Ah, the First Law series is a classic. Well, for me it is. If all else fails, I'll probably pick that series back up again. It's fun. Right now I'm thinking of buying his newest book A Little Hatred. Not the most positively reviewed novel, but opinions and asses, as the saying goes. I'll judge it myself.
My younger brother swears by that series. Up to book two. Might read it after he's done, though, some plot points have been spoiled already..... Take your time, I'd say. Wish I could go mind wipe and reread the trilogy.
If you don't mind an adult manga (not porn-y, just not for kids), Berserk is great. Grim dark fantasy with....no, ya know what? Don't read that. There is no hope for those that do. Gut's story is best left unread. Another graphic novel you could try is The Wicked and the Divine. Read a bit of the series, up until book three where I just...forgot about it.
I got turned on to Berserk after seeing the animated adaptation back in the day. It's still pretty much one of the only manga I actually like.
If only eh? Don't worry, got a few books to get through before I dive into the machinations of The First Law and will try not to be in too much of a hurry reading either. Only graphic novels I've read are Kingdom Come, Watchmen, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. I do know that an author I enjoy called Ben Aaronovitch has some graphic novels out based on his bestselling Rivers Of London series. Never seen those though, so can't comment on their quality.
Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland. Waiting for book fourteen but I was kind of disappointed with the last one. But the series is going in an interesting direction, I would definitely recommend it to Fantasy readers.
Just finished, Jan Sobieski: The King that saved Europe. A great historical book. I tried to read, The Black Monk made it to chapter three, not my cup of tea. Now I’m back to, The Emotional Craft of Fiction.
Borrowed Brave New World by Aldous Huxley from my sister. Reading it now. Also reading Rome: Eternal City by Ferdinand Addis
Similar boat. Only two mangas held my attention: Vagabond (The artwork is fucking amazing, story of Miyamoto Musashi is cool, too) and Berserk, naturally. The latter is great for stirring up a pot of feels, mainly hopelessness, which is great. Why we don't have a dark souls esque game of said series is odd. Could work quite well, methinks.
Just started Robert Silverberg's The Book Of Skulls . The story is narrated by four different characters. The characters are differentiated by using different stereotypes . Some of the stereotyping is actuly offensive , but I'm still interested in seeing how things unfold .
Have you ever read the Manga comic the Alita Battle Angel film was based off? I saw the film the other day again and was curious so I looked it up.
I'm presently into (very much) City of Saints and Madmen ~ Jeff Vandermeer. Highly imaginative and vivid writing it is.
Oh oh oh....Abercrombie is one of my favourite Fantasy writers. I envy you, just starting out. I hope you like The Blade Itself as much as I did. I've re-read the trilogy several times, and have read everything else he's written as well (I think.) For me, the opener to The Blade Itself is a classic 'way to write a fight scene,' especially at the start of a story where we don't know any of the characters. I think you'll find the series contains many pseudo-medieval fantasy tropes, BUT Abercrombie tends to turn them on their heads, so they aren't predictible at all. And the ending of the trilogy is SO very satisfying, even though I couldn't have predicted it. Plus his style is very accessible. What's not to like, eh? And he finishes his stories and publishes the sequels in good time. Weee ha.
Well that does sound good, and I did read that the characters are not your classic good and bad guys, more nuanced. It's handy that he manages to finish his books on time, unlike some others, like Rothfuss' Name of the Wind series. Honestly I enjoyed the first two but it's been years now and no sign of the third, can't be bothered with it now, too many other books to read. I have just started Ann Lackie's Ancillary Justice because it's supposed to be brilliant Sci-Fi and I've never read it and being into Sci-Fi I really should have read it by now. Also just finished Altered Carbon for the second time and will try and finish his trilogy this time. After that it's Abercrombie for sure. Honestly I have a metre high stack of books I haven't read, a metre I swear - and that's just the physical books.
After a two week break, I'm off to a month of random stuff not including English speaking countries. Started off with Sartre's essay "Existentialism is Humanism." While I agree with this argument, I think I disagree on some of the points of both approaches, chiefly the burden of freedom of choice in the person. Next went to Paul Celan's poem "Death Fugue" which I found to be a phenomenal, post-WWII depiction of a prison camp. It was powerful, and mockingly song like in it's repetition. Sped up in a language as it progressed into darker tones. Lot to be learned from this work. Next was Albert Camus' essay "The Myth of Sisyphus." Still don't know what to make of this one. Later next week I'll read Milan Kundera's "The Hitchhiking Game," George Trackl's "Eastern Front/Grodek," and then Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I've read Conrad's novel before, and remember loving it, the descent into madness, but I need to re-read it again after a decade or so to reorient myself with it.
Almost done with Prince of Fools (book 1 of Mark Lawrence's Red Queen's War series) I like it a whole lot. It's a real page-turner. It is only natural to draw comparisons to its sibling series, The Broken Empire, naturally also by Lawrence. Despite taking place in the same locations (the same continent, at any rate) at the same time, involving some of the same characters and events, there is perhaps as much difference between the two as there is common ground. Prince of Fools has a wholly different mood and pace to it. Whereas Jorg's books are relentlessly grim for long stretches of time, Jalan's story is much more of a lighthearted romp, almost goofy at times. That's not to say they don't both have plenty of humor and plenty of horror, but each series definitely skews in one of those directions. A lot comes down to the protagonist (both are written in first, so you really get inside these characters' heads): Jorg is a tortured man and an evil, evil bastard, pragmatic in the extreme; Jalan is a selfish, happy-go-lucky coward who nevertheless seems to have an actual conscience. As far as Lawrence's writing goes, it's good (better here than in The Broken Empire, I find). The prose isn't fantastic, but it is solid, smooth, and digestible, not unlike Joe Abercrombie's. Indeed, this entire franchise, and especially the Red Queen's War half of it, does a fine job of scratching that Abercrombie itch. Something @jannert might be interested in? I don't mean to launch into a full-blown review here, but I will touch upon setting, which is another strong point of these books. Spoiler: non-story spoilers What at first seems like straight Fantasy is actually set in (post-)post-apocalyptic Europe, and there are many fun nods to our times. One of my favorites comes from Prince of Fools, where an army of "plasteek warriors" have been arranged, in a terracotta army kind of way, around the tomb of some important person. The characters are naturally mystified, but the reader will realize that these are actually mannequins.
@Night Herald I've yet to read Mark Lawrence, but I've been planning to. Where do you suggest I start? Broken Empire?
