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twilt

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Hey all

 

For a long long time the only sci fi for fantasy i had read was WOT, then i tried mistborn and got hooked.

 

But i seem to have devoured a lot of fantasy in the last few years and am struggling to find good books to read now.

 

I was hoping someone can suggest authors to try?

 

Ive read and loved

 

Brandon Sanderson (obviously)

David Gemmel

MOST of Raymond Feist (didnt like his last couple of books as much)

Jim Butcher (loved the furies series)

Peter V Brett

Brent Weeks

Tolkein

Patrick Rothfuss

Joe Abercrombie

 

But ive also had a few ive not enjoyed, i cant say i loved Hobbs and i must be the only person on the planet to get bored with a song of ice and fire about 4 or 5 books in..i just didnt care what happened as i didnt like any of the characters ;)

 

Can anyone recommend some good adult fantasy authors?

 

Thanks

 

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The first three Song of Ice and Fire books were phenomenal, and the last half of Dance with Dragons was great, but yes--the 4th and 5th book, overall, were a drag. 

 

I read the Earthsea novels (Ursula Le Guin) last month, and I really enjoyed those. They're considered fantasy classics, I suppose, so they're worth the read. 

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If you are looking for something akin to Mistborn I suggest the Powdermage trilogy.  The writer was a student of Brandon and you can definitely see the influence here but it feels fresh at the same time.  The first book 'A Promise of Blood' came out last year and the sequel is due in May.  

 

I normally read a lot more science fiction than fantasy but here are the ones I have read in the past year and enjoyed a great deal:  Libromancer, The Golem and the Jinni and Roger Zelzany's Amber series.

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Raven's Shadow/Blood Song by Ryan Anthony is one of the best reads I've had in 2013 and one of my favorites. It has a lot in common with Kingkiller Chronicle, but at the same time it's totally different.

Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. You'll either hate it or love it. Lots of really well done military action. It's something between Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson, but not really :D Three main problems with this series is that:
1. Author wrote it really fast and didn't take his time to edit them so its a bit rough at times and there are some inconsistencies.

2. Nobody cares whether or not you understand whats happening in the book. You have to make it all out yourself and first 100 or so pages are especially hard as you're thrown into one of the greatest fantasy worlds, get lots of time skips, different places and a lot of characters.
3. This one is more of a personal thing. This book has hundreds of characters, and dozens of main characters and every book follows different storyline as well as characters. If I remember correctly there are 3 major storylines that get tied together later on. I love this part about this series but I've found some people don't like it so there it is :D

Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is a good one as well. It's not your normal fantasy book with lots of magic and/or epic wars. If you like heist movies you'll most likely love these books.

Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence if you're okay with 12 year old boy killing and raping with style.

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Raven's Shadow/Blood Song by Ryan Anthony is one of the best reads I've had in 2013 and one of my favorites. It has a lot in common with Kingkiller Chronicle, but at the same time it's totally different.

Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. You'll either hate it or love it. Lots of really well done military action. It's something between Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson, but not really :D Three main problems with this series is that:

1. Author wrote it really fast and didn't take his time to edit them so its a bit rough at times and there are some inconsistencies.

2. Nobody cares whether or not you understand whats happening in the book. You have to make it all out yourself and first 100 or so pages are especially hard as you're thrown into one of the greatest fantasy worlds, get lots of time skips, different places and a lot of characters.

3. This one is more of a personal thing. This book has hundreds of characters, and dozens of main characters and every book follows different storyline as well as characters. If I remember correctly there are 3 major storylines that get tied together later on. I love this part about this series but I've found some people don't like it so there it is :D

Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is a good one as well. It's not your normal fantasy book with lots of magic and/or epic wars. If you like heist movies you'll most likely love these books.

Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence if you're okay with 12 year old boy killing and raping with style.

 

 

hehe i read ravens shadow and blood song and yes enjoyed them!!

 

must admit i tried the first malazan book, and found it hard going, i may retry it...thanks all

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Neil Gaiman:

 

Sandman (if you like graphic novels), The rest of his works if you do not.  He is the authoir behind Coraline, Stardust and Neverwhere which you may (or not) have seen.

 

Piers Anthony:

 

Adept series and Incarnations of Immortality 

 

Katherine Kerr:

 

1st two quartets are really good.  Goes downhill after that.

 

China Meiville:

 

Love him but he is hard ot read.  Uses lots of big and obscure (to me) words - I consider my vobulary pretty good too

 

JV Jones

 

Sword of Shadows

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Have you read anything by Guy Gavriel Kay? Brandon is a fan of his and often recommends him to people who like Brandon's own work. In particular, check out Tigana and The Lions of Al-Rassan.

 

I'll second Brian McClellan's Powder Mage series as well, with Promise of Blood being the first book. McClellan was actually a student of Brandon's I believe. I'll also second The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. The whole series is good, though I think the first book was clearly the best of the three. The fourth book will be out later this year. And another +1 to Zelazny's Amber series. I especially suggest the first five books, the "Corwin cycle" as fans call them.

 

Since you liked Blood Song, be aware that its sequel, Tower Lord, will be released July 1 this year. I thought that was one of the best books of the past decade, so that will be a day one purchase for me.

 

I've heard good things about Brian Stavely's debut, The Emperor's Blades. It just came out this year, and I haven't had a chance to read it. But I see it mentioned a lot in fantasy recommendations threads, often in the same breath as the likes of Blood Song, Stormlight Archive, Kingkiller Chronicle, Gentleman Bastards, etc.

 

You might also like Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations series. I've only read the first of the three omnibuses (omnibi?), The Crown Tower. I thought it was fun, though a bit light and simple compared to a lot of the other books that have been recommended in this thread.

 

You might also want to look into Glen Cook's Black Company series. It wasn't for me personally, but I feel like it often draws comparisons to Abercrombie's First Law series. Since you liked that, you might like Cook as well.

 

Lastly, you might get some good mileage out of this reddit thread. Just start at the top and work your way down, taking note of any novels and series you haven't yet read.

Edited by Teccam
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Awww, it warms the heart to see Mistborn and Stormlight Archive up there.

 

One series I'd recommend that I don't see in that reddit is the Temeraire series, if only because of the dragons haha. And because I dig the old-fashioned, Pride and Prejudice kind of prose, although I'll totally understand if not a lot of people do.

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Thank you guys so much for the Blood Song recommendation. It had a tough act to follow with WOR, but it delivered. Very similar in style to King Killer, but I believe it was a more satisfying book than The Name of the Wind. Also Vaelin makes Kvothe look like an amateur. Very excited for book 2 in June.

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I would suggest these books (warning: some of these books are adult books)

The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

The Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce

Young Wizards series by Diane Duane

Dark Heavens trilogy by Kylie Chan

The Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan

The Otherworld novels by Yasmine Galenorn

Precinct 13 by Tate Hathaway

A Mindspace Investigation novel by Alex Hughes

The Darkhunter, Werehunter, and Dreamhunter

Series by Sherrilyn Kenyon

The League series and BAD series also by

Kenyon

The Tapestry series by Henry H. Neff

The Gaslight Chronicles by Cindy Spencer Pape

Urban Arcana also by Cindy Spencer Pape

Bannon & Clare by Lilith Saintcrow

I probably have more but can't remember them.

And most are adult novels, or become adult novels halfway through.

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Has anyone read the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks? The magic system sounds intriguing thinking of picking it up.

Outstanding books. If you like Brandon's world building, magic systems, and action I'd definitely recommend the lightbringer series. Weeks' work is nearly as good. Now that WoR is checked off, the third lightbringer book is the next highest one on my eager anticipation list.

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Yep, Lightbringer is definitely a good read (though I've only read The Black Prism so far...).

 

And on that note, Brandon is now Weeks' nemesis the same way Scalzi is Brandon's nemesis - because both Brandon and Brent came out with a a magic system based on light / color around the same time, but Brandon did it first.

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You should definitely pickup the Blinding Knife Argent. I liked it even better than the first book. While I love brandon, and the magic systems in Mistborn and Stormlight are some of my favorites by far, I'm gonna have to give the prize to Weeks on the color magic. I found the Lightbringer magic a lot more interesting than Warbreaker's.

Edited by Awesomeness Summoned
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Well, in all fairness, Awakening is really about animating inanimate objects, not about color - no more than the magic in a game like Warcraft is about mana. But I agree with you, chromaturgy* is a very well designed magic system, and Blinding Knife is on my to-read shelf. I just happened to pick up The Black Prism a couple of weeks before Words of Radiance came out, so I didn't want to be caught in a situation where I would have to choose between making WoR wait and putting BK on hold. It's probably the next thing I am going to read though.

 

 * Fun fact, as I was trying to remember the exact name of the magic system's name (I was thinking chromatology), I landed on a Wiki page about Romanticism and Bacon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

should try the red knight by miles cameron, malice by john gwynne, both first books in there series and second books are out now both also very good, also hearld of the storm by richard ford and a dance of cloaks by david dalglish 1st book in series of 6 ,

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I reco: Malazan Empire series, Shadows of the Apt series, Joe Abercrombie, Matthew Stovers Caine series, Greg Keys Kingdom of Thorns(Briar King is book 1 go figure).

I also would reco James Clavells SHOGUN, while not a fantasy it is prob the best book I've ever read taking place in 1600 feudal Japan. Seriously that book is Golden!!! Go read this NOW and thank me tomorrow!

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When recommending things, it's probably best if you also say something about your recommendations, or at least provide an  "if you liked X, I recommend Y..." I would not recommend the Malazan series to people who like and are used to, say, young adult fiction.

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