Books Fantasy Reads

Revan said:
Abercrombie is arguably the closest author to Martin. His books are even darker and the line between good and evil is completely in-existent (in Martin's books, it is very thin), while at the same time his books have the best humor in fantasy genre. World building is decent, while characters are excellent, although a bit repetitive (basically, all are pricks of the highest order).

So, far he has two sagas. The First Law trilogy which then continues with three standalones set in the same world and which share many characters with the trilogy. And The Shattered Sea trilogy which is a bit more juvenile, but still it is very Abercrombie-style. The Shattered Sea has a better writing and it is significantly shorter, but The First Law is better. In fact, it is easily one of the best things in the fantasy genre.
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Art Vandelay said:
What Revan said basically. If you like Martin you will probably like Abercrombie. He's my favourite author by a distance at this point and I'd recommend him to anyone. Start with The First Law trilogy.

Brent Weeks Night Angel trilogy is pretty good too, but might be a bit of a departure from the authors you mentioned.
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Just dropping in to mention that I finished The First Law trilogy a while back, and wanted to thank you again for the suggestion. It was a very good read, indeed. If there was one thing I found a bit lacking, it was character development, but that again of course fits in entirely with the overall theme of the series. Not really sure yet if that, ending included, was brilliant or just annoying :confused::D:wenger:

Anyways, I'm going to read the standalone books next, I reckon. Haven't delved into them at all, so excited to see what they are about. The mythology was probably my favourite part of First Law, so I'm really hoping one of them dives deeper into the backstory.
 
@Jed I. Knight

Standalones are even better. Best Served Cold and the Heroes are the best thing Abercrombie has ever written. You will notice the improvement on writing immediately.

And when you finish them (assuming that you like them), read Sharp Ends. It is a collection of short stories happening in the same world. While most of them are based around Shev (a character not on the other books), you will see many other characters that are on the trilogy or standalones. A very nice read.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Can't disagree much with what Akash says except for the 1st line. It is a hard but brilliant read! :angel:

Yes, there are philosophical ramblings, yes, the storyline is not linear and characters introduced randomly with split or no backstories. yes, it is very confusing....but still
- on a sheer epic scale, I've not read any books bigger than this.
- the characters are brilliant and leaves you want to get to know them more.
- powerful writing (when not in midst of a philosophical ramble) and the sheer plot keeps you engrossed.

From personal experience, the best way to read Malazan is to keep bulldozing your way forward. If you come across something unexplained or new character, don't stop and go back to check...just carry one and when you reach the end see if all makes sense (and it mostly will).

Just like any other series, it had good and mediocre books (plus unlike other series has standalone novels to confuse things too). Persevere and you'll be rewarded.
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Don't disagree with that. It's certainly Epic and one thing you cannot accuse Eriksen of is a lack of ambition in the world he's created. The main problems I see with the series (From what I've read):
  • The Philosophical ramblings are way too prevalent. I don't mind bits and pieces of it but when quite literally every character engages in it at some point in time it tends to get really annoying.
  • Erikson's refusal to explain things. I get his need to be someone who "shows rather than tells" but he takes it to an extreme level. Five books in and I still don't have a clue what Warrens are, let alone how they work.
  • Also, I get what you are saying about just reading through and hoping that you eventually understand everything. But that's not a sign of a well written story for me. You've got to give the reader something to cling on to.
Saw this description of the books on the site and sums up my feelings:

I kept on reading because I figured that all of the “seemingly” unrelated random shit will somehow end up connecting in the finale. But it doesn’t. Jaghut tyrant is hyped up as the destroyer of worlds that will fight with the God Mode Dark Elf but all he does it fight some random dragons that appear out of no where, then gets trapped in dream which I seriously have no idea how the feck that happened, then he takes the body of an old dude that I don’t care about and basically gets one shoted by Quick Ben and dragged away by the the McGuffin trees or something, all the while Paran is fighting some random Tree monster while The God Mode Elf is fighting a random demon that appeared out of nowhere, while other major plot points are finished up by the Crimson Guard who again randomly appear out of nowhere and the whole explosive thing that was a major plot thread throughout the book is just left there forgotten.
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I have nothing against puzzles, but the way Erikson is doing it feels like he's taking a big bag of 50 different 5 000 piece jigsaw puzzles mixed with Legos and model ship parts for good measure then put them in 10 different chests that only open if you manage to solve quantum physics problems printed on them.

It just feels like busy work and not fun.
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It's a shame because I think the world he's built up is seriously epic and a new take on fantasy. Plus his characters on the whole are quite interesting. The plotting really let's him own however.
 
@Jed I. Knight

Glad you enjoyed it. Start with Best Served Cold, it's chronologically next and be prepared for Morveer!

I completely forgot Sharp Ends was out a few weeks ago and now I'm balls deep in Wheel of Time. I'll probably have the first one finished this week and will then have a choice between the second and Sharp Ends. Then Witcher 3 Blood and Wine is out next week. I ain't got time for it all.
 
Akash said:
Don't disagree with that. It's certainly Epic and one thing you cannot accuse Eriksen of is a lack of ambition in the world he's created. The main problems I see with the series (From what I've read):
  • The Philosophical ramblings are way too prevalent. I don't mind bits and pieces of it but when quite literally every character engages in it at some point in time it tends to get really annoying.
  • Erikson's refusal to explain things. I get his need to be someone who "shows rather than tells" but he takes it to an extreme level. Five books in and I still don't have a clue what Warrens are, let alone how they work.
  • Also, I get what you are saying about just reading through and hoping that you eventually understand everything. But that's not a sign of a well written story for me. You've got to give the reader something to cling on to.
Saw this description of the books on the site and sums up my feelings:

It's a shame because I think the world he's built up is seriously epic and a new take on fantasy. Plus his characters on the whole are quite interesting. The plotting really let's him own however.
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The ramblings are going to be there in most novels. Most authors do it to some extent of other. It is a drag, but not really that difficult to speed read it.

Warrens are very interesting and as you say one of the most difficult concepts here...if you don't mind a bit of spoilers...a bit of background that may interest you...

Realms:

There are 2 original realms,
- Starvald Demelain (The Eleint/Dragons realm). Starvald Demelain is the central warren but is lost to time.
- Kurald Galain (which is now the Tiste Realm) and

Races:

The Malazan world is quite epic and complex. Amongst the original 'elder' races that existed in the world the most important are...

- Azathanai: Mysterious and most powerful of the lot. God like powers, shape shifting etc. K'rul, Mael, Errastas, Caladan Brood, Draconus are popular characters for this species.
- Dog Runners: A now extinct species that existed in the Tiste Realm. The sleeping goddess Burn is the most important character for this species. I beleive Burn to be a mythological allusion to Malazan world. Burn's sleep is just a starting point for the time frame for the series.
- Tiste: Who came after Dog Runners and were reasons for their extinction. Anomander Rake and his cast belong to here.
- Jaghut: Probably the 2nd most powerful race after the Azathanai. A developing society, when one of their kind Gothos made a case against civilization and how it eventually leads to war. So they decided to abandon their city, end their society and exist individually. Gothos, Hood, Raest are prominent characters
- K'Chain Che'Malle: A intelligent technologically advanced insect like race who built sky-keeps like Moon's Spawn (which Rake uses). Near extinct now.
- Forkrul Assail: Another near extinct race who specializes in being right and passing judgement which may entail killing of entire race or species.
- Imass: Predecessors of Malazan humans. They were said to come from another race called Eres (of whom we know of only one mysterious character Eres'al and nothing else).

The last 4 of the above were said to be the founding races of the Malazan Planet where the story mostly happens.

Magic:

Chaos: The underlying magic is called Chaos, an unrefined raw state of Magic.
Holds:From this originated Holds, which are a precursor to warrens. They are still unrefined and un-aspected, but still usable. Azathanai presumably are users of both Chaos and Holds.
Warren: The Azathanai K'rul decided to gift his powers to all. He inflicted wounds upon himself which can be used by anyone who can access them. These are called Warrens. They are refined (Denul for healing, Telas for fire etc) state of magic. Many of the magic are aspected to specific realms/users and can be travelled between. For example, Kurald Galain can be used only by Tiste Andii, Omtose Phellack can be used only by Jaghut but other most warrens are available to Humans.

Unlike others, Malazan is a still evolving world...the story has lots of threads hanging that will be filled in by subsequent novels. For example, The Crimson Guard in the review you posted is not critical to the Malazan story at all. Just take them as a side character and move on. If you are interested there is a separate novel, Return of the Crimson Guard that gives you better perspective on them. It is just an example of the epic nature of the story...that all ends cannot be tied up even in a 10 series novel.

Forge of Darkness sheds some light on the Tiste, Dancer's Lament provides background on Dancer and Kellanved's rise to power and ascension, and so on and so forth...different threads may have their own novellas.

If a person is expecting an humans and elves beat Orcs kind of simple video game storyline, then Maalzan is not for them.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
The ramblings are going to be there in most novels. Most authors do it to some extent of other. It is a drag, but not really that difficult to speed read it.

Warrens are very interesting and as you say one of the most difficult concepts here...if you don't mind a bit of spoilers...a bit of background that may interest you...

Unlike others, Malazan is a still evolving world...the story has lots of threads hanging that will be filled in by subsequent novels. For example, The Crimson Guard in the review you posted is not critical to the Malazan story at all. Just take them as a side character and move on. If you are interested there is a separate novel, Return of the Crimson Guard that gives you better perspective on them. It is just an example of the epic nature of the story...that all ends cannot be tied up even in a 10 series novel.

Forge of Darkness sheds some light on the Tiste, Dancer's Lament provides background on Dancer and Kellanved's rise to power and ascension, and so on and so forth...different threads may have their own novellas.

If a person is expecting an humans and elves beat Orcs kind of simple video game storyline, then Maalzan is not for them.
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I think the fact you have spoiler the Warren explanations when I'm half way into the series speaks volumes for some of the vague nature of the writing I was getting at. It's like reading the 3rd Mistborn book and being clueless on what metal is used for what power.

The review was mainly getting at the how random things are in the books.
 
Akash said:
I think the fact you have spoiler the Warren explanations when I'm half way into the series speaks volumes for some of the vague nature of the writing I was getting at. It's like reading the 3rd Mistborn book and being clueless on what metal is used for what power.

The review was mainly getting at the how random things are in the books.
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I just spoilered it as you may want to find them out yourself. It actually does not spoiler the story at all.

In Mistborn, all you get is a theme 'burn certain metals for certain magic' with no explanation how how burning metals brings out magic. It's all implicit. But in malazan, when you come across 'access certain warrens for certain magic' you end up asking more question on working of warrens???

Does WoT give explanation on what saidir or saidar or True Power is, where it comes from etc?
In stormlight you say certain words and god gives you magic...that's all.
Same with poets and bindings in Long Price Quartet.
Does Kingkiller explain what Sympathy is and how it works?

The magic in Malazan is the most developed and complex I've seen yet.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
I just spoilered it as you may want to find them out yourself. It actually does not spoiler the story at all.

In Mistborn, all you get is a theme 'burn certain metals for certain magic' with no explanation how how burning metals brings out magic. It's all implicit. But in malazan, when you come across 'access certain warrens for certain magic' you end up asking more question on working of warrens???

Does WoT give explanation on what saidir or saidar or True Power is, where it comes from etc?
In stormlight you say certain words and god gives you magic...that's all.
Same with poets and bindings in Long Price Quartet.
Does Kingkiller explain what Sympathy is and how it works?

The magic in Malazan is the most developed and complex I've seen yet.
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WoT does explain the source of the One Power btw but that wasn't really my point.

Is it deep and complex? Sure but that just means the author has an even bigger responsibility to explain how it works. The first two books don't even bother explaining Warrens. To be perfectly honest, I'm still not sure what a warren is let alone what the source is.
 
From what little I read of Garden of Moons, Warren seemed to
be like a gateway created between two places similar to Ways in WOT but the difference being that they can be created at any time and to any place.
Is there more to it than that?
 
harshad said:
From what little I read of Garden of Moons, Warren seemed to
be like a gateway created between two places similar to Ways in WOT but the difference being that they can be created at any time and to any place.
Is there more to it than that?
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There's a lot more to it than that. Not even sure you're right. Not all warrens are ways and not everyone can create them or access them.
 
Lots of good recommendations in here, can't believe I hadn't ventured into the thread earlier. To add a couple I've not seen mentioned, recently read The Chornicle of the Unhewn Throwe by Brain Staveley and it was really good, plus it's a trilogy that is actually finished.

Also recently read the Locke Lamora/ Gentlemen Bastards series which is superb I think someone just mentioned on here.

Finally for something a little different, Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Books are pretty unique.
 
harshad said:
From what little I read of Garden of Moons, Warren seemed to
be like a gateway created between two places similar to Ways in WOT but the difference being that they can be created at any time and to any place.
Is there more to it than that?
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Warrens are just refined magic. Some are aspected to a form (Denul to Healing, Telas to Fire, Meanas to shadow/illusion etc) and/or to a realm (dimension/world) as in Kurald Galain to Tiste Andii, Kurald Emurlhan to Shadow etc. People who can access certain warrens get the form (healer, fire sorcery etc) and can travel through the realm (which acts like a shortcut I suppose).
 
Has anyone read the Dark Tower Series?

There's a movie coming out based on it and the cast includes Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey!
 
Akash said:
Has anyone read the Dark Tower Series?

There's a movie coming out based on it and the cast includes Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey!
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I have - goes down some serious sideways paths which weren't necessary imo. Not sure the show will have time to do so. Also some excellent Vonnegut-esque author in book stuff.

Pretty good overall, but
take the author's advice. it'll make sense if you choose to read them.
 
Beachryan said:
I have - goes down some serious sideways paths which weren't necessary imo. Not sure the show will have time to do so. Also some excellent Vonnegut-esque author in book stuff.

Pretty good overall, but
take the author's advice. it'll make sense if you choose to read them.
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Do you have to read other stuff from King to read the Dark Tower books or does the series work as a standalone? Says on Wiki as well there's links to other books King has written.
 
Akash said:
Do you have to read other stuff from King to read the Dark Tower books or does the series work as a standalone? Says on Wiki as well there's links to other books King has written.
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I think it works fine as a standalone series. IIRC there are crossover parts with other areas King has written, but I don't think you need to know about them, more of a wink to fans.
 
Akash said:
Do you have to read other stuff from King to read the Dark Tower books or does the series work as a standalone? Says on Wiki as well there's links to other books King has written.
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Pretty sure that most of King books are in the same universe (similar to Sanderson's Cosmere), but different series can be read like standalones.

However, I think that the general consensus is that the second half of the Dark Tower isn't that good.
 
Revan said:
Pretty sure that most of King books are in the same universe (similar to Sanderson's Cosmere), but different series can be read like standalones.

However, I think that the general consensus is that the second half of the Dark Tower isn't that good.
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It's not bad, but definitely better completed series mentioned on here imo. And much better King books. It definitely waffles before his injury, but I like the final book.
 
I always find that if I can't create my own story and character in the world of a fantasy series then I don't really rate it too much. In a sense I am much more interested in the world building of a series then characters and human conflict (Although I do hate really weak characters that have zero development).

Which series would you say is best for the criteria I am looking for?
 
Gol123 said:
I always find that if I can't create my own story and character in the world of a fantasy series then I don't really rate it too much. In a sense I am much more interested in the world building of a series then characters and human conflict (Although I do hate really weak characters that have zero development).

Which series would you say is best for the criteria I am looking for?
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Best worlds: The Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Lord of the Rings, The First Law, The Realm of the Elderlings, The Black Company are the best.
Best characters: A Song of Ice and Fire, The Realm of the Elderlings, The First Law, The Black Company and The Kingskiller Chronicles
Best magic system: The Wheel of Time, Mistborn (in reality, pretty much everything from Sanderson), The Kingskiller Chronicles
Best writing: Kingskiller Chronicles, Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Lord of the Rings
Jack of all trades but not mentioned in either category: Gentlemen Bastards, The Broken Empire, Long Price Quartet
Best story: pretty much all of these have very good stories
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
If you fantasise hard enough, you can create your character and story in any world.

Malazan, Mistborn, First Law, Wheel of Time, Black Company all have nice world's and decent characters.
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Not a world that interests me though. Mistborn and Name of the Wind were too character focused for my liking. I like big huge world's with lots of lore and history crammed into it.

Wheels of Time and Malazan scare me a bit. Malazan in particular sounds horrifying to read.
 
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Gol123 said:
Not a world that interests me though. Mistborn and Name of the Windows were too character focused for my liking. I like big huge world's with lots of lore and history crammed into it.

Wheels of Time and Malazan scare me a bit. Malazan in particular sounds horrifying to read.
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Wheel of Time is a very fast read despite its size. The story is well paced on the first few books, and if you're a fast reader you will have difficulties on leaving those books. I read it in less than 3 months.

It is essentially Sanderson if Sanderson was much better. And the worst books on it are Sanderson is Sanderson was actually terrible at writing.
 
Revan said:
Wheel of Time is a very fast read despite its size. The story is well paced on the first few books, and if you're a fast reader you will have difficulties on leaving those books. I read it in less than 3 months.

It is essentially Sanderson if Sanderson was much better. And the worst books on it are Sanderson is Sanderson was actually terrible at writing.
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I only like Storm light Archive from Sanderson. His other series have a very YA feel to them.

What is the The First Law about/like?
 
Gol123 said:
What is the The First Law about/like?
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A bit like a Martin-lite. Dark and grim, no good guys and bad guys, interesting characters. However, the characters are a bit less believable, and usually all of them are pricks.

So far, there is a trilogy, then three standalones and then a collection of short stories, with at least an another trilogy planned for the future.

Abercrombie is probably my favorite author right now, and he is very good at everything, while his black humor is the funniest thing ever done in fantasy genre. He also has an another trilogy (a bit more YA than this) called The Shattered Sea which is worthy to be read, mostly cause of its main character.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
:D it's the complex and yet has the most epic of world's and characters. I tell everyone..... Just try Gardens of the Moon as a stand alone. Like it carry on. Else drop. It's a fantastic book by itself.

Try ASOIAF.
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Okay, sounds like a bitch to read though.

Read it at least 4/5 times.
 
Gol123 said:
Not a world that interests me though. Mistborn and Name of the Wind were too character focused for my liking. I like big huge world's with lots of lore and history crammed into it.

Wheels of Time and Malazan scare me a bit. Malazan in particular sounds horrifying to read.
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I read the first few Malazan books, required a bit of looking things up on the wiki because I was confused, but they were quite good. They can be a bit of a head feck but they are worth it. Some day I'll get around to the rest. It's got great world building despite it's confusing nature.

I'm almost at the end of the first Wheel of Time book, pretty much what Revan said. I'm not a quick reader but it's flown by and I'm going to get the second definitely. I don't think I've read another book with world building this good. The characters aren't brilliant, but the world and detail is fantastic. I think it might be what you're looking for, definitely try a sample of it if you can.
 
Art Vandelay said:
I read the first few Malazan books, required a bit of looking things up on the wiki because I was confused, but they were quite good. They can be a bit of a head feck but they are worth it. Some day I'll get around to the rest. It's got great world building despite it's confusing nature.

I'm almost at the end of the first Wheel of Time book, pretty much what Revan said. I'm not a quick reader but it's flown by and I'm going to get the second definitely. I don't think I've read another book with world building this good. The characters aren't brilliant, but the world and detail is fantastic. I think it might be what you're looking for, definitely try a sample of it if you can.
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Okay, cheers. Wheels of Time it is.
 
Art Vandelay said:
I'm almost at the end of the first Wheel of Time book, pretty much what Revan said. I'm not a quick reader but it's flown by and I'm going to get the second definitely. I don't think I've read another book with world building this good. The characters aren't brilliant, but the world and detail is fantastic. I think it might be what you're looking for, definitely try a sample of it if you can.
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Great to see that you're enjoying it.

Agree about the world building. Even ASOIAF who has great world building, falls way short in comparison with WoT when it comes to that. And the number of characters in WoT is insane, though the quality isn't there (for most part).

Who is your favorite character? I loved Moiraine, my favorite character in the genre, to not say in literature.
 
Revan said:
Great to see that you're enjoying it.

Agree about the world building. Even ASOIAF who has great world building, falls way short in comparison with WoT when it comes to that. And the number of characters in WoT is insane, though the quality isn't there (for most part).

Who is your favorite character? I loved Moiraine, my favorite character in the genre, to not say in literature.
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I honestly haven't decided yet. According to my kindle I'm at 84% finished and still haven't really warmed to any of them. The villagers are kind of like hipster snobs a lot of the time thinking they are better than everyone not from their village. The really interesting characters are ones that you only see through the eyes of the village folk. Lan, Moiraine, Thom and Elyas feel like they have the potential to be great.

I'm assuming Thom lives and Elyas turns up again anyway.

One thing I'm really struggling with is actually picturing the Ogier guy in the situations he's supposed to be in. 10 foot tall and sat in a normal chair or on a horse. I'm struggling to get the image right.

I think I might have been spoiled by binging on Abercrombie. If they aren't a dysfunctional, depressed, borderline sociopath then they don't quite feel right. :lol:
 
Finished the first WoT book and bought the second. Thoroughly good read. The characters aren't overly brilliant and the lack of people stabbing each other in the back and murdering each other is jarring after Abercrombie. In spite of that it tells a very good tale. It is a massive rip off of Lord of the Rings, but I enjoyed it a lot more than LotR.

I'm kind of ashamed that I didn't pick up on all the Asian influences until quite near the end.
Lan and Rand's swords more or less being katanas. The non-English language being very close to Japanese. Even the descriptions of a lot of the main characters sound almost Asian. Shaven headed warriors with topknots too. There's a few things in there.

My only real gripes were when originally describing Fades he seems to contradict himself in regards to their power and if they should be feared. The tendency to start a chapter in a certain situation then immediately jump back in time describing getting to that situation, often in situations where he could have just started at the beginning in the first place. People's ages weren't really clear either, I started off thinking Lan was in his 40's for some reason, by the end of the book I was thinking mid 20s. Moiraine is a mystery. Even the main three characters I thought for a while they were all supposed to be 20, then it was they aren't 20 yet but teenagers. Not massive complaints or anything.

On the whole it was very enjoyable and good enough to jump straight in and buy the second book. 5 miaow miaow beans.
 
Art Vandelay said:
Finished the first WoT book and bought the second. Thoroughly good read. The characters aren't overly brilliant and the lack of people stabbing each other in the back and murdering each other is jarring after Abercrombie. In spite of that it tells a very good tale. It is a massive rip off of Lord of the Rings, but I enjoyed it a lot more than LotR.

I'm kind of ashamed that I didn't pick up on all the Asian influences until quite near the end.
Lan and Rand's swords more or less being katanas. The non-English language being very close to Japanese. Even the descriptions of a lot of the main characters sound almost Asian. Shaven headed warriors with topknots too. There's a few things in there.

My only real gripes were when originally describing Fades he seems to contradict himself in regards to their power and if they should be feared. The tendency to start a chapter in a certain situation then immediately jump back in time describing getting to that situation, often in situations where he could have just started at the beginning in the first place. People's ages weren't really clear either, I started off thinking Lan was in his 40's for some reason, by the end of the book I was thinking mid 20s. Moiraine is a mystery. Even the main three characters I thought for a while they were all supposed to be 20, then it was they aren't 20 yet but teenagers. Not massive complaints or anything.

On the whole it was very enjoyable and good enough to jump straight in and buy the second book. 5 miaow miaow beans.
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The main characters (bar Nynaeve) are all younger than 20. If I am not mistaken, Rand, Mat and Perrin start as 17 years old, with Egwene and Elayne being one year younger, while Min might be slightly older than Rand. Nynaeve is on mid twenties, while Moiraine and Lan are around 40.

Fade's powers were definitely inconsistent. At the beginning you think that they are as powerful as the Nazgul, but then Thom survives one of them, and obviously, Moiraine easily defeats them. So, they are basically in the level of strong Orks in LotR, with the Forsaken actually being the Nazgul.

The rip of with Lord of the Rings has already ended. From the second book on, it is a complete different story. And much better, IMO.
 
Finished 'The Republic of Thieves', the third book in Gentlemen's Bastards series. I think that like 'Red Seas Under Red Skies' it is significantly weaker than 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' but still I quite enjoyed it.

The ending was very nice and thought provoking, leaving you want more. And we already know the topic of the next book.

Mixed feelings about Sabetha. Quite similar to Denna in 'Kingskiller Chronicles'. At times you like her, but at times, you feel about the protagonist who is in love (and suffering) for such a bitch. Mostly, liked her though.

I quite enjoyed the interlude story. It isn't as good as in the first book (when it was absolutely fantastic), but still good enough and better than in the second book.

Now, waiting for the fourth book.
 
Revan said:
The main characters (bar Nynaeve) are all younger than 20. If I am not mistaken, Rand, Mat and Perrin start as 17 years old, with Egwene and Elayne being one year younger, while Min might be slightly older than Rand. Nynaeve is on mid twenties, while Moiraine and Lan are around 40.

Fade's powers were definitely inconsistent. At the beginning you think that they are as powerful as the Nazgul, but then Thom survives one of them, and obviously, Moiraine easily defeats them. So, they are basically in the level of strong Orks in LotR, with the Forsaken actually being the Nazgul.

The rip of with Lord of the Rings has already ended. From the second book on, it is a complete different story. And much better, IMO.
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I could have sworn it said Rand was 20 and Egwene 18, but I may have imagined it. I probably did imagine it then confused myself by the end. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.

There's one paragraph where Lan is describing Fades where it goes from Moiraine could easily defeat them and they were basically nothing compared to her. Then it was there was nothing she could do about the attack on Two Rivers without an army of Aes Sedai. I think that was all in one paragraph. They spend nearly the whole book running in terror from these things that don't really do anything and she smacks them down when they do attack. The lack of deaths was a bit jarring too.

It was excellent in spite of that. Not had much time to read the second, I'm about 3 paragraphs in, but I've been busy playing The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine.
 
Art Vandelay said:
I could have sworn it said Rand was 20 and Egwene 18, but I may have imagined it. I probably did imagine it then confused myself by the end. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.

There's one paragraph where Lan is describing Fades where it goes from Moiraine could easily defeat them and they were basically nothing compared to her. Then it was there was nothing she could do about the attack on Two Rivers without an army of Aes Sedai. I think that was all in one paragraph. They spend nearly the whole book running in terror from these things that don't really do anything and she smacks them down when they do attack. The lack of deaths was a bit jarring too.

It was excellent in spite of that. Not had much time to read the second, I'm about 3 paragraphs in, but I've been busy playing The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine.
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You're absolutely right about their age. Rand is 20, with Egwene as 17-18. The entire saga happens on less than 2 years, and finishes on year 1000 (Rand was born in 878 while Egwene on 981). Elayne is same age as Egwene, I think.

Yeah, Fade description were weird. Moiraine could easily defeat a lot of them at the same time.

Unfortunately, there aren't many deaths in this saga.
 
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