[Possum]

Been trudging through most of the threads in this forum trying to help me decide which fantasy book series to start next and after many many disappointing attempts to find something to keep me entertained, 'The Prince of Nothing trilogy' and 'The fire of heaven' (which i put down halfway through the first book) to name but two poor choices of mine i am in dire need of some new material.

So after reading 'Gates of fire' by Stephen Pressfield which i thought was excellent but essentially not a large book ive narrowed down my search to two series of books.

'A song of fire' series which i understand isnt complete but i dont see that being a problem, has been reccomended to me by a friend and after searching here and on some review sites it seems a good choice..

Then theres the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb which to be honest has had more mixed reviews than Song of Fire but seems worth a good look and i think id enjoy it regardless of some of the criticism ive seen it get on here.

My question then, which books would you recommend if you think a different book would be better in your opinion throw it out there for me ?

[Illuyankas]

A Fong of Ire and Sice. The Hobb afterwards if you feel like it.

[Kalahinen]

I can only recommend Hobb because I haven't read Martin. Read the one you get in your hands first.

[Biggles]

Definately a song of fire and ice.

[Skywalker]

I've read both, and like both. The difference in style is staggering.

You will like GRRM if you like '24' or any other fast paced, twisty turny, action packed TV series. Hobb is less vast in terms of size of the cast, her writing is more predictable, charming, and, um... intimate. So you'll like Hobb if you like a series like 'Law and Order' - you sort of know the beginning and the end, but are interested in how one goes from one to the other.

Now, my recommendation would be that you read both - but read Hobb first because that is a complete series (two trilogies - the Farseer Trilogy and the 'Fool' trilogy, in that sequence... haven't read the Liveship trilogy which falls in between). GRRM can wait until we are closer to a release date for book 5.

[Slum]

Farseer trilogy is written in the first person. So, if that's not really your bag...

ASoIaF is written from multiple POVs; every chapter's a new point of view. (kinda like Faulkner).

I never got into Hobb, but a lot of respected writers (GRRM and SE included) hold her in high regard. And at least her series is finished.

GRRM's so good you'll probably finish all four novels in the series before he's even released the fifth (he writes slow). And then it'll be another 3-4 years before the sixth...and then the seventh.

[Sparkimus]

GRRM's series is pretty good, but yeah I wish he could get out a book a bit faster...I'm going to have to re-read them all before I get to Dance of Dragons since I'm so thuroughly absorbed by the Malazans.

I did read Tad Williams first two Shadowplay books which were pretty good as well.

And I don't know if any of you read Eragon, but those two books were pretty good too. The second one is awesome, the first is pretty good (but you gotta respect the guy for writing it when he was 16).

[Optimus Prime]

A Song of Ice and Fire definitely. I think it's one of the best out there besides SE and Bakker, though Martin does write too slow.

I didn't like Hobb very much at all, and for the love of god don't even waste your time on the Liveship series.

[caladanbrood]

I couldn't stand Hobb. Go with Martin, certainly.

[Optimus Prime]

Ah, a man of taste

I don't like first person very much at all, but I didn't even like the story or characters either in Hobb's books.

[Possum]

Wo, thanks for all the replies! And so quick too!

I think what ill do ill grab 'a game of thrones' as nobody has said anything critical of the 'A Song of Fire and Ice' series unlike Cobb's trilogy, as i said before im not terribly bothered about the series not being finished it'll give me something to look forward to depending on how much i like it. Ill grab Assassins apprentice afterwards im sure ill like both!

Sparkimus;281998 said:

And I don't know if any of you read Eragon, but those two books were pretty good too. The second one is awesome, the first is pretty good (but you gotta respect the guy for writing it when he was 16).

Ive read the Eragon books too, preferred the second to the first although that might be down to that fact that i compared the first book to the film which i found one terrible film!

[Aptorian]

I can give you some negative points on ASoIaF if you want. The books are looong. Things either happen terribly fast which is usually awesome but other times the story arch or a particular scene just drags on and on.

The chapters are split up between characters and for most of that chapter you will only get their point of view. This gets old fast when you keep having to read twenty pages worth of a spoiled little brats thoughts and fuck ups.

ASoIaF is fantasy but besides some zombies in the snow and a couple of firebreathing lizards you don't see any real magic. It's all myths and hints. Basically you're reading a story about a medieval continent with some globetrotting added for fun.

[Possum]

Well i appreciate the different point of view i didn't mean that i thought there would be nothing i didn't like with ASoIaF i just meant that i hadn't read much in the way of complaints and gripes with it like i had with Farseer trilogy.

Aptorian;282019 said:

ASoIaF is fantasy but besides some zombies in the snow and a couple of firebreathing lizards you don't see any real magic. It's all myths and hints. Basically you're reading a story about a medieval continent with some globetrotting added for fun.

Hmm well ive read books that are kind of similar sounding not blatant fantasy i don't think that will be a huge problem though all i can do is give them both a try after all!

[Optimus Prime]

ASoIaF is definitely fantasy, the first opening prologue will tell you that. Now Apt has a point in that magic doesn't play a role in the forefront of the story, but it is still there.

I'd say ASoIaF is about an 8.5 out 10 overall so far as a series

Hobb's Farseer is like 5.5 out of 10

Liveship -92,000 out of 10

[Dolorous Menhir]

Xander;282009 said:

I didn't like Hobb very much at all, and for the love of god don't even waste your time on the Liveship series.

I started to read a Liveship book once. Then I stopped.

Martin is an excellent all-round writer. Once you've read the current books in A Song of Ice and Fire, go straight to his other fiction. It is uniformly excellent.

[Kalahinen]

Sparkimus;281998 said:

And I don't know if any of you read Eragon, but those two books were pretty good too. The second one is awesome, the first is pretty good (but you gotta respect the guy for writing it when he was 16).

I almost puked when I'd read only two pages of Eragon...the fact that the author was 16 when writing it was evident. Just the same old stuff...

And while the movie was quite entertaining and visually well done, the story was only a new version of the original Star Wars, with a mixture of Tolkien's elements.

Not to derail too much: I also recommend Hobb's Tawny Man -trilogy. When I read it I could hardly wait for the next part. Seldom I've been able to step into the boots of a main character as well as with Hobb's Fitz. He is really one of the greatest characters in fantasy fiction, in my humble opinion.

[Sparkimus]

Kalahinen;282060 said:

I almost puked when I'd read only two pages of Eragon...the fact that the author was 16 when writing it was evident. Just the same old stuff...

And while the movie was quite entertaining and visually well done, the story was only a new version of the original Star Wars, with a mixture of Tolkien's elements.

Like I said, the second book was awesome...you just kinda have to get through the first one to know what the hell is going on.

After reading the books, I wanted to kill myself after seeing that horrible atrocity that was Eragon: The Movie, it didn't do any justice to the novels.

[caladanbrood]

Eragon is a huge pile of fail - how the film managed to be worse than the book is an amazement.

[Werthead]

GRRM, obviously

Hobb can write but she cannot pace. Assassin's Apprentice is a splendidly enjoyable 400-page romp with great character and plot development. The second book is about 700 pages long and has less plot and character development than the first book. The third book is about 900 pages long and has, if I'm being incredibly generous, about 25% of the actual content of the first novel. The rest is just tedious padding. Plus the main character is such a tosser he makes you want to hit him in the face until he dies. There are some great secondary characters (most notably Verity) but they have a tendency to disappear for hundreds of pages at a time.

The Liveship Traders follows exactly the same format, except at least this time the general plot is much better and some of the characters are really well-drawn, such as Kennit, who could almost be a GRRM character. However, halfway through Book 2 she loses the plot again and story starts going round and round in circles for the next thousand-odd pages before the damn thing finishes.

GRRM gets some stick for his fourth book being a bit slower than the others, but at least important plot stuff still happens and there is usually a point - if not always an immediately obvious one - to each chapter. The same cannot be said of Hobb.