I loved Jade City but Jade War and Jade Legacy went so above and beyond my expectations that even now, one year later I still can't stop thinking about them. I 100% agree with SA Chakraborty's blurb on Jade Legacy when she said "The green bone saga is the best fantasy series I've read this decade"
Fitz and the Fool are two of my favorite book characters, and Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors. So much so that I also have books that she wrote under the pen name of Megan Lindholm: Harpy's Flight, Wizard of the Pigeons, and Cloven Hooves.
There is a certain cozyness to the First Law books. They don't really try and pull your pants down when you're not looking - it lets you know it's a dark, brooding world and you get a dark, brooding experience, yet the characters rarely sit down and cry about it, since they are expecting it as much as we, the readers are, so they just sort of poke fun at the banality of it. Which is comforting to read when we live in a chaotic world of uncertainty ourselves. Maybe I would make an exception for some parts of Best Served Cold, Red Country and basically the entirety of Wisdom, though. That last one is just a rollercoaster that only goes down until it crashes hahaha.
Patrick Rothfuss's prose is considered flowery? I just finished the Name of the Wind and I picked up The Wise Man's Fear right away. The prose feels smooth, seamless to me. It never calls attention to itself. Again, to me
@@Steve_Stowers I only noticed it was easy to go through, which is always a plus. But there's no string of adjectives, no paragraph after paragraph of descriptions, no over-elaborated metaphors... I identified "flowery" with that sort of thing. Maybe there's a distinction between flowery and purple prose?
A big YES to everything you said about the Strange the Dreamer duology!! One of the many things I love about it is that it's a story about peacemaking rather than war making. (It's my #2 fantasy series after The First Law.)
I found your side-comment regarding Wuthering Heights interesting. Introduced to this as a compulsory read in uni, this quickly (and surprisingly, to me at the time) became an all-time fave. Upon a recent re-read I came to a similar conclusion that it isn’t really a ‘romance’ in a traditional sense. In fact I’ll go a bit further and posit that this book and author collectively may be The Godmother of Grimdark. Hear me out. Pretty much every character is painted with a morally grey brush and very difficult to like. No one seems to have purely altruistic motives. Almost everyone dies (oops, spoiler 🙊), and often in abrupt and/or ugly ways. And yet. The story is so compelling. The dark motivations and unhealthy obsessions of the main characters ring so true from a dark point of view of human nature. Words in lieu of swords. A ghost instead of a torture dwarf. The moors versus Westeros. Even so, I humbly suggest that Martin, Abercrombie et al owe at least a tip of the hat to the brilliant Ms. Brontë. #justsayin.
First off, really love your channel and your honest reviews (came for the Rings of Power roasts, stayed for the genuinely valuable literary critiques). Having watched your video on Babel, I would be interested to know your thoughts specifically on the magic system of Jade City. I liked Jade City, ish, but wanted to like it more. It fell a bit flat for me though for the same reasons as you outlined with Babel’s magic system. Namely, that the magic felt irrelevant. The characters acted exactly as any character in a martial arts movie ever does (faster, stronger, badder), except it was ‘jade’ that was the reason. And the history of the island was no different than any guerilla campaign to eject a foreign invader. The jade didn’t seem to have any real effect on the world, besides, ‘isn’t it cool?’ Also, is it not problematic that anytime someone defeats an enemy, they take their jade. But then every person has a jade ‘limit’ past which the jade will damage them? Seems like a problematic tradition to have…
I’m currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, which I was hesitant to start precisely because it’s an unfinished series, but I’m so glad I got over myself hahaha it’s so fun! ❤️The Name of the Wind is next on my list!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 This was a great video! Most of the books are either on my Want to Read list or I’ve read and loved 😍
Love The Secret History! Jade City, Six of Crows, First Law, and Strange the Dreamer have been on my TBR Also I've really been wondering how we decide what is YA and what is Adult Fantasy. I wrote a novel with a teenage protagonist and people who have read it assume it's YA but then I've had others tell me the language doesn't totally fit with YA so I have no idea what to classify it as because I'm getting such mixed messages. I mainly feel like I need to figure out the specific genre because I'm querying lol. (maybe this is something you talked about in another video but if not I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts)
I was watching your video, and was writing the below comment and went to look up Auri's name. Then OMG I saw the third book comes out on 11/14/2023! What is your feelings on the third Novela The Slow Regard of Silent Things? Yes it's strange, but so is Auri. She's broken, but kind and gentle. She's a fascinating character.
I'm a fan of all those books, except The Secret History. My thought that it dragged a bit, like I think it would have been better if it was a hundred pages shorter. Maybe I need to give it another try, it's been almost seven years, and you showing The Name of the Wind reminds me I want to get the 10th anniversary edition, even though the cover's not as nice
Have you read Possession by A.S. Byatt? It features a similarly velvety veering on pretentious writing style like Donna Tartt with a fun literary mystery subplot.
See, and this is why I trust your recs blindly. Aside from The Secret History, these are all books I either really enjoyed or straight-up adored, so I loooove seeing you give them the recognition they deserve. Gosh, I really want to re-read a bunch of these now, especially Gentleman Bastards, Strange the Dreamer and Red Rising!!
I dnf'ed Red Rising but so many people say it gets way better after, so I might just check out the audio version of RR from the library to play in the background to get through it and then jump on Golden Son.
If you've already addressed this in a video, I'm rather new here, so blame that 😅 You should make a video discussing your favorite dark fantasy novels!
I was wondering where First Law was😂. As for Jade City, there's a few other series that have this 'modern' secondary Fantasy world (Divine Cities by Andrew Jackson Bennet and The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone) and I'm really getting into them. Oh and after finishing a Second Apocalypse book, I read a First Law book because the former series is so bleak, it makes Abercrombie feel comforting. So I get what you mean 😅
I find that we have a lot in common in what we like (though I haven't read Abercrombie) , but...I will try the sequel in a couple of months after my burning hatred for Red Rising dies down. I stopped to think several times that maybe I had the wrong book cause there's no way people love this. I will go on at least to Goldenson cause of course I own all five because that's a lesson I can't Learn.
In the video, Liene says yes: it's worth reading even if it never gets an ending. I sort of agree, but I also think there are plenty of things that really do need a satisfying resolution.
@@Steve_Stowers I know, the journey is often more important than its ending. And maybe the writing is great. But I don't want to be left in the unknown, craving answers and not having closure.
You’ve convinced me to read First Law. Idk when I’m gonna fit it in along with all of the other fantasy series I missed during a long reading slump, but it’s gonna happen 😅 I watched your reading order video the other day & will be reading it in publication order 😉😂
Just wondering if you ever read older fantasy. Unless I missed a video, other than Tolkien, you only seem to be into fantasy newer than Robert Jordan. What about Zelazny or Tad Williams?
It might have been suggested but have you read Robert E Howard's Conan Chronicles. I am curious to know what you think of it. I personally love those stories and Howard is up there with Tolkien as fantasy royalty to me but he wrote his stories in the early 1930s and some of his writing today will be considered racist and sexist. But even though that is true, I still love his prose style and the magnifificient way he describes action and settings. If you give it a try, I recommend the Tower of the Elephant which is a short story or his novel : Hour of the dragon. If you like Joe ambercrombie and George R Martin you should dig it. 😂😂
The Secret History is a masterpiece. I love it so much and nothing can ever come close to it. Donna Tartt wrote dark academia perfectly and it was perfection.
Royal Assassin is my favorite Farseer. But for me Assassins Quest was probably the weakest of the 6 RotE books I have read so far (except the ending). That said I’m a Liveship Traders fan. Jade Legacy sticks the landing!
I disagree with Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I think its lacking research (and respect) toward the LGBTQ+ theme itself. It felt like book written by a middle age straight women whom one of the tenant in her apartment complex is gay. I love the premise, but I don't think its a good LGBTQ+ representation
I loved Jade City but Jade War and Jade Legacy went so above and beyond my expectations that even now, one year later I still can't stop thinking about them. I 100% agree with SA Chakraborty's blurb on Jade Legacy when she said "The green bone saga is the best fantasy series I've read this decade"
I'm both dying to and dreading to read Legacy lol
Fitz and the Fool are two of my favorite book characters, and Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors. So much so that I also have books that she wrote under the pen name of Megan Lindholm: Harpy's Flight, Wizard of the Pigeons, and Cloven Hooves.
I love all your recommendations. Great, enthusiastic synopsis of each book without any spoilers. Good job 👍
There is a certain cozyness to the First Law books. They don't really try and pull your pants down when you're not looking - it lets you know it's a dark, brooding world and you get a dark, brooding experience, yet the characters rarely sit down and cry about it, since they are expecting it as much as we, the readers are, so they just sort of poke fun at the banality of it. Which is comforting to read when we live in a chaotic world of uncertainty ourselves. Maybe I would make an exception for some parts of Best Served Cold, Red Country and basically the entirety of Wisdom, though. That last one is just a rollercoaster that only goes down until it crashes hahaha.
lol can't disagree with that description 🥲
Patrick Rothfuss's prose is considered flowery? I just finished the Name of the Wind and I picked up The Wise Man's Fear right away. The prose feels smooth, seamless to me. It never calls attention to itself. Again, to me
Me too. I liked both books quite a bit, but I don't remember noticing the prose style (in a good or a bad way).
@@Steve_Stowers I only noticed it was easy to go through, which is always a plus. But there's no string of adjectives, no paragraph after paragraph of descriptions, no over-elaborated metaphors... I identified "flowery" with that sort of thing. Maybe there's a distinction between flowery and purple prose?
I have had The Name of The Wind on my shelf for over a decade...i still haven't read it. Changing that ASAP!
hope you enjoy!
A big YES to everything you said about the Strange the Dreamer duology!! One of the many things I love about it is that it's a story about peacemaking rather than war making. (It's my #2 fantasy series after The First Law.)
it's honestly so unusual to see in fantasy
I found your side-comment regarding Wuthering Heights interesting. Introduced to this as a compulsory read in uni, this quickly (and surprisingly, to me at the time) became an all-time fave. Upon a recent re-read I came to a similar conclusion that it isn’t really a ‘romance’ in a traditional sense. In fact I’ll go a bit further and posit that this book and author collectively may be The Godmother of Grimdark.
Hear me out. Pretty much every character is painted with a morally grey brush and very difficult to like. No one seems to have purely altruistic motives. Almost everyone dies (oops, spoiler 🙊), and often in abrupt and/or ugly ways. And yet. The story is so compelling. The dark motivations and unhealthy obsessions of the main characters ring so true from a dark point of view of human nature.
Words in lieu of swords. A ghost instead of a torture dwarf. The moors versus Westeros. Even so, I humbly suggest that Martin, Abercrombie et al owe at least a tip of the hat to the brilliant Ms. Brontë. #justsayin.
i think you might be onto something...
First off, really love your channel and your honest reviews (came for the Rings of Power roasts, stayed for the genuinely valuable literary critiques). Having watched your video on Babel, I would be interested to know your thoughts specifically on the magic system of Jade City. I liked Jade City, ish, but wanted to like it more. It fell a bit flat for me though for the same reasons as you outlined with Babel’s magic system. Namely, that the magic felt irrelevant. The characters acted exactly as any character in a martial arts movie ever does (faster, stronger, badder), except it was ‘jade’ that was the reason. And the history of the island was no different than any guerilla campaign to eject a foreign invader. The jade didn’t seem to have any real effect on the world, besides, ‘isn’t it cool?’ Also, is it not problematic that anytime someone defeats an enemy, they take their jade. But then every person has a jade ‘limit’ past which the jade will damage them? Seems like a problematic tradition to have…
I actually have a separate review video for Jade City where I do talk about pros/cons of the magic system
@@LienesLibrary oh excellent. Shall check it out :)
I’m currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, which I was hesitant to start precisely because it’s an unfinished series, but I’m so glad I got over myself hahaha it’s so fun! ❤️The Name of the Wind is next on my list!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
This was a great video! Most of the books are either on my Want to Read list or I’ve read and loved 😍
While the concept and writing were good, Lamora employed too many flashbacks for me. After a few times, just became annoying rather interesting.
@@thomasc9036 the flashbacks are my favorite chapters haha, they’re what’s keeping me invested in the story.
@@marianamasbooks It just became too repetitive. Using constant flashbacks to give the background story got too old for me.
@@thomasc9036 they’re still my favorite chapters haha ❤️
Love The Secret History! Jade City, Six of Crows, First Law, and Strange the Dreamer have been on my TBR
Also I've really been wondering how we decide what is YA and what is Adult Fantasy. I wrote a novel with a teenage protagonist and people who have read it assume it's YA but then I've had others tell me the language doesn't totally fit with YA so I have no idea what to classify it as because I'm getting such mixed messages. I mainly feel like I need to figure out the specific genre because I'm querying lol. (maybe this is something you talked about in another video but if not I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts)
I was watching your video, and was writing the below comment and went to look up Auri's name. Then OMG I saw the third book comes out on 11/14/2023!
What is your feelings on the third Novela The Slow Regard of Silent Things? Yes it's strange, but so is Auri. She's broken, but kind and gentle. She's a fascinating character.
I'm a fan of all those books, except The Secret History. My thought that it dragged a bit, like I think it would have been better if it was a hundred pages shorter. Maybe I need to give it another try, it's been almost seven years, and you showing The Name of the Wind reminds me I want to get the 10th anniversary edition, even though the cover's not as nice
Have you read Possession by A.S. Byatt? It features a similarly velvety veering on pretentious writing style like Donna Tartt with a fun literary mystery subplot.
I have not...
1:18 - lololol. That's funny. I thought for a moment you might have been serious. You got me. Good one.
See, and this is why I trust your recs blindly. Aside from The Secret History, these are all books I either really enjoyed or straight-up adored, so I loooove seeing you give them the recognition they deserve. Gosh, I really want to re-read a bunch of these now, especially Gentleman Bastards, Strange the Dreamer and Red Rising!!
always a good time for a reread 🧡
I didn't really enjoy the fifth season until you got the twist about who the different POVs are, it was amazing then going back and rereading
I read it twice and enjoyed it more the second time. It's still not one of my favorites, but that's my fault, not the book's.
The Name of the Wind sounds right down my alley 🤔
I dnf'ed Red Rising but so many people say it gets way better after, so I might just check out the audio version of RR from the library to play in the background to get through it and then jump on Golden Son.
oh I do not like RR on audio lol but many do, so hope you enjoy!
If you've already addressed this in a video, I'm rather new here, so blame that 😅 You should make a video discussing your favorite dark fantasy novels!
I was wondering where First Law was😂. As for Jade City, there's a few other series that have this 'modern' secondary Fantasy world (Divine Cities by Andrew Jackson Bennet and The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone) and I'm really getting into them.
Oh and after finishing a Second Apocalypse book, I read a First Law book because the former series is so bleak, it makes Abercrombie feel comforting. So I get what you mean 😅
I find that we have a lot in common in what we like (though I haven't read Abercrombie) , but...I will try the sequel in a couple of months after my burning hatred for Red Rising dies down. I stopped to think several times that maybe I had the wrong book cause there's no way people love this. I will go on at least to Goldenson cause of course I own all five because that's a lesson I can't Learn.
Is it worth reading Kingkiller Chronicle duology? Since it is not finished (and maybe will never be). Does it have any sort of satisfying ending?
In the video, Liene says yes: it's worth reading even if it never gets an ending. I sort of agree, but I also think there are plenty of things that really do need a satisfying resolution.
@@Steve_Stowers I know, the journey is often more important than its ending. And maybe the writing is great. But I don't want to be left in the unknown, craving answers and not having closure.
Great content! Quick question - do you read the special editions you buy or just have them for your collection?
You’ve convinced me to read First Law. Idk when I’m gonna fit it in along with all of the other fantasy series I missed during a long reading slump, but it’s gonna happen 😅 I watched your reading order video the other day & will be reading it in publication order 😉😂
hope you love it!
Just wondering if you ever read older fantasy. Unless I missed a video, other than Tolkien, you only seem to be into fantasy newer than Robert Jordan. What about Zelazny or Tad Williams?
The secret history is the best thing I read so far this year!! So good
Great choices. There is only a couple that I haven’t read. Maybe it’s time.
I love the Kingkiller Chronicles! Just finished the second one! Kvothe might be a jerk sometimes, but he’s also got a gentleness to him.
yeah, he's more reckless than mean
Just dawned on me that it's been a little more than 30 years since I first saw 'The Secret History' on a shelf. Good lord....
Wait how is game of thrones not on here? 👀
It might have been suggested but have you read Robert E Howard's Conan Chronicles. I am curious to know what you think of it. I personally love those stories and Howard is up there with Tolkien as fantasy royalty to me but he wrote his stories in the early 1930s and some of his writing today will be considered racist and sexist. But even though that is true, I still love his prose style and the magnifificient way he describes action and settings. If you give it a try, I recommend the Tower of the Elephant which is a short story or his novel : Hour of the dragon. If you like Joe ambercrombie and George R Martin you should dig it. 😂😂
I have not, honestly haven't ever really considered reading them but I just might some day....
@@LienesLibrary It will blow your mind I promise :)
i was expecting Leo Carew on this list.
Name of The Wind was a curiosity nothing more.
Im waiting for the Joe Abercrombie gush that I'm assuming is coming ❤
The Secret History is a masterpiece. I love it so much and nothing can ever come close to it. Donna Tartt wrote dark academia perfectly and it was perfection.
Hyperion by dan simmonds ..all time classic .
The fifth season is worth the hype indeed
Sure?
It looks simply a Roots/BLM the official fantasy book.
The main idea is quite nonsensical and quite evident political propaganda.
Royal Assassin is my favorite Farseer. But for me Assassins Quest was probably the weakest of the 6 RotE books I have read so far (except the ending).
That said I’m a Liveship Traders fan.
Jade Legacy sticks the landing!
The lies of Locke lamora is good and the other books are too
Oh no, I don’t think I can read the Robin hobb books if they contain animal cruelty 😭
Seriously?
You can read human cruelty but not animal cruelty?
I disagree with Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I think its lacking research (and respect) toward the LGBTQ+ theme itself. It felt like book written by a middle age straight women whom one of the tenant in her apartment complex is gay. I love the premise, but I don't think its a good LGBTQ+ representation
💚💛🧡🦎🐲🐌🍈🍍🛺🚲🛕🎍🧩🧶🧸📗📔📙🤩