Wheel of Time

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20713846]

Peace be with you anons, after having read the Wheel of Time I can’t confidently say it’s the best fantasy series I’ve ever read. Everything from the characters to the world building, that battles, truly the crème de la crop.

I don’t see this series talked about very often on literature and it has me wondering what’s y’all’s opinion on this one?

Anyone read any finished or unfinished fantasy that’s better?

[Anonymous No.20713856]

Start with Call of the Crocodile

[Anonymous No.20713866]

slowly working my way to WoT. Reading the Lightbringer series right now. WoT is considered the best by many. I don't read a lot of fantasy though, so even if I read it, I won't really know if it's the best.

[Anonymous No.20713867]

I never read the last book because I didn't care. Reading the rest of them was a waste of time as well.

[Anonymous No.20713974]

Read The First Law

[Anonymous No.20713992]

>>20713974
no

[Anonymous No.20713999]

>>20713856
Nice Shitpost Darkfriend

[Anonymous No.20714002]

>>20713846
Supposedly Malazan is similar or better.

[Anonymous No.20714006]

>>20713992
Why it's great.

[Anonymous No.20714013]

>>20713999
Nice trips

[Anonymous No.20714016]

>>20713846
Peace be with you.

[Anonymous No.20714030]

>>20713974
Does first law have magic and/or fantastical elements? If so where does it rate on the fantastical scale? ASoIaF being a 2 and Harry Potter a 10.

[Anonymous No.20714039]

>>20713867
How tho- Did you hatefuck ur way through through the first thirteen books?

[Anonymous No.20714064]

>>20714030
Solid 5. Very grounded in reality. Magic is only really used by Magi. Although it definitely comes into play in a major way. All races are human except one exception.

[Anonymous No.20714072]

>>20713846
>after having read the Wheel of Time I can’t confidently say it’s the best fantasy series I’ve ever read
i agree, it's trash.

[Anonymous No.20714083]

>>20713846
*tugs braid*

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20714100]

>>20714030
Okay good to know, 5 on the fantasy scale is about as low as I would go. I’d say WoT is like a 7.

[Anonymous No.20714115]

>>20714100
DESU I forgot ASoIaF had dragons and white walkers so I will actually say The First Law is more of a 2-3 in the magic scale.

[Anonymous No.20714141]

>>20713846
I stopped reading like at the 9th or something book. I felt it was going nowhere and I forced myself to read the last ones because I had invested quite some time reading it, but I just couldn't continue at some point.

[Anonymous No.20714162]

>>20713846
>Anyone read any finished or unfinished fantasy that's better?
Gormenghast, and it's not even close. Wheel of Time is alright, but I don't really feel like the length of it is justified.

[Anonymous No.20714170]

>>20714039
I caught up to the series just about a year before the last book came out.

[Anonymous No.20714207]

>>20714030
What a retarded scale. Both of those series are equally terrible because they’re written by authors with modernist mindsets.

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20714216]

I HIGHLY recommend pushing through- if you can get past book 10, 11 - 14 are high S tier. I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20714227]

>>20713846
I HIGHLY recommend pushing through. If you can get past book 10, 11-14 are all high S tier. I can practically guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

[Anonymous No.20714258]

>>20714216
are you saying the best books of the series were not written by the original author?

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20714275]

>>20714141
I keep fucking this message up trying to use mobile, third times a charm. I HIGHLY recommend pushing past book 10. 11-14 are high S tier and will pay off. I can practically guarantee that you won’t regret it.

[Anonymous No.20714280]

>>20713846
>like 4 thousand pages of slog in the middle
>jarring style change for the last books
>blatant spanking fetish
Short answer is 'no'.

[Anonymous No.20714298]

>>20714280
>blatant spanking fetish
>implying that's a bad thing

[Anonymous No.20714308]

>>20714280
long answer?

[Anonymous No.20714376]

>>20714298
Right, I'll take it back.

>>20714308
The series is practically unfinished and there are several books that are generally considered bad even by hardcore fans. That doesn't sound like the best fantasy series ever to me.

[Anonymous No.20714385]

>>20713846
congrats on brain damage

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20714386]

>>20714258
Yes I feel book 2,5,11,12,13,14 are all S tier WoT books, those first three are Jordan and the last Sanderson. While Jordan’s pros are untouchable, Sanderson’s last three books function as a single mega-book broken into three parts, it gets the benefit of tying everything together in what was essentially a bulletproof ending.

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20714411]

[Anonymous No.20714437]

>>20714386
>a bulletproof ending.
>ass pulls all over the place
>*teleports behind you*
>invents a new meme weave that fixes everything

[Anonymous No.20714466]

>>20714207
What are you even saying anon?

[Anonymous No.20714486]

>>20714280
That's a massive exaggeration. Book 8 is a little sloggy, and book 10, okay yes that book is a dumpster fire slog. Other then that no its really not. Honest to goodness did you even read them or are you just larping as someone who has?

[Anonymous No.20714505]

>>20714486
>be Perrin
>sit outside a Aiel camp for like three fucking books being angsty about your tsundere gf
I've read the books. Book like 1-11 twice. It's a good series and I enjoy it, but at the same time it's quite flawed and hardly worthy of the title "best fantasy".

[Anonymous No.20714546]

>>20714505
I always hated how that particular plotline seemed to be a vehicle for the author's cheating fetish.

[Anonymous No.20714591]

>>20714275
I don't know man, it's been like 10 years.
Last book I read was eeeeh, I think at some point Rand "fixes" the magic. Like the book ends like that so I was eager to read the next one, but the next one was just backtracking in the past to see what was happening to the other characters while the fixing was happening, so I just gave up at that point.

[Anonymous No.20714601]

The female characters are all fucking retarded and unlikable in those books, and there are a lot of them. Makes me wonder if Jordan didn't actually have some kazakhstan ancestry.

[Anonymous No.20714646]

>>20714505
Here's my case for this series- While I agree there are tighter fantasy trilogies, like say Green Bone Saga or Mistborn. The sheer shortness of these finished fantasy stories hold it back from being what I would call "Peak Fantasy". Three books simply can't deliver the same level of character and plot catharsis that a fourteen book series can. Compared to the Wheel of Time, Mistborn is a little short story. It doesn't mean its not good, it just means that it's potential is limited by its length, whereas WoT's potential is comparably unlimited by virtue of its length. The crystalline quality upheld through so much of the story is what fulfills that potential and elevates to the Peak of Fantasy.

[Anonymous No.20714653]

>>20714466
I’m saying that the materialist mind can’t produce real art in the same way a soulless machine can’t produce art. No matter how advanced the AI, something about the end product just feels off. The same goes for modernist writers.

[Anonymous No.20714695]

>>20714591
Yea thats the tragedy of book 10. It was probably the worst book i've ever read. After that book, its no fucking joke man. Brando and RJ were channeling the creator or some shit writing those last 4 books.

[Anonymous No.20714724]

>>20714591
Bruh just restart from book 1

[Anonymous No.20714738]

>>20714653
Whos an example of a fantasy writer who is not modernist?

[Anonymous No.20714919]

>>20713846
>Anyone read any finished or unfinished fantasy that’s better?

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20714985]

[Anonymous No.20715193]

>>20713846
I read WoT. It was a slog. Malazan Book of the Fallen is the superior doorstopper series.

[Anonymous No.20715357]

>>20715193
Without spoiling Malazan- why do you think its better then WoT, what does it have that WoT doesn't?

[Anonymous No.20715402]

>>20714919
>Wolfe
And its garbage.

[Anonymous No.20716322]

>>20714601
I've just read the first one so far and the only one female character I've hated is Egwene.

[Anonymous No.20716338]

it's not very good

[Anonymous No.20716364]

>>20715357
The plot is more meticulously planned and doesn't drag in the middle
Brilliant foreshadowing
Far better handling of massive cast of characters
Female characters with a personality that doesn't boil down to bitch or girlboss

[Anonymous No.20716382]

I have read to book 6 and enjoyed the series for the most part but it really does drag unforgivably

[Anonymous No.20716391]

>genre fiction

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20716532]

>>20714601
>The female characters are all fucking retarded and unlikable in those books, and there are a lot of them.
Okay anon they have their quirks but their not retarded. Nighnaeve, Elayne, Avhienda, Min, Moraine, Lanfear, Tuon are all great, compelling, and nuanced characters. Egwene… okay yea she’s really unlikable. Do you just hate powerful women? Did you even make it past the first book anon, the first chapter?

[Anonymous No.20716766]

>>20713846
I somewhat enjoyed it, but then I read the Prince of Nothing series and realized how crap WoT was in comparison to a competent writer

I hate captcha so fucking much

[Anonymous No.20716889]

>>20713846
>too many characters to count... and that's a good thing
>only 2-3 fantashit races, but all human kingdoms feel distinct with their own culture, traditions and geography
>almost half the series is about political intrigue in every institution that matters
>believable fantasy geopolitics
>Strong female characters playing dirtier than in Turkish soap operas, shitting all over the puritan ideals of femininity and triggering redditors at the same time
>descriptions of wars and battles informed by the author's experience in Vietnam
>imaginative torture methods
>rivers of blood shed
>More than a dozen S tier fetishes immaculately inserted into the plot, y*ri only alluded to
GOAT tier

[Anonymous No.20716971]

Hated it since the first book but kept reading since everyone told me it's the best shit ever. Made it to book 5. What a fucking waste of time

[Anonymous No.20717671]

>>20714601
The only ones I really hated were mid-late series Egwene and Elayne. Both their plotlines made my eyes glaze over as I read and eventually I just skimmed their chapters or skipped them completely.

[Anonymous No.20717676]

it's so boring....

[Anonymous No.20717693]

>>20713846
it hasn't aged well, but it was amazing back 40 years ago

[Anonymous No.20717863]

>>20713846
it is by far the best execution of the archetypical fantasy story (village shmuck's journey to defeat the dark lord) and it speaks to WoTs quality that the story is actually enjoyable and not boring dogshit. Its not my favorite series but its easily in my top 5

imo both tolkien and modern fantasy differ quite a bit tone-wise from the trappings of 'generic' fantasy, so whenever I encounter a more conventional fantasy setting (or a parody of one) it is mainly WoT that I find myself comparing it to. So if I have skewed view on the importance of the series, thats why

[Anonymous No.20718010]

>>20713846
I heard WoT was boomer. Is this true?

[Anonymous No.20718017]

>>20718010
What's that supposed to mean?

[Anonymous No.20718031]

>>20718017
That the mentality of the boomer was implicitly present within the writing.

[Anonymous No.20718045]

>>20718031
How old do you think the author is?

[Anonymous No.20718070]

>>20718045
I heard they were pretty fucking old so answer the DAMN question!

[Anonymous No.20718078]

>>20718070
Think about it for a minute.

[Anonymous No.20718130]

>>20713846
Good book, but i didnt really care what color everyones dresses were, and every character is unlikeable and spends pages dwelling on how much they hate every other character for the dumbest reasons. Most of the conflict in the series could have been rrsolved if people talked to each other instead of glowering and scheming for clout.

[Anonymous No.20718219]

So, in addition to the Wheel of Time, what other older fantasy books would you anons recommend?
I'm trying to find older fantasy books my library may have.

I didn't find a QDDTOT or fantasy general thread so I figured this was the best place to ask that wouldn't be too intrusive.

[Anonymous No.20718254]

>>20713846
>I can’t confidently say it’s the best
?

[Anonymous No.20718270]

>>20714919
Don't stop there. Book of the Long Sun seems far removed, but it adds variety, and Short Sun locks it together if it doesn't bring it back around. Plus he did a several short stories either set on Urth or taken from the 'Wonders of Urth and Sky' book from the story.

[Anonymous No.20718342]

>>20713846
BUT BUT BUT MUH LAWD OF THE RANGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous No.20718365]

>>20714115
Yeah but first law has like "orcs" and a several hundered year old wizard who casts spells, its atleast a 4 on the magic scale.

[Anonymous No.20718388]

>>20718031
In a way yes. The magic is split between men and women. That totally wouldn't fly today and the show changed that.

[Anonymous No.20718394]

>>20714653
Have you read first law? Or are you simply being a midwit and assuming its bad?

[Anonymous No.20718401]

>>20713846
Based on what I read:
1. Song of Ice and Fire
2. the Sparhawk novels (Eddings)
3. Sword of Truth (up to #5)
4. Wheel of Time (only the first 2)
I didn't read too widely, Martin killed my interest in typical fantasy.

[Anonymous No.20718492]

>>20716971
>>20717676
>>20718070
retard

[Anonymous No.20718538]

I'm on book 7
Furthest I have ever gone

I am getting so sick of the women being cunts and I feel really bad for RJ as it seems the women in his life influenced him, especially his wife, and it seems that they were all cunts. My bros keep telling me "oh keep going nynaeve gets better avi gets better egwene gets better bla bla bla" but even through all the personal growth they go through in their own chapters, their behavior towards each other and towards men doesn't reflect it (yet). I am so fucking sick of the aes sedai being collectively too dull to learn a simple lesson HURR DURR OUR TRADITION WAS WRONG BECAUSE CONSEQUENCES JUST HIT ME IN THE FACE, MAYBE I SHOULD NOT BE SUCH AN ARROGANT CUNT

I am getting sick of Mat sperging out about everything instead of just using his words to explain. It's the same shit in movies, like the "is this true? answer me!" and the person says "yes" without explanation so the other person thinks the bad thing, whatever that trope is called I fucking hate it. I am also not looking forward to his disgusting racemixing plotline my friend kinda spoiled for me.

I am getting sick of the "yeah but he didn't really die because dark one power lol!" bullshit, the death of a character whether they are protagonist or antagonist should be an event that is taken very seriously, the gay forsaken reincarnations and rebirths are just cheap

I am addicted to the base plot and have a burning desire to see what happens in the end, but I am getting really annoyed.

[Anonymous No.20718555]

>>20715357
One, the quality of the writing is consistently higher than WoT. Instead of having a three book slog in the middle of the series Malazan just gets better and better. Gardens of the Moon is a weak first entry and should be treated as a kind of prologue. Dusk of Dreams is really just part one of The Crippled God. Treat it as such. Two, the original author completed the series himself. This alone puts it way ahead of WoT. No matter how much you like Brandon Sanderson. Three, more novelty. Malazan consistently surprises you with new ideas and revelations about the world, magic, and characters. The depth some of these characters have is simply unbelievable. I've started out hating some characters only to completely love them by the time I was done reading. That said, Malazan is not perfect. No epic fantasy is perfect. It's impossible to write a series on this scale without fucking up.

[Anonymous No.20718566]

>>20716766
This is the problem with WoT. It's okay until you read something better. Then you suddenly can't stand going back to it. I was intending to reread WoT until I completed Malazan. I just can't go back to WoT. Too much time to read for so little reward.

[Anonymous No.20718571]

>>20718538
Keep going til the end of book 9, then skim/speedread 10 and 11 til the plot picks back up.
Nynaeve gets better once she starts getting plowed regularly, Elyane and Egwene get considerably worse and I've never actually read through all of their chapters in the later books except the very plot-heavy ones because they're so bad.
Mat kinda gets better, but Sanderson didn't really get his character and he turns into a caricature of himself in the last 3 books. This might not be a bad thing depending on how you view him.
The rebirth thing only happens to a couple characters so don't worry about character deaths not mattering. You can make a convincing argument that the ones who got burned out of existence got the better end of the deal, anyway.

[Anonymous No.20718577]

>>20718538
There's a canon reason for the women being cunts anon, but few people seem to notice. Think about it. Think about about the tainted male side of the power.

[Anonymous No.20718582]

My favorite fantasy series was the companions of the hall saga by R.A. Salvatore

I grew up playing 2nd/3rd edition DnD and reading as many Forgotten Realms sourcebooks and novels as I possibly could because it's just such a cool and dynamic setting. Drizzt and the other main characters are all awesome, the writing style is good, the pacing is perfect, the fights and battles are epic, the characters are deep and you get to know them on a much more personal level than you do with hashtag stich and bitch (WoT)

[Anonymous No.20718587]

>>20718388
>That totally wouldn't fly today and the show changed that
I hate these "people" so much. Everything has to have its problematic and non-socially-acceptable corners sandpapered down so the touchiest, most easily offended segment of society doesn't complain on Twitter, driving actual fans of the series away.

[Anonymous No.20718594]

>>20718577
>male side of power which very few can touch or use is bad
>female side of power is clean
>a billion years ago dragon broke world
>world is fine now, at least in their part of the world (Andor for example)
>therefore women who have never even heard of "the source" are cunts by default to men who have never heard of "the source"
>because reasons

Nope sorry doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous No.20718602]

>>20714280
>spanking fetish
Picked the FUCK up

[Anonymous No.20718611]

>>20718577
No, the reason is that Jordan grew up in a fucked up world/family of constant gender wars.

[Anonymous No.20718618]

I read the first book back in 2006 shortly before Jordan died but remember nothing about it. What does the series do well?

[Anonymous No.20718641]

>>20718618
The whole farmboy in bumfuck nowhere to major chosen one player in world politics thing, and for several characters, differently for each.

[Anonymous No.20718651]

>>20718602
That's barely scratching the surface. There's femdom in spades, humiliation, tons of weird body horror and torture, genderbending, mind control, shared senses, otherkin/furries, polygamy, XXX-year-old women grooming young teenage boys, and more I can't remember.

[Anonymous No.20718666]

>>20718651
yeah but almost all of it is coyly implied, there isn't any GRRM-esque descriptions about weird sex

[Anonymous No.20718700]

>>20718401
>I am a repulsive sexual deviant and can no longer read "normal" writing because I need rape and incest in order for dopamine to be released
fixed that for you

[Anonymous No.20718749]

>>20718571
That fuckin sucks because I thought it would be the other way around. I'm fine with nynaeve being an asshole because thats how she has always been. I don't want to see those two go down like that. What about Aviendha, does she stop being a retarded cunt for no reason as well? (please be vague)

[Anonymous No.20718825]

>>20718749
Yeah, she drops the tsundere act eventually. She was actually one of my favorite girls, but unfortunately she didn't appear as much as I wanted her to in the later books.

[Anonymous No.20718832]

>>20718700
Asoiaf doesn't even have that much rape and sex desu. I read the books after watching the show and I was surprised by how little there was of all that. Rape is mentioned, sure, but Martin doesn't rely on the shock value of it

[Anonymous No.20718861]

>>20718832
>martin killed my interest in typical fantasy
what did he mean by this?

[Anonymous No.20719150]

>>20713846
I gave it up on like book 7 or 8 or 9
I don't remember it was years ago.
Anyways its fucking garbage. Fuck you.

[Anonymous No.20719256]

>>20718219
currently reading the Lightbringer series. Im enjoying it so far (book 1). It's kinda brutal and nicely written IMO.

[Anonymous No.20719424]

>>20718254
Whoops Can* confidentially say its the best fantasy series i've ever read

[Anonymous No.20719440]

>>20718342
OP here I read got halfway through the Two Towers and dropped it because I lowkey despised those Merry and Pippin chapters. Also I find that Tolkiens pros are really pretentious and make me feel like what i'm reading is in black and white.

[Anonymous No.20719443]

>>20718538
I say this because I care, don't let Jordan string you along with two chapters of relevant progression per book and a rushed 5 page victory over Forsaken at the end of it. PoD is somehow even worse than Cos too.

[Anonymous No.20719451]

>>20718401
Yea I want to read SoIaF but I don't think it will ever be finished so refuse to. I hear Sword of Truth is a bad ripoff of fantasy(via Daniel Greene). Whats good about it from your pov?

[Anonymous No.20719550]

>>20718571
Let me absolutely clear- under no circumstance should you or anyone else skim book 11 that is the peak of Jordans work and is pure excellence. Book 10, yea skim that one sure its dog. But Knife of Dreams, absolutely not read that one in its entirety thoroughly and completely.

[Anonymous No.20719580]

>>20719443
are you suggesting I quit? it's too late for me I am in it until I finish the series and the prequel. as long as

-Rand is a badass and gets laid and keeps getting sweet powers
-The rest of the two rivers boys are also badasses and become legends
-Eladia and the other turbocunts get what they deserve
-Someone finally explains what the fuck is going on with Padan Fain or kills him
-The forsaken stop their gay DBZ-tier "oh you cannot defeat me haha!" surprises
-The girls who put rand in the chest are raped and murdered

as long as those conditions are fulfilled by the end of the series I will consider it a masterpiece despite all the shit I'm annoyed by

[Anonymous No.20719683]

>>20719150
It's never too late to walk in the light brother.

[Anonymous No.20719721]

>>20719580
:)

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20719746]

[Anonymous No.20719753]

>>20719746
nope.
unless this is supposed to be couladin or some shit

[Anonymous No.20719983]

I just finished Farewell to Arms. Any other Hemmingway books you feckers might recommend?

[Anonymous No.20720054]

Wheel of time might or might not be one of the best fantasy out there, for the simple reasons of how well executed the ideas are, the magic system and simplicity but yet complex of the characters makes it for me gooooooood
One thing I can definitely say is when I was reading wot, I needed no other book, no YouTube, no movies no nothing I was so depending on it as a main entertaining source, it was so well done so perfectly thought lots of intriguese, twist and all in all a so good for a new fantasy reader despite its length, tbf the simple language and smooth narrative is a big help for a non native.

[Anonymous No.20720498]

>>20719580
Pretty much all of that happens before the end except maybe.
>The girls who put rand in the chest are raped and murdered
Because I cannot even remember who these characters. Probably had bad ends or bowed down to the Dragon but they might as well have disappeared from the plot with the same results.
The two river character's power creep is absolutely insane though, worth reading just to see Rand become Jesus with the destructive potential of an ICBM. he literally nukes one of the forsaken, funniest shit I've ever seen

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20720746]

I absolutely despise these fucking Reddit Nazis banning me for the dumbest shit.

[Is WoT the Peak of Fantasy? No.20720761]

>>20720746
Spoilers for Lord of Chaos book 6

[Anonymous No.20720850]

>>20720746
>going on Reddit
I'm not saying 4chan is a smart place, but I think Reddit will make you too dumb to read a lot of shit.

[Anonymous No.20722130]

>>20719746
Why does "he" have tits?

[Anonymous No.20722545]

>>20713846
You haven’t read much, then. It’s not even top 10.

[Anonymous No.20722559]

>>20718401
What a normie pleb list. I no of anything more basic than this.

[Anonymous No.20722569]

>>20713846
i hear it's crap. fantasy that i consistently hear is better includes earthsea, the wizard knight, lotr/the hobbit, and malazan

[Anonymous No.20722575]

>>20722569
also perdido street station, the chronicles of ember, and ghormeghast

[Anonymous No.20722611]

>>20713846
>Anyone read any finished or unfinished fantasy that’s better?

George Macdonald fairy tales and short stories by Lord Dunsany are well worth reading.

[Anonymous No.20722657]

ENTER

[Anonymous No.20723153]

>>20713846
Tolkien
Wolfe
Bakker
Erikson
S. King
And even Sanderson, ironically enough, completely mog Jordan and the Waste ofmTime

[Anonymous No.20723229]

>>20714030
>asoiaf being a 2
>Harry Potter is 10
kek, absolutely stupid

[Anonymous No.20723243]

https://youtu.be/Md7qFEREVmc

Oh no no no no no…

[Anonymous No.20723305]

>>20713846
Best fantasy that fits perfectly with my personal taste is Acts of Caine, but I think you'll be more into the grand epic scale narrative types, so check out some of them stupidly long ones. My personal favorite of those is Melissa McPhail's Pattern of Light and Shadow (sadly cancer got her, so she couldn't finish it). ASOIAF is still brilliant all things considered. You can check out Malazan, but this one can't define what it's about and as a whole doesn't make sense. Janny Wurts has this super long series as well, I think it's called Wars of Light and Darkness (?), heard very cool things about it. I also love KJ Parker's Engineer and Two of Swords, don't let the length confuse you, these two are some of the most complex stories in the genre. Second Apocalypse is pretty good if you ignore basic genetics i guess (I don't think it's some masterpiece, however it asks interesting and sometimes disturbing questions) but needs some adjusting, since the books are weirdly structured in terms of content and you'd probably need some familiarity with metaphysics to get the last book/s (same goes for Acts of Caine). There's also Ash by Mary Gentle and JV Jones' Sword of Shadows. Technically you could read Feist, he's more for the YA side, tho I have very fond memories of him. Ignore Sanderson and Abercrombie at all costs. First Law is edgy trash that only pretends to subvert anything while telling the most basic story I've read in years, Stormlight is written for eleven year olds and shouldn't even be brought up in discussion.

If you end up liking Acts of Caine you can check out some of the stuff that inspired it, mainly Sword and Sorcery shit (Howard, Liebher, Moore, Moon, my favorite is Wagner), tho that probably won't fit your expectations after WoT or even Caine. You can also, following Caine's sequels, branch into weird fiction. I really like Jack Vance's Lyonese, Demon Princes and Dying Earth, especially the latter, Wolfe is shilled here like he's some genius, I find his puzzles relatively uninteresting and his "themes" rather nonexistent, tho I'd say he's unique enough to check out (I actually prefer his short fiction) and I also really like China Mieville (New Crobuzon is quite probably my favorite setting) and Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast is the best written piece in the genre and it's not close).

[Anonymous No.20723365]

>>20722657
BASED, long live the eternal champion

[Anonymous No.20723427]

>>20713867
I find that hard to believe man. No one forces themselves through 12 books if they didn't enjoy or at least care a little

[Anonymous No.20723429]

>>20714002
Malazan is not even in the same stratosphere, wot is for kids compared to the masterwork

[Anonymous No.20724200]

>>20723429
>wot is for kids
Your right anon, Malazan is in Uranus

[Anonymous No.20724410]

>>20724200
more like your anus

[Anonymous No.20724417]

>>20713846
>having read the Wheel of Time I can’t confidently say it’s the best fantasy series I’ve ever read
I agree. It's mediocre genreschlock

[Anonymous No.20724445]

>>20722657
>conan but worse in literally every way
if moorcock weren't the head editor of one of the largest sci-fi magazines in britian, no one would remember elric

[Anonymous No.20724649]

>>20716364
>>20715357
>>20715193
>>20714002
>>20723429
I refuse to believe that a series with such a cringy chuuni name can be any good.

You're probably 13.

[Anonymous No.20725898]

>>20716364
>plot
>meticulously planned
>malazan
lol, have you even read the series? the """plot""" makes absolutely no sense, the lore contradicts itself in different books, the annoyingly overrated "convergences" are just random magic bullshit happening combined with big explosions and unexplained and unforeseen fireworks, the characters can't be differentiated since they all talk and think in the same infuriating pseudo philosophical "i am 12 and I'm very smart" style, the "foreshadowing" is ignored by said lore contradictions (the big twist at the end is especially retarded) and actually most of the story hangs on stupidly large amount of conveniences and "ah it just happens that thing X is located in place Y at time Z which allows Random Magic Bullshit Thing to happen and boom shoosh kabam!!!" which are by default impossible to figure out (and their foreshadowing is tenuous and dubious at BEST) since they just occur spontaneously out of the author's whim. Toll the Hounds' ridiculously insane (stupid*) ending that literally happens out of nowhere after 800 pages of utter slog and boredom is the perfect example of such conveniences that are never explained. Oh, and the biggest problem with Malazan's "meticulously planned plot" is that most of the books are barely connected between themselves, let alone forming a coherent whole. Go ahead, write a 10 page essay how Gardens of the Moon has ANYTHING AT ALL to do with Deadhouse Gates, let alone with Midnight Tides (LET ALONE THE FINALE), but you'll still be coping that this 10 book sheer randomness of events and explosions is something more than that - barely coherent randomness.

[Anonymous No.20725936]

>>20724649
really? last time I checked, Malazan author Steven Erikson has been compared to the likes of Joseph Conrad, Henry James, William Faulkner, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

[Anonymous No.20725955]

>>20725936
i don't think he's to THAT level but he's definitely considered "elevated genre". i wpuld say his closest peer is china mieville

[Anonymous No.20725959]

>>20725955
>wpuld
*would

[Anonymous No.20726050]

>>20713846
Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire combined are 2.2 million words long.

Compared to The Waste Of Time, which blatantly copied LOTR in their first book and covered half the material as the above mentioned by the end, at 4.4 million words.

I'm embarrassed that it took until book 5 to realise what a Waste of Time it was.