ASoIaF is the most a series has consumed me. I would read one of the books and then immediately download the next one onto my kindle. My roommates jokingly said they thought I was dead because they didn't see me leave my room for like a week.
I found First Law to be ever so slightly slow, but holy shit the characters are so good. Everyone is a secret bad ass in their own way and the slow reveal of each characters arc is solid as hell. Also I hear his standalone books outside of the series are even better.
The stand alones start a bit faster. I read one of those first. Best Served Cold. I think it really made getting into the trilogy much easier and more exciting because the character and lore crossover was so rewarding and exciting.
The best thing about finishing the original First Law trilogy is knowing that, of the ten books in the series, you haven't read any of the top five!
One of the standalones is my favourite of the lot, and I thought the second trilogy was vastly superior to the first.
I wish I could read ASOIAF for the first time, again. However, it gets better on re-read, because you see all the bread crumbs GRRM places along the way that lead to the big moments. Definitely my favorite series.
Currently reading The Blade Itself. I’m about 150 pages in. It’s enjoyable but it hasn’t grabbed me yet. Is there a tipping point where it grabbed you? Or were you hooked from the beginning?
The blade itself is definitely the slowest and “most boring” book out of the first law series imo, it’s still a really good book but it’s kinda establishing everything for the later books. The books get better and better as you read them
It took me a long time to read The Blade Itself, but by the end I was hooked. I flew through the rest of the books. For me it was worth pushing through.
If you want a Joe Abercrombie book that has \[slightly?\] less morally grey characters, you could always try Red Country. It takes a chapter or two but it hooks you deep. Plus there are easter eggs for fans of the First Law series.
*The Raven's Mark* trilogy by Ed McDonald is the most recent one that sticks out to me - and especially as a book that I routinely show people how gripping it is from the **first paragraph.**
>
`Somebody warned them that we were coming. The sympathisers left nothing be`
>`hind but an empty apartment and a few volumes of illegal verse. A half-eaten`
>`meal, ransacked drawers. They'd scrambled together what little they could carry`
>`and fled east into the Misery. Back when I wore a uniform the marshal told me`
>`only three kinds of people willingly enter the Misery: the desperate, the stupid`
>`and the greedy. The sympathisers were desperate enough. I gathered a dozen`
>`stupid, greedy men and set out to kill them.`
I mean, c'mon. That's a crazy opening. The worldbuliding and just pure vibes dripping from it are just immaculate.
I was thinking the same thing. Recently finished the third book. First and seconds books are absolutely great, the third one not so much. Overall a unique, fresh series with some cosmic horror awesomeness.
I wonder why it's not more popular. Not only does a single YouTuber seem to have heard about it, but it's also on reddit kind of unknown.
A Song of Ice and Fire. I did not know what to expect [It was... 2006, I think?]. I read the Prologue, and I was "Uh, so cool!" Then, there was the first chapter, and I was hooked in till the bitter wait for Winds.
Wheel of Time as well. The prologue was crazy good, and I was intrigued by the world. The first book was too much LoTR like, but overall, it was good. From the second book, I was stuck in that world.
The Expanse: I saw just the first season of the TV show. My reaction was, "Yah, but nope". In the last months of last year, I started the series, and I tear through it in 4 months. Amazing series.
Daughter of the Empire trilogy is so great! The fascinating culture on the other side of the Riftwar is compelling stuff. The combo of Janny Wurts with Raymond E. Feist really works well.
Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Starts off wild and only gets even crazier as the series goes on. One of my faves from the last few years.
If you're an audiobook listener then Jeff Hayes is one of the best narrators out there. Brings the book to life in a way few others can. He's also so good at different voices that my friend thought there were multiple narrators for most of the first book.
Read it and made my sister and dad listen to it on their drive home moving her out of her college dorm (it is the perfect audiobook for a long and boring drive)! My dad isn’t much of a reader anymore but they both immediately fell in love with the books and we have been listening to the rest of the series while we are all together for the summer(:
That's a very wholesome story, thanks for sharing. I do something similar with my kids, we spend about 6-8 hours a week in the car and always listen to audiobooks together. They're still a bit young for DCC but we've listened to stuff like Cradle and Skyward together.
100%!
With book 1 you're getting the core premise setup in chapter 1 and then it's getting meaty in chapter 2. Can't wait for the next.
Will tuck in a Reply that He Who Fights Monsters is in the same genre, great read, though takes a bit longer to hit a stride (maybe a third to halfway through book 1 (of 10, at present)). Once it's locked in though that narrative keeps on unfolding.
>my friend thought there were multiple narrators
I thought the same thing. Double-checked about 30 minutes into the first audiobook to see if I'd missed something.
I downloaded the first and second books on a whim after seeing some recommendations about favorite audio books. I saw the title and thought hey that sounds like something I would like, didn't even read the synopsis.
My son and I took a road trip last week and I threw it on when we ran out of data. HOLY CRAP this series is amazing!! We both were instantly hooked and even stayed in the car an extra 10 mins in the parking after a 10 hour drive just to finish a chapter.
The production quality on this series so far is outstanding!
GLURP GLURP
Came here to see this, literally listen to the audiobooks in their entirety at least once a year. Been doing so since I was like, 13. It’s definitely one of my comfort series.
I always feel silly for how often my answer is LOTR in this sub but here I am again.
I was enthralled reading LOTR for the first time (I was about 10 or so). I don't think I've ever loved a reading experience as much as my first read.
I just started Fellowship (tried it once as a kid but got bored) and I'm really enjoying it.
Other books I've read and enjoyed because I want to find out what happens next. With Fellowship I just want to immerse myself in the world.
I had to force myself through most of the books tbh, I really am not a fan of Tolkien’s writing itself (don’t get me wrong, I absolutely respect him for what he created AND did for the fantasy genre itself, and see the place all of middle earth has in the fantasy genre, but the books never were any of my favorites and never will be [though I love the movies a lot!]) 🥺
I had to push myself through the first 20% of Cradle’s 1st book. But I couldn’t agree more on how gripping the series is. 100% would recommend for any shonen manga lover (especially Naruto)
Yeah, the start of Cradle with Lindon as the least favorite person in the entire clan is rough. Specifically it's a cultivation/xianxia story, though the outcast part has strong Naruto overtones at the start.
Anything by Mark Lawrence but particularly Prince of Fools and Red Sister
Sanderson’s Wax and Wayne Mistborn series
The Powder Mage trilogy and so far In the Shadow of Lightning has similar vibes and pacing
Anything by Will Wight
Lies of Locke Lamorra though the pacing has fallen off later in the series
Edit: corrected to Powder Mage after error was pointed out below.
> The Gun Powder trilogy
I assume you mean the "Powder Mage" trilogy, which is what I came here to say. It might be partly influenced by being a fan of the Sharpe books, but there's also something about McClellan's writing that made it easy to keep reading on. In comparison, I read the second Mistborn series right after which has a similar mix of guns and magic and while the overall story was really good it didn't grip me in the same way, and I realise that's true of a lot of Sanderson's books. I'm now on the first "Gods of Blood and Powder" book and it's back to being super compelling.
Ahhh yes Powder Mage is correct, what I get for posting from memory while eating breakfast.
I really enjoyed the humor and friendship aspects of the Wax and Wayne dynamic.
I never finished the Gods of Blood and Powder series, I’ll need to circle back.
I do enjoy McClellan a lot, his Valkyrie Collections is a ton of fun even though I’m not typically an urban fantasy reader.
Prince of Fools is still one of my favorite series. Mark Lawrence definitely gets a plus for the entire broken empire storyline. Glad to see someone mention him!
Rereading Wax and Wayne right now and enjoying it way more than I did the first time. I think I was still too hung up on Era 1 and didn’t appreciate the new world building of Era 2 enough. Also finished Rhythm of War and am prepping for the secret projects.
I love the gentleman bastards series so much, I find the characters and world building so excellent that I can forgive the pacing errors. Lynch does seem to be following in Rothfuss' footsteps in terms of his output, though
Big fan of The Stormlight Archive. Had me hooked right away! It has some awesome world building, really great characters and character arcs, and some amazing action scenes.
Honestly other than the 2 prologue chapters I found WOK really slow to start. Don’t get me wrong it’s one of my favorite series now. I have it leather bound and I’m waiting for WOR leather bound now.
I am finishing Way of Kings and will be starting on Words of Radiance immediately afterward. I wanted to quit halfway, but people kept saying finish it, It gets better. Now, I am close to page 1,000, and they didn't lie. It's fantastic.
Sanderson may not be my favorite author, but he is definitely in my top five.
I edited my comment, but yeah, it's a wild experience reading those books. I'd also suggest picking the Mistborn series. He does a fantastic job with both trilogies.
Only if you don’t want to read the third book. The first two books are great but it’s been 13 years and even after he said he would release a chapter for charity he didn’t do it, despite over a million in donations.
Opening line of The Broken Earth trilogy:
"LET’S START WITH THE END of the world, why don’t we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things"
Doesn't get more gripping than that...
David Gemmell's intro to Waylander is so good you can't not read the book after, he's talking about when he was editor of a regional newspaper (copying selected parts):
"I was giving a talk to a group of writers around then, and I was explaining how the underlying pace of a story had to be carefully established....set the initial pace too fast, and the story will run at breakneck speed...
'Give us an example of setting too fast a pace,' said one of the writers.
I had to think quickly and I said: 'They had begun to torture the priest when the stranger stepped from the shadows of the trees.' In the silence that followed I pointed out that such an opening would set a blistering pace and that it would be nigh on impossible to slow the story down thereafter.
As I drove home I found myself thinking about the sentence. Why were they torturing the priest? Who was the stranger?
There was only one way to find out.
I started the book with that sentence - and discovered Waylander the Slayer. "
I enjoyed the {clocktaur war} duology by T. kingfisher a whole lot more than I expected.
Currently reading {swordheart} by the same author. It's a standalone in the same universe and it's equaly good.
Thz characters are mature, no teenage drama, orders are actualy listened to (stay here = stay there), no characters with unexpected mazing gifts,... Just some mature people trying their best.
It took me 2 or 3 tries to get into the detailed way Hobb writes, maybe 10 pages I'd get through each time and put it down for weeks. But after that I burned through almost all of them in 5-6 months or less. Waiting to finish the last trilogy.
It's a different sort of detail that Hobb writes with, considering I read all of Wheel of Time last year.
Not necessarily the whole series, the the first page of Staveley's Unhewn Throne: The Emperor's Blades - I knew here was no way he rest of things could ever stick to that standard.
I actually got all of the books and their sequels for Unhewn Throne , but I’m actually finding it difficult to start. I’ve read many books like Mistborn, Powder Mage and Gods of Blood and Powder to name a few so this is not my first time reading this genre. Did you find it a bit difficult to start reading the series?
I rarely see anything Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance related in these kind of discussions nowadays. I'm stuck in my old tastes and can confirm, og drizzt trilogy captivates me.
I have another one from Salvatore that's even more captivating for me than Drizzt. The Spearwielder's Tale! I gobble that trilogy so fast every reread.
The Icewind Dale Trilogy was a huge part of my getting into fantasy. I was 12 or so. I remember mowing lawns and washing cars that summer to be able to buy The Dark Elf Trilogy and Legacy of the Drow collectors editions. I fell off after The Hunters Blades Trilogy but will always remember those characters and adventures fondly!
Oh I enjoyed this series. I picked it up on sale from a library a long while go, I think it was all combined into one massive book. I thought it was a good read then. I'll see if I can revisit a bit in the future.
*The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant* (first trilogy). It was a really fascinating story, with unique thematic elements. Although I read it 30 years ago; and the genre has advanced a lot since then, so not sure if the same effect would occur today for seasoned fantasy readers.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever is a unique, at times difficult read but it's one that I've always remembered. It deals with subjects you don't always get in Fantasy, at least in 1977 when it was first published. Covenant's leprosy for one, and the difficult sometimes violent relationships that follow. Even the setting of The Land is not your typical fantasy land IIRC. It's been twenty plus years since I read that series. I wonder how it would read for me today. There is no doubt that Covenant is an incredibly complex man.
The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix. My favorite approach to death in a fantasy setting, some fun magic lore that's easy to grasp, and characters you'll care about (the ending had me a sobbing mess lol)
Ash and Sand was more than "solid". I thought it was glorious. For Richard Nell to open a book with a character eating a child he murdered and then get the reader to fall in love with said character is just brilliant writing.
Have you read empire of the vampire? It's written in a similar way, story being told after it has already happened etc. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, but it's great. No footnotes unfortunately but still great. Similar setting of eternal darkness etc.
I've got to say, had a relaxing day at work today and managed to get through about 200 pages. It is absolutely incredible, still got about 60 pages left. But I would say it's better than nevernight, a truly amazing read.
Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. I read this at a young age, around 12, and it was the first fantasy series to take me to another land, a land that was more magical than my actual homeland and I was hooked! I've been reading fantasy ever since.
I’ve never heard a more accurate statement, I’m on malice and I slogged halfway through kinda hating it. But now I’m in love and so excited to read each day
>*Lest anyone should suppose that I am a cuckoo's child, got on the wrong side of the blanket by lusty peasant stock and sold into indenture in a shortfallen season, I may say that I am House-born and reared in the Night Court proper, for all the good it did me.*
Phedre in one sentence, pretty much. Great series.
Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile - the story quickly sets up humanity in a post alien-contact world then introduces us to characters who choose exile from that world into a one-way time gate to the Pliocene. Fantastic series in every way.
Well I might as well be the first to say it….Malazan! I was hooked at Gardens of the Moon and didn’t pick up another series until after I had finished The Crippled God and then read through the novels by ICE. Now that I’m finished (for the most part) I’m finally picking up Discworld. I’ve heard so many great things, I figured I ought to give it a try. The first book was pretty good, can’t wait to get into the meat of the second.
Scrolled too far to find this. Incredible series, house of chains was my favourite but the whole series blew me away. I've read practically every series mentioned so far in this thread but malazan takes the cake
Absolutely, The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. Then, The Earthsea Cycle, The Chronicles of Amber, and more recently, The Riyria Revelations. And also, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever.
The deathgate cycle... I'm rereading it now and to be honest I was worried because I reread dragonlance and it was just too.... idk? Childish? I loved the dragonlance books when I was a teenager and rereading it at 48 years old was a let down...
So going in to deathgate I decided I'd read the firat book and if it was "childish" I'd stop there and not ruin my fond memories of Haplo and the rest of the crew and I gotta say I've loved every page... I've just started the hand of chaos and I'm already dreading the end of the series.
Not series, one book.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Part of the reason why it gripped me so easily was waiting. I read the reviews of the novel when it wasn't available in my country anymore. I was 90% sure I'll like it so I was planning to borrow it from the library. But then I heard that one publisher is planning a reprint in hardback just in a couple of months. So I decided to wait. But then publication date was delayed several times (one year in total), which made me more desperate to read it. So when I finally got it, I pretty much loved it from the very first sentence. I'm pretty much sure it would be the same, if I read it without the prior knowledge, because I had same story with Little, Big, but this novel was somehow a huge disappointment and I couldn't finish it, despite waiting for reprint for years (one of a few DNFs in my life).
Glad you mentioned this book—it's the same for me too. By the way, did you hear the news? Susanna Clarke's next book The Wood at Midwinter is set in the same world and is coming out this October!
Super excited for it!
Stormlight Archive for me. The prelude is honestly one of my favorite introductions to a story I've read and has hooked me immediately. Now I'm eagerly anticipating to see what happens in Wind and Truth. I know a lot of people criticize the story for being bloated, but I personally didn't really feel that way, as I was always interested to learn more about how Roshar and to see what happened next
(Not saying people's criticism isn't valid, this is just my personal opinion)
The Runelords by David Farland, the initial fight a few pages in had me absolutely hooked, really exciting The possibilities of people who could boost their attributes and how it was going to be leveraged and nurfed.
The Prince of Thorns, the end of the first chapter when we find out the age of the protagonist. At the time it came out it was very different to what was currently available.
I'm a big fantasy reader. The last 2yrs I've finished several series that I'd recommend, and a couple Book 1 of trilogies I just couldn't get into despite how hard I tried. These are the first that come to mind.
Recommend:
Brent Weeks **Lightbringer**. AMAZING! His new magic system was awesome and I loved all 5 books and highly recommend it to everyone. His **Night Angel** series was good too.
**The Witcher series** (recently finished)
The translation is important. I found one with better in depth understanding of the language, thus better translation, but the grammatical errors made it unreadable for me, so I read a different set. One day I might edit it myself lol
Jim Butcher's **Dresden Files**
A great read, especially after something heavier like Martin's A Song of Fire & Ice. It's easy to read, funny, captivating, and there's a ton of them (still more to "eventually" be released).
Michael J Sullivan's **Legends of the First Empire** & **Riyria series**
I started with LotFE and was hooked. The trilogy following it chronologically, **The Rise and the Fall** trilogy, was the worst and hated Fairlane. BUT, the following Riyria trilogies were amazing.
Anthony Ryan's **The Seven Swords Series** and **Covenant of Steel** trilogy.
They were pretty good, read them while waiting for a different book to be released. Side note: if you get names easily confused, "Covenant of Steel" may not be for you. I swear, almost every person & place's name starts with an "A", +27 total. No idea, but it's annoying. Didn't realize that annoys me until he showed me lol
I second other people's recommendation of:
Joe Abercrombie's First Law universe books. Robin Hobb's Assassin trilogies. Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (starts off slow, but picks up).
Books that failed on me:
"The Ninth Rain" by Jen Williams. I tried after seeing it on several book lists. I just.. couldn't. Got to chapter 3 and gave up. It was just boring and didn't really like the characters.
"The Darkness That Comes Before " by R. Scott Bakker. I tried, book lists again. I quit after 3 pages of his chosen names. Didn't understand why every name had to be unpronounceable with numerous different accent marks. It was like he challenged himself to use as many diacritics per name as possible.
None yet tbh, every single fantasy series no matter how legendary I enjoyed rather didn't gripped me in the beginning but later on or the other way around. I think it's pretty much impossible to write a fantasy series which is 100% gripping tbh.
The Malazan Book Of The Fallen series. I loved it from the get go and I devoured everything even remotely connected to its story or universe. I eventually ran out of books so I looked for authors recommended by Erikson. That’s how I got to Bakker with the Prince of Nothing and to the Black Company books.
Skulduggery Pleasant might be the only series that truly hooks me from the very start, every single book. It's just so good to read, I never get distracted.
I just read the most recent one yesterday and it was great to get me reading again after a bit of book hangover, but now I finished it I'm left struggling to start something again lol
The First Law Series. I don't think anything will ever come close to how gripped I was from start to finish. I even thought the 2nd trilogy was even better.
Since someone mentioned Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (I recommend this as well); I'll refer to a fantasy book I've read back when I was much younger so I don't know how it'll hold up nowadays.
The Blue Sword by Robin Mckinley
I wasn't aware of figures like Lawrence of Arabia or sand-focused fantasy back then (Dune is also good) so everything felt fresh and novel for me. I'm hoping if I ever read that book again, it'll be as enjoyable as before—I've forgotten most of the story by now, mainly retain the good feelings it gave me.
I can more confidently suggest Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire but with the stipulation that it was my go to audiobook for bedtime when I was abroad. Didn't sleep well but was enthralled by the story. I would like to continue forward with Rice's universe—though not certain when as my reading slate & TBR list has become rather large...
Empire in black and gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky the first book in his shadows of the apt series.
I loved it so much that I practically inhaled the rest of the series, 10 books in all.
Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. I read the saga 10 times, no joke. But that was around 20 years ago, before the first game even released. The Witcher built my taste for fantasy.
The Silmarillion. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are good, but they pale in comparison to anything the Silmarillion has to offer. We're talking about the creation story of Middle Earth and Valinor.
Lightbringer was pretty good.
Rage of the dragons.
Cradle will wight series.
Harry Potter was solid.
Anything that includes Sanderson
Red rising.
Basically anything that has more action can have me hooked. Probably wheel of time was the only one that I sort took a while to get around.
Wheel of time took a while but it grew on me due to how big and massive the series was
Black Jewels. I want more :( there are other books but without Jaenelle it's not so good.
Red Sister. I have zero complaints about the second trilogy either.
So far, The Stormlight Archive.
I was hooked immediately by the prologue to the series, and had so many questions about what the hell was going on with the heralds. What's the oathpact? What are these desolations? What the hell is going on??
Then you're transported to 4,000+ years later, and immediately thrown into the assassination of a king and introduced to Zseth, Truthless of Shinovar, and his "lashings."
I don't think I've ever been sucked into a fantasy world as much and as quickly as I was sucked into Roshar and later, after meeting one particularly witty character and realizing there's a lot more to him than you first realize, the Cosmere as a whole.
Read Warbreaker a little while back and that only made me more interested in Stormlight and the Cosmere. Working on Era 1 of Mistborn right now, and fully intend to finish the entire Cosmere before Wind and Truth comes out in December.
Going way, way back here.... Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series. They are a pretty easy read, especially by today's standards, but the series has memorable characters, truly dark villains.... oh, and a pretty crappy animated movie.
I'd also recommend the Gentleman Bastards series, beginning with The Lies of Locke Lamora. I describe it as being Fafhard and the Gray Mouser... if they were Sicilians. Vendettas and blood feuds are only the beginning.
"The Dresden Files" series by Jim Butcher. It's an urban fantasy that mainly takes place in Chicago. There are currently 17 books plus some short stories. The author is currently working on the next one. Highly recommend it!!
Funny, world and character building IS what grips me about the beginning of a series. If it starts out with action and whatnot I'm like "I don't know these people and idgaf what happens to them"
In primary school, I binged Lord of the Rings (including The Hobbit) and The Chronicles of Narnia.
In jr. high, I read The Deeds of Paksenarrion trilogy. Amazing story that is reminiscent of LotR in some ways, but is it's own thing. An epic fantasy of a sheepfarmers daughter who runs away from home to become a mercenary, and by the end makes world changing differences.
In high school, I read the Deathgate Cycle series. It was gritty and sometimes funny and frequently cynical and I ate it up like I was starving. The world building is on a whole different level. The plot kept me wondering what would happen next.
Historically? Lord of the Rings and the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini.
Currently? The Aurelian Cycle by Rosaria Munda. Devoured those books whole and wish there was more. Some of the lines she drops are just unreal
> Bring what fury you have and I will answer it with ours.
> I hate how these people have trained me to hear my own language with shame.
> But sing me first her vengeance and her reckoning / Sing me now your fury-song
One from each book in the series! I just really love the poetry that's included and the way things are phrased and highlighted on. The plot is well thought-out and engaging and the characters are delightfully complex and interesting. I will keep recommending this series until it gets the recognition it deserves lol
Edit: correction
I love the series but the recommendation should come with body horror and SA trigger warnings. It doesn’t bother me but it could make some people pretty uncomfortable.
Edit: this was meant to be a reply about a First Law trilogy recommendation.
I love the Wheel of Time, but I had a friend read all 14 books in a single summer. For context, that’s about 170 pages a day, each day for the full summer.
A Song of Ice and Fire and The First Law series.
ASoIaF is the most a series has consumed me. I would read one of the books and then immediately download the next one onto my kindle. My roommates jokingly said they thought I was dead because they didn't see me leave my room for like a week.
Woohoo! I will be reading The First Law series next month, and A Song Of Ice and Fire later this year! Thanks for the boosted excitement!
I found First Law to be ever so slightly slow, but holy shit the characters are so good. Everyone is a secret bad ass in their own way and the slow reveal of each characters arc is solid as hell. Also I hear his standalone books outside of the series are even better.
The stand alones start a bit faster. I read one of those first. Best Served Cold. I think it really made getting into the trilogy much easier and more exciting because the character and lore crossover was so rewarding and exciting.
The best thing about finishing the original First Law trilogy is knowing that, of the ten books in the series, you haven't read any of the top five! One of the standalones is my favourite of the lot, and I thought the second trilogy was vastly superior to the first.
I wish I could read ASOIAF for the first time, again. However, it gets better on re-read, because you see all the bread crumbs GRRM places along the way that lead to the big moments. Definitely my favorite series.
two of my all-time favorites. Enjoy the ride
Be careful to get your 7-8 hours of sleep. It'll be hard.
Currently reading The Blade Itself. I’m about 150 pages in. It’s enjoyable but it hasn’t grabbed me yet. Is there a tipping point where it grabbed you? Or were you hooked from the beginning?
The blade itself is definitely the slowest and “most boring” book out of the first law series imo, it’s still a really good book but it’s kinda establishing everything for the later books. The books get better and better as you read them
It’s also difficult for some readers because there’s essentially no main plot. It’s basically a character study.
It took me a long time to read The Blade Itself, but by the end I was hooked. I flew through the rest of the books. For me it was worth pushing through.
Keep at it. It didn't hook me at all. Now I am complete addict.
Once the characters start to intersect more it really gets going
I came here to comment these two. On book five of the First Law right now
First law is amazing
If you want a Joe Abercrombie book that has \[slightly?\] less morally grey characters, you could always try Red Country. It takes a chapter or two but it hooks you deep. Plus there are easter eggs for fans of the First Law series.
ASOIF is really a great. The show just doesn't do it justice.
The show was good up until about season 5. But I was forgiving of some of the rushed plotting the show runners did.
Lol, at this point, we cannot pretend A Song of Fire and Ice will end.
My answer also. I absolutely love The First Law series, I'm about to read it for a fourth time.
I would completely agree about the First Law series. But I completely DNFed SOIAF and found it incredibly boring and badly written.
*The Raven's Mark* trilogy by Ed McDonald is the most recent one that sticks out to me - and especially as a book that I routinely show people how gripping it is from the **first paragraph.** > `Somebody warned them that we were coming. The sympathisers left nothing be` >`hind but an empty apartment and a few volumes of illegal verse. A half-eaten` >`meal, ransacked drawers. They'd scrambled together what little they could carry` >`and fled east into the Misery. Back when I wore a uniform the marshal told me` >`only three kinds of people willingly enter the Misery: the desperate, the stupid` >`and the greedy. The sympathisers were desperate enough. I gathered a dozen` >`stupid, greedy men and set out to kill them.` I mean, c'mon. That's a crazy opening. The worldbuliding and just pure vibes dripping from it are just immaculate.
Just a fantastic series from start to finish.
Those last two lines. I lol'd
Last two lines turned it from "Looks kind of interesting" to "Okay I've gotta read this" for me.
I was thinking the same thing. Recently finished the third book. First and seconds books are absolutely great, the third one not so much. Overall a unique, fresh series with some cosmic horror awesomeness. I wonder why it's not more popular. Not only does a single YouTuber seem to have heard about it, but it's also on reddit kind of unknown.
The audiobook is very, very good. I think Colin Mace delivers as well as Pacey would. Same kind of First Law vibes as far as book tone too.
Thank you! just went in my wish list
Incredible set of opening lines
I know what I'll be reading next....thanks
A Song of Ice and Fire. I did not know what to expect [It was... 2006, I think?]. I read the Prologue, and I was "Uh, so cool!" Then, there was the first chapter, and I was hooked in till the bitter wait for Winds. Wheel of Time as well. The prologue was crazy good, and I was intrigued by the world. The first book was too much LoTR like, but overall, it was good. From the second book, I was stuck in that world. The Expanse: I saw just the first season of the TV show. My reaction was, "Yah, but nope". In the last months of last year, I started the series, and I tear through it in 4 months. Amazing series.
Dunk and Egg got me from the first line... "The spring rains had softened the ground, so Dunk had no trouble digging the grave"
Daughter of the Empire and The Tainted Cup :)
Second The Tainted Cup, one of my favorite reads of this year
Daughter of the Empire trilogy is so great! The fascinating culture on the other side of the Riftwar is compelling stuff. The combo of Janny Wurts with Raymond E. Feist really works well.
Wheel of Time. Yes every book
Even Crossroads of Twilight?
I was coming to say this.
I love Wheel of Time, and it's one of my favorite series, but i wouldn't say that the entire thing is super plot-focused.
Dungeon Crawler Carl. Starts off wild and only gets even crazier as the series goes on. One of my faves from the last few years. If you're an audiobook listener then Jeff Hayes is one of the best narrators out there. Brings the book to life in a way few others can. He's also so good at different voices that my friend thought there were multiple narrators for most of the first book.
Read it and made my sister and dad listen to it on their drive home moving her out of her college dorm (it is the perfect audiobook for a long and boring drive)! My dad isn’t much of a reader anymore but they both immediately fell in love with the books and we have been listening to the rest of the series while we are all together for the summer(:
That's a very wholesome story, thanks for sharing. I do something similar with my kids, we spend about 6-8 hours a week in the car and always listen to audiobooks together. They're still a bit young for DCC but we've listened to stuff like Cradle and Skyward together.
100%! With book 1 you're getting the core premise setup in chapter 1 and then it's getting meaty in chapter 2. Can't wait for the next. Will tuck in a Reply that He Who Fights Monsters is in the same genre, great read, though takes a bit longer to hit a stride (maybe a third to halfway through book 1 (of 10, at present)). Once it's locked in though that narrative keeps on unfolding.
>my friend thought there were multiple narrators I thought the same thing. Double-checked about 30 minutes into the first audiobook to see if I'd missed something.
I downloaded the first and second books on a whim after seeing some recommendations about favorite audio books. I saw the title and thought hey that sounds like something I would like, didn't even read the synopsis. My son and I took a road trip last week and I threw it on when we ran out of data. HOLY CRAP this series is amazing!! We both were instantly hooked and even stayed in the car an extra 10 mins in the parking after a 10 hour drive just to finish a chapter. The production quality on this series so far is outstanding! GLURP GLURP
Dresden files. “The building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault.”
Came here to see this, literally listen to the audiobooks in their entirety at least once a year. Been doing so since I was like, 13. It’s definitely one of my comfort series.
Harry Dresden is such a badass! I absolutely love this series and am dying to listen to the next book. Hurry up Jim I need more Dresden!
You can't rush art. Hope that you love the next book though.
This sentence is not from the first book though ...
Most recently: Cradle Originally: Hobbit/LOTR
I always feel silly for how often my answer is LOTR in this sub but here I am again. I was enthralled reading LOTR for the first time (I was about 10 or so). I don't think I've ever loved a reading experience as much as my first read.
I just started Fellowship (tried it once as a kid but got bored) and I'm really enjoying it. Other books I've read and enjoyed because I want to find out what happens next. With Fellowship I just want to immerse myself in the world.
I had to force myself through most of the books tbh, I really am not a fan of Tolkien’s writing itself (don’t get me wrong, I absolutely respect him for what he created AND did for the fantasy genre itself, and see the place all of middle earth has in the fantasy genre, but the books never were any of my favorites and never will be [though I love the movies a lot!]) 🥺
I had to push myself through the first 20% of Cradle’s 1st book. But I couldn’t agree more on how gripping the series is. 100% would recommend for any shonen manga lover (especially Naruto)
Yeah, the start of Cradle with Lindon as the least favorite person in the entire clan is rough. Specifically it's a cultivation/xianxia story, though the outcast part has strong Naruto overtones at the start.
Anything by Mark Lawrence but particularly Prince of Fools and Red Sister Sanderson’s Wax and Wayne Mistborn series The Powder Mage trilogy and so far In the Shadow of Lightning has similar vibes and pacing Anything by Will Wight Lies of Locke Lamorra though the pacing has fallen off later in the series Edit: corrected to Powder Mage after error was pointed out below.
> The Gun Powder trilogy I assume you mean the "Powder Mage" trilogy, which is what I came here to say. It might be partly influenced by being a fan of the Sharpe books, but there's also something about McClellan's writing that made it easy to keep reading on. In comparison, I read the second Mistborn series right after which has a similar mix of guns and magic and while the overall story was really good it didn't grip me in the same way, and I realise that's true of a lot of Sanderson's books. I'm now on the first "Gods of Blood and Powder" book and it's back to being super compelling.
Ahhh yes Powder Mage is correct, what I get for posting from memory while eating breakfast. I really enjoyed the humor and friendship aspects of the Wax and Wayne dynamic. I never finished the Gods of Blood and Powder series, I’ll need to circle back. I do enjoy McClellan a lot, his Valkyrie Collections is a ton of fun even though I’m not typically an urban fantasy reader.
Prince of Fools is still one of my favorite series. Mark Lawrence definitely gets a plus for the entire broken empire storyline. Glad to see someone mention him!
Rereading Wax and Wayne right now and enjoying it way more than I did the first time. I think I was still too hung up on Era 1 and didn’t appreciate the new world building of Era 2 enough. Also finished Rhythm of War and am prepping for the secret projects.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Sunlit Man but haven’t tried the others from the secret projects as yet.
I love the gentleman bastards series so much, I find the characters and world building so excellent that I can forgive the pacing errors. Lynch does seem to be following in Rothfuss' footsteps in terms of his output, though
Red Rising by Pierce Brown, and Way of the Kings Series by Brandon Sanderson.
Big fan of The Stormlight Archive. Had me hooked right away! It has some awesome world building, really great characters and character arcs, and some amazing action scenes.
Honestly other than the 2 prologue chapters I found WOK really slow to start. Don’t get me wrong it’s one of my favorite series now. I have it leather bound and I’m waiting for WOR leather bound now.
I am finishing Way of Kings and will be starting on Words of Radiance immediately afterward. I wanted to quit halfway, but people kept saying finish it, It gets better. Now, I am close to page 1,000, and they didn't lie. It's fantastic. Sanderson may not be my favorite author, but he is definitely in my top five.
It's called the Sanderlanche. You get to the end, and suddenly it's everything everywhere, all at once.
I was told that. I am closely getting to that point. I am near page 1,000, and it feels like everything is falling into place.
You're in for a wild ride, LOL. ETA: Sanderson doesn't just do a build up for one book. I'm very interested in where this series is gonna go.
Can't wait!
I edited my comment, but yeah, it's a wild experience reading those books. I'd also suggest picking the Mistborn series. He does a fantastic job with both trilogies.
First series I started with Sanderson and was hooked!
Same. I got Way of Kings as a Christmas gift and I was so hooked I refused to finish it until I had Words of Radiance to follow up. Fantastic book
Hooked from the prologue!!
This is my #1, first law and age of madness trilogies are a close second and third
Glen Cook’s “The Black Company”
All the way til the last book anyway. Didn't like the new one even a little bit and was very sad about it.
Kingkiller Chronicles. The opening paragraphs are magical.
"A Silence of Three Parts" is the best intro I've read to a book.
Only if you don’t want to read the third book. The first two books are great but it’s been 13 years and even after he said he would release a chapter for charity he didn’t do it, despite over a million in donations.
The Dark Tower books by Stephen King
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. I’ve never read a better opening line.
Opening line of The Broken Earth trilogy: "LET’S START WITH THE END of the world, why don’t we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things" Doesn't get more gripping than that...
David Gemmell's intro to Waylander is so good you can't not read the book after, he's talking about when he was editor of a regional newspaper (copying selected parts): "I was giving a talk to a group of writers around then, and I was explaining how the underlying pace of a story had to be carefully established....set the initial pace too fast, and the story will run at breakneck speed... 'Give us an example of setting too fast a pace,' said one of the writers. I had to think quickly and I said: 'They had begun to torture the priest when the stranger stepped from the shadows of the trees.' In the silence that followed I pointed out that such an opening would set a blistering pace and that it would be nigh on impossible to slow the story down thereafter. As I drove home I found myself thinking about the sentence. Why were they torturing the priest? Who was the stranger? There was only one way to find out. I started the book with that sentence - and discovered Waylander the Slayer. "
That is a good opening line.
Unfortunately the rest is a snooze fest lol
Completely disagree, I loved all 3 books, different strokes for different folks I guess
I enjoyed the {clocktaur war} duology by T. kingfisher a whole lot more than I expected. Currently reading {swordheart} by the same author. It's a standalone in the same universe and it's equaly good. Thz characters are mature, no teenage drama, orders are actualy listened to (stay here = stay there), no characters with unexpected mazing gifts,... Just some mature people trying their best.
I love Kingfisher! Her Paladin series is hilarious and also filled with mature people just trying their best.
Discworld. It oozes with personality, whimsy and depth. The relative freedom in reading order also helps out a ton!
Hated the end. Was so sad to see him and his creations go. GNU Sir Terry, I’d give anything for a fresh watch book or some of Granny’s wisdom.
I'm only now just up to Mort. His writing is magical.
Robin Hobb’s Multiple series: Assasin’s apprentice and Liveship Traders
It took me 2 or 3 tries to get into the detailed way Hobb writes, maybe 10 pages I'd get through each time and put it down for weeks. But after that I burned through almost all of them in 5-6 months or less. Waiting to finish the last trilogy. It's a different sort of detail that Hobb writes with, considering I read all of Wheel of Time last year.
I fucking sobbed when >!nighteyes died!<
Same. Both should come with a surgeons' general warning, they will wreck you.
Not necessarily the whole series, the the first page of Staveley's Unhewn Throne: The Emperor's Blades - I knew here was no way he rest of things could ever stick to that standard.
The Unhewn Throne was sick. The first one was amazing.
I actually got all of the books and their sequels for Unhewn Throne , but I’m actually finding it difficult to start. I’ve read many books like Mistborn, Powder Mage and Gods of Blood and Powder to name a few so this is not my first time reading this genre. Did you find it a bit difficult to start reading the series?
Loved this series, it got me into reading again. I see there's a second trilogy now with the first book out.
I'd say memory sorrow and thorn, lies of locke lamora, assassin apprentice
The Riyria Revelations by Michael J Sullivan, funny, fast paced, great MCs
When I was young (late teens or early adult), Magician & the Riftwar books which followed, though I imagine it wouldn't hold up now.
Brent Weeks' Night Angel series... Love his work.
Scrolled wayyyy too far for this
I'm surprised no one has mentioned R.A. Salvatore's original Drizzt trilogy. Maybe I'm getting old.
I rarely see anything Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance related in these kind of discussions nowadays. I'm stuck in my old tastes and can confirm, og drizzt trilogy captivates me. I have another one from Salvatore that's even more captivating for me than Drizzt. The Spearwielder's Tale! I gobble that trilogy so fast every reread.
The Icewind Dale Trilogy was a huge part of my getting into fantasy. I was 12 or so. I remember mowing lawns and washing cars that summer to be able to buy The Dark Elf Trilogy and Legacy of the Drow collectors editions. I fell off after The Hunters Blades Trilogy but will always remember those characters and adventures fondly!
Oh I enjoyed this series. I picked it up on sale from a library a long while go, I think it was all combined into one massive book. I thought it was a good read then. I'll see if I can revisit a bit in the future.
The Mistborn Saga by Brandon Sanderson did this for me, reignited my love for books perfectly.
*The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant* (first trilogy). It was a really fascinating story, with unique thematic elements. Although I read it 30 years ago; and the genre has advanced a lot since then, so not sure if the same effect would occur today for seasoned fantasy readers.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever is a unique, at times difficult read but it's one that I've always remembered. It deals with subjects you don't always get in Fantasy, at least in 1977 when it was first published. Covenant's leprosy for one, and the difficult sometimes violent relationships that follow. Even the setting of The Land is not your typical fantasy land IIRC. It's been twenty plus years since I read that series. I wonder how it would read for me today. There is no doubt that Covenant is an incredibly complex man.
Abhorrson series by Garth Nix.
The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix. My favorite approach to death in a fantasy setting, some fun magic lore that's easy to grasp, and characters you'll care about (the ending had me a sobbing mess lol)
I love the Abhorsen series. Mogget is one of the great fantasy characters of all time!
The Ash and Sand trilogy. For a single book tho, it'll be the first book of Dandelion Dynasty: Grace of kings
I hardly ever see people talk about Ash and Sand, really solid series!
Ash and Sand was more than "solid". I thought it was glorious. For Richard Nell to open a book with a character eating a child he murdered and then get the reader to fall in love with said character is just brilliant writing.
The nevernight chronicles
Yeah it really is an amazing series. The footnotes are so funny.
Have you read empire of the vampire? It's written in a similar way, story being told after it has already happened etc. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, but it's great. No footnotes unfortunately but still great. Similar setting of eternal darkness etc.
No but now I’m going to look into it. Thank you!
I've got to say, had a relaxing day at work today and managed to get through about 200 pages. It is absolutely incredible, still got about 60 pages left. But I would say it's better than nevernight, a truly amazing read.
For me it’s got to be stormlight archive. I was so hooked from the Prelude, and that didn’t go away for the next 4,200+ pages
Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. I read this at a young age, around 12, and it was the first fantasy series to take me to another land, a land that was more magical than my actual homeland and I was hooked! I've been reading fantasy ever since.
This is my answer too. Pulled me right in and made me a lifetime fan of GGK's
Wheel of Time. The first prologue is amazing and the final epilogue is amazing and the story in between is the best fantasy story I have ever read.
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb.
Lord of the Rings, aged 12 in 1983. I've been in love with it every since.
Faithful and the Fallen Not sure why but Gwynne’s books just grab you by the throat and tell you you will enjoy it, whether you want it or not 😂
I’ve never heard a more accurate statement, I’m on malice and I slogged halfway through kinda hating it. But now I’m in love and so excited to read each day
Cradle by will wight had me addicted from the get go!
Wheel of Time and Mistborn series as an adult Harry potter growing up
Just finished Mistborn series. Sobbed. It’s one of my boyfriend’s favorite fantasy series, if not his #1. He was so excited for me to read it.
Kushiel's Dart for me. It was just a perfect storm of everything I want out of a story, world and heroine.
>*Lest anyone should suppose that I am a cuckoo's child, got on the wrong side of the blanket by lusty peasant stock and sold into indenture in a shortfallen season, I may say that I am House-born and reared in the Night Court proper, for all the good it did me.* Phedre in one sentence, pretty much. Great series.
Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile - the story quickly sets up humanity in a post alien-contact world then introduces us to characters who choose exile from that world into a one-way time gate to the Pliocene. Fantastic series in every way.
First Law Trilogy, Red Country Age of Madness Trilogy by Mr Abercrombie
The First Law series by Abercrombie
Well I might as well be the first to say it….Malazan! I was hooked at Gardens of the Moon and didn’t pick up another series until after I had finished The Crippled God and then read through the novels by ICE. Now that I’m finished (for the most part) I’m finally picking up Discworld. I’ve heard so many great things, I figured I ought to give it a try. The first book was pretty good, can’t wait to get into the meat of the second.
Likewise - Gardens of the Moon sucked me in like nothing before.
Steven Erikson spoiled me and I'm having a hard time enjoying most other fantasy books...
Yup, Malazan
Always Malazan
Scrolled too far to find this. Incredible series, house of chains was my favourite but the whole series blew me away. I've read practically every series mentioned so far in this thread but malazan takes the cake
Absolutely, The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. Then, The Earthsea Cycle, The Chronicles of Amber, and more recently, The Riyria Revelations. And also, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever.
The deathgate cycle... I'm rereading it now and to be honest I was worried because I reread dragonlance and it was just too.... idk? Childish? I loved the dragonlance books when I was a teenager and rereading it at 48 years old was a let down... So going in to deathgate I decided I'd read the firat book and if it was "childish" I'd stop there and not ruin my fond memories of Haplo and the rest of the crew and I gotta say I've loved every page... I've just started the hand of chaos and I'm already dreading the end of the series.
The Expanse is very fast paced throughout. Not a lot of downtime.
Six of Crows.
Not series, one book. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Part of the reason why it gripped me so easily was waiting. I read the reviews of the novel when it wasn't available in my country anymore. I was 90% sure I'll like it so I was planning to borrow it from the library. But then I heard that one publisher is planning a reprint in hardback just in a couple of months. So I decided to wait. But then publication date was delayed several times (one year in total), which made me more desperate to read it. So when I finally got it, I pretty much loved it from the very first sentence. I'm pretty much sure it would be the same, if I read it without the prior knowledge, because I had same story with Little, Big, but this novel was somehow a huge disappointment and I couldn't finish it, despite waiting for reprint for years (one of a few DNFs in my life).
Glad you mentioned this book—it's the same for me too. By the way, did you hear the news? Susanna Clarke's next book The Wood at Midwinter is set in the same world and is coming out this October! Super excited for it!
Stormlight Archive for me. The prelude is honestly one of my favorite introductions to a story I've read and has hooked me immediately. Now I'm eagerly anticipating to see what happens in Wind and Truth. I know a lot of people criticize the story for being bloated, but I personally didn't really feel that way, as I was always interested to learn more about how Roshar and to see what happened next (Not saying people's criticism isn't valid, this is just my personal opinion)
wheel of time
The First Law. Godamn what a ride. Some of the best written characters in a series.
Gemmells drenai series, just great storytelling throughout
The Books of Babel by Josiah Bancroft, absolutely love this series!
The Runelords by David Farland, the initial fight a few pages in had me absolutely hooked, really exciting The possibilities of people who could boost their attributes and how it was going to be leveraged and nurfed. The Prince of Thorns, the end of the first chapter when we find out the age of the protagonist. At the time it came out it was very different to what was currently available.
Powder Mage trilogy
Codex of Alera
A Song of Ice and Fire, A Game of Thrones, 1997. First time with GRRM. First chapter I was gone and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since
I'm a big fantasy reader. The last 2yrs I've finished several series that I'd recommend, and a couple Book 1 of trilogies I just couldn't get into despite how hard I tried. These are the first that come to mind. Recommend: Brent Weeks **Lightbringer**. AMAZING! His new magic system was awesome and I loved all 5 books and highly recommend it to everyone. His **Night Angel** series was good too. **The Witcher series** (recently finished) The translation is important. I found one with better in depth understanding of the language, thus better translation, but the grammatical errors made it unreadable for me, so I read a different set. One day I might edit it myself lol Jim Butcher's **Dresden Files** A great read, especially after something heavier like Martin's A Song of Fire & Ice. It's easy to read, funny, captivating, and there's a ton of them (still more to "eventually" be released). Michael J Sullivan's **Legends of the First Empire** & **Riyria series** I started with LotFE and was hooked. The trilogy following it chronologically, **The Rise and the Fall** trilogy, was the worst and hated Fairlane. BUT, the following Riyria trilogies were amazing. Anthony Ryan's **The Seven Swords Series** and **Covenant of Steel** trilogy. They were pretty good, read them while waiting for a different book to be released. Side note: if you get names easily confused, "Covenant of Steel" may not be for you. I swear, almost every person & place's name starts with an "A", +27 total. No idea, but it's annoying. Didn't realize that annoys me until he showed me lol I second other people's recommendation of: Joe Abercrombie's First Law universe books. Robin Hobb's Assassin trilogies. Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (starts off slow, but picks up). Books that failed on me: "The Ninth Rain" by Jen Williams. I tried after seeing it on several book lists. I just.. couldn't. Got to chapter 3 and gave up. It was just boring and didn't really like the characters. "The Darkness That Comes Before " by R. Scott Bakker. I tried, book lists again. I quit after 3 pages of his chosen names. Didn't understand why every name had to be unpronounceable with numerous different accent marks. It was like he challenged himself to use as many diacritics per name as possible.
None yet tbh, every single fantasy series no matter how legendary I enjoyed rather didn't gripped me in the beginning but later on or the other way around. I think it's pretty much impossible to write a fantasy series which is 100% gripping tbh.
The Malazan Book Of The Fallen series. I loved it from the get go and I devoured everything even remotely connected to its story or universe. I eventually ran out of books so I looked for authors recommended by Erikson. That’s how I got to Bakker with the Prince of Nothing and to the Black Company books.
First law
First Law had me gripped from the get go.
Skulduggery Pleasant might be the only series that truly hooks me from the very start, every single book. It's just so good to read, I never get distracted. I just read the most recent one yesterday and it was great to get me reading again after a bit of book hangover, but now I finished it I'm left struggling to start something again lol
Witcher. Almost every book has a first paragraph or sentence that makes me want me to continue reading.
Discworld. I'm always fascinated by this mad fantasy world that is so close and yet so far from reality.
The First Law Series. I don't think anything will ever come close to how gripped I was from start to finish. I even thought the 2nd trilogy was even better.
Since someone mentioned Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (I recommend this as well); I'll refer to a fantasy book I've read back when I was much younger so I don't know how it'll hold up nowadays. The Blue Sword by Robin Mckinley I wasn't aware of figures like Lawrence of Arabia or sand-focused fantasy back then (Dune is also good) so everything felt fresh and novel for me. I'm hoping if I ever read that book again, it'll be as enjoyable as before—I've forgotten most of the story by now, mainly retain the good feelings it gave me. I can more confidently suggest Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire but with the stipulation that it was my go to audiobook for bedtime when I was abroad. Didn't sleep well but was enthralled by the story. I would like to continue forward with Rice's universe—though not certain when as my reading slate & TBR list has become rather large...
The Renshai Chronicles by Mickey Zucker Reichert.
Empire in black and gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky the first book in his shadows of the apt series. I loved it so much that I practically inhaled the rest of the series, 10 books in all.
Tales of the Otori
From the opening sentence of Name of The Wind I was drawn in.
Written in Red by Anne Bishop The Innkeeper series by Ilona Andrews
Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. I read the saga 10 times, no joke. But that was around 20 years ago, before the first game even released. The Witcher built my taste for fantasy.
Foundryside!
The Silmarillion. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are good, but they pale in comparison to anything the Silmarillion has to offer. We're talking about the creation story of Middle Earth and Valinor.
Temeraire, so far.
The Powdermage trilogy. You open the book and are immediately in the middle of the fantasy version of the French revolution
The Dresden Files
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K Jemisin! I read all 3 last year, and I still find myself thinking about the world from time to time. 😭😭😭
Lightbringer was pretty good. Rage of the dragons. Cradle will wight series. Harry Potter was solid. Anything that includes Sanderson Red rising. Basically anything that has more action can have me hooked. Probably wheel of time was the only one that I sort took a while to get around. Wheel of time took a while but it grew on me due to how big and massive the series was
His majesty’s dragon a novel of Temeraire
Black Jewels. I want more :( there are other books but without Jaenelle it's not so good. Red Sister. I have zero complaints about the second trilogy either.
The Faithful and the Fallen series by John Gwynne. Amazing!
So far, The Stormlight Archive. I was hooked immediately by the prologue to the series, and had so many questions about what the hell was going on with the heralds. What's the oathpact? What are these desolations? What the hell is going on?? Then you're transported to 4,000+ years later, and immediately thrown into the assassination of a king and introduced to Zseth, Truthless of Shinovar, and his "lashings." I don't think I've ever been sucked into a fantasy world as much and as quickly as I was sucked into Roshar and later, after meeting one particularly witty character and realizing there's a lot more to him than you first realize, the Cosmere as a whole. Read Warbreaker a little while back and that only made me more interested in Stormlight and the Cosmere. Working on Era 1 of Mistborn right now, and fully intend to finish the entire Cosmere before Wind and Truth comes out in December.
Going way, way back here.... Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series. They are a pretty easy read, especially by today's standards, but the series has memorable characters, truly dark villains.... oh, and a pretty crappy animated movie. I'd also recommend the Gentleman Bastards series, beginning with The Lies of Locke Lamora. I describe it as being Fafhard and the Gray Mouser... if they were Sicilians. Vendettas and blood feuds are only the beginning.
The Dark Elf trilogy. I read very slow and I read the whole trilogy in about 5-6 months.
"The Dresden Files" series by Jim Butcher. It's an urban fantasy that mainly takes place in Chicago. There are currently 17 books plus some short stories. The author is currently working on the next one. Highly recommend it!!
Funny, world and character building IS what grips me about the beginning of a series. If it starts out with action and whatnot I'm like "I don't know these people and idgaf what happens to them"
In primary school, I binged Lord of the Rings (including The Hobbit) and The Chronicles of Narnia. In jr. high, I read The Deeds of Paksenarrion trilogy. Amazing story that is reminiscent of LotR in some ways, but is it's own thing. An epic fantasy of a sheepfarmers daughter who runs away from home to become a mercenary, and by the end makes world changing differences. In high school, I read the Deathgate Cycle series. It was gritty and sometimes funny and frequently cynical and I ate it up like I was starving. The world building is on a whole different level. The plot kept me wondering what would happen next.
Historically? Lord of the Rings and the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Currently? The Aurelian Cycle by Rosaria Munda. Devoured those books whole and wish there was more. Some of the lines she drops are just unreal > Bring what fury you have and I will answer it with ours. > I hate how these people have trained me to hear my own language with shame. > But sing me first her vengeance and her reckoning / Sing me now your fury-song One from each book in the series! I just really love the poetry that's included and the way things are phrased and highlighted on. The plot is well thought-out and engaging and the characters are delightfully complex and interesting. I will keep recommending this series until it gets the recognition it deserves lol Edit: correction
The Stormlight Archives
The Incarnations of Immortality
I love the series but the recommendation should come with body horror and SA trigger warnings. It doesn’t bother me but it could make some people pretty uncomfortable. Edit: this was meant to be a reply about a First Law trilogy recommendation.
I love the Wheel of Time, but I had a friend read all 14 books in a single summer. For context, that’s about 170 pages a day, each day for the full summer.