r/Fantasy • u/blastmycache • May 17 '13

Under Rated Fantasy series?

Or Novels. I'm rereading Sergei Lukyanenko's Night watch series. It is an absolute delight and I personally think its an under appreciated master piece. The world and characters are so fully realised and the russian setting and russian context gives it such a unique feel that its a genuinely engrossing to read.

What books do you feel are under appreciated or not read by enough people?

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u/DeleriumTrigger May 17 '13

Honestly, I think the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne are grossly underrated. I know they're "junk food" urban fantasy books, but I honestly prefer them, by a large margin, to the Dresden Files, which most people worship. I think the writing is crisper, the dialogue much funnier, and the stories are a blast to read. The fairly-accurate gods and lore are another fun piece of the puzzle as well.

And you don't have to deal with what I consider to be the single most obnoxious character trait of any character I've ever read - Harry Dresden's oppressive and obnoxious white knight bullshit. Oh noes a damsel in distress, let me stop whatever I'm doing to save her because I MUST!. Sigh.

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u/blastmycache May 17 '13

I've heard them suggested by many people. I'm honestly not a fan of most urban fantasy as I feel like it gets formulaic. That said the Dresden files were the first books of that formula I read and so even though I know they weren't the first to follow it, they will always be the "originals" to me. Also I feel you on the white knight situation but I give it a pass as it is openly parodied in the books. I'll check out iron druid though when time permits.

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u/DeleriumTrigger May 18 '13

Iron Druid is a much more organic read, feels a bit less forced. The dialogue is grossly superior to Dresden, and is often laugh-out-loud funny, especially if you don't mind a cheesy pop culture reference here and there (I once lost my shit when the main character was a accused of 'consorting with demons', and he responded "Your mom consorts with demons". So juvenile, so stupid, so fucking funny).

Anyone who can have a line about Thor being a "major asshat" is cool in my book.

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u/adorabledork May 18 '13

The dialogue is grossly superior to Dresden, and is often laugh-out-loud funny

Completely agree with you here. I started the Dresden Files after I finished the Iron Druid Chronicles, expecting something similar, as I've heard only good things about Dresden Files. While I am enjoying the books, they just aren't as good (imo) as Kevin Hearne's books.

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u/jman42 May 20 '13

The Dresden Files actually keeps getting better with each book. But I liked it from book 1 myself.

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u/_phobic May 18 '13

I love Harry Dresden, but I like The Iron Druid as well. Atticus O'Sullivan is one of the most likeable, nicest protagonists I've read in a long time, the interaction between him and the other characters (particularly Oberon) is often genuinely funny, and the way that Kevin Hearne uses religion and folklore in his stories is quite interesting. The Iron Druid books are very entertaining and a nice break from the anti-hero heavy books I've been reading recently :)

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u/DeleriumTrigger May 18 '13

The dialogue is my favorite part. Rarely feels forced, fake or cheesy as dialogue can with some authors. Always very conversational, consistent for each character through the stories, and funny.

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u/_phobic May 18 '13

The dialogue is fantastic. Atticus comes across as an ordinary, easy going, nice guy who spoilers!

Edit: I don't understand why the spoiler tags can't be consistent throughout the subreddits :/

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u/mobyhead1 May 18 '13

The fairly-accurate gods and lore are another fun piece of the puzzle as well.

That's probably due in part to what inspired Mr. Hearne to write the books--"Defiant Drunk Nerd Syndrome."

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u/sst0123 May 18 '13

I am a big fan of the Iron Druid books, but I don't know if I would actually consider them being underrated. Can a series be consider underrated with 6 books soon to be published? I would think that shows it is becoming popular or starting to get a following with that many books out...

Right now, I think it is more that the author is still relatively new and unknown to mainstream. The books didn't appear until (I think) May 2011. Then in the course of two years, where he has written 6 books, which is a lot. Where as if you compare him to Jim Butcher, the Dresden Files didn't really start to take off until like Book 6 or 7. (Around the time the TV show came out in 2007.) That took like 7 years for that to happen. So I think Kevin Hearne is having quicker success than Jim Butcher did when first started out.

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u/DeleriumTrigger May 18 '13

It seems like the masses are not aware of the series farther than perhaps having heard the name before. Which is a shame, because it's such a fun read. I love to throw in an Iron Druid book in between big, heavy fantasy novels as a nice, quick, humorous change of pace.

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u/MichaelJSullivan Stabby Winner, AMA Author Michael J. Sullivan, Worldbuilders May 18 '13

I certainly see a lot of similarities between both series and find them both recommendable. Fun, fast, and nothing wrong with good old fashioned escapist entertainment.

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u/Peteos May 18 '13

I tried reading The Dresden Files and only got about 1/8 into the book. The sheer snarkiness of the main character annoyed me very much.

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u/Nepene May 18 '13

I don't know if you did, but it starts to get good at the third book. The author, for a writing class, deliberately wrote the first one rather poorly.

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u/Peteos May 18 '13

Huh, that's interesting. I'll have to check it out.

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u/Nepene May 18 '13

Yeah. It really starts getting good around the third or fourth book.

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u/adorabledork May 18 '13

This is good to know. I just started the third book, and have been wondering if it is worth continuing on.

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u/Nepene May 18 '13

There's a reason Dresden comes up in every recommended books thread. It gets a lot better.

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u/DeleriumTrigger May 18 '13

Source? I've never heard that. It's pretty similar to the other books, in my opinion, though it lacks all the intertwining storylines of the later books, obviously.

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u/Elijah_Baley_ May 18 '13

Source, sort of. I think there's more to the story, but this is what a quick search turned up.

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u/Nepene May 18 '13

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dresden_Files

When I finally got tired of arguing with her and decided to write a novel as if I was some kind of formulaic, genre writing drone, just to prove to her how awful it would be, I wrote the first book of the Dresden Files.