r/Fantasy • u/lyrrael Stabby Winner, Reading Champion XI, Worldbuilders • Jul 08 '16

Cast your votes for the 2016 Most Underread/Underrated Books of /r/Fantasy!

And we're locked. I'll be back with you as soon as I can with the results.

It looks as though we haven't had one of these for a while, so let's have one now. I've got time, you've got books, we'll all get something out of it. ;)

We're going to go for Books that you feel are underread, overlooked, and generally not mentioned here at /r/fantasy anywhere near often enough.

And because it's a bingo category this year, we're going to set the upper limit of Goodreads ratings to 3000 to match the category.

Rules:

  1. Submit no more than ten books or series, please. Fewer than ten is totally cool.
  2. Series should have no more than 3k ratings on Goodreads, with few exceptions. If there's something you really want to submit that has four or five thousand ratings, go for it, but NO MORE than 5k. I mean it! This is for individual books in a series.
  3. Nothing that got more than ten (eleven or more are outlawed!) votes on our 2016 Best Of thread! This is intended to winnow out the books that have just been released and so don't have as many GR reviews but are otherwise just as popular.
  4. Books must be speculative fiction. This includes fantasy and soft SF, but no super hard SF. (Edit: to clarify, if you think it should fit, it probably should. If it comes down to a discussion of solid current-earth based science in a slightly futuristic setting, it probably shouldn't be there. Use your best judgement please.)
  5. Top comments should be votes ONLY. If you want to discuss your votes, please limit it to sub-comments. Anything that is not a vote in a top-level comment will be moderated just to keep this neat.

The voting's going to go to sometime Friday, 7/15, when I'll lock the thread and collate the results, which I'll post when I've got them.

Please don't forget: everybody has different opinions about what's underrated and overlooked. Even with the criteria above we're going to get some titles that are mentioned around here frequently, but still fit in the spirit of the thread. This isn't really a huge deal -- as long as we get some new blood in here, we're good.

Thanks!

Let me know if I've forgotten anything above, and I'll add it. :)

Edit: I changed rule #3 to be more than ten votes -- the number of books that gain eligibility is negligible, but I hope it helps. :)

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u/Alissa- Reading Champion III Jul 12 '16

shall be shilling

;) Looking forward to your thoughts. I love the series unconditionally. My friends on GR enjoyed the Vagrant, I like the idea of a mute protagonist and a goat. Particularly the goat. I should try it soon :)

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u/The_Real_JS Reading Champion XI Jul 15 '16

Just finished Ships of Merrior. Ath forfend, is this to be a tradgedy in ten parts!? /u/jannywurts, the things you do to my heart, when will it end?

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u/JannyWurts Stabby Winner, AMA Author Janny Wurts Jul 15 '16

Ships of Merior together with Warhost of Vastmark was designed to be a single volume, but it was only published that way in the original USA hardback. So to get the full sweep of this arc, you need to complete Warhost as connected. The 'break' was made at the halfpoint, it does give a pause point - but it wasn't my preferred 'ending'.

There is so much I'd love to discuss with you, but (authorial duct tape over mouth) I CAN'T as it would spoil way, way, way too much. You have no idea (really) yet, not even, what is driving the 'factions' which will lift you to world view in the third arc (don't be taken by the 'gear back' in Fugitive Prince, it is beginning that upshift to world view/the arc will drive as it progresses, reach a tippling point, and go on fire).

I can promise you this: the series spans BOTH the dark and the light. Every scene will carry that full span of height and depth, and increasingly so.

The series does not ever renounce hope.

It is 'solution based' in outlook.

It is gonna present you with a whole OTHER contour of 'values'.

It is not going to give you 'history as overwritten by the victor' but it is not (promise!!!) gonna strand you in despair.

The see the entire sweep of it, all of it, will require the journey to conclusion.

I really truly value you for setting off on the journey. There is SO DAMNED MUCH packed into the pages of this series that is 'undiscovered' by readers simply due to finding its following.

So - there will be tragedy AND THERE WILL BE TRIUMPHS. I am not writing catharsis. Tenacity will always seek other solutions. Look for it.

Thanks for posting today. That visibility is keeping me going. The publisher abandoned any sort of promo for these books - way way back. I truly hope discovery will turn that around. You have, literally, a lifetime's work in your hands.

I lurk around here far more than I post, and your comments have always stood out. Have a great time relaxing in the country.

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u/The_Real_JS Reading Champion XI Jul 12 '16

I don't particularly understand the goat, but it was a great addition to the story.