I was reading about that on Wired.  Apparently, they had George R. R. Martin on set several times to give them advice on how to keep the series true to the books.  That gives me some hope.

I swear, if this ends up being another Earthsea or Legend of the Seeker, I'm going to burn someone's house down (probably FatMan's).


-b0b
(...grabs the kerosene.)

Zombie thread!

I picked up Game of Thrones back in January when I was traveling on business, but I just got around to reading it over the weekend.  You guys have been holding out on me!  You should have told me it was such an incredible book!

I finished it in a matter of days, and I'm already well into Clash of Kings.  I'll say this, nobody is sacred in Martin's works, and everybody's head is on the chopping block.

How far into Game of Thrones did the first season get to?



-b0b
(...absolutely must watch the show now.)

Yeah, and it's nice to have a series that isn't based in Ye Olde Worn-Out Fantasy World.  You can only have so many Gandalfs and Belgaraths and Zeds before you realize magic is a bit of a plot crutch.

Dance of Dragons was released in July, so get to it!


-b0b
(...is violating his rule about reading unfinished series.)

So Laura got me a Kindle Fire for Christmas and I'd really like to get into fantasy.

What are some recommendations from the Geek Crew?

Also, yes I'm going to start Wheel of Time...my question there is...when do I read the prequel New Spring?

And any other book suggestions would be awesome too!

Thanks,

X

Malazan: Book of the Fallen is my recommendation.
It is 10 books, and the author had a very specific plan when writing the books. There are 3 separate story arcs that start combining around book 6 or 7, and you don't feel like he is just writing for the sake of "let's just do another for some more cash"

You never know who is going to live, and its stupidly epic. This series does not follow one person, but dozens and dozens of people. If you like following soldiers, then this series is for you. There's epic magic, and gods and Ascendants and dragons and ancient technology, and man you just feel like you are in a very rich world.  I like this series more than Wheel of Time.

Wheel of Time is definitely dense, I don't know if you should start there if you haven't read much fantasy. I'm not saying its bad by any means, because it's my second favorite series, but its more complex than let's say the Belgariad series. There are hundreds of characters that the author jumps to and follows.

Belgariad is very standard boy becomes super awesome hero person. Could be a good introduction to fantasy.

I say No to Shannara.... The writing is too dry and straightforward... not a lot of surprises in that one. The author is always explaining everything right at the moment, there is not a lot of mystery too it. I've read the first trilogy of his, and that was enough.

Sword of truth is alright, but the author has a sick love of horrifying torture that he throws in now and then. And some of the themes and ideas i feel was borrowed from other authors... Robert Jordan *cough*

Tolkien, of course! With the hobbit movie on the way, this might be a good book to read. And If you have not read the LOTR books yet, you need to. They are richer than the movies.

The Narnia series is also one of my favorites, if you have not read all of them, you should probably get on that pretty quickly.

Another fun fantasy series is the Saga of Recluce (sp correct) series by L.E. Modesitt Jr.    The magic system created in the series revolves around order and chaos and the balance created in between. The author jumps all over time in the series, and the books span a thousand years or more. So in the first book you may hear of a legendary person, but in the next book or the book after, you will read about that person's story. It's a fun way to read about a world. I recommend this one as well. Each book follows one person or maybe 2, so it has very familiar fantasy themes.


I have not read Earthsea.

My wife and I started reading The Hunger Games.

Stick
(... just trying to fit in)

Stick wrote on Dec 29^th, 2011 at 3:35pm:


Stick,

Have you ever seen the Japanese movie Battle Royale?  The plot of The Hunger Games sounds very reminiscent of that film.  In Battle Royale, the graduating class of one high school is chosen each year to battle one another to the death.  The students are gassed on the way to their senior "field trip," and exploding collars are locked around their neck.  They are then taken to an isolated island, each given a random weapon, and forced to fight one another to the death.  If they don't fight or if they try to escape, their collars will explode.  Only one student will ultimately prevail.

When you're done with the book, download a copy of the movie.  I don't think it was ever released domestically.  Let me know what you think!


-b0b
(...enjoyed the movie.)

The_Fat_Man wrote on Dec 29^th, 2011 at 5:03pm:


Unless Martin goes completely off rails in the fifth book, I couldn't disagree more strenuously.  Bad things happen in Song of Fire and Ice, but Martin doesn't go into anywhere near the level of detail and depravity that Goodkind routinely visits.  Seriously, those two aren't even on the same playing field.  Martin's writing is certainly dark, but I've never once felt uncomfortable reading what he's written.  Goodkind manages to pull that off every few chapters.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Goodkind.  I recommended him for a reason.  As I stated previously, his world is incredibly detailed and believable, and his characters really grow and mature as the series progresses.  That said, I can't recommend him without at least a cursory warning about some of the material contained within.


-b0b
(...shrugs.)

Thank you guys all so much.

I knew I'd get a plethora of recommendations and wow!  It's been a while since I've read Hobbit and Narnia.  Maybe I'll go back through those first and then jump in to the heavy stuff.

I wonder if the Kindle has a random selector that would just put me on a series.

Also, Bob, when I saw the trailer for The Hunger Games...Battle Royale was the first thing I thought of for sure!

X
(knew his geek brethren wouldn't let him down!)

Yes! I am excited! I just started rereading them too, because I've just finished the 3 companion books the author's friend wrote. Steven Erikson has always wondered if he could have done the first book differently by easing people into the story but in the end, he is ok with brutally throwing the reader into the world. Once you catch on to all the elder races, gods/ascendants, and how the warrens work, everything is groovy. The characters in the books are so rich, I am glad you are liking them. Book 2 is where the series really got amazing for me, and its only better from there.

woot!