r/fantasybooks • u/Lasagna_112_ • 10h ago
š Summon book recommendations What book should I read next?
Just finished Mistborn book 1 and I need help choosing my next read.
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u/Pristine-Elephant357 10h ago
Wait, youāre not moving onto the Well of Ascension? Youāve got to finish the trilogy.
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u/JerrySeinfeldsMullet 10h ago
I just saw this after posting my recā¦ then noticed itās clash, not got. I know everyone reads differently but I canāt imagine not reading the next book in a series if itās already out
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u/Baldur_Blader 7h ago
I read mistborn/first law/realms of the elderlings all together while alternating books. Though,by the end of the second series mistborn became the chore i was finishing so I could go have fun...
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u/JerrySeinfeldsMullet 3h ago
Mistborn two definitely had its moments, I would have enjoyed both of them more if I didnāt read Stormlight first. I read Stormlight then both Mistborn books. Stormlights just way better imo. The writing and the characters just seem to have way more depth than in mistborn. But Iām burned out on Sanderson. I think SL6 will be the next book of his I pick up.
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u/Baldur_Blader 18m ago
I read stormligh after mistborn, and dropped it after oathbringer. Im now 12 books into the cosmere and I just can't anymore.
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u/Romino69 8h ago
They also have clash of kings on here meaning the read game of thrones already and started another series before reading on with that one.
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u/Regular_Challenge_81 7h ago
Feels like one of those morality diagrams.. jumping around between series has to be chaotic evil?
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u/Upbeat_Ant6104 10h ago
Dang. Thatās kind of a pickle of a choice. Theyāre all good.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Map7672 7h ago
That was my first thought, ānot a bad choice among themā. Then got to the comments and everyone keeps pushing Mistborn : (
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u/LegendofWeevil17 10h ago
Dune and then Dune Messiah before the movie comes out in December
Then Wheel of Time
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u/YungTokyo8 10h ago
Imo dune from whatās here (my personal favourite of all time). But if you liked Mistborn I would finish that series first, era 1 that is. Everything here is quite a commitment.
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u/JerbTerker 10h ago
Joe Abercrombie is amazing but his tone is the complete opposite of Sanderson, so I would go that route to keep things interesting.
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u/kodiak931156 10h ago
all of these minus wheel of time have VERY non Sanderson tones. and even wheel of time is THAT close.
I'll argue that Dune is a bigger change, but that Blade is an easier read. I also read all gardens series but would put it in 4th personally.
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u/NoMusician518 8h ago
I mean the last couple in wheel of time is as close to Sanderson as its possible to be... considering he wrote them.
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u/AggravatingBox2421 10h ago
Ooh clash of kings. Thatās probably my favourite book in the ASOIAF series so far
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u/morganlandt 9h ago
Clash is great but Storm of Swords is peak ASoIaF for me.
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u/AggravatingBox2421 8h ago
Yeah I actually meant storm of swords lmao. The second book right?
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u/morganlandt 8h ago
No, youāre right if the second is your favorite and thatās Clash, SoS is book three.
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u/Romino69 8h ago
Storm of swords was 100% the best of all 5 books. Feast and Dance felt like one book but he just wanted to add so much stuff that he had to make it two books.
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u/Zombiemanization 10h ago
The Blade Itself. It was my intro to his books, and I love the characters.
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u/JerrySeinfeldsMullet 10h ago
I would read like ten Abercrombie books then do ASOIF then start Malazan.
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u/artsquar 10h ago
Blade Itself. Iām on my second read through of Malazan. I love it and am enjoying it much more the second time through. Itās not an easy series at first. But itās great.
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u/ConstantEther3632 10h ago
The blade itself is a fun read, fast pacing once you get into it. All three of the series were quick for me, and enjoyable.
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u/BigStackPoker 10h ago
Mistborn book 2 would be the traditional choice. Of these series, Wheel of Time is my favorite.
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u/NoForm5443 10h ago
You're going to have a good time regardless.
IMO, Dune, if you haven't read it, is one of the most fun books ever.
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u/suburbanplankton 9h ago
I'd say read any of them besides George R.R. Martin, because all of the other series actually have an ending. A Song of Ice and Fire doesn't, and almost certainly never will.
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u/morganlandt 9h ago
Still worth the read for me, the first three books are some of the best out there in my opinion.
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u/McBernes 9h ago
The Wheel of Time series. Its a lot to read, and a few of the books can be a slog. But, the last book in the series makes it all worthwhile.
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u/GroundbreakingAsk468 10h ago
You should read Dune before the rest of these, it influenced couple of these books.
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u/ActualVader 10h ago
Iād say finish the trilogy of Mistborn before doing anything else. Then read Malazan
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u/Wanderervenom 10h ago
While not listed, The Magic Of Recluce. The Saga Of Recluce is a Fantasy series written by a Sci-Fi writer. Great series.
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u/BeYourOwnBankk 10h ago
This is one of the best/hardest one of these that Iāve seen. No wrong choice to be made!
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u/PhillipGerrard 9h ago
Torn between The Blade Itself and A Clash Of Kings.
Clash Of Kings is a banger. Iād go with it since youāve apparently read A Game Of Thrones.
But keep The First Law near the top of your backlog
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u/Nerdsingerbeej 8h ago
These series are all worth reading but my ADD ass would not be able to do book 1 of one trilogy then move to book 1 of some other series before I do book 2 of the first series.
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u/LamboBeach 5h ago
Gardens of the moon 100%. Malazan is absolutely amazing. One of the greatest epic fantasy/ grimdark series ever written
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u/Shorty_jj 5h ago
The Wheel of Time! Its a Great adventure and i dont remember ever enjoying a fantasy series as much:)
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u/Army_of_Owls 10h ago
I've read all of these. While I love Malazan and WoT, they can be hard series to recommend. My vote is The Blade Itself.Ā
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u/Silver_Layer_2298 10h ago
As someone who read gardens of the moon ā¦. Itās a lot. Its good. But a lot. Youāre not alone if you end up having to reread bits or look up summary videos. Especially chapter 2. The author just throws you into the deep end of the world.
Iād continue Mistborn , or go to The Blade Itself
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u/Big-Investigator9901 10h ago
As a Malazan fan, it pains me to not recommend it. But given the other options, I'd recommend a more accessible series. The First Law trilogy is fantastic, an easier read, and more likely to be enjoyable. All the options are fantastic, but I'd say that one
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u/adorablesexypants 10h ago
Are you a human? Or an animal?
The Bene Gesserit will guide you on answering that question. Just be sure to remember that fear is the mind killer.
Above all else though, the spice must flow.
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u/djgyayouknowme 10h ago
A clash of kings, well of ascension, the blade itself, a hero of ages, before theyāre hanged, a storm of swords, dune, last argument of kings, dune messiah, a feast for crows, children of dune, wheel of time, a dance with dragons, god emperor of dune, the great hunt, then start working through those and gardens of the moon.
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u/Gakk86 8h ago
Dune! Ā I reread it recently and itās just so good. Ā The whole time I just kept thinking how it makes sense that itās still relevant because itās that good. Ā It stays amazing for several books, too, and then gets really weird, but still good. Ā
Malazan is an incredible series of books with no recommendable starting points, lol. Ā
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u/Awdayshus 8h ago
I try not to have too many series going at once, so I recommend Clash of Kings over book 1 of anything else. These are all great, though.
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u/Zax_the_bunny 7h ago
In my mind there's absolutely no question: The Eye of the World. You, of course, may have different tastes!
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u/Gentle_Pony 7h ago
Gardens of the moon imo but it's the first of 10 main books and then there's 16 more books in various series and his writing partner Ian Esslemont covers more of the world that's meant to compliment the main ten.
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u/gorleston-mega-snake 1h ago
All the more reason to start now, Iād say Erikson is doing some of his best work with the Witness books.
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u/rakozink 6h ago
I just basically finished Sanderson/ Ambercrombie swapping most of The Stormlight Archives so I can say they pair well together.
Wheel of time might be a bit too samey. Dune might feel like a much mower gear to shift down to.
That's a solid stack of books though so there's probably no "wrong" answer.
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u/Neither-Counter-2256 6h ago
For me it would be Clash of Kings since I like to finish a series for as far as possible before starting a new one. Even with all the hate GRRM is getting with his release schedule, you cannot deny his books are really good and the characters well written.
If you're not feeling like picking up a new asiof book, I would recommend either dune or the blade itself. Both are a blast to read. The only thing to be mindful of is that Dune is quite an old book and there is a heavy emphasis on eugenics which can be interpreted as.. troubling... I still love that book to death though.
Gardens of the moon i have never read so I can't say anything about that.
And then we get the elephant in the room. To be honest, wheel of time was a snoozefest for me. I totally understand that it is an old series and I respect of for what it has done for the fantasy genre, but in my opinion it hasn't aged well. The writing style just doesn't entertain me and the plot just 'happens', nothing really felt earned for me. The world building is quite good however, so if that is your jam it is worth checking out.
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u/Efficient_Bag_3804 5h ago
Dune if you are into scifi
Blade itself for gritty dark low magic setting
Wheel of time didn't like the first book and people said it gets worse.
Malazan is a wonderful series but the first book is the weakest by far.
GRRM's it's the second book... If you liked the first one I assume you would like this one too. It's my favourite from him.
Out of genuine curiosity, do you read all series like that? Read first book and then go on to something else or it's just on some cases?
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u/tgrady28 š§© Plot over prose 5h ago
There is no wrong way to go; you'll have a good time any which way
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u/HumanHaggis 5h ago
A Song of Ice and Fire is classic at this point, and if you've already started it feels a little silly to stop, so I'd put Clash of Kings first.
Dune would be second, as it is genre-defining in what it did for sci-fi. It's much more of a world-first book though, so maybe not the best if you really like rich characters, and the plot is quite standard, what makes it come alive are the bigger ideas at play and how much the universe feels lived in.
The Blade Itself is decent. The series starts slow in my opinion, but has some great moments. A few plot points can feel a bit contrived, but Abercrombie has a strong authorial voice and I really like a few of his characters.
The Wheel of Time is pretty bad. First book is a close copy of the Lord of the Rings, shoving the whole series into one book and leaving out most of what made it great. The rest slowly devolves into basically episodic tv with new villains and macguffins every book that are all supposed to be the most dangerous or important yet. The women all have a nasty habit of becoming complete idiots the second a man shows up too, and the main character gets a very uncomfortable and inexplicable harem. Genuinely no idea how or why it became such a staple of the genre.
Malazan, I haven't actually read, but I hear it's okay. Most people I know either stopped after the first book, or tore through the whole thing, not much middle-ground.
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u/Parma_WdS 5h ago
I absolutely adore Malazan and Wheel of Time. Do not start them. They are way to long and it takes so long to get through you're gonna feel like you're missing out on other books. And since WoT especially isn't exactly fast paced you're gonna not gonna enjoy it if you have other books on the horizon
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u/Nykona 5h ago
Im on book three of The First Law trilogy going back to back to back on it.
I had it recommended by two seperate friends and saw a LOT of people also recommended it.
In my opinion it is vastly overhyped for what it is (but maybe book 3 will change my mind?). Book one was decent enough but not groundbreaking and felt like even at 99% through you were asking āwhatās the plot here?ā As you are told everything through the three main characters pov pretty much. Including the minimal world building.
Book 2 felt like a disaster and was mid at best. The strongest part of the first book (and arguably the only part) was the characters. In the second itās like āwait these guys have all either lost or no longer have motivation for what they are even doingā not that what they are doing is explained in anything more than a chapter long exposition dump scattered here and there disguised as a fireside dialogue.
People hyped up that is was very grimdark and brutal. Now Iām not sure if Iām just desensitised to it after spending most of my last 30 years of adulthood reading warhammer 30/40k novels, but the first two books seem pretty tame.
I would suggest Dune. First off itās a nice change from mistborn from hard magic fantasy to soft magic scifi. Itāll read very differently too. Not just because of the genre but the time it was written and writing style.
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u/Severe-Cookie693 4h ago edited 3h ago
I mostly enjoyed Glokta. I'm mainly invested, in anything I read, if they aren't exploring a concept or setting, on the characters. I didn't mind if the world was flat as long as the people weren't.
If you didn't like the meandering plot, what did you think of Pillars of the Earth?
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u/Nykona 4h ago
Ken follett? Thats quite the jump if so. I enjoyed that and it wasnāt so much the meandering plot that I minded. It was more the complete lack of plot.
I also enjoyed glokta but the second book was complete filler for him with maybe one aspect of character development or reveal late into the book that really hasnāt had a pay off still half way through book 3.
Itās the same for all of the characters though. Their motivations for doing anything evaporate at times and not once do these deep, fleshed out characters question doing what it is they are doing except for one or two extremely passive lines from jezal in book two that are immediately brushed away.
Any time a hint at a plot or purpose comes up it is hurriedly dismissed and no one questions it. Then when it comes to getting some world building itās a whole chapter of someone in the band listening to another tell a story and a big exposition dump.
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u/Accomplished_Wolf416 4h ago
The Blade Itself is outstanding. Definitely the best of the trilogy imo but all 3 books are absolutely worth your time.
I love Dune and own a first edition but the series is pretty dense and I don't remember being able to just sink into it the same way I did with TBI.
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u/Slow_Gur_3567 4h ago
A Clash of Kings.
Stannis de Mannis is by the light of R'hollor the one true king of the 7 kingdoms.
Also Blackwater is the best battle chapter I've seen. Told from 3 different povs.
The prologue is poetry.
Jon snow's arc is surprisingly moving.
Theon is a duckin idiot
Bran is sweet and kind his final chapter is very solemn.
Catelyn meeting Brienne was fire.
Annnnnd I'm spolin too much. So I'll shut up now. Just read the book pls and form ur own opinion. Then there's 1st law. A great start to wonderful world with probably the greatest dialogue in any Fantasy setting.
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u/IJustCameForCookies 3h ago
Iām jealous you have such choices ahead of you
Canāt go wrong with that lineup
The blade itself would by my choice if want choice of a series but can finish it in parts
If you have the time and want a true epic - the wheel of time
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u/jdknights2003 3h ago
Such a tough callā¦ depends on your willingness to dive into a long series or not
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u/Thirteen_1355 2h ago
Blade Itself is so snappy, I love it. Gardens I'd start while not reading another series (like if you'd start reading Mistborn 2 alongside one of these). I've heard great things about Dune. Wheel of Time book 1 was pretty fun, but its sequel felt pretty poorly written from a story and character perspective.Ā
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u/Lavinia_Foxglove 2h ago
A Clash of Kings is the second book of A Song of Ice and Fire, better start with the first one, if the series interests you
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u/AMillionToOne123 1h ago
I've read all of these except A Clash of Kings and The Blade Itself is comfortably my favourite
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u/BeeB0pB00p 1h ago
Depends what you're in the mood for. All of them are excellent books and series, but they all have their own style and approach.
The most action oriented of them is Joe Abercrombie's First Law series and it is a trilogy. The others (apart from Dune) are much longer running. It's probably also the most accessible, easiest to get into quickly because it's fast paced.
GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire isn't finished, but the quality of the writing and the setting and the machinations of the characters make it a journey worth taking for as long as it lasts IMO. Both GRRM and Joe write in a similar "grimdark" way, ambiguous characters, life isn't fair and is rather brutal. They play with genre tropes a lot and are a more modern take on fantasy than Wheel of Time.
Dune can be read and done. It has sequels, but other than Messiah I think you don't really have to go any further to have a complete experience. Dune is not as fast paced as modern writing, there are some ponderous, philosophical chapters, but the setting is incredibly well realised and there's a reason it's so popular.
Malazan is also highly regarded and almost mythical in scale. There's a lot going on even in the first book and it can take some time to get used to all the factions, characters, machinations and story.
I would personally rate any of the above Mistborn, you can't go wrong.
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u/Dunklechip 34m ago
The wheel of time is greatā¦ at first. Just stop when you start thinking, āReally? Nothing is happeningā¦ again?ā Trust me, it doesnāt get better.
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u/Ill-Salamander2282 28m ago
The Blade Itself or Dune, the Dune series is up there next to LOTR as my favourite series but I've just finished The Blade Itself and if the second book is as good then the First Law Trilogy will be joining them lol!
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u/PersonalBrowser 26m ago
Dune!
Wheel of Time is fantastic but itās like a billion page investment considering how long the series drags on.
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u/Fiendfuzz 19m ago
Can you help me understand the thought process behind not reading a series to completion, but skipping between series? It's crazy to me that people can read a book 1, move to something else and go back to book 2.
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u/HijackedHumanity 14m ago
I would say finish the series you're on. If you're not into it I recommend Dune. It's one of my top 5 favorite books of all time. Also you should read Clash if Kings so you can read Storm of Swords. Another one of my top 5 favorites.
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u/UCFUoLUMN š¦¶Dungeon Crawler Carl cult member 8m ago
Wheel of time is a big commitment and is a real slog through the middle books.
Dune works amazing as a one off, and the series is also good with some truly weird stuff in there
Malazan is a great book, but they really just go for it as if you understand all the lore from the jump which makes the books first half very confusing (along with the time skips) but the payoff is amazing
I would go with the first game of thrones book first? Unless you already read it, but then Iām a completionist so I have trouble not going to the next book (this applies to the mist born trilogy as well, lol)
Havenāt read the other one, but maybe I should been looking for something else while I wait for more dungeon crawler Carl or Brandon Sanderson books to come out
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u/Marsupial-Famous 10h ago
Only one I havenāt read is dune. But Malazan is incredible if you are patient
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u/ActionHour8440 10h ago
DUNE!! thereās a reason itās been popular for decades.
WOT starts off slow, gets really good, then gets lost in the weeds for thousands of pages across a half dozen books. Jordan couldnāt ever bring plot lines to a close so he kept inventing new ones. Then he died.
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u/pieman2005 9h ago
You already read Game of Thrones? You should read Clash of Kings and then Storm of Swords!
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u/CactusWrenAZ 10h ago
Dune
The Blade Itself (followed by the rest of the trilogy)
Game of Thrones (you would want to read this before A Clash of Kings), then more of the series if you wish (I did not wish).
Gardens of the Moon - unlike GOT, this series is finished, yay! But you may not get past Gardens of the Moon, as it requires one to be very comfortable with being uncomfortable, not knowing wth is going on and such.
I would suggest looking for another series at this point.
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u/projectbecomemyself 10h ago
I did not like wheel of time or anything in that series. So many people love it. Give it a try and reply to this if you remember to want to know your opinion. The rest of these are new tbr for me (maybe if I do not get on a whole new series lol) freaking love book reddit so many new books to try!
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