Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions Hi,A book series which might fit what you are looking for is the king killer chronical by Patrick Rothfuss, its low on violence, but has some great character building. Its meant to be a trilogy, but he’s only written the first two books and book 3 is taking a long, long time to come out, so its worth being aware if you start this you might be waiting a while for the final book. I have really enjoyed the first two books though, very well written and he’s received a lot of praise for them and it’s not the typical end of the world is coming type of fantasy. I’ve just started the gentleman bastards series by Scott Lynch, again another fantasy without the plotline being the end of the world, although there is some violence it’s definitely not the key point of the book and there’s not a lot of it. I’ve only just finished book1 of the trilogy and only started book 2 this week, I enjoyed book1, but don’t know anything about how the rest of the book series will turn out. I’m not 100% sure on the exact definition of low fantasy, but I think both of these books might possibly fit into that category, maybe the second book series more so than the first. I think my previous recommendation of dragon riders of pern might still fit what you are looking for, its more about discovery and exploring the world they are on, plus finding and discovering dragons, its fantasy but in the later books shifts slightly towards science fantasy. I think there are about twenty plus books in the series, I think I would describe them as light reads but all with a positive upbeat tone to them, its been about twenty years though since i've read most of the series, so not sure how well the series will have stood the test of time. as for Urban fantasy, I haven’t really read much of that. I’ve recently read ‘The southern vampire mysteries by Charlene Harris’, but there’s a lot of violence and sex. Its werewolf’s, fairies, shapeshifters and vampires, but I like its concept which is that a Japanese company has manufactured a synthetic blood, meaning vampires can now feed from the synthetic blood so come out of hiding and announce themselves to the world and want to live alongside humans ‘mainstreaming’. its main character is a female, and I think it leans the book more definitely towards a female reader, but I still enjoyed it. There’s a lot of books in the series (I think 13), there’s some good characters in there, again I’d describe it as more of a light read, I tended to pick up one of her books in-between reading slightly longer book series and it was a nice light distraction. I only started reading the series after watching the TV adaption of it called true blood which I absolutely loved. Thanks to everyone else for all the book recommendations, some books sound interesting and I’ll be checking them outPaul Lemm URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622446/#p622446 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions Hi,A book series which might fit what you are looking for is the king killer chronical by Patrick Rothfuss, its low on violence, but has some great character building. Its meant to be a trilogy, but he’s only written the first two books and book 3 is taking a long, long time to come out, so its worth being aware if you start this you might be waiting a while for the final book. I have really enjoyed the first two books though, very well written and he’s received a lot of praise for them and it’s not the typical end of the world is coming type of fantasy. I’ve just started the gentleman bastards series by Scott Lynch, again another fantasy without the plotline being the end of the world, although there is some violence it’s definitely not the key point of the book and there’s not a lot of it. I’ve only just finished book1 of the trilogy and only started book 2 this week, I enjoyed book1, but don’t know anything about how the rest of the book series will turn out. I’m not 100% sure on the exact definition of low fantasy, but I think both of these books would probably fit into that category. I think my previous recommendation of dragon riders of pern might still fit what you are looking for, its more about discovery and exploring the world they are on, plus finding and discovering dragons, its fantasy but in the later books shifts slightly towards science fantasy. I think there are about twenty plus books in the series, I think I would describe them as light reads but all with a positive upbeat tone to them. as for Urban fantasy, I haven’t really read much of that. I’ve recently read ‘The southern vampire mysteries by Charlene Harris’, but there’s a lot of violence and sex. Its werewolf’s, fairies, shapeshifters and vampires, but I like its concept which is that a Japanese company has manufactured a synthetic blood, meaning vampires can now feed from the synthetic blood so come out of hiding and announce themselves to the world and want to live alongside humans ‘mainstreaming’. its main character is a female, and I think it leans the book more definitely towards a female reader, but I still enjoyed it. There’s a lot of books in the series (I think 13), there’s some good characters in there, again I’d describe it as more of a light read, I tended to pick up one of her books in-between reading slightly longer book series and it was a nice light distraction. I only started reading the series after watching the TV adaption of it called true blood which I absolutely loved. Thanks to everyone else for all the book recommendations, some books sound interesting and I’ll be checking them outPaul Lemm URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622446/#p622446 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions fred the vampire accountant by drew Hayze is an amusing series. Basically it's about an accountant who gets turned into a vampire, and ends up getting dragged into a lot of crap he didn't really sign up for. Each book seems like more of a collection of short stories, but I really enjoy the way the author does it. There's a kinda alright graphic audio version, but IMO it isn't much of an improvement from the one on audible. I think somebody already recommended alcatraz VS the evil librarians, but I'll suggest it as well. Starts with a kid who gets dragged from foster home to foster home, until he receives a present and is dragged into a fight with a world-wide organization of evil librarians. That one's more geared towards YA, I still like it. Mainly because Gac!I can't think of more now because it's currently almost 3:00 in the morning, but I'll edit if/when I think of more.There are some litrpg books that are pretty humorous, but they're a bit heavy on the violence and low on writing quality, so I shall avoid listing them for now . URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622444/#p622444 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions I was afraid when I started it that I would have issues remembering everything or all the characters, but I didn't. The nice thing is, the books offer so much insight into all the characters, it becomes impossible not to like alot of them. But I don't think it was too long.Many times my feeling was wait is this over already? when reading the books. And there are references across all the other cosmere books is nice too. My theory is that an apocolyptic event across all the cosmere is coming, and stormlight archive is where it will be covered. You can also come to a similar conclusion after reading mistborn era II. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622421/#p622421 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions Stormlight Archive is good, sort of. But it's also very long, in some cases too long IMO. Also, it's...huge. And I mean that in every sense. Multiple realms. Multiple points of view. By the end of the second book, a sort of pseudo-apocalypse is being threatened, and we're four books in. Characters level up a ton in this book, and personally this is not a thing I'm quite as fond of.This doesn't make it a bad series, but it's everything dialed up to 11, basically. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622420/#p622420 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions @10Yeah, it's lesser known. I think because it doesn't lean into the stereotypes. It doesn't do the werewolves are abusive assholes and this is okay thing, by a few books in it drops the masquerade, and she never turns into some sort of badass private investigator who secretly enjoys going on adventure even though she claims she doesn't, at least how I remember it. Nothing super original in there though.The problem with urban fantasy is that if it isn't Dresden files exactly or borderline BDSM erotica for at least one chapter of the book, no one cares. Leastwise not since the 90s when it became mainstream. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622419/#p622419 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions 6, if you liked mistborn, then you might like the Stormlight Archive as well. I have read all the cosmere stuff, and this one, probably the length has something to do with it, has the most character development by far. But it is more of the world is ending stuff.But the nice thing is there aren't stereotypical fantassy characters you might see in most books.Be warned though, it takes quite a while for action to speed up. Sanderson does alot of world building, but if you get through book1, and you like it, chances are you probably will like the other 3. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622407/#p622407 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions 6, if you liked mistborn, then you might like the Stormlight Archive as well. I have read all the cosmere stuff, and this one, probably the length has something to do with it, has the most character development by far. But it is more of the world is ending stuff.But the nice thing is there aren't stereotypical fantassy characters you might see in most books. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622407/#p622407 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions I'd say Jemisin is more grim than straight-up dark, though she has her moments. Otherwise, yeah, Fifth Season is just a better series IMO.I'd never heard of Kitty Norville before now. Might have to give it a look for the sort of light-fluff reading I sometimes want after really chomping down on something heavy. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622405/#p622405 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions I forgot about Mercy Thompson. Those are good. There's also Kitty Norville, which is even more upbeat than those--and one of these days I'll read the last 3.And of course because other people's recommendations make me remember things too: Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate is also quite upbeat and low violence urban fantasy with vampires and werewolves, if by urban fantasy we mean 18th century London with at least one functional steam-powered mecca. It took me a couple tries to get into it because it's intentionally written to read like the famous authors from back then, so the writing takes some getting used to, but the reward is very worth it.A better summary of Ocean at the end of the lane is, perhaps, man with eldrich abomination childhood friend returns home. I don't think that's much of a spoiler. But yeah, short of just laying out the plot you can't talk about it.I'll have to look at Zoo City. I have seen it mentioned from time to time. Mostly I do--call it quirky books these days. Most of my urban fantasy reading is in the past, honestly because Matthew Swift ruined the genre forever by showing what it could be but never is. After that I couldn't really go back.Jemisin is dark, fair warning. But inheritance trilogy is also good (not by Paolini, also by Jemisin, don't get them confused). That one is gods turned out to be a fucked-up family and because reasons they end up bound to an evil empire as the equivalent of superweapons, but take every chance they get to try to make them regret it--did you say destroy that empire over there? Well, the easiest way was, I just removed the continent. sort of thing. But 5th season is way better, so I'd start there. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622396/#p622396 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions Daniel Abraham's Dagger and Coin series. There is war and armies, but it's not the main focus. Again, there's a little gore, but it's not the focus; if you liked Wheel of Time, you'll have no problem with this. Characterization is Abraham's strongest point; that, and his language, which is pretty without being fluffy. His plot takes a bit to get going, but it's fairly believable on the whole, and it quickly became a series I really got into. Five books.Seconding Ocean at the End of the Lane, which messes with the mutability of memory and mortality and evil. Canlorn's right though; it's really hard to explain this one without just dumping the plot on you. A really rough try would look like this. A middle-aged man returns to the place where he grew up, and remembers some uncanny parts of his childhood, including a friend who is far more than she seems, forces too large to understand, and a clash with an evil so malevolent that it nearly unmakes his world entirely.For urban fantasy, try Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. It's gritty and dark-ish, but not especially nasty, and there's not much gore. Basic premise of that one is easier to explain. In the world of Zoo City, all criminals have somehow manifested animals which must remain near them at all times; this makes it very easy to recognize most criminals on sight. One of these, Zinzi, a down-on-her-luck South African woman, takes an offer that looks simple and turns out to be anything but. As she hunts down a missing person, the world becomes far more complicated than she would have believed.If you want urban fantasy with werewolves and vampires and shit, and you don't like Dresden because 1. it's male-focused or 2. it's sexist or 3. it's too dark, try Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson series. It's a sorta scrappy urban fantasy/romance thing, where the romance isn't laid on too outrageously thick (it's there, and you'll have to pay attention to it, but it's not the main story). At the heart of these stories are mysteries that usually work pretty well. Characterization is decent (some are better than others), the dialogue is fairly snappy and the plot moves fairly fast.If you want something that's more a blend of fantasy and sci-fi, look no further than N.K. Jemisin's Fifth Season trilogy. It's well-written and well-constructed. The characterization is strong. Plot is a little slow, but Jemisin doles out big reveals extremely well. There is a little blood and violence in some places, but again, if you can handle Wheel of Time, you can absolutely handle this. This is one of the better fantasy series I've read in years. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622392/#p622392 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions Interesting. Me and most people I know find Sanderson incredibly terrible at characters, though maybe it's more that he always does the same ones. Not sure. Usually I come away from a Sanderson book wanting to punch them for being unrealistic idiots for the sake of the plot.The genre you might be looking for is called low fantasy. Or perhaps slice of life. Those are terms for kind of the same thing: characters doing everyday things, the novel. Not very much saving the world or anything. I'm not a good guide to such things, though.It is easier to find optimistic sci-fi than fantasy. Fantasy is very much rooted in the Tolkienesque save the world and there's armies and etc. tradition.I'm your guy for subverted/played with tropes, though not so much for happy books. I've already named the most optimistic ones I can think of offhand unless I'm allowed to mention a couple sci-fi things, or go further into the romance genre than Klune's weird half-romance half-normal-fantasy niche (the good romances--not the ones that are porn trying to masquerade as something respectable--are entirely character driven and about people finding happiness). But that'd only get a couple more out of me, heh. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622390/#p622390 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions I enjoyed both Wheel of Time and Mistborn. Both didn't have a ton of in your face gore. Honestly a lot of the fantacy I have read has been more in the romance catigory, or the stuff that showcases that the world is about to end, and I haven't been enjoying a lot of it for a while now. Perhaps what sets the Wheel of Time and Mistborn apart is the belivibility of the carictors which you don't seem to find in many other books. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622386/#p622386 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions Hi,@Jescat277, could you maybe give some examples of specific fantasy books you have enjoyed in the past? to give an idea of what you might like. I’m a huge terry Pratchett fan, so I second Camlorn’s recommendation for the disk world books, I’ve read the whole series, there’s some great characters in there and some great books, all with a nice touch of humour too. I think a lot of fantasy books I’ve read all have some degree of violence, so I guess its whether your happy with a little violence as long as it’s not overly gory, which is why I was asking about what books you’ve enjoyed in the past. dragon riders of pern comes to mind as a book without any gore (lots of books in the series and great for anyone who loves dragons obviously too). Personally two of my favourite fantasy books are wheel of time and the mist born trilogy,, but I don’t think they would fit what you are looking for.Paul lemm URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622351/#p622351 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions what about iron druid chronicles? I like this one a lot, although the last 3 books are kinda meh. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622333/#p622333 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions Dresden is very, I don't want to call it stereotypical but if you want to avoid stereotypical urban fantasy battle scenes it's the series that literally established the tropes, so be warned. Anyway, let's see:Most Discworld books by Terry Pratchett: for the most different/nonaggressive, try Going Postal, Making Money, and Unscene Academicals. The last is explicitly about an Orc trying to help reverse the stereotype that orcs rip people's heads off etc. by playing football. Warning: surprising depth and humor ensue (but then anyone who knows anything about Pratchett knows that's what Pratchett is all about).The Last Unicorn is a classic that I think everyone should read. It's poetic for lack of a better way of putting it. There's some violence but not much, and it's more about a unicorn learning what mortality means, among other things. In the same vain there's Patricia A McKillip, especially Book of Atrix Wolf and Riddle-master of Hed, which are more on the aggressive side but are also about subverting tropes--Riddle-master has an entire subplot about what it's like to shapeshift into a tree, and when there is violence etc. it's not downplayed as this good shiny thing, and 90% or so of the first Riddle-master is the hero trying to run away from being forced into being the chosen one. They're also both poetic in the way Last Unicorn is, There isn't much urban fantasy without violence. The best I can do is suggest things that don't downplay it in a "isn't this a cool story? How about we kill stuff" fashion. You might try Matthew Swift, which at least has unique powers and plots, and he's going up against things like the personification of what you do in the dark and the literal death of cities. Sadly the first is more typical revenge, but against a magician who has half-accidentally separated from his shadow which is now a personification of hunger.There's Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane, which is really hard to describe. I think it's his best work, but I don't think I can summarize the plot at all other than to say it's worth a read.If you're willing to read something that is nominally M/M romance, there's Wolfsong by Klune. It's violent in the latter half and definitely has explicit sex a couple times, but really it's on the M/M romance shelf only because there's nowhere else to put it since urban fantasy with gay characters just sort of has to end up there. It's about broken people learning to be a family and has amazing characterization and the violence/dark and troubled past/etc has real consequences that the characters have to work past. I always really try to get people to read it because it's one of the stereotypical "don't judge a book by its cover" situations. Unfortunately the sequels are meh. I go in for character-driven stuff, and it's definitely got that.Klune now has broad recognition outside M/M romance for House in the Serulian Sea, which I hated and found incredibly bland, but being as everything on goodreads now lists it near the top of the lists next to stuff that wins hugos etc, he obviously did something right with it. That one is entirely nonviolent as I recall.There's Charles DeLint, which is an acquired taste--if you want to try him, just pick one that looks interesting. He did urban fantasy in the 90s before the modern trends of everything being basically vampires and werewolves in a city fighting it out.Maybe I can think of more stuff that fits the criteria later. If you're willing to add sci-fi and web originals, I've been following They Ar Smol for a while--it's basically the opposite of almost all the other sci-fi out there, sort of like Long Way to a Small Angry planet but longer and with the good people doing good things dial turned up more. Plot is that it turns out that humans are the smallest/weakest/shortest lived aliens in the galaxy, but inspire a universal cuteness reaction in everyone else like cat memes, then plot that takes this idea seriously ensues. It's nice and heartwarming, and deeper than it sounds (ex: what media we export has political implications because it's the equivalent of showing someone a video of someone disemboweling kittens, and learning to be doctors for us is hard for them).It's kind of a shame that I apparently am very good at finding things where the description makes them sound lame but then everyone I convince to read it thinks it's at least good, but meh. I guess that's what happens when you read enough that you do in fact prove that it is possible to run out of books. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622322/#p622322 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: fantasy book suggestions
Re: fantasy book suggestions The dresden files books are good. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622314/#p622314 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
fantasy book suggestions
fantasy book suggestions I just wanted to ask here, because I know that a lot of us are also very avid readers. I am looking for books that are either high fantasy, medieval fantasy, or urban fantasy, that don't have stupid amounts of gore, blood, and violence. I have noticed this trend in my books lately, and I don't like it, given the fact that I feel like I have to suffer through the gory parts, which takes away from the enjoyment of the entire book. So, does anyone have any suggestions? I am willing to take novel and web novel candidates. URL: https://forum.audiogames.net/post/622258/#p622258 -- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
