George RR Martin and Patrick Rothfuss meet at a convention. George: You know, I'm making some excellent progress with my new book. Patrick: Yeah, me neither 😅 Couldn't resist, but in all seriousness: it is what it is, and I'm happy and thankful for the excellent books in both series that we got. Also some awesome summaries on some of the greatest fantasy series of all time... really enjoyed watching the video. 😀👍
Your presentation and topic choices are excellent as well, probably why your subs seem to be growing nicely 👍. I'm particularly a fan of your stat videos.
The climax or Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive book 3) completely changed my life and changed who I am as a person, and definitely for the better! I've seen hundreds of people just on the subreddit alone talk about how this book series - and especially Oathbringer - saved them from suicide. I've even seen a few people say it made them quit smoking.
I don't think that everybody agrees that books 4 and 5 of asoiaf are of lesser quality than the first 3. I love all the new elements introduced in feast/dance. Great video!
I just started Malazan. It's what led me to your channel. I'm almost done with the first book and I'm hooked. This is already the best fantasy book I've read and one of the best novels as well. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series.
I stumbled upon the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and was amazed. There is a companion series that takes the 10 books into at least double that running parallel to the plot in the main series. The first book is challenging, but overall the series is very impressive.
Regarding the dip in quality of books 4&5 of ASoIaF. In sequential order, I’d agree with this. But when you read these two books simultaneously as originally intended, it’s much better. As one enormous book 4, it’s great and on par with books 1-3. For anyone who sees this and has no idea what I’m talking about…book 4 got too big so they split it in half. But instead of cutting at the halfway point and essentially giving us part 1 and 2, they gave us the whole story for half the characters in each book. There are websites that instruct readers how to stitch the two books together and read them at the same time. It’s much better, albeit a lot longer.
I am extremely new to epic fantasy in general and I have been definitely looking for Adult Fantasy or just darker fantasies in general. All of these are in my list. Excited to read them!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Currently reading Mother of learning but my next read i was hoping to either get into the cosmere, first law or farseer trilogy. I honestly cannot decide but I might alternate since I dont wanna be burnt out bingeing even tho I do really like bingeing
I eagerly awaited a few titles that never came. I cant understand why they arent more popular and didnt make the list. The Belgariad- David Eddings ( followed by the Mallorean) The Fionivar Tapestry ( Guy Gavriel Kay) The complete Book of Lost Swords ( Guy Gavriel Kay) Tigana ( Guy Gavriel Kay) The Incarnation Series - Piers Anthony ( Death/Time/Fate/War/Good/Evil each get a book)
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews popularity true.. I did not mean to criticize your format... But I will stand behind Lost Swords and incarnation series being truly amazing... and the Belgariad will always hold a place in my heart because it was the first book/series I ever read voluntarily that WASNT a school assignment. They enthralled me in a way I hadnt felt since reading Where the Red Fern Grows ( grade 5 assignment).... honorable mention is the Thomas Covenant series (ie. Lord Foul's Bane)
"People said you can cut off hundreds of pages out of these books and not lose an awful lot" To be fair, this is true of pretty much any Sanderson book I've read.... specially Mistborn era 1....
A little constructive criticism of the structure of this video. I think ending with the cons of each book series without circling back to what's good about them, left me feeling like I didn't want to read any of the series, because those negatives are what stuck in my mind. It's all good content and I love lots of these series, but the order of summary->pros->cons left me personally feeling a little sour on each of the series
Wow I super appreciate this. I never considered this, but I completely get where you are coming from and I will definitely implement that strategy in the future.
Love the content - you have become my favorite booktuber !!! I am a huge Brandon Sanderson fan and I hope to read The Lost Metal and upcoming Cosmere novels (We bought the kickstarter) along with you in 2023😊
Thanks! I was limited to 30 minutes before this when using my new camera because that's how long it allows each video, but since I'm getting more comfortable with editing I can just stich them together now.
thanks for making this video! I would be appreciated this so much when I was a nookie fantasy reader years ago. now i still look at this video with great happiness knowing your extensive guide will help readers find the best sorts of fantasy for themselves :)
I've spent 5 years just writing to create my own world. I've decided I'll figure out a story once I'm done with the world and history building. it's all just for fun, but I thought it'd be a cool way to go about writing a story.
That certainly helped convince me to read Malazan. I'm not sure where to find physical copies of the books, so I guess I'll start WoT first since I have them.
Thank you! It was hard for me to write some of them because I just don't personally agree with some of them, but I wanted to give people the "general consensus" that the community feels about these books.
The Stormlight books are gonna be in 2 different time periods. The 1st 5 books are one story with the next 5 being after a time jump, kinda like the Mistborn books. You don't have to worry about waiting for all 10 books.
Loved listening today! Made me want to read the few series on this list I haven't gotten to yet and the series I have completed I now want to reread haha
Great video! I would suggest maybe adding the mentioning of twists in the story to the spoiler list. At least for me, if I know there is a twist coming, I don't enjoy it as much as when is takes me totally by surprise.
I appreciate the feedback, but if you don't know what the spoiler is how does that still not surprise you? Virtually every single fantasy book has twists, just some of them are better executed than others.
There is nothing wrong with saying there are twists in a series. Actually, that makes it very attractive to me. I guess I meant mentioning where the mayor twists occur. Like saying there's a mayor twist and the end of the first book. In my case I'd rather be totally blindsided by it. It's just a thought and maybe it's just me. I really enjoy your content and appreciate that you take the time to answer comments 👍
Really appreciate what you said about Mistborn. I enjoyed it but I found the prose fairly clunky at points and the second book was a very slow burn. Controversially, I actually really enjoyed Elantris!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews 🤣 I think I liked Elantris because it reminded me of a badly dubbed 90’s animé. I don’t know why but that’s what I’m going with 😅
Great video dude. You put a lot of work into this; it will be a great help to many for years to come. I've read or at least tried all of the series listed here except for Dresden Files. I'll get to it eventually. WoT, Stormlight & First Law are definitely among my favs; 3 of my top 4 in fact; only missing Drenai Saga which has a lot of fans too but not as many as any of those listed probably. I'm enjoying Malazan too but less than halfway through so not ready to call it a fav. Couldn't get into Elderlings or Bastards but they both definitely have plenty of fans so I understand including them. Some you didn't include that are definitely up there in popularity are LotR, Discworld and Faithful & the Fallen. The last one in particular has been blowing up lately on a lot of booktubers lists.
Thanks for the comment! In terms of what I put in I just copied over the latest reddit /r/fantasy survey where they found the most popular books, then I took out LotR, Harry Potter, and Discworld because I think those are all well liked by teenagers (as well as adults) so I don't think of them as straight up adult books. I haven't read Drenai but I am SUPER looking forward to it early on in 2023. Faithful and the Fallen is one of my all time favorites, but I can't say it's more popular than the other 10 here.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews yeah I thought Reddit might have influenced your rankings, lol. They haven't put one for this year; will be interesting to see how far F&F has moved up; as I said it's been getting a lot of traction lately. I've not even read it yet myself and I'm already aware of the love it's been getting lately. It's probably going to be what I read after I'm done with Malazan & First Law.
@@larryhodge3107 Unfortunately I doubt they put one out this year. They usually do it every 2 years with some more specialized ones for the in-between years.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews yes! Read David Gemmell! It makes me sad how few booktubers talk about him. Also Guy Gavriel Kay. If you like Rothfus for his prose, you will like him.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Hey, you're welcome. Other series you mentioned i haven't finished so i can't tell, but you got me seriously interested in Lies of Locke Lamora. Probably my next read.
I finished Witcher series only to prepare myself for The Witcher 3 game to come out. Ironically, I never played the game. Now I'm trying to finish Wheel of Time before season 2 comes out. Starting book 7 (including the prequel book).
Thank you! I tried to do some research into each of these to get general opinions about the books, and those positives and negatives were repeatedly brought up in various places.
I’m not into audiobook but you seem to have convinced me to give it another go. Although I can’t seem to find Steven Pacey for the First Law book. I can only find him for “Sharp Ends: stories from the World of The First Law”. What other books do you recommend for audiobook if I may ask?
This was my first time coming across one of your videos and I really enjoyed the pacing, descriptions, and content! Definitely helped move WOT and Malazan up on my TBR list. I’ve gotta ask though- where is Lord of the rings? I almost feel like the title of the video should have a footnote *excluding LOTR*
Thanks so much, and yes definitely move up both of those (especially Malazan). I didn't include Lord of the Rings for two reasons: 1. EVERYONE already knows what it is so they don't need me giving an overview of it. 2. I don't personally consider it adult fantasy, because virtually every single person I know that has read this initially read it as a young adult.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews that’s a very fair point. I think I read the Fellowship for the first time when I was in 4th grade or so. And we would listen to the audio books every summer on road trips.
This was an excellent informative video Thank you. I have many of the first books and I'm excited to start them . I'm on book nine of the Dresden files though 😊Huge series scare me to death so I need to start with a trilogy,.
What?!! For me exclude it was cheating. LotR keeps belonging to the most popular rantasy series, and this video was Most popular fantasy, not most popular fantasy I liked. Come on Matt, if you disliked it, at least you could have mentioned it and swiftly mention some virtues. 3/5 of the list looks unappealing to me, but if i would have to do the video i could simply read good reviews about them. And one thing. What do you think of the movies? When i read LotR as teen I thought: not bad, quite entertaining, but I don’t get why its so praised. Then the movies were 🤩
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for including one of my favorite authors which doesn't get enough credit (in my opinion). If you get a chance, check out his son's debut novel.
Wheel of Time started of okay, was kind of great for three to four books and then it noticably picked up in writing quality when Sanderson took over. There were so many 2D characters that become more 3D, with different personalities and goals, with some more gray to them, after he started to write. My biggest problem is that all, expect one of the female characters in the book, are the same person with a different name. They all think they can do better than men, they all think men are bad and need to be controlled and that all men are stupid. That is literally the plot for all of the Aes Sedai. The biggest threat in the story isn't the big, dark evil, but a group of women that literally almost make the chosen one end the world multiple times. I do not know why Jordan hated women so much, but it really, really shows. When it comes to Kingkiller, then there have been other authors by the same publisher, who have said the book will come out soon and that it is sent it to revisions and is nearing its final draft. Hopefully that is true! But great video. First one I have seen and you did a great job explaining the series that you mentioned
Thanks so much, and I totally agree with you about your WoT thoughts. Regarding Kingkiller, I think that author who made that comment was totally confused and was referring to "The Slow Regard for Silent Things" which has already come out.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Ah. I had high hopes with him reading the prologue and was suppose to read the first chapter as well (which is ages ago...). That author has to be way out of bounce if they are talking about a book that came out 8 years ago..
So in Malazan there are a lot of different main POVs in each book. So each time a POV section ended, I just took very quick notes about what just happened (like one sentence), so that when the POV character comes back a chapter or two later I could look at them and quickly remember where things left off. I also suggest you use this powerpoint to help guide you through the first book. It's immensely helpful: docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GLRmiaFcxe_cGc93ckE5UItRq5rYsfeU0BhvqcaNq9E/edit
I personally never read the back of the book because I find it too spoilery, and several of your non-spoiler videos now I’ve clicked off because I considered them too spoilery for me. Still love your stuff, but since you brought it up I figured I’d let you know.
Thanks for the feedback! The first part of each segment goes over the very basics of the beginning of the first book in the series - but the second part goes into the pros/cons of the series. The pros/cons section doesn't go into plot specifics in the slightest, so you can still check that part out if you want without getting any whiff of the story.
I think that series has really dropped in popularity over the years. I mainly took the top books from this recent reddit survey, and MST is down to #87 www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/p1mwnx/the_rfantasy_2021_top_novels_poll_results/
It really depends on your reading level and what sort of things you are into. But I always find that Mistborn is a big winner for newcomers to the genre.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Well ngl I have read mostly webnovels for a while now and it’s just now I’m getting to read epic fantasy. I’m a big big fan of progression fantasy tho it’s just something I enjoy a lot but yeah I want to get deep into epic fantasy. And yes Mistborn era 1 i’m excited for. Same with the stormlight archive.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews @ 22:36 you talk about Apps that exist to help with keeping track of all the characters in WOT. I would love to check that out as I'm starting on book 5 now. :)
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Thank you sooo much for the response. I recently discovered your channel and have quickly become a big fan. Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa.
I find the criticism of the ''unreliable narrator'' really annoying tbh. Of course, he's an unreliable narrator. EVERYONE is an unreliable narrator. We are all the hero's of our own story while being the villain in someone else's. We pivot everything around ourselves and so things are always misconstrued and memory s entirely subjected to our own experiences and how we have been shaped by them. If a novel is in first-person and in past-tense. **It's unreliable by default* For people to complain means that they really don't have a clue about human nature as this is a very basic fact of it. They themeleves are unreliable narrators as is Kvothe. I do think Kvothe is trying his best to be truthful but again this is just HIS perspective. He does not have this great insight into Denna or Devi or Simmon or Elodin or anyone else despite him claiming to be as we are simply seeing HIS interpretation of them. it's what he THINKS of them and of everything around him. We must take his view of them with a grain of salt as we haven't been inside their heads or seen anything from their point of view - only kvothe's - and, again, this is true of everyone. I really, really, really don't get how people throw the word ''unreliable narrator'' as actual constructive criticism because it's a simple fact of story being told by one person's perspective.
I’m 44. Loved Pug’s Journey in Raymond Feist’s books. Loved WoT. Loved The Witcher and Sapkowski. Read the first book of Malazan, thought it was pretty bad. Finishing up the first book of Mistborn and am bored. I’m pretty disappointed with modern fantasy.
Malazan book 1 is average to below average. Book 2 Deadhouse Gates is a masterpiece. The best fiction I have ever read. I too, gave up on Mistborn. Boring stuff. The audio version of the 9 First Law books is excellent. I enjoy the Red Rising series very much too....if you like sci-fi. I am 48.
Kvothe is not an unreliable narrator, and your description of him as one shows a profound misunderstanding of the book. The point of the story is that he is trying to clear up the myths and lies he told about himself when he was younger and dumber. He is so adamant that the story has to be accurate he ensures his biographer can take dictation.
I think a majority of the Kingkiller fanbase would say that he is unreliable, but it will get cleared up (hopefully) in the 3rd book. Read this reddit thread for a discussion on it in the Kingkiller subreddit: www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/3q5903/why_do_people_assume_kvothe_is_an_unreliable/
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews I am active on that subreddit and have read that thread. People confuse "he says he isn't lying" with he doesn't have motivation to lie. Whatever happened between the last we see of young Kvothe and Kote it is clear something horrible occured. Whatever fight he had he lost, or paid such a heavy price to win it was indistinguishable from losing. It's clear he looks back on what he did in his youth with regret. Constantly talking about the myriad ways he built his reputation. His entire motivation of telling his story is to deconstruct those same myths. Until someone can show with any sort of evidence Kote/Kvothe is faking his current condition for some gain I am forced to say he is likely telling the truth. Also the people that push the unreliable narrator theory constantly use it as an excuse to push their own theories that are not evidenced in the text.
i understand the problem with last 2 books (asoiaf) unnecessary descriptions and the geographical splitting but i will say it again feast combined with dragons with bit modification > first 3 books
It's really weird that you describe the graphic nature of Gentleman bastards but don't even describe Malazan as Grimdark. That seems weird to me. By it's nature, Malazan is a world where everything is bad and our characters seem to be trying to make the best of really awful situations. But if Starving cannibal armies, FGM, a march of children, and frequent rape aren't grimdark, what is? I love Malazan, but I feel like it deserves a bigger content warning than GB. Erikson himself says that reading his books you bear witness to horrific events (that happen in our world today) but that we should not look away.
It's basically god vs bad, there's not a lot of grey in between..... Ok seriously I genuinely have no goddamm clue how you can think that of Mistborn of all things, but you do you buddy. I mean, if you're talking only of the first book, then I can understand, but by the time you get to book 3 there's a lot of grey. Specially when it comes to some aspects of the lore that would tipically be portrayed as more black and white in other stories.
I think when you compare Mistborn to most other fantasy books written in the past couple decades, it is WAY more on the "good vs. bad" scale in terms of its main characters than other works.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Fair enough, now TO BE FAIR, I haven't read much fantasy, with Mistborn basically being my first official introduction to the genre when it comes to books, but I didn't feel it was too black and white... Now again, I cannot compare it to say, Game of Thrones, or even Stormlight.... cuz I did not READ these books. I COULD compare it to Warbreaker, which is also by Sanderson, and yeah Warbreaker is a lot more gray in my opinion, and honestly, it has much better pacing as well. (Like seriously that book has no right being free on his website lol. I feel unironically dirty reading this thing without paying for it.) I also can't compare it to the second era of Mistborn either, cuz while I have the first 3 books of that era here, I just haven't read them yet. Also a bit of an off-topic thing, but what's up with fantasy and having massive series? like WOT being more than 10 books long, Stormlight projected to be 10 books each over a thousand pages, Game of Thrones seems to have like what? 5 books at least? I mean, get that building a massive world with magic systems, creatures, cultures and all is hard and takes time, but damm... These series are chuncky....
The romance between Vin and Elend and the entire arc that constitutes these two characters in Mistborn caused me great discomfort and made a strong reference to young adult fantasy. Personally, I found Vin's development to be quite questionable and stereotypical, portraying her as the type of young, fearless heroine who takes on an entire battalion alone. While many people love Vin, I couldn't empathize with her, despite Sanderson's excellent storytelling.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews The fallen god stuff is something you only start to learn about in book two, and then I don’t think it’s even directly tied to the Crippled God until quite a bit later. It’s a pretty big deal. I stopped watching when you starting talking about the religion bit, as I’m not sure what you’re referring to (it could be multiple things from the perspective of where I am in the books) and I don’t want to risk something being spoiled. Maybe it’s worth it if it gets people to read the word of our personal lord and savior Steven Erikson, but it certainly spooked me. No hate tho, I really enjoyed the rest of the video, specifically that you included detailed cons, those are often more helpful than the pros imo. :)
@@unladenswallow43 - Yeah I could see that, but I also see people VERY frequently mention this when giving non-readers a basic non-spoiler summary on what the series is actually about. Given how literally anything about a book can be a spoiler, so it's impossible to be 100% spoiler free, I don't think this one actually ruins any plot progression as the story is 1000x more complicated than that.
I feel like everything Sanders writes is YA. His adult stuff is just more adult YA. I stopped after 25% or so of the way of kings. Eventhough it was finally getting good and I was finally getting immersed in this new world. But I was desperate to read some sci fi. Ended up reading Hyperion / fall of Hyperion which both SUCKED. Instead of continuing stormlight I switched to first law which had quickly become my favorite fantasy series. The thing with Sanderson is. Despite his adult themes etc in stormlight. It constantly feels and reads like YA. I think that's partially the very straightforward prose. And partially very very much the effects of his Mormon church. I also couldn't fkn stand Shallan. The way she looks? The fair skinned red head girl? I love red headed girls with a passion... But everything about the girl annoys me. She becomes better after she meets that princess lady. But bruh, the way she talks to the captain of the ship etc and the way she acts and the sailors apploaded her every time really annoyed me. Lastly I absolutely hate the idea of spren. Unless it's something only very select characters see it's a very bad idea and would probably constantly lead to embarrassing moments to have your inner feelings shown to the entire world. Imagine finding your best friend's wife or gf attractive. You mean nothing by it. You have no ill intentions. You love both of them and love to see them happy. Yet one day you're going for drinks together and your boy's girl walks out of her room and looks like a princess to your already slightly tipsy eyes. And for a brief moment you're a little too excited and to your horror you find your best friend, his gf & your gf all staring at the engorgement spren that have started crawling around your pants. And that is how you lose the people you love Ps i will finish at least the first book in stormlight. The premise of mistborn seems really interesting. But the fact that it's even less adult makes me feel like I'd likely not enjoy it.but i might try that too in the future. Esp of way of kings kan still convince me.
Most fantasy can be described as YA because most main characters are on the younger side. The 1st Law books, the last 3 at least, have pretty much all younger main characters who evev have interacting love interests. The Ligjtbringer series is basically YA. Even though the Malazan main series and Malazan empire books aren't the prequel Paths to Ascendancy books are pure YA.
I been through all of them, many just half way. Only the First Law is decent, the rest are crap. I don’t like anything by Sanderson now, I mean gee, might as well go read Harry Potter then, mediocre stuff. What’s best? Drizzt do’urden, and many series within the Forgotten Realm.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews "Drizzt do'urden"? in particular ? An evil god, being the main focus of the driven plot. There a mixed element of science and Fantasy in there, and supporting character like Belwar I am audible listener now, I don't have time or space to go through paper book. I think I have books of all your listed series in my library, some of them just a couple, because I stopped and didn't finish the series. My favorite genre now is litrpg, and a lot of the new one only come out in digital format.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Neither. I know of them, but only half-finished one Wandering Inn book. Looking toward the near future, Defiance of the Fall 7, and the Grand Game 3. Top of my list is: He who fight with monster 8 (Dec 2022), Randily Ghosthound 4 ( May 2023), Primal hunter 4 (dec 2022), that's my top 5 currently. I kept them of as a wish list on my Amazon.
George RR Martin and Patrick Rothfuss meet at a convention.
George: You know, I'm making some excellent progress with my new book.
Patrick: Yeah, me neither 😅
Couldn't resist, but in all seriousness: it is what it is, and I'm happy and thankful for the excellent books in both series that we got.
Also some awesome summaries on some of the greatest fantasy series of all time... really enjoyed watching the video. 😀👍
LOL - just throw Scott Lynch in there and you have the perfect triumvirate!
Thanks for the kind words, they are much appreciated.
Your video quality has significantly improved
Thank you so much! Went from a webcam and no lighting to professional camera with multiple lights.
Yeah,im impressed !!! 😄
Your presentation and topic choices are excellent as well, probably why your subs seem to be growing nicely 👍. I'm particularly a fan of your stat videos.
@@kengirard9528 Thanks so much!
The climax or Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive book 3) completely changed my life and changed who I am as a person, and definitely for the better! I've seen hundreds of people just on the subreddit alone talk about how this book series - and especially Oathbringer - saved them from suicide. I've even seen a few people say it made them quit smoking.
Wow, that's really amazing!
Wow, then I really must read oathbringer.
I don't think that everybody agrees that books 4 and 5 of asoiaf are of lesser quality than the first 3. I love all the new elements introduced in feast/dance.
Great video!
So you liked 4/5 just as much as storm of swords?
I just started Malazan. It's what led me to your channel. I'm almost done with the first book and I'm hooked. This is already the best fantasy book I've read and one of the best novels as well. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series.
Wow if you loved the first one so much, you are in for a TREAT. The books get way better from there.
You introduced all the series in an excellent non-spoilery way Matt, thank you ! :)
Thanks so much - it was a little hard to do it without spoilers to be honest.
Wow that didn’t feel like an hour long video, I loved your descriptions! And you’ve 1000% convinced me I need to read Malazan
Thanks so much - and yes, yes you do need to read it!
Malazan is amazing. Brutal sometimes but it's in a harsh world.
I stumbled upon the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and was amazed. There is a companion series that takes the 10 books into at least double that running parallel to the plot in the main series. The first book is challenging, but overall the series is very impressive.
Yup, well said - completely agreed!
Regarding the dip in quality of books 4&5 of ASoIaF. In sequential order, I’d agree with this. But when you read these two books simultaneously as originally intended, it’s much better. As one enormous book 4, it’s great and on par with books 1-3.
For anyone who sees this and has no idea what I’m talking about…book 4 got too big so they split it in half. But instead of cutting at the halfway point and essentially giving us part 1 and 2, they gave us the whole story for half the characters in each book. There are websites that instruct readers how to stitch the two books together and read them at the same time. It’s much better, albeit a lot longer.
Yeah, agreed!
I read it in such way and felt nice.
That was an hour long?! Didn’t feel like it at all. Great video!
Thanks so much! :)
The middle book of mistborn is actually my favorite 🤣I'm reading A Storm of Swords now!!
lol, there are dozens of you -- DOZENS!
Oh man you are in for a wild ride in Storm of Swords!
I am extremely new to epic fantasy in general and I have been definitely looking for Adult Fantasy or just darker fantasies in general. All of these are in my list. Excited to read them!
Wonderful, I hope you enjoy your reading journey! What is the next book in your TBR?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Currently reading Mother of learning but my next read i was hoping to either get into the cosmere, first law or farseer trilogy. I honestly cannot decide but I might alternate since I dont wanna be burnt out bingeing even tho I do really like bingeing
To make people watch 1 hour long video , you know you are in the right path
Thanks so much! I really intended it to be about 20 minutes but it kinda just got away from me!
It's fantastic
I eagerly awaited a few titles that never came. I cant understand why they arent more popular and didnt make the list.
The Belgariad- David Eddings ( followed by the Mallorean)
The Fionivar Tapestry ( Guy Gavriel Kay)
The complete Book of Lost Swords ( Guy Gavriel Kay)
Tigana ( Guy Gavriel Kay)
The Incarnation Series - Piers Anthony ( Death/Time/Fate/War/Good/Evil each get a book)
Good books, but I don't think they are nearly as popular as the others on here.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews popularity true.. I did not mean to criticize your format... But I will stand behind Lost Swords and incarnation series being truly amazing... and the Belgariad will always hold a place in my heart because it was the first book/series I ever read voluntarily that WASNT a school assignment. They enthralled me in a way I hadnt felt since reading Where the Red Fern Grows ( grade 5 assignment).... honorable mention is the Thomas Covenant series (ie. Lord Foul's Bane)
Oh dang! This is a longer one awesome! I'm going to listen top this one at work tomorrow podcast style, sweet!
Enjoy!
"People said you can cut off hundreds of pages out of these books and not lose an awful lot"
To be fair, this is true of pretty much any Sanderson book I've read.... specially Mistborn era 1....
This was a great ideia, do carry on with another 10 series!
Amazing overview thank you !!
Your descriptions about every series are spot on, I loved the video!!
Thanks so much, it was fun to produce!
This was such a fun video! I loved hearing about the cons of the KKC only to realize that those are some of the things I love about the series haha!
LOL, you know what they say...one mans cons are another mans pros!
A little constructive criticism of the structure of this video. I think ending with the cons of each book series without circling back to what's good about them, left me feeling like I didn't want to read any of the series, because those negatives are what stuck in my mind. It's all good content and I love lots of these series, but the order of summary->pros->cons left me personally feeling a little sour on each of the series
Wow I super appreciate this. I never considered this, but I completely get where you are coming from and I will definitely implement that strategy in the future.
Love the content - you have become my favorite booktuber !!! I am a huge Brandon Sanderson fan and I hope to read The Lost Metal and upcoming Cosmere novels (We bought the kickstarter) along with you in 2023😊
Thank you so much, that's super kind of you! Join the discord and we can chat about the cosmere books as they are coming out!
Loving the long videos Matt!
Thanks! I was limited to 30 minutes before this when using my new camera because that's how long it allows each video, but since I'm getting more comfortable with editing I can just stich them together now.
Hey Ham... I mean Matt! Great video that popped up in my feed. I am now a subscriber.
LOL thanks.
thanks for making this video! I would be appreciated this so much when I was a nookie fantasy reader years ago. now i still look at this video with great happiness knowing your extensive guide will help readers find the best sorts of fantasy for themselves :)
Thanks so much! What are you currently reading?
You should make a video about your top audio books. Would love to know which books I should be listening too vs. reading the physical copy.
Yeah good idea, I'll put that in the idea bin and try to make one at some point!
Absolutely agree, I would love that vid
I've spent 5 years just writing to create my own world. I've decided I'll figure out a story once I'm done with the world and history building. it's all just for fun, but I thought it'd be a cool way to go about writing a story.
Yeah I think that's absolutely the way to do it if you have the time and attention for it!
This video is so great and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!!
Thanks!
Thoroughly enjoyed this video! You provide excellent content and can’t wait to see what else you do
Thanks so much!
Amazing job - this is a fantastic resource! Well done!
Thank you!
That certainly helped convince me to read Malazan. I'm not sure where to find physical copies of the books, so I guess I'll start WoT first since I have them.
Nice, I hope you get your hands on them!
Great video !
I love that they all have cons
Thank you! It was hard for me to write some of them because I just don't personally agree with some of them, but I wanted to give people the "general consensus" that the community feels about these books.
Another great video, wish I had seen it or something like it a couple years ago when I started reading adult fantasy.
Thank you!
Great video, you have helped me decide on the next series I will be reading
Which one did you pick?
I agree with your review of The King Killer Chronicles,it has more cons than prose.
The Stormlight books are gonna be in 2 different time periods. The 1st 5 books are one story with the next 5 being after a time jump, kinda like the Mistborn books. You don't have to worry about waiting for all 10 books.
Yeah, but I suspect they are going to tie into each other about 100x more than what Mistborn is.
Loved listening today! Made me want to read the few series on this list I haven't gotten to yet and the series I have completed I now want to reread haha
Thanks so much Dino!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews thank you!
Very nice video, I enjoyed that(as always), thank you Matt!
No, thank YOU!
Great video! I would suggest maybe adding the mentioning of twists in the story to the spoiler list. At least for me, if I know there is a twist coming, I don't enjoy it as much as when is takes me totally by surprise.
I appreciate the feedback, but if you don't know what the spoiler is how does that still not surprise you? Virtually every single fantasy book has twists, just some of them are better executed than others.
There is nothing wrong with saying there are twists in a series. Actually, that makes it very attractive to me. I guess I meant mentioning where the mayor twists occur. Like saying there's a mayor twist and the end of the first book. In my case I'd rather be totally blindsided by it. It's just a thought and maybe it's just me. I really enjoy your content and appreciate that you take the time to answer comments 👍
Very happy I subscribed just got done watching at 2x speed
You gave me the Alvin and the Chipmunks treatment, lol! Love it!
Really appreciate what you said about Mistborn. I enjoyed it but I found the prose fairly clunky at points and the second book was a very slow burn. Controversially, I actually really enjoyed Elantris!
I was with you right up until you spouted that blasphemy about Elantris!
Jokes aside, thanks for the kind words!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews 🤣 I think I liked Elantris because it reminded me of a badly dubbed 90’s animé. I don’t know why but that’s what I’m going with 😅
@@swisswatermethod1781 LOL
Great video dude. You put a lot of work into this; it will be a great help to many for years to come.
I've read or at least tried all of the series listed here except for Dresden Files. I'll get to it eventually. WoT, Stormlight & First Law are definitely among my favs; 3 of my top 4 in fact; only missing Drenai Saga which has a lot of fans too but not as many as any of those listed probably.
I'm enjoying Malazan too but less than halfway through so not ready to call it a fav. Couldn't get into Elderlings or Bastards but they both definitely have plenty of fans so I understand including them.
Some you didn't include that are definitely up there in popularity are LotR, Discworld and Faithful & the Fallen. The last one in particular has been blowing up lately on a lot of booktubers lists.
Thanks for the comment! In terms of what I put in I just copied over the latest reddit /r/fantasy survey where they found the most popular books, then I took out LotR, Harry Potter, and Discworld because I think those are all well liked by teenagers (as well as adults) so I don't think of them as straight up adult books.
I haven't read Drenai but I am SUPER looking forward to it early on in 2023.
Faithful and the Fallen is one of my all time favorites, but I can't say it's more popular than the other 10 here.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews yeah I thought Reddit might have influenced your rankings, lol. They haven't put one for this year; will be interesting to see how far F&F has moved up; as I said it's been getting a lot of traction lately.
I've not even read it yet myself and I'm already aware of the love it's been getting lately. It's probably going to be what I read after I'm done with Malazan & First Law.
@@larryhodge3107 Unfortunately I doubt they put one out this year. They usually do it every 2 years with some more specialized ones for the in-between years.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews yes! Read David Gemmell! It makes me sad how few booktubers talk about him. Also Guy Gavriel Kay. If you like Rothfus for his prose, you will like him.
Having read Kingkiller recently i agree with everything said here. Excellent analysis.
Thanks so much!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Hey, you're welcome. Other series you mentioned i haven't finished so i can't tell, but you got me seriously interested in Lies of Locke Lamora. Probably my next read.
@@zyxel2 You are in for a wild ride, hope you love it!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Thanks, my audible credit is available soon :)
I finished Witcher series only to prepare myself for The Witcher 3 game to come out. Ironically, I never played the game. Now I'm trying to finish Wheel of Time before season 2 comes out. Starting book 7 (including the prequel book).
LOL about the Witcher. You really should play it - it's absolutely fantastic!
An hour long video?!?! Amazing 😁
It was supposed to be under 30 minutes but it just kinda got away from me there!
I totally agree with you about Mistborn, I totally enjoyed it but I think you pinpointed my opinion about the series.
Thank you! I tried to do some research into each of these to get general opinions about the books, and those positives and negatives were repeatedly brought up in various places.
Great video man!
Thank you Tyrell!
I’m not into audiobook but you seem to have convinced me to give it another go. Although I can’t seem to find Steven Pacey for the First Law book. I can only find him for “Sharp Ends: stories from the World of The First Law”. What other books do you recommend for audiobook if I may ask?
I'm here from a reddit recommendation and apparently you are a nice dude 👍
I want to say something really rude here just to subvert expectations, but I just don't have it in me lol
another great video
thanks!
You are most welcome!
This was my first time coming across one of your videos and I really enjoyed the pacing, descriptions, and content!
Definitely helped move WOT and Malazan up on my TBR list.
I’ve gotta ask though- where is Lord of the rings? I almost feel like the title of the video should have a footnote *excluding LOTR*
Thanks so much, and yes definitely move up both of those (especially Malazan).
I didn't include Lord of the Rings for two reasons:
1. EVERYONE already knows what it is so they don't need me giving an overview of it.
2. I don't personally consider it adult fantasy, because virtually every single person I know that has read this initially read it as a young adult.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews that’s a very fair point. I think I read the Fellowship for the first time when I was in 4th grade or so. And we would listen to the audio books every summer on road trips.
This was an excellent informative video Thank you. I have many of the first books and I'm excited to start them . I'm on book nine of the Dresden files though 😊Huge series scare me to death so I need to start with a trilogy,.
Thanks so much - any idea what your next series is going to be?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews I was thinking, The lies of Lock lamora [ thats not spelled right is it!] I have heard so many good things about it
@@womenwotreads Close, it's Locke.
And you are in for a wild ride, I hope you enjoy it!
I'm happy with the exclusion of Lord of the Rings - I think we each know where that series fits for us at this point.
Thank you!
What?!!
For me exclude it was cheating.
LotR keeps belonging to the most popular rantasy series, and this video was Most popular fantasy, not most popular fantasy I liked.
Come on Matt, if you disliked it, at least you could have mentioned it and swiftly mention some virtues.
3/5 of the list looks unappealing to me, but if i would have to do the video i could simply read good reviews about them.
And one thing.
What do you think of the movies?
When i read LotR as teen I thought: not bad, quite entertaining, but I don’t get why its so praised.
Then the movies were 🤩
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for including one of my favorite authors which doesn't get enough credit (in my opinion). If you get a chance, check out his son's debut novel.
Which author?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews James Butcher, Jim Butcher's son. The book is Dead Man's Hand.
Wheel of Time started of okay, was kind of great for three to four books and then it noticably picked up in writing quality when Sanderson took over. There were so many 2D characters that become more 3D, with different personalities and goals, with some more gray to them, after he started to write.
My biggest problem is that all, expect one of the female characters in the book, are the same person with a different name. They all think they can do better than men, they all think men are bad and need to be controlled and that all men are stupid. That is literally the plot for all of the Aes Sedai. The biggest threat in the story isn't the big, dark evil, but a group of women that literally almost make the chosen one end the world multiple times.
I do not know why Jordan hated women so much, but it really, really shows.
When it comes to Kingkiller, then there have been other authors by the same publisher, who have said the book will come out soon and that it is sent it to revisions and is nearing its final draft. Hopefully that is true!
But great video. First one I have seen and you did a great job explaining the series that you mentioned
Thanks so much, and I totally agree with you about your WoT thoughts.
Regarding Kingkiller, I think that author who made that comment was totally confused and was referring to "The Slow Regard for Silent Things" which has already come out.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Ah. I had high hopes with him reading the prologue and was suppose to read the first chapter as well (which is ages ago...).
That author has to be way out of bounce if they are talking about a book that came out 8 years ago..
should i reread mistbron because i read it when the 3rd book came out and never finished and forgot most of the story
About to start Malazan. What kind of notes did you take? Thanks.
So in Malazan there are a lot of different main POVs in each book. So each time a POV section ended, I just took very quick notes about what just happened (like one sentence), so that when the POV character comes back a chapter or two later I could look at them and quickly remember where things left off.
I also suggest you use this powerpoint to help guide you through the first book. It's immensely helpful: docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GLRmiaFcxe_cGc93ckE5UItRq5rYsfeU0BhvqcaNq9E/edit
I finished the first book and I can’t tell you what’s it’s about. All I heard was how great this series is.
I personally never read the back of the book because I find it too spoilery, and several of your non-spoiler videos now I’ve clicked off because I considered them too spoilery for me.
Still love your stuff, but since you brought it up I figured I’d let you know.
Thanks for the feedback! The first part of each segment goes over the very basics of the beginning of the first book in the series - but the second part goes into the pros/cons of the series. The pros/cons section doesn't go into plot specifics in the slightest, so you can still check that part out if you want without getting any whiff of the story.
Not everyone agrees that the last two AWOIAF books are the worst, I loved them.
There are dozens of you -- dozens! :)
Love the content
Thanks so much! It was a fun video to make.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews can’t wait for the next video
Pretty good list, except you omitted Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams!
I think that series has really dropped in popularity over the years. I mainly took the top books from this recent reddit survey, and MST is down to #87
www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/p1mwnx/the_rfantasy_2021_top_novels_poll_results/
In what order would you recommend to read those to a relatively new fantasy reader?
It really depends on your reading level and what sort of things you are into.
But I always find that Mistborn is a big winner for newcomers to the genre.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Well ngl I have read mostly webnovels for a while now and it’s just now I’m getting to read epic fantasy. I’m a big big fan of progression fantasy tho it’s just something I enjoy a lot but yeah I want to get deep into epic fantasy. And yes Mistborn era 1 i’m excited for. Same with the stormlight archive.
@@KeminoCries Nice! Have you checked out The Wandering Inn before? Really great webnovel progression fantasy.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews No i have not and I just looked it up. Looks interesting. Put it in my list for the future
@@KeminoCries mistborn is probably the best starter series
"Micro arcs" in Malazan - just a small story on a mere 900-1000 pages 😅
LOL
Oh oh, I’ll have to take into consideration my expected lifespan.
LOL
What Apps were he referring to?
What do you mean? Which part of the video are you referring to?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews @ 22:36 you talk about Apps that exist to help with keeping track of all the characters in WOT. I would love to check that out as I'm starting on book 5 now. :)
@@nadiaflx It's called "Wheel Of Time Compendium". Search it on Google Store or Apple.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Thank you sooo much for the response. I recently discovered your channel and have quickly become a big fan. Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa.
Most of these books could have the number of pages halved without losing any value in the lore.
Yeah very true.
Hopefully I'll make it to the 2040s for the finale of Stormlight. I'll be in 70s then. Lol
Thankfully it's Brandon Sanderson doing this instead of someone like George R.R. Martin, where we can actually be assured it will get an ending!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Yes, definitely.
I find the criticism of the ''unreliable narrator'' really annoying tbh. Of course, he's an unreliable narrator. EVERYONE is an unreliable narrator. We are all the hero's of our own story while being the villain in someone else's. We pivot everything around ourselves and so things are always misconstrued and memory s entirely subjected to our own experiences and how we have been shaped by them.
If a novel is in first-person and in past-tense. **It's unreliable by default* For people to complain means that they really don't have a clue about human nature as this is a very basic fact of it. They themeleves are unreliable narrators as is Kvothe.
I do think Kvothe is trying his best to be truthful but again this is just HIS perspective. He does not have this great insight into Denna or Devi or Simmon or Elodin or anyone else despite him claiming to be as we are simply seeing HIS interpretation of them. it's what he THINKS of them and of everything around him. We must take his view of them with a grain of salt as we haven't been inside their heads or seen anything from their point of view - only kvothe's - and, again, this is true of everyone.
I really, really, really don't get how people throw the word ''unreliable narrator'' as actual constructive criticism because it's a simple fact of story being told by one person's perspective.
Yeah I don't disagree with you, but I do see this brought up so often that I thought it should be included in the con category.
Surprised you didn't make mention of what killed The Wise Man's Fear for me and that's the subplot involving a character whose name starts with F!
Loving the vids though, keep them up
Oh man you are totally right. I absolutely should have mentioned that!
I’m 44. Loved Pug’s Journey in Raymond Feist’s books. Loved WoT. Loved The Witcher and Sapkowski. Read the first book of Malazan, thought it was pretty bad. Finishing up the first book of Mistborn and am bored. I’m pretty disappointed with modern fantasy.
Honestly the first Malazan book isn't incredible. I would urge you to read the next two, they are enormous steps up in quality.
Malazan book 1 is average to below average. Book 2 Deadhouse Gates is a masterpiece. The best fiction I have ever read. I too, gave up on Mistborn. Boring stuff. The audio version of the 9 First Law books is excellent. I enjoy the Red Rising series very much too....if you like sci-fi. I am 48.
Kvothe is not an unreliable narrator, and your description of him as one shows a profound misunderstanding of the book. The point of the story is that he is trying to clear up the myths and lies he told about himself when he was younger and dumber. He is so adamant that the story has to be accurate he ensures his biographer can take dictation.
I think a majority of the Kingkiller fanbase would say that he is unreliable, but it will get cleared up (hopefully) in the 3rd book.
Read this reddit thread for a discussion on it in the Kingkiller subreddit: www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/3q5903/why_do_people_assume_kvothe_is_an_unreliable/
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews I am active on that subreddit and have read that thread. People confuse "he says he isn't lying" with he doesn't have motivation to lie.
Whatever happened between the last we see of young Kvothe and Kote it is clear something horrible occured. Whatever fight he had he lost, or paid such a heavy price to win it was indistinguishable from losing. It's clear he looks back on what he did in his youth with regret. Constantly talking about the myriad ways he built his reputation. His entire motivation of telling his story is to deconstruct those same myths. Until someone can show with any sort of evidence Kote/Kvothe is faking his current condition for some gain I am forced to say he is likely telling the truth. Also the people that push the unreliable narrator theory constantly use it as an excuse to push their own theories that are not evidenced in the text.
Kvothe IS an unreliable narrator, sorry.
Tried listening to an episode of that podcast. They seemed to offended by so many things. I just don't have patience...
Yeah they do have a tendency to do that, but it doesn't come up too often.
i understand the problem with last 2 books (asoiaf)
unnecessary descriptions and the geographical splitting
but i will say it again feast combined with dragons with bit modification > first 3 books
It's really weird that you describe the graphic nature of Gentleman bastards but don't even describe Malazan as Grimdark. That seems weird to me. By it's nature, Malazan is a world where everything is bad and our characters seem to be trying to make the best of really awful situations. But if Starving cannibal armies, FGM, a march of children, and frequent rape aren't grimdark, what is? I love Malazan, but I feel like it deserves a bigger content warning than GB. Erikson himself says that reading his books you bear witness to horrific events (that happen in our world today) but that we should not look away.
Yeah I don't know why I didn't mention that part - but you are entirely correct.
Maybe because Malaz isn’t unrealistically and unnecessarylly nihilistic, misantropic and depressing?
Maybe do the same but for series you think are underrated or under appreciated.
Yup I am definitely going to at some point in the near future!
It's basically god vs bad, there's not a lot of grey in between..... Ok seriously I genuinely have no goddamm clue how you can think that of Mistborn of all things, but you do you buddy. I mean, if you're talking only of the first book, then I can understand, but by the time you get to book 3 there's a lot of grey. Specially when it comes to some aspects of the lore that would tipically be portrayed as more black and white in other stories.
I think when you compare Mistborn to most other fantasy books written in the past couple decades, it is WAY more on the "good vs. bad" scale in terms of its main characters than other works.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Fair enough, now TO BE FAIR, I haven't read much fantasy, with Mistborn basically being my first official introduction to the genre when it comes to books, but I didn't feel it was too black and white... Now again, I cannot compare it to say, Game of Thrones, or even Stormlight.... cuz I did not READ these books. I COULD compare it to Warbreaker, which is also by Sanderson, and yeah Warbreaker is a lot more gray in my opinion, and honestly, it has much better pacing as well. (Like seriously that book has no right being free on his website lol. I feel unironically dirty reading this thing without paying for it.)
I also can't compare it to the second era of Mistborn either, cuz while I have the first 3 books of that era here, I just haven't read them yet.
Also a bit of an off-topic thing, but what's up with fantasy and having massive series? like WOT being more than 10 books long, Stormlight projected to be 10 books each over a thousand pages, Game of Thrones seems to have like what? 5 books at least? I mean, get that building a massive world with magic systems, creatures, cultures and all is hard and takes time, but damm... These series are chuncky....
Malazan is GOAT.
Goodbye :)
Yuuuuup!
The romance between Vin and Elend and the entire arc that constitutes these two characters in Mistborn caused me great discomfort and made a strong reference to young adult fantasy. Personally, I found Vin's development to be quite questionable and stereotypical, portraying her as the type of young, fearless heroine who takes on an entire battalion alone. While many people love Vin, I couldn't empathize with her, despite Sanderson's excellent storytelling.
Woah dude, Malazan spoilers much? 😅
What spoilers?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews The fallen god stuff is something you only start to learn about in book two, and then I don’t think it’s even directly tied to the Crippled God until quite a bit later. It’s a pretty big deal. I stopped watching when you starting talking about the religion bit, as I’m not sure what you’re referring to (it could be multiple things from the perspective of where I am in the books) and I don’t want to risk something being spoiled. Maybe it’s worth it if it gets people to read the word of our personal lord and savior Steven Erikson, but it certainly spooked me. No hate tho, I really enjoyed the rest of the video, specifically that you included detailed cons, those are often more helpful than the pros imo. :)
@@unladenswallow43 - Yeah I could see that, but I also see people VERY frequently mention this when giving non-readers a basic non-spoiler summary on what the series is actually about. Given how literally anything about a book can be a spoiler, so it's impossible to be 100% spoiler free, I don't think this one actually ruins any plot progression as the story is 1000x more complicated than that.
I feel like everything Sanders writes is YA. His adult stuff is just more adult YA. I stopped after 25% or so of the way of kings. Eventhough it was finally getting good and I was finally getting immersed in this new world. But I was desperate to read some sci fi. Ended up reading Hyperion / fall of Hyperion which both SUCKED. Instead of continuing stormlight I switched to first law which had quickly become my favorite fantasy series.
The thing with Sanderson is. Despite his adult themes etc in stormlight. It constantly feels and reads like YA. I think that's partially the very straightforward prose. And partially very very much the effects of his Mormon church.
I also couldn't fkn stand Shallan. The way she looks? The fair skinned red head girl? I love red headed girls with a passion... But everything about the girl annoys me. She becomes better after she meets that princess lady. But bruh, the way she talks to the captain of the ship etc and the way she acts and the sailors apploaded her every time really annoyed me.
Lastly I absolutely hate the idea of spren. Unless it's something only very select characters see it's a very bad idea and would probably constantly lead to embarrassing moments to have your inner feelings shown to the entire world.
Imagine finding your best friend's wife or gf attractive. You mean nothing by it. You have no ill intentions. You love both of them and love to see them happy. Yet one day you're going for drinks together and your boy's girl walks out of her room and looks like a princess to your already slightly tipsy eyes. And for a brief moment you're a little too excited and to your horror you find your best friend, his gf & your gf all staring at the engorgement spren that have started crawling around your pants.
And that is how you lose the people you love
Ps i will finish at least the first book in stormlight. The premise of mistborn seems really interesting. But the fact that it's even less adult makes me feel like I'd likely not enjoy it.but i might try that too in the future. Esp of way of kings kan still convince me.
yeah I can't disagree with anything you said here. I do enjoy Stormlight, but it comes with it's faults.
Most fantasy can be described as YA because most main characters are on the younger side. The 1st Law books, the last 3 at least, have pretty much all younger main characters who evev have interacting love interests. The Ligjtbringer series is basically YA. Even though the Malazan main series and Malazan empire books aren't the prequel Paths to Ascendancy books are pure YA.
A female protagonist "rare"?
Where have you been living in the passed years, under a rock?
There's plenty of female protagonist.
I think in popular fantasy the amount of female main protagonists is probably less than 25%.
I been through all of them, many just half way. Only the First Law is decent, the rest are crap. I don’t like anything by Sanderson now, I mean gee, might as well go read Harry Potter then, mediocre stuff.
What’s best? Drizzt do’urden, and many series within the Forgotten Realm.
I'm reading through the first Drizzt books in 2023. What makes you like them so much?
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews "Drizzt do'urden"? in particular ? An evil god, being the main focus of the driven plot. There a mixed element of science and Fantasy in there, and supporting character like Belwar
I am audible listener now, I don't have time or space to go through paper book. I think I have books of all your listed series in my library, some of them just a couple, because I stopped and didn't finish the series. My favorite genre now is litrpg, and a lot of the new one only come out in digital format.
@@daron20133 are you a fan of Wandering Inn or Mother of Learning? I'm reading through both of those and really enjoying my time.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Neither. I know of them, but only half-finished one Wandering Inn book.
Looking toward the near future, Defiance of the Fall 7, and the Grand Game 3. Top of my list is: He who fight with monster 8 (Dec 2022), Randily Ghosthound 4 ( May 2023), Primal hunter 4 (dec 2022), that's my top 5 currently. I kept them of as a wish list on my Amazon.
There has to be more in the First Law world. This may be spoilers as a warning but the last book had a vision of more to come.
Agreed. Here's hoping!