I like *this* so recommend me.....

[Bill Door]

Thank you very much for the recommendations. I have Miles Cameron in my TBR list but was a little put off by a lot of the Amazon reviews that talk about "medieval realism". I'll give it a more thorough look. I never read the WoT books and have always been put off by the fact that every review says that a huge chunk of the series isn't very good. Without wishing to start some kind of holy war, is that true or are they not that bad?

EDIT: I keep reading reviews that are pushing me towards "The Malazan Book of the Fallen". It does sound like my kind of thing but immensely complicated?

You definitely need Malazan Book of the Fallen in your life. Fantastic series.

 

[fl1pper]

You definitely need Malazan Book of the Fallen in your life. Fantastic series.

Thanks Bill, it is definitely on my agenda. I found a group read on goodreads that starts in January so I may well go for it it then, unless anyone is up for starting it on here?

One question I do have is do you have to read them all back to back? It sounds like there is a lot to remember though some people say that is exaggerated.

 

[stenney]

I am hoping the collective wisdom of the forum can help me choose my next book, but I suspect it won't be easy. I devoured a ton of fantasy books when I was a teenager (a depressingly long time ago) and it all pretty much followed the pattern of "reluctant hero is told they are the only person that can stop the evil empire using a mysterious weapon they don't know how to use but somehow manages it in the end" i.e. Tolkien, Brooks, Eddings etc etc. I got frustrated with this format, though I loved the Thomas Covenant books because even though they roughly follow the pattern, they were different enough. I like worlds with diverse areas, the weirder the better. I'm definitely not interested in one set of humans against another and magic is a must. Having said that, I loved GRRMs aSoIaF books but it would have been a lot better for me if it focused more on the threat beyond the wall.

Any ideas?

Daniel Abraham - The Dagger & The Coin series. takes place in different areas of the world in the books. he does a good job with world building and has many different species besides humans.

 

[fl1pper]

Daniel Abraham - The Dagger & The Coin series. takes place in different areas of the world in the books. he does a good job with world building and has many different species besides humans.

Thanks @stenney, I'll check it out. My "want to read" list is growing rapidly

 

[TomTB]

One question I do have is do you have to read them all back to back? It sounds like there is a lot to remember though some people say that is exaggerated.

Here's the recommended reading order. It's all fairly clear ...

 

[fl1pper]

Thanks @TomTB. Couldn't be more simple

I have seen several different reading orders, it's all very confusing!

 

[Andrew.J]

My advice would be to read Malazan Book of the Fallen first and then go for Esslemont novels and Kharkanas. Reading in the publishing order is always a good bet, IMO. That way you're experiencing the series as it was originally intended. The chronological order, in this case, is a tad convoluted.

 

[TomTB]

My advice would be to read Malazan Book of the Fallen first and then go for Esslemont novels and Kharkanas. Reading in the publishing order is always a good bet, IMO. That way you're experiencing the series as it was originally intended. The chronological order, in this case, is a tad convoluted.

Yeah I went published order more or less, but interspersed the ICE books with the SE ones, which I'd strongly recommend.

 

[Andrew.J]

Yeah I went published order more or less, but interspersed the ICE books with the SE ones, which I'd strongly recommend.

How did you start the series? With Night of Knives or Gardens of the Moon? I was initially going to read the prologue from GotM, read Night of Knives and then finish the remaining GotM, but I ended up reading just the Gardens.

 

[fl1pper]

My advice would be to read Malazan Book of the Fallen first and then go for Esslemont novels and Kharkanas. Reading in the publishing order is always a good bet, IMO. That way you're experiencing the series as it was originally intended. The chronological order, in this case, is a tad convoluted.

Yeah I went published order more or less, but interspersed the ICE books with the SE ones, which I'd strongly recommend.

Thanks very much for the advice. I may well start this after I finish my current book and fortunately the choice of what to read first is the same in everybody's reading order. From reading various reviews, a lot of people don't make it past Gardens of the Moon so I'll worry about what comes next if I make it past that hurdle

 

[Andrew.J]

Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates (Book #2) are quite different, even if you don't enjoy GotM as much, give Deadhouse Gates a shot. Besides featuring completely new characters and new storyline, it was written a decade after the first and was created as book since its inception (Gardens of the Moon was a screenplay, I think). Many enjoy reading Deadhouse Gates more. I, and @TomTB as well, if I recall correctly, prefer GotM.

 

[fl1pper]

How did you start the series? With Night of Knives or Gardens of the Moon? I was initially going to read the prologue from GotM, read Night of Knives and then finish the remaining GotM, but I ended up reading just the Gardens.

I found this diagram which may help.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net...diagram.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150116105151

EDIT: Sorry I misread your post and thought you were asking for advice on what to read first. I'll leave the link here in case it's useful to someone.

 

[TomTB]

NoK was the third one i read i think. Started with GoTM and adored it. Definitely one of my fave's! Didn't like DG nearly as much.

 

[fl1pper]

Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates (Book #2) are quite different, even if you don't enjoy GotM as much, give Deadhouse Gates a shot. Besides featuring completely new characters and new storyline, it was written a decade after the first and was created as book since its inception (Gardens of the Moon was a screenplay, I think). Many enjoy reading Deadhouse Gates more. I, and @TomTB as well, if I recall correctly, prefer GotM.

Thanks for the info. I've read a few times that you need to read the first 2 before making a decision on reading the rest. The series must be all kinds of awesome if it's worth pushing through a 1000 page book that you don't like!

 

[Andrew.J]

Thanks for the info. I've read a few times that you need to read the first 2 before making a decision on reading the rest. The series must be all kinds of awesome if it's worth pushing through a 1000 page book that you don't like!

I still liked both, though. It's a rewarding series for sure. Very quotable too, I would always find some interesting thoughts and just plain awesome quotes or scenes to mark down.

 

[Andrew.J]

I currently have a couple of books I'd like to start reading. Two authors I'm most interested right now are Guy Gavriel Kay and China Mieville. I know many of you here like GGK, but what do you think about Mieville? I've had Perdido Street Station for a while now, but never got around reading it. How did you like it?

For GGK, I was thinking of starting with Tigana.

 

[Silvion Night]

I currently have a couple of books I'd like to start reading. Two authors I'm most interested right now are Guy Gavriel Kay and China Mieville. I know many of you here like GGK, but what do you think about Mieville? I've had Perdido Street Station for a while now, but never got around reading it. How did you like it?

For GGK, I was thinking of starting with Tigana.

Don't know about Mieville, but I did read Tigana and it's great. Highly recommended.

 

[fl1pper]

Just a quick shout out to @Peat and @Silvion Night who recommended The Red Knight by Miles Cameron to me on this thread. It was an excellent book (4/5 on goodreads), cheers guys. I particularly loved that the story was told from the perspective of characters on both sides of the conflict. Will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

 

[Silvion Night]

Just a quick shout out to @Peat and @Silvion Night who recommended The Red Knight by Miles Cameron to me on this thread. It was an excellent book (4/5 on goodreads), cheers guys. I particularly loved that the story was told from the perspective of characters on both sides of the conflict. Will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

Thanks for the shout out and I'm happy to see you liked the book.

 

[MorteTorment]

Thanks for the shout out and I'm happy to see you liked the book.

Hehe, I think you recommended it to me. I didn't like it because of the whole being about soldiers thing, but I'm glad that so many people here were able to enjoy it.