What's your favourite fantasy series?

[Nymeros]

13 hours ago, Unhinged said:

Like I said it's subtle and I'm not completely sure it was intentional but just as an example in Game of thrones Ned Stark always tries to do the honorable thing no matter how stupid this is.

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he ends up getting killed for his trouble.

In Stormlight Archive Dalinar after narrowly escaping death wises up and starts balancing being honorable with being realistic He is willing to risk his son's life in the dueling arena and if the oathbringer preview chapters are anything to go by he is willing to use force to unite Roshar (although probably not to the extent Taravangian was). But he also still tries to be a good person when he can, like when he stands up for Kaladin and outright tells Elhokar that if he tries to execute Kaladin, Dalinar will fight to save him. 

Perhaps the best way to compare the series is in their morality systems ASoIaF starts out with some of the characters thinking that it's a world of black and white morality. this gets them into a lot of trouble and it is shown that this idea is not only naive but downright stupid. In fact the world runs on grey and black morality at best and evil vs evil at worst. 

Stormlight archive runs on light grey and dark grey morality the heroes are not perfect white knights (although Kaladin comes close but even he was willing to get dragged into a plot to kill the king) but they're all good people who are likable despite their flaws. A lot of the of the human villains have noble goals although their methods do keep them firmly at the darker end of the grey area. Even the voidbringers apparently have a very good reason for wanting to destroy humanity if the text from the Amazon description of Oathbringer is any indication

Basically ASoIaF is a Deconstruction  Stormlight archive is a Reconstruction 

yes before anyone ask I've given a lot of thought to this 

 

Spoiler

That's not really true though? Ned did not view the world in terms of black and white morality at all; he was just smart enough to understand the difference between right and wrong and brave enough to fight for what was right (within the context of the series). None of the first round of viewpoints held this view, and the story does not condemn or denounce the more heroic characters....if anything it celebrates them. Have you read all of 5 books? Almost everyone in the story loves Ned and even his enemies have to respect him. His men and friends are so loyal that they'll march on Winterfel in a blizzard for "The Neds Girl."

Truly Ned made a mistake in trusting Littlefinger.....but pretty much every major character makes boneheaded decions (which doesn't make them naive or stupid.....just human). This is regardless of their moral views and is done to drive the plot.

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by Nymeros

[+robardin]

On 9/3/2017 at 6:10 PM, Unhinged said:

Basically ASoIaF is a Deconstruction  Stormlight archive is a Reconstruction 

yes before anyone ask I've given a lot of thought to this 

Hmm. I like it.

Does that mean enjoying both ASoIaF and Stormlight Archive is a kind of Equivalent Exchange?

 

[Landis963]

4 minutes ago, robardin said:

Hmm. I like it.

Does that mean enjoying both ASoIaF and Stormlight Archive is a kind of Equivalent Exchange?

 

If you like Stormlight more, you're getting more out than you put in. 

[Lightwalker]

On ‎17‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 6:36 PM, Extesian said:

I only just vote Stormlight but Name of the Wind needs to be on there  Well, Kingkiller Chronicles

I feel the same way.

It would be better if you could have 2 votes.

[Seloun]

The Curse of Chalion - though less for that series proper and more as a way to get to reading Bujold.

[World_Hopper]

I am currently all about the Cosmere universe, I've read all the Mistborn books, (Era 1 and Era 2) and both the Stormlight archive books.

I understand that The Inheritance Cycle was extremely cliché but I still enjoyed it. I believe that every once in a while you have to read a cliché story to remember how lucky we are to have original authors Like Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan who create amazing "Universes" with well developed characters to brighten up our lives.

[Worldhopper]

Not sure if anyone's mention it already, but Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastard series should definitely be up here. These are the only books I would put above anything in the Cosmere when it comes to excitement over publication date.