re: NERDS ASSEMBLE: Need rec for a new fantasy series to read

Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson) - I read these as they came out over the course of twenty years so I might be fonder of Jordan's world than the actual books merit. Highs and lows but the highs are spectacular. No one has ever written battles better. Then you have hundreds and hundreds of pages of nothing.


Dune (Frank Herbert)- Kind of a gray area between fantasy and sci-fi but anyone who hasn't read it should do so immediately. Its not a fantasy series yet its the best fantasy series ever. And a huge influence on almost every series mentioned in this thread.

Kingkiller Chronicles - I really enjoyed but its probably a little overrated. Although if they can find the right redheaded, lute playing actor Kvothe could be a huge hit on the small screen.

Camulod Chronicles (Jack Whyte) - Best telling of the Arthurian tales that I've come across, though I really enjoyed Mary Stewart's Hollow Hill series as well.

Kushiel Saga (Jaqueline Carey) - Fifty Shades of Grey in Middle Earth. Phedre no' Delauney is an epic character. I guess it was the cover art but I always kind of pictured her as a young Phoebe Cates.

I just finished a month long Jack Vance kick. More than a little dated but his influence on modern fantasy, GRRM in particular, makes him worth a read.

If you're willing to read the first 5 books of ASOIAF three times, you should give Wheel of Time a try. You will get hooked by the 3rd page and will enjoy the ride for the first several books, until you get to book 7 or so, then it slows down until the final 3 books. This series has even more characters than ASOIAF so if you like a billion different subplots then this series is for you.

I will second the Locke Lamora books, they are fast-paced and witty, without tons of background characters.

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Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind

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Fantasy is a derivative genre with everyone borrowing freely but every single plotline in Goodkind's books comes straight from the pages of superior writers. And then the prick has the nerve to deny that he ever read Jordan or Herbert or Burroughs. He's a prentious jackass who's never written an original or entertaining sentence.

If it makes you feel better, I bought them used.

Hijacking to ask request for myself instead of making new thread. This one is fantastic so lets keep it going.

My Dilemma : Just finished Reading Ready Player One by Mr. Cline and really liked it ( i know i know its is YA but idgaf)
Previous books are Enders Game / The GRR Stuff and the Tolkien Trilogy and Hobbit.

So, I've been researching and I THINK I want to either read Patrick Rothfuss with the Kingkiller Chronicles or Scott Lynch's series on the Gentleman Bastard series.

--Id like to pick the series that
1) has a single kick arse protagonist or a merry group of them
2) Writing style does not spend pages and pages describing something really insignificant . By all means flesh out your world, but if they stop the narrative of something important to break away to describe the drapes in the background it is difficult for me to stay on track (because I am ADHD and a terrible reader and bad poster)

Already mentioned once in this thread but anything written by David Gemmel is entertaining as hell.. Big favorite of mine along with Lamour

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Fantasy is a derivative genre with everyone borrowing freely but every single plotline in Goodkind's books comes straight from the pages of superior writers. And then the prick has the nerve to deny that he ever read Jordan or Herbert or Burroughs. He's a prentious jackass who's never written an original or entertaining sentence.

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Yep, pretty much this. Stay the heck away from Goodkind, he is garbage.

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Bought the first five at my local library book store for $2 a piece. I got to the part where Richard and ole girl are finally getting out of the western boundary, turned the page and saw it was the first perspective change, marked my progression on my Goodreads account where I summarized what had happened so far and closed the book. Don't know if I'll ever go back to it. Goodkind doesn't seem to know how perspective and story breaks work. It's like the book was a run-on sentence.

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So, I've been researching and I THINK I want to either read Patrick Rothfuss with the Kingkiller Chronicles or Scott Lynch's series on the Gentleman Bastard series.

--Id like to pick the series that
1) has a single kick arse protagonist or a merry group of them
2) Writing style does not spend pages and pages describing something really insignificant . By all means flesh out your world, but if they stop the narrative of something important to break away to describe the drapes in the background it is difficult for me to stay on track (because I am ADHD and a terrible reader and bad poster)

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You are going to want to stay away from Rothfuss then. I've enjoyed both of the Kingkiller books so far, but he is an author that likes to wank on the page and flesh out insignificant stuff all the time. You may like the series because Kvothe is a very cool character, but I wouldn't go in expecting a tight narrative or lots of action. It's a very slow moving series with excess prose.

The Gentleman Bastard books should be more your speed. They feature a kickass merry group of protagonists and Lynch doesn't spend much time on non-important stuff.