Book recommendation: Fantasy with magical focus

[Blaight]

Hi,

I am looking for new stuff to read but its pretty hard to filter the huge amount of fantasy "literature" to get the really cool authors.

I like fantasy is putting a major focus on magic systems and how it shapes the world in its total appearence. Very good authors, in my view, are Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Brent Weeks and also Patrick Rothfuss. In my youth Tamora Pierce has been influencing me intensely.

I do not like for example GoT, since in my opinion it is mainly like a historical novel, not fantasy how I like to read it. I also wasnt a big fan of Wheel of Time, since it felt too much of a Tolkien ripoff and was also pretty slow. Also stopped readung Sword of Truth. It was just really sadistic and character didnt seem to develope at all. That is the next thing important to me. I want to be able to understand the character's intentions. I want them to seem real. Joe Abercrombie writes so nihilistic that I cannot really enjoy following his protagonists.

Do you have any suggestions which might fit to my "needs"?
Best,
Jan

 

[Jaigon]

I'm kind of the opposite... I find too magic heavy distracts me from the story. Sanderson is one of the few authors I've read that's magic heavy without seeming "overdone."

Raymond E. Fiest has written some really good ones. The book Magician really was one of my favorites when I was younger.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay is moderately heavy on the magic, but it really shapes the story. Most of his books are very low on magic, but this one is an exception

Piers Anthony has written a few books set in fantastical worlds with magic. He tends to mix sci-fi and fantasy together- not sure if that is something that bothers you...

 

[bard`s song]

Hi,

I am looking for new stuff to read but its pretty hard to filter the huge amount of fantasy "literature" to get the really cool authors.

I like fantasy is putting a major focus on magic systems and how it shapes the world in its total appearence. Very good authors, in my view, are Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Brent Weeks and also Patrick Rothfuss. In my youth Tamora Pierce has been influencing me intensely.

I do not like for example GoT, since in my opinion it is mainly like a historical novel, not fantasy how I like to read it. I also wasnt a big fan of Wheel of Time, since it felt too much of a Tolkien ripoff and was also pretty slow. Also stopped readung Sword of Truth. It was just really sadistic and character didnt seem to develope at all. That is the next thing important to me. I want to be able to understand the character's intentions. I want them to seem real. Joe Abercrombie writes so nihilistic that I cannot really enjoy following his protagonists.

Do you have any suggestions which might fit to my "needs"?
Best,
Jan

Try:

Elspeth Cooper - Wildhunt Quartet (Starting with "Songs of the Earth")
David Hair - Moontide Quartet (Starting with "Mage`s Blood")

 

[Blaight]

Thanks, I'll check those out asap!

 

[Kazaxat]

You might try Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Certainly full of it's own complex magic system and set on an epic scale. Though fair warning, book 1 of the series (Gardens of the Moon) can be a bit hard to get into, as it was written years before the rest and his style hadn't seemed to fully develop yet. If you even kind of like it try moving on to book 2 before dropping the series.

 

[Spears&Buckler]

Have you tried R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy? It surely has some nihilistic tendencies, which I saw you didn't care for In Joe Abercrombie's work, but if you like the magic aspect in what you read, Bakker has a really cool magic system. There are different schools for different types of sorcery, and the way the sorcery is performed is different for each school. Excellent stuff besides the sorcery as well.

 

[chris777]

Hi,

I am looking for new stuff to read but its pretty hard to filter the huge amount of fantasy "literature" to get the really cool authors.

I like fantasy is putting a major focus on magic systems and how it shapes the world in its total appearence. Very good authors, in my view, are Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Brent Weeks and also Patrick Rothfuss. In my youth Tamora Pierce has been influencing me intensely.

I do not like for example GoT, since in my opinion it is mainly like a historical novel, not fantasy how I like to read it. I also wasnt a big fan of Wheel of Time, since it felt too much of a Tolkien ripoff and was also pretty slow. Also stopped readung Sword of Truth. It was just really sadistic and character didnt seem to develope at all. That is the next thing important to me. I want to be able to understand the character's intentions. I want them to seem real. Joe Abercrombie writes so nihilistic that I cannot really enjoy following his protagonists.

Do you have any suggestions which might fit to my "needs"?
Best,
Jan

I'm in your boat, I love magic heavy fantasy. I can't stand it if there isn't. ASOIAF was my exception though. I completely agree, it's barely fantasy. But there are several fantastical elements that keep me intrigued, plus the writing is superb. Joe Abercrombie is my favorite author, so I also cannot agree with you there. I very much like the gritty grimdark stuff though. I also loved Wheel of Time! Sword of Truth I never tried for the same reasons you mention. It doesn't look like very high quality fantasy. On a similar note though, I have loved everything Sanderson has done. Rothfuss is amazing. Weeks writes very fun novels too!

Here are my recommendations:

Magic Ranking 1-10 (How much magic is a part of the universe and how much it's talked about, screen time.)

• Rift War Saga - Raymond E Feist Magic ranking: 8
  Another great classic. Though I feel this one may not hold up that well to the test of time. Most read it first or when they were younger and loved it. Unsure if you would still continue to love it. It was one of my first reads in fantasy and quickly became a favorite. Read at least the first book(Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master), and finish the Saga. Nobody would fault you to stop there.
  
  
• Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson Magic ranking: 9
  Some of the most epic fantasy writing you will read. The scope is masterful, near genius level. The characters are larger than life. One of the deepest, darkest, most confusing (in a good way) series you can read. Nobody should call themselves a fantasy reader if they haven’t at least read book 1 and 2. If you still don’t like it after book2, I wouldn’t fault you for stopping.
  
  
• Prince of Nothing - R. Scott Bakker Magic ranking: 6
  Another dark, deep, philosophical reads similar to Malazan. But that’s pretty much where it ends. This is not nearly as confusing. Plot lines are linear. It’s a great series. It is part of the series “The Second Apocalypse”. And another trilogy “Aspect-Emperor” follows this one.
  
  
• Acts of Caine - Mathew Stover Magic ranking: 6.5
  Great read. The first book, Heroes Die, is probably the best single book I’ve read. Unfortunately the rest don’t quit live up, but they are still as good. One issue is that each book(4book series) feels completely different than the last. A total different style. It works though, and is worth your time.
  
  
• Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook Magic ranking: 7.5
  This was the inspiration book for Malazan. Instead of spanning so many POVs, you stick with one major group, only a couple POVs. Lots of magical battles.
  
  
• Death Gate Cycle - Weis & Hickman Magic ranking: 9
  One that I don't normally recommend, but it's one of the most magic intensive books I've read. Though it was long ago that I read it. It's kind of a simple story like feists, maybe more "plain" than the new authors. But worth a try if you like magic heavy.

 

[AmethystOrator]

There's a trilogy from the 80's, oop and to the best of my knowledge not available on ebook or audio, by an author called Lyndon Hardy that would be great to check out if you can find it. The books are called Master of the Five Magics, Secret of the Sixth Magic and Riddle of the Seven Realms . It's all about magic and studying it, moreso than any author I've read, including Sanderson. It's probably the absolute most perfect series for you.

Some good recs. have already been mentioned, but since you like Butcher, then a couple of other UF that also do a good job of explaining and defining the magic would be, imo, the Felix Castor series by Mike Carey, the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka and the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. The first two especially have no sex or romance, and the third one not a lot, in case you are concerned about too much of those in that genre (some readers are).

 

[Contrarius]

There's a trilogy from the 80's, oop and to the best of my knowledge not available on ebook or audio, by an author called Lyndon Hardy that would be great to check out if you can find it.

These are all available for about a penny, used, on Amazon.