Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

I've recently read the Song of Fire and Ice series and am in need of something to fill the void till Martin writes the next book. I've started the Malazen Book of the Fallen series and am a quarter of the way through the first book and still find myself trying to get into it. I've heard good things about the Kingkiller Chronicles and may check that out next. Any suggestions?

Janny Wurts War of Light & Shadow starts with The Curse of the Mistwraith & is a really powerful, epic fantasy.

Brent Weeks has some good books. I read The Black Prism & really like his writing. The 2d book of this trilogy is out, but the 3d isn't yet. I found the first stood well enough alone that I'm waiting for the 3d before reading the 2d.

I read one book by Brandon Sanderson & thought he was perfect for finishing Robert Jordan's series. Way too wordy for me, but a lot of people like it. Zelazny managed to fit the 5 Amber books into less words than they used in one book. The Great Book of Amber has all 10.

L.E. Modesitt Jr. writes very readable fantasy series. His Recluse is made up of mostly of stand alone books with a few duologies. There are over 20 books, but they span a lot of time so have different heroes & explore his world from different aspects. His Alector series is made up of 3 trilogies. The Soprano Sorceress has 5 books in it, I think. I liked the first one, but didn't care much for the rest. It stands well enough on its own. His Imager series is still being written.

Jim Butcher, best known for his Dresden series, also wrote a 5 book set starting with Furies of Calderon. Not great writing, but fun & quite readable. Very interesting magic system, too.

Oh & don't forget to find the Dunk & Egg stories that Martin wrote. They're fun & about a knight a century earlier than his main series.

I highly recommend Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations! The first book is Theft of Swords (which is actually book 1 & 2 together but reads like one). He also has a prequel series, The Riyria Chronicles, with the first book coming out in a few days. The first book is called The Crown Tower. I'm sorry if it sounds confusing, my brain is seriously fried today. I absolutely loved the series though! It has endearing characters, great action, smart plot, & is honestly just a whole lot of fun! Plus the author is really accessible and active on Goodreads.

Matt wrote: " I've started the Malazen Book of the Fallen series and am a quarter of the way through the first book and still find myself trying to get into it."

This is one of the best series out there, but it's difficult to get into. I can recommend our Malazan group. There you can get a lot of help and we're discussing the books very thoroughly one chapter at a time.
In addition to new readers, there are a lot of re-readers, who are very helpful. Join in, if you like: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/8...

And regarding your question, maybe Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, starting with The Blade Itself might be interesting for you.
Acacia: The War with the Mein might be another series to look into.

Mpauli,

I am taking your advice and trying to push through now. I went ahead and joined the group and read that I'm not alone finding it hard to grasp what's going on during the first book. Thanks or the advice and I'm looking forward to getting there and falling for the Fallen.

So much depends on what you actually liked about SoIaF. There are many elements to me that make it stand out:-

It is epic - there is a big story with lots of characters and lots pages

It is almost "anti fantasy" and certainly "anti Tolkien" in that fantastical elements are very much under emphasized, quest type elements are avoided or minimised, there is no clear good v bad divisions, it is not filled with goblins, elves etc and whilst there are other races (e.g. dragons) in it their role is under emphasized.

Also the books are unpredictable, gritty and original and your assumptions are often set aside with bad characters being less bad than you might feel and good characters being more complex and everyone at risk of dying. With many fantasy books you can see that the ideas were got from somewhere else but not with Martin.

To top it all off Martin is a decent prose stylist and there are not many people working in the genre who write as well.

Marmite suggestions (you will love or hate)

Titus Groan hits some of the boxes in that it is superbly (although very quirkily) written, magic and fantastical elements do not play too big a role, it is a substantial series (three books and his wife wrote a concluding/ sequel book too) and it is very original and gritty.

The Story of the Stone, Vol. 1: The Golden Days - an unusual recommendation perhaps this is one of the "classic" chinese works of literature. This can be seen as a "non-fantasy" series with strong fantastical elements that play an important role in the story. It is 5 large books long in scope, is filled with interesting, complex characters and is really well written. However it is a fairly tough series to get through as there are many characters with strange names, periods where the plot moves slowly etc....

Slightly safer suggestions

Not read her but The Novice seems to be a strong idea - the books supposedly set up standard fantasy tropes and then turn them all on their head. Heard great stuff about her

Nights of Villjamur great, gritty fantasy series that is well written and original

Shadow and Claw Gene Wolfe is one of the masters of the genre in terms of both the originality of his voice and the mastery of his execution. He is best known for the Book of New Sun series of 4 books but there are other fantasy series' he has written that also sound very interesting (e.g. Wizard and Knight).

Solid considerations - There are many great fantasy writers out there all with much to recommend them. Many of their books do not have all the elements associated with Martin but are well worth considering including:-

The Drowning Girl, Robin Bailey, Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, Martha Wells, N.K. Jemisin, Alif The Unseen, Joe Abercrombie and Raymond Feist (early books only) are all worth considering.

I'd add that if political machinations/conniving coupled with a grand scope is part of the GRRM appeal, Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince series may be of interest.

If the grittiness is a big part of the GRRM appeal, I'd recommend Joe Abercrombie.

& I'll second the rec for Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun.