Getting back into fantasy - which to read

[slquoue]

Hi all, I used to read SF&F, especially fantasy, but the last books I read were the Rothfuss books in the early 2000s. I'm now looking to get back into fantasy and see what I've missed in the intervening years. I've come up with this shortlist of 'greatest hits' and thought it'd be interesting to start a discussion on which one you'd read first and why, and whether you think I've missed anything off the list? Or maybe a better questions is what type of fantasy is each book, e.g. "if you like XYZ fantasy books read this one". Thanks.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward
Age of Assassins by R J Barker
The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin

 

[BAYLOR]

Ive read wreathe Blade itself by Joe Abercrombie and two of the books that followed, Quite good and worth reading.

The rest I know of but have not read .

 

[BAYLOR]

I presume you've read a many of the classic fantasy writers . Those I know quite well.

1. Map of Time
2. Map of The Sky
3. Map of Chaos

There were written about decade ago by Felix J Palma .

 

[Moggle]

The last fantasy book series I read was Peter V. Brett's the Warded Man, which ended like 3 years ago, but I haven't read much in the last 9 years outside of that. I first started off with Wizard's First Rule in 2009. I came here thinking much the same as you, and noticed there hasn't been any new names added to the fantasy author forum for the last 13 years. Guys, this is depressing. Worse even is that not more than one other person has replied to this thread with suggestions.

 

[nixie]

I've read all Joe Abercrombie books they are excellent. John Gywnne, I enjoyed the first series and will eventually get round to the others. I haven't read any the others you mentioned.
Mark Lawrence, has a few series all trilogies, The Broken Empire,The Red Queen's War, Impossible Times(YA), The Book of the Ancestor, The Book of Ice. I've just found out he has a new book out.
@Moggle, Peter V Brett is currently writing another series set in the same world.
Brandon Sanderon, has numerous series, he also finished Jordan's
Wheel of Time.

 

[Montero]

I'd suggest another of the big hits of the decade, Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Might be dark enough for you, very well done. Also like the two spin offs starting with Speaker of the Dead.

 

[BAYLOR]

Hi all, I used to read SF&F, especially fantasy, but the last books I read were the Rothfuss books in the early 2000s. I'm now looking to get back into fantasy and see what I've missed in the intervening years. I've come up with this shortlist of 'greatest hits' and thought it'd be interesting to start a discussion on which one you'd read first and why, and whether you think I've missed anything off the list? Or maybe a better questions is what type of fantasy is each book, e.g. "if you like XYZ fantasy books read this one". Thanks.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward
Age of Assassins by R J Barker
The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin

If I might suggest

The Malazan series by Steven Erickson . . The first series et there spans 10 books and is complete .

 

[The Big Peat]

Hi, and welcome to the forum slquoue

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward
Age of Assassins by R J Barker
The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin

I'd say the two biggest things on your list are The Blade Itself and The Fifth Season. I'm not a huge fan of either but there's lots of people who are, and tons of people have read them. I couldn't get into The Fifth Season because I have a low tolerance for 2nd Person PoV, which is used a bit there. The Blade Itself, I think how much you'll like it will depend on how well you get on with unpleasant characters and Abercrombie's humour.

My favourite there is Age of Assassins, which I wish more had read. It feels very throwback to me in terms of being a simple coming of age story, but with lots of fun twists. There's a big mystery, lots of gothic atmosphere.

I tried The Shadow of the Gods but don't get on with John Gwynne's prose. It's very Viking age. I found the beginning slow.

I only know Nevernight as the edgy assassin book, and haven't touched Legacy of Ash at all.

If we're talking of big things you might have missed, I'd throw out the following names...

Brandon Sanderson - Has become huge. Inventive magic systems, lot of emotion, big slow moving plots. I don't get on with him but, well, huge in this type of fantasy.
RF Kuang - The Poppy War is a sort of modern-ish fantasy take on the Sino-Japanese War, really blew up (Kuang is now writing more literary fantasy)
Mark Lawrence - Similar type of fantasy in tone to Abercrombie, just less about the humour
Jen Williams - Has written some very fine adventure type epic fantasy

 

[Epy]

I came here thinking much the same as you, and noticed there hasn't been any new names added to the fantasy author forum for the last 13 years. Guys, this is depressing. Worse even is that not more than one other person has replied to this thread with suggestions.

I've finally done the same (coming here) as discussion in other mediums isn't quite as engaging or thorough as a classic forums. That said there are great discussions being had on Twitter/X, it's just a bit different paced and harder to find naturally, as sensationalism appears to rule that place. Still, I'm glad to be here and glad there's somewhat newer blood adding themselves to this community.

 

[ColGray]

The last fantasy book series I read was Peter V. Brett's the Warded Man, which ended like 3 years ago, but I haven't read much in the last 9 years outside of that. I first started off with Wizard's First Rule in 2009. I came here thinking much the same as you, and noticed there hasn't been any new names added to the fantasy author forum for the last 13 years. Guys, this is depressing. Worse even is that not more than one other person has replied to this thread with suggestions.

At the risk of inciting a mob, I moved away from fantasy because I've found the genre to be stale and uninspiring over the last couple of decades. It feels like thriller genre where everyone is using the same arch plot and looking for a good character and a decent twist on the standard model. So much of it reads like, Giant of the Genre but with ___ blend.

Example:
A GRRM character & world, but with <genre blend>
Wheel of Time but YA
Hunger Games but as romantasy

The last fantasy series where i went, Wow, that's doing something different, was the Daevabad series by SA Chakraborty (City of Brass). It was deep and complex and blended new ideas into old structures and subverted some ideas while finding new angles on other standards. It was really good! Before that, it was probably the R. Scott Bakker series -- and only the first trilogy was great. The second trilogy was awful. (to the point where i DNF'ed the first book and didn't bother with the second and apparently the publisher dropped him because that was everyone's reaction)

For whatever reason, I've found scifi to just be better over the last decade+. Anne Leckie's Imperial Radch was really cool and different. Martha Well found a huge voice in Murderbot. And a ton of other authors have put out a bunch of super interesting, complex and thoughtful books--Emily St. John-Mandel, Hugh Howey, Chris Ruoucchio, Dennis Kunsken, Andy Weir, Craig Allanson, Dennis Taylor, etc.

 

[pogopossum]

It depends on which style(s) of fantasy that you prefer. Abercrombie. Gwynne and Jemisin are all extremely well written. My endorsement is mild compared to what critics and readers have said about them. I've heard of two of your others, but have not read them so any endorsement would be second hand.Notably, there are tons of other fresh new authors mentioned here and on other sites.

Personally, after reading a pile of the three aforementioned authors, I went back to my previous preferences. A & G are classed as Grimdark and Jemisin is no less dour. I am sure that throwing in George RR Martin would be nothing new to you.
Less dark, with some actual humor (although they are not all sweetness and light) are the Charles Stross Laundry series, Raymond Feist's Midkemia, and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. All are extremely popular,

More classic, but almost certainly nothing new to you are Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, T.H. White, LeGuin,
Older authors somewhat forgotten?? L. Sprague de Camp (Harold Shea stories plus a lot of others). Manley Wade Wellman, Jack Vance and Fritz Leiber.
Too many more to list without getting academic.

Notably, there are tons of fresh new authors mentioned here and on other sites.
Have fun.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I've recently read ,and reviewed here on this site, a couple of fantasy novels which are in no way like the stale derivative work referred to two posts above, and which deal with deep, complex, serious—and indeed relevant— issues (The Path of Thorns by A. G. Slatter and Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott). T. Kingfisher and Victoria Goddard also write original work, but it tends to be more quirky and light-hearted. And speaking of authors by the name of Victoria, V. E. Schwabb has recently released a new book that is a continuation of her Shades of Magic series. Haven't read it yet (but I am saving my money to do so) but the original series was both good and original.

Ot maybe you are looking for something in the traditional epic fantasy mode, after all. But whatever your tastes, I suggest you check out the monthly reading threads where our members sometimes give brief, or not so brief, descriptions of the books they have recently read. Those threads represent a variety of tastes, as our members have a broad range of interests. You might find some books that sound like they might appeal to you, and then look them up here and there online to see if the actually do sound what you would like.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have read 'The Blade Itself' and several other Abercrombie books, and I recommend them. Good characterisation, lots of action, and a dash of humour.
I'll also recommend the Andrzej Sapkowski 'Witcher' fantasy novels - popular enough to have spun off a TV series. Good characterisation and lots of violence, and significant female characters.
I'll also mention an author with whom you are probably not familiar - Graeme K Talboys. I am reading his 'The Sleeping Swords' (an odd sf/fantasy) and prviously read his 'Thin Reflections' - an odd urban fantasy.

 

[BAYLOR]

I have read 'The Blade Itself' and several other Abercrombie books, and I recommend them. Good characterisation, lots of action, and a dash of humour.
I'll also recommend the Andrzej Sapkowski 'Witcher' fantasy novels - popular enough to have spun off a TV series. Good characterisation and lots of violence, and significant female characters.
I'll also mention an author with whom you are probably not familiar - Graeme K Talboys. I am reading his 'The Sleeping Swords' (an odd sf/fantasy) and prviously read his 'Thin Reflections' - an odd urban fantasy.

Kane The Mythic Swordsman series by Karl Edward Wagner 5 books . first book in the series Bloodstone. Kand is immortal heroic villain /antihero .

 

[slquoue]

Thanks for all the replies, and sorry for the slow response. This may sound like a faintly ludicrous request/preference, but I'm looking for some fantasty with foreboding atmosphere and characters that often stop to have drinks in taverns in strange lands (think Aragorn and the hobbits in LoTR). I'm not into big magic led fantasy, though I did enjoy the Patrick Rothfuss books.

 

[BAYLOR]

Thanks for all the replies, and sorry for the slow response. This may sound like a faintly ludicrous request/preference, but I'm looking for some fantasty with foreboding atmosphere and characters that often stop to have drinks in taverns in strange lands (think Aragorn and the hobbits in LoTR). I'm not into big magic led fantasy, though I did enjoy the Patrick Rothfuss books.

Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series by Fritz Leiber
Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn( Thieves World) by Robert and Lynn Aspirin
The Mithgar series by Dennis McKeirnan
The Riftwar series by Raymond Feist

 

[JimC]

I tend to like moderately older fantasy (the stuff I grew up on)
Three Hearts and Three Lions
The Broken Sword
Darker Than You Think
All of the Jirel stories
The Harold Shea stories
Etc.

 

[BAYLOR]

I tend to like moderately older fantasy (the stuff I grew up on)
Three Hearts and Three Lions
The Broken Sword
Darker Than You Think
All of the Jirel stories
The Harold Shea stories
Etc.

All excellent choices .

The Mines of Behemoth by Michael Shea ( A Nift the Lean adventure )
Wolf Moon by Charles de Lint
Kothar Barbarian Swordsman series by Gardener Francis Fox

 

[JimC]

More recently, Jane Lindskold's Prudence Bledsoe stories.
'The Drifter', etc.
I think there are currently four of them.

 

[BAYLOR]

Magus Rex by Jack Lovejoy