WaylanderToo
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Best fantasy series....
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EJ Heijnis
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It's been a little while since I read through a series. Enjoying the Stormlight Archive (though it's only got two instalments so far), but I'd probably go for Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy. Even more than A Song of Ice and Fire, First Law's what really got me back into fantasy.
EJ Heijnis
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It's such an intense and gritty fantasy series.
Indeed, and well-done gritty at that. I hear a lot of complaints about grimdark as a substitute for realism, but Erikson nailed it.
It's the series greatest strength. The characters both human and non human are very believable and credible.
Couldn't agree more.
EJ Heijnis
Inscribinator
It's the series greatest strength. The characters both human and non human are very believable and credible.
Exactly! I know of no other writer who manages to make such completely alien characters so accessible.
Glen Cook is the closet to him in that regard.
Two Brandon Sanderson "series" listed - which as yet have only two books, and therefore struggle to be called a series IMO.
Heather Myst
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My favorites would be:
A Song of Ice and Fire holds my top spot.
Riyria Revelations
The First Law
Riyria Chronicles
The Second Sons
A Song of Ice and Fire holds my top spot.
Riyria Revelations
The First Law
Riyria Chronicles
The Second Sons
Toke
Member
Hear, hear!
The series has so many unique elements that all work in very unpredictable ways. You really can't fully expect anything from anyone. One repeating complaint that I have noticed, and which I could partly sign myself, is that pretty much every character often goes through this philosophical monolog that some people may find tedious and ponderous. Sometimes it slows things down, but you may get used to it and start to enjoy it after awhile, as I did.
I also appreciate the merciless manner in which Erikson cultivates clues that can be resolved thousands of pages later. And BTW, this is probably the only series for me that has been better as a reread. Erikson has this great skill to generate characters that are full of mysticism and epic-ass coolness. Once in a while, these characters encounter in an earth shattering way, or in a way that makes your brain hurt from thinking about all the possible plot derivates. And foremostly, the world feels alive because everything seems to affect everything, sometimes it's prominent and sometimes it's something minor, but it's always there.
I like this series so much that I have started to distance myself from it to give other books and series a chance. It really has become the thing to which I compare every other fantasy book in my life.
Kane the Mystic Swordsman series by Karl Edward Wagner should be on this list. Kane is a heroic an immortal villain/antihero He's not a nice guy and that make him a very cool and interesting protagonist .
The series comprises 5 books
1. Bloodstone
2.Darkness Weaves
3. Dark Crusade
4. Death Angels Shadow
5. Nightwinds
His last Kane short story that he wrote A Gothic Touch had Kane encounter Elric of Melnibone and Moonglum.
The series comprises 5 books
1. Bloodstone
2.Darkness Weaves
3. Dark Crusade
4. Death Angels Shadow
5. Nightwinds
His last Kane short story that he wrote A Gothic Touch had Kane encounter Elric of Melnibone and Moonglum.
IMO the best fantasy series ever written is Colleen McCollough's Masters of Rome. My definition of 'fantasy' may be broader than other people's, though.
If we're using a broad definition I'd include Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles (it's historical fiction with a dash of the fantastical). Of the (reasonably large) range of books of his I've read, it's his best work, I think.
WaylanderToo
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I'm bound to say at this point David Gemmell should really be in the mix too....
soulsinging
the dude abides
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Two Brandon Sanderson "series" listed - which as yet have only two books, and therefore struggle to be called a series IMO.
His Stormlight series and the INSANELY positive reviews are why I made this thread about epic fantasy readers loving everything a little too much, haha.
Are fantasy readers more forgiving?
Just started this series. I hope I enjoy it! Honestly, nothing's ever been more enjoyable to me than the Dragonlance Chronicles, and this series is supposed to bring the fun back into fantasy.
Do his books count as series? I love the Drenai saga but thought they were more standalones set in the same world than an actual series.
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David Gemmell remains my favourite fantasy author overall, but I struggle to consider any of his books as a series in a traditional sense. However, as per my comments above, counting two Sanderson books as a series is also pushing the envelope somewhat.
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