Firstly and foremost, David Eddings, great author, sci-fi, The Elenium, consists of: The Diamond Throne, The Ruby Knight, The Sapphire Rose. The continuation of The Elenium, The Tamuli consisting of; Domes of Fire, The Shining Ones, The Hidden City. King Arthur style knights who have Gandalf(Lord of the Rings, J.R.R Tolkien) style magic, great humor, great story. A must read for any lord of the rings trilogy, Raymond E. Feist magician series, terry brooks fans. Secondly feel in love with and finished the trilogy within the space of seven days is The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks An assassin with Talent(magic), i will let you read it Thirdly is ZERO. Written by Eric Van Lustbader This is the back cover blurb In the Tao of the Ancients there are nine ritual power words-and the last is ZERO Trained since boyhood in the deadliest oriental arts. Michael Doss has vowed to follow the path of peace and tranquility-until his father's bloody death cries out for vengence. ZERO is the territory of total evil. It is also the name of a ruthless, faceless assassin-and the dangerous road that Michael must tread in his search for his father's true identity.... ZERO
David Gemmell or Simon R. Green are probably up there for me. You Brits are lucky to have such great authors. I have many more I like, but those two are in my top 10.
I've read Raymond E Feists Serpentwar saga, enjoyed it, I also really enjoyed Brent Week's Night Angel trilogy, I've also read and would highly reccomend, Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, and Red Sea's Under red skies, which are both (in my opinion) much better than The Night angel trilogy, with some similaraties, for example orphans, and the underworld etc. But the trilogy that completly blew my mind was Joe Abercrombie's first law trilogy, the blade itself, before they are hanged and the last arguement of kings. I've read many others but those are my reccomendations for now!
Will do, it's already on my list, I have a long list, have you tried a song of ice and fire series, the sword of truth? I love those too.
I've got book 1 of the Song of Ice and Fire series on my book case, yet to read it, and I've just started Wizards First Rule.
Ah! Excellent, Wizards first rule was the book that got me into fantasy/epic books. So it holds a special place in my heart, the first book is great, second is better, third is so so, 4th is wow, 5th I love, 6th is my favourite, the rest get very philosophical, but I love the journey from book 1-11. A song of ice and fire, is just so original and unique it will blow your mind, brent weeks, scott lynch, joe abercombrie all stole ideas, and style from a song of ice and fire, and all bow to George R.R. Martin as their master! I've been waiting for the 5th or 6th book for 3 years now! HE's keeping us waiting!!!
My own view is that Terry Goodkind started out quite promising but then turned out awful as he tried desperately to compete with Robert Jordan for the biggest fantasy epic of all time. The difference is that Jordan has (had) a plethora of interesting main characters, each of whom has an important part to play in the development of the main story arc, while the sword of truth basically has Richard "Mary-Sue" Rahl and the host of people who are there to do his bidding and never disagree with him, even when he acts like a complete idiot. Goodkind wasted a talent for writing good action sequences by basically turning his later books into political rants against communism, pacifism, left-wing politics, etc. His main story arc became bogged down by side plots which seemed to be nothing more than opportunities for another political rant, and as a consequence the war that started in about book 3 essentially didn't move on at all for most of the next 3 or 4 books before I got bored. In short, I no longer recommend him because I don't think it's fair to inflict anything after the first 3 or 4 books on people I like. As for the Song of Ice and Fire... I'm really hoping that Martin redeems himself with the next book, as the last one was extremely poor quality given the previous works and the fact that he spent about 3 years on it. I think he's reached the point now where his writer's block means he should bring on another author to help him actually progress, as he's clearly not able to do so in a timely or quality fashion any more. On a more positive note, Brandon Sanderson (the replacement author for Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and the author of Elantris and the Mistborn Trilogy) is really good for a new fantasy author, and he has done an absolutely astonishing job of the Gathering Storm (the first of three "finale" books for the Wheel of Time). I thoroughly recommend his solo works to anyone looking for something a little different, and continue to recommend the Wheel of Time for anyone looking for the definitive fantasy epic.
I haven't read the wheel of time myself, but from friends who have read both sot and wot, they prefer Sword of truth all the way, although I agree with you that Goodkind's quality went down after book 6, well not exactly down, it's just that they weren't what we expected off his previous books, some say its to do with his cancer. Characters, Richard? he is da man, kahlan she is da man!, zedd? He is da man! Chase, he doesnt play a big role later but he is DA man, darken rahl? DA MAN, jagang? DA MAN! Nicci? DA MAN, some of the villains were siply amazing, u read pillars of creation? Loved sebastian, there are so many characters that play a part in the story. I dont want to spoil it for previous pposter before u, but the host of people follow him because of Prophecy duh Although I agree he is an idiot many times, but he did say "To my friends I give orders, to my enemies I ask". Or something like that, i agree with you on the political rants. When I first read soul of the fire (book 5) I tht it was a peice of crap, when i read it again it became one of my favs, theres a lot of philosophical stuff in there. Dalton Campbell another character! I love the anaologies to real life, even though I don't agree with goodkinds politics. I like the way he represents them. The ending trilogy were a dissapointment. I'm in agreement with you about Martin in the last book, but isnt it ssupposed to be a like a half book with one side of the book, the next is supposed to be the same timeline with the different characters perspective. I already have sandersons mistborn Havent started reading it yet, I also have patric rothfuss -name of the wind, and a couple others waiting to be read.
Most people I've chatted to are the other way around. They basically think that the Wheel of Time is what Goodkind wanted to try and beat with his series, but without much success. If that's the case, then it's very saddening, but I won't change my views out of pity for him. He's pretty dull actually. Everything he does is right in the book because he's always guided by this "gift" which makes him always do the right thing. There never seems to be any moral question about whether it was right of him to take over half the continent with threats of invasion and mass bloodshed simply because they weren't already doing what he said to do: it was simply glossed over as the right thing because he said it was the right thing. Essentially the world is divided into people who support Richard and can therefore do no wrong, and those who don't obey his every whim and are therefore evil. There are no shades of grey that are the usual hallmarks of really interesting fantasy series. Again, I think she became one of the most boring lead female characters because she is basically only defined by Richard. She doesn't really seems to have any importance in the series except as a tool to allow Richard to achieve his goals, sometimes inadvertently. She has a special power, but realistically could have been replaced with any generic female fantasy character with no real changes to dialogue or plot. Textbook "ancient mentor". One of the biggest issues I have with this is the fact that this is a guy who has been studying his art for decades, understands the fundamental rules of how magic works even if he can't use one half of the spectrum, but Richard comes alone and bends the whole system to his will, making stuff up as he goes along and somehow getting it right. Magic in this world is supposed to be so dangerous that it kills the wielder more often than not unless they learn to control it properly, yet Richard manages to accidentally achieve all the results he needs whenever he needs it. It's as though the entire magic system is rewritten around him whenever he wants a new result. Again, pretty much the stereotypical warrior friend. Actually I thought Chase was one of the few who almost seemed to have a personality that wasn't dependant on Richard's wants, but he used that to get out of the action fairly early on in the series... Typical idiot evil villain (who unnecessarily invokes a ritual that will kill them if they don't have all the pieces of the puzzle when the final pieces is "within easy grasp", rather than waiting a few more months?). One dimensional evil villain. Wants to conquer everyone, can control anyone who doesn't worship Richard. I think Goodkind uses prophecy as an easy way out of actually needing realistic plot. Look at the Wheel of Time and see how hard the Dragon Reborn has to work to try uniting the nations through a combination of guile, politics, good deeds and invasion. Fulfilling prophecy only made the people of the world terrified of him and what the ultimate consequences of the prophecy were. Many nations' leaders simply wanted to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that it wasn't happening, others flat out refused to join without further proof or concessions. The political situation was, in short, pretty realistic. In contrast, Richard brutally murders most of the rulers of the continent and usurps power, and yet most of the nations just fall into line. Which is a ridiculous attitude to take, and one which generally ruins friendships. Yep, but the length of time between the books means that some characters will probably end up with 10 years between viewpoints. Extremely disappointing.
Have to admit after starting the first Wheel of Time book and Wizards First Rule at the same time I prefer the Wheel of time.
The first book is a little Lord of the Rings-eque, but good nevertheless. After book 1 it's just all kinds of awesome
If you like the Night Angel Trilogy check out the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson starting with the Final Empire, set in a world, were the immortal bad guy won 1000 years ago, keeps the majority of the world as his "slaves" skaa, set amongst some skaa thieves, con artists and gangs. The noblemen, whose ancestors were all the "Lord Rulers" friends during his reign to power have "allomancers" and it is genetic, there are bastards amongst the Skaa who have this ability, but they are hunted by noblemen, the government which is made up of spies and agents who are all allomancers. This new form of fantasy is excellent. It's not magic it's allomancy, the power to burn metals and form abilites with them, there are mistings, who can only burn one of the 8 basic metals. Even rarer are Mistborn who can use all allomantic abilites, they are very rare, probably only about 20 in the entire world. Identies kept secret. The burning of metals gives one certain abilities, for example burning pewter, makes you stronger, faster, heal quicker, jump higher etc. Mistings who burn pewter are known as pewter arms or thugs, tineyes, burn tin, it enhances all of their senses, sight, hearing smell, but every ability has side effects or consequences, for example a tineye become blind flaring tin on a bright day. There are steel pushers, etc. The visual imagery in this book is amazing, for example, steel pushing and pulling, allows them to use their bodies like magnets with metal, for example 500 metre high metal bar on a tower, a steel puller can pull themselves towards it, flicking of coins can allow them to jump from a mountain and push against the descending coin to make it like parachuting, they can use a bag of coins like bullets. Burning pewter can allow a pewter arm or a mistborn, to survive fatal wounds, by constantly burning pewter, there are some parts on the book, where characters go on a petwer drag, running faster than a horse for 16 hours to reach a destination, which is mentally exhausting, and after they take care of what they have to they knock unconcious into sleep/coma for 2 weeks etc. It's based around a street urchin girl, who get's into one of the most legendary con artist/thieving crews because she is a mistborn (less than 20 in the world) In the entire series, less than 5 are even mentioned or seen in the book. Read it.
Didn't Brent Weeks just release a new novel as well? I read the synopsis and seems like it could be as good as the Night Angel Trilogy.
I have read the belgariad and the Mallorean more times than I can remember. I even read the Redemtion of Althalus a couple times. Loved those books. I got into Goodkind a bit. The wizards first rule was a great book imo, but they got progressively harder to read as the series went on. I got through most of temple of the winds and then bailed. I just couldnt do it. Enough was enough already. The Iron Tower Trilogy by McKiernan was good as a chinatown knock-off of LOTR. Has anyone ever read the Elric Saga's?
What was wrong with temple of thw winds? I thought the books were great until Pillars of Creation (7). Blood of the fold and Soul of the fire (3 and 5 respectively) were a little different from the others, until 7 it just changed direction and it seemed like goodkind ran out of ideas.
