The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 137

@estebanwaseaten welcome! might be easier to whittle down some suggestions by asking:

What’s your favorite thing about Sanderson?

 

Gonna probably sound pretty silly but there isn't much so far I don't enjoy. I have no frame of reference or comparative analysis to offer but I love the world building and I love how HUGE it all seems to be. Honestly wish I had taken notes from the jump when starting The Way of Kings. I love the little nods/references/easter eggs to how the whole thing connects. I really enjoy mostly all of the main character arcs as well and I enjoy the way his characters have been developing. I like the darker elements and aspects of his writing and storytelling more than the lighter fare. I can try and think of other things to note as well as I reflect.

 

On the huge aspect, Wheel of Time (while somewhat a product of being written mostly in the 90s) is the closest, imo, the HUGE feeling you get with Sanderson (and of course he finished out that series once we lost Robert Jordan).

More on the scifi side, but the Red Rising series gets you more in that dark side of things while still being really accessible (before jumping into any of the grimdark series like First Law or Malazan).

Most of us around here can talk fantasy/scifi all day, but those two seem like easy jumping off points. (As if 15 books can be seen as “easy” lol)

 

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a 7 book (so far) series in the Litrpg genre. That means it's very video game adjacent and the characters gain skills and classes. The series follows former Coast guard Carl and his ex girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they enter an 18 level dungeon after aliens come to earth and collapse everything with a roof. This series is funny, exciting, touching, and has incredible payoff. As silly as it sounds, this series has made me cry multiple times. I went through 7 books in about a month. I suggest the audiobooks for these.

Malazan Book of the Fallen is a ten book series (and an entrance to a bigger universe like the Cosmere). I haven't read any of the supplementary books yet but this series is epic in scale, often switching entire sets of characters book by book. Compassion is a main theme of this series. Some of the best writing in the genre but is considered expert-level fantasy by many. This series is a bit more challenging but ultimately so worth it.

If you want a standalone check out Babel by RF Kuang which is about the ways language and education is a tool for capitalism or The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue which is about a woman who is immortal but cannot be remembered by anyone and the ways she leaves her mark on the world.

 

Adding a lot of these to some lists and bookmarking for future reference. Thanks so much to you both for such quick and thoughtful responses!

 

Boy you guys are dropping him in the deep end recommending wheel of time and Malazan haha.

My go to recommendation is always The Dark Tower series by Stephen King (first book is kind of narrow in scope but it expands in book 2).

 

The Dark Tower is definitely on my radar. I would actually be technically revisiting it in a way. I read the first three books years ago but then didn't stick with it. Want to start it over and see it through though!

 

oh man you stopped before Wizard and Glass (my favourite King!)

 

I'm going through the Earthsea books and they would also be a good starting point

 

I was young and flippant!

 

not really any wrong answers, but I feel like you can go one of two ways and either start with some of the classics or start with some of the recent books that have just come out

my gut says to start with The Lord of the Rings because that's where I started, even though I know that's a pretty cliché answer

 

Lord of the Rings was going to be my rec too, though I haven’t read many of the other big fantasy series. I’m at about the same spot in the Cosmere and it’s been making me excited to revisit LOTR at some point soonish.

 

I would like to do LOTR at some point as well

 

Here are some of my recommendations from a guy who isn't a fan of Sanderson:

1. Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio (7 books, 3 novellas, 3 short story collections out currently. 1 book, 1 novella, 1 short story collection to be released)
2. Red Rising series by Pierce Brown (6 books out currently. 1 book to be released)
3. Empire of the Wolf trilogy by Richard Swan (3 books released. Sequel series has 1 book that's incredible (Grave Empire) and will be another trilogy)
4. Osten Ard series by Tad Williams (7 books, 2 novellas released)
5. Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman (would highly recommend doing the audiobooks for this one) (7 books out currently. TBD on how many more will be released)

if you're willing to dive into the deep end of dark stuff:

1. Second Apocalypse series by R. Scott Bakker (7 books released)

 

Yeah I think you’d be well served by doing both some classics and some new stuff.

Classics
- Tolkien
- Jordan
- Tad Williams
- Lloyd Alexander
- Katharine Kerr
- Terry Brooks
- Raymond E. Feist
- Dragonlance
- Forgotten Realms
- Terry Pratchett

Newer
- Brian McClellan
- James Rollins
- James Islington
- Jen Williams
- John Gwynne
- Jay Kristoff
- Michael J. Sullivan

by no means a comprehensive list, but if you checked out these authors to see what appeals to you I bet you’d find a couple that you really like, across the board.

 

Also @estebanwaseaten welcome to the club! hope you'll stick around and chat!

 

Thanks! You’ve all been quite welcoming and helpful. I don’t plan to go anywhere anytime soon.

 

Well this is the best thread on the site, so