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afa · 06-22-2010, 02:10 AM

I second whoever mentioned Joe Abercrombie. I'm nearly done with the last of The First Law trilogy, and it's terrific. It's not sword-and-sorcery, though, more in the Epic Fantasy mould. And it's in keeping with the grittier and more 'adult' trend in Fantasy nowadays, popularised by GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire and Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen.

I haven't read either (yet), but they're very highly regarded, though Malazan is reportedly quite complex and confusing. It starts by thrusting the reader straight into the midst of the story and so takes a few books to have a good idea about what's going on. And GRRM seems to be suffering from major writer's block; his fifth book has been pending for years and keeps getting delayed. And there's another two to come after that...

Regarding The Wheel of Time - it's a pretty good series, but there is an awful lot of filler in there. The first few books are good, but it gets a little tiring in the middle. In particular, Books 8-10 are a drag and virtually nothing of consequence occurs in them. It seems Jordan kind of lost his grip on the story there, and kept introducing new characters and places and story arcs that went nowhere. #11 is good, though, and while I haven't read it yet, I've heard that Brandon Sanderson has done a good job with the twelfth.

06-22-2010, 02:10 AM	#49
afa The Forgotten Posts: 1,136 Karma: 4689999 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Dubai Device: Kindle Paperwhite; Nook HD; Sony Xperia Z3 Compact	I second whoever mentioned Joe Abercrombie. I'm nearly done with the last of The First Law trilogy, and it's terrific. It's not sword-and-sorcery, though, more in the Epic Fantasy mould. And it's in keeping with the grittier and more 'adult' trend in Fantasy nowadays, popularised by GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire and Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. I haven't read either (yet), but they're very highly regarded, though Malazan is reportedly quite complex and confusing. It starts by thrusting the reader straight into the midst of the story and so takes a few books to have a good idea about what's going on. And GRRM seems to be suffering from major writer's block; his fifth book has been pending for years and keeps getting delayed. And there's another two to come after that... Regarding The Wheel of Time - it's a pretty good series, but there is an awful lot of filler in there. The first few books are good, but it gets a little tiring in the middle. In particular, Books 8-10 are a drag and virtually nothing of consequence occurs in them. It seems Jordan kind of lost his grip on the story there, and kept introducing new characters and places and story arcs that went nowhere. #11 is good, though, and while I haven't read it yet, I've heard that Brandon Sanderson has done a good job with the twelfth.