re: Book recommendations for non-ASOIAF medieval fantasy?

I would also recommend Wheel of Time. I'm a little surprised that only one other person has mentioned Robin Hobb's assassin trilogy.

The Briar King (Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone) Greg Keyes

Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth Series) - Terry Goodkind

Try both of these, you will not be disappointed.

Gentleman bastards series.

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1. Malazan Book of the Fallen - This read is a true epic but it throws you into the deep end and never really lets up. Silmarillion type confusion for the unwary reader. My second read through was undoubtedly my best experience in reading Fantasy.

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Erikson pulls of some very unique content very well. Having characters hundreds of thousands of years old? They better be some kind of crazy and all are in their own right. The Imass are written so well. The warrens, houses, and holds are a very unique take on magic.

Id recommend the Shannara series to almost anyone looking to get into fantasy. They are quick, easy books. Nothing flashy. Just a bunch of fun.

"He walks through the forest of 1000 trees. Tree #1 has 314 branches and 10257 leaves of a rustic green color, something feels slightly off about this one. Tree #2..." - Wheel of Time

"He walks through the forest." - Shannara

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There's like 15 books in the series and literally 8-9 of them could be excised and the story would have been fine.

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Exactly. If a series has 8 books that arent needed its overrated. My opinion on WOT is that when its good its great but the lulls are just toooo long.

Don't really have a ton to say because everyone else has already covered it extremely well but I love this topic so I'll give my two cents.

1. Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss is my absolute favorite fantasy series to date. Very different from ASOIAF in many respects, but mainly in that it worldbuilds through one character's perspective and not 30 people's. Also more concerned with "everyday" life than any other fantasy series I've come across, but in an extremely fun way. He does seem to be falling into a George RR pattern though in regards to taking forever to right the third book, and shoehorning himself into finishing in a certain amount of books even though narratively it seems like it should be at least two more.

2. Wheel of Time-As everyone else has said, my first real foray into high fantasy. When we were waiting for the books to come out it really seemed like books 8-10 were realllllly slow, but now that they're all out upon rereads I would say only 9-10 are really that bad. Even 9 has a lot good moments. There's no explicit sex or gore I suppose, but I wouldn't really call it juvenile or cartoonish as some people have. Just more in the Tolkien vein than the Martin vein. But so many great characters, Mat Cauthon is a legend, a super rich world with a rich and developed in world history just like ASOIAF. Much more magic based but with a very logical and easy to follow magic system for the most part.

3. Gentlemen Bastards-Basically the Ocean's movies set in a Renaissance world. And I mean that in the best way. Think it suffers from the worst magic system and the worst world building of the these three series, but again the sort of con artist/thief background of all the stories is really unique and really fun.

4. As someone else mentioned, if you like Medieval Fiction with a touch of fantasy as opposed to straight up High Fantasy then you can't go wrong with Bernard Cornwell, particularly his Saxon Stories and Arthurian Trilogy. Both would probably be classified as historical fiction, but the Arthurian trilogy especially have some fun Druid/Merlin/prophecy stuff that's definitely not purely historical.

5. I've personally never read Weeks or Sanderson's stuff, except his finished GoT, but I have friends who've read them and have really enjoyed them. They also both have finished series, as well as having reputations for fast workers compared to the first three guys I listed. So you're likely not going to wait 5 years for a book if you get into their series.

You might also like the Empire Trilogy by Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts. It has a lot of the political maneuvering of ASOIAF and is set in a sort of feudal Japan.

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I'm a little surprised that only one other person has mentioned Robin Hobb's assassin trilogy.

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That series is solid, but it's just not going to make a top 5 or top 10 recommendation list for most people who have read a bunch of fantasy. She's a good author (outside of that one terrible series), just not really someone I would suggest unless the person had read most of the other suggestions in this thread. Pretty much the same thing for Wheel of Time.

The Imager Portfolio Series



It's a refreshing new take on magic using. Spans centuries. Nine books so far, one more coming in October, another in 2017. Each 1-3 books in the series centers on a character in a particular period though.

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Imager is the beginning of a whole new fantasy in a whole new magical world from the bestselling creator of Recluce. Although Rhennthyl is the son of a leading wool merchant in L'Excelsis, the capital of Solidar, the most powerful nation on Terahnar, he has spent years becoming a journeyman artist and is skilled and diligent enough to be considered for the status of master artisan--in another two years. Then, in a single moment, his entire life is transformed when his master patron is killed in a flash fire, and Rhenn discovers he is an imager--one of the few in the entire world of Terahnar who can visualize things and make them real.

He must leave his family and join the Collegium of Imagisle. Imagers live separately from the rest of society because of their abilities (they can do accidental magic even while asleep), and because they are both feared and vulnerable. In this new life, Rhenn discovers that all too many of the "truths" he knew were nothing of the sort. Every day brings a new threat to his life. He makes a powerful enemy while righting a wrong, and begins to learn to do magic in secret. Imager is the innovative and enchanting opening of an involving new fantasy story.

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Here is a link to Amazon

Really? I got hung up on the fourth book and couldn't finish.