Hello,
During covid I had decided to expand my reading horizons a bit and get into some new genres, one of these was fantasy. Until that point I had only read the hobbit and lord of the rings, and if they count some classics like Alice in Wonderland and similar.
The first series I picked up was The Witcher by Sapkowski, I was somewhat familiar with the games, but had never gotten deep into the lore etc. I LOVED it, it was incredible, loved the tarantinesque writing, the characters, the wit, strong believable women, and i found it wholesome without being cheesy.
Problem is, that I feel I peaked too soon and I haven't been able to find a series I ever liked as much.
I've gone through some reddit, internet, friends suggestions, but nothing has scratched the itch so far.
I should mention that throughout these series I've read a ton of Pratchett and I absolutely adore him.
Here is what I read and what I thought about it in case it helps:
I started with the Mistborn trilogy by Sanderson, and while I found it to be a page turner at times, It didn't leave me with much, I don't remember it, nor the characters and remember thinking the first one was the best and as the story unravelled it got less interesting.
I understand Sanderson is extremely highly rated and I think he's an incredible craftsman, almost like a book engineer, pacing is great, all the beats are there, subversions, tropes, well thought out, but I found them a bit souless, again like they were engineered more than anything. I also found them to be a bit surface level, not much deeper reflection or critique present in the series.
I then read the lies of locke lamora and i don't remember it too much to be honest, i remember liking the first one best and then losing some interest.
After that I read The first law trilogy and oh boy what a disappointment. I loved, loved, loved the first book, I thought the internet is right, this is amazing, the dialogue, the characters, the mistery it has it all. I devoured the trilogy and then the end happened and I hated it so much I decided I'd never read anything from him again.
I felt like it was such a waste of time, I could see the authro grinning at me as I was reading the end feeling so smug they subverted everything and made some vague point about growth not happening and everything is circular or whatever, but I just thought it was such nonsense and an absolute waste of my time so the author could feel clever. Especially since there is character growth throughout the books, obviously, otherwiese nobody would keep reading, but then at the end we snap the fingers and everything is back to square one… genius…
Might get some flack for this but it really made me mad lol
Was so disappointed by first law, that I didn't read any fantasy for a while, but then a friend of mine re recommened (he had for years to be fair) the Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams.
I really enjoyed it, in parts, it has quite the pacing issues and the ending is a bit of a rushed mess, the main protagonist is likeable but a bit of a passenger to the story in places. The depicitons of teenagers i thought was painfully accurate, the world and characters were great and the fight at the lake was probably the best most accurate feeling depiction of how a fight would be that I ever read. Really really great.
In many ways I thought this was the opposite of Mistborne, lacked craftmanship but full of great ideas and reflections. Also best elves since Tolkien and the Witcher for sure.
I also tried to read the Hussite trilogy by sapkowski but really struggled with all the historical context and regional names etc (my ignorance I know) started it twice, lost track both times.
Right now I'm halfway through colours in the steel and i'm not sure how i fell about it yet, i feel the focus of the story has switched from under me and will see if it pays off.
Daniel Greene put out a fantasy reading guide and the witcher was mentioned but kinda alone in its own corner, the only connection is the Elric of Melnibone, would you recommend it ?
I also read some sci-fi and stuff, but I find it a lot easier to find good sci-fi and also are less of a time commitment usually.
So after this massive insight into my reading… can you suggest me a book series?
Thank you in advance 🙂
by FrankieSolemouth