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Having Fantasy withdrawal symptoms


Barbarian AL

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Hey everyone,

So, I'm all caught up on the cosmere. I'm planning to reread some of the SA books but for now, I need a break from reading Mr. Sanderson books. After I finished Mistborn, I went and read the KingKiller Chronicles and I loved it. But now, I have no clue what to read. I've tried out the Lightbringer series but I couldn't get into the first book. You guys have to save me because the crave for escapism is taking over :unsure:

What Fantasy books do you guys love other than the works of Brandon? 

If there is a similar post to this, please direct me to it :D 

Cheers  

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2 hours ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

 Read some James Joyce. His books take place in a mystical lost city called Dublin in the magical land of Ireland. 

I second this. In one of his books, Joyce had his protagonist walk the streets of Dublin with descriptions of all the building on the streets. The characters journey forms the shape of a question mark. Joyce remembered all of that when he had been living in Paris for 5 years..some people are just wired differently.

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2 hours ago, The Harlem Worldhoppers said:

I second this. In one of his books, Joyce had his protagonist walk the streets of Dublin with descriptions of all the building on the streets. The characters journey forms the shape of a question mark. Joyce remembered all of that when he had been living in Paris for 5 years..some people are just wired differently.

 Considering that people can walk the same path as that character using the book as a guide, that is incredibly impressive! 

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1 hour ago, Silverblade5 said:

I've heard good things about the Wings of Fire series. 

Its pretty good

 

I had tons of fun with DragonLance books, but stick to those by Margerat Weis and Tracy Hickman

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A couple of authors I mentally file in the same area of my library as Brandon are Jim Butcher and Ben Aaronovitch.  All three I find consistently fun and re-readable, each with a different style.

Butcher offers some sub-genre options: He's probably best known for the Dresden Files urban fantasy series (15 books published, plus a couple short-story collections, roughly 10 more to go).  For swords-and-horses fantasy he wrote the Codex Alera series (6 books, complete), and he has also started a steampunkish series (The Cinder Spires).  Only one Cinder Spires book is out so far (The Aeronaut's Windlass), and the series could end up with either 3, 6 or 9 volumes, still to be decided.  Personally I found the first three Dresden Files books and the first two Alera books kinda rough, but I felt that those series improved significantly after that.  (If I recall correctly, Butcher wrote each of those first three Dresden Files books as class projects during his MFA.)

Aaronovitch writes the Rivers of London urban fantasy series, with six books so far and more on the way.  From a craft perspective, I think he does a lot better than Butcher at writing diverse characters and voices at least in this genre.

I could go on.  Scott Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora might appeal to a fan of the Kingkiller Chronicle, though I have not yet read further in the series it starts.  George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire is great if you don't mind some darker stuff, and Joe Abercrombie can take you darker still if that's the direction you want.  I just finished N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy, which I liked a lot as it felt rather different to me.  The magic in that series is very 'soft' in the Sandersonian sense, which didn't bother me for the first two books but became an issue for me in the final volume.  I read Grossman's The Magicians on Rothfuss's recommendation but didn't care for it at all.  (Rothfuss also recommended The Dresden Files back in the day.)  Joyce hurts my brain.

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@Barbarian AL You should try to restart Lightbringer. The start is hard, I wont lie. Short chapters, magics hard to understand at first (its extremely simple after a while), but trust me, holy god its worth it. One of my Favorite series. 

Along with the Night Angel Trilogy. That one is amazing, easy magic, assassin, and great story. 

 

I started the Sword of Truth series as well (first book is Wizards First Rule) and im loving it as well. 

Abhorsen Chronicles, YA books but i enjoyed. sabriel, lirael, abhorsen, clariel, goldenhand. (i would read in order as book 1, 4, 2, 3, 5)

If you into Dungeons and Dragons/Forgetten Realms, you should look into the Drittz books. First one is Homeland. 

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I really love the Death Gate Cycle.  It used to my favorite series until I found Mistborn, but it’s now probably my second favorite.  By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

I am also reading the Runelords right now and I’m loving it.  Not as good as Sanderson, but still really good. I love how the magic of the Runelords works.  I find it incredibly interesting.  A Runelord can get qualities from people, say sight, hearing, voice, brawn, etc.  The person who gives the endownment then no longer has access to that.  So if I were to give sight to a Runelord then I would be blind.  He could now see as good as two people.  This arrangement lasts until one of the two people dies.  If the person who gave the endowment dies then the Runelord looses the ability, but if the Runelord dies then the person gets their ablility back.  I think it’s intresting, because it can be incredibly powerful while having a high cost.  There is someone who has so many stamina that someone can run a sword through his heart and his body will just quickly heal.  However, he nows needs to take care of the people who now are weak and do not have an immune system, otherwise they will die and he looses the abilities. By David Farland

I would also recommend the Discworld if you are looking for a fantasy, which is more comical.  I would start with Guards! Guards!  Don’t start with book one since it doens’t really connect to the other books that much. By Terry Pratchett

Edited by Aurora the Rioter
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  • 4 weeks later...

@Barbarian AL I know it's been a month, but if you're still looking for fantasy books, I just ave to re-recommend both Powder Mage and Abhorsen/Old Kingdom. Both of these stories are really good. Powder mage has a similar feel to Mistborn Era 2, but more gritty and focused on war. Old Kingdom kind of feels a bit like Wheel of Time, but with necromancy. That's about all I can say about it without getting too spoiler-y.

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I will second The Deathgate CycleThe Lies of Locke Lamora, and the Sword of Truth series.

I'll also back the Dresden Files, although it took me awhile to warm up to them (book 6 was amaaaaazing).

As for other others......The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington has a growing following.  The books are really gripping, but sometimes there's so much it gets really confusing (there's kind of a search for the truth happening, but it gets complicated when the cast are shapechangers, or immortal, or, time travelers, or have amnesia, or all of the above!)  I need to reread them to pick up all the pieces I missed the first go round.

Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series blew my mind as a teenager.   If you love dragons, it's for you.   

C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy was another favorite of mine.  She also wrote a scifi called The Madness Season that I loveeee.  It is full of surprises.

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I'd recommend Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. Though it can be a bit dark at times, it's a solid series in my opinion. (As well as the accompanying series the Path to Ascendancy, Novels of the Malazan Empire, the Kharkansas trilogy, and no doubt the forthcoming Toblakai Trilogy.) 

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