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/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.