Am I the only one who is tired of dark fantasy...?
- Thread starter GabeZhul
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You mean you didn't figure it out from the blurb on the back of the book?Cowabungaa said:
I mean the thing that's supposed to attract you to the book basically advertises how much of a massive Mary Sue the main character is. Now, a tragedy that has a character like that who is brought low by his own actions might be interesting, if it was a sensible length. But you have to read two books of Sue before it's even
That's actually my biggest problem with a lot of modern fantasy, length. "Epic" is a condition that causes trapped wind and uncomfortable bloating, and a lot of authors really need to seek some kind of topical relief. I read the first book of Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders series and it felt like I'd read about 200 pages of story, but the book had been 900 pages long.
Depends what you mean.
There's a lot of authors trying to be "the anti-Tolkien" or whatever, or trying to be deep by having lurid descriptions of nasty deaths, or just like endless torture. This often seems childish rather than dark, though, despite having dark elements.
There's a lot of authors trying to be "the anti-Tolkien" or whatever, or trying to be deep by having lurid descriptions of nasty deaths, or just like endless torture. This often seems childish rather than dark, though, despite having dark elements.
Ah, I had just come on here to suggest Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy and the other Fitz Trilogy.GloatingSwine said:
Yeah, the Live Trader series is really... ummm... well, it's not her best work. Especially when you may have been reading in order, so you've gone from the interesting and fast paced Farseer Triloy to the Liveship stuff.
If you're a first time reader, I'd suggest skipping both the Liveship Trader stuff, and then the next 4 Liveship Trader books. Just read the Fitz and the Fool stuff, and then if you REALLY want to know, you can read it and understand why it is so important.
It could be worse.
It could have been the Soldier Son stuff. God, that was terrible drivel.
However, her latest book was very good, but she is only writing trilogies now so it ends right when the story finally begins to pick up. THey may as well have called it "Act 1: The Book". Now we are waiting for Act 2.
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Personally, I am not tired of Dark Fantasy, but I am tired of Tolkien fantasy; which is why I like the Wheel of Time, Fitz and the Fool and the Song of Ice and Fire.
I am sick of elves, I am sick of the chosen one, I am sick of dwarves having beards, I am sick of "the darkness", I am sick of the special sword, I am sick of "destiny", I am sick of the same tropes, again and again (although now I think about it, the Wheel of Time does a lot of these, but at least is different enough to make it interesting).
Terry Brooks' Landover series is pretty light fantasy compared to most novels you listed. I don't know much about his Shannara chronicles, but I'm assuming they're along the same lines (I've only read 1 entry iirc).
EDIT: One more for "having read Name of the Wind", and also for wanting to punch Kvothe in the face. I'm still going to read the third book once it's available here, though.
EDIT: One more for "having read Name of the Wind", and also for wanting to punch Kvothe in the face. I'm still going to read the third book once it's available here, though.
The Farseer trilogy was significantly better (though again it gets a serious case of epic in the last book, fantasy needs better editors who can actually make authors think about what they really need to include).Leon Declis said:
Well, just to warn you:
Do not read Joe Abercrombie or Scott Bakker if you're already tired of dark fantasy.
(not criticism, they're good as far as I can tell)
Do not read Joe Abercrombie or Scott Bakker if you're already tired of dark fantasy.
(not criticism, they're good as far as I can tell)
Oh, I am sorry, I am so, SO sorry for you. Another survivor such as myself from that book series. *shudders* I feel your pain my friend.GabeZhul said:
I'm listening to this book series right now actually, and loving it.GabeZhul said:
The books that I will definitely not read:
Why not? I'm curious since you read the Way of Kings. Did you not like the Way of Kings series?GabeZhul said:
Oh god I know. I'm so not touching that series, because of Brent Weeks. That Night Angel series left such a terrible taste in my mouth.GabeZhul said:
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If you want light hearted, I think a bit of clarification might be in order. Are you asking for writing styles that are more humorous, or at least inject humor into their works? If so, then The Dresden Files is a good one. The stories are still dark, and the protagonist goes through a lot of terrible shit, but there is a lot of humor and comedy mixed into it. I can't count the number of times I laughed reading those books.
A particular book series that I found enjoyable was The Iron Druid chronicles. It's a modern day fantasy, following the last real druid. It's VERY funny, and very light hearted in the mindset of the main character.
There's about 15 books ( I think) in the Dresden Files at this point, and I think 7 books in the Iron Druid chronicles. Both of them were enjoyable, funny, engaging reads for me. They are not without some dark and grit, but it's not all they are either. A good bit of humor and fun as well.
The Wykydtron said:
You forgot to mention that he went to live with the ninja amazon people so he could become a kick ass ninja- you know, the matriarchy that can kill everyone with their bare hands, but don't know where babies come from.
Mind you, there was a really cool battle scene that played out like an actual gritty D&D battle before all of the ninja school/ faerie sex business- the encounter in the woods with the bandits, I believe. You'll have to forgive me, it's been a year since I read the book, and many books since then.
Mind you, there was a really cool battle scene that played out like an actual gritty D&D battle before all of the ninja school/ faerie sex business- the encounter in the woods with the bandits, I believe. You'll have to forgive me, it's been a year since I read the book, and many books since then.
I rolled my eyes through most of this book, and probably won't read the second one at all. It did it's best to dress down Kvothe, but he's already waaay too awesome.
I only mentioned it so that people would know what not to recommend. Although, to be fair, Kvothe's three year long pointless street-urchin life (which he fixes in the span of a single day once he decides to do so) wasn't exactly cheerful either.spartan231490 said:
I loved The Name of the Wind, but I have to admit there were many times where I had to mentally prepare myself before reading on because it seems Kvothe's "balancing" (aka: the flaws given to him in order to make him less of a Marty Stu) could be pretty much summed up by "Making horrible decisions without any rhyme or reason from time to time", and whenever he did that I just had to put the book down so that I wouldn't break my forehead from the involuntary facepalming.The Wykydtron said:
As for the second book, I sadly haven't managed to get my hands on it yet (I have to import stuff if I want to read them in original English), but a friend of mine promised to lend it to me once he finished with his copy. All in due time.
As for VNs... I am kind of the main mod at VNDB, so I kind of doubt you can show me anything new in that regard, but I appreciate the though.
@Cowabungaa, @TakerFoxx: Damn, I knew I forgot something...
I am actually reading/listening to the Dresden Files (mostly listening, since the audiobooks are awesome), but I have to pace them out because, while I love Jim Butcher's style, I hate how poor Harry never stops being the favorite chew-toy of the universe and reading the books back to back makes his eternal butt-money status somewhat grating. I mean, throw the guy a bone for God's sake!
Speaking of Jim Butcher, I also read the Codex Alera books, so you can cross that one off the list as well.
Thanks, I will look around there later.Ryan Hughes said:
Actually, they kind of are. At least they are distinctly low-fantasy, a typical crapsack world with capricious gods, tyrants, monsters, intrigue and other such fun things, except you don't really notice because of the writing-style and the tongue-in-cheek nature of the setting itself. Once you peel all that away though, it is pretty dang dark all right.BobDobolina said:
On the other hand I didn't mention it as an example, only as something that I have already read and therefore off the list of possible recommendations.
@Everyone else: Thanks for the recommendations, I will be looking into them. Keep them coming.
Ah come on now, The Belgariad is awesome frothy reading. Even the Malloreon is ok up to the atrocious ending. Everything else the Eddingses have written is nigh-on unreadable (and given the increased credit his wife has received over the years, I can only conclude it's her fault)Soviet Heavy said:
Eddings suffers a lot from moral uncertainty - he never seems to be sure whether he thinks Good and Evil are just two opposing teams or whether there is actually a difference between them, and he veers shamelessly between the two positions.
I have personally never been a fan of "fantasy" in general, i.e. medieval style story telling. I really prefer the industrial revolution era fiction and anytime magic or mythical creatures are involved I usually turn off immediately. It is my own personal preconception because before I became a sad internet person I used to be a more jockish person and felt culturally obliged to think little of dragons, elves, trolls, etc. That sort of perception has stuck although it now just means I don't enjoy anytime someone starts talking about fake lands that sound like they were stolen from Lord of the Rings. The only game that I can honestly say I like for the story that fits this setting is the Witcher game series and even then, I usually hate listening to people talk in that game. I like the storyline and the voice acting, I actually get immersed in it which is rare for me. The only problem is everytime someone mentions elves or some goofy named land I immediately get sucked out. I was thinking about how I really loved the pre-rendered cinematic from Witcher 2's startup sequence except for the part where the assassin casts a spell on himself before throwing that awesome freeze grenade. That sequence, despite having some goofy medieval stuff, is pretty intense for me up until the part where the guy casts a magic spell (sign) on himself before he does that awesome bullet/arrow time sequence where he assassinates his target.
I've read the Way of Kings a while back (actually, quite a while back, I might actually look up the audiobook for that one for a refresher), and while I didn't dislike it, it was not totally up my alley either.Happyninja42 said:
As for the Mistborn series, part of the reason is that when I described the Night Angel trilogy to a friend, his immediate reaction was tho make sure Brandon Sanderson wasn't a pen-name of Brent Weeks because my description of the tone and themes sounded so familiar to him. Not that I really hated the Night Angel trilogy either, but anything similar would be the last thing I would be looking for when I want something lighter.
As for my definition of lighthearted... Well, that's pretty nebulous for me as well, to be completely honest. I think what I am mostly looking for is something easy to digest and humorous, not something I would have to read/listen to with my full undivided attention to get every little nuance but still being entertained. It's kind of a "warm chicken-soup for the soul" thing I am gunning now, if that makes any sense.
GabeZhul said:
I would recommend picking up the audiobooks, they are really good. I'm enjoying the narrators very much. They have 2 of them, male and female for the large cast, and they both do a good job in my opinion. The audiobooks are VERY expensive though, so I'd get them via audible's 1 free book/month thing if you have a subscription.GabeZhul said:I've read the Way of Kings a while back (actually, quite a while back, I might actually look up the audiobook for that one for a refresher), and while I didn't dislike it, it was not totally up my alley either.
As for the Mistborn series, part of the reason is that when I described the Night Angel trilogy to a friend, his immediate reaction was tho make sure Brandon Sanderson wasn't a pen-name of Brent Weeks because my description of the tone and themes sounded so familiar to him. Not that I really hated the Night Angel trilogy either, but anything similar would be the last thing I would be looking for when I want something lighter.
As for my definition of lighthearted... Well, that's pretty nebulous for me as well, to be completely honest. I think what I am mostly looking for is something easy to digest and humorous, not something I would have to read/listen to with my full undivided attention to get every little nuance but still being entertained. It's kind of a "warm chicken-soup for the soul" thing I am gunning now, if that makes any sense.
And I personally don't see the similarities to Brent Weeks writing style compared to Brandon Sanderson, but to each his own. I personally hate the Night Angel series by the end of it.
as for your definition of lighthearted, I would suggest the Dresden Files and the Iron Druid Chronicles. Both are good, easy to digest, funny, and while paying close attention is helpful, it's not 100% necessary all the time.
I haven't read them myself, but I head the Terry Pratchett books have a great sense of humor, as well as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. As far as books I HAVE read, I rather enjoyed the Artemis Fowl series. It is more young adult fiction, but because of that it's got a colorful world and doesn't get too grim.GabeZhul said:
And if you enjoyed the Abhorsen series, are you aware that a new book came out just last week? Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen. No it's not lighter, but I thought you'd like to know if you enjoyed it
I don't know if the Abhorsen series is one you listened to on audiobook, but if you did I will tell you right now that unfortunately they didn't get Tim Curry to do Clariel like the other three books. But they did get a guy whose voice is similar in timbre, so it wasn't too hard to get used to. And it helps that the story only shares one character with the other Abhorsen books.