The Fantasy Novel Thread(tm)

[WarZidane]

So I was thinking of making a thread about a Brandon Sanderson novel or Malazan, or..well, pretty much any fantasy novel I've read, but came to the realization it'd probably be too specific to be a long-lived thread.

Instead, I decided to try a general fantasy novel thread! I'm hoping that by not confining it to one series or even author, more people will come in here and discuss novels or just rant about how great the one they just read is.

Just be sure to tag any possible spoilers, of course.

Anyhoo, to start off, I've been reading Gardens of the Moon (first novel in the Malazan series by Steven Erikson) and it's been very intriguing so far, even though it was pretty hard to get a grasp on things when I just started it because you're kinda just thrown in at the deep end. Lots of interesting characters in multiple factions to the point where I have no idea which faction to even root for.

[Fynn]

Ok, this one’s gonna be a shocker. Brace yourselves.

The Witcher is amazeballs, you guys!

[Freya]

I used to consume fantasy novels left and right but as I've gotten older I've had less time to read. So I see big fantasy novels as very time consuming.

man i'm an old lady now.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I’ve been working through the Wheel of Time series, and it’s been pretty good despite a couple of issues I have. Just started the book where Brandon Sanderson took over after Robert Jordon died.

I enjoy what I’ve read of Brandon Sanderson quite a bit as well. I’m debating between reading all of his Cosmere stuff once I finish Wheel of Time or starting up Malazan.

[Freya]

I have read his mistborn book, good stuff. I'll probably pick up more of those soon. He's a good writer

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I’ve only read the mistborn trilogy and a good chunk of his first published book, Elantris. I just recently bought pretty much all of his books though. I’ve also listened to some of his podcast, Writing Excuses, which is really good for people interested about writing and publishing.

[Wolf Kanno]

This is where I do my obligatory shout-out to the Death Gate Cycle which is written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman of Dragonlance fame.

Quick synopsis: The books take place on four worlds based on the classical Greek elements of Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. They were once one world but a race of powerful humaniod wizards called the Sartan sundered the world into these four elements before nearly vanishing without a trace. A rival race called the Patryn were imprisoned beforehand in a makeshift deathworld called the Labyrnith and once they escaped, they began their plans to get revenge. They send out Haplo, who is always accompanied by his dog, to investigate the four worlds.

Each book takes place in a different world and largely involves Haplo dealing with the politics of the Humans, Elves, and Dwarves that now call these realms home. Air is a world that is mainly all sky with floating islands. The humans and elves fight for control while the dwarves slave away on the lower islands trapped in a perpetual storm that gives the world it's only source of water. Fire takes place in a Dyson Sphere surrounded by a star. The world has massive forests growing everywhere and most of the mortal races no longer even remember if there is a ground. The world soon becomes under siege by giants who are destroying everything in their path, can the feuding races turn aside their differences to survive together? Earth is an underground cave of lava, fire, and poisonous gas. The world is so deadly and toxic, that civilization only remains due to resorting to the forbidden arts of necromancy. Water is a massive ocean that people can breathe and is filled with small island nations. Unlike the previous realms, this world is one of the few where the lesser races all actually work together but even there world starts to become plagued by wicked serpents of great power and intelligence who may be the very physical embodiment of the hubris of the Sartan.

Long story short, it's seven volumes, great characters, unique magic mechanics, and the way the worlds are all developed is very fascinating.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I’m going to have to add that and Witcher to my list. Well, Witcher was already on my list I guess, I just need to get around to getting it.

[Fynn]

Whoever wants to get into the Witcher - either check reddit or ask me about the book order. I don’t know if it’s the issue of release times in the US or something, but I’ve seen a lot of people start with Blood of Elves, which is the third book. I’ll go into detail about why you should get into it with the book order added later when I have a bit more time - expect a long post

[WarZidane]

Sanderson's great. I've read Elantris, Warbreaker, the first Mistborn trilogy and the three released Stormlight Archive novels now. I'll probably start on the second Mistborn series after I finish Malazan, though given that I'm on the first novel in that series, that'll be a while yet.

But yeah, I've greatly enjoyed every single Sanderson novel I've read thus far.

[Chibi Youkai]

The second Mistborn series is interesting, but make sure that you read the little novella that goes before it, as it introduces the main characters. And oh, the Stormlight Archives. If you start to read them, give yourselves plenty of time and patience. I love that series so much, but the shortest of the three books is over a thousand pages. Which makes it a slow updating series. It'll probably be at least another two or three years before book four comes out, since three was just released last November.

Is anyone here a fan of David and Leigh Eddings? Redemption of Althalus is to this day one of my favourite standalone fantasy novels.

[WarZidane]

Yeah, Stormlight is the first series I've really dived into long before it'll actually be finished. Worth it though, Oathbringer is probably my favorite novel.

As for the novella that's part of Mistborn era 2, thankfully I have Arcanum Unbounded, which i think has all Cosmere short stories so far. I've read most of them, barring the Elantris ones because I only recently finished Elantris.

Speaking of which, the Edgedancer novella was great too. I could probably read an entire full-size novel about Lift and not be bored a single second.

[Chibi Youkai]

I think we'll see more of Lift in the next book. Brandon wrote somewhere that he really liked the character. Which I guess is obvious enough since she got her own novella.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

So I’ve been wanting to get into the Discworld books lately too, and I’ve been wondering what the best way to go about those books might be. I feel like there are a lot.

I at least think I remember there being some Discworld fans on EoFF.

[WarZidane]

I've only read the City Watch novels of Discworld myself, which have a clear order in them (that being the release order )

I'd imagine release order works fine for the rest of them as well.

I will say the City Watch novels are great and so "Guards! Guards!" is a fine starting point.