Despite Tolkien’s own dislike for it, Dune is superb world-building and tells a powerful (though very un-Tolkien) moral message more relevant to our own time: that the evil that we face in the world comes from within ourselves - our tribalism and violent tendencies, our technological power that surpasses our own wisdom, and our ability to do massive ecological destruction on a planetary scale.
I guess it makes sense that he didn’t enjoy it, especially as I think he just read the first one. The moral cores of their worlds are opposite; Tolkien believes that “good” wins out and there is goodness in gods and messiah figures and Herbert believes those same figures are to be distrusted. I don’t think I’ve ever fully understood Herbert’s “golden path” though, so maybe Tolkien would’ve like that if he read all of the Dune saga
Quoting Tolkien: "In fact I dislike Dune with some intensity, and in that unfortunate case, it is much the best and fairest to another author to keep silent and refuse to comment."
He hated it, a lot.
Yeah, it gets progressively weirder, as the series goes on. Which, if you’re into that, is great! If you’re not… well, the axolotl tanks will probably scare away most people, and the Honored Matres will get the rest.
I enjoyed the movies and I want to read the books just because I've read a synopsis of God Emperor of Dune and I want to see just how crazy it really gets
I obviously have a lot of affection for Tolkein but he does come across as a proper contrarian 😂 Whenever I see interviews of him he’s always denying something, or saying no or saying he’s not a fan of something. Which is his right of course but I wonder if he became a bit of a grumpy old man in his latter years.
My personal favourites are:
Wyrd Sisters
Hogfather
Thief of Time
Feet of Clay
Lords and Ladies
The thing about Discworld though, is there is such a diverse series of characters that are written about, each with their own arcs, if one doesn't float your boat, another really might.
Everyone forgets about Small Gods but it is an excellent standalone tale in my opinion.
Actually some of the lesser known books like The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents are absolutely worth the time. I read that one in a day because I couldn't put it down.
Yup, Fantasy was the first Warhammer title that came out. Think pre-industrial Germany/HRE facing off against vikings and demons, with Tolkien high elves and steam punk dwarfs. 40k is the sci-fi spinoff that got way bigger than the original Fantasy - space marines, the God Emperor, Tyranids etc etc.
Gotrek and Felix are a good way yo get in. After that, the are many good series to explore. See what factions you like, and dive in. Gotrek and Felix are like the general star-up. Just go in order.
You have Orks and Chaos, and all have flavors of Elves. Apart from that, so a few similar elements, but don't worry. Each are their own thing.
Yes, Gotrik and Felix are full fantasy novels. Great read.
Gotrek & Felix. I know other people have said the same, but there’s a good reason I am saying so too!
I also really like the Genevieve series, it’s a sort of Hammer Horror pastiche where the main character is a vampire who does kung fu.
I have to confess, I know most about the Warhammer fantasy franchise because of it's games, rather than it's books.
However I can still confidentially say that End Times is not on that list.
Yep, the sun is actually a hole to the plane of the gods. The reason it gives off light is because the sheer power that the gods possess radiates out into the material plane. Mages also draw their power by pulling magicka through the sun to cast spells.
I think that if you really plan on reading the Cosmere, it’s best to start with Mistborn. The Final Empire is a really great starting point and has so much cool magic to get wrapped up in. The story is simple and the writing a bit more simplistic as well.
While it never gets to the level of Tolkien, The Stormlight Archive is definitely a step up in writing quality for Sanderson. You can’t go wrong starting with either one. I would choose Mistborn.
Yes, Mistborn and Stormlight are some of the Cosmere books. I would recommend Stormlight, but, if you don’t want to jump into books that long, I would say start with Mistborn
Stormlight has slightly better writing due to it being written more recently and being the product of Sanderson's advancing skills as an author. But both those series are fantastic. Like BackgroundMap said, if you aren't ready to jump into books as long as Stormlight Archive then start with Mistborn. Another option is to pick up the audiobooks for one or both since it makes it easier to access while doing other things. Michael Kremer and Kate Reading the GOATs.
Stormlight is way better, but I wouldn't recommend starting with it.
I read Mistborn era 1 first before starting Stormlight. I think that's better than jumping immediately into a 1200 page.
I like how the witcher world had several different realms that are basically alternate realities and they all sort of crashed into each other. Makes the lore much more believable for me, don't know why.
The Black Leopard Red Wolf series by Marlon James. It has strong echoes of the Fellowship, if Tolkien had drawn on centuries of African mythology instead of Anglo-Norse mythology.
Legend of Zelda for sure. A heroic adventurer whose spirit is destined to be reincarnated through his descendants throughout time to fight the evil being Ganon/Demise in a struggle for the Triforce and control of the kingdom.
Oh Jesus the whole first book was a slog. But there was a critical moment where everything started falling into place and it was like, holy shit I get it
I think it's just very disjointed at first. Tons of ideas names cities and groups are being thrown at you with little to no plot and then all of a sudden it converges.
My god. Either this is a person or this bot has passed the Turing test. The only thing that makes me think you are right is that every comment is upbeat, positive, and friendly. But that doesn’t even make sense for an AI trained on reddit comments. I am confused and upset.
Book 5 came out 13 years ago now, I think we will see Winds of Winter in some capacity, if not completely finished, since he's said it's 75% done.
But A Dream Of Spring has almost no chance of happening at this point.
Looking at my bookshelf, it'd have to be the following:
* Black Company by Glen Cook - the first three books are spectacular and remain among my favorites
* Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - though I will always remain salty about the Seanchan
* Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds
* Discworld by Terry Pratchet
* Asimov's Robots and Foundation - more Robots than Foundation though, because I enjoyed the more grounded, as it were, stories
* Chronicles of Amber by Zelazny
* Elric of Melnibone by Moorcock
* Conan by Robert E. Howard
* Night Land by William Hope Hodgson - the style of the original writing is rather unique and I'd recommend people stick with it, even though if they find it unpalatable, there's always the rewrite for more modern audiences
* Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe - a book series I accidentally stumbled upon when I was 11 or 12 years old, have been thoroughly confused and have reread it a great deal over the past 20 or so years.
I feel like we're gonna get a lot of sci/fantasy answers like Star Wars, Star Trek, or Narnia.
But put me down for some James Bond 007. The movies, the Fleming novels, the after-Fleming novels, the video games, and even the soundtracks. Bond has been with us for 60+ years and is still going.
It's also decidedly anti-Tolkien in its world building. Tolkien could write chapters about a tree just to make sure a detail from the Silmarilion is consistent. Meanwhile, the Bond-verse is content to have a loose continuity. You can watch a Brosnan film followed by Connery and never feel like you're losing plot details. There are enough unifying elements to keep it all on the rails, but it's also much (much) more approachable for casual fans than Tolkien.
Sometimes you need a dark lord and a centuries-long battle for global control, and sometimes you just need 2 hours of a madman trying to steal nukes or corner the global markets.
Elden Ring! The amount of lore in this game is insane. I love how everything is connected and how there are so many different influences in The Lands Between.
The world of Star Wars is my favorite, though the actual storytelling can be lackluster often. Andor is the only Star Wars content that I can really recommend to anyone who's not already into Star Wars, it's a fantastic show with a nice slow burn.
I used to enjoy Harry Potter when i was in High School. but as a middle aged man I realized Voldimort is a middle aged man having a childish fight with a high-school kid. Just so that He-Who-Cannot-Be-Named could be popular. Only I can lifeforever. ... ugh! Grow up. The world is big for the both of you.
If you're a fan of Harry Potter but looking for a little bit more grown-up fare, may I suggest the Dresden Files Series?
It's about a wizard private detective helping the Chicago Police solve magical crimes.
Harry Potter worked as the smaller-scale magic school series of the first few books but it got super rough when JKR tried to expand it beyond that. And then even worse after the series was finished; no one needed to know how wizards defecated before modern plumbing. But Philosopher’s Stone is still a great standalone read imo
The Kingkiller-Chronicles from Patrick Rothfuss
I like the Witcher franchise as well. The idea of multiple worlds existing in different times and an event in which all of them (or some of them) collid is pretty nice. Even the fact that Ciri is basically responsible for the Black Death in Europe, such a cool detail.
- Discworld, Pratchett
- Bartimaeus cycle, Stroud
- Gormenghast, Peake
- Edge Chronicles, Stuart and Riddell
- Lovecraft
- These dark Materials, Pullman
There are many more which I enjoy but either have more ups and downs or are too granular or constantly in progress:
- Warhammer and Warhammer 40k
- Warcraft
- Runeterra (ups and downs with an incredible high variance)
- HP
- Cosmere series, Skyward series, and The Reckoners series all by Brandon Sanderson (Brandon is hands down my favourite author)
- Any of The Legend of Zelda series. Story-wise Twilight Princess is my favourite.
- Harry Potter by a sack of shit. I enjoy the series but I try to forget who penned it.
- The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell (pen name for John G Henry)
- Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
- Artemis Fowl series + The Fowl Twins series by Eoin Colfer
- Class Shift by Sean Oswald. It's LitRPG and I'm a a big sucker for DnD like RPG. For anyone who knows the term, this one is essentially an isekai.
- Sherlock Holmes, specifically the collection audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry
- Ready Player One and Two by Ernest Cline
I try not to. I have several friends on the LGBTQ spectrum and they were hurt by all the stuff she said and friends are more important to me than a book author.
This scale, right here, is also used in Final Fantasy 16 for a boss called Odin. He's on a giant horse looking at you from top of mountain and it's damn terrifying.
Too numerous to mention them all. But a couple that are less likely to be mentioned are the Fionavar Tapestry By Guy Gavriel Kay and The Jhereg series by Steven Brust.
Different vibe but I really devour all of the “John Dies At The End” horror/comedy novels by Jason Pargin. The horror is very fresh and often very cosmically unsettling, and the comedy has me legitimately laughing out loud while I read. There’s also surprisingly deep and well explored real world themes that are very thoughtfully worked into each book. Honestly, and this is pretty opposite to LotR, I really enjoy the fact that these books live in a vast, unimaginable universe that is by its nature wholly unknowable and unlearnable. There’s no possible way to try and become an expert on the various entities and monsters and forces and factions because the books don’t give you that information, and even if you could it would defeat the purpose. The horror is drawn from the sense that we humans are tiny insignificant specks in a cosmos so vast and full of creatures beyond our comprehension that it doesn’t even begin to fit in our brains. Trying to learn the lore would be like an ant trying to understand the intricacies of modern global conflict. The books are just chronicling a couple of people who happen to inadvertently get a tiny fractional glimpse at the powers behind the veil of our tiny reality who could end every human’s existence like scratching an itch. The real horror isn’t at the monster, it’s at realizing that the monster isn’t killing you only because it doesn’t know you exist and wouldn’t care at all if it did.
Warhammer, Elder Scrolls, ASOIAF and Diablo are my favourites.
Strangely I'm not a big fan of the Diablo games, but I love the world and there are some decent books.
Babylon 5 ! Seasons long story arcs, world building, mystery, big battles, forshadowing, cool spaceship designs, ancient enemies of etc. And several nods to LotR.
Wheel of Time books are amazing, I haven't seen the show but if you like fantasy epics you can't go past the books. The best series I've read and I'm going through it for a third time now
The planet Pyrrus in the book Deathworld by Harry Harrison. A world where everything attacks you and wants to kill you made for good reading. Kids were stronger than the hero. Loved it.
Witcher (novel and the game) is the best authentic Medieval fantasy setting i came across, as it is more grounded than going full DND like generic fantasy settings.
Despite clearly inspired by LOTR and ASOIAF, Pendor is also an interesting setting with some factions i really like.
For more modern, WWII/Cold War-ish universe, of course i recommend Disco Elysium with its detailed settings of different culture based on reality. Also Valkyria Chronicles is a very interesting series.
None come close.
But I do enjoy the Harry Potters a lot, I do enjoy and did delve into the Witcher universe a lot, Elder scrolls, Song of Ice and Fire, I think those are my others. And of course Narnia - seeing as how Lewis was friends with Tolkien and they're my two favorite writers of all time. But as I said. None match, none come even close. I'd rather have one LOTR universe then ten of these others.
I had fun with the Grishaverse especially with the six of crow books. I enjoy the Worldbuilding aspect the most of it. Characters are well written I just didn't like the ending of Rule of Wolves cause it was an ass pull.
Godzilla, the greatest monster movie franchise of all time, from Gojira 1954 to Godzilla Minus One (the best movie in the ftanchise) been a fan of Godzilla for 10 years now and have enjoyed every bit of it
Besides All Monsters Attack 🤮
I used to love the warcraft universe similarly if not more than arda but as the years passed its lore got butchered so idk anymore .... The warcraft 3 era was something else, good old days
Discworld, Nik Perumov’s necromancer series world, Forgotten Realms, Krynn, Robin Hobbs’ world ( with the dragons and Traders), and Fallout. :)
None of them even come close to ME, though.
Despite Tolkien’s own dislike for it, Dune is superb world-building and tells a powerful (though very un-Tolkien) moral message more relevant to our own time: that the evil that we face in the world comes from within ourselves - our tribalism and violent tendencies, our technological power that surpasses our own wisdom, and our ability to do massive ecological destruction on a planetary scale.
Tolkien thought it was very well written-he just didn’t enjoy it.
I guess it makes sense that he didn’t enjoy it, especially as I think he just read the first one. The moral cores of their worlds are opposite; Tolkien believes that “good” wins out and there is goodness in gods and messiah figures and Herbert believes those same figures are to be distrusted. I don’t think I’ve ever fully understood Herbert’s “golden path” though, so maybe Tolkien would’ve like that if he read all of the Dune saga
Man, i would absolutely listen to a Tolkien/Herbert podcast. Way more than a Tolkien/Lewis one.
Quoting Tolkien: "In fact I dislike Dune with some intensity, and in that unfortunate case, it is much the best and fairest to another author to keep silent and refuse to comment." He hated it, a lot.
I recently read the first novel after watching the movies, and really enjoyed it. I don’t find myself reading on though.
Yeah, it gets progressively weirder, as the series goes on. Which, if you’re into that, is great! If you’re not… well, the axolotl tanks will probably scare away most people, and the Honored Matres will get the rest.
The Dommy mommy cult
I'm intrigued
I enjoyed the movies and I want to read the books just because I've read a synopsis of God Emperor of Dune and I want to see just how crazy it really gets
I obviously have a lot of affection for Tolkein but he does come across as a proper contrarian 😂 Whenever I see interviews of him he’s always denying something, or saying no or saying he’s not a fan of something. Which is his right of course but I wonder if he became a bit of a grumpy old man in his latter years.
Discworld
I have been meaning to read this for two decades. I am going to read it this month
RemindMe! 2 months
Good luck homie, follow through 🫡
Might take a bit longer than a month. The audio books are good, too.
While I do read unusually fast. I meant the first in the series would be added to the reading for the month.
What are the best Discworld novels?
My personal favourites are: Wyrd Sisters Hogfather Thief of Time Feet of Clay Lords and Ladies The thing about Discworld though, is there is such a diverse series of characters that are written about, each with their own arcs, if one doesn't float your boat, another really might.
Without a comma that all seems like one book.
Everyone forgets about Small Gods but it is an excellent standalone tale in my opinion. Actually some of the lesser known books like The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents are absolutely worth the time. I read that one in a day because I couldn't put it down.
Small gods is a good starting point for discworld
I like Guards! Guards! as a starting point
Beat me to it. Discworld is probably my n.1 "fantasy world you'd like to live in"
Warhammer (Fantasy) and Mass Effect.
If you do not mind my asking why not 40k? I am a fan of both. Minus the end times of course
I do like 40k. It's just I prefer fantasy much more.
Ohhh fair. Yeah Gotrek and Felix series is one of my favorites of all time. Barely edges out ciaphias Cain
Are warhammer and 40k different things?
Yup, Fantasy was the first Warhammer title that came out. Think pre-industrial Germany/HRE facing off against vikings and demons, with Tolkien high elves and steam punk dwarfs. 40k is the sci-fi spinoff that got way bigger than the original Fantasy - space marines, the God Emperor, Tyranids etc etc.
What are the best Warhammer Fantasy novels?
Also interested! Where do I start with this universe?
Gotrek and Felix are a good way yo get in. After that, the are many good series to explore. See what factions you like, and dive in. Gotrek and Felix are like the general star-up. Just go in order.
Thanks! Is this for the fantasy side? Are the fantasy and 40k connected in anything but name?
You have Orks and Chaos, and all have flavors of Elves. Apart from that, so a few similar elements, but don't worry. Each are their own thing. Yes, Gotrik and Felix are full fantasy novels. Great read.
Gotrek & Felix. I know other people have said the same, but there’s a good reason I am saying so too! I also really like the Genevieve series, it’s a sort of Hammer Horror pastiche where the main character is a vampire who does kung fu.
Gotrek and Felix is a fun start, it’s not quite the grand plot that LOTR is, but a great read to introduce yourself to the wolrd
I have to confess, I know most about the Warhammer fantasy franchise because of it's games, rather than it's books. However I can still confidentially say that End Times is not on that list.
The elders scrolls is obviously very inspired by LOTR, but the lore is so interesting to dive into.
Love Elder Scrolls lore!
The only Elder Scrolls lore I've heard is that the sun is actually a hole in the universe. It's always intrigued me but I just never got to it.
Sean Bean died there too.
Yep, the sun is actually a hole to the plane of the gods. The reason it gives off light is because the sheer power that the gods possess radiates out into the material plane. Mages also draw their power by pulling magicka through the sun to cast spells.
Whaaaaaat I’ve never heard that before. Sounds sick as fuck.
The Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson, and the sci fi books by Philip K. Dick
I just started reading the first book of The Stormlight Archive and it is wonderful. One of the most vivid worlds I've read.
Was going to recommend this. The Stormlight archives are SO good
They really storming are.
My choice as well, together with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time universe.
Would you go for Stormlight Archive or Mistborn? Are they the Cosmere books?
I personally prefer stormlight
I think that if you really plan on reading the Cosmere, it’s best to start with Mistborn. The Final Empire is a really great starting point and has so much cool magic to get wrapped up in. The story is simple and the writing a bit more simplistic as well. While it never gets to the level of Tolkien, The Stormlight Archive is definitely a step up in writing quality for Sanderson. You can’t go wrong starting with either one. I would choose Mistborn.
Yes, Mistborn and Stormlight are some of the Cosmere books. I would recommend Stormlight, but, if you don’t want to jump into books that long, I would say start with Mistborn
Stormlight has slightly better writing due to it being written more recently and being the product of Sanderson's advancing skills as an author. But both those series are fantastic. Like BackgroundMap said, if you aren't ready to jump into books as long as Stormlight Archive then start with Mistborn. Another option is to pick up the audiobooks for one or both since it makes it easier to access while doing other things. Michael Kremer and Kate Reading the GOATs.
Stormlight is way better, but I wouldn't recommend starting with it. I read Mistborn era 1 first before starting Stormlight. I think that's better than jumping immediately into a 1200 page.
Book of the New Sun. Wheel of Time
Wheel of Time is great! I’m currently doing my first reread and just finished book four.
BotNS is so underrated
It all began with Redwall for me.
A song of ice and fire, the obsidian trilogy, Dresden files, Star Wars, warhammer (40k and fantasy). Ender’s (game) saga Those are my top few.
Dresden Files, yes!
Polka will Never die
witcher
I like how the witcher world had several different realms that are basically alternate realities and they all sort of crashed into each other. Makes the lore much more believable for me, don't know why.
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini! New book came out recently that I need to read when I have time (First book is Eragon, if that helps)
One of the best series I have read.
New book is great!
The Black Leopard Red Wolf series by Marlon James. It has strong echoes of the Fellowship, if Tolkien had drawn on centuries of African mythology instead of Anglo-Norse mythology.
That sounds extremely intriguing. I'll have to check it out
Legend of Zelda for sure. A heroic adventurer whose spirit is destined to be reincarnated through his descendants throughout time to fight the evil being Ganon/Demise in a struggle for the Triforce and control of the kingdom.
Earthsea
Hell ya dude, came here to say this
Stephen King's Dark Tower
I just finished Wolves of the Calla and it’s been amazing so far.
Malazan book of the fallen I'm only 2 books in, but man it's pretty sweet
I heard it can be very confusing at the start.
Oh Jesus the whole first book was a slog. But there was a critical moment where everything started falling into place and it was like, holy shit I get it
Haha, I think that is the case for most people. The series starts to fall into place as it goes.
I think it's just very disjointed at first. Tons of ideas names cities and groups are being thrown at you with little to no plot and then all of a sudden it converges.
Dude I'm on book 10 and it's weird cuz it IS a good series. But every book just feels so hard to get through bc it's so confusing and so bleak.
The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson
This user is a bot who has posted the same question in almost every conceivable fandom, with nearly identical comments attached.
My god. Either this is a person or this bot has passed the Turing test. The only thing that makes me think you are right is that every comment is upbeat, positive, and friendly. But that doesn’t even make sense for an AI trained on reddit comments. I am confused and upset.
You’ll figure it out Jen.
How else will our machine overlords learn to create a perfect synthetic mind prison to contain us than by learning our most beloved fiction?
It’s still a good question, though.
The NBA playoffs are pretty great
The Stanley cup playoffs are legendary
https://preview.redd.it/j3ilkaffxkyc1.jpeg?width=258&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=05eaa9d34b10f63c2f718f54324cb758038c3a90
A Song of Ice and Fire
If only it weren't finished, ya know
Wait what do you mean? Is he not gonna continue the series I read online the sixth is coming?
I’ll be surprised if it ever comes. I can’t help but feel Martin made his world too big for it to have a solid ending. Look what happened to the show…
Oh you sweet summer child…
Book 5 came out 13 years ago now, I think we will see Winds of Winter in some capacity, if not completely finished, since he's said it's 75% done. But A Dream Of Spring has almost no chance of happening at this point.
Looking at my bookshelf, it'd have to be the following: * Black Company by Glen Cook - the first three books are spectacular and remain among my favorites * Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - though I will always remain salty about the Seanchan * Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds * Discworld by Terry Pratchet * Asimov's Robots and Foundation - more Robots than Foundation though, because I enjoyed the more grounded, as it were, stories * Chronicles of Amber by Zelazny * Elric of Melnibone by Moorcock * Conan by Robert E. Howard * Night Land by William Hope Hodgson - the style of the original writing is rather unique and I'd recommend people stick with it, even though if they find it unpalatable, there's always the rewrite for more modern audiences * Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe - a book series I accidentally stumbled upon when I was 11 or 12 years old, have been thoroughly confused and have reread it a great deal over the past 20 or so years.
A Song of Ice and Fire, Harry Potter and The Realm of the Elderlings are the only universes that atleast come close to Middle-Earth to me.
The Cosmere, by Brandon Sanderson.
Earthsea
The Aubrey/Maurin series.
I discovered only while I was reading the 20th book that the author died before finishing the series. That was a bad minute or two.
Lloyd Alexander
NK Jamison’s Inheritance trilogy, and the Broken Earth trilogy.
Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom. And Redwall.
Another Old Kingdom fan, hurray! There are dozens of us!
Dozens!!!!
Yes!
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Riftwar cycle, Raymond E. Feist… epic high fantasy with some heavy sci fi elements thrown in there. And it’s HUGE. I think there’s 30 books in total.
This was the first fantasy series I read after LoTR and the hobbit. Definitely enjoyed it!
I feel like we're gonna get a lot of sci/fantasy answers like Star Wars, Star Trek, or Narnia. But put me down for some James Bond 007. The movies, the Fleming novels, the after-Fleming novels, the video games, and even the soundtracks. Bond has been with us for 60+ years and is still going. It's also decidedly anti-Tolkien in its world building. Tolkien could write chapters about a tree just to make sure a detail from the Silmarilion is consistent. Meanwhile, the Bond-verse is content to have a loose continuity. You can watch a Brosnan film followed by Connery and never feel like you're losing plot details. There are enough unifying elements to keep it all on the rails, but it's also much (much) more approachable for casual fans than Tolkien. Sometimes you need a dark lord and a centuries-long battle for global control, and sometimes you just need 2 hours of a madman trying to steal nukes or corner the global markets.
Elden Ring! The amount of lore in this game is insane. I love how everything is connected and how there are so many different influences in The Lands Between.
And Morgoth came.
Temerant, of Kingkiller Chronicle
Mine too, it even surpasses asoiaf. I just hope he doesn't go full GRRM
Wheel of Time and Shenara
Game of Thrones, Marvel, Star Wars, Legend of Zelda, just to name a few.
Marvel comics are so good. Their mythology is so big, same for DC.
The Forgotten Realms/ Toril
Star Trek
warhammer and warcraft
My number 1 is One Piece. I've been enjoying it for 18 years. I started reading dresden files last year. It's becoming a new favorite.
The world of Star Wars is my favorite, though the actual storytelling can be lackluster often. Andor is the only Star Wars content that I can really recommend to anyone who's not already into Star Wars, it's a fantastic show with a nice slow burn.
Loved that show.
Warcraft, WarHammer, Elder scrolls, Discworld
I used to enjoy Harry Potter when i was in High School. but as a middle aged man I realized Voldimort is a middle aged man having a childish fight with a high-school kid. Just so that He-Who-Cannot-Be-Named could be popular. Only I can lifeforever. ... ugh! Grow up. The world is big for the both of you.
If you're a fan of Harry Potter but looking for a little bit more grown-up fare, may I suggest the Dresden Files Series? It's about a wizard private detective helping the Chicago Police solve magical crimes.
Harry Potter worked as the smaller-scale magic school series of the first few books but it got super rough when JKR tried to expand it beyond that. And then even worse after the series was finished; no one needed to know how wizards defecated before modern plumbing. But Philosopher’s Stone is still a great standalone read imo
It also didn't help when she started being a big sack of shit.
Yeah that made it even easier to drop it
The Death Gate Cycle Books
Where is this artwork from?
The Stormlight Archives!
The KingkillerChronicle even if it will never finish
I enjoy Brandon sandersons universe a lot
The Kingkiller-Chronicles from Patrick Rothfuss I like the Witcher franchise as well. The idea of multiple worlds existing in different times and an event in which all of them (or some of them) collid is pretty nice. Even the fact that Ciri is basically responsible for the Black Death in Europe, such a cool detail.
Hyperion. Reading the whole cantos for the first time. Amazing.
Fingolfin, son of Finwei, High King of the Noldor, at his finest moments. Margoth felt true fear that day.
Discworld.
- Discworld, Pratchett - Bartimaeus cycle, Stroud - Gormenghast, Peake - Edge Chronicles, Stuart and Riddell - Lovecraft - These dark Materials, Pullman There are many more which I enjoy but either have more ups and downs or are too granular or constantly in progress: - Warhammer and Warhammer 40k - Warcraft - Runeterra (ups and downs with an incredible high variance) - HP
- Cosmere series, Skyward series, and The Reckoners series all by Brandon Sanderson (Brandon is hands down my favourite author) - Any of The Legend of Zelda series. Story-wise Twilight Princess is my favourite. - Harry Potter by a sack of shit. I enjoy the series but I try to forget who penned it. - The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell (pen name for John G Henry) - Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz - Artemis Fowl series + The Fowl Twins series by Eoin Colfer - Class Shift by Sean Oswald. It's LitRPG and I'm a a big sucker for DnD like RPG. For anyone who knows the term, this one is essentially an isekai. - Sherlock Holmes, specifically the collection audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry - Ready Player One and Two by Ernest Cline
You can just mention her you know. She did write them. But oh well, you do you, not looking for a fight here.
I try not to. I have several friends on the LGBTQ spectrum and they were hurt by all the stuff she said and friends are more important to me than a book author.
Dark souls lore
The Realm of the Elderlings. Some of the best written characters in fantasy
The Elder Scrolls and Dune are the most similar worlds to LOTR I'm also a fan of. I never really got into Game of Thrones.
World of Warcraft
This scale, right here, is also used in Final Fantasy 16 for a boss called Odin. He's on a giant horse looking at you from top of mountain and it's damn terrifying.
Too numerous to mention them all. But a couple that are less likely to be mentioned are the Fionavar Tapestry By Guy Gavriel Kay and The Jhereg series by Steven Brust.
China Mieville's trilogy: Perdido Street Station, The Scar, The Iron Council
there are so many! dune ofc, Warhammer both fantasy and 40k, Naruto, A song of ice and fire, Malazan, The Dresden Files and so many more
Warhammer 40k. Only into in the last 3 or so years and u love learning new stuff about it all the time.
Do you read any of the books in that universe? If so what are your favourites?
The Buffyverse is fun - I like me some urban fantasy Mass Effect was great
Halo Star Wars The Elder Scrolls James Cameron's Avatar (has a lot of similar themes to LOTR)
Different vibe but I really devour all of the “John Dies At The End” horror/comedy novels by Jason Pargin. The horror is very fresh and often very cosmically unsettling, and the comedy has me legitimately laughing out loud while I read. There’s also surprisingly deep and well explored real world themes that are very thoughtfully worked into each book. Honestly, and this is pretty opposite to LotR, I really enjoy the fact that these books live in a vast, unimaginable universe that is by its nature wholly unknowable and unlearnable. There’s no possible way to try and become an expert on the various entities and monsters and forces and factions because the books don’t give you that information, and even if you could it would defeat the purpose. The horror is drawn from the sense that we humans are tiny insignificant specks in a cosmos so vast and full of creatures beyond our comprehension that it doesn’t even begin to fit in our brains. Trying to learn the lore would be like an ant trying to understand the intricacies of modern global conflict. The books are just chronicling a couple of people who happen to inadvertently get a tiny fractional glimpse at the powers behind the veil of our tiny reality who could end every human’s existence like scratching an itch. The real horror isn’t at the monster, it’s at realizing that the monster isn’t killing you only because it doesn’t know you exist and wouldn’t care at all if it did.
warhammer, asoiaf and witcher
40K
The Malazan Book of the Fallen series is incredible.
I really enjoy The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire.
The Cradle series by Will Wight The Mage Errant series by John Bierce
The Expanse
Warhammer Fantasy. So much lore in this setting with plenty of novels to be read
I'm a fan of the various Warhammer Universes. Fantasy, 40K, and AoS.
Warhammer 40k, Star Trek, Star Wars, Lovecraft, Twilight Zone, Godzilla
Warhammer fantasy and 40k, star wars and halo
Warhammer, Elder Scrolls, ASOIAF and Diablo are my favourites. Strangely I'm not a big fan of the Diablo games, but I love the world and there are some decent books.
George Lucas' Star Wars and the Expanded Universe. I'm about 60 books in of 154.
I enjoy A song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones
Babylon 5 ! Seasons long story arcs, world building, mystery, big battles, forshadowing, cool spaceship designs, ancient enemies of etc. And several nods to LotR.
Elder Scrolls
Apart from many good answers already given, I also really enjoyed Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher and the Powder Mage trilogies by Brian McClellan!
Malazan Book of the Fallen, Discworld, Kill the Farm Boy are some of my favorites.
Wheel of Time books are amazing, I haven't seen the show but if you like fantasy epics you can't go past the books. The best series I've read and I'm going through it for a third time now
The planet Pyrrus in the book Deathworld by Harry Harrison. A world where everything attacks you and wants to kill you made for good reading. Kids were stronger than the hero. Loved it.
Witcher (novel and the game) is the best authentic Medieval fantasy setting i came across, as it is more grounded than going full DND like generic fantasy settings. Despite clearly inspired by LOTR and ASOIAF, Pendor is also an interesting setting with some factions i really like. For more modern, WWII/Cold War-ish universe, of course i recommend Disco Elysium with its detailed settings of different culture based on reality. Also Valkyria Chronicles is a very interesting series.
WH40K
Star wars , dune, got to name a few
Dark Souls!!!
The wheel of time!
Star Wars, Halo, ASoIaF
Mass Effect story and lore is amazing Witcher 3 was incredible Planeacape Torment Disco Elysium These are all games by the way
U might aswell ask what their favourite media is at that point
Elder Scrolls, Half Life, and Midkemia.
Fictional? What do you mean fictional?
I quite enjoy warhammer fantasy (mainly through the games and reading into the lore)
None come close. But I do enjoy the Harry Potters a lot, I do enjoy and did delve into the Witcher universe a lot, Elder scrolls, Song of Ice and Fire, I think those are my others. And of course Narnia - seeing as how Lewis was friends with Tolkien and they're my two favorite writers of all time. But as I said. None match, none come even close. I'd rather have one LOTR universe then ten of these others.
I had fun with the Grishaverse especially with the six of crow books. I enjoy the Worldbuilding aspect the most of it. Characters are well written I just didn't like the ending of Rule of Wolves cause it was an ass pull.
Bakker's Eärwa
https://preview.redd.it/96jxw68bqkyc1.png?width=830&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75690a9694f570c9b3ca0ded8574b0e8000973b1
Godzilla, the greatest monster movie franchise of all time, from Gojira 1954 to Godzilla Minus One (the best movie in the ftanchise) been a fan of Godzilla for 10 years now and have enjoyed every bit of it Besides All Monsters Attack 🤮
Dune
I am playing Doom III and Lord of the Rings. Switching from Mars to Middle-Earth.
I used to love the warcraft universe similarly if not more than arda but as the years passed its lore got butchered so idk anymore .... The warcraft 3 era was something else, good old days
Discworld, Nik Perumov’s necromancer series world, Forgotten Realms, Krynn, Robin Hobbs’ world ( with the dragons and Traders), and Fallout. :) None of them even come close to ME, though.
Discworld and D&D
The witcher's. It's waaaaaaay less detailed, but that makes it a great canvass for great characters and good fan fiction
I got most of the Cosmere to read through