I would definitely recommend "The Lost Years of Merlin" by T.A. Barron. It is actually a five book saga.SmarterThanYou said:I've been a fan of fantasy literature since I was a kid, and of late I find that I really like political intrigue in my fantasy. I just finished Martin's excellent A Song of Ice and Fire books, and since I now have to wait for book six, I'm looking for a new good epic fantasy series to read.
I just picked up the first Witcher book (Blood of Elves), but I have to wait for the rest of those to be translated as well, so no go there. :-/ I'm looking for something akin to Ice and Fire- well-written, good prose, political intrigue, interesting characters, grittier setting, etc.
Go nuts if you've got a recommendation. Feel free to love all over a book you enjoy, I'll be sure to take any recommendations into account.
EDIT: Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions. I'm definetly going to check out these books, oughta keep me busy for a while. xD Thanks again!
And don't even get me started on the bloody Varden themselves. Giving away chest of gold for random dowries while they themselves are nearly bankrupt, not even trying to negotiate the ridiculous terms of potential allies of questionable importance who arrive in a scene ripped straight out of Lord of the Rings, only with all the epic sucked out.KingsGambit said:I wouldn't call myself "hardcore", though for all I know I may well be the dictionary definition of the term, but I detested it. I don't know what it was that drove me to read the whole thing...maybe because I'd started so figured I ought to finish.DugMachine said:The Inheritance (Eragon) series is really good in my opinion but it might be a bit too simple for experienced readers. Most hardcore fans of fantasy I know absolutely hate the Inheritance series
Paolini isn't a bad writer per sé, but he's a terrible story teller. The characters were lifeless and bland, the "love story" was abysmally told and all I could think of was that Eragon was a stupid child who simply didn't learn anything at any point. The villains were so stupidly powerful, along the lines of Superman, that even the battle scenes were tedious to read.
The thing that really got the bit between my teeth (and this is a MAJOR SPOILER for anyone who plans to read it) is when whatshername leading the Varden is captured and imprisoned by Galbatorix. He decides to physically torture her, despite that by his own admission he could "rip" anything he wanted straight from her mind. This was the most ridiculous thing in the whole series, making no sense whatsoever. Nothing of the little we knew of the character would suggest he would have done that and all it served was to make him more evil to the reader. Why didn't he just cook babies for cyring out loud? Oh and of course he dressed entirely in black, because that's clearly what villains do. The most powerful man in the world and undisputed leader of the mankind, with the ability to simply pluck thoughts from peoples' minds would not resort to petty physical torture, especially not when an army is at his city's gates, especially not with his lofty plans and goals, especially not with his timetable, especially not when considering *any* of his previous motivations until that point.
Sorry, I went on a rant there. It could have been great high fantasy. The farmboy becomes dragon rider, chased out of village by nazgul...errr...insect people, whatever, is unoriginal but I can live with that. But the characters were all wooden and uninteresting, couldn't have cared less what happened to any of them. The end was pretty atrocious too and completely unsatisfying, though in fairness to Paolini he kinda painted himself into a corner with that. Tedious, infuriating, boring, unsatisfying. The nicest things I can say about Eragon.
I was waiting for someone to post this, David Eddings is a brilliant author when it comes to fantasy.Shanicus said:The Belgariad, Mallorean and Sparhawk series by David Eddings.
KingsGambit said:Wheel of Time
8-Bit_Jack said:wheel of time
Whenever these fantasy recommendation threads appear there's always a lot of praise and love for Jordan's saga. That being said, I always feel the need to ask how you fought through the middle books where he went so far off track. In trying to juggle so many different plots and characters they all felt a bit lost. I think I made it to around book seven. After that I just kinda gave up and moved on.Eric Morales said:Wheel of Time
Ugh.. Please don't mention that, the one part of the series I'm still trying to pretend didn't happen. That's the main book people will point to when they're trashing the series, and food good reason, everything having to do with that sculpture is utter nonsense consisting of little more than Goodkind cramming his personal ideology down your throat.KingsGambit said:The whole thing with the sculpture in "Faith of the Fallen" also was really amazing storytelling.
Funny you should mention Darth Vader, because Star Wars is one of the things that Inheritance rips off so wholesale. I enjoyed Eragon when I was 13, I thought Eldest was pretty dull when that came out and I found it really hard to reread them because of the terrible prose and predictable story. I tried to read the 3rd one last summer an I found it impossible. I think it started with a massive recap which I found so annoying because presumably you'll be a fan already if you're buying the 3rd book, and even though I hadn't read the others in several years I still remembered what had happened. It just completely put me off.Deathmageddon said:It's established in Eldest that the elves prefer to do things (especially tedious labor) by hand rather than with magic, because that would make it too easy and the task would lose all meaning. Galbatorix dressed in black and rode a black dragon because, yes, it's what villains do. Remember Darth Vader? Villains are just doomed to rock the darker hues. Who the hell would take an antagonist seriously if he wore bright pink and rode into battle on a sparkly Twilight vampire?KingsGambit said:The thing that really got the bit between my teeth (and this is a MAJOR SPOILER for anyone who plans to read it) is when whatshername leading the Varden is captured and imprisoned by Galbatorix. He decides to physically torture her, despite that by his own admission he could "rip" anything he wanted straight from her mind. This was the most ridiculous thing in the whole series, making no sense whatsoever. Nothing of the little we knew of the character would suggest he would have done that and all it served was to make him more evil to the reader. Why didn't he just cook babies for cyring out loud? Oh and of course he dressed entirely in black, because that's clearly what villains do. The most powerful man in the world and undisputed leader of the mankind, with the ability to simply pluck thoughts from peoples' minds would not resort to petty physical torture, especially not when an army is at his city's gates, especially not with his lofty plans and goals, especially not with his timetable, especially not when considering *any* of his previous motivations until that point.
Sorry, I went on a rant there. It could have been great high fantasy. The farmboy becomes dragon rider, chased out of village by nazgul...errr...insect people, whatever, is unoriginal but I can live with that. But the characters were all wooden and uninteresting, couldn't have cared less what happened to any of them. The end was pretty atrocious too and completely unsatisfying, though in fairness to Paolini he kinda painted himself into a corner with that. Tedious, infuriating, boring, unsatisfying. The nicest things I can say about Eragon.
Also couldn't disagree more about the ending. Wrapped up as well, if not better than any series that comes to mind at the moment. I mean, what were you hoping for? Even if it was a little predictable, it's still better than Mass Effect 3.
Yeah, you don't even wanna know how much I paid for a copy of Blade of Tyshalle. Since 2008 Blade of Tyshalle (Act of War) is available as eBook over at Amazon.DrWilhelm said:[..]The Acts of Caine, if you can find the damned things. I read the first book, Heroes Die, a year ago but still haven't managed to get my claws on a copy of the second. Pisses me off too because I adored the book.
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That's Ian Irvine's Three Worlds Cycle which consists of The View from the Mirror quartet, The Well of Echoes quartet, and The Song of Tears trilogy. This is some kinda Darwinian fantasy, survival of the fittest and so. I like them too.Sandjube said:A song of ice and fire, and I can't remember what this other series' name is, but I think the first book is called Well of Echoes...my GOD is it good. There's 3 books, then 4 set later, then 3 set later. So a fair bit of reading, although I actually skipped the first 3 because I didn't know about them and it turns out that they're set way before the other 7.
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I found Codex Alera to be hugely entertaining. For some reason, I don't find the urban fantasy Dresden Files all that appealing to me but I loved Codex Alera.sidecord said:the Dresden Files is a really good one. Codex Alera is another that awesome, kinda like if people in the Roman era Avatars element bending powers
I would go for "The kingiller chronicle" it's not nearly as grimdark as ASOIAF but it is pure brilliance. currently there are two books, both extraordinary in their excellence.SmarterThanYou said:I've been a fan of fantasy literature since I was a kid, and of late I find that I really like political intrigue in my fantasy. I just finished Martin's excellent A Song of Ice and Fire books, and since I now have to wait for book six, I'm looking for a new good epic fantasy series to read.
I just picked up the first Witcher book (Blood of Elves), but I have to wait for the rest of those to be translated as well, so no go there. :-/ I'm looking for something akin to Ice and Fire- well-written, good prose, political intrigue, interesting characters, grittier setting, etc.
Go nuts if you've got a recommendation. Feel free to love all over a book you enjoy, I'll be sure to take any recommendations into account.
EDIT: Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions. I'm definetly going to check out these books, oughta keep me busy for a while. xD Thanks again!