Books Fantasy Reads

The final "battle" was so anticlimactic. The whole novel built to essentially Ragnarok and then it didn't happen. The twist of Wednesday also was expected by the time I got to it.

Yeah, the Dresden Files are quite similar and include a number of the same gods or beings. It's just done better.
 
I started reading the Mistborn series last week. Very good so far, not that I'm particularly far in.

Got it as "The Mistborn Trilogy" on Kindle for $20. Are there any other books besides the trilogy?
 
Bebe said:
I started reading the Mistborn series last week. Very good so far, not that I'm particularly far in.

Got it as "The Mistborn Trilogy" on Kindle for $20. Are there any other books besides the trilogy?
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That's the original trilogy.

There's a fourth called Alloy of Law which is set a few hundred years later, which is the start of a new trilogy (2nd next year I believe).

And yeah, they're awesome.
 
My friend is trying to get me to start reading Brandon Sanderson. He was a big Robert Jordan fan but I never bothered reading past the prologue of Wheel of Time. I keep reading other things to avoid reading Sanderson. I'll get around to it eventually, I guess.
 
Alock1 said:
That's the original trilogy.

There's a fourth called Alloy of Law which is set a few hundred years later, which is the start of a new trilogy (2nd next year I believe).

And yeah, they're awesome.
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Oh so the series is still going? Cool, had no idea. The last major thing that happened for me was

Vim accompanying Kelsier to the Lord Rulers secret chamber or some such, where they get attacked and Vim almost dies. She recovered a book which is apparently a journal of the Lord Ruler's, I guess that's where those snippets at the beginning of each chapter are coming from. Its uncanny how much they remind me of Rand al Thor in the Eye of the World

Sir Matt said:
My friend is trying to get me to start reading Brandon Sanderson. He was a big Robert Jordan fan but I never bothered reading past the prologue of Wheel of Time. I keep reading other things to avoid reading Sanderson. I'll get around to it eventually, I guess.
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Wheel of Time is fantastic, but dauntingly lengthy. I completely understand if people are put off by the length. It is, in my opinion, worth the read however.
 
Waldner said:
Just finished Wise Mans Fear. Longest book I've ever read but I have to say I didn't one bit of it truly boring.

The bit with Felurian dragged on for a while, admittedly, but I was so immersed in the rest of it that I didn't really noticed. I was so pleased when he got back to the university towards the end - Wil and Sim are my two favourite characters. It's almost I'm setting myself up for a fall I know is going to come - I want Kvothe to go and do really well for himself, yet I know it's all going to end in tears.

Have a few theories for things coming in the next book but really and truly I don't have a clue what to expect!
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Been a while since I read either books, but Name of the Wind is incredible. I do remember thinking that Wise man's Fear to be a bit disappointing in comparison though.



Just finished The City by Stella Gemmell (wife of the late, great David Gemmell) and it's pretty fantastic. I wouldn't say it's a must read for any David Gemmell fans. In all honesty it's more of the Rofthuss ilk- less action and epic adventures, more of the well paced, well written fantasy realism. (I'm a huge fan of David Gemmell, but his books had their limitations.)
 
Sir Matt said:
My friend is trying to get me to start reading Brandon Sanderson. He was a big Robert Jordan fan but I never bothered reading past the prologue of Wheel of Time. I keep reading other things to avoid reading Sanderson. I'll get around to it eventually, I guess.
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The prologue is not a good book to judge the series. Try the first book 'Eye of the World', I think. Brilliant series by Jordan and excellant ending to the series by Sanderson.

@Bebe On Sanderson books, I liked Mistborn series. Quite different from usual fantasy and engrossing read. Don't miss those.
 
Twigg said:
Also, I'm about to finish the first Harry Potter book (for bit of light reading, it took me a couple of weeks), and there's a few others I've got on my phone that I want to read next, was just wondering what the caf thought I should read next:

Assassin's Apprentice
Ender's Game
Steelheart
Gardens of the Moon
Storm Front
The Crown Tower
Mistborn
The False Prince
Eye of the World
The Emperor's Soul
The Killing Moon
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
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Not sure how much you have progressed, but my picks from the list would be:

Assasins Apprentice & Mistborn - Both trilogies and quick finishes.
Gardens of the Moon & Eye of the World - Very good books, but start of a 8-10 book series. Would take months to finish. though well worth it.
Ender's game - I liked Ender's Shadow better.
 
Mistborn has a fast rhythm, unlike Eye of the world and the first book can be read alone, you don't have a cliffangher at the end.

I didn't like much Alloy of Law, though I will read the second book, I was more hoping he would write the second trilogy he talked about at first.

I only read The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley lately, because Sanderson's assistant is supposed to have liked it. Good reading but I am quite disappointed there wasn't a surprising and big climax.

And I know I should start reading Words of radiance because I hoped my grinding of the first book would be fruitful.
 
I am planning to read Mistborn on the summer and this thread just backs my decision.

I am reading here about the supposed new Mistborn trilogy but I don't think that it will happen. Sanderson is now writing an another franchise which will have 13-14 books if I am not mistaken. On the other side, he is a machine who can average a book for year so who knows.
 
It is slightly off putting the rate at which he is getting his books out there. I can't help but feel like they must (sooner or later) start to feel rushed and lose some quality. If not, then great.

I highly recommend Mistborn mind. It's really a great read; incredibly interesting and refreshing.
 
Alock1 said:
It is slightly off putting the rate at which he is getting his books out there. I can't help but feel like they must (sooner or later) start to feel rushed and lose some quality. If not, then great.

I highly recommend Mistborn mind. It's really a great read; incredibly interesting and refreshing.
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I like the fact he is writes his books fairly quick. (quality doesn't seem to be effected either) Makes a nice change from the snail writers like Martin’s and such where it is a race between him dying of old age and getting the next book out. Only annoying thing about Sanderson at this point, is he writes so many different series at once and has so many going at the one time. Would be nice if he could just focus and finish on series fully before moving on to the next.
 
Finished the first Mistborn book. Was a great read, about to start the second now. Liked that it was a self contained story, no massive cliffhanger at the end.

I thought both this and Sandersons work on WOT lacked a bit of the depth that Jordan or Martin bring to their books. Maybe that's why he can pump them out so quickly. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I kind of liked how quickly this book moved.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Bebe said:
Finished the first Mistborn book. Was a great read, about to start the second now. Liked that it was a self contained story, no massive cliffhanger at the end.

I thought both this and Sandersons work on WOT lacked a bit of the depth that Jordan or Martin bring to their books. Maybe that's why he can pump them out so quickly. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I kind of liked how quickly this book moved.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I'd agree that he doesn't have as much depth as some authors, but the pace of his books are far better. Probably why I like them. I've always prefered to focus more on individual and action instead of some grand picture which moves at a crawl.
 
Dargonk said:
I like the fact he is writes his books fairly quick. (quality doesn't seem to be effected either) Makes a nice change from the snail writers like Martin’s and such where it is a race between him dying of old age and getting the next book out. Only annoying thing about Sanderson at this point, is he writes so many different series at once and has so many going at the one time. Would be nice if he could just focus and finish on series fully before moving on to the next.
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But if he does that, the one serie he would pick would be out too fast. Last year, his books were the last WoT and two new YA novels Rhitmatist and Steelheart. This year, it's Words of Radiance, Firefight and maybe the 5th Mistborn book (and a novella). I am not that convinced by his YA books except Rhitmatist... so I may drop or take my time before reading Firefight. On the other hand, I think, it's exciting to follow an author that's relatively new instead of discovering him when he is really well-established and a must-known.

Revan said:
I am reading here about the supposed new Mistborn trilogy but I don't think that it will happen. Sanderson is now writing an another franchise which will have 13-14 books if I am not mistaken. On the other side, he is a machine who can average a book for year so who knows.
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So something else than the Stormlight Archive ? I would have thought this one was already his long project (supposed to be 10 books), but if he's starting another long one...
 
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celia said:
But if he does that, the one serie he would pick would be out too fast. Last year, his books were the last WoT and two new YA novels Rhitmatist and Steelheart. This year, it's Words of Radiance, Firefight and maybe the 5th Mistborn book (and a novella). I am not that convinced by his YA books except Rhitmatist... so I may drop or take my time before reading Firefight. On the other hand, I think, it's exciting to follow an author that's relatively new instead of discovering him when he is really well-established and a must-known.



So something else than the Stormlight Archive ? I would have thought this one was already his long project (supposed to be 10 books), but if he's starting another long one...
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I was talking about the Stormlight Archive. I read somewhere that it will be 10 books long (IIRC) so I don't know if he will have time to do also other projects (especially considering that this is supposed to be his LOTR/ASOIAF/The Wheel of Time). But as I said, this guy seems to be able to write one or two books for a year so all bets are off.
 
I'm shallow as anything, I know, but I can't enjoy Brandon Sanderson's books because he's such a bigot (owing to his devout religious beliefs) in real life.
 
Count Orduck said:
I'm shallow as anything, I know, but I can't enjoy Brandon Sanderson's books because he's such a bigot (owing to his devout religious beliefs) in real life.
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You are indeed. Why you should care on what he believes or does in real life?
 
Revan said:
You are indeed. Why you should care on what he believes or does in real life?
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Dunno, I just can't help it. I find it difficult separating someone's personal actions from their work (hence I like Giggs a lot less than I used to). I just can't help but having a voice in my head saying "homophobe, homophobe, homophobe," over and over again whilst I read!

Not to mention I have no desire to give my money to someone with personal morals I find abhorrent.
 
I purposely decided to not bother to look up his personal opinions so as to not tint his work after your post @Count Orduck but it's too late now! :lol:

Revan, I agree - it shouldn't matter at all. The thing is, once you know, it can be hard to put it aside and not look for subtle (or not) moral codes within his work.

What if there's a shabby faded pink curtain? Am I supposed to ignore it and just think it's a pointless detail of the story and the colour/quality detailed is only there to set the scene. Or should I assume it's a dig at feminism and that the influence of women is dwindling?

In all seriousness I could easily see how this could influence my thoughts on his characters and what they say/think. Hopefully not, we'll see.
 
I can understand why knowing an author has personal beliefs that differ strongly from yours could prevent someone from enjoying his work. But I think in this case, unless there's more to the story that I'm missing, he's hardly said anything terribly hateful. Here's the blog posts he wrote about Dumbledore being gay, personally I just see a pretty fair minded person with a very different upbringing and belief system than most of us.

http://brandonsanderson.com/euology-dumbledores-homosexuality/
 
Bebe said:
I can understand why knowing an author has personal beliefs that differ strongly from yours could prevent someone from enjoying his work. But I think in this case, unless there's more to the story that I'm missing, he's hardly said anything terribly hateful. Here's the blog posts he wrote about Dumbledore being gay, personally I just see a pretty fair minded person with a very different upbringing and belief system than most of us.

http://brandonsanderson.com/euology-dumbledores-homosexuality/
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To be fair, the original essay wasn't that bad. I did just a quick reading and it looks like he tried to give an agnostic opinion there, without going much on right or wrong deis of the medal.

The last one looked at me much worse because in some way he wants to overcomplicate the current civil laws where there is no need for it. If Mormons (or other religions) don't feel okay with gay people getting married, then so be it, don't feel okay for it. No need to change the laws just because some people aren't comfortable with them.

Anyway, a bit out of topic now. He may be a cnut or not, but I wouldn't care much about it. I usually don't create links with authors (unless it is for other reasons, like inspirations or anything) so as long as books are great, I'll read them regardless of what he thinks about particular things.
 
I found the essay quite offensive, to be honest. I agree that he was trying to be as nice and diplomatic as possible, but that doesn't take away from the core homophobia of his comments. Things like:

I believe that a prophet of God has said that widespread legislation to approve gay marriage will bring pain and suffering to all involved.
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I would vote against legislation that would give an official stamp of approval to gay marriage. The simple reason is this: I honestly and sincerely believe that in voting against such legislation, I would act in the best interests of those who are gay.
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No, I don’t believe that homosexuality can—in many cases, at least—be treated and ‘cured.’ I do believe, however, that impulses of attraction between people of the same gender are something that can and should be resisted, in the same way that my impulses of attraction toward women who are not my wife can and should be resisted.
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Those are, despite being nicely-worded, all very offensive and very homophobic statements. Sanderson is very open about being a Mormon, but when so many of the Mormon beliefs are outright bigoted, that means I can't help but judge him for having them. Maybe that's not fair of me; maybe I should be able to separate the author and his work. But I can't. Not easily. And, as I said before, I have no desire to hand my money over to someone whose belief system I find repugnant.
 
Count Orduck said:
I found the essay quite offensive, to be honest. I agree that he was trying to be as nice and diplomatic as possible, but that doesn't take away from the core homophobia of his comments. Things like:

Those are, despite being nicely-worded, all very offensive and very homophobic statements. Sanderson is very open about being a Mormon, but when so many of the Mormon beliefs are outright bigoted, that means I can't help but judge him for having them. Maybe that's not fair of me; maybe I should be able to separate the author and his work. But I can't. Not easily. And, as I said before, I have no desire to hand my money over to someone whose belief system I find repugnant.
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I get where you're coming from. However, I think that in the case of Mormonism (not that I'm the most educated on the subject) you have to say that Sanderson's views are progress, of a sort. He's not saying "lets hunt them down in the streets" or any such, he's saying that in a diplomatic society he would vote for something others might find objectionable. He then proposes a solution that I think is driven by a sincere desire to find a compromise that suits everybody. He's not trying to deny gays the rights married people enjoy, he's defending the religious ideal of marriage which is under God's authority. Willingness to compromise, openness to dialogue etc make me see his personal belief system (not Mormonism as a whole, we're talking about an individual) as decidedly less than repugnant. It's certainly preferable to him attempting to force his belief system on others (voting doesn't count as forcing) which is unfortunately the tendency with many others (of all faiths/non-faiths/etc).

However like I said, I get where your coming from and its of course completely within reason for you to not financially support someone you have a strong feeling against. Objectively, his premise is certainly still flawed as minorities shouldn't have to compromise to enjoy basic rights. But its a start imo.
 
Bebe said:
I get where you're coming from. However, I think that in the case of Mormonism (not that I'm the most educated on the subject) you have to say that Sanderson's views are progress, of a sort. He's not saying "lets hunt them down in the streets" or any such, he's saying that in a diplomatic society he would vote for something others might find objectionable. He then proposes a solution that I think is driven by a sincere desire to find a compromise that suits everybody. He's not trying to deny gays the rights married people enjoy, he's defending the religious ideal of marriage which is under God's authority. Willingness to compromise, openness to dialogue etc make me see his personal belief system (not Mormonism as a whole, we're talking about an individual) as decidedly less than repugnant. It's certainly preferable to him attempting to force his belief system on others (voting doesn't count as forcing) which is unfortunately the tendency with many others (of all faiths/non-faiths/etc).

However like I said, I get where your coming from and its of course completely within reason for you to not financially support someone you have a strong feeling against. Objectively, his premise is certainly still flawed as minorities shouldn't have to compromise to enjoy basic rights. But its a start imo.
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You're much too reasonable for this forum.
 
Count Orduck said:
I found the essay quite offensive, to be honest. I agree that he was trying to be as nice and diplomatic as possible, but that doesn't take away from the core homophobia of his comments. Things like:

Those are, despite being nicely-worded, all very offensive and very homophobic statements. Sanderson is very open about being a Mormon, but when so many of the Mormon beliefs are outright bigoted, that means I can't help but judge him for having them. Maybe that's not fair of me; maybe I should be able to separate the author and his work. But I can't. Not easily. And, as I said before, I have no desire to hand my money over to someone whose belief system I find repugnant.
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These are from the new one. On the original essay he didn't went that much into good vs evil.

On the new one, he made those comments and finally gave a solution that while it can work, it seems completely un-necessary for me.

You are right though, despite he tries his best to be as diplomatic as possible, still you can see that he is influenced from homophobia, which in modern society, should not have any place.
 
I remember reading the Xanth series by Piers Anthony when I was in Hulme Crescents many years ago. I think there were about ten of them. I just downloaded a pack of epubs and there are now 35. I think I'll read them again.
 
I don't really care either about an author's belief or behavior as long as it doesn't sound like he's trying to force his opinion to the readers in his books. Maybe because I know at least two authors that are said to be great that weren't really nice people. Well maybe one was, but leaving his wife when she was ill and after saying he would get a doctor doesn't make me think he was a great person even if he was a famous poet. So we can appreciate a book but it doesn't mean we endorse the author's opinion. I don't think I want to check the background of every author I may want to read. It isn't like I want to keep tabs on their life, if I like their work, I just want them to keep writing books I like, not them to be perfect models or possible friends.

==

I only read the first book of the Earthsea saga, it is ok but doesn't really make me in a hurry to read the rest, especially since I was expecting something more epic. Maybe the later books are better.

==

I reread the first book of Xanth, I remember it as something really funny, but I was more surprised to see it was so sexist.
 
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I just finished Survivor by Chuck Palahnuik and it's a suitably fecked up and excellent read.
 
Just finished the Mistborn trilogy. Great stuff, the way everything comes together at the end is fantastic. Highly recommended to anyone, genre fans or not.
 
I've started reading the Way of Kings by Sanderson. I know it's a fantasy book, but the guy makes up everything. It's ok, but does he really need to invent 20 new races(ones with weird eyebrows that they push behind their ears), new types of grass, etc?
 
That's not what I remember from this book (I remember more the many beginnings... were they all prologues, except one ? And that it is a slow and long book), but it is his ambitious work, so no wonder he went to new lengths for it.
 
Has anyone read The City by Stella Gemmill? I downloaded it today off the back of some good reviews but won't get around to reading it for a while. If it's really good I'll bump it up a reading list a bit!
 
SilentWitness said:
I would recommend the Bartimaeus Trilogy also.

The Power of Five Series - Okay, i was around 13 when the first book came out but i loved it. The last book came out in 2012 when i was 18 but i still thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a fantastic conclusion to a story which had me gripped from beginning to end. There is Magic/Powers and each book is based around a character. The third being based around 2 characters as they are twins. The fifth book concerns each character.
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Hah same. I was young enough when the first came out and I still fecking sped through the last one. It was supreme.

The Mortal Engines series was probably the most enthralled that I've ever been by fantasy.
 
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