The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 31

If I recall correctly, Secret History is more important for Stormlight than Wax and Wayne at this point.

 

The two Endymion books were my favorite Sci Fi before I read his Illium/Olympos series, which is just the greatest thing in the world, perfect fusion of Fantasy and Sci Fi. And Curse of the Mistwraith...Oh boy, get ready for the deepest, most complex, most mature, and most rewarding fantasy reading experience out there.

 

They're short books so i would say you could probably be read together. I would say don't read one without the other though and, in my opinion, BoM before SH.

Agree with @Vivatoto about Mistwraith though. Absolutely brilliant series.

 

I wasn't planning on mentioning any thoughts here on Endymion until I finish both books because I want to have cohesive responses before I discuss them with you haha. So I'll tag you when I finish Rise; but yeah, great stuff thus far. Did you read Ilium/Olympos after your dive into Homer, or before?

And yeah, it's about time I read some Janny Wurts. I read a lot of classic fantasy when I was growing up, but looking back now there were a handful of authors that fell through the cracks that I would have just loved then too, so I'm (slowly) working on those now. Should be fun.

Thanks for the answer too, I appreciate it. I suppose there's no real reason I shouldn't read Bands of Mourning now, then Secret History and the rest of Arcanum Unbounded, then start in on Oathbringer. I'm excited to get back to Stormlight, but BOM isn't long and will be fun.

Thanks all!

 

I read them like directly after. I was a Dan Simmons fan way before I was a fan of fantasy of sci fi. I saved Ilium and Olympos for years because I knew I had to read Homer first. So as soon as I read Homer I jumped in. I'm very surprised how long it took me to find Janny Wurts. I've been reading fantasy for a shorter time, but also I've done a lot of deep dives looking for exactly what that series had to offer and it never came up. Like usually I'm all about what Amazon recommends me, but this was nowhere to be found. Like I promise I would have jumped on a series called The Wars of Light and Shadow, I'd have to be insane not to. From what I've seen online it seems to definitely be considered more of an underrated, hidden gem, though it deserves to be brought up a lot more. Not going to lie and say I didn't have issues getting through it, some books have glacial paces, like even for slow paced fantasy (think the books of WOT that nobody but me likes) but it's overall a truly spectacular (unfinished) epic.

 

I'll definitely be following up with you after I read more books by both authors.

Yeah some authors have weirdly flown under the radar despite publishing massive, long, or well received books. Like you, if I had heard about a series called The Wars of Light and Shadow, I would have pounced on it. So it's weird that it never crossed my path.

And I have no problem with slow-paced books haha. Love to sink my teeth into some scenery.

 

Recently finished Malice by John Gwynne and this is the type of fantasy I've been waiting for!

 

Yeah I enjoyed that series. I, however, didn't love the sequel series.

 

Ill see how I get on with this. Didnt realise it was a sequel series though. Shadow of the Gods cover art has me really interested too.

 

The "A Time of...[Dread/Blood/Courage]" is a sequel series to the series you are reading now. I don't believe Shadow of the Gods is connected.

EDIT: I see it's called "Of Blood & Bone"

 

Holy fawk I need this

 

I'll see if i can stick it out. I will definitely finish The Faithful and The Fallen. Shadow of the Gods looks interesting (who doesn't love a dragon on a book cover?). If anyone hasn't seen it. There's a teaser trailer, which is a map, on Orbit Books UK and John Gwynne's instagram.

 

So what exactly is this? I have 2 books left in the Malazan series so I don't want to research this in case it's connected and I run into spoilers.

 

I’m spent way too much time on it to give up on the series now and there’s definitely a lot of interesting stuf there, but I’m not actually sure anymore if I like The Stormlight Archive

 

What book are you on?

 

The most current one, in part 2 of 5 of the audiobook

 

Rhythm of War is the “worst” Stormlight Archive, but feels very necessary without knowing the why yet. I think that’s what makes it such a swerve of a read compared to the first three. It’s the first time, in any series, where Brandon feels like he’s hitting pause.

This may be his Crossroads of Twilight, which is far better as a part of a whole than being the book you’ve been anticipating for years.

 

I definitely feel that whilst RoW is his "worst" book, it's not a bad book. The main complaints i've seen have been the info dumping along the way but this may have been necessary for book 5. Was definitely a slower pace than previous books and that's part of why i didn't enjoy it as much. We've been treated to so much Sanderson recently that even an "okay" book feels like a bad entry.

That being said, if you don't like a series i would advise to either take a break and come in when you have a fresh perspective or just give up entirely. I didn't like Way of Kings and felt it was hard to get into at first until i came back but i alway DNF a book if i'm not feeling it. Too many books out there to enjoy instead of wasting time on something i know i won't.

I'm currently on Valour from John Gwynne and really enjoying it but feel i might need to take a break shortly.

 

One of my big problems is that I forget too much between entries

 

True that! They're such massive entries that i do need a re-read before i read the next one. Can only imagine what'll happen before book 10.

 

Except, I’m pretty sure at this point I just don’t like Brandon Sanderson lol

 

Meh, disagree. I think it’s a bad book.

 

And that's perfectly fine. Whilst i enjoyed it, i'd be lying if i wasn't entirely biased to the Cosmere at this point but i can also see why others would be detered away from it.

 

I’m like halfway through Assassin’s Apprentice. Never read any Robin Hobb...enjoying it thus far.