It was already mentioned a couple of times, but you can't oversell a good thing
Amber by Roger Zelazny
Problem is, once you read it, you'll never be able to enjoy any other fantasy series. Ever.
Yes.
The Chronicles of Amber series is fast paced, action packed, and VERY 70s pulp fantasy.
The main character is an extreme badass facing other extreme badasses in a multiverse spanning conflict. Plus the cover of the version I read looks like this. Its like one of those Old Spice commercials in fantasy novel form.
As far as other books go:
- Never was that into Song of Ice and Fire. I read through the first two books at the insistence of my friends, only to be bored by a plot that plodded along with little of significance seeming to happen. Everyone spends time mucking about with poorly defined goals (beyond, "I'm going to rule Westeros"... eventually) and anyone who dares to get anything done is immediately killed off by Martin. I also got a feeling like Martin's trying too hard to be "gritty"...
- Brandon Sanderson's novels are all very similar. This doesn't mean they're bad, in fact they're quite enjoyable, but they tread a lot of the same ground. He has a tendancy to make all his main characters "gifted" with noble intentions and a single character defining flaw. As a result, his characterization is kinda simplistic.
Vin is a ridiculously overpowered allomancer who has trust issues that define her. Kaladin is a ridiculously overpowered surgebinder who feels guilty about all the people that died while he lived. Those statements are really all you need to know about each character, there's not much else to either of them
On the other hand, Sanderson is great at writing action sequences that feel good to read, and his magic systems are amazingly satisfying.
I'll have to take a look at some of the other books that have been recommended in this thread. My backlog of books I need to read is running low
After further consideration, I must say that the Malazan Book of the Fallen is the best fantasy book series. A world that doesn't rehash Tolkien, prose that isn't overwritten, and an author that doesn't handhold you through the book. Erikson's talent lies in the fantastic races of his series; many are long extinct, but their history is made very pertinent to the plot.
Second is the Elric saga by Moorcock, spanning The Stealer of Souls to the comic Elric: The Balance Lost.
I've always been a fan of the Thieves World setting. The entire place is an existentialist's wet dream. Something about the dark and gritty setting just feels right. Even though plenty of questionable things occur in the novels themselves, I guess that can be handwaved since it 80's, where you could still buy a decent paperback for less than 5 dollars.
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Been playing Magic for 2 years.
Currently play in Modern with a u/w Control deck.
I finished up Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy less than half an hour ago, and I gotta say: it is one of the best things I've read in years. I felt the second book dragged a bit, but "Hero of Ages" more than made up for it. I was very impressed with how so many details were brought together; it demonstrated the sort of foresight and resolution I had desperately hoped for in the show "Lost"...or in King's Dark Tower series.
I'm not even a huge fantasy reader. Most of the fantasy I've read struck me as being pretty juvenile (Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" being the last fantasy book I had tried).
I'm planning on checking out Sanderson's new series, but would also like recommendations for other writers to check out.
On a different note: I'd also be genuinely curious to hear from someone who liked the ending to the Dark Tower series. Why did you like it, rather than not seeing it as a cop-out?
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On a different note: I'd also be genuinely curious to hear from someone who liked the ending to the Dark Tower series. Why did you like it, rather than not seeing it as a cop-out?
It was a cop-out. I sort of get what King is saying regarding Roland, but still, I'd rather see him actually fail than be stuck in an infinite loop.
And there are things that I don't get. Does it mean that Roland is in another universe of sorts where the events of the entirety of the series never occurred? Is the Crimson King still "alive"? Is Flagg still alive? But there's so many interconnections with King's established universe in general. Is Father Callahan in that world, etc?
Would be nice if King delved once more into his universe. There must be more than two incredibly underwhelming characters (both the Crimson King and Flagg failed so hard in the last book), a spider, and a turtle.
I finished up Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy less than half an hour ago, and I gotta say: it is one of the best things I've read in years. I felt the second book dragged a bit, but "Hero of Ages" more than made up for it. I was very impressed with how so many details were brought together; it demonstrated the sort of foresight and resolution I had desperately hoped for in the show "Lost"...or in King's Dark Tower series.
I'm not even a huge fantasy reader. Most of the fantasy I've read struck me as being pretty juvenile (Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" being the last fantasy book I had tried).
I'm planning on checking out Sanderson's new series, but would also like recommendations for other writers to check out.
On a different note: I'd also be genuinely curious to hear from someone who liked the ending to the Dark Tower series. Why did you like it, rather than not seeing it as a cop-out?
You should read The Alloy of Law, as well. Pretty great follow-up, it takes place a few hundred years after the ending of The Hero of Ages.
Warbreaker is pretty great as well, as it escapes Sanderson's sometimes cliche 'Exceptional character with one defining fault' characterizations. Sanderson just has very interesting magic systems, in general.
Patrick Rothfuss is a must read if you liked Sanderson. He's only got two books of his trilogy out (huge books, too), but they're very satisfying. A lot of interconnected elements that aren't obvious at first. I also really like his emphasis on how stories are told, and there is no info dump telling you a 'true' history, instead you have to piece together things based on various songs and stories the main character is exposed to. And most of the book is an oral autobiography told to a character named chronicler, and it's implied that Kvothe may not be recalling/telling the story exactly as it happened (for instance, his impression of his first love's beauty is very different from someone else's). He's pretty much the only author most people can agree on is pretty great, as most fantasy books (like Sci-Fi books) have varying mileage.
I actually started in fantasy with Wizard's First Rule, and enjoyed the whole series the first time through, but even then I groaned at some of the more contrived elements. It's the series that taught me to hate magic system without well-defined rules, especially when the main character has a power that is only usable in the climax of the book to resolve the plot or the hole the author has written himself into. I couldn't go back at this point, especially with the explicit conservative ideology espoused in the later books. The big villains in the final books are basically the Fox News fear of socialism.
I read a lot of fantasy/SF stuff, which I enjoy for the most part, but I find that so many of them simply fail to stick the landing for me.
The Joe Abercrombie First Law trilogy is probably the textbook example. I really liked the first 2, and tore through the third only to be relatively horrified by the way the whole thing ended. I felt actual anger at those books.
I also liked Sanderson's Mistborn novel tremendously but thought the two follow-ups went increasingly downhill as he tried to come up with a continuing story to follow the first, which was basically complete.
Almost anything written by Stephen King (esp. The Stand) - and he has even acknowledged that he doesn't know how his stories are going to end when he starts them, which explains quite a bit. I've not read the Dark Tower books (except for the first one a very, very long time ago) for just this reason.
I'm worried that Song of Ice and Fire and Kingkiller Chronicles, and The Dresden Files are going to similarly dissapoint when they finish, but I'm holding out faint hope that Martin and Rothfuss and Butcher at least knew how they planned to finish when they started.
Series that stuck the landings?
Zelazny's original Amber novels come pretty close. The last one ended in a bit of a mess, it's true, but no so much as to ruin what came before.
Harry Potter - decent, if not amazing finale.
Guy Gavrial Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, while a fairly blatant Tolkien riff, has enough original stuff and is written well enough to qualify. I actually like his standalone Tigana best of all he's written.
Feist's original Riftwar Trilogy (plus the Empire trilogy) were pretty good.
Finally, for a lighthearted but almost completely satisfying fantasy (now it's been a while since I've read them so pardon me if they don't hold up as well these days), you could read Donaldson's The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through.
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Ambush Krotiq makes me laugh so much. I keep rereading the card and it keeps not having Flash. In what sense is this an ambush again? I just have visions of this huge Krotiq poorly concealed in some bushes, feeling slightly sad that his carefully planned ambushes never seem to work.
I'm worried that Song of Ice and Fire and Kingkiller Chronicles, and The Dresden Files are going to similarly dissapoint when they finish, but I'm holding out faint hope that Martin and Rothfuss and Butcher at least knew how they planned to finish when they started.
Butcher had the whole series planned out from day one, and I'm fairly sure Rothfuss had his story planned when he started as well. Whether or not they handle the endings well we'll have to see. Butcher's other series had a perfectly fine ending so he's at least got some end-of-series cred, and Rothfuss is an amazing enough writer I'm willing to extend some trust that he knows what he's doing.
Martin... Eh. I'm not holding out hope that the series will be finished at all. He's not exactly a young fellow and not in the best shape. If the delay for the next two books are as long as the previous one, I think there's a very real shot that the series won't be finished at all.
On-topic EDS:
The Kingkiller Chronicle is arguably the best fantasy series out right now.
The Night Angel trilogy starts slow but really builds and gets more interesting as it goes.
The Dresden Files is probably my favorite series at the moment.
The Codex Alera series is really good, by Jim Butcher who also writes the Dresden Files.
The Strain trilogy, by Guillermo del Toro, isn't strictly fantasy but it's a pretty interesting take on modern-day vampires. The ending sort of misses the mark but not by enough to put me off.
Everything scares me... kitties scare me... squirrels scare me... corpses....corpses bring forth a pletora of confusing feeling which i prefer not to dwell on...:p
I think I read the first two Dresden books (edit- okay looked it up, I read through book 3 Grave Peril), but I wasn't really enthralled. Something about the style felt just a tiny bit too lighthearted or simple or something (on purpose or not, just didn't snare me). I've seen so much love for the series that I feel like I'm just missing something. I'm always looking for new books/series to read. I know there are tons of books out there, but I really only feel inspired to pick something up if I see some rave reviews and love for the books.
I enjoyed all of the dark tower, even the ending. If you remember the plot, there were many instances where Roland seemed to know the future, so how else to explain it?
Also, any series that has a group of vampires and low men screaming in terror like little girls when they see a gunslinger is just awesome.
I finished up Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy less than half an hour ago, and I gotta say: it is one of the best things I've read in years. I felt the second book dragged a bit, but "Hero of Ages" more than made up for it. I was very impressed with how so many details were brought together; it demonstrated the sort of foresight and resolution I had desperately hoped for in the show "Lost"...or in King's Dark Tower series.
I'm not even a huge fantasy reader. Most of the fantasy I've read struck me as being pretty juvenile (Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" being the last fantasy book I had tried).
I'm planning on checking out Sanderson's new series, but would also like recommendations for other writers to check out.
On a different note: I'd also be genuinely curious to hear from someone who liked the ending to the Dark Tower series. Why did you like it, rather than not seeing it as a cop-out?
I liked the idea of Roland as a myth figure; it reminded me of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion. An Ageless Stranger of sorts, like his counterpart, Flagg.
Personally for me it is Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Its seems I am not alone :). I met him at a small sci fi convention run by my friends, out here in the middle of nowhere. Before I had read his books. I read them because I had met him. Nice guy :). Also he plays MTG,(beat everyone at the convention in a New Phyrexia draft) so it is concievable that he is around here somewhere.
I have just started reading Warbreaker.. it obviously has smillar source material as Theros, if you like the theros flavour give it a read.
Game of thrones is very deep world but it isn't written as well as it could be. I feel the T.V show format is much better for it and makes it more exciting in the same way LotRs made great movies. When all the description and repetition is striped out and the core story comes out.
The TV show strips certain characters of their background and development, though. Mance Rayder, Yara(Asha) Greyjoy, Stannis Baratheon. So Brett's Demon Cycle is worth my time?
The TV show strips certain characters of their background and development, though. Mance Rayder, Yara(Asha) Greyjoy, Stannis Baratheon. So Brett's Demon Cycle is worth my time?
Yes. I'm very anxious for the next book. The last one had a cliffhanger ending, which is just plain bollucks! It goes between several different characters in each book and so the narrative stays fresh and you don't have to wonder what character X is doing while something exciting is happening to character Y.
Kingkiller has gained enough traction to be optioned for TV show. I honestly hope it's more of a Four Corners(that's the name of Kingkiller's world) show than specifically Kingkiller. The Doors of Stone has a lot of story to dole out but I am confident that things will conclude nicely and have no need for a direct sequel. Four Corners has enough interesting bits for a half dozen TV shows! Kvothe is just too big to be contained on TV. He's a great character because he lives in our imaginations and isn't defined by anything other than the text.
The TV show strips certain characters of their background and development, though. Mance Rayder, Yara(Asha) Greyjoy, Stannis Baratheon. So Brett's Demon Cycle is worth my time?
Yes. I'm very anxious for the next book. The last one had a cliffhanger ending, which is just plain bollucks! It goes between several different characters in each book and so the narrative stays fresh and you don't have to wonder what character X is doing while something exciting is happening to character Y.
Kingkiller has gained enough traction to be optioned for TV show. I honestly hope it's more of a Four Corners(that's the name of Kingkiller's world) show than specifically Kingkiller. The Doors of Stone has a lot of story to dole out but I am confident that things will conclude nicely and have no need for a direct sequel. Four Corners has enough interesting bits for a half dozen TV shows! Kvothe is just too big to be contained on TV. He's a great character because he lives in our imaginations and isn't defined by anything other than the text.
Kingkiller's book one is enough base material for at least a season of a (13 episode) tv show, if not two. It'd be very easy to add material about his time at school.
Toss up between Discworld (specifically the narratives centering on Samuel Vimes (THUD! is one of my favorite books regardless of genre)) and A Song of Fire and Ice. I'm a fan of the detailed writing (but not overly descriptive) and I like the slower pace, which lends to the feeling of it being the story of a world, not a story about individuals.
Honorable mention to Xanth, although I've only read two or three by Piers Anthony. I'm a sucker for puns (strawberry).
Just a short summary of what I thought of books mentioned so far in this thread:
The good:
Malazan Book of the Fallen- it dragged at bit in the last few books, but it never got bad enough for me to drop it. Overall, I enjoyed it immensely
Dark Tower- Loved this. Wasn't too bothered by King's appearance in it, to be honest.
Kingkiller trilogy- Although the protagonist is a huge Mary Sue, I accepted this because we will have the eventual pay-off of him becoming what he is now. I'm interested to see what happens.
Dune- I still hold the first three books in the series as really good. It went a bit bat***** crazy from there on in, and the ones written by his son were pretty bad, but I still hold this series up as a good read.
LotR- I love these books, and the Hobbit as well. However, I do always get bored with the Sam and Frodo parts.
His Dark Materials- I loved the world and the characters in it. I thought it got a little preachy in the last book, but it had a good enough point to make to young adults that I'm willing to overlook that.
Discworld- If you do not like this, I think there's something wrong with you. I don't know what else to say about it. I love the wacky humour of the first ten or so, and I love the more real-world problems tackled in the later ones as well.
Bad:
Wheel of Time- "She tugged her braid", "She smoothed her skirts", "arms folded below breasts". I got sick of his shallow portrayal of women, the idiot ball they were passing around to make the plot work, the stupid "geesh, I wish I was as good with women as my friends" the three main characters do constantly. But the worst thing, the absolute worst thing was the pacing. Glacial ceased to be an adequate description.
Sword of Truth- I have raged endlessly about this book in other threads, so I keep it to a minimum here. It was just bad, almost to the point where it becomes unintentionally funny. Especially if you read his interviews as well. Main character is a complete monster, writer has a huge boner for Ayn Rand, torture and rape. I'm ashamed I actually was kind of into them as a teenager.
Eh?:
Song of Ice and Fire- I stopped caring about characters because of the Darker and Edgier and dropped the series during one of the more boring parts.
Chronicles of Amber- Read the first two (I think) books, but wasn't too impressed by it. Maybe I should give it another go some day, but I wasn't a huge fan.
Mistborn- I read the original trilogy of this. I didn't really like the main protagonist all of that much and by god, he should've thought up some alternative words for 'burn', because that ***** got old pretty fast. It still was a decent read though, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. It would've been better as a role playing system.
Farseer trilogy- I remember very little about this series, which often means that I enjoyed it while reading, but not enough to actually recommend it to people.
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We have laboured long to build a heaven, only to find it populated with horrors.
Wheel of Time- "She tugged her braid", "She smoothed her skirts", "arms folded below breasts". I got sick of his shallow portrayal of women, the idiot ball they were passing around to make the plot work, the stupid "geesh, I wish I was as good with women as my friends" the three main characters do constantly. But the worst thing, the absolute worst thing was the pacing. Glacial ceased to be an adequate description.
Yes, I think there were about three books where almost nothing happened regarding the overall plot. Everyone was still going places and doing stuff. Basically, it felt like the author split up the main characters AGAIN, after them finally coming back together, just to put off the finale. Then he sadly passed.
That said, when I read them I was crazing a length series, and these books didn't disappoint. I enjoyed them, but I doubt I'd ever read them again.
Kingkiller trilogy- Although the protagonist is a huge Mary Sue, I accepted this because we will have the eventual pay-off of him becoming what he is now. I'm interested to see what happens.
It's pretty obvious that Rothfuss started this project by sitting down and thinking, "Let's give a character all the standard Mary Sue traits (down to the color-changing eyes), set him loose in a world that's not rigged in his favor, and see what happens." Interesting thing: he quickly develops a Tragic Flaw. Really interesting thing: it's the all-time classic Tragic Flaw, hubris. Conclusion: Mary-Suedom is much bigger than trashy modern fannish fiction. There's a direct line running through Gilgamesh, Odysseus, and Robin Hood to Kvothe.
Just about any trope, even the Mary Sue, can make a positive contribution to fiction when it's employed conscientiously and skillfully. It's when writers come to them out of laziness, because they either don't care enough to think about how to use them well or aren't even paying enough attention to notice that they're using them, that they become clichéd and awful.
Wheel of Time- "She tugged her braid", "She smoothed her skirts", "arms folded below breasts". I got sick of his shallow portrayal of women, the idiot ball they were passing around to make the plot work, the stupid "geesh, I wish I was as good with women as my friends" the three main characters do constantly. But the worst thing, the absolute worst thing was the pacing. Glacial ceased to be an adequate description.
Yes, I think there were about three books where almost nothing happened regarding the overall plot. Everyone was still going places and doing stuff. Basically, it felt like the author split up the main characters AGAIN, after them finally coming back together, just to put off the finale. Then he sadly passed.
That said, when I read them I was crazing a length series, and these books didn't disappoint. I enjoyed them, but I doubt I'd ever read them again.
Oh, I digged the books when I read them, certainly, else I wouldn't have done so. I stopped reading because I took a break after one of the books, came back to the series and tried to recap what had happened so far in the last few books, which was basically nothing. I tried to read, but it was already ruined for me by then.
Kingkiller trilogy- Although the protagonist is a huge Mary Sue, I accepted this because we will have the eventual pay-off of him becoming what he is now. I'm interested to see what happens.
It's pretty obvious that Rothfuss started this project by sitting down and thinking, "Let's give a character all the standard Mary Sue traits (down to the color-changing eyes), set him loose in a world that's not rigged in his favor, and see what happens." Interesting thing: he quickly develops a Tragic Flaw. Really interesting thing: it's the all-time classic Tragic Flaw, hubris. Conclusion: Mary-Suedom is much bigger than trashy modern fannish fiction. There's a direct line running through Gilgamesh, Odysseus, and Robin Hood to Kvothe.
Just about any trope, even the Mary Sue, can make a positive contribution to fiction when it's employed conscientiously and skillfully. It's when writers come to them out of laziness, because they either don't care enough to think about how to use them well or aren't even paying enough attention to notice that they're using them, that they become clichéd and awful.
Completely true.
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We have laboured long to build a heaven, only to find it populated with horrors.
I am a huge fan of anything that R.A. Salvatore puts out.
His D and D inspired adventure stories, typically feature well developed anti-heros.
I particularly loved The Sellswords trilogy, which chronicles the adventures of an assassin Artemis Entriri and a band of dark elves.
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War is peace!
Freedom is slavery!
Ignorance is strength!
Yes.
The Chronicles of Amber series is fast paced, action packed, and VERY 70s pulp fantasy.
The main character is an extreme badass facing other extreme badasses in a multiverse spanning conflict. Plus the cover of the version I read looks like this. Its like one of those Old Spice commercials in fantasy novel form.
As far as other books go:
- Never was that into Song of Ice and Fire. I read through the first two books at the insistence of my friends, only to be bored by a plot that plodded along with little of significance seeming to happen. Everyone spends time mucking about with poorly defined goals (beyond, "I'm going to rule Westeros"... eventually) and anyone who dares to get anything done is immediately killed off by Martin. I also got a feeling like Martin's trying too hard to be "gritty"...
- Brandon Sanderson's novels are all very similar. This doesn't mean they're bad, in fact they're quite enjoyable, but they tread a lot of the same ground. He has a tendancy to make all his main characters "gifted" with noble intentions and a single character defining flaw. As a result, his characterization is kinda simplistic.
I'll have to take a look at some of the other books that have been recommended in this thread. My backlog of books I need to read is running low
Second is the Elric saga by Moorcock, spanning The Stealer of Souls to the comic Elric: The Balance Lost.
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I'm not even a huge fantasy reader. Most of the fantasy I've read struck me as being pretty juvenile (Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" being the last fantasy book I had tried).
I'm planning on checking out Sanderson's new series, but would also like recommendations for other writers to check out.
On a different note: I'd also be genuinely curious to hear from someone who liked the ending to the Dark Tower series. Why did you like it, rather than not seeing it as a cop-out?
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It was a cop-out. I sort of get what King is saying regarding Roland, but still, I'd rather see him actually fail than be stuck in an infinite loop.
And there are things that I don't get. Does it mean that Roland is in another universe of sorts where the events of the entirety of the series never occurred? Is the Crimson King still "alive"? Is Flagg still alive? But there's so many interconnections with King's established universe in general. Is Father Callahan in that world, etc?
Would be nice if King delved once more into his universe. There must be more than two incredibly underwhelming characters (both the Crimson King and Flagg failed so hard in the last book), a spider, and a turtle.
You should read The Alloy of Law, as well. Pretty great follow-up, it takes place a few hundred years after the ending of The Hero of Ages.
Warbreaker is pretty great as well, as it escapes Sanderson's sometimes cliche 'Exceptional character with one defining fault' characterizations. Sanderson just has very interesting magic systems, in general.
Patrick Rothfuss is a must read if you liked Sanderson. He's only got two books of his trilogy out (huge books, too), but they're very satisfying. A lot of interconnected elements that aren't obvious at first. I also really like his emphasis on how stories are told, and there is no info dump telling you a 'true' history, instead you have to piece together things based on various songs and stories the main character is exposed to. And most of the book is an oral autobiography told to a character named chronicler, and it's implied that Kvothe may not be recalling/telling the story exactly as it happened (for instance, his impression of his first love's beauty is very different from someone else's). He's pretty much the only author most people can agree on is pretty great, as most fantasy books (like Sci-Fi books) have varying mileage.
I actually started in fantasy with Wizard's First Rule, and enjoyed the whole series the first time through, but even then I groaned at some of the more contrived elements. It's the series that taught me to hate magic system without well-defined rules, especially when the main character has a power that is only usable in the climax of the book to resolve the plot or the hole the author has written himself into. I couldn't go back at this point, especially with the explicit conservative ideology espoused in the later books. The big villains in the final books are basically the Fox News fear of socialism.
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The Joe Abercrombie First Law trilogy is probably the textbook example. I really liked the first 2, and tore through the third only to be relatively horrified by the way the whole thing ended. I felt actual anger at those books.
I also liked Sanderson's Mistborn novel tremendously but thought the two follow-ups went increasingly downhill as he tried to come up with a continuing story to follow the first, which was basically complete.
Almost anything written by Stephen King (esp. The Stand) - and he has even acknowledged that he doesn't know how his stories are going to end when he starts them, which explains quite a bit. I've not read the Dark Tower books (except for the first one a very, very long time ago) for just this reason.
I'm worried that Song of Ice and Fire and Kingkiller Chronicles, and The Dresden Files are going to similarly dissapoint when they finish, but I'm holding out faint hope that Martin and Rothfuss and Butcher at least knew how they planned to finish when they started.
Series that stuck the landings?
Zelazny's original Amber novels come pretty close. The last one ended in a bit of a mess, it's true, but no so much as to ruin what came before.
Harry Potter - decent, if not amazing finale.
Guy Gavrial Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, while a fairly blatant Tolkien riff, has enough original stuff and is written well enough to qualify. I actually like his standalone Tigana best of all he's written.
Feist's original Riftwar Trilogy (plus the Empire trilogy) were pretty good.
Finally, for a lighthearted but almost completely satisfying fantasy (now it's been a while since I've read them so pardon me if they don't hold up as well these days), you could read Donaldson's The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through.
Martin... Eh. I'm not holding out hope that the series will be finished at all. He's not exactly a young fellow and not in the best shape. If the delay for the next two books are as long as the previous one, I think there's a very real shot that the series won't be finished at all.
On-topic EDS:
The Kingkiller Chronicle is arguably the best fantasy series out right now.
The Night Angel trilogy starts slow but really builds and gets more interesting as it goes.
The Dresden Files is probably my favorite series at the moment.
The Codex Alera series is really good, by Jim Butcher who also writes the Dresden Files.
The Strain trilogy, by Guillermo del Toro, isn't strictly fantasy but it's a pretty interesting take on modern-day vampires. The ending sort of misses the mark but not by enough to put me off.
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Also, any series that has a group of vampires and low men screaming in terror like little girls when they see a gunslinger is just awesome.
I liked the idea of Roland as a myth figure; it reminded me of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion. An Ageless Stranger of sorts, like his counterpart, Flagg.
I have just started reading Warbreaker.. it obviously has smillar source material as Theros, if you like the theros flavour give it a read.
Game of thrones is very deep world but it isn't written as well as it could be. I feel the T.V show format is much better for it and makes it more exciting in the same way LotRs made great movies. When all the description and repetition is striped out and the core story comes out.
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Peasant cube: Cards I own
Yes. I'm very anxious for the next book. The last one had a cliffhanger ending, which is just plain bollucks! It goes between several different characters in each book and so the narrative stays fresh and you don't have to wonder what character X is doing while something exciting is happening to character Y.
Kingkiller has gained enough traction to be optioned for TV show. I honestly hope it's more of a Four Corners(that's the name of Kingkiller's world) show than specifically Kingkiller. The Doors of Stone has a lot of story to dole out but I am confident that things will conclude nicely and have no need for a direct sequel. Four Corners has enough interesting bits for a half dozen TV shows! Kvothe is just too big to be contained on TV. He's a great character because he lives in our imaginations and isn't defined by anything other than the text.
Kingkiller's book one is enough base material for at least a season of a (13 episode) tv show, if not two. It'd be very easy to add material about his time at school.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Honorable mention to Xanth, although I've only read two or three by Piers Anthony. I'm a sucker for puns (strawberry).
Emille, Seven-Sting Dancer Shalin Nariya
The good:
Malazan Book of the Fallen- it dragged at bit in the last few books, but it never got bad enough for me to drop it. Overall, I enjoyed it immensely
Dark Tower- Loved this. Wasn't too bothered by King's appearance in it, to be honest.
Kingkiller trilogy- Although the protagonist is a huge Mary Sue, I accepted this because we will have the eventual pay-off
of him becoming what he is now. I'm interested to see what happens.Dune- I still hold the first three books in the series as really good. It went a bit bat***** crazy from there on in, and the ones written by his son were pretty bad, but I still hold this series up as a good read.
LotR- I love these books, and the Hobbit as well. However, I do always get bored with the Sam and Frodo parts.
His Dark Materials- I loved the world and the characters in it. I thought it got a little preachy in the last book, but it had a good enough point to make to young adults that I'm willing to overlook that.
Discworld- If you do not like this, I think there's something wrong with you. I don't know what else to say about it. I love the wacky humour of the first ten or so, and I love the more real-world problems tackled in the later ones as well.
Bad:
Wheel of Time- "She tugged her braid", "She smoothed her skirts", "arms folded below breasts". I got sick of his shallow portrayal of women, the idiot ball they were passing around to make the plot work, the stupid "geesh, I wish I was as good with women as my friends" the three main characters do constantly. But the worst thing, the absolute worst thing was the pacing. Glacial ceased to be an adequate description.
Sword of Truth- I have raged endlessly about this book in other threads, so I keep it to a minimum here. It was just bad, almost to the point where it becomes unintentionally funny. Especially if you read his interviews as well. Main character is a complete monster, writer has a huge boner for Ayn Rand, torture and rape. I'm ashamed I actually was kind of into them as a teenager.
Eh?:
Song of Ice and Fire- I stopped caring about characters because of the Darker and Edgier and dropped the series during one of the more boring parts.
Chronicles of Amber- Read the first two (I think) books, but wasn't too impressed by it. Maybe I should give it another go some day, but I wasn't a huge fan.
Mistborn- I read the original trilogy of this. I didn't really like the main protagonist all of that much and by god, he should've thought up some alternative words for 'burn', because that ***** got old pretty fast. It still was a decent read though, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. It would've been better as a role playing system.
Farseer trilogy- I remember very little about this series, which often means that I enjoyed it while reading, but not enough to actually recommend it to people.
Yes, I think there were about three books where almost nothing happened regarding the overall plot. Everyone was still going places and doing stuff. Basically, it felt like the author split up the main characters AGAIN, after them finally coming back together, just to put off the finale. Then he sadly passed.
That said, when I read them I was crazing a length series, and these books didn't disappoint. I enjoyed them, but I doubt I'd ever read them again.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Just about any trope, even the Mary Sue, can make a positive contribution to fiction when it's employed conscientiously and skillfully. It's when writers come to them out of laziness, because they either don't care enough to think about how to use them well or aren't even paying enough attention to notice that they're using them, that they become clichéd and awful.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
Oh, I digged the books when I read them, certainly, else I wouldn't have done so. I stopped reading because I took a break after one of the books, came back to the series and tried to recap what had happened so far in the last few books, which was basically nothing. I tried to read, but it was already ruined for me by then.
Completely true.
His D and D inspired adventure stories, typically feature well developed anti-heros.
I particularly loved The Sellswords trilogy, which chronicles the adventures of an assassin Artemis Entriri and a band of dark elves.
Freedom is slavery!
Ignorance is strength!
Dennis L. McKiernan's The Iron Tower
Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality