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Took me probably 2 years off and on to finish, but god damn what a ride
I've got nothing to add except to say its my favorite series of all time, all the flaws included. Just wish Jordan was alive to write the last 3 books and the rumored sequels. I love the world he created and its rich history.
It also slows down badly starting around book 4 or 5, reaching a nadir at book 10. And it has absolutely atrocious gender politics (the women never explain themselves to their male allies, and vice versa) and will make anyone totally sick of the word "neckline."
But it's still a vividly realized world with compelling characters that ultimately reaches a very satisfying conclusion, so if you're looking for deep immersion it's perhaps the single best option out there.
Nah, that's an apt description. At least in the first several books, the series is basically meant to be a parody of 70's and 80's pop fantasy novels. And throw in some Shakespeare for good measure.
I guess I have a soft spot for the series because I grew up on a mix of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms stuff, and those books, in spite of being mediocre, trope-laden slop for angsty teenagers, always took themselves way too damned seriously. Pratchett's parody is spot on. Then again, I also really liked Good Omens before starting Discworld so YMMV. Definitely save it for when you're looking for something more light-hearted, and fair warning -- the first book, The Colour of Magic, is a little bit of a slog compared to subsequent books.
Although they are all pretty silly, there are a few standalone Discworld books with more of a serious plot and typical fantasy characters. My favorite is probably "Small Gods", which is based around the idea that Gods as real beings exist because of their believers, rather than the other way around (sort of like in American Gods_. It focuses on a random young acolyte of the local cult, who has accidentally become the last remaining true believer. Another good one is "The Monstrous Regiment": a young girl escapes from a Dickensian boarding school, dresses up as a boy, and joins the army. Unfortunately, her assigned unit it full of mysteries and alarming characters who she needs to deal with before she can rescue her vanished brother.
There’s always the Malazan Book of The Fallen if you don’t mind being confused for the entire first book.
Hmm suppose I should actually do the recommendation:
An anthropologist decides his ADND setting is a great vehicle to write a deconstruction of epic fantasy and gives us the story of some poor bastards trying to survive while being ground between the gears of decadent weirdos who ascended to political power and decadent weirdos who ascended to godhood.
Tehol/Bugg for President. A podsherd in every home.
I started reading WoT, then started and finished Malazan main, then tried going back to WoT and I just couldn't do it. Started re-reading Malazan again.
Erikson's background in sociology/anthropology/historiography and Iowa Writer's workshop chops just puts Malazan in a different tier from pretty much everything, especially Sanderson.
I just started the first book and it's such a slog. Please tell me it will be worth it.
You will likely be confused for almost the entirety of the first book. It doesn’t hold your hand at any point. The metatextual nature of the many very unfamiliar aspects of the setting is a big part of the experience and sets the stage for other norms the author challenges. You start to develop a framework for how things work in the second book.
Yes but it's a commitment. I'm on my second read, and I've read a few Esselmont books, and even I'm unsure about a lot stuff. But I like not knowing everything and having to slowly piece it together.
Yeah I thought the Expanse books got off to a great start but left me cold when it very quickly degenerated into Space Zombies.
Have you read Dune? The first book at least is excellent but I cant say I persevered with the rest of the series
Still can't believe how good the first Hyperion book was. Each character story was so compelling.
I don't read space opera myself, but I've heard great things about Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire (ambassador to a planet has to solve what happened to her possibly-murdered predecessor) and Kate Elliot's Unconquerable Sun (gender-swapped Alexander the Great ... in space!)
For fantasy (listing the first book for each):
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Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, who has written multiple trilogies/quartets all set in the same world. If you want something proper high fantasy, but slower and very character-focused, this is the place to go. I particularly like her Liveships trilogy, which is all about a family of merchants and their ship, which has recently gained sentience. All subseries complete.
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Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft. Awkward, introverted school teacher loses his wife in they crowd as they honeymoon to the Tower of Babel and has to find her by climbing up. This is one of my favourite series ever. 3 books out, final book coming out 2021 I believe.
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Jade City by Fonda Lee. Follows a mafia clan/gangster family in an East Asian-inspired setting, where possessing jade gives people superhuman abilities but also drives you a bit mad. It's so fast-paced and fun, I actually had to stand up and pace at some point lol. 2 books out, final book coming out 2021 I believe.
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City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty and The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. Both complete trilogies, the former inspired by Middle Eastern mythologies (particularly djinn) and the second by Russian folklore. TBATN is esp great to read in winter, it's very atmospheric!
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The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson. An accountant from a colonised country decides to infiltrate the empire and then overthrow it. It's grim but really good - I saw the ending of the first book coming and still sobbed my eyes out lmao. 3 books out, final book coming out ... at some point!
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The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Set in a world rocked by apocalypses every few hundred years (like, volcano erupts and kills 90% of humankind apocalypse). During the latest such apocalypse, the main character is hunting for her husband because he's murdered their child. It's also grim but v good. Complete trilogy.
I uh co-run a fantasy book review blog lmao, I can keep going if you have a more specific wish :')
One quick note about The Fifth Season: It starts out in a kinda weird way. You have to just go with it. By the time you're done with the third book you'll understand everything, and it's awesome, but for a while the structure of the books can seem pretty bizarre.
Also, Assassin's Apprentice is, despite the title, much more angsty and much less murder-y than you might expect. It doesn't really give you much of a clue where it's ultimately going until partway through the third book. The conclusion is excellent, though, which is good because I found the series to be a fairly slow read.
Absolutely loved Jade City - it was just effortlessly cool.
Baru Cormorant gets some flak for aiming a little too high but I think it was pretty good despite its flaws.
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Not trying to force you back into Stormlight, but Way of Kings is a really hard first book for the overall cosmere universe. If you were to ever return to Sanderson books I'd highly recommend this reading order
Elantris -> Hope of Elantris (Part of the Arcanum Unbound short story collection) -> The Emperor's Soul (Arcanum Unbound) -> The Final Empire -> The Eleventh Metal (Arcanum Unbound) -> The Well of Ascension -> The Hero of Ages -> The Alloy of Law -> Shadows of Self -> The Bands of Mourning -> Mistborn: Secret History (Arcanum Unbound) -> Warbreaker -> The Way of Kings -> Words of Radiance -> Edgedancer (Arcanum Unbound) -> Oathbringer -> Dawnshard -> Rhythms of War -> Remaining Arcanum Unbound short stories
The cosmere universe is one of, if not my favorite book series, but starting in Way of Kings makes it hard to immerse yourself in it
Yeah Mistborn (that is, The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages, along with the associated titles) in particular is absolutely amazing, and it has such a cool magic system!
Also, the spren in Stormlight are a bit weird at first but you just kinda get used to them after a while. And they become extremely relevant to the overall series as it progresses. For me the best part about Stormlight is the way it takes deep dives into its characters psyches. It's a very emotional series. Also has a very cool magic system, but it does take a while to actually get to seeing it.
Yeah I think Mistborn is my favorite magic system in the cosmere books, allomancy and metalminds are just so cool.
I also really appreciate all the work Sanderson does in including just about everything he uses in his books. From talking with mental health professionals and those dealing with different issues for characters with depression, DID, autism, etc. to creating accurate portrayals of silk in a world without silkworms. He really does an amazing job building worlds and characters.
Completely fair, and if spren are what throw you out of the immersion of the books, no other worlds (each series within the whole cosmere universe takes place on different systems. Stormlight Archive = Roshar system, Mistborn = Scadrian system, so on) have them present.
None of his other books are as long as the Stormlight novels, so there is some umph missing when comparing them, but I'd highly recommend giving the Mistborn series a spin. The magic system is probably my favorite of all the books and while they are shorter, Sanderson still does a great job building the world and characters along with an engaging story
The Culture novel series by Iaian Banks might appeal to you. Far future hype tech stuff.
You could also get into the Xeelee sequence by Stephen Baxter.
I haven't read much fiction much less fantasy lately, but I did really enjoy The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I also really like Le Guin's Earthsea books.
I thought that the second book was kinda boring, but the third was a banger
Ken Macleod's Fall Revolution Sequence. 300 Years of weird Trots in space!
Start with book 2 The Stone Canal, in which a mutualist from the 70s wakes up dead on an alien world run by his ML-Turned Libertarian Frenemy who has corrupted every principle he fought for.
Graydon Saunders The Commonweal
Imagine if someone broke reality and created magic as a heritable trait. Now fast forward 400,000 years past multiple thousands of mind controlling immortal evil overlords, magical rewriting of deep time, and a world that makes Fallout look habitable (Ducks are now giant, breath fire, kill single digit percentages of the population, and are essential ecosystem components keeping out the really bad stuff like Unicorns.)
Now imagine a radical egalitarian socialist republic managed to shrug off the mind control, deal with the fact that not being able to mind control the land makes it a death world, create a collective magic form more powerful than the god-kings, integrate the god-kings fed up of this eternal war shit, and is currently trying to hold on French Revolution style.
It's been 300 years, it's still too early to tell.
It is, some notes about reading the Commonweal cause you might bounce hard if you don't know what the authorial intent is.
There's almost no infodumping so you're not supposed to have a clue about the context of what's happening at first, and the style of writing is deliberately strange as it's supposed to be a direct translation of a language constructed along egalitarian values (so sex exists and childrearing roles exist but gendered pronouns do not, also dates, weights etc are French Revolutionary based.)
Oh, I got another: The Powder Mage books.
Doing gunpowder rails gives some people magic gun powers, so they do a liberalism and overthrew the king. The old power structure doesn’t like this, which includes a bunch of powerful classical mages (the Privileged) and every neighboring country. The subsequent trilogy is better than the first and moves the action to the old kingdom’s imperial quagmire where some imperialism is about to get tipped on its side from several directions.
It also has a sequel series, so there's six decently long books to read. Definitely one of the coolest magic systems out there. To expand a bit on how it works: gunpowder is basically a drug, as mentioned, but powder mages can also burn gunpowder near them and redirect the force thereby generated as they like, so they can make a bunch of powder explode next to them and direct the blast away from themselves, for example, and one character can fire a bullet and make it shoot much farther than it could ordinarily go by expending powder on his person and using the force from it to push on the bullet.
Vlad Taltos is a pretty cool series written by a trot, deals with elf imperialism and marginalized humans, the protagonist starts out doing thief guild shit with hungarian psychic witch powers and a sarcastic mini dragon sidekick, and various wacky antics ensue
