Amph On An Epic Quest... Recommendations.

After taking in some of an audio book of "The Great Hunt", by Robert Jordan, it reminded me of how much I did enjoy the first half of that prolonged series. And it also brought back the itch to try other book series of a similar "Epic" tone. So if you posters could give me some ideas, I would greatly appreciate it!

(However, two series can't be recommended. One is "The Dark Tower", and I've already read through the entire series a few times, now. Heh! So, safe to say, I'm familiar with that one. The other being, "A Song of Ice and Fire", because I currently have my paperback editions set aside to get into in about a week or so.)

Thanks in advance!

 

I agree WoT did lose its way around Crown Of Thorns, but I think that's because up until then it just kept getting better and better until it peaked with Lord of Chaos for me. Initially I thought the later books were just bad, but after a couple of re-reads of the entire series (yes, it took me a very long time) I'm now of the opinion that they weren't necessarily bad just not as good as what came before. Either way I will read the final book when it comes out, I just have to know now.

I have to admit when I read the first part of your post the first thing that came into my mind was ASOFAI followed by The Dark Tower

Other than that I'm really enjoying Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns, very good, epic in terms of it's characters and complexity of the plotlines simply because there are so many, initially it can seem a bit overwhelming, but it all slots together perfectly. Also lke ASOFAI KJA has done very well with integrating new, fresh, interesting characters into later novels in the series.

Janny Wurts Wars of Light & Shadow trilogy followed by the Alliance of Light series is definately epic, although I found it a bit slow and difficult to get into in places, but it was worth the effort in the end.

Finally, Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are totally epic, I guarantee you'll be blown away by the sheer depth of history and descriptions of the world, let alone by the amazing stories.

 

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. Don't be put off by the first novel, it's the most inaccessible of the series. Keep reading.

 

Dark Tower.

 

I liked Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series; there's one book left, but it's got 10-12 . . .

I'll go rooting around my bookshelves tonight and see if I can find anything else

 

I'm a fan of Jim Butcher, and his Fury series are darn good fun.

Note: the series began (supposedly) when someone at a convention told Butcher that it's impossible to write a good series based on a bad premise, like Pokemon or a lost Roman Legion wandering into a new world. Mr. Butcher decided that the gauntlet had been thrown down, and accepted the challenge. So far, points to Butcher.


If you do enjoy the Fury series, I also strongly suggest Butcher?s even better Dresden Files series. They?re not medieval fantasy; they?re set in modern Chicago. And to date, I?ve yet to find a better set-in-the-modern-world ongoing fantasy series. They start off relatively slow and mediocre, but Dresden?s improvement as a writer shows through with every book. Among ongoing fantasy series period, it?s only behind A Song of Ice and Fire for me.

 

Just for the record, I AM making note of the suggestions.

(I did forget to mention, NYCitygurl, that I actually did read a good chunk of "Sword of Truth". I remember quitting around the fourth book of the series, because I guess I got a bit tired of the constant, "What will try and split Richard and Kahlen apart THIS time out"", plotlines. Plus that whole thing with Richard's brother was kinda icky, at the time, so maybe that colored my impressions.)

And ironically, Raven, I was curious about the Butcher "Fury" series. I might give the "Dresden" books a shot, sometime, but I do have a hint of wariness about "Urban Fantasy" novels. (It comes from an ex-girlfriend who tried getting me to read some Laurell K. Hamilton. Ugh... I won't elaborate too much on that.)

Also ironically, Marcus, I DO own the first "Malazen" book. Heh! Picked it up at a used book store, once. Maybe I should give that a shot.

 

I admit that it goes downhill after the first book.

There's also a 6-book series by Michelle West (forgetting the titles) that you might try. I've only read one book, but I've heard people IRL say that it's fabulous.

 

I would say to pick up Greg Keyes Kingdom of Thorn and Bone. Very VERY good reads. 3 books are out now with the 4th and final volume to be pub. in Jan.

Other than that I would agree with what has already been suggested: Erickson's Malazan epic, just get through the 1st one like Marcus said.

Also the Fury books are amazing! I had the first two for about a 1yr and half and never really glanced at them. Then I ran out of reading material and picked up book 1. Half way thru it I got the 3rd book and I had a constant grin on my face the whole time. Never read any of the Dresden Files, But I watch it on Sci-Fi!

 

Also, the Kushiel series by Carey is very good. The fifth book just came out.

 

Another option to keep in mind is the world of comics: series like Sandman and Fables easily match anything done in prose today. I would go so far as to say that I consider Fables to be on-par with A Song of Ice and Fire in terms of overall quality and worth as a series - which is to say I consider it to be pretty much the best ongoing fantasy series today period.

Fables is the story of the characters from traditional western fables (Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Red Riding Hood, Prince Charming, Little Boy Blue, etc) and what happened after their stories were done. Turns out that someone in the world of Fables went bad, and took over all of the fabled homelands. People like Sleeping Beauty, Bluebeard, the Three Little Pigs, and many, many others have escaped the homelands and made their way to New York. If the idea sounds corny - who cares? It works. Action, adventure, romance, sword fighting, machine guns, murder most foul, heroism, betrayal, redemption, intrigue, swashbuckling, and more.

Quite simply, awesomeness on a monthly basis.

 

I think I owe all that are willing to accept hugs some, for all the great suggestions coming my way!

To Raven, I've been meaning to check out "Fables" for some time. In fact, I swore once I actually did read one of the volumes. (But alas, it certainly wasn't the first one.) I'll be giving that a shot. As for the "Sandman", you're preaching to the choir. I pretty much own anything "Sandman" related. That was like my gateway series into actually "Mature" comic reading.

To NYCityGurl, you know, I swear I dimly recall missing out on a local signing from the "Kushiel" author. It's not a series I've explored, yet, but what's the harm of checking out the first book, at the very least?

To Jedi-Solo, also ironically, I own the first two "Kingdom" books. The reason I haven't started that sooner was I was waiting for the third book to come out in paperback. Lo, and behold, it has, but it came during a time where I had next to NO spending money. (Cursed bills!) But I will take your vote of confidence to mind.

 

It's really, really worth the $7. You'll (hopefully) really enjoy it. However, there are some sex scenes, so while they're not IMO overdone, it's not something I'd let my mother know I read. In other words, if yuo're uncomfortable with that sort of thing, it's not the series for you.

I think the first one is Kushiel's Dart.

 

As long as it's not gratuitous and/or rather silly, (In other words, LKH-style sex scenes ), or ESPECIALLY if it doesn't detract from the story, then I have no issues with the content. Besides, my Fantasy can't always be about the continual slaughter, right? Heh!

 

Not LKH style

 

Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini...

2 books are out so far(Eragon and Eldest)third one is set for a late 2007 or early 2008 release...
A bit clicheic of a storyline(boys' family is killed he goes on long journey for revenge and is brought into a whole new secret society type theme.) but if you somewhat like Lord of the Rings and if you somewhat like Star Wars, you will definatly love this trilogy, because they are all very similar in a way...

oh and they arent a very high reading level, its very easy to read it took me about 13 hours for the first one, and 16 for the second...

hope you enjoy it

tootles

 

Yeah, it's not quite LKH style. For a start, the main character doesn't have superpowers Only thing to be wary of is the fact that the sex scenes are somewhat... rough.

(Read: strapped to a wall, whipped and prodded with a red hot poker )

 

Hmm... The more I hear about Carey, the more it kind of reminds me of Goodkind. Well... Early Goodkind, when he was all about the brutal details. Still, this is convincing me more and more to look into Carey's work.

Oh! And to DarthDiobolous, I did actually read through the first Paolini book. I'll say that, at best, I found it to be popcorn Fantasy entertainment. I mean, the story itself was fast-paced, but the derivative nature kind of got irritating. I guess it sort of came off as Fan-Fiction, in my mind. But still, thanks for the note!

 

Her writing style is actually pretty different that Goodkind's.

And I agree; I didn't find Paolini very good.

 

I read the first book Eragon and thought that it was alright. Then I got Eldest and haven't made it past the second chapter! lol

I just finished Tad Williams: Memory,Sorrow,and Thorn trilogy. It was really good, I highly enjoyed it and recommend it to you. I liked it so much that I started reading his other fantasy book Shadowmarch.

 

Kingdom Come. I obviously don't know if you're a comic-books fan, but that's one of the best books I've ever read.

 

Since some others already suggested some comics, I would have to recommend Bone. It definitely has that epic adventure quality. It's kind of like Ducktales mixed with Lord of the Rings

 

That's an interesting combination.

 

Perhaps you could give Robin Hobb's three trilogies set in the Six Duchies a try (Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man)? They're certainly epic, total around 3000 pages of a decent read, at least if you get past the first half of the first book (Assassin's Apprentice) where nothing much happens. There's also another trilogy being written, but I haven't read the books yet.