I’m currently looking to read a fantasy series to get deeper into the genre after having enjoyed Stephen King’s Fairy Tale, which I knew nothing about going in and was pleasantly surprised with the fantasy style it had after the more traditional Stephen King style of the first 150 pages or so.
Last year, I read The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings with the latter being a difficult read for the first two books with the slow pace, complex world, and unusual (in a good way) writing style. I still really enjoyed the series though.
I’m looking for something with the detailed world of The Lord of The Rings but with the easy to read writing style of Stephen King (who is possibly my favourite author at the moment).
The options I’ve considered are:
•A Song of Ice and Fire (George R. R. Martin) – adapted into Game of Thrones, one of my favourite TV shows, but with the newest book ending at the same point as season 5 (I know it’s very different though) and leaving many cliffhangers, I’m not sure if I want to read it until book 6 has a release date.
•Mistborn (Brandon Sanderson) – Brandon Sanderson seems to be a popular and prolific author with many fantasy series. The Mistborn books are apparently a great entry point into his Cosmere universe and have great world building, which is something I value.
•The First Law (Joe Abercrombe) – apparently similar to A Song of Ice and Fire with a dark story and a lack of black and white storytelling.
•Red Rising – heard that it is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy with a Hunger Games style in the first book and then a large and complex world with a fast pace and politics. As I like both genres, I might enjoy it, but I’m not sure if the more YA style of the first book is what I’m looking for, but, if the rest are more complex, I don’t mind.
•Any suggestions you have based on what I’ve enjoyed as below.
Fantasy books I‘ve enjoyed: Harry Potter series, The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, Mythos series, The Witcher short story collections (got to book three or four of main series but quit as I wasn’t enjoying them), Fairy Tale (Stephen King).
Other books I‘ve particularly enjoyed: Bill Hodges trilogy, Misery, Carrie, The Institute, The Hunger Games series (besides Mockingjay and Songbirds + Snakes, which were just okay), Where The Crawdads Sing, 1984, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Frankenstein, Of Mice and Men.
by magicalmelon567
3 Comments
Based on what you want, start with Mistborn. It has deep worldbuilding like Lord of the Rings but easy, Stephen King level prose. Avoid A Song of Ice and Fire until book 6 is out if the wait bothers you. Red Rising is fun but starts YA. First Law has great characters but lighter on worldbuilding. Go with Sanderson first.
mistborn is probably your best bet here – sanderson writes really clean and accessible prose, not dense like tolkien at all. world building is incredible but he explains things clearly without dumping everything on you at once 😂
first law might be bit too grimdark if you liked harry potter and fairy tale, abercrombe can get pretty brutal. red rising starts YA but gets way more complex in later books, though it leans more sci-fi than fantasy after book 1
since you enjoyed king’s style so much, maybe look at some urban fantasy too? dresden files has that accessible writing with great world building, though it’s set in modern chicago rather than secondary world fantasy 🔥
I really really enjoyed Game of Thrones, especially the first 3 books. The 4th and 5th book, GRRM got famous to the point where IMO it seemed like he could push back on his editors a little too much, and the books lost their momentum. Then of course there’s the issue of the 6th and 7th books probably never getting written, but then again, you have the show to give you some closure there, after a fashion lol.