Fantasy novel lovers thread

[jian]

If you can track them down, the Realm by Arrow Caliber (not to be confused with the comic of same name from Image that's more recent). Very D&D.

Speaking of D&D, there is of course John Rogers’ 4E comic (Fell’s Five), which is pretty good, much as you’d expect from the creator of Leverage.

Another good fantasy comic with a slightly unusual setting is Kurt Busiek’s Arrowsmith, which is set in a fantasy version of WW1, somewhat similar to Poul Anderson’s Operation Chaos.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Any fans of The Poppy War trilogy?

 

[Pale Violet Light]

Any fans of The Poppy War trilogy?

Bounced off the first one hard. Found the main character unlikable, and didn’t find the faux-China setting convincing. Mostly I didn’t like the way that it takes a couple of hard tonal lurches: it feels like three (mediocre) books fused into one, and I think she would have been better off picking one genre and sticking with it. Not terrible for a first novel but I was not motivated to pick up the sequel.

 

[amethal]

Bounced off the first one hard. Found the main character unlikable, and didn’t find the faux-China setting convincing. Mostly I didn’t like the way that it takes a couple of hard tonal lurches: it feels like three (mediocre) books fused into one, and I think she would have been better off picking one genre and sticking with it. Not terrible for a first novel but I was not motivated to pick up the sequel.

I quite liked the first book, enjoyed the second one more as the setting was expanded on, but was a disappointed in the third one. Overall, there was too much death and destruction for my taste and I don't think I'll re-read them.

Hopefully there are some ENWorlders out there with a more positive view of the series!

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

I quite liked the first book, enjoyed the second one more as the setting was expanded on, but was a disappointed in the third one. Overall, there was too much death and destruction for my taste and I don't think I'll re-read them.

Hopefully there are some ENWorlders out there with a more positive view of the series!

I am rarely happy with the third book in trilogies. It usually feels like the author rushes the story simply to make it a trilogy.

 

[Autumnal]

I liked the Poppy war trilogy in its grimdark way, and Jane enjoyed watching King become a better writer as she goes.

 

[Aeson]

I am rarely happy with the third book in trilogies. It usually feels like the author rushes the story simply to make it a trilogy.

I felt similar about the Dragonlance Destinies trilogy. I felt the first book was like a love letter to the fans. I think they stretched the story out to fill three books but it didn't really work out.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Any fans of The Poppy War trilogy?

I liked the first book until some point towards the end. The first part about a precocious girl overcoming the odds to get into school was fine, and if was a little obnoxious it was fine because precocious youths often are. I was more intrigued when she found herself in a pseudo X-men type group. But when that didn't really go anywhere and the plot shifted again I started to lose interest. Rin also continued to be unlikeable through the series and watching her constantly keep repeating the same mistake over and over and over and over and over across 3 books got tiresome. The copy/paste from real world history was also a little tedious by the end.

 

[jian]

Any fans of The Poppy War trilogy?

Sadly probably my least favourite thing by R F Kuang - it felt a lot like a Chinese-American teenager who’d just found out about the Opium Wars. I thought she did much better with those themes in Babel.

 

[amethal]

Sadly probably my least favourite thing by R F Kuang - it felt a lot like a Chinese-American teenager who’d just found out about the Opium Wars. I thought she did much better with those themes in Babel.

Thanks for this, I won't let my reaction to the Poppy War put me off reading any of her other stuff.