I've been looking at some books, and I plan on reading some of these, so I wanted to know if any of you have read any of these and what you think of them. You guys got me hooked on Neil Gaiman, and I've read his books, and now I'm looking for some more. Thanks. Prince of Nothing R. Scott Baker Abhorsen Trilogy Garth Nix The Chronicles of Thomas Covenent, the Unbeliever Stephen R. Donaldson
A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erickson - I am an avid reader of this series and highly recommend it. The first in the series, Gardens of the Moon, isn't the best but it's mainly there to introduce you to the major players of the next few books. Deadhouse Gates, the second in the series was what really pulled me in to the Malazan world. Memories of Ice crushed me and left me heartbroken yet still yearning for more, and they just get better from there. I've only read five; #8, Toll the Hounds, is being released stateside soon so I've definitely some catching up to do. I find them to be heavy enough that I can't just plow through one after the other, which is why I'm taking so long to read them. Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb - A very good, but extremely depressing trilogy. Again, recommended. If you like this series, there is actually a second trilogy about Fitz, the Tawny Man trilogy. I haven't read it yet but it looks just as good. There's also the Liveship trilogy, set in the same world and in the time during/between Farseer and Tawny, but focusing on a different setting with another cast of characters. Can't say much about the rest, haven't read 'em. The Name of the Wind is in my to-be-read pile though. ~DragonHeart~
Yeah, I've started reading Gardens of the Moon in the time that I posted the first post, and it's good, but not great. I can see how the other books will probably be better, because the world is really interesting.
Yeah, it's the shaky start of the series, but once you start getting into Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice it really starts to shine. The plotlines seem unrelated at first but they do all eventually start to converge. I think The BoneHunters is where that process starts, can't say for sure as it's next on my list to read. By the way, there are some novellas set in Malazan too. Night of Knives, which covers the night Laseen took the throne, and two following characters you haven't met yet. There may be more coming, I haven't heard anything yet though. ~DragonHeart~
Hey Kratos, I've followed your recommendation. I bought The Name of the Wind, but I haven't read it yet. I found the synopsis really interesting, and that Kvothe seems an intriguing and interesting character.
i read the Abhorsen Trilogy a few years ago and liked it very much. I found Sabriel (the first book) difficult to get into, but eventually I found the characters engaging and the setting and ideas unique and well-crafted. I was much younger and my tastes were probably different back then, so it's difficult to give you more details than that. My favorite book of the trilogy was Lirael, the second one. I think the whole story was darker and the characters richer than the first. The ending of the last book was very intense and affected me very much. All in all, I'd say give this one a go. Garth Nix infused a lot of fascinating concepts into the storyline that's worth looking into.
I highly recommend that you don't read the Prince of Nothing Series. I could barely get through a few chapters. First of all, though the imagery is beautiful, the writing style is way too pretentious. It grates at you slowly until you want to toss the book out of a window. Secondly, the protagonist is a complete, pompous ass. I've never read about such a jerk (in fantasy, I've read about Hitler and the likes), despite the fact the author obviously adores him. But if you can get over those two obstacles, then you might really like the book. If I remember right, the magic was really interesting. It was something like you had to recite one strand of a spell verbally, and then simultaneously recite a different strand mentally. Oh, and Name of the Wind is an amazing book. Just had to put that in there.
Garth Nix is all right, but you have to be patient with him. He takes a long time to really get going.
I read the Abhorsen series and i really enjoyed them alot. As others have said, it was a bit slow starting but then was a great read.
Oh I’m glad I found this thread, I’m in the same boat I’ve completely run out of books to read... I bought The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant as it was recommended to me but I was really disappointed - couldn’t put my finger on why, it just didn’t interest me. I tried again with Mordant’s Need but had the same problem. Maybe Stephen Donaldson just isn’t for me. Prince of Nothing – I’m actually reading this at the moment and I can’t say it’s setting my world on fire. I’m only a few chapters in and while I like the writing style, I just can’t seem to relate to the main character. I’ll persevere though, hopefully it’ll get better... I’m glad someone mentioned the Malazan Books – I’ve had Gardens of the Moon for ages and read a few chapters but that’s as far as I could get – it just didn’t seem to be going anywhere. But from DargonHeart’s recommendation I’ll try again, it sounds like they get much better as the series progresses. Farseer/Liveship Traders/Tawny Man Trilogies – if you haven’t read them, make sure you do! ‘The Reindeer People and Wolf’s Brother are by the same author writing under a different name (Megan Lindholm), and I think they’re almost as good as the Farseer books. Have you ever read Guy Gavriel Kay’s work?? I can’t praise him enough, Tigana is one of my favourite books, The Lions of Al-Rassan is excellent too. If you like A Song of Ice and Fire and WoT you should like these.
I read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever & it's sequel The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (six books in all). It's great! Go for it!
