Just finished WoT - Other Fantasy Recs?

[Riskva]

Hey everyone,

 

I just finished The Wheel of Time series. My god it was exhausting - but I still enjoyed it! I'm pretty new to reading as a hobby. So far I've read:

 

Ender series (Speaker for the Dead is probabaly my favorite book of all time)

The Books of Pellinor

Wheel of Time

Game of Thrones

 

So, any suggestions?

 

I think I enjoy the thought of a series over stand alone books but I'm open to anything!

[milythael]

L.E. Modessitt Jr. - either the Saga of Recluce series, or the Corean Chronicles series, or both.

[Riskva]

L.E. Modessitt Jr. - either the Saga of Recluce series, or the Corean Chronicles series, or both.

 

Thanks I'll look into them!

 

Someone recommended me other things by Sanderson? The Mistborn series I think? Has anyone read them?

[Shopin]

Can't speak for Sanderson as I'm onl ony book 10 of WoT... so close, yet so far, hah.
The only things I can personally recommend are things that get thrown around all the time... read the first four Game of Thrones books, loved em.
I was recommended "Johannes Cabal; the Necromancer" by Johahan L. Howard based on my love of WoT, but haven't gotten around to that one quite yet.

[Riskva]

Whoops! Forgot to add Game of Thrones on there. Edited. 

[AdamB83]

I really enjoy the Crimson Shadow series by R.A. Salvatore. The first book in the series is called The Sword of Bedwyr.

 

And: If you enjoyed the Ender books, you might enjoy the Ender's Shadow series (this one is all about Bean).  I actually preferred the overall Shadow series to the Ender series (Ender's Game is probably still my favorite, but Ender's Shadow comes in a very close second, and the rest of the books in the series are awesome, too).

 

 

(Also, I'm an avid reader - I actually run a professional book blog & I teach English/Literature, so if I can ever be of service in this regard, let me know!)

[Meera Reed]

Game of Thrones (a Song of Ice and Fire series) is the ultimate fantasy read but is pretty intense and highly addictive.

 

Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss is a lighter read but doesn't lack literary integrity. It is really fun to read and deconstructs the typical fantasy tropes in a way that makes it very refreshing, especially following something like WoT I would imagine.

[Riskva]

I really enjoy the Crimson Shadow series by R.A. Salvatore. The first book in the series is called The Sword of Bedwyr.

 

And: If you enjoyed the Ender books, you might enjoy the Ender's Shadow series (this one is all about Bean).  I actually preferred the overall Shadow series to the Ender series (Ender's Game is probably still my favorite, but Ender's Shadow comes in a very close second, and the rest of the books in the series are awesome, too).

 

 

(Also, I'm an avid reader - I actually run a professional book blog & I teach English/Literature, so if I can ever be of service in this regard, let me know!)

 

Thanks Adam! I keep seeing Salvatore's name thrown around. Will have to do research...

 

 

Game of Thrones (a Song of Ice and Fire series) is the ultimate fantasy read but is pretty intense and highly addictive.

 

Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss is a lighter read but doesn't lack literary integrity. It is really fun to read and deconstructs the typical fantasy tropes in a way that makes it very refreshing, especially following something like WoT I would imagine.

 

And yes, maybe a light series like Kingkiller Chronicles would be a nice change after Wheel of Time.

[Wocket]

RE: Sanderson

 

Sanderson is excellent, though I'm admittedly a semi-rabid fan. His world-building is on par with GRRM, though he's less likely to prematurely kill a character. Nothing exists in one of his stories that doesn't have a reason for being there (ex: plants in the Stormlight Archive series can retract into the ground or close up to protect themselves from the frequent hurricane-level storms). I would recommend Mistborn, but don't bother with Alloy of Law unless you are just dying to read it after you finish the main series. He has a novella as well, The Emperor's Soul, which is a good taste of his style. Or there's Warbreaker if you'd prefer a standalone to a new series. 

 

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is also well-written and fun to read. 

 

If you don't mind reading YA, you could give Veronica Roth's Divergent/Insurgent series a read. 

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I second the Ender's Shadow series, I liked it more than Ender's series. Also might want to do the Drizzt books by Salvator, I enjoyed those along with the Clerical Quintet. Finally, Stephan King's Dark Tower series is pretty good as well.

 

Max the jacked powerlifter squats virgin York barbells. Max the jacked powerlifter squats virgin York barbells.

Max the jacked powerlifter squatz virgin York barbells. (Please ignore these, they're part of my challenge.)

[AdamB83]

Ah, yes, The Dark Towers series is rad!

[Incantor]

Ender's Game is one of those sci-fi classics, but I agree that the Ender's Shadow series is actually much better than the original Ender series, although you have to at least read Ender's Game first for the context.  Orson Scott Card has another great series that is not mentioned very often - the Alvin Maker series.  It starts with Seventh Son.  It's one of those alternate history things, set in early America, and magic is real.  Very engaging.

 

Now, if you really like fantasy, and not necessarily medieval fantasy specifically, you might like Clive Barker's Imagica.  Weaveworld is another Barker favorite of mine.  Keep in mind that although Barker is the mind behind Pinhead (Hellraiser), these particular novels are not horror books but are more fantasy.  Weaveworld is about a guy who accidentally falls into a magic carpet.  Imagica is very difficult to describe without spoilers, but very rewarding.  It's a trilogy that was originally bound in a single volume but is now available split up.  It has a really great opening paragraph of foreshadowing which sets the scene, quoted below.  I copied this from my paperback, any typos are mine.

 

"It was the pivotal teaching of Pluthero Quexos, the most celebrated dramatist of the Second Dominion, that in any fiction, no matter how ambitious its scope or profound its theme, there was only ever room for three players.  Between warring kings, a peacemaker; between adoring spouses, a seducer or a child.  Between twins, the spirit of the womb.  Between lovers, Death.  Greater numbers might drift through the drama of course - thousands in fact - but they could only ever be phantoms, agents, or, on rare occasions, reflections of the three real and self-willed beings who stood at the center.  And even this essential trio would not remain intact; or so he taught.  It would steadily diminish as the story unfolded, three becoming two, two becoming one, until the stage was left deserted."

 

 

[Thayet]

Couldn't recommend Kingkiller Chronicles more! Utterly brilliant.

 

Also definitely worth checking out are the Gentlemen Bastard books by Scott Lynch.

[Meera Reed]

And we can't forget Joe Abercrombie. First Law is another fun series to read and host to one of my favorite fantasy characters (Logan nine fingers)

[Mega-Puffin]

Just started reading book one of the Farseer Trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice) by Robin Hobb, and am pretty well addicted.

 

One of my favorite fantasy series of all time is the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, by Steven Donaldson. Fair warning, they are seriously dark.

[Edorasil]

Mistborn and Elantris by Brandon Sanderson were awesome.

 

The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore was good.

 

The Dragons of Autumn by  Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman was good.

 

The Obsidian Trilogy by by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory Started really slow, but was very good.

 

I also enjoyed the Halo books (based on the game) and the Gears of War book, but those are more sci-fi.

 

The Hunger Games are worth reading too.

[keliswicked]

So many good suggestions!

 

I love the Kingkiller Chronicles.  Now I'm buying them to read again. 

 

Since I happen to love YA stories, I also love anything by Cinda Williams Chima.  The Warrior Heir was incredible, Wizard Heir also good.  The Demon King and onward (Seven Realms series) were awesome awesome awesome (though I haven't read the last yet!)

 

I'm adding a bunch of recommendations to my To Read list.. =P

[PNH]

As someone who reads series books like it is going out of style:

 

- The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is my favorite series ever. It's an epic horror fantasy western and well worth the time, including the newly published 4th and a half book which is a side story and could be read at any time after the 4th book.

- The Demon Cycle series by Peter V Brett is still being written, but there are 3 of 5 done right now, and they are excellent. Quick reads with a lot of wonderful fantasy. The story of a several societies on the brink of destruction by powerful monsters from "the core" who only come out at night, who disrupt a war already in progress on the surface.

- The Chronicles of Amber is 10 books, all 120-150 pages by Roger Zelanzy and are very quick reads. They are the story of a family who rules over Amber, which is the base city of where reality starts and new "shadows" begin. Lots of treachery and backstabbing with magic and swordplay mixed in. Warning: if you get the kindle/ebook version of this, they just OCR'd it and never even bothered to run a basic spell check. The paperback is fine but the ebook has tons of misspellings and mistakes(sometimes many a page) and around the 6th book it actually skips entire paragraphs and requires some creative refragmenting as you keep reading. It's annoying, but still pleasurable, but I would obviously recommend the paperback.

[Knight Solaire]

Might seem a bit obvious but Lord of The rings ? Lol

[Runner 5]

If it's not just medieval fantasy you're looking into, I'd definitely recommend the Otherland (http://www.amazon.com/Otherland-Volume-Set-Tad-Williams/dp/B001PODOLW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1378382640&sr=8-6&keywords=otherland)  series by Tad Williams.  One of the only series I've read three times in my life... 

[Jittersthe.Clown]

RE: Sanderson

 

Sanderson is excellent, though I'm admittedly a semi-rabid fan. His world-building is on par with GRRM, though he's less likely to prematurely kill a character. Nothing exists in one of his stories that doesn't have a reason for being there (ex: plants in the Stormlight Archive series can retract into the ground or close up to protect themselves from the frequent hurricane-level storms). I would recommend Mistborn, but don't bother with Alloy of Law unless you are just dying to read it after you finish the main series. He has a novella as well, The Emperor's Soul, which is a good taste of his style. Or there's Warbreaker if you'd prefer a standalone to a new series. 

 

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is also well-written and fun to read. 

 

All of this, with the exception of the Alloy of Law note.  I enjoyed that book a lot and am looking forward to either more like it set later than Alloy, or more in between Mistborn and Alloy.  Sanderson's Elantris was good.  I had trouble getting past the first two chapters, but then I was hooked.  Stormlight is a set to be the next big series, IMHO.  Warbreaker was fantastic.  

Patrick Rothfuss is another great author.  Check out his Kingkiller Chronicles.  

 

[athousandwords]

Also definitely worth checking out are the Gentlemen Bastard books by Scott Lynch.

Seconded! I love these books and recommend them a lot. They're quite different from the rest of the books on your list though, not really medieval or scifi and a lot more vulgar.

I'll have to bookmark this list for the next time I need a new series!

[kiruji]

I've picked up a few suggestions for me from skimming through the thread, but haven't noticed anyone mention The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks.  I loved those books.  It's all assassins and magic and awesome.

[Maj. Bloodnok]

Check Saladin Ahmed's 'Throne of the Crescent Moon'. Fantasy version of medieval Baghdad, with ghouls, monster-killing dervishes, shapeshifters, wastrel sultans, and one of the best approaches to magic I've seen in a long time.  Oh, and there's food.

 

Or you could go old-school and check Michael Moorcock's 'Elric' series (when he wasn't monstered on amphetamines, the guy could really write), or Fritz Lieber's 'Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser' series.  And of course we cannot forget Edgar Rice Burroughs' cheeze-tastic Barsoom novels.

[demonslayer]

I realize this is a kind of old thread but I really enjoyed the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. It takes place in an Ancient Roman-type civilization and has a cool magic system, political intrigue, and believable, likable characters. What more could you want? Actually, I am reading Wheel of Time right now (only on book 3, so I'm gonna be awhile), and I initially started reading it because someone thought I might like it if I liked Codex Alera, so the inverse is probably true