I’m currently reading a book about anachronism in media. It pointed out that in Downtown Abbey hardly anyone smokes and if they do they do it is outside.
What Anachronism are in most fantasy? What do you notice the most?
I think the most common is lack of hat wearing / helmets. For example, the Night Watch in Game Of Thrones they aren’t wearing headwear, which is crazy as they are in the cold.
In the Time Traveller’s guide to medieval history the first advice the author says is you need to get a hat as hat wearing is important.
Helmets are also a bit silly. LOTR is a really good film, but one of the scene is Aragorn charging an army without a helmet by himself. Even Gladiator 2 trailer the main character has no helmet, but is surrounded by helmeted soldier.
I’m on the hunt for books that don’t just entertain but excel in every aspect. I’m talking about the ones that absolutely nail the plot, prose, character development, and story arcs.
I’m struggling to find books that hit it out of the park in every single way. For me, *First Law* has to be up there. Every second of that story had me wanting more and more. The character growth, the stakes, the prose, the story – it all just worked perfectly.
So, what are your S-tier books? The ones that you think are masterpieces in every sense. I’d love to hear your recommendations!
Edit: Hey all! I made a spread sheet compiling all the data from this post
It’s since had way more entries, but I’ll update it once the post slows down.
*Why is Mistborn recommended for everything? Obligatory Malazan comment! Another Robin Hobb Rec?* I think most people who have hung around the sub have seen and/or heard comments like these in discussion and recommendation threads.
Data already exists for this sub’s favorite books (plenty of great surveys for that!) and we get a snapshot of what many of our members are reading via the bingo submission threads, but very little data is out there on what titles and series our sub puts into the world for others to try out.
This post is the result of a week and a half of work to fill that gap. In part I wanted to check if our collective gut feelings on what gets recommended more or less often is accurate, and in part to look at trends from a more eagle eye view. Every single book recommendation thread from July 6 to July 12 was recorded, with data kept and labeled to the best of my ability (more on that later). This was a lot more work than I had anticipated, and I probably …
It’d be the Dungeon Crawler Carl series for me.
Even though it is definitely the most recommended book on the litrpg sub, nothing could’ve prepared me for how bloody good this series is - to the point where I feel like it has spoilt the entire genre, and nothing else can come even remotely close.
In the genre of western fantasy many inspirations come from mythology and religions.
Dragons, drakes or wyrms were symbols of Evil other in pagan heresy; St Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. Or related to Satan; snake in the garden of Eden/ the dragon which the archangel Michael strikes down.
And while we can also draw on George and the Dragon this is a narrative that’s occurred in many cultures across Eurasia under many different names. Hercules and the Hydra, Thor and Jormungandr, Marduk and Tiamat, Indra and Vithra, Susanoo and Yamata No Orochi.
This was reflected in folklore and later turn of the millennium fantasy. Smaug being the classic example of the dragon and his hoard.
But when did dragons, these giant monsters hoarding gold, kidnapping princesses and being symbols of Satan become good?
In fact when did they become tameable as mounts for great heroes? And in further in same cases like with Eragon and the Inheritance series these heroes are defined solely by …
I don’t know what to say. I’ve been feeling down since hearing the news. I found out about Neil through some of my other favorite authors, namely Joe Hill. I’ve just felt off since hearing about what he’s done. Authors like Joe (and many others) praised him so highly. He gave hope to so many from broken homes. Quotes from some of his books got me through really bad days. His views on reading and the arts were so beautiful. I guess I’m asking how everyone else is coping with this? I’m struggling to not think that Neils friends (other writers) knew about this, or that they could be doing the same, mostly because of how surprised I was to hear him, of all people, could do this. I just feel tricked.
I’ve had people buy books for me many times by accident because there was no indicator that it was the middle of a series! I’ve been confused myself and had to google to figure it out!
I miss when books in a series had the number on the spine, and/or the whole series on the back cover in order with little images on the cover.
There’s still sometimes lists on the inside pages of a series but even when there is so many of them leave out whichever book the one you’re holding is so you don’t actually know where it fits in like please just tell me what order I’m meant to read this stuff in I’m so confused TT
And even when books in a series didn’t necessarily have a number or anything back when blurbs were actually blurbs and not five star reviews it would show if it was the middle of something else at least
I shouldn’t have to get my phone out and search the internet when I’m in a bookstore or library :C I just want to hang out with and browse the books, not google.
Speaking of which …
Ok so I definitely don’t mean to judge different peoples interpretations of the book but I saw so many people (before I read it) talk about how they were taken in by Humbert and about how it’s a tragedy because you have empathy for him and I just… didn’t get that?
For me he was just such a fucking creep from the start. His pedophilia was so consistently woven through the narrative you were never allowed to forget it.
Every time I started to feel a bit bad for him, or think I could be taken in by the romance of it all, he would, in the same breath, sexually romanticise Lolita’s (or any other child’s) youth as a central part of his being all over again, and I would be brought right back to the horror of the whole situation.
Don’t get me wrong, Nabokov is a fucking artist and every line of the book bleed with passion and aching beauty… but it’s just so twisted by the context.
I’m just curious on others readings since I had such a different one than was advertised.
I was expecting, …
I’m currently reading Fellowship of the Ring, after having finished the Hobbit two days ago (both are first reads). And and I have to be honest, I did not expect to love these books so much.
I was never much of a fantasy kid. Never even watched the Lord of the Rings until last week, even though it came out when I was a kid. Played Dragon Age and Skyrim and watched Game of Thrones and that is probably the brunt of my medieval fantasy exposure.
I will say, I really loved (the early seasons of) Game of Thrones, so I read the books. Unfortunstely, I hated the books. My God, Martin, just get to the Goddamn point. Stop describing so much food and pointless shit (including literal shit) and navel gazing (including literal navels). Just stop! He’s gross and manders and his stories would be so much more interesting with half the words.
So after having read Martin I assumed I would hate all long winded writers who spend too much time on description that meander away from the plot …
I’ll submit two, from very different eras and political stances.
Light by M John Harrison - an insane mix of space opera, hard SF and literary experimentalism, like something co-authored by JG Ballard and AE Van Vogt. It did win a James Tiptree award, but is now pretty much forgotten.
Wyst: Alastor 1716 by Jack Vance - the darkest thing Vance ever wrote, capable of being read as either an anti-communist fable or as a terribly sad coming of age story. Either way, it is a beautiful piece of work.
Are we living in this future? I picked it up for a reread and almost dropped the book because the date was so close to today’s date.
Please let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought of them as well as anything you’d recommend. Thank you❤️
I’ve just finished Excession and would like to continue in this same vein: universal travel, not set on Earth, far-future, and most importantly, a weird cosmic occurrence, the scarier the better. Would honestly love a book weirder than Excession. Doesn’t have to focus on AI, btw.
Some similar books I’ve read: Spin, multiple of Greg Egan, Blood Music. Again, if it goes weirder and more mind-bending than them, that’d be excellent.
I’ve searched this sub already for weird stuff, which is how I found Blood Music etc, but now I’m looking for something more specific. On my list so far is Accelerando and Vinge’s books. Thanks!
Edit: thank you so much everyone! I’m sorry I can’t reply to everyone but I’m noting all these.
Anyone love this book as much as I did?