I'm just done reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, and The Fate of the Tearling immediately before. Starting with the latter, I liked the rest of the series, but disliked the direction it went in this last book; however, it did keep me invested right until the very last word (in the hope that things might take a different turn, admittedly). As for the former, I don't think I have much of an opinion. It just didn't deliver on what I was looking for.
What I'm looking for, incidentally, is quite a specific niche of fantasy stories centered on monarchies with a romantic-in-the-classical-sense portrayal. It's a high I got off The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold, and the original Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey, and I've been chasing it ever since.
I just finished Sanderson’s Secret Project 3 (I know some people consider the title a spoiler).
Let me start by saying when I was about 20 chapters in, a little under half way, I was considering giving up and moving on. The writing was good, loved the world building and the mystery, hated one of the main characters. They were grating, annoying, and treated the other character in what I thought was a completely unbelievable and obnoxious way.
Now that I’ve finished it, it might be one of the best cosmere novels. Certainly one of the best non-series novels. The ending was perfect, the characters grew on me and became amazing. Loved it.
I wasn't considering DNFing by any means, I'm too big of a Cosmere fan to do that, but I have to admit, I also did not like the beginning. I was very bored by the exposition, and not compelled by the premise. But absolutely agreed with you that in the end, it was quite possibly my favorite Cosmere. Tress was holding that honor, and I think SP3 may have unseated Tress. My expectations for SP4 are unbelievably high now.
I recently finished The Serpent by Claire North, first novella in the Gameshouse trilogy. I really like stories following competitors in weird, unrealistic games as they try to out-mindgame their opponents (and the game itself), so this was right up my alley. Overall, I found it satisfying, and the next one is definitely on my TBR shortlist.
Caveats: unusual narrator style, fantasy elements are peripheral
Try if you like: political maneuvering, historical fiction, shadowy organizations
Currently, I'm 3 chapters into Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh. First time reading the author, but I've heard good things. Not sure about it so far, though--the first chapter was great and reminded me a bit of The Expanse, but chapters 2 and 3 were super repetitive. Does anyone know if it picks up?
My first proper Fantasy book was The Hobbit, which I'm planning to read to my son soon, so hopefully it holds up as a first choice.
I feel like The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander could be a good shout too. Similarly traditional and straightforward like The Hobbit, but still an example of classic tropes done extremely well.
For an older reader wanting something more mature, maybe The Dying Earth by Jack Vance, or Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber. I feel they're both great, easy intros to reading Fantasy.
ooh definitely not my first fiction book by any means, but Lloyd Alexander was for sure my first traditional fantasy book. Instant fan of the entire genre! Excellent rec.
Working my way through Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. My first try of him and I gotta say I'll be checking out the rest of his work. His rep made him sound too uber-grimdark for me, but that was wrong. It's dark, sure, but hardly breaking the Abercrombie scale. And it's just so, so well written.
Slow progress with it, though. In the middle of a house move and looking after my extremely pregnant gf + juggling work around her and the other kids has pushed reading time right down the priority list, sadly.
I picked up Red Sister when it came out because I enjoy the magic school trope and loved it! I’m not into grimdark so I’m glad I didn’t know anything about Lawrence at the time because I might not have read it. I enjoyed the whole series but I think Red Sister is the best.
The universe keeps finding ways to remind me to watch this show… It looks like it does the books justice which is all I could ask for, really, so I’ll get to it eventually. It’s kinda weird how little people talk about it considering it’s an HBO show, though.
In the middle of The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble’s Braids by Michael McClung. It’s okay. Not really wowing me, but inoffensive enough. I think hearing it was a SPFBO winner built it up for me much more than it should have been.
I tried reading They Mostly Come Out at Night by Benedict Patrick and I just wasn’t feeling it, something in the tone of the MC put me off. Similar problem with the protagonists in both these books, actually. It feels like snark is used as a bandaid to cover for a lack of personality.
I absolutely would recommend the series as a whole. I would say read one of the first (chronologically speaking) books and see how you feel about it.
There is the question of reading order because there are three books which were printed after the Ciri ark series, and they happen prior to that ark. I had read recommendations to read them chronologically rather than in the order they were released, and I'm mostly very glad I did so. The only negative part of having done so is that I think the last book in the Ciri ark (which is the one I've complained about here) is the weakest of them all.
Get ready to look up medieval weaponry terminology if you do pick it up, however. Or just accept that you don't know what kind of weapon is being discussed. Also ready to read the word 'pirouette' endlessly. But it's a fun series, quick and light read, and I enjoy the bits of Polish/Slavic culture that shine through.
I'm just about to start Phoenix in the main Vlad Taltos series, and I think I have this one up next after this in my chronological read through of all the Dragaeran books. Nice to see some others still checking this series out, even if it didn't hit perfectly at this time.
I'm reading The Final Strife. It's a story about resistance in a world of a strict caste system, but it has a bunch of surprising plot twists & surprises. I'm enjoying it quite a bit!
I don't think you're hurting anything by rating accurately. I can understand wanting to boost (or maintain the score of) a book that has very few ratings, but once you hit a certain threshold, a single rating won't affect much. Ultimately, a 4-star rating can't drop the average below 4.0, so unless there's a subsequent slew of less-than-4-star reviews, it should still qualify for (what I imagine is) many people's criteria.
Personally, I skip reading 5-star reviews in favor of the 3- (and sometimes 4-) star ones, since they tend to be better about laying out a book's pros and cons.
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