The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 70

Yeah the Chain of Dogs storyline is a series favorite. The climax is a game changer.

 

I think I remember you liking Priory? Is it similar?

 

I adore Priory, it's an entire series in one book lol. I did call it my favorite stand alone fantasy novel, but now it's technically a series, so that's not really the case. I'm only about 200 pages in but yeah it's hitting all the right notes and going back to what I loved about Priory, which is good because I'd read Bone Season in the interim and although I liked it I never loooved it.

 

I'm finishing up We Are the Dead by Mike Shackle and damn, is it good!

 

I finished the First Law trilogy and loved it. Definitely more of a character character focused series than plot focused, but I love how they all develop. There are a few decisions I didn't love, but I'm excited to continue with the other books. I've heard great things about the next trilogy

 

You plan on reading the stand alones before the second trilogy, correct? They are definitely meant to be read that way.

 

Yeah I've already got two of them on Kindle

 

Nice. I think I've told you before but they're my favorite of the series, I think each of them are better than the trilogies (which I also love), each one just brings so much to the table.

 

Got a few books on the TBR

Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu - got a nice edition from Waterstones and the cover is just amazing. Has some nice reviews and i'm curious about the setting.

The Words of Kings and Prophets by Shauna Lawless - sequel to Children of Gods and Fighting Men. Not much to say yet since I haven't read the series. I got an ARC of this so I'll likely do both.

The Surviving Sky by Kritikia Rao - another ARC of a Hindu-inspired fantasy about a city high above the world ruined by storms.

Ascension by Nicholas Binge - i'm really interested in this and got a copy from The Broken Binding (im a sucker for a really good sprayed edge). This is a science fiction story about a mountain that nobody can tell its height. A team scales this and things move differently the higher they get. Have they stumbled upon the greatest scientific discovery known to man or the seeds of their own demise? My favourite reads this year have been sci-fi so this will likely be my next read.

 

Ascension catches my eye there.

I’m trying to balance Malazan with books I can read simultaneously while doing “mindless” work tasks because Malazan is too much for those tasks, haha.

 

This is the copy I have so you can see why it caught my eye!

https://thebrokenbindingsub.com/products/ascension

One day I'll get into Malazan.... one day.

 

I didn't need to know books can look like that.




Speaking of sci-fi, the 6th Red Rising book is out in July!

 

I do love a good sprayed edge! Wish I was home so I could show them haha

.....yet another series I need to read. For someone who loves fantasy/sci fi, i seem to miss a lot.

https://cdn.waterstones.com/images/00252184-253x400.jpeg - just to ignite that spark

 

I loved the first few red rising books but the last one in particular seemed like the writing style changed. Maybe it was because it had been a while between the book before it and the last one, but I had a really hard time with the first few hundred pages. It ended well, but it felt like more of a slog to me than the previous ones. I’m this far in so I’ll read the 6th one, but I hope it’s not throwing out vocabulary from the world just for the sake of it

 

I think the plan is to finish it in 7, and that the 7th is mostly written already so maybe it’ll tighten up and pick up. The 5th book was my least favorite as well.

 

So.... i'm trying to choose my next fantasy/sci-fi series to read and i'm failing (because i'm an indecisive person). I'm working through series that I never really read such as ASOIAF or Malazan but I'm looking for recs.

I love a great story (who doesn't) with brilliant characters and mysterious world-building. Preferably a trilogy but if its a great one, i can handle more books.

 

Do you have a Goodreads/it's before coffee if I'm blanking on an obvious one so we can see what you've already read?

 

Yes please!

 

https://www.goodreads.com/garrettmlemons

I think I'm friends with most of you that are regulars in here already, but just in case here's mine. I will accept no judgment for balancing Malazan with popcorn government spy thrillers, thank you in advance.

 

The Wulver's Library

Most know my own tastes but i feel like i haven't read much in the "classic fantasy" genre!

 

I can't remember if you've already read James Islington's Licanius Trilogy, but I enjoyed them a lot, there's only 3, and I felt they were a fairly quick read, especially compared to something like Malazan or WoT.

 

If you're already tackling ASOIAF and Malazan on your own... hmmm. The Licaniuous Trilogy is pretty fun and feels like 90s fantasy in a lot of ways. I really like Brian McClellan's second trilogy, but you kinda need to read the first before that. Michael J. Sullivan's "Age of ______" six book series gets better with every book all the way to the end. Of course, you can't go wrong with the original, very corny and charming, Dragonlance trilogy by Weiss and Hickman.

More modern spins on fantasy would be the Greenbone Saga by Fonda Lee, the Poppy Way trilogy by RF Kuang, the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, but YMMV on how you feel about the characters and worldbuilding here.

I've got a pretty big blindspot for Robin Hobb, Discworld, Drizzt, etc of some of the larger fantasy series of the past, though I want to rectify some of that. Don't love Shannara or Pern. Won't give Goodkind a chance after some of the stuff he's done.

 

I'm listening to the "Age of _______" books on audiobook right now - great minds think alike! Haha

 

I read like 12 of MJS's books while training for my first marathon. They're very fun. I like that they span the whole history of that world and remember to have some fun along the way.

 

I liked your description of the Licanius Trilogy - I kept wanting to describe it as like popcorn fantasy because it is so action-packed and full of incident, moreso than some other books I've read, but that honestly comes off as sort of an insult and I don't mean it as such.

My big critique with that trilogy was that I found a lot of the names of characters to be similar, or that I would forget who a character was, and they would show back up in the story in a way that I knew was supposed to be meaningful and have impact, and I would literally not have the foggiest idea who this character was and had to go back through and skim and try to figure out who they were. It could completely be a failing on my end and not the author's and I still enjoyed the trilogy a lot.