What would you recommend to a GRRM fan?

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

Not just a "what are you reading" thread (we have one of those), but this is where we ask what a GRRM fan is to read while waiting for The Winds of Winter?

It won't be easy to come up with something that is just like ASOIAF, but maybe there are some things that would appeal to the fans.

Suggestions?

[[deleted user]]

First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

[[deleted user]]

It's just a darn tough act to follow. Every time I finish one of his books in ASOIF I'm in a reading funk.

I think it's almost better to switch gears and hit up something outside of the fantasy genre...just so everything else doesn't fall flat.

If you want to stick with Fantasy I would suggest the Farseer Trilogy beginning with Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb.
It's a different pace, and a great series.

eta:
HF Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Fluff/fun:
Any of the Stephanie Plum series from Janet Evanovich
The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost

[[deleted user]]

Ala wrote: "First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson"

I still haven't read either series...bah!
I have the First Law Trilogy and the first book in the Malazan. I'm such a slacker!

[[deleted user]]

Ooooo...I almost forgot The Lies of Locke Lamora
That's a freakin' spectacular book right there!

[Dawn, GRRM hard or GRRM home]

But Malazan is sooooo heavy!

*shuts trap*

I'd say the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, hands down.

[[deleted user]]

Yep...good one, Dawn!

[Becky]

Wooot! Night Huntress represent! :D

[Becky]

And yeah, Mistborn. Hell yeah!

[Christy]

Jennifer wrote: "Ooooo...I almost forgot The Lies of Locke Lamora
That's a freakin' spectacular book right there!"

That's next on my list if I ever finish the book I'm reading right now.

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

Excellent suggestions, for the most part.....

If we're going to shift genres a little, I'll add Bernard Cornwell. He writes historical fiction mainly, but some of his stuff has a real epic fantasy feel to it. That being the Arthur/Warlord trilogy, beginning with The Winter King.

In a similar vein, there's Guy Gavriel Kay, who writes fantasy with a real epic historical fiction feel to it. My favorite (so far) is The Lions of al-Rassan.

[[deleted user]]

See that GRRM?????
You can't keep us down for long...we'll just find our shits and giggles elsewhere!

*awwww shucky darn...who am I kidding????...we're just biding time...

[Becky]

*gnaws on time* Nom nom nom...

Oh wait...

[Becky]

Come on... That was good. Biding, biting...?

Tough crowd. =\

[[deleted user]]

*stops chewing on the crowd*

I'll say!









*badum tissssssssh*

[Becky]

Haha!

[[deleted user]]

Becky wrote: "Come on... That was good. Biding, biting...?

Tough crowd. =\"

Tee hee hee!

(sorry, been gone for a bit this evening...)

[Leland]

Jennifer wrote: "Ooooo...I almost forgot The Lies of Locke Lamora
That's a freakin' spectacular book right there!"

I'm given to understand that GRRM himself recommends that one. Don't know where I saw it. I might be making it up. :)

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

There's an idea for another thread. Books/Authors that GRRM recommends....

[Dawn, GRRM hard or GRRM home]

Chris wrote: "There's an idea for another thread. Books/Authors that GRRM recommends...."

Good idea! I'll make.

[PenelopeThree]

It is not fantasy but might be a good one for people to read b/c there are lots of characters and its medeval and ruthless.

[iman]

well, i'm a fan of GRRM. And i love Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. Every fantasy lover should read them.

[Debbie]

If you like urban fantasy you should read The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The best urban fantasy series out there.

[Lacey]

Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series. "Wizard's First Rule" is the first book. It is one of my fav next to GRRM!

[Felina]

I'm not going to read back through all the posts but I'll recommend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Fascinating premise, great writing and super involved. It's the same reason ASOIF is awesome.

[Veneta]

What about the Broken Empire series? It is compared to SOIAF, Prince of thrones copies were send out to those who pre-orderde A Dance with dragons. I've only red the first few chapters, the lead character has the moral compass of Gregor Clegane.

I'll follow Felina's advice and go on with the Dark tower series.

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

You mean Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, Veneta? I've heard it's pretty good but haven't gotten to it yet...

[Veneta]

Silly me, thinking of Game of thrones... yes, Prince of Thorns

[Veneta]

It's got promise, very violent. All the raping is a tad too much for me

[Richard]

If the fan is either a survivor of the sixties and early seventies, or has an interest in mining the post-VietNam War counter culture, then Armageddon Rag is a huge treat. GRRM really wrote something very special with this one!

[Gianluca]

You should try the Mistborn series and The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson is an amazing fantasy author.

[Markus]

I just want to throw my two cents in, I really disliked the Kingkiller chronicle after the 1st book, it's too redundant and soft.

Mistborn, I'm about to start book 3 and I absolutely love it, so I'd recommend that series. I've been trying to read tons of fantasy ever since I caught up with ASOIAF and Mistborn has been the best.

[Joan]

Brian Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy is outstanding.

[Dania]

Lacey wrote: "Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series. "Wizard's First Rule" is the first book. It is one of my fav next to GRRM!"

gaaah. its okay but the writing quality is ... way below ASoIaF. for example.. have u read the whole series (which IS complete) *waits for it* Exactly!

I read book one and its a nice distraction if you can get over the hurdle of mediocre writing - especially in the first few chapters - and you may even gain a new so-so, good-ish series to follow through when you are on downtime. The story (so far as WFR) is actually good.

-----

I think anyone who seeks a high-calibre, high fantasy series like ASoIaF NEEDS to start reading MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN - and its related series.

It is a much heavier than ASoIaF, which could deter or encourage you (as it did me)... Its not just an easy mellow read.. you better be taking notes and have a dictionary on hand for this but its is the most mind blowing world/story I have every been introduced to... *hyperventilates*

Advice I can give to you about Malazan... dont get attached to anyone's story/pov. Malazan is a WORLD and the people are just there... we aren't tails glued behind any particular character and the favourites are picked by you, the reader and hardly by the story.

[Amber]

I liked Patrick Rothfuss' KKC. As someone said above it is softer than ASOIAF but the detail and world building is interesting and enjoyable.

I just read a free e-book, Eternal Knight, by Matt Heppe, it was actually really enjoyable. I think ASOIAF fans would like it. There's enough killing and it's not really all that predictable, which I really liked.

A book I always recommend to ASOIAF fans, that isn't fantasy, is Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's easily 5 stars of awesome. Probably more like 10.

I saw someone up there mention Snow Flower, but I personally didn't care a lot for that book. Snow Flower the character annoyed the bejesus out of me, but that's only my opinion.

I did like Sword of Truth as well. It doesn't always have the best writing, and Chainfire is pretty much skip worthy, but I liked how it came together in the end. Faith of The Fallen, which is where he gets the most ayn rand ranty, I actually enjoyed the most. It's idealised of course, but I thought it was written quite passionately.

[mark]

Tigana & The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. although the mood of those books are really different than ASOIF, they have a similar denseness to the world-building.

[Stephanie]

Different genre, but I really enjoyed Pillars of the Earth. It was character driven, and occasionally as brutal as the time period dictated.
For Fantasy, I liked the Crossroads trilogy, and the Crown of Stars series, both by Kate Elliott. they are much lighter, but are well written and not as derivative-of-lotr as many series are.

[Tony]

I highly recommend The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. It is a great read with complex and conflicted characters, a dark and epic story and enough twists to keep it from being predictable. There is also a prequel novella Perfect Shadow but DO NOT read that first. It is a good read but was written after the Trilogy and spoils some of the surprises.

[Richard]

I'd recommend GRRM's The Armagreddon Rag, for any who haven't read any of GRRM's pre-ASoIF work. Especially if you are a baby boomer.The Armageddon Rag

[Ingrid Geibel]

This thread seems to have been dropped since August of 2013. Any more recommendations you may have read since then?

[Petr]

Brandon Sanderson, period.

[Silvana]

Malazan books are pretty confusing, you need a wikipedia to keep track on who's who and what's what. But that's just me.

I see Lynch and Abercrombie have been mentioned. Let me add Glen Cook and his Black Company series.

[Ingrid Geibel]

Thank you all, Now any suggestions on which to start with?!!!

[Chelsey]

Wheel of time by Robert Jordan

[Shelly]

How about the demon wars books by r.a. Salvatore and i liked the sword of truth books the broken empire books were to bleak for me.

[Silvana]

Not fantasy but how about fast paced, plot and character driven space opera? I strongly recommend The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey. First book titled Leviathan Wakes. Recommended by George himself. And it's on Syfy channel too.

[Jacob]

Mistborn is great. But honestly, everything Sanderson writes is. Warbreaker, Elantris, Stormlight Archive. And he puts out a couple books per year. Definitely read Sanderson (the Cosmere for sure, but even the YA stuff is good). Also, Brent Weeks' Lightbringer is good (as well as the previously mentioned Night Angel). Jim Butcher's Dresden Files will keep you entertained for a long time. At this point I'm just naming fantasy, so it's not as much GRRM as it is that. But ASOIAF is what got me to read all these others so I'm going from personal experience.

[Chris , The Kingslayer]

Here's a Kickstarter project that looks great. It's an anthology of villain POV stories.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

It's for this book: Evil is a Matter of Perspective: An Anthology of Antagonists

Lots of great authors there.

[Shelly]

Love song of ice and fire and sword of truth what about the demon wars books by r.a. Salvatore first book is the demon awakens. Wish the library for the blind would get the mistborn books.

[Nymeria]

patrick rothfuss, robin hobb, obviously Dunk & Egg.