The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 101

The Shadow of version I personally find the least confusing and most compelling upon initial reading.

 

I'd agree with Garrett. Not that the others are bad but I like the mystery and clear agenda of the last one. Seems epic in scope from reading that and has a lot to offer.

 

I third that.

The first two are really good, but the third one is great.

 

Damn, (DCC6) Carl's confrontation with his father's death was heavy as fuck

 

thanks all! 'least confusing' 'clear agenda' 'epic in scope' are all things I like to hear

 

I just finished The Will of the Many, and good god, I need that next book ASAP. Everything about that book hit perfectly. Viz is one of the best characters in fiction. The set pieces are epic, and the tension never lets up. The ending of the book flips the entire script, where I have no idea where the next book can even go. 11/10 Highly recommended.

 

I think I want to read this before the Licanius books. I also love that cover and referenced it as an inspiration for my cover

 

I think we will have 3 Vis POVs

 

I know I’m a bit of an outlier but I would do Licanius first. I think Will of the Many was a significant step up in quality. Plus Licanius is complete and we’re a bit out from book 2 of Hierarchy.

 

That was my exact thoughts. I should do a re-read of that shortly!

 

I’m assuming he’s gonna stick the landing because he’s been blowing me away regularly, but if the Lightbringer Quintet stays at this level it’s probably jumping into my top 5 favorite series. Just finished the 3rd.

 

what are some unforgivable/annoying things that turn you off of fantasy books right from the get-go? I'm talking about stuff that makes you not want to finish a book in the first few chapters

 

I absolutely hate when the majority of the plot could be solved by just killing the obvious bad guy when given a clear opportunity to do so very early on in the story.

 

This isn't a dealbreaker but I'm reading Saxon Stories right now and it does this, it also goes for all literature, I hate when all the chapters super long. Like these books are roughly 350 pages and around 11 chapters.

Also schools. I'm so over magic school or whatever you want me to sit through.

Oh and a bonus. I hate the word "rut" for sex. Like it doesn't come up that often but I'm pretty sure that most of my dislike for one particular book was because that word was on every page.

 

Ooh two ones that I kinda relate to (I’m fine with magic schools).

Gemmell gets a pass on “rutting” but otherwise yeah that kinda bugs me. And I don’t mind long chapters but if they don’t have any section breaks in them it gets really frustrating.

Good question @theagentcoma. I can’t really think of any dealbreakers for me though. I guess maybe anachronisms in language are kind of annoying. Oh, I don’t like when there’s not a good sense of scale and scope within the first few chapters. Gimme a map and I’ll refer to it frequently, but either way, gimme some sense of how big the world is and where things are and where we might end up. I feel frustrated when a story has a big world and we only see part of it, or when the geography is hard to follow because of a lack of detail. I end up having to revise my mental map later.

 

finally reading Dune. The audiobook experience is quite nice.

 

Have about 2.5 hours left and my word he’s landing it. Instantly up to my 4th favorite fantasy series ever.

 

damn just got to a super dark chapter in The Poppy War. Should wrap this one up in a few days.

 

I really wanna hear your thoughts when you're done. I've only read the first book, but I've heard rumbles from other readers that they didn't like how the series ended—but the spoiler stuff I've chanced upon doesn't sound bad, it sounds cool—so I'm curious about your take since I actually trust your reading opinion more.

 

So, I think a lot of people react to the final book depending on their level of Bible literacy. If you’re aware of the Bible, the level of religious allegory that appears in the final book is well supported and built upon from the very beginning. If you’re not aware of the Bible, I can see how the final book feels very heavy handed and “out of nowhere” when “God” actually gets involved in the plot.

He includes the phrase “eucatastrophe” in book 3 or 4 to explain something and that’s what I wrote my senior thesis on in college, so I was even more aware of what he was doing from then on, too.

 

That's what I figured would be the case from what I was hearing. I thought from book one the religious elements and the nature/influence of God were pretty well established so hearing the snippets I have about the final book I'm like "yeah, makes sense, what I expected" - especially seeing people bandy around "deus ex machina" as though it's purely an insult and not an actual literary device that can be employed well. But having not read them yet, I wasn't sure if I was right. I guess for non-religious people having gods and religion in fiction might feel more like worldbuilding/window dressing, but since I happen to be pretty devout, I expect those things to play a larger and more meaningful role in characters' lives.

Anyway. Thanks for the confirmation. More excited than ever to read the rest of the books when I can.

 

Yeah. It did not feel very DEM to me at all. Not in the way say some of the Dragonlance novels do. If anything, it’s much more like the moments in The Silmarillion or the eagles in ROTK.

 

I started Philip Quaintrells Echoes saga, with Rise of the Ranger, and I can tell the scope of this is going to be massive already

 

all the copies of The Dragon Republic are checked out at the library !!!!!!!!! I have nothing to read during lunch

I guess I could jump back into the presidential bios with old Tommy Jeff

 

Looks like it's Red Rising time for me yay