Lyanna Stark Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Bernard Cornwell is the answer here. Yes, lots of people like these ones. Although I found the last 1.5 novels of the Arthur series pretty exhausting. I don't think I actually finished them. :dunce: Try Guy Gavriel Kay's low-magic historical fantasies, or Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels. Lots of magic in the Deryni books, but I suspect more palatable to you because a lot more GRRM like than anything else I've ever read. Deryni..eeh, not so sure. Guy Gavriel Kay's "Lions of Al-Rassan" is excellent though, and as far as I can remember not any magic in it what so ever. Plus it's just a really good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 It's not the OP I'm focusing on with that comment -- it's all of the well-meaning fantasy fans who claim "but there's not THAT much magic/wizards/amulets/trolls/dragons/farmboys/chickensthatareevilmanifest" in whatever book they're recommending because, to them, there might not be. But what might be benign-to-the-point-of-invisible to a genre fan can still be overbearing and awful to someone who hasn't bought into the genre. Just speaking from experience here, as someone who has very little patience for most fantasy, and who has spent a lot of time talking to people who have no patience for it.Ah right, I totally see what you mean: it's like when I read a book with some "romance" in it, and I inwardly groan when the "cold jerk" male character appears. Still it's funny how some elements trigger that response but you see them in another context, like "technology" as a replacement for magic in SF, or even something as far fetched as zombies in UF, and then it becomes invisible. That's why I wondered about the OP's triggers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Ah right, I totally see what you mean: it's like when I read a book with some "romance" in it, and I inwardly groan when the "cold jerk" male character appears.Still it's funny how some elements trigger that response but you see them in another context, like "technology" as a replacement for magic in SF, or even something as far fetched as zombies in UF, and then it becomes invisible. That's why I wondered about the OP's triggers. Yep, that's exactly it. And yeah, the contextual mutability of triggers is fascinating. "Magic" isn't one of my triggers (I can put up with it in pretty much any genre), so seeing it crop up as something like a warp drive in SF doesn't bug me. You know, I'm not quite sure what my triggers are. Going to have to have a couple of beers and ponder this. I wish Datepalm were around. We could come up with some truly pointy-headed ones like "illogical economic system" and "unrealistic interspecies conflict (EVIL MANIFEST)" and "physiologically impossible sexual responses." :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Usually the issue if you can't read High Fantasy is that you can't comprehend the requisite language. Because usually there's a common speech and then some upper-cruster language spoken by the nobility (obviously the language of surviving documents). Of course, even the lowly plow-boy speaks and reads and writes it despite his poverty because he's a secret-Targ or his grandmother taught it to him by candlelight or some old idiot-savant farmhand gave him a primer tome. So I'd suggest maybe learning Elvish, I guess would be my best advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyanna Stark Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 So I'd suggest maybe learning Elvish, I guess would be my best advice. Elvish? Are you a philistine good sir? No differentiation between Quenya and Sindarin? I wish Datepalm were around. We could come up with some truly pointy-headed ones like "illogical economic system" and "unrealistic interspecies conflict (EVIL MANIFEST)" and "physiologically impossible sexual responses." :lol: But, but those time travelling viking vampire angels... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Elvish? Are you a philistine good sir? No differentiation between Quenya and Sindarin? I shit you not, I had a dream last night where I made fun of someone (not Larry) for this. I think my retort was something like "do you speak 'Asian?'" BWB PUNKS GET OUT OF MY BRAIN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Deryni..eeh, not so sure. Guy Gavriel Kay's "Lions of Al-Rassan" is excellent though, and as far as I can remember not any magic in it what so ever. Plus it's just a really good read. One supporting character in Lions has visions but I think that's the extent of the magic in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponine Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 I like that we're calling the appearance of elves "triggering" now. I think the main two things that turn me off are the unlikelihood of a series being consistently good for more than three books and not liking long drawn out conflicts involving "races" as monolithic groups who mostly live in separate regions. This covers a lot of traditional epic fantasy but there are so many books of all different genres that aren't like that that it's hard to pinpoint meaningful recommendations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 "long drawn conflicts between "races" dwelling in separate reason" is actually one of the few historically somewhat plausible things about most fantasy (compared to e.g. most of the swordfights, battles, economy etc.). Unless one means with "magic" mainly Raistlin casting fireballs, A Game of Thrones has quite a bit of magic in absolutely central passages, most importantly the end of the Dany arc, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Elvish? Are you a philistine good sir? No differentiation between Quenya and Sindarin? But, but those time travelling viking vampire angels... whoops. that was supposed to say 'Elvis'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageGuy Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 How they were hatched was pretty magical though. Yep. The first book of ASOIAF begins with ice elves who raise zombies while waving around magic ice swords, and it ends with a woman walking into a funeral pyre with petrified eggs, then walking out, unburnt, with fire-breathing dragons. It's definitely always been there. There's also the whole mystical direwolf/North connection. But I get how people can kind of ignore those bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Deryni is pretty magic heavy and the first three books are kind if meh. Then she goes full on grim dark fur the later ones. There's sone dark, bleak shit in there, which is also interesting considering they're from the 70s. But girls can't write grim dark so I guess it didn't count. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowjack Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 I tend to agree that Historical Fiction might be a good avenue for the OP. Books by Angus Donald, Edith Pargeter, Sharon Kay Penman, and even Colleen McCullough's ROME series are reasonably entertaining and compatible with the fantasy genre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyanna Stark Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 I shit you not, I had a dream last night where I made fun of someone (not Larry) for this. I think my retort was something like "do you speak 'Asian?'" BWB PUNKS GET OUT OF MY BRAIN. We're like time-travelling brainworms. I like that we're calling the appearance of elves "triggering" now. Hell yes elves are "triggering". I foam at the mouth as soon as I come across an UF with elves in it. Bugger those elves! Pointy-eared no good sods. whoops. that was supposed to say 'Elvis'. OK, you are forgiven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 nm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Warning: Elf Trigger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter's Knight Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 @OP You might enjoy the Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon? They're quick reads,full of political intrigues and stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 DAmn elves always after me Mithril Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 DAmn elves always after me MithrilThere's an elf in mi Mithril, what am I gonna do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRevanchist Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Guy Gavriel Kay and Joe Abercrombie comes to my mind as great fantasy book writters, who don't use magic that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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