{"id":40261,"date":"2014-03-11T10:28:46","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T15:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=40261"},"modified":"2014-03-11T10:40:50","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T15:40:50","slug":"who-is-on-tsos-kindle-fantasy-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=40261","title":{"rendered":"Who is on TSO’s Kindle: Fantasy Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Legend\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This may or may not interest anyone at all, but I’ve been thinking about it a while, and wanted to see if perhaps someone could point me in good directions on Fantasy books.\u00a0 I don’t need it right now, because I just got Words of Radiance, which will take me a week or so.\u00a0 As Jonn says though, we never know what posts will hit or miss until we post them, so I figured I’d throw this up.<\/p>\n

Seriously though, if you have a fantasy author you love, kindly toss him in the comments so I can either affirm I’ve already read it (most likely) or can get it for my kindle.<\/p>\n

So, roughly in order, here are my top 10 Fantasy authors.\u00a0 One quick note, you will not find George R.R. Martin on this list.\u00a0 The reason is simple.\u00a0 His books are awesome, but he’s on like book 5 of 12, and the dude couldn’t take worse care of himself if he tried.\u00a0 So Ice and Fire will never be finished by Martin.\u00a0 It’s like Wheel of Time by my fellow Alum Robert Jordan, 14 books is too damn many, and Jordan died after like 11.\u00a0 Thankfully, my #2 author stepped in and finished the series.\u00a0 However, I am currently only on Book 6 of that series, and I needed a break, because the protagonist is so damn morose he makes me want to jump out a window.<\/p>\n

1) David Gemmell<\/a>:\u00a0 Alas, he too is deceased, and I’ve read every single one of his books at least twice, some as many as 5 times.\u00a0 Whenever I need something fairly light, with heroic and honorable overtones, this is it.\u00a0 If you haven’t read Gemmell, you should.\u00a0 Start with Legend.\u00a0 It’s sometimes fairly formulaic, but if the formula works, don’t screw with it.\u00a0 In the absence of anything else on my front burner, I always go back and reread Gemmell.<\/p>\n

2) Brandon Sanderson<\/a>:\u00a0 For the reason I kept Martin off this list, a case could be made for leaving Sanderson off as well.\u00a0 He has two books out now in a 10 part series.\u00a0 Thankfully dude is young and looks healthy.\u00a0 But even were he not, his body of work puts him at #2 on my list.\u00a0 There were about 2 of his probably 20 books that I started to lose interest in, and almost put down.\u00a0 And then finished anyway and found myself after the fact loving them.\u00a0 Sometimes I get a little lost with him, but (unlike Martin) I don’t have to wait 15 fricken pages while he tells me about the plum wine they are eating at their dinner before he kills everyone in a paragraph.\u00a0 His Stormlight Archive series (the 10 books) just had #2 come out, and I love it already.\u00a0 I loved the first one so much I also have it on audio book, despite such costing me $50 and being 48 hours long.\u00a0 If you are driving to Tibet or something from Wichita, get this book on Audio.\u00a0 Either way, read his stuff.\u00a0 His Mistborn series is his best other than Stormlight.<\/p>\n

3) Patrick Rothfuss<\/a>: Dude only has 2 books, and they are both straight cash.\u00a0 (Name of the Wind, Wise Man’s Fear.)\u00a0 I’ve read them both twice, have both on audio book.\u00a0 He has one chapter about a dude playing a lute.\u00a0 A chapter about a guy doing something in a medium (auditory) that doesn’t make sense in written form.\u00a0 Or shouldn’t.\u00a0 I don’t know how the dude does it, but that Chapter, and every one before and after are awesome.\u00a0 I’m giddy over his next book coming out, but afraid to look at when that might be, because I fear he’s a Martinian-type slowpoke.<\/p>\n

4) Michael Sullivan<\/a>:\u00a0 Like a year ago I had never heard of this cat.\u00a0 Apparently he was just writing stuff up and giving it away or something.\u00a0 Started writing his “Riyria Chronicles” for his daughter, who had trouble reading.\u00a0 Then Amazon recommended him, and who can say no to Amazon.com’s recommendations.\u00a0 His stuff is awesome.\u00a0 Absolutely love it.\u00a0 Not as dark as Rothfuss, not as confusing as Sanderson, not as clich\u00e9 as Gemmell, the guy is really good.\u00a0 Give him a look if you haven’t.<\/p>\n

5) Joe Abercrombie<\/a>:\u00a0 If you are looking for a book with definitive good guys and bad guys, that has a conclusion that either makes you want to cheer, or at least ends definitively, don’t read Abercrombie, because you aren’t going to get it.\u00a0 But if you like books in a sort of amoral grey area that are gritty as hell, this is your guy.\u00a0 Dude is dark, and apparently Vengeance is his favorite attribute.\u00a0 Even his protagonists are unlikeable at times, and then loveable in turns.\u00a0 His book Heroes is essentially the fantasy version of Michael Shaara’s Killer Angels.\u00a0 I don’t know if he patterned it after that, but that’s what it is.\u00a0 Only talks about 1 battle, and it is the Shi’ite.<\/p>\n

6) Kevin Hearne<\/a>:\u00a0 If you want a good humor book, but with all the ancient Gods clashing in a modern world, and you think Neil Gaiman is a douche (newsflash, he is) then read The Iron Druid Chronicles.\u00a0 It’s about a Irish Druid who’s thousands of years old, and runs around with his wolfhound that he can talk to.\u00a0 He’s battling Gods from all over the pantheon of Roman, Greek, Norse and other places, with werewolves and vampires being enemies or friends depending on the day.\u00a0 Read his first book, and you’ll either be hooked, or it won’t be your thing.\u00a0 But I love his stuff, and the conversations with the dog are really LOL funny.<\/p>\n

7) Brent Weeks<\/a>:\u00a0 His Night Angel Trilogy about an assassin is 10\/10.\u00a0 His more recent Lightbringer series just isn’t working for me.\u00a0 Some disagree with me on this point I believe, but his Night Angel are must reads.\u00a0 Orphan kid living in slums grows up to be the sort of sword of retribution.\u00a0 Awesome stuff.\u00a0 Read it.<\/p>\n

8) Scott Lynch<\/a>:\u00a0 I tore through his Locke Lamora series (3 books) in roughly a week.\u00a0 And because I am an effin idiot, I read book 3 first, not realizing it was part 3 of 3.\u00a0 Luckily the books are semi-independent.\u00a0 Dude is seriously clever in the way he writes, and brings things together.\u00a0 With lynch you know that the last 25 pages are going to be burners, as different plot lines come together, and you realize how much you missed earlier.\u00a0 Absolutely love this dude, and rethinking now he should be higher on the list, but writing this pretty much off the top of my head.\u00a0 Same as Weeks, this one features a Orphan kid made good.\u00a0 If by “good” you mean a confidence man\/grifter sort.\u00a0 Each of his books got better than the preceding one and dealt with a sort of different topic, although again, it’s largely the same people and such.\u00a0 Book 1 got slightly slow in the middle for me.\u00a0 Whatever you do, don’t stop.\u00a0 Book 2 was money.\u00a0\u00a0 Book 3 was super money.<\/p>\n

9) Mark Lawrence<\/a>: Dude.\u00a0 Dark.\u00a0 Seriously dark.\u00a0 The protagonist is a wretched dude, and you almost want him to get killed.\u00a0 You kind of hold out hope he’ll turn his shit around from being a selfish kid\/badass, but that hope is somewhat fleeting.\u00a0 It’s basically post-apocalyptic fantasy, but the feel is more swords and sorcery.\u00a0 Only dark.\u00a0 Like, ass of a bull moose dark.\u00a0 You’ll either love the series or want to burn it.\u00a0 Despite generally liking upbeat stuff more, I really did enjoy it.\u00a0 His bio, linked above there, is probably why he’s so dark, he’s some sort of top secret rocket scientist dude working with artificial intelligence.\u00a0\u00a0 Loved his book, and would love to grab a beer with him, but only in a very well-lit pub.<\/p>\n

10)\u00a0\u00a0 You know what, I am leaving this one blank for now, because writing this I came up with a host of authors I forgot and should have listed somewhere.\u00a0 Daniel Abraham, Robin Hobb, Anthony Ryan, Brian McClellan and others.\u00a0 I would go with McClellan<\/a>\u00a0but he only has one book out.\u00a0 I would go with Hobb<\/a>\u00a0but some of her stuff was AWESOME (Farseer and Tawny Man) and some I couldn’t even finish.\u00a0 So let me ruminate, since I am sure there are others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A quick note: there are 2 authors that should be read immediately, but don’t exactly fit into this list, because they are post-apocalypse stuff.\u00a0 A third is really quality too.<\/p>\n

Hugh Howey<\/a>– Have a bit of a mancrush on this guy, his books are awesome.\u00a0 I get them the day they come out, and generally finish them on the same day.\u00a0 Here’s a weird thing about me too, I write to every author I read.\u00a0 And sometimes they are nice and give me a perfunctory “thanks” and sometimes are really friendly.\u00a0 Howey is #2.\u00a0 He\u00a0responds to all my asinine emails. \u00a0And his books are phenomenal.\u00a0 Can not say enough good things about his works.\u00a0 His Silo series is probably my favorite works of all time in this genre.\u00a0 He’s an interesting cat too, they are made as sort of short stories, and jump around a bit, but then it all gets tied in together.\u00a0\u00a0 Without ruining anything, since you find out in the first 5 pages, everyone left in the world lives in underground silos about 130 stories deep.\u00a0 From there it’s sort of Gulag Archipelago meets Mad Max.\u00a0 The story is great, the anti-authoritarian overtones are awesome, all of it good.\u00a0 And he did something I’ve never seen before or since.\u00a0 He gave his world sort of over to his readers, and lets them write their own short stories in the Silos, and if he likes them he plugs them.\u00a0 So, if you get consumed with Silo (as I did) you can read a bunch of $1 kindle stories in the same area.\u00a0 Some hit, some miss, but they are $1.\u00a0 I got his latest “Sand” to read in Greenland.\u00a0 I ended up not being able to wait, and took a day off to finish it.\u00a0\u00a0 Really good, get Wool, which is Book 1 of Silo.<\/p>\n

Justin Cronin<\/a>: Sort of like The Stand.\u00a0 Vampire type virus (damned military effing things up again).\u00a0 Got picked up for a movie I understand, and it will be awesome.\u00a0 Really good if you like the horror side of post-apocalypse stuff.\u00a0 Read it.<\/p>\n

John Barnes<\/a> (Daybreak): If you watch Revolution, and love it, then go get “Directive 51” by Barnes.\u00a0 Eco-radicalist types take out society.\u00a0 Society tries to rebuild.<\/p>\n

There’s a million other awesome post-apocalypse I love, but I think I have done that list before, and this is the stuff I am reading right now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OK, have at it, who do I need to read?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This may or may not interest anyone at all, but I’ve been thinking about it a … Who is on TSO’s Kindle: Fantasy Edition<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}