I couldn't pm ya Kirby. Check out this thread lol

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/41...unity-1362600/

Omg Arya killing Dany just as she claims the throne (or after, whateva) would be amaaaaazing. What a dark ending

.??? But then you miss all the growth. Bran, Arya, and Dany are all experiencing a lot of changes. I'm all right with being along for that ride. At some point this will all be over and I'll be sad. No rush.

That's good enough for me to bump it to the top of my list.

I've read a handful of books since finishing GoT...

The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles) is my favorite. It's also the most engaging and the easiest read. I found myself laboring with several of the others (I've had an annoying form of ADD when it comes to reading recently, re-reading a lot lf paragraphs, forgeting stuff, etc.) but NOTW was a breeze. It's also got the least to keep track of (the protagonist narrates the story and is in almost every scene). If you want to dive into more fantasy but sometimes get bogged down in the density, NOTW is a terrific choice. (Sequel is perfectly fine too IMO with a couple minor quibbles about pacing and one distracting detour).

Malazan is the polar opposite, but I gutted it out and grew to like it a lot. You'll be halfway finished with book one though and still have no idea what the framework of the story looks like. Erikson is incredibly imaginative and creative though. If you appreciate a departure from the usual knights, elves and wizards, you'll at a minimum appreciate what he's going for. If you're eager to plow through a handful of different authors I'd save it for later.

The Way of Kings is probably right in the middle. IMO Sanderson has been a solid, prolific writer of fantasy throughout his career, but not a game-changer. He's been a professional writer, no more, no less. But he's slowly but surely gotten better from a creative standpoint. If he'd never done anything with the Elantris idea, for example, the world wouldn't have been much worse for it. Mistborn was better. But Way of Kings is his first book where I felt he had something really cool to build on. The story is a BIT slow-building but the setting/system were interesting enough that I didn't need thriller plot pacing to enjoy the ride.

Those are probably my three favorites from the roughly 10-12 books I've read since GoT, a list that also includes...

Assassin's Apprentice - solid book, pretty easy read
Mistborn - similar to AA in scope
WoT #1 - not bad but just not that special (in fairness when it came out that might've been different)

I'm blanking on the rest but I'll post more later.

just finished, TNOTW, and overall I liked it, esp the first book, but I have to disagree in one way with your assessment. You thought there was only ONE distracting detour?? 3/4s of the book was a distracting detour IMO. I just can't believe that series will actually only be a trilogy. Absolutely nothing developed in the 1k pages second book.

I had heard this was really good so over the last Christmas break I got into it. Took a bit but I ended up loving the first book, wasn't as thrilled about the second book and now the third is sitting somewhat half read on the shelf. I'll probably try getting back into it but after reading around on forums people seem to universally rate the second as one of the best in the series so I'm not sure if I'll read past the third one.

i thought gardens of the moon was pretty bad. the fourth book (i think that is where karsa gets introduced) his writing improved dramatically and the books just get better and better. theres so much to follow in the series that i highly recommend reading this after every chapter or two if you are trying to tackle malazan.

http://www.tor.com/features/series/m...-of-the-fallen

The only part I really got bored with was....

Probably worth mentioning that Steven Erikson was pretty much figuring out how to write throughout the process of putting out Malazan. He'd reportedly get bits of advice like, "uh, ever heard of an editor?," and say, "meh." He became successful almost solely on the strength of his ideas rather than his skills (I'd argue he's the opposite of Sanderson in that way).

certainly starts that way but starting with the fourth novel his ideas are much more clearly expressed.

I'd like your opinion on what the H is going on with Bast if u feel like theorizing. I was confused by the ending on book 2 in that regard.

I usually read a number of books simultaneously but I learned the hard way that doing this with fantasy just leads to confusion.

Name of the Wind was great, I think I was a little disappointed in Wise Man's Fear just because of that. The part with the huge lizard high on heroin all the time cracked me up for some reason. It's been a while since I read the books, but (spoilers):

I loved everything about that part....



I just got my copy of book two back today in fact. I'm gonna reread it and then post some additional thoughts. I'm glad so many other people have gravitated to Rothfuss.

Finished Blood Song. Small bit disappointed in the second half of the book. Still the best fantasy I've read since Way of Kings. For me, it falls short of being a really top book but I'd still recommend it to any fantasy fans and will read the second book when it comes out.

Pretty much my thoughts about it as well. The first half of it is top notch fanasty though.

Yeah I'm a biology nerd with two degrees in it so I geek out on that kind of thing whenever authors get into it. There's some fairly new book out there that supposedly breaks down the biology and physiology of mythical creatures but I can't find it.

Started reading mistborn. I kind of liked the first book but like a third through the second and it turns into a huge slog. Everyone is just kind of soulless and mehhhhhhh

Be sure to post the name of it if/when you find it

Did you ever take a course in animal physiology? I'm in the middle of a 180° career change into medicine so I've only taken the basics, but a medic friend of mine said it was the coolest class he ever had,

I've tried searching for that book but for the life of me I can't find it. I think it was published in the last year or so. Yeah I took physiology in undergrad, it was pretty cool. I think the main reason I did was because I wanted to know how kidneys work.

They recasted the mountain once again.
new guy is the one to the right

really?

Ya really Kirby. At least according to /r/gameofthrones

better than the 2nd one i guess : )

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