So imagine LOTR, but instead of following the Fellowship of the Ring, we follow Saruman's ministers or a random governor in Gondor. That's basically what I'm looking for. The more nerdy and in-depth — the better.
I used LOTR as an example, but basically any type of Fantasy(even Fantasy adjacent) will do. I'm pretty much open to anything, as long as it's good. It would be nice if the original was written in either English, Polish, French, or German, but if there's a decent translation, that'll work too.
To give you some idea: I like The Witcher saga, The Song of Ice and Fire(God rest its soul), Lovecraft's works, Berserk, The Black Company, Dune, and I adore reading through the Warhammer wiki(even tho I haven't read any actual books from the universe). I've enjoyed some of Pratchett's works. I also loved Blindsight, and Asimov's and Lem's works, but I'd rather it not be Sci-Fi, unless it's really good.
To be honest, I didn't like LOTR that much. It was stunning when I read it for the first time, but after rereading it as an adult, it's not that good. I didn't like Harry Potter, not as a kid, not as an adult. I didn't like the Elric Saga as much as I thought I would.
by LecznyDziad
1 Comment
I was with you until ‘Lotr isn’t as good’, I’ve only grown to appreciate it more as an adult! But to each their own, haha.
You might enjoy The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham, starting with The Dragon’s Path. It’s a fantasy series that focuses a lot more than usual on the economic side of things, with a couple of the main characters running a bank. It’s a pretty underrated and complex series, and the banking part is only one aspect though a large and interesting one! It’s nothing like LOTR 😉
If you’re OK with something very dark and brutal, check out The Darkness that Comes Before by R Scott Bakker, the first in his epic series The Second Apocalypse. I mostly recommend this because it’s inspired by, and similar to, a lot that you’ve liked (compared to Berserk, Dune, etc. a lot), though it’s also got a fair amount of political intrigue too. A very fucked up, dark, epic, philosophical fantasy series.