this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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Well I'm craving something in this genre but I'm a bit overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time. So many titles and yet I'm not sure what to read. Maybe you can help?

I'm looking for something in a high fantasy setting. I'm not too keen on heavy politics and war driven plots (though, I can read that ). What really gets me is interesting characters, good action and magical creatures.

I've loved anything Discworld and I've also enjoyed the First Law books by Abercrombie.

I'm finding that Tolkien, Sanderson and George RR Martin appear on every fantasy list I come across, so if you do recommend something I'd appreciate it be something other than that.

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[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Currently rereading the Belgariad and will likely go straight into the Mallorean. Probably my favourite "traditional" fantasy series.

But my all time favourite fantasy series is The Death Gate Cycle by Weiss and Hickman. But is very much not your traditional fantasy setup. It's got wizards, dragons, elves, etc... but in very very non-traditional worlds. Can't recommend it enough.

[–] Baines@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

cut my teeth on this series, I’ve read the whole thing 3 times

still my favorite story opening about Pol’s kitchen

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Sorry, which one of the two series you are talking about? Just to know to which you are giving the +1

[–] randomsnark@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

He's talking about the belgariad/malloreon, by David Eddings. It seems like he may not have read the second paragraph mentioning the death gate cycle, hence the confusion.

The Belgariad is a series of 5 books, and the Malloreon is a sequel series which is also 5 books.

[–] Baines@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

it’s the same story, start with the belgaraid

starts with pawn of prophecy

[–] hybridhavoc@darkfriend.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@Adderbox76 @Mothra Love the Death Gate Cycle, would also recommend it. It feels a bit like the prototype for Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere.

[–] steris@ghostbloods.org 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@hybridhavoc@darkfriend.social @Adderbox76@lemmy.ca @Mothra@mander.xyz Yes! I recently started it and I was floored by all the Cosmere-ish stuff in the first few chapters, down to names and everything.

Also my brother used to name his video game characters Haplo, so there are core memories involved here.

Incredibly, no one on 17thShard or the Cosmere reddits seem to know this series, but I do not think the similarities are coincidences, given Brandon's first unpublished book being essentially a Dragonlance story.

I paused Death Gate Cycle to catch up on shorter backlog stuff (and yet another Sanderson book), but I'll have to prioritize finishing it now that I saw this thread ❤️

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

I've always felt like the magic systems and cultures of the Patryns and Sartans were deserving of their own expanded universe. I was desperate to learn more about them and was sad that they were only ever in that one series.

I remember the versions I read had a sort of encyclopedia at the back of every book in the series dealing with some aspect of another of the world and I devoured those obsessively