Mars447 Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I would put a cation until book three is out sign on the traitor son cycle, because I thought that second book was atrocious. I enjoyed the second book, although I'd agree that there way too many totally unnecessary POVs disrupting the narrative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I kept waiting for them to finish the shit and get to the damn tournament which luckily seems what book 3 is about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghjhero Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Whoooo!!! First post of '16!!!! Ok, I'm considering buying the History of Middle Earth series. I'm a pretty big Tolkien fan, and I loved the Silmarillion. My only concerns is, with there being 12 books in the series, is it really worth it to read them all? Will they get repetitive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Well, one, this isn't the thread to ask that kind of question. Two, you should look into that series more, I don't think it is what you think it is. It's 12 books of notes, more or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 5 hours ago, Ghjhero said: Whoooo!!! First post of '16!!!! Ok, I'm considering buying the History of Middle Earth series. I'm a pretty big Tolkien fan, and I loved the Silmarillion. My only concerns is, with there being 12 books in the series, is it really worth it to read them all? Will they get repetitive? That stuff is for the hardcore fan. I used to have the first ten and either sold them or gave them away. As DR II said, there's a lot of minutiae... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghjhero Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I think I qualify as hardcore. What's an example of stuff to expect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Writhen Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 2 minutes ago, Ghjhero said: I think I qualify as hardcore. What's an example of stuff to expect? The books are actually by Christopher. He releases a bunch of unpublished material and notes with his own recollections as well. They're also great for context as when everything was written exactly and stuff like that is covered. It's almost like a behind the scenes more than any actual fantasy book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghjhero Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Ok thanks! Yeah I knew they weren't actual novels, I just didn't know how tedious they were, and if they can still be a revealing read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Jack Vance: Lyonesse Trilogy (1983-89: Lyonesse, The green pearl, Madouc) has only been mentioned once or twice in many pages of this thread. I highly recommend it despite some flaws (especially the second book is not as good as the others). It has a very different "feel" from most newer fantasy. The main framework is traditionally "heroic" and it takes place in an idealized "dark ages" (two generation before King Arthur) in an alternative version of our world with a bunch of islands (Elder Isles) located south of Ireland and west of Aquitaine. (The islands supposedly sank into the sea some time after the events of the books.) But the only real world reference to the supposed timeframe are names of places and peoples and incomplete christianization; the culture, fashion, technology and weapons are "fantastic medieval", that is closer to 14th/15th century (but no gunpowder, of course) than 4th or 5th. This comparably realistic (although more colorful than gritty) world with court intrigue, espionage and warfare is mixed with high magic, both by extremely powerful magicians who connect with worlds and beings from other spheres of reality as well as strange magical items and capricious fairies. Some sections read like a twisted fairy tale. (Somewhat similar to e.g. Gaiman's Stardust, but overall it is not that fairy-tale-like.) It's a rather unique mix (at least I have not yet encountered anything like it) of conventional and twisted tropes in rich and colorful language. Although not historically exact, people talk like one could assume courtiers to talk (i.e. even kings at war address each other with poisonous courteousness), not like in modern action movies. A main difference to a lot of newer fantasy is that it does not use viewpoints; pace and elaboration are very diverse, some important battles can be given as "executive summaries", others episodes involve lavish descriptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireGhost Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 I want to start a new series and wanted some opinions. I have narrowed it down to Malazan, Farseer or Black Company. Whoch would you all recommend first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 As much as I love MBOTF, it is a massive investment of time. The Black Company and MBOTF are similar in some regards since The Black Company influenced Steven Erikson. I would suggest not reading those series back to back. I'm assuming you mean the first Farseer trilogy and not all of them. I've only read the first Farseer trilogy and loved it. I would suggest the Farseer trilogy in between BC and MBOTF just to break up the similarities of those two series. But you really can't go wrong with any of the three series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andorion Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 18 minutes ago, DireGhost said: I want to start a new series and wanted some opinions. I have narrowed it down to Malazan, Farseer or Black Company. Whoch would you all recommend first? Malazan will be huge and complicated. Erikson throws you into the middle of the action and explanations will not be easy to come by. Don't expect to understand everything. But the payoff is massive. It is the most rewarding series I have ever read. Black Company is super dark and gritty. It was the original inspiration for the military squad dynamics for Malazan. Cook writes a strange type of prose which I call Machine gun prose. Short staccato sentences. The first book may catch you off guard with its unorthodox approach to narrative. Haven't read more than one of Farseer. As far as I remember the protagonist is an idiot who also has absurdly bad luck. I did not like it. Those who did praise the characterization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 I would suggest Farseer. Malazan just got boring and is one of the few series that I dropped before the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Farseer > everything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 I was slightly disappointed by the first Black Company book (my brothers liked it and lent me the first omnibus volume) and have not read further until now. But it certainly is still quite original (and must have been more so 30 years ago) in style and "feel". The gritty pseudo-modern "grunt reports from war" style is mixed with high magic (bordering on the ridiculous when low level soldier mages are frequently pulling magical pranks on each other). Sometimes confusing because the background of the story is only hinted at and not very clearly explained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanF Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 I was slightly disappointed by the first Black Company book (my brothers liked it and lent me the first omnibus volume) and have not read further until now. But it certainly is still quite original (and must have been more so 30 years ago) in style and "feel". The gritty pseudo-modern "grunt reports from war" style is mixed with high magic (bordering on the ridiculous when low level soldier mages are frequently pulling magical pranks on each other). Sometimes confusing because the background of the story is only hinted at and not very clearly explained. The style of writing is quite hard to get used to, and it's deliberately confusing. It's written from the POV of a very junior officer, with limited knowledge of the overall progress of the war. It's not like Bernard Cornwell, who gives you the big picture of battles, at the same time as the view from the ground. Hence, you get what seem to be strange shifts and reversals of fortune. Taken as whole though, the First Trilogy is very good (as are some later books). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aceluby Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 11 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: Farseer > everything else. This. It's my favorite series by far. I openly wept during Tawny Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I should probably dip into the Farseer series next, as almost everyone seems to be quite fond of them... Any comments on the following (either the search function sucks or I am too stupid for it or I did not find very much) Patricia McKillip: Riddle Master (and others) Leslie Barringer: Neustrian Cylce ("Gerfalcon" is the first book) Sprague de Camp: The Reluctant King (The Goblin Tower) Steven Brust: Jhereg/Taltos - Are these very dependent on reading order? McMaster Bujold: Sharing knife Overall, I am more interested in somewhat "old fashioned" than "gritty" stuff (have had enough of the latter, they too frequently read like modern action movies with battle axes, and some pulp writers of the past have better style than the moderns churning out doorstops) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Riddle Master is definitely old fashioned. I think I read it 2006ish, but didn't enjoy it that much. Have you tried or thought about Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 On 7/9/2011 at 9:14 AM, Errant Bard said: Stephen Donadson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the unbeliever: In a nutshell: "Asshole leper hero". It's Donaldson's thing. Thomas Covenant is a great character, popping back forth between two worlds, and they both kinda suck for the poor guy. Well worth a read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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