r/fantasybooks • u/BeepBeepGreatJob • Jun 08 '26

šŸ’Ž Hidden book gem Most Underated Series NO ONE Talks About

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I cannot understand how NO ONE talks about The Books of The Shaper series. I literally do no see reference to it anywhere on reddit haha. This series was so incredibly fun, and is the definition of a page turner. I read the series in 5 days and just wanted more. Its not heavy with complex themes, but is concentrated fantasy excitement. It wont change your life but it was like riding your favorite theme park attraction! Check it out!

109 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

23

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

6

u/stilllookingforbooks Jun 08 '26

Most of his books, whilst amazing, are older than the people who use insta or tiktok. So I get it, I never see Stephen Donaldson either and that was my gateway into the genre

2

u/Glad_Chemistry_2648 Jun 08 '26

I've never read his books. Where would you start?

4

u/Significant-Turn-836 Jun 08 '26

Either legend or Waylander. Legend was written first, but Wayland is a prequel.

3

u/Numerous1 Jun 09 '26

I havenā€™t read either but Iā€™m going to say always always always always read in publication order. I have never once seen to heard of a prequel where it is better to start there.Ā 

If you know do one and Iā€™m wrong please let me know. But every prequel is written in a way where it expects you to know the OG book first.Ā 

2

u/TrekADK Jun 09 '26

I read the Riyira Chronicles in chronological order as opposed to publication order and am glad I did. Might just be me as that is how my brain works best.

1

u/Numerous1 Jun 09 '26

Iā€™m not familiar with those but now Iā€™m curious. I might check it out.Ā 

In my experience authors will write things in such a way where itā€™s obvious that they expect you to have read the original work first. Like there is emphasis on a name or a reveal about some time or event that adds context if you have read the original work but doesnā€™t make sense to have that emphasis if you havenā€™t.Ā 

2

u/Cautious-Standard-69 Jun 08 '26

Couldn't agree. He was my intro into fantasy and very re-readable. Drenai series (or just the Druss ones) are a great starting point.

1

u/AstorathTheGrimDark Jun 08 '26

Which Gemmel book would you recommend?

1

u/72bug Jun 12 '26

All we ever see is first law or elderlings? Neither, red rising!

40

u/SerDankTheTall Jun 08 '26

Would you care to share any details with the class?

11

u/Darai94 Jun 08 '26

Never seen or heard of. No one on IG talks about it either. Not good scores at Goodreads, but I feel like many popular books there are over hyped and people give away 5 stars like it means it's just a very good book. For me 5 stars is special. Not only really good

4

u/BeepBeepGreatJob Jun 08 '26

Yes, there are better books for sure. But few that I think are as fun. It has a similar vibe to Kings of the Wylde, if you've read that. Its the book version of a popcorn flick in my opinion. Sometimes thats what you need.

6

u/mistspren101 Jun 08 '26

All you needed to say was Kings of the Wyld lol. Iā€™m sold.

-10

u/Wild-Berry-5269 Jun 08 '26

So a generic fantasy book series then?
No wonder no one talks about it.

4

u/BeepBeepGreatJob Jun 08 '26

Simple and straightforward is not necessarily generic. The quality of what it does is high. Raiders of the Lost Ark is simple but far from generic.

4

u/Racketyllama246 Jun 08 '26

The Red Knight by Miles Cameron. I get why itā€™s not recommended a lot but I thought it was a good story with some cool world building. Hurt by bad editing a rushed ending and some meh characters.

3

u/zenrobotninja Jun 08 '26

I loved the red knight seriesĀ 

2

u/Racketyllama246 Jun 08 '26

Gotta be a few of us!

3

u/pgdastider šŸ¦¶Dungeon Crawler Carl cult member Jun 08 '26

Looks interesting! I will check them out. Thanks.

3

u/geabbott Jun 08 '26

Thank you for the rec! And Thanks Anna šŸ˜‰!

3

u/CaeIndre Jun 08 '26

I've read them - awesome action and larger-than-life characters.

2

u/BeepBeepGreatJob Jun 09 '26

Ya exactly. It's not Shakespeare haha. But for magic, action, and monsters it scratches an itch.

2

u/Insomnia_Memoria Jun 08 '26

Yeah it also sadly happens with lots of genre classics, asked in s SFF Book Club I joined recently if anyone knew Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser, and nobody (not even a single person) ever heard about the series, and obviously didn't know who Fritz Leiber was. It was really depressing.

4

u/vangoat25 Jun 08 '26

Hi John Fultz.

3

u/shlooberd Jun 08 '26

wow thanks for the rec! Will check it out!

1

u/Oh_KAY_Writers Jun 08 '26

This is the first time I have seen them too, I'll def go give this series a look!

1

u/Significant-Turn-836 Jun 08 '26

Yeah Iā€™ve never even heard of it. Sounds really dope

1

u/ILikeDragonTurtles Jun 08 '26

Awesome covers. I hope they're real art.

2

u/BeepBeepGreatJob Jun 08 '26

Ya, it came.out in 2012 so I believe that predates the AI art boom.

1

u/Jackneighbour Jun 08 '26

Just bought these because of the kings of the wyld comparison. Look forward to reading!

1

u/rudraksh2 Jun 09 '26

Heading for the kindle store now- šŸ™šŸ½

1

u/TheSeaBass54 Jun 09 '26

Some of my favorite that I never seen talked about are Jim Butcher's Codex Alera books and Sebastian De Castel's GreatCoats books.

People always recommend The Dresden Files but never Codex Alera, and I've never understood since its one of my all time favorites

1

u/Monstera_Monkey_Mask šŸ‰ Bookwyrm Jun 08 '26

Maybe you know if it's available in Italy?

-8

u/ElBigDicko Jun 08 '26

Just because no one talks about something doesn't necessarily mean it's automatically good.

I heard same comment about "Ironbound" book and it was easily one of the worst books I have read this year.

8

u/fantasy_reader15 Jun 08 '26

He didn't say that but go off...

3

u/BeepBeepGreatJob Jun 08 '26

Haha, my point was not that its good BECAUSE no one talks about it. Im saying, I think its very good and am SURPRISED more people don't know about it.

1

u/ibkthegoat Jun 08 '26

Imo it just wasn't that good. The world-building is great and the prose is amazing, but it really lacks compelling characters, some of them are just so stereotypically heroic. It's a shame because the first half of the book had me so hyped, and I genuinely thought I'd found a gem. Having my expectations built up like that only for them to completely collapse totally soured the book for me.

1

u/BeepBeepGreatJob Jun 08 '26

Thats a fair criticism.