/lit/ - Literature

>good
>Forgotten Realms

Good luck with that.

Fantasy recommendations? Joe Abercrombie is a safe bet (the trilogy is good, but my preference is Best Served Cold),

R.A. Salvatore is shit
Everyone says Ed Greenwood is bad but I'd check out his Elminster:Making of a Mage, he's like the Dumbledore of FR, it could be cool

It's tie-ins, you really shouldn't expect much.
It would be wildly preferable to re-read Tolkien. What have you read of him?

>>6376405
>>6376413

I read the Hobbit and enjoyed it. Tried to read LotR but found it too tiresome cause I am non-native speaker. Rather looking for an quick and easy read before bed, that kind of thing.

For some reason I find the Forgotten Realms universe attractive but if you say it's shit...

>>6376428
>hasn't read LOTR
>reading derivative fantasy

Yeah, go back to Tolkien.

>Mistborn
>Stormlight Archive
>Elantris
>Warbreaker
>Sabriel
>Black Company
>Lightbringer series
>Pendragon Adventure (doesn't hold up so well as an adult but the last 2-3 books are still solid and it has a nice ending)
>Seventh Tower
>Everworld
Most the Fantasy I can recommend are last decade stuff. I admittedly haven't read a lot of "classics" and I'm gaining more of an interest in hard sci-fi but hopefully any of those will pique your interest.

Anybody with a recommendation for a book with good fight scenes? I've noticed I'm kind of crappy in that area myself.

Sapkowsky is some pleb-friendly entry level fantasy.

Also Robert E. Howard's Conan stories is quality for starters.

>>6376393
>Other fantasy recommendations are appreciated aswell

Obligatory "Book of the New Sun" post

It's actually good, and decently written. Tolkein is for plebs

A Song of Ice and Fire

Black Company, bruv.

>>6376876
A lot of that is shit, but it sounds like it is exactly what OP is looking for if English isn't his native language.

>>6378237
That's a Frank Herbert space opera masquerading as fantasy with an extra dose of politics and genealogy.

>>6378093
>Tolkein is for plebs

Now, I love Gene Wolfe as much as the next guy. But slow the fuck down.

Black Company is the tits, but don't go past book three. The rest is alright but the first three are unassailable.

Also, the Powder Mage series is newer and less known but a damn fun read. The series is done now too so no cliffhangers.Try it if you like Napoleonic warfare with your fantasy.

>>6376413
Ed Greenwood has been writing D&D adventures for like 30 years.
At this point his novels are probably just a recounting of his party's D&D sessions from the point of view of his character.

>>6376393
OP you need to go read The Lord of the Rings immediately.
It is the single most influential fantasy work in the last 500 years.

>>6376393
>Go for the eyes Boo, GO FOR THE EYES!! RrraaaAAGHGHH!!!

It's a shame that fantasy nerds only read trash when there's so much great fantastical literature out there

Warning Warning: Large enemy post spotted.

Shit I like:

>Book of the New Sun (Yes, science fantasy, who cares) by Gene Wolfe
>Wizard Knight also by Gene Wolfe
Wolfe is a grand master story teller and his books have a lot of re-read potential.

>Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
This is a hit or miss for a lot of people it seems. Personally I love it. These books don't cater to people who want an easy read or something to just breeze through. Erikson tells stories the way one of those fill in the dots drawings does. He gives you a lot of dots and points but you have to fill in the lines yourself. A lot of people don't like the fist book, while the second is considered the best in the entire series. I really recommend TOR's series of articles, the Malazan reread of the fallen (http://www.tor.com/features/series/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen).). If you're a first time reader you should stay away from the user comments section though. That shit is a mine field of spoilers.

>The once and Future King by T.H. White
Comfy Arthurian fantasy.

>The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
Also comfy fantasy, boy becomes the hero kind of deal. Can be read by all ages imo.

>Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
Beautifully written, different, contender for most atmospheric fantasy I've read only rivalled by some parts of Wolfe's books.

On my to-read list: K.J. Parker's books, Little Big by John Crowley, Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman and other shit.

Shit I don't like:
>The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
Read the first two books. Feels a bit like Wolfe-light. Would've probably loved this if I was 15. Not bad, but not as good as people make it out to be either.

You know what, I can't be fucked to write more about things I don't like.

>>6378858

> butt kicking for goodness!

BG is the best crpg ever

>>6376393
Try Eragon series. Best fantasy series imo

>>6376876
>Sanderson
excellent taste

>>6380090
you seem to know your shit, anon.
I'm trying to learn to write action sequences, I've been practicing with decompression and quick compression and picking words for their length but the results so far are lacking. Any recommendations I could learn from?

>>6380090
Adding on to this anon's post.

Anon had the right idea but let up towards the end. Kingkiller Chronicles IS bad and should not have anything wasted upon it whether it be money spent on purchasing, time spent towards reading, etc etc. The series is abominable and Rothfuss has demonstrated raw talent in excelling in writing filth.

>>6376393
Read Robin Hobbe's Farseer Trilogy.
First two books were really good, last book toward the middle was kinda meh. CHECK IT OUT

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned The Lies of Lock Lamora yet.
First book is easily superior than whatever mormon trash Sanderson has out now.

>>6378326
>But slow the fuck down.
No, you should catch up.

You are seriously kidding yourself if you think LotR is as good as BotNS

Rose glasses, and all that jazz

>>6378656
>Also, the Powder Mage series is newer and less known but a damn fun read. The series is done now too so no cliffhangers.Try it if you like Napoleonic warfare with your fantasy.
Third book was fucking terrible.

Vlora is a massively unlikable cunt, Taniel spends the entire book clenching his fists and doing nothing, the build up to Taniel and Ka-pole's reunion was very lackluster, in fact, you get almost none of that dynamic the entire book. The rest of the plot pretty much goes exactly how you predict.

I liked the first book, LOVED the second, but the third was incredibly disappointing. Everything that made the other two fun was absent. Also, Vlora is apparently one of the main characters in the next trilogy.

And what the fuck was with every other random character, even combat troops, suddenly becoming women?

R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing and Aspect-Emperor Trilogies are excellent. I highly recommend him.

>>6376393
For Witcher the short stories were the best, the saga got progressively worse and Sapkowski clearly got lazy and wanted to finish it. Not all the books are officially translated into English though you can find some torrent with all the fan translations, which are pretty good I might add.

>>6383074
too bad the second book isn't as good and the third is trash

>>6380090
I read about 20% of the first Kingkiller Chronicles and it bored the crap out of me. Tried too hard to be edgy and cool, not particularly well written and probably intended for teenagers. Like you, maybe if I was 15 I would have enjoyed it, but now I can't.

>>6383125
The second book is average. It still has the great dialogue and humor, but has a lackluster plot. plus, you fucking knew that Jean's love interest was going to die.

The third book is just fucking boring, and is only worthwhile as an audiobook, because the reader is so fucking good on his comedic timing.

It's kinda more historical fiction than fantasy but The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson is a bomb ass book about a viking dude and his adventures in Europe and you should read it.

>>6380090
>>Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
Anyone have an epub of this? Can only find .mobi

>>6383159
Calibre

>>6382567
To be honest, Sanderson's flow in action scenes is actually surprisingly good. Probably his strongest point. I have sort of a hate-love relationship with Sanderson. I like his books and hate them at the same time. Who else? Bakker maybe? I only read the first book, the darkness that comes before, but there was a great sword duel in the first part of the book that stood out to me.

>>6383699
The quality jump from Elantris's bewilderingly low quality to mistborn's actual fun was drastic enough that I'm really looking forward to reading his later stuff eventually, to see if he's continued improving.

Hopefully he's learned that readers are capable of retaining information.

>>6383763
It really only gets better for every book, but he does keep some of his very annoying tendencies throughout every novel.

>>6383763
>Hopefully he's learned that readers are capable of retaining information.
Considering there is an entire active forum for his meta with some contributors being likely legitimately autistic, I'm sure he's aware.

>>6380090

I was about to mention nobody posted Gormenghast yet but I see you did this thread justice.

I'd vouch for Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel, an interesting alternate historical fantasy set in Napoleonic England about two wizards with different ideas on how to handle things.

His Dark Materials is great too, though a little edgy in some places but still fantastic if you enjoyed Paradise Lost.

I know this falls into magic realism more but I'd suggest Valerie and her Week of Wonders, it's a good Czech novel which is basically there version of Dracula.

>>6384274
>Valerie and her Week of Wonders
I loved the film for things that couldn't be in the novel, how similar are they?

>>6384471

For one thing there's no Godly soundtrack but if I recall it's only minor changes, been a while since I read the novel and saw the film but I might give it a re-read since I've been wanting to do so for a while.

>>6383699
Checked the doubles, I'll check the recs later on.

If anyone else has in mind some author who can really describe an action intensive sequence without making it boring I'd be very grateful of any reference.