaster ride and absolutely enjoying every minute of it.

A extremely light and enjoyable read, underdog protagonist who always come up trumps, a good batch of travel companions, some romance lots and lots of tongue in cheek humour. I love this!
 
I was tempted to pick up Malazan,


... then i saw the chart above.
feck that
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
I was not even aware of books 15 & 16. Thought the series ended after The Crippled God!

The problem with not reading the novellas is that they directly impact the subsequent books. I never did understand certain storyline relating to Daseem Ultor that I had to pick up later. You just have to read them in sequence.



Brilliant. I started the series with Enders Shadow and got hooked. Though the whole concept of brilliant children never sat right with me.
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You are such a plastic fan :wenger:

And by reading in sequence do you mean following Eriksen's books first and then get into Esslemont's books or the publishing order or the chronology?
 
harshad said:
You are such a plastic fan :wenger:

And by reading in sequence do you mean following Eriksen's books first and then get into Esslemont's books or the publishing order or the chronology?
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Lol, I stuck with the final books purely out of spite. I cannot let a series ever beat me after having invested so much time and effort. But really, this must be the most frustrating series I've ever read. So many characters, backstories and pages and pages of description without the story moving any further. It's been a couple of years now since I finished The Crippled God. Not sure if I'd want to take up Blood and Bone.

This order:

The ones I've marked in red are novellas and not primary to main storyline and can be skipped, imo.

Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
Blood Follows
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
The Healthy Dead
Night of Knives
The Bonehunters
The Lees of Laughter's End
Reaper's Gale
Return of the Crimson Guard
Toll the Hounds
Dust of Dreams
Crack'd Pot Trail
Stonewielder
The Crippled God
.
Haven't read anything after TCG.
 
Picked up Assassins Apprentice from Robin Hobb for a few euro's and bought the other two books after I was 100 pages in or so. Lovely writing and good story. I also have 2 books from the Paladin's legacy books from Elizabeth Moon lying around for after I finish the Hobb books. I tend to either read a lot of Fantasy books in one phase and then switch to SciFi afterwards. Never-ending circle that.
 
It has been mentioned a few times in here but I just want to emphasize it again, the Bartimäus books (trilogy + the extra one) are brilliant. Absolutely amazing fantasy with a brilliant amount of humor, Bartimäus himself is probably my favourite fantasy character of all time. The writing style is just so entertaining and the footnotes (never thought that would actually work in a fantasy book) are fantastic.

ASOIAF is great of course although I definitely prefer the first three books compared to the later two, I hope Martins can turn that trend around with the last two.
I'm currently (well more occasionally over the last 1,5 years) reading Wheel of Time. Finished the 10th book recently so just 4 left, I'm definitely gonna finish it but I can't praise it as much as others do. Revan posted a good review a while ago which I mostly agree with, I think the biggest problem for me is that basically every female charakter bar Min and Moiraine are bitches of the highest order and you start to hate them all. At first I thought the role of women in the world and their portrayal was some kind of reverse society criticism by Jordan but being more than halfway through the series I think he was just a blatant sexist with a moronic view on the majority of women. The whole romantic stuff in the books is also hilarious bad, I mean Elayne had known him for like what, 30 minutes when she decided she loved Rand? Then she comes to the conclusion she wants his child, they have sex once -> she immediately gets pregnant, the two others don't :lol:.
The rest as well, Nynaeve&Lan, Egwene&Gawyn... it seems to me that Jordan just flipped the coin over who he should bring together, it's even funnier that every relationship is immediately eternal love from nearly the first moment they meet. Perrin and Faile make the only good couple.
I'm gonna finish the books like I said but more because it is such a massive interesting and detailled world Jordan created and of course, after reading 10 books I want to know how its all gonna end up. But yeah, I wouldn't really recommend it unless someone is a huge fantasy fan.

Now back to someone I'd like to recommend: Bernhard Hennen and his series Die Elfen (the elves).
Originally written in German the first book "The Elven" just got published in English a month ago and there are probably more to come (various books of his are already translated in french, italian and dutch), so whoever is looking for an interesting unknown insider tip, here you go.
The first book is a story on its own while giving an overview over an whole era of the universe at the same time because the main charakters are jumping time quite a few times. The other books are single stories (well three of them build their own trilogy as well) which take part during a specific interval of the first book, are broadly connected to it but tell their own story. It's hard to imagine but the whole system is brilliantly set up and you learn so much about the whole universe and its characters while reading, it's really great. So whoever reads german, read it all! Whoever reads english, check out the first one and hope the others are going to be translated quickly.
 
Kasper said:
I'm currently (well more occasionally over the last 1,5 years) reading Wheel of Time. Finished the 10th book recently so just 4 left, I'm definitely gonna finish it but I can't praise it as much as others do. Revan posted a good review a while ago which I mostly agree with, I think the biggest problem for me is that basically every female charakter bar Min and Moiraine are bitches of the highest order and you start to hate them all. At first I thought the role of women in the world and their portrayal was some kind of reverse society criticism by Jordan but being more than halfway through the series I think he was just a blatant sexist with a moronic view on the majority of women. The whole romantic stuff in the books is also hilarious bad, I mean Elayne had known him for like what, 30 minutes when she decided she loved Rand? Then she comes to the conclusion she wants his child, they have sex once -> she immediately gets pregnant, the two others don't :lol:.
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I think that Egwene is quite good in the final three books (Sanderson's books), despite that she is the Aes Sedai-est of all Aes Sedai. Nynaeve in the last few books becomes acceptable from an irritating bitch. Same for Aviendha. On the other side, I found Elayne becoming very irritating in the last few books, while in the beginning she was the most 'acceptable' from the young women in the saga.

I definitely liked Siuan, my favorite after Moiraine (who is at least my favorite character in the saga) and Egwene.

Elaida is definitely the worst written character in fantasy.

In general, Jordan was bad at writing women, although it didn't affect my reading much.

PS: Totally forgot about Tuon. She's by far the most insane character in the series. She makes Rand, and Ishamael look completely sane in comparison, with Lanfear being the only one who can challenge her for insanity. Still, I liked her cause her parts were funny.
 
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