!bookworms !ringbearers a thread on works of fantasy and mythology. Either to discuss plot, characters, motivations or give recommendations if you have them.
Also, as we now have a ping for Tolkien legendarium's fans I would like to mention I'll create one for ASOIAF as TWOW gets closer to publishing, I'll call it asoiafcels, or maybe create the ping this year because we don't know if TWOW will ever get published
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Well, what are some good fantasy books then?
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Dragonbone chair by tad williams.
I like it cuz it brings the reader into its world. Theres a respect for the lore that fascinates me.
The characters are generally interesting and the villains are pretty scary 😱
Some big battles and a few action scenes but it's not really about killing people or being a badass.
There's also not a ton of magic or magical bullshit. It's tolkeinesque (in a lot of ways if I'm being real) in the way magic is handled.
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!bookworms give this man your recommendations
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A land fit for heroes - basically Gay conan the barbarian, where the Korgoth dude prone-bones twinks instead of broads
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Straggotry
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^^^ !gaystapo assemble ^^^
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I read about half way through book 1 and was really bored.
The author sprinkles graphic s*x scenes in like he's an hbo director. It's entirely unnecessary and (ironically ) turned me off.
Also nothing was happening. I don't want 4-5 pov characters in a 200 page span. Instead, let's choose the one or 2 good characters and stick with them. Advance the plot please!
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DISCLAIMER: This is a joke and a gross exaggeration, not all fantasy is lowbrow trash (anymore) but I felt like being an elitist today (like all days).
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The first three black company books are pretty great. Just started Malazan and it seems alright so far.
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Malazan is the chaddest series out there.
Sanderson's cosmere stuff is good if you want something lighter.
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The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson. It was written before The Lord of the Rings came out so doesn't copy from it like most other fantasy, but the author was pulling from the same corpus of folklore and epics that Tolkien used for inspiration. So it has elves, trolls and magic yet is drawing inspiration directly from Norse and Celtic mythology, heroic epics and Greek tragedy rather than those elements as filtered through Tolkien.
It follows a half Anglo-Saxon, half Norse human who was taken by elves/fairies as an infant and replaced with a changling, who after growing up comes across a dangerous sword deliberately broken by Thor and journeys to have it reforged. It is set in dark ages England while the Norse were still raiding and making colonies, Christianity is introduced and making headway but not the dominant religion of the land, there are sidhe running around, Norse gods are active, and so on.
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I liked the dagger and coin series. The way they set up the fantasy races was interesting (eugenics experiments by ancient dragons) and I found the main villain was amusingly neurodivergent and unaware he was the villain for most of the series.
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Villains that are just heroes from a cynical perspective are the best but so rarely well written
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It's a pretty wild arc for him, he stumbles into a position of authority, neurodivergentally misreads the situation and does something insanely brutal but logical, which nets him a position of higher authority. He repeats that process a couple times, with all the other characters assuming he's some briliant schemer when in reality he's just trying to do his best.
Also one of the other main characters is a banker who invents fiat currency during the course of the story.
That all sounds wacky but it's all played pretty straight and serious.
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The Quran
Edit: I liked the Black Company by Glen Cook but I only read 2 books in the series
The Dragons of Autumn was a DnD book series I liked as a teenager.
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Or The Bible
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NO MY HOLY BOOK IS BETTER
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This but unironically.
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@C333 love sucking peepee
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Well obvious ones are A Song of Ice and Fire, Lord of the Rings, The Way of Kings, and The Witcher Books, but these are all pretty surface level. Some good intermediate fantasy series are The Lies of Locke Lamora(con artists), Elric of Melnibone(weird old school fantasy), the Name of the Wind(magic school with cool magic systems), The Book of the New Sun(technically fantasy but really weird), Black Company(grimdark war story), The Blade Itself(grand adventure/epic fantasy), and Malazan Book of the Fallen(grand adventure/epic fantasy) to name a few of the middle tier of popularity.
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For "high" fantasy The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay is solid. His other stuff is good too but that trilogy really stands out. Obv LotR/Hobbit.
For "teenage boy" fantasy David Eddings does passably well with the Belgariad and the Elenium series, Raymond Fiest for the Apprentice Mage/ Riftwar Legacy, Piers Anthony with the Photon/Phase series and the Xanth series
The time has come for the Necromaster. The unleashing of the fourth joker's card. The arrival of The Great Milenko
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Fallout Equestria
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