Books Fantasy Reads

@Revan @Art Vandelay where are you guys in Expanse series? I'm at Nemesis Games and by god, it's the best book of all! Such storytelling!

Mistborn (1-3) are good but not nearly as good as the Stormlight books. I'm going to read the second set of Mistborn books after I read a few non-fantasy books (Live and Let Die, El Narco).

I love Stormlight, but personally I'd rate Mistborn higher. Stormlight is standard epic fantasy, good vs evil, powerless guy gains superpowers and saves the world. It sure is very engrossing...but Mistborn has a much more complex and probably darker theme. The universe is described much richer and characters are more deeper.
 
@Revan @Art Vandelay where are you guys in Expanse series? I'm at Nemesis Games and by god, it's the best book of all! Such storytelling!



I love Stormlight, but personally I'd rate Mistborn higher. Stormlight is standard epic fantasy, good vs evil, powerless guy gains superpowers and saves the world. It sure is very engrossing...but Mistborn has a much more complex and probably darker theme. The universe is described much richer and characters are more deeper.
Just posted that finished the fourth book. Starting today or tomorrow 'Nemesis Games'. 'Caliban's War' has been the best book so far, while 'Cibola Burn' being the worst.
 
@Revan @Art Vandelay where are you guys in Expanse series? I'm at Nemesis Games and by god, it's the best book of all! Such storytelling!



I love Stormlight, but personally I'd rate Mistborn higher. Stormlight is standard epic fantasy, good vs evil, powerless guy gains superpowers and saves the world. It sure is very engrossing...but Mistborn has a much more complex and probably darker theme. The universe is described much richer and characters are more deeper.
I'm still on the first, haven't had much time for reading.
 
:lol yeah, but the other parts beyond the ring were awesome. Tbh, this is the first true 'expanse' book that goes beyond known worlds. I rated Caliban's war slightly below AG this as it kinda felt like Leviathan Wakes Pt 2 and not as a distinct story advancing book.
The story is good, but the characters are terrible.

It is also a problem that they haven't deveoped at all since the beginning. We don't know more about them than we did at the end of the first book?

Btw, are you watching the TV show (made a thread on it too). Two episodes so far, and it is awesome.
 
The story is good, but the characters are terrible.

It is also a problem that they haven't deveoped at all since the beginning. We don't know more about them than we did at the end of the first book?

Btw, are you watching the TV show (made a thread on it too). Two episodes so far, and it is awesome.

Yeah. Few memorable characters. How much better this would be if only they had proper characters. Though I can't stop drawing parallels to Firefly, Zoey/Hoban/Jayne are near same as Naomi/Alex/Amos. If only Holden was Mal Reynolds!

Nemesis Games will satisfy your back story craving. Parts of the story is told from their individual POV's and meshes with their history. Very different from the standard Holden POV in previous books. And far better. I still think they'd should have given this more weightage, but still very interesting!

I saw the Pilot but was not that impressed. I thought it gave a bit more importance to the spectacle and not the plot. Have scheduled it for this weekend anyway. Will post my comments in the other thread after watching!
 
@Revan @Art Vandelay where are you guys in Expanse series? I'm at Nemesis Games and by god, it's the best book of all! Such storytelling!



I love Stormlight, but personally I'd rate Mistborn higher. Stormlight is standard epic fantasy, good vs evil, powerless guy gains superpowers and saves the world. It sure is very engrossing...but Mistborn has a much more complex and probably darker theme. The universe is described much richer and characters are more deeper.

So the only major difference of this is that Vin is a girl.
 
Yeah. Few memorable characters. How much better this would be if only they had proper characters. Though I can't stop drawing parallels to Firefly, Zoey/Hoban/Jayne are near same as Naomi/Alex/Amos. If only Holden was Mal Reynolds!

Nemesis Games will satisfy your back story craving. Parts of the story is told from their individual POV's and meshes with their history. Very different from the standard Holden POV in previous books. And far better. I still think they'd should have given this more weightage, but still very interesting!

I saw the Pilot but was not that impressed. I thought it gave a bit more importance to the spectacle and not the plot. Have scheduled it for this weekend anyway. Will post my comments in the other thread after watching!
Yep, the Firefly comparison is spot on. Made it myself in some other forum.

Reynolds was better than Holden though, despite of the similarities.

I actually liked the pilot. It is still only the beginning and they will start improving things. If it continues like this, it will be great. The only problem is that Avasarela isn't saying feck every 0.2 seconds.
 
I read The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, quite original even if I didn't like it, it reminds me more of a manga.
Death Note
and Rivers of London (or Midnight Riot) by Ben Aaronovitch (fun read).

I started Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb.
 
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I have a friend who believes that the Malazan universe is the best epic fantasy series ever written. Can someone recommend any series that's as good for him? He's read Wheel of Time and doesn't rate it above Malazan. He tried to read Name of the Wind, but didn't like the writing at all, so gave up on it.
 
I have a friend who believes that the Malazan universe is the best epic fantasy series ever written. Can someone recommend any series that's as good for him? He's read Wheel of Time and doesn't rate it above Malazan. He tried to read Name of the Wind, but didn't like the writing at all, so gave up on it.
ASOIAF?
 
I have a friend who believes that the Malazan universe is the best epic fantasy series ever written. Can someone recommend any series that's as good for him? He's read Wheel of Time and doesn't rate it above Malazan. He tried to read Name of the Wind, but didn't like the writing at all, so gave up on it.

Glen Cook's 'The Black Company' series. After all, Erikson was inspired from that serie and apparently one of the Malazan books is dedicated to it.

If he likes Malazan because of it being dark and grim, then Joe Abercrombie (The First Law), Mark Lawrence (The Broken Empire) and Scott Bakker (The Second Apocalypse) should be good for him. Haven't read Bakker but he is insanely rated in asoiaf forum. Abercrombie is my favorite writer, while Lawrence is quite good too.

From Malazan to Hobb or Sanderson probably won't work. Very different styles (Hobb is a bit similar to Rothfuss - or the other way around, while Sanderson is a Jordan rip off).
 
Glen Cook's 'The Black Company' series. After all, Erikson was inspired from that serie and apparently one of the Malazan books is dedicated to it.

If he likes Malazan because of it being dark and grim, then Joe Abercrombie (The First Law), Mark Lawrence (The Broken Empire) and Scott Bakker (The Second Apocalypse) should be good for him. Haven't read Bakker but he is insanely rated in asoiaf forum. Abercrombie is my favorite writer, while Lawrence is quite good too.

From Malazan to Hobb or Sanderson probably won't work. Very different styles (Hobb is a bit similar to Rothfuss - or the other way around, while Sanderson is a Jordan rip off).
Thanks much Revan. Passed on your suggestions too. :)
 
I have a friend who believes that the Malazan universe is the best epic fantasy series ever written. Can someone recommend any series that's as good for him? He's read Wheel of Time and doesn't rate it above Malazan. He tried to read Name of the Wind, but didn't like the writing at all, so gave up on it.

As Revan said, Black Company is the most obvious choice followed closely by First Law.

I heard Prince of Nothing series is also great, but maybe once I finish the Expanse, I'll get into it.
 
I'd third The First Law series.

I only read a few of the Malazan books, they were good but hard to follow and I had trouble getting my head around some of the stuff. I'm intending to go back to them when I get through the expanse, a couple more Abercombie books and maybe The Hedge Knight.
 
After intense read of Expanse need something light. Going to start Kitty Jay now.
Raptori loves it, so I guess it is good.

2/3 on Nemesis Games so far. Finally, some character development.

Naomi's kid just killed more people than Hitler, Mao and Stalin combined.

I really hope there won't be a cheap redemption like in the third book. Because I am liking the book so far.
 
After intense read of Expanse need something light. Going to start Kitty Jay now.
Finished it too.

About the epilogue:

How did you understand it? Was that admiral behind all the stuff and was the ship eaten by aliens. By the new scary ones which destroyed the ones who send the satellite to Solar system?

Great book. I second everything you said about it. In pair with the second book IMO.
 
Finished it too.

About the epilogue:

How did you understand it? Was that admiral behind all the stuff and was the ship eaten by aliens. By the new scary ones which destroyed the ones who send the satellite to Solar system?

Great book. I second everything you said about it. In pair with the second book IMO.

I hated the ending tbh Answers nothing ,though makes me await the next book eagerly. Is earth really dying? Is Mars really done?

Yeah, I think it's the new had guys who killed the gate builders. Sounds like Stargate tbh! Maybe they booby trapped the gate into alerting them when it gets used again.

A really wild theory is the alien artifacts they found in Cibolas Burn. Maybe the gate is a time device and the earth like world are earth at alternative reality or timeline. The disaster to earth was eerily similar to the one that happened on Ilus.

And I really love Bobby on the crew of Rocinante. Claire is a bit weird to take. Think they'll kill her off in next book.

From Firefly to Stargate now. I picture Rocinante something like a Puddle Jumper.

Puddlejumper.jpg
 
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Just found this:

In the fifth novel in the series, The Fires of Heaven, the character Asmodean is killed by a mysterious assailant. Robert Jordan did not reveal the identity of his killer before his death, but did include it in the notes for the novels. Brandon Sanderson revealed the identity of the killer as Graendal, a fellow member of the Forsaken, in the penultimate volume of the series, Towers of Midnight.

In the sixth volume, Lord of Chaos, Rand joins forces with Mazrim Taim, a false Dragon defeated in battle by the Saldaean army and taken prisoner by Aes Sedai. He escapes and allies himself with Rand, eventually becoming commander of the Asha'man. In the concluding volumes of the series it is revealed that Taim is a Darkfried, sworn to the service of the Dark One. He corrupts a number of the Asha'man into fighting against Rand, but is killed by Egwene during in the Last Battle. However, fans doubted his true identity, citing a number of times when he seems bewildered by concepts in the world that someone should know and that Lews Therin Telamon (or, rather, his insane voice in Rand's head) seemed to recognise him. Fans concluded early on that he was probably the Forsaken Demandred in disguise. However, later novels showed Demandred and Taim in the same room and working together. The final volume of the series seems to confirm that Taim is exactly who he said he was all along.

Thanks to the efforts of superfan Terez, it has now been revealed the Robert Jordan played a bit fast and loose with fans. According to the voluminous notes he left behind, he did indeed intend Mazrim Taim to be Demandred in disguise, and that the disguised Taim/Demandred (dubbed "Taimandred" by fans) was also responsible for killing Asmodean. The former theory was already well advanced by fans at the time, but the latter theory was not. Robert Jordan had always said that the person who killed Asmodean had actually already appeared in the series, and neither Taim nor Demandred appeared until Lord of Chaos (although they were both referenced earlier).

Of course, the notes Robert Jordan created for the series were a work in progress and most of them were written during or after the writing of The Path of Daggers. By the time Robert Jordan started going online and interacting with fans regularly (after the release of Crossroads of Twilight in 2002), at which time he ruled out "Taimandred", he had changed his mind and decided that Graendal was behind the crime. This was helped by a popular fan theory published in the late 1990s that pinned Graendal as the murderer.

Although irrelevant now, it does show that writers, even major writers penning a series already many thousands of pages advanced, can change their ideas on the fly and adjust all the foreshadowing elements beforehand to fit a new idea if matches up to their designs more satisfyingly. And some old-school fans can take some satisfaction in knowing they were right, at least for a time.

RJ should have stuck with the original idea or spent more time on building up Demandred. When you think of it the way Demandred turned up with hordes of the Sharans in the end was terribly contrived with zero build up leading up to it.
 
Hey guys, anyone read The Magicians? There was actually a tv pilot of it recently, and wasn't really gripping until the very end (which was excellent), and just wondering what you thought about it (be it novel or show)...
 
Ok Nynaeve defeating one of the Forsaken one on one at the end of WoT book 4 might just be the final straw for me on this series. These fresh faced farmers have encountered the Forsaken, strongest Aes Sedai from an age of strong Aes Sedai, half a dozen times now and beaten them every time. Come on. I hate when villains get undermined just to signify the growth of a main character. I'm pretty sure my cat could take out the rest of the shadow at this point, and I don't even own a cat.
 
Ok Nynaeve defeating one of the Forsaken one on one at the end of WoT book 4 might just be the final straw for me on this series. These fresh faced farmers have encountered the Forsaken, strongest Aes Sedai from an age of strong Aes Sedai, half a dozen times now and beaten them every time. Come on. I hate when villains get undermined just to signify the growth of a main character. I'm pretty sure my cat could take out the rest of the shadow at this point, and I don't even own a cat.
Nynave is stronger in power than Moghedien anyway. Moghedien is more experienced but Nyn is on the level of Graendal/Semirhage, ahead of Moghedien/Messana and below Lanfear.

The Forsaken aren't gods after all. Just powerful mages. Same about Nynaeve.
 
Nynave is stronger in power than Moghedien anyway. Moghedien is more experienced but Nyn is on the level of Graendal/Semirhage, ahead of Moghedien/Messana and below Lanfear.

The Forsaken aren't gods after all. Just powerful mages. Same about Nynaeve.

Yeah I know but Nynaeve is still completely untrained whereas Moghedien has been around for 3000 years. Plus I dislike Nynaeve and this is just going to feed her superiority complex.
 
Yeah I know but Nynaeve is still completely untrained whereas Moghedien has been around for 3000 years. Plus I dislike Nynaeve and this is just going to feed her superiority complex.

This is my biggest beef with Mr.Rigney. Clearly millenia of knowledge count for naught. You are toast if you are not as naturally talented as your adversary.

I mean, sure, Rand can be the exception due to Lews Therin's personae living inside him, but when Egwene or Nynaeve can defeat the Forsaken, it stretches credulity.
 
Yeah I know but Nynaeve is still completely untrained whereas Moghedien has been around for 3000 years. Plus I dislike Nynaeve and this is just going to feed her superiority complex.
Ironically, he becomes better in the following books. Less arrogant and well, not as big bitch as in the beginning.

Elayne in the other hand, the less we talk about her, the better.
 
This is my biggest beef with Mr.Rigney. Clearly millenia of knowledge count for naught. You are toast if you are not as naturally talented as your adversary.

I mean, sure, Rand can be the exception due to Lews Therin's personae living inside him, but when Egwene or Nynaeve can defeat the Forsaken, it stretches credulity.

The first book so far, IMO, is the best because the enemy is unknown and intimidating. But then Mat and Perrin start killing Fades (not to mention Thom going toe to toe with a Fade and coming out with nothing more than a limp), the holy trinity of annoying defeat the Forsaken and none of these people seem to have much in the way of training. The Forsaken at this point have done absolutely nothing except get themselves killed.

The villains need to be stronger than the heroes, at least for the majority of the story, or else there's like zero tension. (Yes I know there's Shai'tan, but he's lost to Rand every time so far and not done much else). At this point the only uncertainty is who is gonna hook up with who; will Rand choose Elayne or Min or will Aviendha sneak in under the radar? I'm gonna have to read book 5 or I'll never know...
 
Ironically, he becomes better in the following books. Less arrogant and well, not as big bitch as in the beginning.

Elayne in the other hand, the less we talk about her, the better.


All of the women in TWOT sucks, with maybe the exception of Moiraine.
 
The first book so far, IMO, is the best because the enemy is unknown and intimidating. But then Mat and Perrin start killing Fades (not to mention Thom going toe to toe with a Fade and coming out with nothing more than a limp), the holy trinity of annoying defeat the Forsaken and none of these people seem to have much in the way of training. The Forsaken at this point have done absolutely nothing except get themselves killed.

The villains need to be stronger than the heroes, at least for the majority of the story, or else there's like zero tension. (Yes I know there's Shai'tan, but he's lost to Rand every time so far and not done much else). At this point the only uncertainty is who is gonna hook up with who; will Rand choose Elayne or Min or will Aviendha sneak in under the radar? I'm gonna have to read book 5 or I'll never know...
The fifth book is easily the best in series.

Also, with the exception of Ishamael (who was pretty much crazy at that stage, and was trying more to turn Rand, rather than kill him), they have meet so far only the weak Forsaken. How I see it, Ishamael, Lanfear, Demandred are the strongest ones there with Sammael and Rahvin just behind them. The others are a bit noobs.

Shai'tan hasn't meet Rand yet, in fact you have to wait till the last book for that.
 
The others are a bit noobs.

Iirc, it was made known early on that regardless of the difference in strength, any of the Forsaken is far more powerful than the most powerful current Aes Sedai. Going by that logic, neither Elayne nor Egwene or Nynaeve should have any chance to triumph against them. Surviving the encounter, sure, beating them? Nah.
 
Yeah I know but Nynaeve is still completely untrained whereas Moghedien has been around for 3000 years. Plus I dislike Nynaeve and this is just going to feed her superiority complex.

Most of it confined to the blight by the seals, I suppose...as they were imprisoned along with the Dark Lord. And it was portrayed as a overconfidence. Nynaeve angry was a match to her in power and still she won only by distraction and hurling a bracelet or something, right?
 
Going by that logic, neither Elayne nor Egwene or Nynaeve should have any chance to triumph against them. Surviving the encounter, sure, beating them? Nah.

Well, it was documented as early as Book 3 that Egwene and Elayne were the most powerful Aes Sedai in 10,000 years (and angry Nynaeve even more powerful) It's the scene when they decide to confront Rand in the Palace. So that puts them in the same class of the weak or middle powered Forsaken.
 
Well, it was documented as early as Book 3 that Egwene and Elayne were the most powerful Aes Sedai in 10,000 years (and angry Nynaeve even more powerful) It's the scene when they decide to confront Rand in the Palace. So that puts them in the same class of the weak or middle powered Forsaken.

Yes, they are the one with the highest potential, but it still doesn't make sense for any of them to beat a 300x year old Forsaken when they are yet to finish their training. Although, Nynaeve beat Moghedien in tel'aran'rhiod, so that's a bit of leeway I guess.