Book Board: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Adventure series recommendations and progress.

I started the Wheel of Time via audio books and made it through the first 4-5 I think...then I just lost interest. Everything in the world seemed to slow down to a crawl and it was almost like there was too much going on to focus on one thing and all the bouncing around took forever. I'd like to continue it, just because of all the time invested but meh...whatever.

That said, I really enjoyed the first few books of the series and they're definitely worth a read imo. I don't know anything about The Sword of Truth to give any info or compare it to The Wheel of Time series.

I read up to book 6 until about 5 years ago. Then I started to lose interest and never cared to read anymore like you. A friend convinced me to read synopses for the next books up to the first in the Sanderson ones.

I'm reading the Sanderson books and am halfway through the 2nd now and they are much better. They've gotten as good as the first 3 books were imo.

Yeah I just finished last night. It's was like reading butter as it's spread across a piece of toast. Smooth. Absolute poetry IMO. Tolkien should be put in the same category as Homer and Virgil.

Thanks for the input folks. With what y'all have said plus a quick search I think I'm going to go with The Wheel of Time, only question I have is, can I read one then come back a month or two later and not have trouble questioning characters and motives or do I need to read them back to back?

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Thanks for the input folks. With what y'all have said plus a quick search I think I'm going to go with The Wheel of Time, only question I have is, can I read one then come back a month or two later and not have trouble questioning characters and motives or do I need to read them back to back?

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Wheel of Time isn't quite as large of a cast of characters as Malazan, but it's still fairly large over time. For the first three books the cast is fairly normal sized though. Either way, if you are good reading Malazan and switching between books you should be good with WOT. Anyway, WOT is good for the first 5-7 books (kinda varies person to person it seems, I enjoyed it a bunch till 7), then 8-10 are pretty crappy, the 11th kinda gets it back on the right track, 12 is very good, 13 is so so, and the last one is kinda okay.

Either way though it blows the doors off Sword of Truth, which is straight up garbage.

Anything written by Brandon Sanderson.

The Way of the Kings and Words of Radiance are very good as is the Mistborn Trilogy.

First Law Trilogy

/tjhread

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I read up to book 6 until about 5 years ago. Then I started to lose interest and never cared to read anymore like you. A friend convinced me to read synopses for the next books up to the first in the Sanderson ones.

I'm reading the Sanderson books and am halfway through the 2nd now and they are much better. They've gotten as good as the first 3 books were imo.

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wow was my experience different. I read the first 11 books of the Wheel of Time (written by Jordan) about 3 times each and the first three books I read 4 times each. The first Sanderson book was good because it closed some holes and advanced some plotlines, but his writing style is so very inferior to Jordan for my taste. The Wheel of Time is an incredibly rich and interesting world that I love to revisit. The ending was a big let down, unfortunately, because Sanderson did not have the skill to pull off scenes I had waited 15 years for. I think if you enjoyed the Silmarillion, which I thoroughly did, then you will enjoy the detail and rich world of Wheel of Time.

Sword of Truth is borrows liberally from Wheel of Time, in my opinion. It is good but not great. The first book is awesome but it declines steadily from there through book 5 before picking back up with a great book 6. Boook 7 was just atrocious since it was entirely from new characters' point of view. The "trilogy" to end the series after that was equally bad. I think it is worth reading the first 6 books though. Just stop after that.

I know you said no young adult, but Harry Potter is a very good read, especially toward the end. I occasionally skim through the last book just to get the "highlights" I loved reading the first time through. The books are a million times better than the movies, though I did enjoy the movies. (I agree about every other young adult series - Hunger Games and Divergent were just terrible).

I really enjoyed a number of Robin Hobb's series. Start with the Farseer Trilogy, then the Tawny Man series. Those follow the same characters but a good number of years distance between the two. Just some fun, interesting fantasy. You'll get through those books quickly.

David Eddings' series are another simple, fun jaunt into fantasy. I started with the Belgariad and then the Malloreon, which follow the same characters. Polgara the Sorceress and Belgarath the Sorcerer are stand alone books off of those two series. I also read his Sparhawk series - The Elenium series and the Tamuli series. You can read each book in a day or two.

Raymond Feist is another author I enjoy. He has quite a few series but the Riftwar Saga was his first and what I recommended starting with. I cannot recall what other series of his I read. It is heavy in magic and my favorite kind - basically unlimited power.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is a must read, especially seeing the other books on your list. 7 in all. It bridges every other book Stephen King has written - this is his professed magnum opus and took him some 30 years to complete them all. Just stop reading in the 7th book when he tells you to.

Tad Williams series Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is another good one. Only 3 books, if I recall correctly, and an interesting take on elves. I confess I recall this series the least other than I enjoyed it.

Terry Books has a lot of material in the world he created. I have read maybe 3 or 4 series in it, starting with The Original Shannara Trilogy. His writing style is somewhat slow and plodding with a rush of excitement at the end, so the first book is a good indication of whether you enjoy his style.

Sara Douglass, an Australian Author, wrote two very unique series with a lot of magic, lore, creativity, and a race of people with wings. The Axis Trilogy and the Wayfarer Redemption. I really enjoyed this series.

Finally, David Farland wrote the Earth King Series, which was the most unique take on magic this side of Brandon Sanderson. I never picked up the second series but this first one was worth it.

Those are all I can think of at that moment. I've read a ton of fantasy over the last 20 years. A lot of it really bad, but some of it quite enjoyable. I assumed you have read Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, both near the top of my list, so I did not include those. My favorite series by far is Wheel of Time. Might be time to pick that one back up again.

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The reason I asked about it with Wheel was because of Goodreads the first book had a 4.11 out of 5 and Wheel was at 4.15.

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As I said, that is because the first Sword of Truth book is extremely good. It just not sustain that excellence like Wheel of Time does.

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look at all these people wanting to discuss books!!!

Everyone can go to the help board and sign my petition please