Discovering fantasy

AE35Unit said:
Why always trilogies though? It means either buying all 3, and hope you like them, or arranging something with your local library, if possible.
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You should be able to get these at the library. They were published 1995 - 1997.
If you like them, it's good new that the author is prolific :giggle:;)
 
Aknot said:
Unless I know the author I often avoid trilogies. I might miss out sometimes but for me far too many set out to try and deliver a vast epic tale that just falls flat.
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Most fantasy authors write series, in fact most SF authors do too. What happened to standalone books?
 
AE35Unit said:
Most fantasy authors write series, in fact most SF authors do too. What happened to standalone books?
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There’s been financial incentive to serialize any novel or story since… forever? Conan Doyle did not bring Sherlock back for altruistic reasons. But the focus on the trilogy is, to me, something unique to fantasy. Money probably matters too - a publisher is guaranteed more revenue if an author with a successful first book have readers lined up for two more - but I guess Tolkien set a standard that many aspire to follow.
 
Aknot said:
There’s been financial incentive to serialize any novel or story since… forever? Conan Doyle did not bring Sherlock back for altruistic reasons. But the focus on the trilogy is, to me, something unique to fantasy. Money probably matters too - a publisher is guaranteed more revenue if an author with a successful first book have readers lined up for two more - but I guess Tolkien set a standard that many aspire to follow.
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Except of course LOTR isn't a trilogy
 
Aknot said:
His earlier novels are easier, for a lack of a better word. King Rat is a pretty simple but fun read. Perdido Street Station is absolutely fantastic, with the only downside of perhaps being a tad to long for the story being told. The Scar, a lose follow up, is a further notch up as it’s a bit shorter without losing any of the depth.

After those books he goes for less lengthy stories but also starts experimenting further with his prose and story telling, which is interesting in a lot of ways but to me never reached the same heights.
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Un Lun Dun is well up to his early standards. The City & The City attracts a wide range of views, personally I liked it a lot.
 
AE35Unit said:
Most fantasy authors write series, in fact most SF authors do too. What happened to standalone books?
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I would image that money is the reason that you see fewer standalone books and more series. An ongoing series would tend to be more lucrative to writers and publishers.
 
You may also like Toby Frost's Up to the Throne, although I think there are two books in the series, Blood under Water the second one, Up to the Throne can be read as a standalone.

You don't always have to read all books in a series as long as there is a conclusion at the end and not a cliffhanger.

Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series although connected and it is nice to know the background can be read as individual books.
 
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Thanks for the recommendation! I'd second that one!
 
AE35Unit said:
Except of course LOTR isn't a trilogy
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Not as conceived by the author, but as published by the publisher... They claimed it had to do with the difficulty of binding a book that big but I'm sure the thought of 3 more books that could be sold as sequels to the Hobbit didn't bother them so much. Then they published a bunch of half finished manuscripts as a prequel with the Silmarillion, and split up more notes from the same series/world into 3 MORE books on the writing of the original book. o_O
 
soulsinging said:
Not as conceived by the author, but as published by the publisher... They claimed it had to do with the difficulty of binding a book that big but I'm sure the thought of 3 more books that could be sold as sequels to the Hobbit didn't bother them so much. Then they published a bunch of half finished manuscripts as a prequel with the Silmarillion, and split up more notes from the same series/world into 3 MORE books on the writing of the original book. o_O
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My set is made up of 6 books plus an appendix
 
AE35Unit said:
Except of course LOTR isn't a trilogy
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Coincidentally I came across this question on Science Fiction and Fantasy StackExchange site where the top answer goes into some detail as to why it's not a trilogy, not least because JRR himself said it wasn't (y)
scifi.stackexchange.com

Is "Lord of the Rings" a trilogy of books in Tolkien's opinion?

Is "Lord of the Rings" a trilogy of books? It was published as 3 separate books, but can it be called a trilogy? Was it intended to be a trilogy by Tolkien himself? The question arose in comment
scifi.stackexchange.com scifi.stackexchange.com
 
Guy Gavriel Kay - Fionnovar triology - his take on Tolkein basically and a really good group adventure story.
Lois McMaster Bujold - Five Gods series. If you were to start with the very first Penric Novella on kindle, that is chronologically the earliest.
Tanya Huff - The Silvered - standalone, two travelling together, after massive invasion of homeland. Has magic and werewolves. Is probably Regency level of technology, so not classic medieval, but there is a lot of travelling across country.
 
I know a lot of people love Guy Gavriel Kay's not-Fionnovar books, but I've never got on with them. Well written, excellent historic research and atmospheric descriptions but short on overt magic and the characters don't pull me in. So adore Fionnavar and the later linked book Ysabel, but not any of his others.
 
AE35Unit said:
Has anyone read the Spellsinger books by Alan Dean Foster? I have the first 5 on my shelf.
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Yes, I’ve read the first two or three - very entertaining, with engaging fantasy animal characters. Perhaps best described as Kenneth Graham meets Raymond Feist, with amusing adult dialogue thrown in.
 
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