The Sword and Laser discussion

I picked up The Name of the Wind on audio from my library but I just don't think I can get into another series that hasn't been finished yet. Rothfuss has only recently come out with the latest installment and it was four years between the first and second installments. I know what will happen: I'll get sucked into it and then have to wait until I'm an old man before I'm able to finish it. I'll have to re-read each book every few years to remind myself of what happened and frankly I just don't have the time. But I would like to get into a good epic fantasy series. Any recommendations for series that are actually finished? The most important thing to me in a book or series is character. I don't care about the magic system or whether there are dragons or how much research the author did into military history. I care about believable character development.

Try Steven Erikson's Malazan series. Technically it's not finished yet -- the final book comes out early next year -- but the existing nine books range from 800 to 1300(!) pages, so there's little chance you'll catch up before it's done.

The Malazan books keep getting recommended to me. I'll have to check those out. Thanks, Sean!

If you haven't read it yet, I recommend the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb.

Mikebliv wrote: "If you haven't read it yet, I recommend the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb."

I've read Farseer and yes, that is pretty much exactly the kind of series I'm talking about.

If you liked Robin Hobb think you'll like Sarah Monette (Though I'm really just basing that on the fact that I really liked both of them.)

She has a 4 book series The Doctrine of Labyrinths series which I recently finished and thought was amazing (I ordered books 2, 3 and 4 right after finishing the first one). It's quite dark and very heavily character focused.

I really loved the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. He did a great job of finishing it in three volumes. I wouldn't hesitate to start a series that he hasn't finished yet either because he has a good track record of finishing books in a timely manner.

If you like dark fantasy, try the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman. It's actually a strong blend of sword and laser. She's also written some excellent stand-alone science fiction novels that read like fantasy. Although she's one of my favorite authors, I haven't started on her most recent trilogy. I want to wait until all three books are out because she writes very slowly.

Karen Miller's Godspeaker trilogy or Kingmaker Kingbreaker series. Karen rocks! Brent Weeks Nightangel trilogy is great. I enjoy both of those authors. BUT...Name of the Wind is soooo very good, and the second comes out in a short time. It would be a shame to wait on reading Rothfuss and miss out on so much fun just because of a fear of incompleteness. Just think of it as always having something to look forward to!

Rick wrote: "Karen Miller's Godspeaker trilogy or Kingmaker Kingbreaker series. Karen rocks! Brent Weeks Nightangel trilogy is great. I enjoy both of those authors. BUT...Name of the Wind is soooo very good..."

I know... I listened to the first three or so chapters and they were very good. I very well may end up changing my mind and reading it anyway.

Michael wrote: "...Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy (starting with The Blade Itself) delivers character in spades. The plot is definitely a servant of character."

I've had it on order from my library for a month now. I think there may be a few S&L listeners here in Bham who put it on hold before I did...

OK, so I picked up Gardens of the Moon and it looks really good. I also picked up a couple other books from my local library. What do the good people of S&L think I should read first (I'm just about finished with Oryx and Crake - great book but maybe a little overrated) - the above mentioned Gardens of the Moon, Anathem, or The Resurrectionist?

Paul wrote: "OK, so I picked up Gardens of the Moon and it looks really good. I also picked up a couple other books from my local library. What do the good people of S&L think I should read first (..."

Definitely Gardens of the Moon.

The Dragonbone Chair in the thick tolkein vein. Everyone overlooks this but the Dark Tower series by Stephen King is epic fantasy at its best, more guns than sword but otherwise its a fantasy. Robin Hobb now has four and a half great trilogies out, events from book 1 Assassin's Apprentice work out in book 9 Fool's Fate.