Books Fantasy Reads

Revan said:
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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Egwene is the most annoying character of all, considering the fact that she is supposed to be the most normal of them all.

(Excluding Min, Siuan and Moiraine)
Nyneave was a village wisdom and has more responsibility to start with.
Elayne & Tuon were bought up as queens and probably educated to be devious and cunning.
All Aes sedai had a inbuilt superiority complex and Elaida was just the worst of the lot.
Aviendha also came up in a place where wise ones were superior to most.
.
Egwene's origins were the most normal of that lot. And she puts her ambition over everything from day 1. Considers herself superior when Moiraine offers to teach her, then giving up on Rand to chase being Aes Sedai in book 3..worst being the reuniting of tower moment. "I was a rebel, but now I represent the whole" and order punishments for all other rebels. She was one ruthless bitch who chased her ambitions throughout.


Revan said:
He got banned from gb, after a comment in Luke Shaw's injury thread.
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His profile seems ok, does not say banned. Thread-banned maybe?
 
Kasper said:
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.
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I think since it was only men who caused the Breaking, women in general think that men can't be trusted and over a period of 300 years with this attitude it becomes so ingrained in every female that by the time the series starts every female we encounter appears, from our perspective at least, to be a downright cnut. Don't have any quotes by RJ but I think that was his intention.
 
pierrethesnack said:
What did he say?
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It is on the thread, but basically he mentioned Edwards in the thread about players who came/came not back from his injury. His explanation was that it could have been worse, and so an injury to Shaw isn't the end of the world (i.e he'll come back). It received a lot of criticism, including from Niall, but he survived. Then on the next day, gb saw the thread and banned him.

I think that it was harsh (if it was his first offense) consdering that he genuinely looked a nice guy who just made a bad post/joke/whatever.

Edgar Allan Pillow said:
His profile seems ok, does not say banned. Thread-banned maybe?
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Unfortunately, that isn't the case. I think that he has been perma banned considering that if you go to his profile you get 'Error' and you cannot tag him in the posts.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Egwene is the most annoying character of all, considering the fact that she is supposed to be the most normal of them all.

(Excluding Min, Siuan and Moiraine)
Nyneave was a village wisdom and has more responsibility to start with.
Elayne & Tuon were bought up as queens and probably educated to be devious and cunning.
All Aes sedai had a inbuilt superiority complex and Elaida was just the worst of the lot.
Aviendha also came up in a place where wise ones were superior to most.
.
Egwene's origins were the most normal of that lot. And she puts her ambition over everything from day 1. Considers herself superior when Moiraine offers to teach her, then giving up on Rand to chase being Aes Sedai in book 3..worst being the reuniting of tower moment. "I was a rebel, but now I represent the whole" and order punishments for all other rebels. She was one ruthless bitch who chased her ambitions throughout.
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I think that she was convinced that Aes Sedai is humanity's only hope, and its ultimate wisdom. I don't think that she was doing it for a career, more because it was her belief that only a strong order will give humans a chance to win.
 
harshad said:
I think since it was only men who caused the Breaking, women in general think that men can't be trusted and over a period of 300 years with this attitude it becomes so ingrained in every female that by the time the series starts every female we encounter appears, from our perspective at least, to be a downright cnut. Don't have any quotes by RJ but I think that was his intention.
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Yep, something like that. However, it was around 2000 years since the Breaking of the World, which means that Aes Sedai were even more powerful (not individually, but as an organization) and self-righteous. Same for the other orders.

The intention of Jordan was to make the society in reverse (women being more powerful and generally being queens), but IMO he failed quite badly at it. They looked more schizophrenic psychos than anything else.
 
Revan said:
It is on the thread, but basically he mentioned Edwards in the thread about players who came/came not back from his injury. His explanation was that it could have been worse, and so an injury to Shaw isn't the end of the world (i.e he'll come back). It received a lot of criticism, including from Niall, but he survived. Then on the next day, gb saw the thread and banned him.

I think that it was harsh (if it was his first offense) consdering that he genuinely looked a nice guy who just made a bad post/joke/whatever.
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Ah right, I remember. Half expected to get banned myself, for failing to see his terrible crime.

Yes, awful joke but hardly ban worthy imo.

Oh well...
 
Revan said:
I think that she was convinced that Aes Sedai is humanity's only hope, and its ultimate wisdom. I don't think that she was doing it for a career, more because it was her belief that only a strong order will give humans a chance to win.
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Not in earlier stages. Even in book 1, when they left Emond's Field, she was already obsessed about being a Aes Sedai (the whole series was just beginning and they did not know about events to come). It represents power and that was what she was after.
 
Revan said:
Yep, something like that. However, it was around 2000 years since the Breaking of the World, which means that Aes Sedai were even more powerful (not individually, but as an organization) and self-righteous. Same for the other orders.

The intention of Jordan was to make the society in reverse (women being more powerful and generally being queens), but IMO he failed quite badly at it. They looked more schizophrenic psychos than anything else.
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Nope pretty sure its almost 3000 years. They used 3 different Calendars to record dates and keep time after Breaking.

1) After Breaking
2) Free Years
3) New Era

with each calendar system lasting around 1000 years.

I need to get a life.
 
Finished The Golden Fool (Book #2 of the Tawny Man Trilogy) over the weekend. I have enjoyed reading the books by Robin Hobb and enjoyed The Golden Fool. but still felt there was something lacking in the book. There was no climax as such to the story, which I guess will come in Fool's Fate.

6/10
 
Finished the first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles recently. I'm not too sure about continuing this series. Really not as good as the hype.
 
Done with Fool's Fate and with that finished the Tawny Man Trilogy.

Loved everything about this book, the story, the writing, the ending. Wondering though about what happens in the Fitz and Fool Trilogy as seemingly every plot line seems resolved.

8.5/10

Is Rain Wild Chronicles worth reading? or can I safely skip it and move directly to Fitz and Fool Trilogy (2 books out so far)?
 
Finished Gardens of the Moon. Appears to be pure Military fantasy.

A solid 7/10 to start off with. Considering this is widely seen as the worst and most confusing book of the series it's probably a good sign for the rest of the series that I liked this. Took me about 200 or so pages to get into the story but became quite gripping once I had a better feel for the characters and the world in general. The ending seemed a bit to sudden though and it felt like some of the plots were resolves out of nowhere. Also, the constant PoV shifting is quite jarring. I'd probably get used to it but would have preferred shorter, more focused chapters. I have no idea whatsoever of how the magic works or what the hell the warrens are all about.

Anomander Rake and everything surrounding him is fecking awesome. Moons Spawn really creates a great mental image and I love how people prefer to kill themselves than risk being killed by Dragnipur. And there are his very impressive titles...Kruppe is another very intriguing character.

Started Deadhouse Gates. Bit of a bummer that it seems to have nothing to do with GotM.
 
After a month of not reaing any book, I started reading Asimov. I, Robot was the first one and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Will definitely read Robots these days.
 
harshad said:
Done with Fool's Fate and with that finished the Tawny Man Trilogy.

Loved everything about this book, the story, the writing, the ending. Wondering though about what happens in the Fitz and Fool Trilogy as seemingly every plot line seems resolved.

8.5/10

Is Rain Wild Chronicles worth reading? or can I safely skip it and move directly to Fitz and Fool Trilogy (2 books out so far)?
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Haven't read either but from what i hear Rain Wilds is very skippable. Most consider it the worst of her series.
Pity Raptori is gone
 
harshad said:
Done with Fool's Fate and with that finished the Tawny Man Trilogy.

Loved everything about this book, the story, the writing, the ending. Wondering though about what happens in the Fitz and Fool Trilogy as seemingly every plot line seems resolved.

8.5/10

Is Rain Wild Chronicles worth reading? or can I safely skip it and move directly to Fitz and Fool Trilogy (2 books out so far)?
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It's not bad. The story is decent enough, it's just padded with too much relationship drama which can make it feel drawn out. There are three or four happily-ever-after romances going on, which might be a bit much for some. On the whole, I'd still recommend reading it, even if it's just so you know who's who when you meet some of the characters in the Fitz and the Fool.
 
caid said:
Haven't read either but from what i hear Rain Wilds is very skippable. Most consider it the worst of her series.
Pity Raptori is gone
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ctp said:
It's not bad. The story is decent enough, it's just padded with too much relationship drama which can make it feel drawn out. There are three or four happily-ever-after romances going on, which might be a bit much for some. On the whole, I'd still recommend reading it, even if it's just so you know who's who when you meet some of the characters in the Fitz and the Fool.
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Thanks guys, but I already moved to Fitz and Fool and even finished Fool's Assassin. Now onto Fool's Quest.
 
Completed Fool's Assassin and Fool's Quest this week.

Fool's Assassin was a fun read and the change in POV character midway through the book was completely unexpected as Fitz's books have always felt like an autobiography of sorts. The development of Bee was really well written so were here adventures.

Fool's Quest was unputdownable. There is so much information and so many threads from earlier books are tied together. What I found really annoying was Web almost forcing a wit partner on Fitz. And Fool, as always, continues his emotional abuse of Fitz. Apart from that it was funny reading Fool wanting to do something solely to satiate his vengeance and not on based on some path that he has seen.

It seems obvious that Bee is the White Prophet. Who would her catalyst be? Lant? or Perseverance? Could she herself be the catalyst also?
 
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harshad said:
Completed Fool's Assassin and Fool's Quest this wee.

Fool's Assassin was a fun read and the change in POV character midway through the book was completely unexpected as Fitz's books have always felt like an autobiography of sorts. The development of Bee was really well written so were here adventures.

Fool's Quest was unputdownable. There is so much information and so many threads from earlier books are tied together. What I found really annoying was Web almost forcing a wit partner on Fitz. And Fool, as always, continues his emotional abuse of Fitz. Apart from that it was funny reading Fool wanting to do something solely to satiate his vengeance and not on based on some path that he has seen.

It seems obvious that Bee is the White Prophet. Who would her catalyst be? Lant? or Perseverance? Could she herself be the catalyst also?
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Have you read The Liveship Traders trilogy ? Better than the Rain Wilds imo .
 
djembatheking said:
Has anyone read New Spring , the Wheel of Time prequel ? If so , is it any good ?
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Yes and yes. Don't read it before reading at least the first seven books of the main saga thugh. I read it between Jordan's and Sanderson's books (between books 11 and 12).
 
Akash said:
Considering this is widely seen as the worst and most confusing book of the series it's probably a good sign for the rest of the series that I liked this.
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:confused: Where did you hear that? It's hands down the best book of the series. Read through the series and you'll redefine confusing.

The sequel to GotM is Book 3. Book 2 is a totally different story which is continued in Book 4. Enjoy!
 
Cheers all , I`ve read all Jordan`s up to Knife of Dreams , read them all on release and am currently refreshing through Leigh Butlers condensed rereads before finishing with Sandersons 3 . Can`t believe it`s 10 years since Knife of Dreams . I`ll definitely give that a go .
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
:confused: Where did you hear that? It's hands down the best book of the series. Read through the series and you'll redefine confusing.

The sequel to GotM is Book 3. Book 2 is a totally different story which is continued in Book 4. Enjoy!
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Pretty much everywhere including the main Malazan forum. In the 10 year edition Erikson's written a foreward on it so I guess the belief is quite widespread. Apparently the book was written over a decade before he started writing the other books as well.

I thought Book 2 was going to be a separate story but it's already answered one big question I had from GotM.
 
Akash said:
Pretty much everywhere including the main Malazan forum. In the 10 year edition Erikson's written a foreward on it so I guess the belief is quite widespread. Apparently the book was written over a decade before he started writing the other books as well.

I thought Book 2 was going to be a separate story but it's already answered one big question I had from GotM.
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Well, I suppose it depends on the reader. But imo, it is the most entertaining of the lot. There are some which I rate as equally good, like Toll the Hounds, Reapers Gale etc. And the short novels are brilliant. I loved Return of the Crimson Guard.

Been too long since I read to actually rate the series now, but I'll leave you to make your own opinions!
 
Read in the last two weeks these books:

- The Caves of Steel
- The Naked Sun
- The Robots of Dawn
- Robots and Empire

from Isaac Asimov. The Caves of Steel is a detective story. It is set in the distant future (few hundred/thousands years in the future) following the events of I, Robot. The humanity have invaded a part of the galaxy. But the new worlds are much more powerful than Earth, and Earth is a bit in quarantine zone. The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn follow the events of the first book, with the same protagonists Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw. The Robots and Empire is set a few hundred years after the events of the third book with Daneel as one of the protagonists. It connects the Robots series with the following serie in Asmaov grand saga, Galactic Empire.

I found all the books quite enjoyable, well written and fast paced.

Having read 5 sci-fi books in a short time, time to go back to fantasy.

Mistborn 5 - Shadows of Self - the second book in Wax and Wayne saga. It follows the events of the first book, but there is much more at stake. Important characters from the first Misborn trilogy return:

Harmony/Sazed plays a bigger role, while TenSoon returns too

A very well written book (Sanderson has really progressed as a writer) with Sanderson's stamp all over it. Not surprisingly, the book finishes with both a twist and a cliffhanger.
 
Kasper said:
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.
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Just got to part 3 in book 1, is it just me who finds Nathaniel extremely annoying? Great read so far though.
 
Best Served Cold - I think that this might be the best Abercrombie's book, which is a very high praise from me. While the writing wasn't as good as in his new trilogy, I thought it was better than in The First Law. The book is a spinoff in The First Law world. A lot of secondary/terciary characters return and have a very important role. From the protagonists of the First Law, we see only Jezal and only for a few moments.

The story is a revenge story, with a fantastic protagonist. The entire crew are as psychopats as anyone in The First Law. While I think that it might be even more dark and grim than his usual work, it has still some very fun moments.

I would recommend it to anyone who read The First Law and/or to anyone who likes Abercromie. Fantastic novel!
 
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Ship of Magic - back to realms of the elderlings. I liked the book a lot. Thought that it had a very good writing, an interesting story and quite complex characters. Better than anything in Farseer (although no character was as good as Fitz).
 
Twigg said:
Just got to part 3 in book 1, is it just me who finds Nathaniel extremely annoying? Great read so far though.
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He indeed is. It gets better tho and I always thought its quite funny to read his naive view on things especially what he thinks about Bartimaeus.
 
Anyone recommend Wheels of Time series for me? Any reviews on whether I should read it or not?
 
Gol123 said:
Anyone recommend Wheels of Time series for me? Any reviews on whether I should read it or not?
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How much time do you have.

There are 14 books and a prequel and with some plot lines in the middle may seem stretched, the ending more than makes up for everything and I would always recommend reading it.
 
harshad said:
How much time do you have.

There are 14 books and a prequel and with some plot lines in the middle may seem stretched, the ending more than makes up for everything and I would always recommend reading it.
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Lots of time. I'm a fairly fast reader though and read aSoIaF in 5/6 days. What type of book is it? Style of writing and such?
 
Gol123 said:
Lots of time. I'm a fairly fast reader though and read aSoIaF in 5/6 days. What type of book is it? Style of writing and such?
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Without spoiling much I will say that WOT is story of a young man realising that he is a prophesied hero, and on his shoulders lies the burden of fighting Evil and saving mankind. WOT is essentially the story of a world in which the hero is coming to terms with his destiny and how he goes about fulfilling it and his struggle with the same. There are other equally important characters who help him in his journey in their own way.

Because its so big, and having POV structure, the main characters are really well developed.
 
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