I'm ruined!

[Argent]

I wouldn't say The Magicians is horrible. It's a very different kind of book, a strange mix between Harry Potter, Narnia, and something grimdark. It wasn't my favorite series, but I can appreciate it after the fact - it has an interesting message, one worth thinking about, it just didn't convey it very well.

[DSC01]

I haven't read the last book yet, but the Moontide Quartet by David Hair is pretty good. It's not terribly original--just about every element of the worldbuilding has clear roots in other sources or in actual history--but the story is engaging enough. Also, he manages a story that is epic in scope and features characters ending up separated from each other by huge distances but still brings characters back together and doesn't let things get out of hand. It's nothing profound, but it's enjoyable enough to read.

Edited December 7, 2015 by DSC01

[Slaybalj]

The first fantasy story I read that made me realize a well written story could 'ruin' other genre books was Memory,Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams.  i got a LOT more selective about epic fantasy after that.

 

To be fair, it's over 20 years old now and I originally read it when I was 15 so I don't have a good idea of how it would hold up without the nostalgia factor. 

 

after feeling burned by Game of Thrones and disappointed in WoT, I am surprised I even picked up Way of Kings back in 2014.... but I am sooo glad I did.

[DSC01]

You know what's weird? I got into Sanderson because of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I tried to reread Game of Thrones a few months ago and could barely get past the first few chapters before I got bored with it. 

 

Like a lot of people, I hadn't heard of ASoIaF until I got wind of the HBO adaptation. The synopses I saw on the Internet and the teaser footage floating about intrigued me, so I read the books. I finished them fairly quickly and wanted something else to read. I thought about WoT, but I had lingering memories, from when I was 12 or so, of seeing these huge paperbacks kicking around, each longer than any book that I could imagine reading, and seeing "Volume 4 of The Wheel of Time," "Volume Six..." I think memories of being intimidated by the length scared me away. I eventually happened upon Mistborn (without, as I recall, realizing that it was written by the same author who was finishing WoT).

 

The thing is, Mistborn didn't turn me into an immediate die-hard Sanderfan. After all the grimdark grit of ASoIaF, it seemed rather light--almost breezy. It felt like too much fun to take too seriously, and I almost felt guilty for liking it as much as I did. I read The Way of Kings not too long after that and realized that Sanderson wasn't just fun. His books are really good. Then I found out about the Cosmere. And then I was ruined.

[FormlessFox]

You know what's weird? I got into Sanderson because of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I tried to reread Game of Thrones a few months ago and could barely get past the first few chapters before I got bored with it. 

 

Like a lot of people, I hadn't heard of ASoIaF until I got wind of the HBO adaptation. The synopses I saw on the Internet and the teaser footage floating about intrigued me, so I read the books. I finished them fairly quickly and wanted something else to read. I thought about WoT, but I had lingering memories, from when I was 12 or so, of seeing these huge paperbacks kicking around, each longer than any book that I could imagine reading, and seeing "Volume 4 of The Wheel of Time," "Volume Six..." I think memories of being intimidated by the length scared me away. I eventually happened upon Mistborn (without, as I recall, realizing that it was written by the same author who was finishing WoT).

 

The thing is, Mistborn didn't turn me into an immediate die-hard Sanderfan. After all the grimdark grit of ASoIaF, it seemed rather light--almost breezy. It felt like too much fun to take too seriously, and I almost felt guilty for liking it as much as I did. I read The Way of Kings not too long after that and realized that Sanderson wasn't just fun. His books are really good. Then I found out about the Cosmere. And then I was ruined.

 

This is my exact experience.  Waiting and waiting for GRRM to put out another book and in the meantime I read like 50 books that were better.  It may be the only time that the show/movie is better than the book.  

 

Mistborn blew me away with worldbuilding.  tWoK I did not give enough respect to and in the reread I fully realize how dumb I was to not see it for the crazy crazy crazy epic fantasy that it is.

 

Eventually I stumbled upon the Death Gate Cycle which kind of blew me away and is cosmereish. It is not without its flaws but it has a universe sized fantasy plot... Interstellar meets Lord of the Rings? Did that make sense?  Check it out if you have nothing to read.

[Alfa]

I used to name ASoIaF and (to my shame) Sword of Truth my favorite series for a time, and before that an almost unknown guy named Ralf Isau.

 

Named Ralf Isau had a lot of interesting worlds and/or magic systems [A world, where forgotten things go, for instance; or a guy who is able to slow everything (but not make it faster)] - unknowingly written along Sanderson's Three Laws. Actually, I think some of his worldbuilding/magicbuilding for some of his books is almost as good as Sanderson's. Unfortunately most of his plots are less thought trough as BS's, and, as with a lot of good writers, he seemed to burned out of very good ideas.

 

 

One fortunate day I discovered Elantris in a library (thank you very much, evil librarians!), and remembered, that I read Alcatraz 1&2 when I was 13 or 14. I read Elantris. I discovered TWoK (in Germany it's separated in two volumes) in the same library. I read them twice or thrice. I waited for the release of WoR part 1. I read it in the bookshop. I started to read Mistborn at a bookshop. For some - now ununderstandable - reasons i stopped it halfway through the first book. A year later - after I read WoR part 2 - I started to read Mistborn again. And read it in straight line to AoL. Then I buyed and read Warbreaker, Emperor's Soul, Legion...and discovered Coppermind and the 17th shard. I read StAr in english as an eBook.

Then I was ruined completely. I read almost everything (just Shadows for Silence and some of the SciFi are still on the list). I even read WoT in less than two months. Probably the most pages in that time in my life for now.

 

What makes it difficult to go from Sanderson to other writers is the structure of his worlds. Each part of them somehow feels... right, correct. Worldbuilding, characters, settings.

(As a good example what not to do I name the late books of Sword of Truth, where the magic system was turned on its head and the plot... well, circled around different kinds of bloodbaths)

[hoidhunter]

You know what's weird? I got into Sanderson because of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I tried to reread Game of Thrones a few months ago and could barely get past the first few chapters before I got bored with it. 

 

Like a lot of people, I hadn't heard of ASoIaF until I got wind of the HBO adaptation. The synopses I saw on the Internet and the teaser footage floating about intrigued me, so I read the books. I finished them fairly quickly and wanted something else to read. I thought about WoT, but I had lingering memories, from when I was 12 or so, of seeing these huge paperbacks kicking around, each longer than any book that I could imagine reading, and seeing "Volume 4 of The Wheel of Time," "Volume Six..." I think memories of being intimidated by the length scared me away. I eventually happened upon Mistborn (without, as I recall, realizing that it was written by the same author who was finishing WoT).

 

The thing is, Mistborn didn't turn me into an immediate die-hard Sanderfan. After all the grimdark grit of ASoIaF, it seemed rather light--almost breezy. It felt like too much fun to take too seriously, and I almost felt guilty for liking it as much as I did. I read The Way of Kings not too long after that and realized that Sanderson wasn't just fun. His books are really good. Then I found out about the Cosmere. And then I was ruined.

Yeah...I started reading Song of Ice and Fire a LONG time ago...I think I found the first book in a "here take these paper back books" box that was in the english building at school back in like 2004...I proceeded to read each of the others until I ran out of books...then waited patiently for Dance with Dragons...at this point I'm totally fed up with waiting...and quite frankly...don't even remember what is going on in the series right now...I think I might refrain from reading the next books just out of spite.

[Slaybalj]

I have a first print paperback copy of game of thrones sitting on my bookshelf... I loved it when i first read it, reread it a half dozen times, bought the next three hardback,...and realized after 21 years i just no longer care. I gave my hardbacks to the local library and only kept GoT as a reminder to not get that emotionally invested in an incomplete book series again... ( i failed with SA ). I still think the first book is good, but the series got off track.

[StormingTexan]

I agree the firs book was good and it kinda gradually went downhill from there and then the wait just killed it for me. But I have to say I like the show and what HBO is doing. I think it will eventually (probably already has) overshadow the books. 

[Magnifico Giganticus]

I appear to be a bit of a minority regarding ASoIaF. I love it, though not unconditionally. Though I am of two minds as far as the time it takes him to put a book out. On the one hand, I couldn't write one book as good as any in the series in two lifetimes, much less however his longest interval has been. But on the other hand, nobody I ever heard of takes anywhere near as long as him and I am tired of waiting. And I didn't have to wait for any but A Dance with Dragons. I can only imagine how you people feel who have been reading the series since 1996! It may not be the nicest thing to say that you hope he finishes it before he dies but good gods, it is a legitimate concern at this point.

[Oversleep]

I personally love Magicians. I loved this "reality crushes into magic school trope" - I actually wrote a paper for my exams about how fantasy tends to get more and more realistic (I analysed heroes, worldbuilding and magic), from fairy-tale magic and archetypical heroes of Tolkien and Le Guin to Name of The Wind and Magicians magic schools which resemble actual school (I love passages of Kvothe and friends going out to taverns and getting drunk - it just feels so natural) and law-of-physics based magic...

I didn't know about Sanderson then, of course. Fortunately, because if I did, I am not sure If I could manage to get my paper short enough. With Sanderson I could go on and on and on...