Books Fantasy Reads

Will Absolute said:
I find it difficult to read books where the writer has no feel for language. Even if the prose is simple, the words should be well-chosen. For many fantasy writers the language is just a vehicle for moving the story from A to B: any lumbering, old jalopy will do as long as it gets the job done.

Perhaps because they're not born writers. They're literate and intelligent, think they could do as good a job as the next guy, and decide to try their hand in a popular genre.

Before she became Robin Hobb and started turning out trilogies, Megan Lindholm wrote shorter fiction. Alien Earth is an interesting sci-fi novel.
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That’s a succinct way of putting it.

Joe Abercombie doesn’t necessarily write with beautiful prose, but the words are well chosen and that reflects on his characters.

Sanderson is a great story maker just not a great story teller.

Not read anything she has written as Megan Lindholm as I’m not a big fan of Sci-Fi but I might give it a whirl.
 
fishfingers15 said:
Ok, I'm on the second book of Stormlight Archive series. My library doesn't have the third book :nervous: Is it out yet?
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Oathbringer is out on the 14th of this month so you haven’t got long to wait!
 
fishfingers15 said:
Ok, I'm on the second book of Stormlight Archive series. My library doesn't have the third book :nervous: Is it out yet?
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Out on 14th November. The First 30 odd chapters have been serially released on tor.com. However why dont you read Edgedancer, a Novella about Lift covering the events after the end of book 2, and also read Warbreaker, which is available for free on Sanderson's website.
 
harshad said:
Out on 14th November. The First 30 odd chapters have been serially released on tor.com. However why dont you read Edgedancer, a Novella about Lift covering the events after the end of book 2, and also read Warbreaker, which is available for free on Sanderson's website.
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Ok, After book 2, I'll put Edgedancer in my queue. What is Warbreaker? Another Novella?

ivaldo said:
Oathbringer is out on the 14th of this month so you haven’t got long to wait!
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Sweet.
 
fishfingers15 said:
Ok, After book 2, I'll put Edgedancer in my queue. What is Warbreaker? Another Novella?



Sweet.
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Edgedancer is a very sweet novella and I would recommend it. I enjoyed it quite a lot, and found it the most humorous story Sanderson has ever written.

Warbreaker is an absolutely terrible Cosmere novella. It is so bad, that a medieval-like Inquisition should be created with the sole purpose of finding and burning every copy of it.
 
Haven't read any fantasy since the last GOT book came out but when I was much younger I read a series of books involving a character called Pug the magician. What was that called again? I thought they were very good at the time.
 
djdhrubs said:
Haven't read any fantasy since the last GOT book came out but when I was much younger I read a series of books involving a character called Pug the magician. What was that called again? I thought they were very good at the time.
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Magician. Riftwar Saga.
 
Speaker for the Dead was quite good. I enjoyed it near as much as Ender's game.

Time to start the third one and hoping that the quality remains.
 
After reading the Farseer trilogy I want so keen to stay with Hobb and read the others, just finished Mistborn book 1 and I thought it was an exceptionally good story. Hope it maintains.
 
djdhrubs said:
Haven't read any fantasy since the last GOT book came out but when I was much younger I read a series of books involving a character called Pug the magician. What was that called again? I thought they were very good at the time.
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The Magician duology was good. And then move on to the last book. The rest of books in middle didn't really leave a lasting impression on me.
 
Finished Xenocide. Unlike the first two books in the sage, I really didn't like this. The story became boring, almost a vessel of Orson Scott Card trying (and mainly failing) to philosophize and spread his Mormon ideas. Additionally, the 'science fiction' in this science fiction book was arguably the worst I've seen. I mean, for Gosh sake, if the science in the book is totally ridiculous, it is better to not try to make it sound rational. Avoid any explanation of it.

On the bright side, I would be quite surprised if some of the ideas on Hyperion Cantos (mostly on the Endyminion duology) haven't been influenced from this book. Just that Dan Simmons did a better job on explaining them without pretending to be an insane physics professor.

I don't know if I am going to read the last book in main Ender's saga, the word is that it becomes even worse. For now though, giving it a break, especially with Oathbringer coming tomorrow.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
I just started on A Wizard of Earthsea.
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I really enjoyed it in a quaint sort of way. It's not thought provoking, and it doesn't challenge your sense of morality in any way, it's just good, old fashioned fantasy.
 
Who is reading Oathbringer tomorrow? We can do it together, read and comment here (a bit like in video games threads).
 
Just finished The Expanse: Cibola Burn. It was a good read, but all felt a bit pointless. Like it should have been background information in another book instead of a novel on it's own.
 
Revan said:
Who is reading Oathbringer tomorrow? We can do it together, read and comment here (a bit like in video games threads).
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I have preordered it but my brother is bringing it when he comes down on 24th of this month. Contemplating going on one of those nefarious sites to report the shit out of any pirated copy. PM me if you find any sites worth reporting.
 
Still reading, but Azure=Vivenna? I enjoyed the Venli interludes so far. Shame about
Elhokar, I was growing to like him.
 
Just got my copy of Oathbringer. I'm a very slow reader so i'll be back in 1 month :lol:
 
I am reading it too (10% read so far), so cannot read those comments yet. Most likely I won't go tomorrow at work and just read it all day long.
 
Revan said:
I am reading it too (10% read so far), so cannot read those comments yet. Most likely I won't go tomorrow at work and just read it all day long.
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:lol:

I was so tempted to take half a day off, sit in the pub with a pint and et through this in one go....There are no plot spoilers in the tags above, just some generic comments on initial opinions...
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
:lol:

I was so tempted to take half a day off, sit in the pub with a pint and et through this in one go....There are no plot spoilers in the tags above, just some generic comments on initial opinions...
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To be fair, I have been working quite hard the last few weeks for a deadline that is today (actually 8.59am tomorrow). After that, if I take one (or two) days off, no-one would complain (I definitely deserve it). My supervisor happens to be on a travel to Hong Kong, so even better.
 
Just finished the The Traveller's Gate trilogy and it was great fun. Silly at times and certainly the characters should have been developed more but it was fast paced and easy to read. People describe it as a mixture between Erikson and Sanderson but it really is nowhere near the magnitude of the Malazan Book of the Fallen (but it doesn't try to be either which is great).

4.5/6 from me.

Oathbringer is next ofc :)
 
You guys have me interested in this series now. The fact that there are another seven books to come is a little off putting, though.

I've read the first Mistborn trilogy. Is this series linked at all?
 
Are the first two books in the series good? Also, I realise Sanderson is prolific but is he capable of finishing the series before we all croak of old age, in your opinion?
 
The books are great. Of course everyone has his own taste but I`m still to meet someone who did not enjoy the series so far.

I think Sanderson can surely complete the series as planned but he is his own worst enemy in this regard. If he is in good health and doesn't undertake too much side projects, he will complete the series around 2030. The reason why the books come out in 3 years is that he writes a lot of other stuff as well. I`m 100% certain he could publish 1 book ever 1-1.5 years.
 
The Bloody-Nine said:
Are the first two books in the series good? Also, I realise Sanderson is prolific but is he capable of finishing the series before we all croak of old age, in your opinion?
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They are very good.

About relations with Mistborn, I made a post in this thread a couple of weeks ago. They are in the same universe, but on different planets, and so they have only marginal relations (so far). They have a single common character (Hoid).
 
Revan said:
To be fair, I have been working quite hard the last few weeks for a deadline that is today (actually 8.59am tomorrow). After that, if I take one (or two) days off, no-one would complain (I definitely deserve it). My supervisor happens to be on a travel to Hong Kong, so even better.
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Good for you. Sadly my boss is in Singapore too and I'm stuck with standing in for him, so double the workload :lol: Kindly says I've finished 19% in 2 days since release...so slow going :(

The Bloody-Nine said:
Are the first two books in the series good? Also, I realise Sanderson is prolific but is he capable of finishing the series before we all croak of old age, in your opinion?
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The first two books are classic high fantasy. Gods, Kings, downtrodden Hero rising up, mystery apocalypse/villain....standard formula to boot. Much fun to read. Definitely recommended.
 
Revan said:
Edgedancer is a very sweet novella and I would recommend it. I enjoyed it quite a lot, and found it the most humorous story Sanderson has ever written.

Warbreaker is an absolutely terrible Cosmere novella. It is so bad, that a medieval-like Inquisition should be created with the sole purpose of finding and burning every copy of it.
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I agree about Edgedancer and strongly disagree about Warbreaker. I liked the magic system (breath, colour), I liked the way the two sisters' (Siri and Vivenna) arcs paralleled and at the same time inverted, and I liked the way he made me switch my viewpoint on characters from good-guy to bad guy to good guy ... I guess it is a matter of taste, as I keep saying. Incidentally, 3 of the characters in Warbreaker have shown up so far in Oathbringer.
 
DMacgraw said:
I agree about Edgedancer and strongly disagree about Warbreaker. I liked the magic system (breath, colour), I liked the way the two sisters' (Siri and Vivenna) arcs paralleled and at the same time inverted, and I liked the way he made me switch my viewpoint on characters from good-guy to bad guy to good guy ... I guess it is a matter of taste, as I keep saying. Incidentally, 3 of the characters in Warbreaker have shown up so far in Oathbringer.
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The writing was awful even for Sanderson's pre Wheel of Time standards, and the humour was pathetic which made impossible for me to enjoy the story.

Elantris was as bad, but at least there Sanderson didn't try to be funny.
 
Revan said:
They are very good.

About relations with Mistborn, I made a post in this thread a couple of weeks ago. They are in the same universe, but on different planets, and so they have only marginal relations (so far). They have a single common character (Hoid).
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Hmm, didn't know that they are in the same universe, interesting. I read Mistborn quite a while ago

Hoid was the wit right? Just can't seem to recall him from Mistborn but i think he appeared in Elantris as well.
 
Rake said:
Hmm, didn't know that they are in the same universe, interesting. I read Mistborn quite a while ago

Hoid was the wit right? Just can't seem to recall him from Mistborn but i think he appeared in Elantris as well.
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In mistborn:

in The Final Empire Kelsier paid him for inside information about the great houses. He feigned weakness told Kelsier a few red herrings. Later on Kelsier mimicked his portrayed character of a weak man when playing the role of informer himself.

He was briefly mentioned in Hero of Ages as an informer to Vin but Vin decided against going to him for information, fearing it to be a trap.
 
Sanderson definitely can deliver when he has to but he undertakes a lot of projects. He'd finished off the Wheel of Time series a lot lot faster than Jordan ever would have. Is this Stormlight Archive series worth reading though? Also, with 3 books in 7 years, does it look like he's interested enough in it or would he get distracted?
 
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