Any Fantasy recommendations?

[Talvalin]

Once I eventually finish the Malazan series (I'm only doing the main books by Erikson, but that's still a lot of words to get through and I'm still only at the start of book 4!), I plan to go back and re-read all of the First Law Abercrombie books and then finish with the new trilogy. I imagine that I could just read it now and still enjoy it, but missing the references would bug me.

[rafaqat]

5 minutes ago, rafaqat said:

I did finish two other books by Tamsyn Muir.  More fantasy than Science Fiction.

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42036538-gideon-the-ninth 

 

"Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service."

 

and

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39325105-harrow-the-ninth

 

"She answered the Emperor's call.

She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.

In victory, her world has turned to ash.

After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman's shoulders."

 

 

I personally rate the first book higher than the second but they're both amazing.  Just so many twists and turns. Can't wait for the third in the trilogy.

 

 

 

 

 

[joemul]

11 hours ago, Danster said:

Finished the latest trilogy by Abercrombie. I really love his writing, even when the characters are doing next to little I still love to hear about it. The story itself is a nice conclusion the universe he's created, and I can see him not going back any time soon. Albeit, of course, there are tales left to tell. 

 

A great set of nine books, and a couple of hundred hours of listening read by one of the best narrators around.

Im not hugely familiar with his books. Any chance you could list the 9 as I’m looking for a new series to start after I’ve finished Stalingrad by A Beevor. 

[Headache]

25 minutes ago, joemul said:

Im not hugely familiar with his books. Any chance you could list the 9 as I’m looking for a new series to start after I’ve finished Stalingrad by A Beevor. 

It's a good series, enjoy!
 

1 - The Blade Itself 2006

2 - Before They Are Hanged 2007

3 - Last Argument of Kings 2008

4 - Best Served Cold 2009

5 - The Heroes 2011

6 - Red Country 2012

7 - Sharp Ends (Short Story) 2016

8 - A Little Hatred 2019

9 - The Trouble With Peace 2020

10 - The Wisdom of Crowds 2021

[footle]

23 hours ago, Headache said:

It's a good series, enjoy!
 

1 - The Blade Itself 2006

2 - Before They Are Hanged 2007

3 - Last Argument of Kings 2008

4 - Best Served Cold 2009

5 - The Heroes 2011

6 - Red Country 2012

7 - Sharp Ends (Short Story) 2016

8 - A Little Hatred 2019

9 - The Trouble With Peace 2020

10 - The Wisdom of Crowds 2021

noting, of course, that it’s really a trilogy at the start, a trilogy at the end, and then four books in the middle that are standalone but occasionally have some of the same characters (sometimes significantly so, sometimes as just cameos).

it’s not like you’re sitting down to read Malazan

[Talvalin]

4 hours ago, footle said:

it’s not like you’re sitting down to read Malazan

 

Don't remind me, although it's been argued that you can break the books up into sub-series (eg: the books focusing on the Bridgeburners) and read them that way, with the proviso that reading them out of sequence like that will spoil the other books.

[Headache]

4 hours ago, Talvalin said:

 

Don't remind me, although it's been argued that you can break the books up into sub-series (eg: the books focusing on the Bridgeburners) and read them that way, with the proviso that reading them out of sequence like that will spoil the other books.

It's kind of a lose / lose situation isn't it. Reading them in order can be frustrating the books jump between continents and rarely follow the same set of characters between books. While reading them out of order, can like you said, help you follow sets of characters, but can massively spoil developments in other books. Still though, I love the Malazan series and most of the spin off books.

[footle]

1 hour ago, Headache said:

It's kind of a lose / lose situation isn't it. Reading them in order can be frustrating the books jump between continents and rarely follow the same set of characters between books. While reading them out of order, can like you said, help you follow sets of characters, but can massively spoil developments in other books. Still though, I love the Malazan series and most of the spin off books.

 

Between continents, and worse between time periods. There's a whole cottage industry trying to sort the timelines out between books.

Probably something implicit from Erikson/Esslemont about how, in archaeology, you can never really be sure and does it really matter.

[SM47]

On 20/04/2022 at 11:30, Danster said:

Finished the latest trilogy by Abercrombie. I really love his writing, even when the characters are doing next to little I still love to hear about it. The story itself is a nice conclusion the universe he's created, and I can see him not going back any time soon. Albeit, of course, there are tales left to tell. 

 

A great set of nine books, and a couple of hundred hours of listening read by one of the best narrators around.

 

I didn't think it was really a conclusion at all, more a lengthy movement along a very long track that perhaps someday will conclude. I think it's pretty much a certainty he'll return to this setting before long, it's been left very explicitly open. 

 

I thought Age Of Madness was excellent overall, really mature writing, trademark fantastic Abercrombie characters, some great action sequences, cool allusions to real life radical movements and the like. Ticked all my boxes, I'll be gutted when September rolls around and there's not a new one. 

[Sloth]

I'm sure its been mentioned before in the thread, but I've just finished the series so thought I'd stick a recommendation in here for Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings.

 

I've just read the last thirteen books on the bounce, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to read from here because I don't think anything could ever top it. Peerless world-building and character development from start to finish.

[Talvalin]

4 hours ago, Sloth said:

I'm sure its been mentioned before in the thread, but I've just finished the series so thought I'd stick a recommendation in here for Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings.

 

I've just read the last thirteen books on the bounce, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to read from here because I don't think anything could ever top it. Peerless world-building and character development from start to finish.

 

So does Realm of the Elderings cover all of her books to date, like the Assassin trilogy, Liveships trilogy etc etc?

[Sloth]

13 minutes ago, Talvalin said:

 

So does Realm of the Elderings cover all of her books to date, like the Assassin trilogy, Liveships trilogy etc etc?

Everything released under the Robin Hobb pen name, except The Soldier Son trilogy, is part of the Realm of the Elderlings. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Hobb_bibliography

 

[Kingpin]

I’m on the final trilogy, though I actually haven’t read the non-Fitz ones but I’ll get round to them eventually. I know that I would have benefited more from reading in order but today is the first I’ve heard the phrase ‘realm of the elderlings’. I thought I just missed the liveship trilogy but nope lol. Wonderful stuff though - my wife and I both love them. 

[Starbreaker]

 

Joe shoring up some real estate here. Smart.