ASOIAF is my current #1, but have not read any Abercrombie. Just ordered the First Law and am super stoked to get started on that. Thanks for the ranking-super informative 😊
Awesome. Happy reading! With First Law, your best bet is to think of all three books in the first trilogy as a single really big book split into three volumes.
HP would be number 1 for me. I grew up the same age as Harry as the books came out, so it felt like I was truly going through school at Hogwarts. Also, as I've gotten older I've studied a lot of Jungian psychology and Rowling (unknowingly, I think) includes many interesting alchemical themes in the story which, when you understand the psychological significance of the symbolism (reading Jung has given me that), gives the story a level of meaning that is kind of mind blowing. There's a reason you hear Harry Potter quotes at high school graduations more than the actual bible lol. Not to say Rowling did it all unknowingly; she definitely studied alchemy to create the history and story. I just think the depth of meaning comes through in her work unconsciously because of the power of the alchemical symbolism. If that makes sense. Anywho, thanks for another video!
I think the majority of symbolism in literature is created unconsciously, whether you're talking about Rowling or Shakespeare (granted, it's a question of degrees). But that's one of the reasons I think deep reading even popular works of fiction can add a whole layer of enjoyment. Thanks as always for watching and commenting :)
Give Tad Williams, Memory Sorrow and Thorn trilogy a try in your reading travels. I read recently and it went top tier right away in my mental rankings.
Interesting selection and a few to add to my reading list. Of those I have read I would reverse your ratings of Lord of the Rings and Song of Ice and Fire; I would apply your arguments for your placing, but the other way round. Nice to see Discworld on the list, it would be in my top three.
I think that's fair. My argument for LOTR was that I need to re-read it to see how it compares since it was the first of all of these that I read, and for ASOIAF I said that people forget how good the books were. So, yeah, I definitely see how you can take that exact same rationale and swap the order. I'm really looking forward to re-reading LOTR now...
I admit i struggle with fantasy for a couple of reasons first is commitment i am a repeat hit & run reader and the thought of committing myself to x amount of books gives me the jeebies. Second is magic, it all seems a little convenient especially when unexpectedly something is pulled out of the bag to resolve a situation but thats probably down to middling world building. I agree with you about lotr i just couldn't get into it & as far as Harry Potter is concerned i missed the boat on that one but i might give it another go. Im currently building a a Christmas tbr of classic children's fantasy books which i never read as a child "wind in the willows" "toms midnight garden" etc so might dip my toes into more fantasy. As a teen i loved robert e howards books kull, Solomon Kane & Conan which are great fun.
I can completely relate to your comment about magic because it’s the same feeling I had when I first started reading a lot of Fantasy. I thought the answer was to read Fantasy with “hard magic” (ie. where the rules of magic are explicitly spelled out so you know exactly how it works, Brandon Sanderson’s writing being the easiest example here). But as it turns out I kind of hate hard magic systems. I feel like the author is making me do made-up-physics homework. Instead, if you look at my top picks (with the exception of Stormlight Archive), all the books are either very light on magic in the first place, or they use soft magic systems but they’re written in such a way that the magic isn’t the focus of the story, so it doesn’t matter. As for the reading long series, i confess that’s one of the things I love about Fantasy, how immersive it can be to lose yourself in a different world for not just the length of the book but for much longer. That said, while this list is specifically about series there are also plenty of great standalone Fantasy books out there! Last point, funny you should mention Robert E Howard. When I was in school, there was a cartoon that came on after I got home called “Conan the Adventurer,” which I loved as a kid, but ironically, I’ve never read any Robert E Howard, which feels like a gap…
l will never understand how one can place a Harry Potter or The First Law above LOTR. In terms of personal enjoyment i get it, but in terms of objective quality and depth it's just impossible in my opinion. I don't understand your picks, but i respect it :)
LOTR/Hobbit was my favorite forever until as an adult in my late 20s I read HP, now they are my 2 equal favorites. Definitely two different situations, but I love them equally for different reasons. Completely agree they are not alike in writing style, world building, pacing, etc. Apples and oranges, as they say. But - you can also love apples and oranges equally.
See, this is why I need to re-read LOTR, because from my memory there's a lot of things wrong with that book (or series depending on which camp you're in). Yes, the depth of the world building is incredible, and there's probably only a handful of Fantasy authors who have gone close to that deep. And yes, there's a very intricate allegory and some beautiful symbolism. But, the characters are flat, the pacing is funky, and the prose is often over-the-top. Despite all that, I still think Tolkien deserves to be admired (I mean, I did include The Hobbit in my top 10 books of all time). But to say that LOTR is just objectively better than everything else, I guess I just don't see it. Or maybe it's just my memory playing tricks on me. :) Regardless, I appreciate the comment and appreciate you watching!
@@ADudeWhoReadsdude, don’t be hesitant to say you don’t like lotr. It’s fine. It’s basic common sense to know that it’s your opinion. I agree with you completely. In fact, I might go further to say that lotr is VERY boring. I’d much rather read Pierce Brown, Rowling, Nicholas Eames or Riordan than ever pick up anything by Tolkien except for the Hobbit, which I like. Just because your opinion doesn’t match others’ doesn’t mean you have to stay quiet. Btw, I hate asoiaf too. Gosh, that felt good to say.
Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series is the most overlooked series in Fantasy. Wrap LOTR plot in Star-Wars / Wizard if Oz-esque characters and place the whole thing in a future dystopian western setting
Have you read The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher? I find those to be incredibly fun books. It sounds like Jim may have borrowed from Fables (or vice versa) with frequent and often hilarious cameos from characters we all know. Book one is a cute local fantasy story and by book 18 (and counting) the scope has built into a massive epic, but Butcher hasn't lost the thread yet. I'd be very curious to get your take on this series.
Funny you should mention the Dresden Files! I just finished the first two books (Storm Front and Fool Moon) as audiobooks. This early in the series, I agree, it's a nice, fun read (which is exactly what I look for when I'm picking things to listen to in audiobook format). Wizard detective fighting things that go bump in the night in Chicago with a noir feel to it -- what's not to like? I have heard that as the series progresses, the story gets more epic, so I'll see where it takes me. For now, my thoughts are that it's entertaining enough to keep me reading/listening, but hasn't rocked my world (yet). Once I get deeper into it, though, I'll be sure to share my thoughts. PS: So far, aside from them both technically being "urban fantasy," I'm not seeing too many similarities between Dresden Files and Fables, so maybe that's later in the series?
@@ADudeWhoReads Maybe they're not so similar. Kris Kringle, Lucifer and a few other folk characters do cameo later on. The cast grows quite large. You've read way more than I have so I'm very curious to hear where this series ranks among others and your final thoughts, positive or negative.
I think you will love Daughter of the Empire by Wurts/ Feist and Boudica : Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott… they are perfect!! You do not have to read any books that are attached to these novels… they can be read as stand alones!!
Thanks for the tip, Heidi. I've been getting a lot of Wurts/Feist recos lately, so I definitely need to check that duo out sooner rather than later. Re: Boudica, I'm actually a huge fan of ancient British history, so I've read a ton about her, but never heard of this book. I'll check it out. Is it historical fiction?
@@ADudeWhoReads Definitely historical fantasy,both books have such great prose!! You should check out the tv show Britannia too, it is so quirky and fun with top notch actors!!
A resounding YES to The Faithful and The Fallen. Gwynne is an excellent story teller, and from what I can surmise Papa Gwynne is an excellent father as well because his two sons' channel @thebrothersgwynne is not only my favorite BookTube channel, but they're two of the nicest boys on the planet.
My own #1 series is the same as your #1, though my favourite fantasy book of all time is the wonderful standalone "The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I thought that The Faithful and the Fallen was okay at best, but if the plain vanilla writing of Sanderson or the outright bad writing of Jordan don't bother you, you'll probably love it! :)
I've gotten a lot of recommendations for Lois McMaster Bujold, and so I'll need to read more of her writing. And while I can agree that Sanderson's writing is vanilla, I don't think it's fair to say that Jordan's writing is BAD... it's just... repetitive? :)
@joshyaks Haha! I have a UA-cam channel about books... believe me when I say that your comment wasn't even CLOSE to snobby when compared to some of the other gems I've seen ;)
I would love to, but the truth is that I haven’t read enough in the genre to give an intelligent list! My favourite horror book is Stoker’s Dracula, but I probably haven’t read enough other horror novels to fill up 10 spots! Thanks for watching and commenting 🙂
I'm with you on Best Served Cold. It's my favourite First Law book (haven't read the second trilogy yet, though). It's got pretty much everything I loved about the first trilogy, but with a stronger plot.
Probably mid-October. It got pushed back a little because of a lot of nonfiction reading I’m doing as research for a future video. I’m eager to get to it though! PS: I haven’t forgotten about those Discord links you sent me!
Nice choices. I get mixed messages from all who hype Wheel of Time, like it's so good but so annoying at the same time? And isn't that what editors are for, to point out the overuse of certain actions like someone tugging on their braid? Sounds rather pretentious honestly, and yet it makes a LOT of Top 10 lists.
Thanks for your comment! The way I look at Wheel of Time is that it’s an absolutely incredible story with some annoying tendencies. I wouldn’t call it pretentious, and I think the repetitiveness is a combination of two things. The first is that this is a 14 book series that was published over 23 years. So some of the repetition is trying to remind readers of something they might have read years ago. So, if you’re bingeing the series as people are doing these days, they really stick out, but if you were reading it as they were published you wouldn’t have noticed it so much. The other thing that I think happens with the repetition is that it’s an attempt at creating recognizable character traits, which is a trick which many authors use to great effect, but I think Jordan overuses it (like over-seasoning a meal). But despite all that, it’s truly one of the most epic series of all time, with some great coming of age stories, themes of order vs chaos and an interesting take on philosophies of balance. Is it a perfect series? Nope. But I still think it’s great. 😊
@@ADudeWhoReads this is a great explanation and the WOT is not getting enough love in fantasy book tube world!! It was such a great experience for me. My brother & I read it together, discussing it each week. That sharing & conversation was such a gift I will never forget. WOT ❤❤❤❤ also Gathering Storm the best book for me!!!
@@heidi6281 This is the epitome of a great reading experience. I have similar warm feelings for the Harry Potter books because I originally read them to my younger sister. I recognize that those books are not high literature, but they still hold a special place in my heart!
@@ADudeWhoReads Jordan must have been influence by Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood End, the theme that you need toil & hardship to have happiness/ or what makes us human. Dark needed for Light!!
My only wheel of time complaint is most of the female characters (all except Moiraine, really) are so petulant, pushy, and annoying. At least through book 7 where I am. And Jordan tends to over describe everything. He's the opposite of my other favorite, Frank Herbert, who rarely describes anything in heavy detail.
If Frank Herbert had written the Wheel of Time, it would have been a trilogy, rather than a 15-book series. :) And while I'm okay with the level of description that Jordan uses (I think it adds texture to the world), I do agree with you about the female characters. Most of the Jordan's female characters seem to be written from the perspective of what a teenage boy thinks women are like...
The Lord of the Rings ISN'T A SERIES!! (Punches a hole through a wall.) Instead of the witcher I would recommend Elric of Melniboné. And also The Black Company series by Glenn Cook.
Re: The Lord of the Rings, I hear you, but if I hadn’t included it I would have been flooded with people complaining that I didn’t mention it. If I do include it, I get those who tell me it’s not a series. Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t 😉 I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Black Company, so I’ll definitely be checking that out, but Elric is definitely one that was not on my radar so thanks for the recommendation!
I know it's hard not to be pedantic and feel punchy about LOTR not being a true series, but the way I look at it - as long as people are giving it love and singing its praises online, I don't care what they call it.
ASOIAF is my current #1, but have not read any Abercrombie. Just ordered the First Law and am super stoked to get started on that. Thanks for the ranking-super informative 😊
Awesome. Happy reading! With First Law, your best bet is to think of all three books in the first trilogy as a single really big book split into three volumes.
HP would be number 1 for me. I grew up the same age as Harry as the books came out, so it felt like I was truly going through school at Hogwarts. Also, as I've gotten older I've studied a lot of Jungian psychology and Rowling (unknowingly, I think) includes many interesting alchemical themes in the story which, when you understand the psychological significance of the symbolism (reading Jung has given me that), gives the story a level of meaning that is kind of mind blowing. There's a reason you hear Harry Potter quotes at high school graduations more than the actual bible lol. Not to say Rowling did it all unknowingly; she definitely studied alchemy to create the history and story. I just think the depth of meaning comes through in her work unconsciously because of the power of the alchemical symbolism. If that makes sense.
Anywho, thanks for another video!
I think the majority of symbolism in literature is created unconsciously, whether you're talking about Rowling or Shakespeare (granted, it's a question of degrees). But that's one of the reasons I think deep reading even popular works of fiction can add a whole layer of enjoyment. Thanks as always for watching and commenting :)
Give Tad Williams, Memory Sorrow and Thorn trilogy a try in your reading travels. I read recently and it went top tier right away in my mental rankings.
Will do. I've heard a lot of good things about Tad Williams, so he's definitely on the list. It's just a question of when, not if!
Interesting selection and a few to add to my reading list. Of those I have read I would reverse your ratings of Lord of the Rings and Song of Ice and Fire; I would apply your arguments for your placing, but the other way round.
Nice to see Discworld on the list, it would be in my top three.
I think that's fair. My argument for LOTR was that I need to re-read it to see how it compares since it was the first of all of these that I read, and for ASOIAF I said that people forget how good the books were. So, yeah, I definitely see how you can take that exact same rationale and swap the order. I'm really looking forward to re-reading LOTR now...
I admit i struggle with fantasy for a couple of reasons first is commitment i am a repeat hit & run reader and the thought of committing myself to x amount of books gives me the jeebies. Second is magic, it all seems a little convenient especially when unexpectedly something is pulled out of the bag to resolve a situation but thats probably down to middling world building.
I agree with you about lotr i just couldn't get into it & as far as Harry Potter is concerned i missed the boat on that one but i might give it another go.
Im currently building a a Christmas tbr of classic children's fantasy books which i never read as a child "wind in the willows" "toms midnight garden" etc so might dip my toes into more fantasy.
As a teen i loved robert e howards books kull, Solomon Kane & Conan which are great fun.
I can completely relate to your comment about magic because it’s the same feeling I had when I first started reading a lot of Fantasy. I thought the answer was to read Fantasy with “hard magic” (ie. where the rules of magic are explicitly spelled out so you know exactly how it works, Brandon Sanderson’s writing being the easiest example here). But as it turns out I kind of hate hard magic systems. I feel like the author is making me do made-up-physics homework. Instead, if you look at my top picks (with the exception of Stormlight Archive), all the books are either very light on magic in the first place, or they use soft magic systems but they’re written in such a way that the magic isn’t the focus of the story, so it doesn’t matter.
As for the reading long series, i confess that’s one of the things I love about Fantasy, how immersive it can be to lose yourself in a different world for not just the length of the book but for much longer. That said, while this list is specifically about series there are also plenty of great standalone Fantasy books out there!
Last point, funny you should mention Robert E Howard. When I was in school, there was a cartoon that came on after I got home called “Conan the Adventurer,” which I loved as a kid, but ironically, I’ve never read any Robert E Howard, which feels like a gap…
l will never understand how one can place a Harry Potter or The First Law above LOTR. In terms of personal enjoyment i get it, but in terms of objective quality and depth it's just impossible in my opinion. I don't understand your picks, but i respect it :)
LOTR/Hobbit was my favorite forever until as an adult in my late 20s I read HP, now they are my 2 equal favorites. Definitely two different situations, but I love them equally for different reasons. Completely agree they are not alike in writing style, world building, pacing, etc. Apples and oranges, as they say. But - you can also love apples and oranges equally.
See, this is why I need to re-read LOTR, because from my memory there's a lot of things wrong with that book (or series depending on which camp you're in). Yes, the depth of the world building is incredible, and there's probably only a handful of Fantasy authors who have gone close to that deep. And yes, there's a very intricate allegory and some beautiful symbolism. But, the characters are flat, the pacing is funky, and the prose is often over-the-top. Despite all that, I still think Tolkien deserves to be admired (I mean, I did include The Hobbit in my top 10 books of all time). But to say that LOTR is just objectively better than everything else, I guess I just don't see it. Or maybe it's just my memory playing tricks on me. :)
Regardless, I appreciate the comment and appreciate you watching!
@@ADudeWhoReads Tolkien's characters are anything but flat imo. It's written differently than modern novels, I'll agree on that.
@@FrancT- Like I said, maybe it's just my faulty memory! I have every intention of re-reading LOTR soon and maybe I'll be eating crow when I do.
@@ADudeWhoReadsdude, don’t be hesitant to say you don’t like lotr. It’s fine. It’s basic common sense to know that it’s your opinion. I agree with you completely. In fact, I might go further to say that lotr is VERY boring. I’d much rather read Pierce Brown, Rowling, Nicholas Eames or Riordan than ever pick up anything by Tolkien except for the Hobbit, which I like. Just because your opinion doesn’t match others’ doesn’t mean you have to stay quiet.
Btw, I hate asoiaf too. Gosh, that felt good to say.
I’m back to binge your videos 🤘 Hope you are enjoying fall!
Is it fall? So far, October has been warmer than August around here. Happy to have you "back" :)
Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series is the most overlooked series in Fantasy. Wrap LOTR plot in Star-Wars / Wizard if Oz-esque characters and place the whole thing in a future dystopian western setting
I've just started it, finished Book 1 and was sufficiently intrigued/confused to carry on :)
Have you read The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher? I find those to be incredibly fun books. It sounds like Jim may have borrowed from Fables (or vice versa) with frequent and often hilarious cameos from characters we all know. Book one is a cute local fantasy story and by book 18 (and counting) the scope has built into a massive epic, but Butcher hasn't lost the thread yet. I'd be very curious to get your take on this series.
Funny you should mention the Dresden Files! I just finished the first two books (Storm Front and Fool Moon) as audiobooks. This early in the series, I agree, it's a nice, fun read (which is exactly what I look for when I'm picking things to listen to in audiobook format). Wizard detective fighting things that go bump in the night in Chicago with a noir feel to it -- what's not to like? I have heard that as the series progresses, the story gets more epic, so I'll see where it takes me. For now, my thoughts are that it's entertaining enough to keep me reading/listening, but hasn't rocked my world (yet). Once I get deeper into it, though, I'll be sure to share my thoughts.
PS: So far, aside from them both technically being "urban fantasy," I'm not seeing too many similarities between Dresden Files and Fables, so maybe that's later in the series?
@@ADudeWhoReads Maybe they're not so similar. Kris Kringle, Lucifer and a few other folk characters do cameo later on. The cast grows quite large. You've read way more than I have so I'm very curious to hear where this series ranks among others and your final thoughts, positive or negative.
@@MidwayGuy For sure! You couldn't stop me from sharing my thoughts if you tried ;) Thanks again for stopping by and chatting!
I think you will love Daughter of the Empire by Wurts/ Feist and Boudica : Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott… they are perfect!! You do not have to read any books that are attached to these novels… they can be read as stand alones!!
Thanks for the tip, Heidi. I've been getting a lot of Wurts/Feist recos lately, so I definitely need to check that duo out sooner rather than later. Re: Boudica, I'm actually a huge fan of ancient British history, so I've read a ton about her, but never heard of this book. I'll check it out. Is it historical fiction?
@@ADudeWhoReads Definitely historical fantasy,both books have such great prose!! You should check out the tv show Britannia too, it is so quirky and fun with top notch actors!!
Awesome. Thanks so much for the recommendations!
A resounding YES to The Faithful and The Fallen. Gwynne is an excellent story teller, and from what I can surmise Papa Gwynne is an excellent father as well because his two sons' channel @thebrothersgwynne is not only my favorite BookTube channel, but they're two of the nicest boys on the planet.
As a dad, I gotta say this is probably the best endorsement ever. :)
Bloodsworn is even better!!! Hope to see book 3 soon!!
My own #1 series is the same as your #1, though my favourite fantasy book of all time is the wonderful standalone "The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I thought that The Faithful and the Fallen was okay at best, but if the plain vanilla writing of Sanderson or the outright bad writing of Jordan don't bother you, you'll probably love it! :)
I've gotten a lot of recommendations for Lois McMaster Bujold, and so I'll need to read more of her writing. And while I can agree that Sanderson's writing is vanilla, I don't think it's fair to say that Jordan's writing is BAD... it's just... repetitive? :)
@@ADudeWhoReads That makes sense. I also didn't mean to sound as snobby as my comment reads! 🤓
@joshyaks Haha! I have a UA-cam channel about books... believe me when I say that your comment wasn't even CLOSE to snobby when compared to some of the other gems I've seen ;)
Please give a top 10 of thriller/horror genre 😊
I would love to, but the truth is that I haven’t read enough in the genre to give an intelligent list! My favourite horror book is Stoker’s Dracula, but I probably haven’t read enough other horror novels to fill up 10 spots! Thanks for watching and commenting 🙂
I'm on the fifth of the First Law. Best served cold is probably in my top 5 books ever.
I'm with you on Best Served Cold. It's my favourite First Law book (haven't read the second trilogy yet, though). It's got pretty much everything I loved about the first trilogy, but with a stronger plot.
Adrian Tchaikovsky's series Empire of Green and Gold brilliant
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll add it to the list!
TLOTR is not really a trilogy. It is a single book that editors usually decide to release as a series, which it isn't.
When are you starting the 2nd book of Malazan, Deadhouse Gates?
Probably mid-October. It got pushed back a little because of a lot of nonfiction reading I’m doing as research for a future video. I’m eager to get to it though! PS: I haven’t forgotten about those Discord links you sent me!
Nice choices. I get mixed messages from all who hype Wheel of Time, like it's so good but so annoying at the same time? And isn't that what editors are for, to point out the overuse of certain actions like someone tugging on their braid? Sounds rather pretentious honestly, and yet it makes a LOT of Top 10 lists.
Thanks for your comment! The way I look at Wheel of Time is that it’s an absolutely incredible story with some annoying tendencies. I wouldn’t call it pretentious, and I think the repetitiveness is a combination of two things. The first is that this is a 14 book series that was published over 23 years. So some of the repetition is trying to remind readers of something they might have read years ago. So, if you’re bingeing the series as people are doing these days, they really stick out, but if you were reading it as they were published you wouldn’t have noticed it so much. The other thing that I think happens with the repetition is that it’s an attempt at creating recognizable character traits, which is a trick which many authors use to great effect, but I think Jordan overuses it (like over-seasoning a meal).
But despite all that, it’s truly one of the most epic series of all time, with some great coming of age stories, themes of order vs chaos and an interesting take on philosophies of balance.
Is it a perfect series? Nope. But I still think it’s great. 😊
@@ADudeWhoReads this is a great explanation and the WOT is not getting enough love in fantasy book tube world!! It was such a great experience for me. My brother & I read it together, discussing it each week. That sharing & conversation was such a gift I will never forget. WOT ❤❤❤❤ also Gathering Storm the best book for me!!!
@@heidi6281 This is the epitome of a great reading experience. I have similar warm feelings for the Harry Potter books because I originally read them to my younger sister. I recognize that those books are not high literature, but they still hold a special place in my heart!
@@ADudeWhoReads Jordan must have been influence by Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood End, the theme that you need toil & hardship to have happiness/ or what makes us human. Dark needed for Light!!
My only wheel of time complaint is most of the female characters (all except Moiraine, really) are so petulant, pushy, and annoying. At least through book 7 where I am. And Jordan tends to over describe everything. He's the opposite of my other favorite, Frank Herbert, who rarely describes anything in heavy detail.
If Frank Herbert had written the Wheel of Time, it would have been a trilogy, rather than a 15-book series. :) And while I'm okay with the level of description that Jordan uses (I think it adds texture to the world), I do agree with you about the female characters. Most of the Jordan's female characters seem to be written from the perspective of what a teenage boy thinks women are like...
Just wait, Egwayne is going to become a superstar!! One of the strongest female characters in fantasy by far!!!
The Lord of the Rings ISN'T A SERIES!! (Punches a hole through a wall.)
Instead of the witcher I would recommend Elric of Melniboné.
And also The Black Company series by Glenn Cook.
Re: The Lord of the Rings, I hear you, but if I hadn’t included it I would have been flooded with people complaining that I didn’t mention it. If I do include it, I get those who tell me it’s not a series. Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t 😉
I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Black Company, so I’ll definitely be checking that out, but Elric is definitely one that was not on my radar so thanks for the recommendation!
Black Company are fast reads and were a huge influence on Erickson with the marines. Book 6 is dedicated to him.
@ericmcluen5177 I had heard that, so I was waiting until after I finished Malazan to then go and read Cook to see where the inspiration came from.
I know it's hard not to be pedantic and feel punchy about LOTR not being a true series, but the way I look at it - as long as people are giving it love and singing its praises online, I don't care what they call it.