September 2015 - What fantasy books are you reading?
- Thread starter Alucard
- Start date
I hope you're more enthusiastic about this one than with the first book in the series. I thought Before they are Hanged was better than the Blade Itself. The story only starts to develop in book 2, whereas book 1 only sets the stage for the characters. The Last Argument of Kings trumps the first 2 books in my opinion.
Best Served Cold
I'll be blunt, I wasn't wowed by JA's The First Law trilogy, but liked it well enough. Same goes for the Shattered Seas trilogy, but there I found JA was too constricted by the genre. To me it feels like he comes into his own with this book.
Best Served Cold has splendid plot movement The pace is steady, never a lull in sight. On top of that we get JA's usual, though highly remarkable, characters. Crafted masterly and evolving naturally and logically, we end up with the utmost memorable characters that are right up top next to Glokta. Stand-outs are Cosca who has a streak of Kruppe (MBotF) and Master-Poisoner Morveer. The only character I didn't feel a connecting to was Friendly, but that wasn't altogether much of an issue.
Pro's
- the story structure
- sublime characters
- thematic arcs
Cons
- Friendly
I'll probably start The Shadow of What was Lost next. I know several among us read that one and thought it great.
I'll be blunt, I wasn't wowed by JA's The First Law trilogy, but liked it well enough. Same goes for the Shattered Seas trilogy, but there I found JA was too constricted by the genre. To me it feels like he comes into his own with this book.
Best Served Cold has splendid plot movement The pace is steady, never a lull in sight. On top of that we get JA's usual, though highly remarkable, characters. Crafted masterly and evolving naturally and logically, we end up with the utmost memorable characters that are right up top next to Glokta. Stand-outs are Cosca who has a streak of Kruppe (MBotF) and Master-Poisoner Morveer. The only character I didn't feel a connecting to was Friendly, but that wasn't altogether much of an issue.
Pro's
- the story structure
- sublime characters
- thematic arcs
Cons
- Friendly
I'll probably start The Shadow of What was Lost next. I know several among us read that one and thought it great.
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The best thing I loved about BSC was how Abercrombie made me really like and cheer for some characters at the beginning and dislike others, and by the end he totally flipped it around. My sympathies shifted drastically. He also improved significantly in writing female characters in comparison to the TFL trilogy. Ferro, after reading BSC seemed even more like poor writing.
Best Served Cold is definitely the JA book that I enjoyed the most, closely followed my Red Country.
I've finally started the final part of Memory Sorrow Thorn. 6 pages in, 850 or so to go! I also finished When They Shine Brightest by @YordanZh, which I enjoyed on the whole, I'll start a new thread in the 2015 ratings section.
I've finally started the final part of Memory Sorrow Thorn. 6 pages in, 850 or so to go! I also finished When They Shine Brightest by @YordanZh, which I enjoyed on the whole, I'll start a new thread in the 2015 ratings section.
Reign of Malice, first book of a very dark grimdark completed epic fantasy series by Joseph Hendon, who is also writing a sci-fi space opera (Drafin is the excellent first book) with again a very dark protagonist, but in both cases there is much good in them, they just respond to evil by going it one better. Also Eric Nylund's Mortal Coils, about nice twins who are coming of age and about to learn they are the children of a goddess and Lucifer. Nylund's A Game of Universe was so great I'm going to read everything he's written.
That's right, a dark space opera. Joseph Hendon is quite the new talent.
That's right, a dark space opera. Joseph Hendon is quite the new talent.
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I just finished reading An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. I have been reading quite a bit of adult fiction lately so it was nice to go back to my old comfort zone of young adult. Whilst there wasn't anything I didn't enjoy about the book but at the same time it never really grabbed me and pulled me in. I think the plot and some of the characters could have been fleshed out more but this is a issue i find with most young adult fiction. Overall I still had a fun time reading it and i will definitely pick up the sequel. I gave it 4 stars on goodreads but it was closer to 3.5.
I'm going to read one more YA novel before I finish the First Law Trilogy. I picked up Demon Road by Derek Landy yesterday so I'm going to give that a go. It was a bit of a blind buy to be honest, all I know is that Landy wrote the Skullduggery Pleasant series which is very popular in the UK.
I'm going to read one more YA novel before I finish the First Law Trilogy. I picked up Demon Road by Derek Landy yesterday so I'm going to give that a go. It was a bit of a blind buy to be honest, all I know is that Landy wrote the Skullduggery Pleasant series which is very popular in the UK.
Recently finished The Unremembered by Peter O'Rullian, the 1st book in his new Vault of Heaven series.
I enjoyed this book a lot, because it felt easy to relate to the characters, and found myself constantly rooting for and disappointed if anything happened to them. There were similarities to other medieval fantasies, where coming of age heroes/heroines were struggling against mysterious evil end-world seeking forces. However, I thought that there were still plenty of new fantasy ideas in the story to make it feel original, and am looking forward to the sequel.
I have now just started The City & The City by China Mieville, and am enjoying it so far. The story is about a detective trying to solve a murder in a seedy part of town, with the twist that another town somehow or other occupies the same space. The writing seems to be a bit easier to read than the one other Mieville book, Perdido Street Station, which I have read and I am interested to see how the story will develop.
In addition, I am continuing to read about Cugel's entertaining travels in Jack Vance's The Eyes of the Overworld.
I enjoyed this book a lot, because it felt easy to relate to the characters, and found myself constantly rooting for and disappointed if anything happened to them. There were similarities to other medieval fantasies, where coming of age heroes/heroines were struggling against mysterious evil end-world seeking forces. However, I thought that there were still plenty of new fantasy ideas in the story to make it feel original, and am looking forward to the sequel.
I have now just started The City & The City by China Mieville, and am enjoying it so far. The story is about a detective trying to solve a murder in a seedy part of town, with the twist that another town somehow or other occupies the same space. The writing seems to be a bit easier to read than the one other Mieville book, Perdido Street Station, which I have read and I am interested to see how the story will develop.
In addition, I am continuing to read about Cugel's entertaining travels in Jack Vance's The Eyes of the Overworld.
Should finish up The Shadow Campaigns book 3 this week and need to find another series to read. I have so many books in my tbr pile, but only the Witcher (if including fan translations) and Codex Alera (kinda YA) are completed. I have the first two books of the new Fitz and Fool Trilogy, and Hobb is generally pretty straightforward (no need to remember complex plots and tons of names), so I'll likely go there next.
I have Emperor's Blades first 2 and Shadow of what was lost first book, but Really Really Really want to wait until they are complete lol
I have Emperor's Blades first 2 and Shadow of what was lost first book, but Really Really Really want to wait until they are complete lol
Yes, and I noticed that she introduced a lot of fantasy concepts, which I have seen continued by later authors. Such as being careful not to reveal one's real name (in case enemy mages gained control through it) and manipulation of winds and weather for sea voyages.
She also wrote charming stories, with strong underlying moral values. Its nice to see the good guys learn from their mistakes and subsequently prevail.
She also wrote charming stories, with strong underlying moral values. Its nice to see the good guys learn from their mistakes and subsequently prevail.
Me too. A while back I wasn't that interested because I heard too many different opinions about his Broken Empire trilogy. Especially that the first book was not very good.
Since then though it seems he's come a long way. I've heard nothing but fantastic things about his new series, Red Queen's War?
Gritty style, grey characters, anti-heroes, very good prose? I'm definitely going to pick something up by him later.
Also, I'm not a fan of the titles he chooses for his books, at least in his first trilogy. It just sounds boring and repetitive.
Prince of Thorns
King of Thorns
Emperor of Thorns
On the other hand with this new trilogy it's way better! Wheel of Osheim sounds particularly interesting. It's just the kind of title that catches your attention.
Prince of Fools
The Liar's Key
The Wheel of Osheim
Since then though it seems he's come a long way. I've heard nothing but fantastic things about his new series, Red Queen's War?
Gritty style, grey characters, anti-heroes, very good prose? I'm definitely going to pick something up by him later.
Also, I'm not a fan of the titles he chooses for his books, at least in his first trilogy. It just sounds boring and repetitive.
Prince of Thorns
King of Thorns
Emperor of Thorns
On the other hand with this new trilogy it's way better! Wheel of Osheim sounds particularly interesting. It's just the kind of title that catches your attention.
Prince of Fools
The Liar's Key
The Wheel of Osheim
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