For quite a while now, I’ve been reading LoTR to my kids before they go to bed. We do one section a night. We started with the Hobbit which they loved and I wasn’t sure if they would be able to do the Lord of the Rings (my two oldest who are the ones that listen are 7 and 5). But they got hooked and they are so eager for me to read it before bed.
I loved LoTR since I was a kid, but I’m now a middle aged man having dealt with the trials of life for many years. Back in college I took a class called Modern Mythology that covered LoTR and others and I couldn’t believe how painfully boring that class was. I’m a regular here in r/fantasy and I’ve engaged in the intellectual discussions about the merits of LoTR, and I’ve come to realize a lot of those talks are the result of world-weary people looking for something maybe they can’t expect to find in LoTR.
I’m still a big fantasy reader and I’m a fantasy author as well. But …
Hello! I’m Juliet Marillier and I write historical fantasy, mostly for adults. A lot of readers will know me from my Sevenwaters series, written long ago in the mists of time. Since then I’ve written a total of twenty-four novels (a bit better than one a year) and had quite a lot of short fiction published. My novel-writing ground to a halt for a couple of years in the time of Covid, so my readers have been left waiting since A Song of Flight came out in mid-2021. What happened? Fallow period? Hibernation? Depression and anxiety? Probably a bit of all those, but the good news is that I’m working on a new two-book fantasy series with the first one coming out in early 2025, from a small independent publisher. I’m keeping the story under wraps for now, but I can divulge that it features a neurodiverse protagonist, a small dog, at least one owl, and a fight to stop the destruction of a forest that lots of people want to gain access to for different reasons. Also, warrior monks. As in real …
Just wanted to gush over a great series that isn’t talked about enough.
Prydain is a masterpiece of epic fantasy that I really think is often unfairly overlooked because it was originally published as a children’s series.
I’d argue that it’s no more a children’s book than the Hobbit or Fellowship of the Ring is.
If you’ve never read it, check it out. It’s a fantasy classic that deserves more attention.
Re-reading the book Magician has made me very confused.
The dwarf puffed on his pipe. “It is a glory hole, laddie. When my people mined this area, we fashioned many such places.
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Later they passed through another of the glory holes, smaller than the last, but still impressive
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He had turned mostly to the right, he reminded himself, so if he retraced his steps mostly to the left, he should be able to find one of the many tunnels that led to the glory hole.
(And if it is please recommend me all the books).
I don’t mean fantasy with horror elements, but straight up horror in a fantasy world. Seems to me like this would be a perfect match since horror often already is low key fantasy
Edit: for example something like the gholam in WoT, but that being the entire story
Edit 2: you guys are going crazy with recommendations and I love it. Not going to respond to individual commenters anymore but consider yourself thanked and the books added to my list
A few years ago I began reading A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. I think I was in the third book when I asked myself why are there so much violence against young girls? I realized that as I worked through the books I was becoming desensitized and quit while I was ahead. One of many examples was that Dany was 13 in the first book I think, why did this old man feel the need to write a13 year old Dany being raped by sleeping with khal Drogo in such detail?
It’s the only book that I’ve read that I had such a negative reaction to. What book made you go “wait a minute!”
I’ll give two:
Mockingjay (the third book in the Hunger Games series). It read like a dream sequence. And since it’s purely from Katniss’s point of view, we don’t even really get a conclusion to the story and what happens to the government.
Ready Player One. The 80s references were fun and the tech was cool to read about, but I don’t get the excitement in reading over and over again, “This would have been a difficult challenge for anyone else. Luckily, I’ve already memorized every single thing ever written or made in the 80s, so this was no trouble for me at all. No, you will not see me learn anything new that will help me in my quest. I will just already know everything and be able to figure everything out immediately.” What kind of story is that?
Edit: Y’all made my day. I was sick and wanted to read other people’s thoughts on books while I was laid up. Y’all certainly provided that. Thanks for making my sick day …
Before I became a parent I did not like “Goodnight Moon”. I thought it was very strange and it made no sense to me as a children’s book. Boy was I wrong. After I became a parent and someone gifted us the book…complete 180…my toddlers loved the book, loved the gentle rhyme, loved finding the mouse on every page, lots to discuss about the little bunny, and bed time, and all the objects in the room. It became one of our most beloved children’s books and I have so many happy memories reading it with my munchkins.
Anyone experience something similar? Did experiencing a book with your child change the way you felt about it?
I’ve had the opposite experience of introducing my kids to children’s books I really liked as a kid and they wanted nothing to do with them! ex: “Edith and Mr. Bear” freaked them out. Would love to hear your stories on this kind of “Oops! Nevermind! Maybe this isn’t as ‘classic’ as I …
I’m currently reading through the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. I’ve been amazed at how awesome the books are, especially considering he’s published all 6 current books in the series since 2014. Then I stop and wonder what the eff is taking Patrick Rothfuss so long to finish the 3rd book in the Kingkiller Chronicles. If Brown can write and publish 6 books in 9 years, why can’t Rothfuss do one in 12? *sigh*
So I thought it might be fun to come up with lists of novels that different authors have published since Rothfuss published The Wise Man’s Fear in 2012. I’ll start with two notable ones…
Pierce Brown (6 novels):
Brandon Sanderson (15+ novels):
Devoured this book. Was unpleasantly surprised by the largely negative feedback from digging through old posts when I just wanted to talk about how much I enjoyed it. It’s a fantastic read (to me) and if you didn’t like it then you’re wrong and just don’t get it.
Jk. But seriously, awesome read, through and through. (In my own opinion at least) Wish it were a series.
What a wild ride! After having watched the Apple TV+ Silo series, I was intrigued enough to start the books, and they really hooked me right from the start. I actually listened to the audiobooks; Book 1 (Wool, 15 hours) on Thursday/Friday, book 2 (Shift, 15 hours) on Saturday, and book 3 (Dust, 11 hours) on Sunday.
I found the series to be incredibly engaging in the way that it delivered answers and opened new mysteries at just the perfect rate to keep me in the moment. I was in the mood for something with mystery and exploration, and I enjoy stories where a technology familiar to the reader may be something ancient or revered to those in the story (like in A Canticle for Leibowitz). These stories struck all the right chords with me. They aren’t the greatest books by any means, but they really landed well for me.
Please, share your thoughts on the series, and any recommendations you may have for similar books or series that deliver in the same way.
I’ve been back into scifi for the last year or so and have gone through 80 or so books in that time. Right at the beginning I finished bobiverse and project hail mary as many do and really enjoyed the ‘average guy with engineer brain competently working through their problem. The internal dialog and problem solving focus is definitely key. Nothing has quite satisfied the itch although Thrawn, Enders game, Exforce (using Skippy and JB + magic plot armor) were in the right direction but didn’t feel like a regular guy.
Anyone have suggestions that are similar?
Some books I’ve read: Martian, Blindsight 1+2, Dune 1-4, Thrawn 1-11, Bane 1-3, Star Wars 20+ others, Murderbot 1-3, Expanse 1-9, Ender 1-4, Infinite Timeline 1-12, and a random assortment of others.
Me: “You can’t just throw cats at all your problems! It doesn’t work that way!”
The Instrumentality of Mankind: (ಠ_ಠ) throws another cat
Seriously though, what a treat. I like how peculiar and varied his writing is; it doesn’t come across like someone trying to be super weird or out there for the sake of being super weird or out there, he’s just a genuine oddball being his weird little self. And as someone who has recently had to say goodbye to an extremely cherished and beloved cat, I’m actually finding all the cat stuff really comforting and sweet.
Curious to see any novels that fly under the radar, for example maybe if an author only wrote 1 book/ not many that many people may now know or an older novel that younger readers would not know as it does not get recommended compared to the usual. An example of this is Armor by John Steakley
Despite humanity having the technology to terraform many planets, and there existing a number of habitable worlds, they chose a barren planet that requires a dome placed over a large chasm for just one city as their main hub. I know the system contains the glitter band and that there’s also more than one city on Yellowstone, but it seems largely unfit to serve as a capital world. Is this ever explained?
I would nominate Wolf of Wall Street. None of the characters are likeable. They’re all fucking monsters. Everyone in it is a great actor. But the movie is almost a masterpiece portraying these awful people.
Can y’all point to another movie that has the similar terrrrrrrrible characters but great actors?
I want the almost great movies that were undermined by the third act.
For me, it was Glass. Perfect storm of fails as only M Night can do. You start with my favorite film of his, Unbreakable. Fast forward 16 years, and you get Split, which at the time won me back to camp M Night. It really seemed like he might have found his footing again. When Glass was coming out, there was real hype. Perhaps this was going to be his big comeback.
Then the movie came out, and yes for about 2/3rds it seemed like he might actually do it. Great, slow burn and buildup which as it turns out was being set up over the previous 2 movies. Then the last act happened… and then I remembered who was making the movie. Undermined not just the movie, but also the trilogy. Can’t think of a bigger 3rd act letdown than that. Anybody else?