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Top 5 favorite fantasy series?

VicAndTheSquidSquad

By VicAndTheSquidSquad,
in Literature

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polishgenius Council Member

polishgenius

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Oh I haven't read them, just guesstimating because The First Law and Lord of the Rings are above reproach (or at least this reproach). 

I actually had hardly heard of the Drenai Saga before this (rang like half a bell), which is why I assumed it wasn't that popular on this board.

 

I think it's certainly possible that peterbound hates Gemmell/Drenai (but I don't really know). But if peterbound hates something he's going to tell you regardless of the popularity with the rest of the board, so his response is not really a good metric to judge that by. :P

You should really try some Gemmell, btw. Simple fare, but good. Never really made it in the US for some reason but he was huge in the UK in his time; there's a reason there's an award named after him. If you're at all a fan of Abercrombie, Lawrence, Kearney, or of Morgan's fantasy works, you can certainly trace his influence in there. He wrote proto-grimdark before it was cool, basically. Or Conan-esque works (in full-novel length) after it was cool, from another perspective.

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Eric Cartman Freerider

Eric Cartman

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You should really try some Gemmell, btw. Simple fare, but good. Never really made it in the US for some reason but he was huge in the UK in his time; there's a reason there's an award named after him. If you're at all a fan of Abercrombie, Lawrence, Kearney, or of Morgan's fantasy works, you can certainly trace his influence in there. He wrote proto-grimdark before it was cool, basically. Or Conan-esque works (in full-novel length) after it was cool, from another perspective.

I rate gemmell because I consider it the series that pulled me into the fantasy genre and so has a soft spot for me. Though not exactly grimdark, Jon Shannow series comes quite close and is a personal favourite of mine. 

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

Oi! When did grimdark take over the whole genre? :P

If I had to guess, I'd say Wheel of Time, Drenei Saga and Mistborn series are not very popular on this board. 

Can understand the love it or hate it reaction to WoT and Drenai, but Mistborn not rated? Wow!

 

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End of Disc One Council Member

End of Disc One

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I rate gemmell because I consider it the series that pulled me into the fantasy genre and so has a soft spot for me. Though not exactly grimdark, Jon Shannow series comes quite close and is a personal favourite of mine. 

Oi! When did grimdark take over the whole genre? :P

Can understand the love it or hate it reaction to WoT and Drenai, but Mistborn not rated? Wow!

 

Sanderson is not rated as highly on this forum as he is in most other places

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Eric Cartman Freerider

Eric Cartman

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Sanderson is not rated as highly on this forum as he is in most other places

I really rate him. I've read the below and rate all of them quite highly. 

Memory of Light

Mistoborn series

Wax and Wayne series

Stormlight Archives

Reckoners series

Maybe I'll start a Sanderson appreciation thread! :D

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peterbound Council Member

peterbound

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

This is the most whitebread, sanitized, 'safe' list i've ever read.  Anything containing James' works, one of our mediocre mormon friends series, and the grandaddy of all genre books makes me think that you're not really all that read.  Or at least not enough to decide what the 'top 5' are.  The joke part comes from the fact that you listed the absolute worst (as divisive malazan is most agree on this part) book (GoM) in a long ass series as one deserving it's own credit.  That's just a silly statement.  

 

Or maybe you're just really young.  That seems like a list a teenager would dig up.  Two YA series and lord of the rings.  Looks about right for a 15-17 year old.  

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Eric Cartman Freerider

Eric Cartman

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This is the most whitebread, sanitized, 'safe' list i've ever read.  Anything containing James' works, one of our mediocre mormon friends series, and the grandaddy of all genre books makes me think that you're not really all that read.  Or at least not enough to decide what the 'top 5' are.  The joke part comes from the fact that you listed the absolute worst (as divisive malazan is most agree on this part) book (GoM) in a long ass series as one deserving it's own credit.  That's just a silly statement.  

 

Or maybe you're just really young.  That seems like a list a teenager would dig up.  Two YA series and lord of the rings.  Looks about right for a 15-17 year old.  

I thought this thread was all about personal favourites, not a top 5 ranking of all time. Are you really that annoying that you feel the need to dictate what another person's favorite should be? Favourites may or may not have a direct link to the critical rating of that books. Quite similar to movies, people are allowed to have personal favourites that may not be critically acclaimed!

And based on that list you conclude that I'm not well read and probably a teenager?  :rolleyes: And yes, I stand by my list. They are MY favourites. Get off your high horse and deal with it. 

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TheRevanchist Council Member

TheRevanchist

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Again, I haven't read any Mistborn so I couldn't really comment (although I'm not a huge fan of his work in Wheel of Time). But I've never seen Sanderson mentioned in the same breath as any of the authors the lit subforum really seems to like, like Abercrombie, Hobb, Rothfuss, Abraham, Bakker, Pratchett etc. Although if you check the recommendations list, The Wheel of Time is on there so what do they know? :P

This might be the only forum in the world when Abraham or Bakker are rated above Sanderson. I mean, no one has ever heard about Bakker outside of this forum.

Not that I am saying that he is better than him. Have read only The Expanse from Abraham, and I can say that Sanderson's books are definitely better than it, but I have to read Long Price Quartet, so I might change my mind after it. On the other side, have yet to read anything from Bakker (will certainly do after I finish some other books I have in the list).

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TheRevanchist Council Member

TheRevanchist

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This is the most whitebread, sanitized, 'safe' list i've ever read.  Anything containing James' works, one of our mediocre mormon friends series, and the grandaddy of all genre books makes me think that you're not really all that read.  Or at least not enough to decide what the 'top 5' are.  The joke part comes from the fact that you listed the absolute worst (as divisive malazan is most agree on this part) book (GoM) in a long ass series as one deserving it's own credit.  That's just a silly statement.  

 

Or maybe you're just really young.  That seems like a list a teenager would dig up.  Two YA series and lord of the rings.  Looks about right for a 15-17 year old.  

Wrong on all accounts. Know him from an another forum and pretty sure he has read more fantasy books than 95% of posters here. Far more than me, for a start, and I am not a total newbie anymore.

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polishgenius Council Member

polishgenius

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And based on that list you conclude that I'm not well read and probably a teenager?  :rolleyes: And yes, I stand by my list. They are MY favourites. Get off your high horse and deal with it. 

In fairness, if my high horse was as awesome and trained for war as peterbound's clearly is, I wouldn't get off it either.

 

Wrong on all accounts. Know him from an another forum and pretty sure he has read more fantasy books than 95% of posters here. Far more than me, for a start, and I am not a total newbie anymore.



Oooh, that's a very bold claim to make, especially on behalf of somebody else...
 

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Darth Richard II Council Member

Darth Richard II

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Yeah ok.

Helpful tip, don't make death threats, even if they are based on your avatar/screen name. No one liked my force choke joke.

Sanderson is one of those guys like Rothfuss or Erkison(Ericson? I'm too tired to look) where the haters really hate and the fans really...fan. So the discussions get nasty. But Sanderson has had topics before, I think 2 or 3 got eaten in the fall.

Also, The Expanse is 100x better than anything Sanderson has or will ever write. :P

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Bjornbert Sellsword

Bjornbert

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Mark Lawrence The Broken Empire and The Red Queen's War- I'll count those together as it's the same world. If I'd have to choose, I'd choose the latter as I found Jalan's remarks absolutely gold

Joe Abercrombie- The First Law(including the standalones. Yeah, I'm cheating)

KJ Parker- The Engineering Trilogy

Scott Lynch- The Gentleman Bastard

Ian Tregillis- The Milkweed Triptych- I may be biased as I've just finished those, but damn they are impossible to put down. I finished the trilogy in 4 days. From a technical point of view I think the Alchemist stuff is better, but not finished yet and not as entertaining.

Is this too safe for the board? I mean all those authors are kind of universally loved on the board(people had problems with The Republic of Thieves but for me it was the most fun book I've ever read). I still have to read The Long Prince Quartet which I'd expect to make the list based on the opinions here. The Dagger and the Coin barely missed out but I feel it lacks a certain something. Still really solid stuff. I suppose I should put some Jemisin here as I love her books, but I've yet to finish s series from her and the stuff I'd read seems mostly like linked standalones and not series

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