Looking for a good Fantasy Book

[Dakkareth]

I'm about 25% into the first Malazan book now, and I'm frankly quite irked at the fact that nothing makes any sense, and nothing is explained. Yes, yes, I understand that it's an intrique book and it's supposed to all come together at the end. I've read some early Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy, so I'm not only familiar with that concept, but I'm familiar with how it can be done correctly without taking me through 25% of the book in a state of frustrated confusion.

Keep in mind, that Gardens of the Moon was written almost a decade before the others and IS the first book. That said I don't really follow you the way up to 'nothing makes any sense'. Oh yes, I wasn't sure what was going on, nor did I follow the complicated structure of events at the Fete (the last part of the book) on my first read, but even without deeper understanding I could follow the story of Ganoes Paran and of Whiskeyjack's squad and liked it. Maybe you could lean back just a little and enjoy the ride?

And of course as obsessive Erikson fan I'd love to answer any questions you might have, even if I can't understand the 'frustrated confusion' part .

 

[Desdichado]

I'm generally frustrated with authors who string me along without actually explaining anything about the setting or the characters, or what they're doing, or why. It's a bit of a tricky balance between tedious info-dumps and parcelling out information at a pace that isn't frustrating. For my taste, Erikson falls very squarely on the "too sparse" side. Robert Jordan is a good example of someone on the other side--his repetitive and detailed explanations get really tedious, especially when he throws them in the middle of action scenes.

Glen Cook did the same thing as Erikson too, although it finally started making sense after a while. But it frustrated me quite a bit until I got to the point that I felt "comfortable" reading instead of "who is this guy again, and what's he doing, and what the heck are they talking about with warrens and Ascendents and all that, which has never been explained at all?" which is where I'm at with Erikson at the moment. I dropped Black Company twice because of that frustration before I finally just gritted my teeth and powered through it until it started coming together.

 

[DaveMage]

Along these lines, can anyone recommend a good Fantasy *romp*?

I'm looking for a light-hearted fantasy novel that is full of action and interesting characters, with a bit of good humor (not puns like Xanth), and not too deep.

Something like Paul Kidd's recent Greyhawk novels.

Any ideas?

 

[ShrinkyLink]

I've just started reading The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. So far, it seems a fairly solid fantasy along the lines of George R. R. Martin and Ericson: unexpected scenes of brutality, strong characters, and a feeling that is a real, breathing world.

 

[The_lurkeR]

I agree with Joshua, I didn't care for Steven Ericksons Malazan series, and don't understand any comparison between it and GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire (which I love). I couldn't make it through Gardens of the Moon, there was simply nothing I found enjoyable or intriguing about it.

 

[BadMojo]

I'll assume you keep up on Steven Brust. If not, read every book he ever wrote, because he's stomp-down one of the best living writers of the English language and we are very very lucky that he happens to like stories about people with swords.

I'm a huge Steven Brust fan. He's written a lot of different stuff, an epistolary novel set in 19th century England (Freedom & Necessity with co-written with Emma Bull), a tiny bit of Sci-Fi (Cowboy Feng's Space Bar & Grille), some sort-of horror (Agyar) and an homage to Dumas set in the same world as his Vlad Taltos books.

Now, most people will start off with the Vlad Taltos books since they're, well, just a ton of fun. You can get a collection of the first three novels all in one volume.

The Vlad Taltos books are a bit tough to describe. Think noir in a *very* high magic setting. The main character is a normal human (albeit a hitman) surrounded by a cast of characters that would be, in D&D terms considered "Epic Level". Good old Vlad gets buy on his wits, lots of luck and some help from a small, sarcastic flying snake.

Anyway, I love these books dearly. With one exception, they're extremely fun to read and leave you with a big stupid grin on your face.

The books "The Phoenix Guards" and "500 Years After" along with the "Viscount of Adrilankha" trilogy are written in the style of Dumas and are prequels to the Vlad books set long before he was born.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

For my taste, Erikson falls very squarely on the "too sparse" side.

Very true.

Glen Cook did the same thing as Erikson too, although it finally started making sense after a while. But it frustrated me quite a bit until I got to the point that I felt "comfortable" reading instead of "who is this guy again, and what's he doing, and what the heck are they talking about with warrens and Ascendents and all that, which has never been explained at all?" which is where I'm at with Erikson at the moment. I dropped Black Company twice because of that frustration before I finally just gritted my teeth and powered through it until it started coming together.

Myself, I "got" the Black Company right away, and loved it. I started liking the rest of the series that followed the original trilogy less and less it the further it got from the original trilogy however.

With Erikson, I knew going in that Gardens of the Moon was described by some fans as possibly the least skillfully written and that the series got magnitudes better in the next book. (The American cover art for Gardens does it no help... ) I took this info on faith as with Gardens of the Moon I would have rated beneath Cook's Black Company trilogy.

But WHOA did it payoff with Deadhouse Gates. I had a hard time getting myself to sleep at night when I picked up Deadhouse Gates, I just had to keep reading! And the ending put a big lump in my throat like I get with the best tearjerker movies... the first time a book did this for me, ever.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, that's good news, Eric. I've always wanted to read it because it's so highly regarded, but I have been really struggling with it so far. If you tell me that you agree (to a point) but that it improves greatly moving forward, I'll do the same thing I did with Glen Cook--put my frustration on the back-burner and trust that something will come of it.

 

[Pants]

I'm about 25% into the first Malazan book now, and I'm frankly quite irked at the fact that nothing makes any sense, and nothing is explained. Yes, yes, I understand that it's an intrique book and it's supposed to all come together at the end. I

Actually, no, it really doesn't.

This is not a spoiler, but just a warning.

The ending of the first book is such a blatant deus ex machina that it almost threw me off the series. Some people will say that it is NOT a DEM, but try being the person who's reading the story for the first time and this THING happens without any real explanation. Sure, it gets explained later on, but for the new reader... be warned.

But yeah, if you can get past the admittedly weak first entry (which, strangely, I really liked aside from the ending), the later books are much better. Just be prepared, Erikson is VERY sparse about giving out info, but usually the most tantalizing clues are sometimes so casually dropped into the writing that you can miss it (I know I missed a lot). Other times, he doesn't really explain things as to let the reader hopefully figure things out for himself.

I don't think there is an 'agreed upon by the masses as a must read,' but George RR Martin, China Mieville, and Steven Erikson sure have lots of fanboys, so that must be an indicator of something.

 

[myrdden]

Steven Erickson's "Malazan Books of the Fallen" series is awe-inspiring, though not super-well known in the States -- he published first in Britain and Canada but the books are coming out stateside as well.

Gardens of the Moon
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides

They're huge, sprawling, spectacularly epic novels of world-spanning intrigue, uber-powerful characters and histories that span hundreds of thousands of years. Some folks find them TOO complicated, but I love 'em.

I will second this.

I'm also digging the series by R. Scott Bakker. Along similiar lines as the Malazan series but with a slightly more philosophical bent to it.