Let me start by saying, of course we all have different tastes in books; just because we all like fantasy, doesn’t necessarily mean that, for example, your taste is as good as mine. (Wink). SO, therefore I thought I’d write this post to educate you lovely people; to bring you up to my godlike level of opinion, yes yes, I know… Selfless aren’t I?

One more thing to note before we begin, each and every one of these books I absolutely loved, therefore, the order they are listed has no relevance to how much I like them, each in its own right is an absolute gem.

Mark Lawrence: The Broken Empire

Honestly, if you havent read this trilogy yet; get the book you’re currently reading, take some wood, a box of matches. Burn it. Then start this one. immediately. I’m serious, stop reading this right now, go buy it.

The book is fantastic, the characters amazing, the humour… well the humour is what makes the book great, it’s also one of the most major influences in my own writing style.

The main character, Jorg Ancrath; is beyond description… he’s cruel, deceptive, immoral, violent, he’s pretty much the embodiment of evil; and he is by far my favourite character in any book.

The story itself is nothing less than gripping, each chapter thrilling, the way the Prince himself develops throughout the books breathtaking; you feel like you grow with him, you see things through his eyes, hence; even though you know he’s an evil little shit, you find it difficult to dislike him at all for it.

Now, if you still havent read the trilogy and you’re still reading this, that would mean you ignored my “Stop reading right now, go buy it” Part.

Shame on you.

Mark Lawrence: The Red Queens War

Another stonker by good ol’ Marky… this trilogy intertwines with the Broken Empire in such a fantastic way that it will leave your jaw agape, yet it’s written so well, that you don’t even need to have actually read one or the other before you finish one Trilogy… Although my advice would be to read both sets at the same time in the order they came out, that way you’re less likely to miss the clever little references with them fresh in your mind.

This trilogy is no less stunning than its counterpart, again, the main character is brilliant beyond expectation; Jalan Kendeth, our unwilling hero, is nothing short of a literary miracle… again and again he accidentally performs heroic deeds purely by accident, his barbarian companion equally fantastic as the story unfolds.

If you skip these two series, you really need to contemplate if your life’s actually worth living.

Peter V Brett: The Demon Cycle

Before I start, please note that the above image is out of date – There is now five books in the Demon Cycle, and two novellas.

What can I say about the demon cycle… well, let me start at the beginning. I remember when I first started reading the first book, I’m not going to lie, I literally thought “What is this shit?” The concept was just so unrealistic, humanity suppressed by creatures called demons that appear as soon as the darkness comes, it sounded like a messed up version of Pokemon gone wrong… How wrong I was.

Brett is phenomenal, in my opinion, one of the most talented authors out there; the depth he goes to in his books, the incredible descriptions, the complicated and complete religious systems of belief… I can only hope to be as good at world building as this genius is one day, I mean; I remember sitting outside Marks and spencers in Reading town centre, and attempting to describe how complex the demon cycle books are, to my Girlfriend. Whom, if im honest just stared at me with that “Shit, im dating a nerd” look, then in her defence, humoured me for a good half an hour whilst I tried to explain the religion of the desert people to her, accompanied by what I like to call “enthusiastic” hand movements that I seem to do when I get excited.

I try not to reveal too much about the storyline itself in these little reviews, but trust me… it’s a winner.

Patrick Rothfuss: The Kingkiller Chronicles

Okay, so if you’re a true Fantasy genre fan, you’ve almost definitely already read this; thus you share in the murder inspiring frustration that comes with it. Why? well, the first book in the trilogy, “The name of the wind” was released in 2007, the second book “The wise man’s fear” released in 2011… yes, I said trilogy. The unreleased third book, has been in the making for six years. SIX years. Then again, the books are the embodiment of perfection, Rothfuss is a wizard and the pen (or keyboard) his wand (admittedly keyboard makes far less sense), the books are masterpieces, descriptively beautiful, the story complex and the characters… they’re just works of art.

Kvothe, the main character; is the type that will (more realistically “has”) go down in history as one of the fantasy greats, even the way the story is told is unique… a story within a story, I mean damn… to keep that kind of thing going takes incredible skill as it is, let alone the world building involved whilst maintaining different timelines, all the while keeping it easy to follow and understand.

So in a nutshell, I both do and don’t recommend reading this unfinished trilogy… I do because as I said, it’s the mona lisa of the fantasy book world, yet I don’t; as im none too certain we’ll ever be graced with the third book at all.

Well, that’s all I have time for tonight; I hope you enjoyed the read and took some inspiration from it, if you like what you read; the reviews continue in part II

Click here to view!

https://fantasyroadweb.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/top-fantasy-reads-part-2/

G’night y’all.