A Song of Ice and Fire (Book discussion)

[Belragga]

Some people enjoy the Terry Goodkind series, starts with Wizards First Rule

The Sword of Truth. I enjoyed it until the 4th or 5th book at which point the author really seems to lose his focus and it becomes rather boring. I think I only finished the series because I just have to know how shit ends lol.

[Baelorn]

No offense to Mr. Salvatore, but the Drizzt/Forgotten Realms series is just not in the same league as these books. That said, I read the Icewind Dale Trilogy and loved it. That was a 10 or so years before Game of Thrones came off the press though, I didn't know what good Fantasy was =P I also haven't read ALL of Salvatore's Dark Elf books, as I feel they kinda ran away with themselves after a while, and he was just churning out cash more than story as they dragged on.

Dark Elf Trilogy, Icewind Dale, and Paths of Darkness. After those it gets very repetitive with almost no character development. They're still fun reads because of Salvatore's writing style but there's no real payoff to reading them. I don't know if that's the best way to put it but there it is.

Wheel of Time series is my personal favorite even with the very painful lulls in books 8 and 10.

[Ksandra]

as others said fire and ice should really be first because it's beating out the rest (and fresh, gotta love the freshness).

Wheel of Time is also great.

I am still a huge fan of The Death Gate Cycle which often is little mentioned. It's one series that is completeled, that really felt complete. If you know what I mean. A lot of books can start to drag when writers try to make them into long ass series. Hickman and Weiss paced all these books really well, and the ending really felt like a good completion to the story, which is fucking hard and rare (hi2u Dark Tower sldftjslfjalsdkjalkfjsdfg)

Only other one I'd recommend to a newcomer is the Shannara series. Start with the Sword of Shannara though. It is no longer the first chronologically, but it was the first one written, and while the others are enjoyable I'd still say this one was the best. It was also my very first fantasy book.

[Doombear]

I think the Shananara series is actually the first series I ever read, and what caused my drop in to the hole that is Sci Fi / Fantasy. Oh Shea and Flick, it is all your fault. I didn't realize until just recently that they are making movies of the first two books at least. Apparently though they are releasing Elfstones as the first movie and then Sword of Shannara as the second movie, as Brooks himself says that makes more sense to do with theatrical releases. Most of the events in the 2nd book are prequel to the first book. Interesting.

[Ksandra]

I think the Shananara series is actually the first series I ever read, and what caused my drop in to the hole that is Sci Fi / Fantasy. Oh Shea and Flick, it is all your fault. I didn't realize until just recently that they are making movies of the first two books at least. Apparently though they are releasing Elfstones as the first movie and then Sword of Shannara as the second movie, as Brooks himself says that makes more sense to do with theatrical releases. Most of the events in the 2nd book are prequel to the first book. Interesting.

Oo that's crazy, didn't know they were making it into a movie. It should do well though considering it's a lot like LotR. But ya I think I know a lot of people that started getting into fantasy for that book.

Oddly enough I remember why I read it too. The summer before going into 9th grade I had to read 3 books for summer reading. They had a list and it was on there. I totally picked it because of the cover. XD


[edit] aww got my hopes up. XD doesn't look like there will be a movie anytime soon sadly.

http://www.terrybrooks.net/movies.html

[Zeb]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen

^ A series for adults like a Song of Ice & Fire also R Scott Bakker's The Second Apocalypse

[Doombear]

I have that on my Kindle Zeb, having a hard time getting into it. And sorry to get your hopes up Ksandra, guess my research only went so far. It is surely the pure ecstatic state my brain has been repeatedly put in by these damn trailers. FFFFFFFFF. Lets go already April 17th.

[Odesseiron]

Thanks for the great suggestions all!

[shukudai]

No one ever mentions them, but Dragon Prince trilogy and Dragon Star trilogy, and even better, her Exiles trilogy (currently unfinished, but definetly the best). Decent fantasy books, but the best characters of any series imo.

[-Zer0-]

Oh man, everyone's covered practically everything. Yeah, those titles you'll want to read again and again. So deliciously awesome stories. I haven't read Exiles but I'm hearing many good things about it.

[Doombear]

Oh and I really liked the Night Angel Trilogy (not at all concerning vampires like you might suspect) by Brent Weeks, I found it to be very good. And not just because he lives here. =P Looking at the Mistborn series next maybe.

[Rulke]

So the series looks great. I've never read any of the books. These trailers make me want to read the books. Am I a terrible person for not reading them?

Only probelm with picking up this series is when you finish the last book you will instantly rage that the author hasnt put out the following book in like over 5 years!

[Doombear]

Only probelm with picking up this series is when you finish the last book you will instantly rage that the author hasnt put out the following book in like over 5 years!

JULY!! The wait is almost over.

[Palin]

Seconding Death Gate.

[Odesseiron]

Only probelm with picking up this series is when you finish the last book you will instantly rage that the author hasnt put out the following book in like over 5 years!

Yeah, I hear that. That's how people felt with Dark Tower. Luckily for me, when I decided to read them all the series was finished. Same with Harry Potter. By the time I started, I only had to wait a month or so before the last one was out. 4 books should keep me busy for a while paired with all my other books.

[Man0warr]

The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (author that is finishing Wheel of Time) is amazing, as is his new book The Way of Kings which is the first book in a planned 10 book series. I liked The Way of Kings more than some of the Song of Ice and Fire books tbh.

Another great book is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and the second book of the trilogy just released last week, The Wise Man's Fear.

The Name of the Wind

Almost forgot The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Another great beginning to a planned series of books.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Martin, Sanderson, Rothfuss, and Lynch are probably the 4 best fantasy authors out there today.

Malazan is great too but it's kind of deep.

[Rulke]

JULY!! The wait is almost over.

I just saw the release date was set to July 12 :D One day after my B.day to boot! Hopefully its available for kindle DL upon release!

[Doombear]

I just saw the release date was set to July 12 :D One day after my B.day to boot! Hopefully its available for kindle DL upon release!

Agreed. I would much rather read anything I can on my Kindle these days.

The Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (author that is finishing Wheel of Time) is amazing, as is his new book The Way of Kings which is the first book in a planned 10 book series. I liked The Way of Kings more than some of the Song of Ice and Fire books tbh.

JUST started Mistborn, hopefully that keeps me busy for a bit. I will add Way of Kings to my list. I guess I should finish A Feast for Crows. I started rereading the series about 3 months ago and stalled on the last book. Sometimes there is just too much on Kindle at once -.-

[shukudai]

Mistborn is pretty darn good too, as well of Way of Kings, and he has a book you can actually just read online on his website as well as buy in print, called Warbreaker I believe? it's also good.

[Elrina]

Just saw the Dance with Dragons announcement and decided to come peek in the thread, lulz. So many good books mentioned (Mistborn, Wheel of Time, Deathgate Cycle, Shannara, Night Angel, Song of Ice and Fire, as stuff I read, and probably going to look up a few of the ones I haven't, need something to read anyway), gotta toss in Kushiel's Legacy (Jacqueline Carey) and Tad Williams material too (Memory, Sorrow and Thorn; Otherland; Shadowmarch) as personal favorites along with the rest of the immediately preceding.

And Sword of Truth was good, but Goodkind is a real bastard, and the whole series eventually just becomes him preaching at people so it's hard to finish imo.

Been one of those angry with Martin for ages because the books are so good and ffffffffffff. Never did bother picking up Feast for Crows, since I wanted to wait for Dance even then, but I'm going to have to pick them both up and read through it all again in a few months now, I think. Hopefully I don't end up depressed as hell again if it turns out the next volume is going to take another half a dozen years.