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Top 5 favorite fantasy series?


VicAndTheSquidSquad

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-The Kingkiller Chronicle, Patrick Rothfuss (almost went with The First Law though)
Great writing, great story, but no third book.

 

Nor will there ever be.  Even Martin is going to beat him.

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  • 2 months later...

-ASOIAF, GRRM
For reasons we all know
-Harry Potter, JK Rowling
Probably no explanation necessary either
-Acts of Caine, Matthew Stover
I'm going to go out on a limp here and say that Stover's prose is the best I've ever read, period. That combined with great characters, world-building, terrific action, awesome philosophical commentary and kick-ass plots and you have a recipe for one hell of a series.
-Realm of the Elderlings, Robin Hobb (meaning Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies, more to come)
Outstanding prose and characters, I can't get enough of this
-The Kingkiller Chronicle, Patrick Rothfuss (almost went with The First Law though)
Great writing, great story, but no third book.

Just started reading Stover's books...looks like he will be a top fiver, first day author.

 

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Just started reading Stover's books...looks like he will be a top fiver, first day author.

 

Enjoy :) And many consider the first book to be the weakest (though still good), so you have great things ahead of you.

Yea, I just started Blades of Tyshalle again, and I'm really enjoying it. I put it down when Half a King came and never got back to it. I think im gonna read the rest of them also.

It only gets better :)

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Is Stover the guy who wrote the novelization of 'Revenge of the Sith'? I found some writing in that book a bit annoying ('this is Anakin Skywalker..., blah blah blah'), but he definitely did a great job in turning Anakin evil (far better than in the movie), and there was some fantastic dialogue between Skywalkker and Kenobi which wasn't present in the movies.

Something like:

'This is the end for you my Master'
' I have heard it many times before, Anakin. I never thought that I would hear it from you' was changed to some generic bullshit like 'I have failed you Anakin'. 

Also from the book I got the impression that 'the higher ground' was just Kenobi playing with Skywalker's arrogance. Which a lot of people seems to have missed from the movies.

Anyway, just put The Acts of Caine in my to read list.

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Is Stover the guy who wrote the novelization of 'Revenge of the Sith'? I found some writing in that book a bit annoying ('this is Anakin Skywalker..., blah blah blah'), but he definitely did a great job in turning Anakin evil (far better than in the movie), and there was some fantastic dialogue between Skywalkker and Kenobi which wasn't present in the movies.

Something like:

'This is the end for you my Master'
' I have heard it many times before, Anakin. I never thought that I would hear it from you' was changed to some generic bullshit like 'I have failed you Anakin'. 

Also from the book I got the impression that 'the higher ground' was just Kenobi playing with Skywalker's arrogance. Which a lot of people seems to have missed from the movies.

Anyway, just put The Acts of Caine in my to read list.

That's the one. And those 'This is X' moments were amazing :P

But yeah, the book is endlessly better than the movie.

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my order should be

5. Inkheart Trilogy

Favourite in the series: Inkspell

This was among the first 'real' novels I ever read as a child; the story is one that remains intriguing, somewhat dark and is hands down one of the most original ideas i ever came across. I like how it blended our world and the fantasy world in a way that is not too cliche or annoying. The author also draws attention to minor characters and fleshes them out such that they are as real as the major ones. I really love this series

4. The Wind on Fire

Favourite in the Series: Slaves of the Mastery

This was the probably the first contact with dystopia i ever had. And the fact that it was tied in with fantasy was just epic. The books are engaging and keep you turning the pages, i really liked the character development of the main characters and the ending was perfectly bittersweet.

3. His Dark Materials

Favourite in the series: Northern Lights

Total Complete Mind-Fudge!! This is a book that never grows old in that at whatever stage you read it, there is always a new facet to it. When I was younger, it was about the fantastic elements and imaging what my daemon would be. I reread it recently and realized that it was a commentary against religion. I can't wait to read it again in a few years to once again rediscover it. Though the final book was a bit slow, I think this series is Pullman's best work.

2. A Song of Ice and Fire

Favourite in the series: A Feast For Crows

What can I say? As in, why would I even be on this site? 'nuf said

1. Harry Potter

Favourite in the series: HP and the Half Blood Prince

This was my life! Probably still is. The wonderful thing about Harry Potter is that we grew with the characters, laughed, cried and basically did everything with them. J.K.R created a world that you could comfortably slip into and just be! I will always be a Potter head.

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Its tentatively Spring 2017 atm



Also from the book I got the impression that 'the higher ground' was just Kenobi playing with Skywalker's arrogance. Which a lot of people seems to have missed from the movies.

 

I think McGregor's delivery might have made that less nuanced then reads.

There were only two main problems with the first trilogy movies.

1. The Casting (almost every single casting choice was rancid. Natalie Portman's career almost got derailed; Ewan McGregor was disastrous; Liam Neeson looked embarrassed; and poor, poor Haydon Christenson...it is a wonder they didn't revoke his SAG card.)

2. The scripts.

The general story line was acceptably competent, but getting from point A to point B was a real dumpster fire.

George pulled so much out of his ass in these that they almost play like a parody of the Star Wars original 3. Well, there are some ass pulling moments there. Vader not realizing that Leia was his daughter before, during or after torturing her? Luke and Leia being brother and sister? After teasing the romantic triangle thing all through the first two movies?

Sorry to digress off into a rant, but if we expect our authors to not write crappy follow ups to works we love, we should hold the film maker to a higher standard.

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1. Realm of the Elderlings - bit of a cop out since it covers multiple trilogies, but it's the one I'm most likely to read again.  It made me care so much about the characters and always affected my mood (for better or worse).

2. ASOIAF - for the normal reasons...and also because it made me find this forum which has provided me lots of good recommendations, including Robin Hobb.

3. The Dark Tower - these were the first "adult" books I ever read and I've reread them all a few times.  The gap between books 4 and 5 led to the opportunity for lots of theorizing, which was fun.

4. Harry Potter - even though it doesn't hold up so well logically now, still a fun read.

5. Long Price Quartet - each book was slow at times, but the entire story arc was amazing.  Similar to Hobbs in that the books "stayed with me" long after I finished them.

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  • 1 month later...

Sweet fancy Moses!!! I am 60% of the way through CAINE'S LAW (having burned through the previous three volumes of the Acts of Caine) and Stover has moved solidly into my top 5 of all time. Hari Michaelson/Dominic Shade/Johnathan Fist/Caine is the most compelling anti-hero/hero/enemy of God/God/super asshole ever.

Martin, Lawrence, Abercrombie and Stover...5 spot is open.

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1. The Dark Tower - I can relate to Roland's determination. His dedication to reaching his ends.

2. The Elric Saga - Elric, especially in his pursuit of Theleb Kaarna and in Revenge of the Rose, was insanely likable and slightly relatable. Stormbringer is one of the most epic conclusions to any fantasy saga I've ever read. It also helped that I cared about the people involved.

3. The Malazan Book of the Fallen - The characters are fun. I like the themes Erikson tackles and the way that he handles them in the narrative. The K'Chain and Forkrul Assail were also insanely fun to learn about - my favorite fantasy races, easily.

4. Robert Howard's Conan - REH has some of the best prose in the genre, bar none. The setting is wonderfully foreboding, dripping with weird, eldritch magic. I love the tropes surrounding the character of Conan.

5. The Broken Empire - Mark's setting and magic system are some of the best in the genre.

Sixth on my list would be ASOIAF.

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In no particular order:

 

First Law trilogy

Wheel of Time series

Lord of the Rings trilogy

Drenai Saga

Mistborn series

 

Though Gardens of the Moon (the book, not the whole series) deserves a place in that list too! 

** Incomplete series not included here. 

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In no particular order:

 

First Law trilogy

Wheel of Time series

Lord of the Rings trilogy

Drenai Saga

Mistborn series

 

Though Gardens of the Moon (the book, not the whole series) deserves a place in that list too! 

** Incomplete series not included here. 

Who put you up to this? Is this a joke?

That list makes me sad for you.

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Sure. Np. What's wrong with the list? Lack of asoiaf?

Only The First Law is grim/dark, which makes your list shit by default.

Btw, my updated one:

1) ASOIAF 
2) Wheel of Time
3) The First Law trilogy and the standalones there (jumped ahead of Kingskiller after reading the Best Served Cold and The Heroes)
4) The Kingskiller Chronicles
5) The Black Company

Lord of the Rings, The Realm of the Elderlings and Mistborn narrowly miss the top 5.

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