Will we ever get another series like ASOIAF?

[Calibandar]

Publishers certainly keep trying to give us the next Martin. Problem is that 90% of it just isn't very good, or worse than that.

There's really only a few authors worth checking out. Apparently it really is very hard to deliver on what people want, and it requires real skill to do it. We see so many debuts being released with reference to "this is the new Martin, Abercrombie, or for readers of Mark Lawrence". And damn, so little of it is worth my time.

Two major sagas have been completed recently by top authors Scott Bakker and Robin Hobb.

I really rate Abercrombie, and it's wait and see what he comes up with. They tried it with Lynch, and that failed.

Rothfuss was a good try, and that has failed as well. Abraham, I don't think he hits the heights we are talking about here, a new series you enjoy on the level of ASOIAF. Miles Cameron, Anthony Ryan, John Gwynne, it's all passable stuff but nothing great. I also cannot say the Malazan series is near the level of ASOIAF when it comes to writing and characterization, or even worldbuilding IMO. Richard Morgan gave it a shot with the Land fit for Heroes trilogy.

I'd love to read Happy Ent's plant based Fantasy, it sounds great. 

[jurble]

 

4 hours ago, Happy Ent said:

But not eternal. I know very few readers who haven’t emotionally moved on after, say, 10–15 years or checking notablog every day.

Previous years when the TV show would restart, I would be compelled to reread the books and refresh notablog constantly to relive my anguish, my degradation.  For the past two years, though, that compulsion has not visited me.  That dolor passed into the gloom...

[redeagl]

2 hours ago, Calibandar said:

Publishers certainly keep trying to give us the next Martin. Problem is that 90% of it just isn't very good, or worse than that.

There's really only a few authors worth checking out. Apparently it really is very hard to deliver on what people want, and it requires real skill to do it. We see so many debuts being released with reference to "this is the new Martin, Abercrombie, or for readers of Mark Lawrence". And damn, so little of it is worth my time.

Two major sagas have been completed recently by top authors Scott Bakker and Robin Hobb.

I really rate Abercrombie, and it's wait and see what he comes up with. They tried it with Lynch, and that failed.

Rothfuss was a good try, and that has failed as well. Abraham, I don't think he hits the heights we are talking about here, a new series you enjoy on the level of ASOIAF. Miles Cameron, Anthony Ryan, John Gwynne, it's all passable stuff but nothing great. I also cannot say the Malazan series is near the level of ASOIAF when it comes to writing and characterization, or even worldbuilding IMO. Richard Morgan gave it a shot with the Land fit for Heroes trilogy.

I'd love to read Happy Ent's plant based Fantasy, it sounds great. 

Bakker didn't complete TSA. 

[Ghjhero]

3 hours ago, Calibandar said:

Publishers certainly keep trying to give us the next Martin. Problem is that 90% of it just isn't very good, or worse than that.

There's really only a few authors worth checking out. Apparently it really is very hard to deliver on what people want, and it requires real skill to do it. We see so many debuts being released with reference to "this is the new Martin, Abercrombie, or for readers of Mark Lawrence". And damn, so little of it is worth my time.

Two major sagas have been completed recently by top authors Scott Bakker and Robin Hobb.

I really rate Abercrombie, and it's wait and see what he comes up with. They tried it with Lynch, and that failed.

Rothfuss was a good try, and that has failed as well. Abraham, I don't think he hits the heights we are talking about here, a new series you enjoy on the level of ASOIAF. Miles Cameron, Anthony Ryan, John Gwynne, it's all passable stuff but nothing great. I also cannot say the Malazan series is near the level of ASOIAF when it comes to writing and characterization, or even worldbuilding IMO. Richard Morgan gave it a shot with the Land fit for Heroes trilogy.

I'd love to read Happy Ent's plant based Fantasy, it sounds great. 

As someone who has read Tolkien, GRRM (obviously), Malazan and Bakker what comes next? I really enjoyed all of the above except for Malazan which I have no desire to revisit. 

Robin Hobb the only remaining author worth the read at the moment? I've heard good things about Abercrombie and Rothfuss, but the ending of the former was spoiler for me a while ago and I don't want to dive into another unfinished series with the latter. I haven't heard much about Abraham and his work, would he be worth a shot?

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

5 minutes ago, Ghjhero said:

As someone who has read Tolkien, GRRM (obviously), Malazan and Bakker what comes next? I really enjoyed all of the above except for Malazan which I have no desire to revisit. 

Robin Hobb the only remaining author worth the read at the moment? I've heard good things about Abercrombie and Rothfuss, but the ending of the former was spoiler for me a while ago and I don't want to dive into another unfinished series with the latter. I haven't heard much about Abraham and his work, would he be worth a shot?

Abraham, N.K Jemesin, and I'll stop there, because you would go now and read her series. The last book, The Stone Sky just came out, great series, great finish.

[Corvinus85]

5 minutes ago, Ghjhero said:

As someone who has read Tolkien, GRRM (obviously), Malazan and Bakker what comes next? I really enjoyed all of the above except for Malazan which I have no desire to revisit. 

Robin Hobb the only remaining author worth the read at the moment? I've heard good things about Abercrombie and Rothfuss, but the ending of the former was spoiler for me a while ago and I don't want to dive into another unfinished series with the latter. I haven't heard much about Abraham and his work, would he be worth a shot?

What ending was spoiled in Abercrombie's case? He has two different series. The First Law trilogy is the more popular, I think. Its universe is extended by three more standalone novels, and a bunch of short stories which are published in one volume. He is currently working on expanding this universe further with new novels with new characters. So it's not imperative to read everything to be familiar with stuff.

His other universe contains only a trilogy, The Shattered Sea, which is finished. Supposedly geared for young adults, but not really.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Yea, can't recommend Abercrombie highly enough. Great pace and prose had me flying through his books. Plus, he's the funniest fantasy writer ever. Literally, had to put book down at times I was laughing so hard. Dark humor, but humor nonetheless.

[Rhom]

16 minutes ago, Michael Seswatha Jordan said:

Yea, can't recommend Abercrombie highly enough. Great pace and prose had me flying through his books. Plus, he's the funniest fantasy writer ever. Literally, had to put book down at times I was laughing so hard. Dark humor, but humor nonetheless.

Yeah.  I'd go Abercrombie. As someone who likes grimdark, Mark Lawrence is a favorite of mine.  Two trilogies complete.

Abraham is fantastic.  Dagger and Coin is a really good complete saga; but I can't tell you enough how much I liked Long Price Quartet.  Just a really well written piece of fantasy.

I also really liked Acts of Caine by Stover.  It's a definite mind trip.

[Ghjhero]

1 hour ago, Michael Seswatha Jordan said:

Abraham, N.K Jemesin, and I'll stop there, because you would go now and read her series. The last book, The Stone Sky just came out, great series, great finish.

I haven't heard of Jemesin before, I'll be sure to check her work out. Thanks for the recommendation!

1 hour ago, Michael Seswatha Jordan said:

Yea, can't recommend Abercrombie highly enough. Great pace and prose had me flying through his books. Plus, he's the funniest fantasy writer ever. Literally, had to put book down at times I was laughing so hard. Dark humor, but humor nonetheless.

I do love me some dark humor, so this is a big plus. 

[Ghjhero]

1 hour ago, Corvinus said:

What ending was spoiled in Abercrombie's case? He has two different series. The First Law trilogy is the more popular, I think. Its universe is extended by three more standalone novels, and a bunch of short stories which are published in one volume. He is currently working on expanding this universe further with new novels with new characters. So it's not imperative to read everything to be familiar with stuff.

His other universe contains only a trilogy, The Shattered Sea, which is finished. Supposedly geared for young adults, but not really.

 

I remember reading someone's post a while ago that said "the bad guys win" for the First Law trilogy. I've wanted to get into it, but that has dulled my interest.

[Corvinus85]

1 minute ago, Ghjhero said:

 

  Hide contents

I remember reading someone's post a while ago that said "the bad guys win" for the First Law trilogy. I've wanted to get into it, but that has dulled my interest.

I wouldn't say that because...

Spoiler

it's harder to define "bad guys" in Abercrombie's books, even more so than in ASOIAF where you have the honorable Starks. Abercrombie has morally grey characters, each with their own interests and problems. Many of the characters would be bad by our modern standards. His stories fall in the grimdark category.

 

[Jo498]

1 hour ago, Ghjhero said:

As someone who has read Tolkien, GRRM (obviously), Malazan and Bakker what comes next? I really enjoyed all of the above except for Malazan which I have no desire to revisit. 

Robin Hobb the only remaining author worth the read at the moment? I've heard good things about Abercrombie and Rothfuss, but the ending of the former was spoiler for me a while ago and I don't want to dive into another unfinished series with the latter. I haven't heard much about Abraham and his work, would he be worth a shot?

Have you read Williams' "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" (3+ books) and Vance's "Lyonesse" (3 books)? They are older (1990s and 80s) but very good and both were important influences for Martin.

I don't rate Abercrombie as high as most others here but, except for maybe "The Red Country" and that volume of short prose, I'd recommend them anyway because they are certainly quite good and usually quick reads.

[Darth Richard II]

1 hour ago, Ghjhero said:

I haven't heard of Jemesin before, I'll be sure to check her work out. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

She just won this Hugo thing, I hear.

[Werthead]

I'd say Matt Stover's Acts of Caine is a key series, but not really GRRM-like. It's too philosophical for that comparison to work, although it's still a brilliant work in its own right. There's Paul Kearney, but his books suffer the reverse problem of most epic fantasy: they are too short to really get immersed in the world.

[Ghjhero]

26 minutes ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

Not to be a broken record but... Dune.

It was hugely influential on Bakker (more so than Tolkien IMO), as well as many aspects of ASoIaF. Daenerys's storyline in particular strongly parallels Dune.

Ok bear with me, but I did read Dune a year and a half ago and I was very underwhelmed. I was expecting a masterpiece, but for whatever reason it failed to impress. 

[unJon]

4 minutes ago, Ghjhero said:

Ok bear with me, but I did read Dune a year and a half ago and I was very underwhelmed. I was expecting a masterpiece, but for whatever reason it failed to impress. 

Did you read in chronological order instead of publication order?

[Darth Richard II]

46 minutes ago, Ghjhero said:

Ok bear with me, but I did read Dune a year and a half ago and I was very underwhelmed. I was expecting a masterpiece, but for whatever reason it failed to impress. 

I read Dune too and wasn't that thrilled.

[Corvinus85]

47 minutes ago, unJon said:

Did you read in chronological order instead of publication order?

There's only one Dune book.

[Jo498]

4 hours ago, Corvinus said:

I wouldn't say that because...

  Reveal hidden contents

it's harder to define "bad guys" in Abercrombie's books, even more so than in ASOIAF where you have the honorable Starks. Abercrombie has morally grey characters, each with their own interests and problems. Many of the characters would be bad by our modern standards. His stories fall in the grimdark category.

 

I also think that it is neither a spoiler nor correct. More precise would be that the faction of most of the protagonists prevails but it becomes ever clearer that they are not really the good guys. As there are no good guys in the First Law trilogy the Empire the main viewpoint characters are allied with seems still preferable to the alternatives, that is the Gurkish and/or Bethod.

[HexMachina]

2 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

She just won this Hugo thing, I hear.

Twice in a row I heard...

 

(I really want to read The Stone Sky but am bogged down in the last book I downloaded which never seems to end damnit. I'm so bored but I've read too much now to put it aside)