It's a slow Friday and I love talking about books. I started with The Black Company and over the years have branched out to Glen Cook's other work. I agree he is an old fart and while I mostly enjoy his other work, The Black Company is probably still his best. However, The Dragon Never Sleeps and Passage At Arms are two of his more memorable books outside of TBC. Dragon is especially interesting and he is frequently requested to write a sequel for it. It's a very interesting universe and is maybe one of his more ambitiously epic SF novels. As for other Military SF, have you read the Posleen(Legacy of the Aldenata) series by John Ringo? I also like Larry Correia's work. The Monster Hunter series is hilarious and good action, and the Grimnoir Trilogy reminds me a little bit of Mistborn. Maybe I'm just getting old because stuff reminds me of other stuff. I also like David Weber and David Drake for Military SF. Sanderson is a in some ways the anti-Robert Jordan. I feel like RJ is the same mold as GRRM. He likes to write about small characters and go off on tangents and is a very undisciplined writer who doesn't plan ahead very well. Sanderson is the opposite of that, he is very disciplined, he sticks to his main plot threads and he finishes his work on time. I actually gave up on WOT around Path of Daggers/Knife of Dreams, but a friend that read through the Sanderson ending said that Sanderson wrangled all those tangling plot threads and managed to resolve most of them satisfactorily. I may try to finish WOT someday given that I devoted 2 decades of my life to following that series, but I just don't have the motivation to do it right now.
I would recommend it. Yes it starts slow. But when it picks up it is great. Also it works toward book 7 (reapers Gale) and there the story really really pays off. Man thinking about the books really make me want to read them again. His style is really different. More short story like. But the series does have a real ending. I really liked it because it is so different. Really? I am not a fan of Esslemont. I read all his books since I love the Malazan universe. But I really did not like his writing. Yes Erickson can be a bit boring and philosophical (especially Toll the hound). But his characters are great and the world is really interesting. For the the characters are the most important in a book. For example I liked the first law (by Joe Abercrombie) not because the story was great, but because the characters were interesting (and original). The MBotF introduced so many great characters, on top of that you really were never sure if a character would survive or not. Which made it interesting. Esslemont has a more direct action packed style. However I really do not like his characters or the story lines. He really destroyed a couple great characters that Erickson introduced. On top of that the characters he introduced were just not that interesting. Maybe it was because he was not sure if he could write a couple of books, but also there really is no pay off for his books, every book is pretty much stand alone, and there is really no conclussion. I do have to say that I was less happy with Forge of darkness (the first of the The Kharkanas Trilogy). I hope he gets back on track with Fall of light.
WOT really lost his edge at that time. At some point it was mostly woman complaining about the men. It does pick up a bit. I did enjoy finishing it. That being said for me the first couple of books were the best in the series. Some character development were not that great for me. They could have done a lot more with some characters.
Wow great! Thanx for the suggestions! Will definitely check the Steelheart series, sounds very original and interesting. When you say that he's an old fart what you mean exactly? lol Don't be. Trust me. I was the same exactly because I was sooo dissapointed about how he made Matt , it was like another character. He never could get him. He was forced and wooden. It wasn't his own created character and it showed. But in his own books it's totally different. And it was Jordan himself who turned it into the soapopera non stop b!tching not Sanderson. And Jordan had left very detailed instructions on how the ending should be. But if you are interested in detailed magic systems check him out. wow you were there from the start. Lucky me didn't have to wait even a day to read the next books. After all this waiting you should definitely finish them it would be a shame. It's a magnus opus of fantasy literature no matter if the author couldn't finish the job. Let's hope that Martin learns from Jordan's mistake and hurries up. It's not wonder that authors like Sanderson or Butcher write a book every year and imo it doesn't have to do only with the planning. They don't get into so much detail and don't create such a plethora characters. Their books are more plot driven than character driven. But I disagree that Jordan and GRRM don't plan ahead. They both have decided the endings way ahead of time and dropped many small details and clues (as far as we see from Martin so far at least). Yeah it was too annoying. Couldn't blame those guys for hating the witches, I would too. Esp Nyneave couldn't shut up to save her life. As much liberating it was to read a series that had powerful female characters that had actually also some brain in their heads , I hated it at how it portrayed women.
Yeah it really was clear that Jordan did not like woman, or at the very best thought all they do is complain.. I actually had more problems with how Perrin was handled than how Matt was handled.
Glen Cook is old and retired. Sometimes he's a cranky old man like in this interview that is slightly famous for having gone so badly.. http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-glen-cook-interview.html But then he gave a pretty good interview here at some convention in France. http://www.elbakin.net/interview/exclusive/Glen-Cook-aux-Utopiales-2011-l-interview2 Someday he might actually finish those last two Black Company books.
I recently read The Kings Dark Tidings by Kel Kade. There are two books out in the series already with the third due in July. I really liked it. You can get it for $3.99 on Amazon ebooks. https://www.amazon.com/Free-Darknes...ark tidings&qid=1463327495&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2
Reviving this thread.... Just finished WOT and looking for another series to pick up. I've really loved Malazan, Black Company, Kingkiller Chronicle and pretty much all of what Brandon Sanderson has written, but kind of lost of where to go from now. Thinking about Discworld, but any other recommendations?
If you haven't read the Dresden Files you need to. The first couple of books are okay, but stick it out it gets great fast.
Anyone got any recommendations that have more aspects of realism than fantasy like ASOIAF? Dune is Sci-Fi, but I'm read that and its pretty good. Sort of like a Game of Thrones and Star Wars combination
Man, I can't believe I posted so much in this thread last year, but what can I say, I do love reading. As for MHI, don't you mean Bubba's Professional Monster Hunting Service?? Haha . I really like the sense of humor in the MHI series. I also really liked Larry Correia's other series Grimnoir that starts with the book Hard Magic. I'd say Dresden Files by Jim Butcher might fit your criteria, it's set in the real world but with an unseen shadow world of magic and the supernatural. The main character is a wizard who mostly lives in the real world.
I just barely started reading the Iron King by Maurice Duron. It's a 7 book series with a forward by George RR Martin. It will be more realistic because it is actually a historical fiction series. It was originally in French, but it has been translated into English. Martin calls it the real Game of Thrones.
After reading this entire thread I really need to read the Dresden series. Several people have recommended it the last few years. And lot of people here seem to really dig it.
I have, good stuff. Please check out Kel Kade's King's Dark Tidings series. It's REALLY good. You can try out Amazon Unlimited for a month and read the first 2 books for free.
Lol I just saw you post that a while back now. Check out Duncan Hamilton's Society of the Swords. It's not as good as Kel Kade, but it's pretty solid. I enjoyed the trilogy and it's cheap off Amazon Unlimited.
